Pierre Aubry (musicologist)

Pierre Aubry

Pierre Aubry (14 February 1874 in Paris – 31 August 1910 in Dieppe) was a French musicologist (according to professor of music and medieval studies, John Haines, Aubry was the first to use the term musicologie.[1]) who specialized in secular monophony, musical palaeography and the music of the 13th century.

He is particularly known for applying the modal rhythms of Franconian theory to the repertoire trouvère and troubadour songs. The Alsatian scholar Johann-Baptist (later Jean-Baptist) Beck claimed plagiarism and Aubry called for a trial, which resulted in a judgment in Beck's favor. Aubry's premature death by suicide was shrouded in rumors of a duel, Beck himself believing the fatal stab wound was an accident while practicing for combat.[2]

  1. ^ Haines, John (2004). Eight Centuries of Troubadours and Trouvères: The Changing Identity of Medieval Music. Musical Performance and Reception. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 155.
  2. ^ Haines, John (2001). "The Footnote Quarrels of the Modal Theory: A Remarkable Episode in the Reception of Medieval Music". Early Music History. 20: 87–120. doi:10.1017/S0261127901001024. S2CID 192007308.