Philip the Chancellor: Motets and Prosulas

This volume is the first collection of medieval music devoted specifically to texts authored by Philip the Chancellor (d. 1236), a renowned lyric poet associated with the cathedral of Notre Dame Paris during the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. It presents the texts and music of all the motets and prosulas (words added to preexistent music from organa and polyphonic conductus caudae) ascribed to Philip in medieval sources, as well as a substantial number of works attributed to him by modern scholars. Many of the musical settings in this collection are credited to the composer Perotinus and are among the earliest efforts in these genres, suggesting that not only were Philip and Perotinus the sole artists now known to have cultivated the motet during its formative years, but that they may have played a seminal role in bringing the genre to light.