Princeps (plural: principes) is a Latin word meaning "first in time or order; the first, chief, the most eminent, distinguished, or noble; the first man, first person."^[1]

This article is devoted to a number of specific historical meanings the word took, in approximate historical order.

Roman Emperor[link]

Princeps (in this sense usually translated as "First Citizen") was an official title of a Roman Emperor as the title determining the leader in Ancient Rome at the beginning of the Roman Empire. It created the principate Roman imperial system.^[2]

The word "Princeps" derived from Princeps Senatus ("Primus inter pares" of the Senate). The princeps senatus (plural principes senatus) was the first member by precedence of the Roman Senate.

It was first given as a special title to Caesar Augustus in 27 BC,^[3] who circumspectly saw that use of the titles rex (king) or dictator would create resentment amongst senators and other influential men, who had earlier demonstrated their disapproval by supporting the assassination of Julius Caesar. While Augustus had political and military supremacy, he needed the assistance of his fellow Romans to manage the Empire. In his Res Gestae, Augustus claims auctoritas for the princeps (himself).^[2]

For a comprehensive list of other official Roman titles used for the office of emperor see Roman Emperor. These titles included imperator, Augustus, Caesar, and later dominus (lord) and basileus (the Greek word for "sovereign"). The word Emperor itself is derived from the Roman title 'imperator', which was a very high, but not exclusive, military title until Augustus began to use it as his praenomen.

The Emperor Diocletian (285-305), the father of the Tetrarchy, was the first to stop referring to himself as "princeps" altogether, calling himself 'dominus' (lord, master), thus dropping the pretense that emperor was not truly a monarchical office. The period when the emperors that called themselves princeps ruled - from Augustus to Diocletian - is called "the Principate", while no later than under Diocletian began "the Dominate" period.

Ancient Rome knew another kind of 'princely' principes too, like 'princeps iuventutis' ("the first amongst the young"), which in the early empire was frequently bestowed on eligible successors to the emperor, especially from his family. It was first given to Augustus' adoptive sons Gaius and Lucius.^[4]

Roman administration[link]

Princeps is also the (official) short version of Princeps officii, the chief of an officium (the office staff of a Roman dignitary) -

Military[link]

• See Principes (legionary heavy infantry soldier)
• centurio(n) in command of a unit or administrative office.
• Princeps ordinarius vexillationis: centurion in command of a vexillatio (detachment).
• Princeps peregrinorum ("commander of the foreigners"): centurion in charge of troops in the castra peregrina (military base at Rome for personnel seconded from the provincial armies)
• Princeps prior: Centurion commanding a manipulus (unit of two centuries) of principes (legionary heavy infantry).
• Princeps posterior: deputy to the Princeps prior
• Princeps praetorii : centurion attached to headquarters.

Princeps was also used as defining second part of various other military titles, such as Decurio princeps, Signifer princeps (among the standard-bearers). See also Principalis (as in Optio principalis): NCO.

Nobiliary legacy[link]

"Princeps" is the root and Latin rendering of modern words as the English title and generic term prince (see that article, also for various equivalents in other languages), as the Byzantine version of Roman law was the basis for the legal terminology developed in feudal (and later absolutist) Europe.

Non-Roman meaning[link]

"Princeps" is also the name of an obsolete genus of Swallowtail butterflies (now merged with the genus Papilio).

Latin binomial abbreviations for species

• Cattleya walkeriana var. princeps, a synonym for Cattleya walkeriana, an orchid species
• Emberiza flaviventris princeps, a bird subspecies found in Angola and Namibia
• Heterohyrax brucei princeps, a mammal subspecies found in Africa

Fiction[link]

• In the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, First Citizen is the title taken by the Mule and his successors in their position as leader of the Union of Worlds.
• Princeps is the name of a dog that Brother Priad meets in the Warhammer 40,000 book Brothers of the Snake.
• Princeps is the title for the captain of a Titan, a massive humanoid war machine in the tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000.
• In the book series Codex Alera by Jim Butcher, Princeps is the title given to the crown prince of the empire of Alera. It is also used in the title of the fifth book in the series, Princeps' Fury.
• In the Star Trek: Infinity's Prism book Seeds of Dissent by James Swallow, "Princeps" is the title for 'Commander' Julian Bashir of the warship Defiance which exists in an alternate universe from the more familiar 24th Century envisioned from the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Footnotes[link]

See also[link]

• Chief of the Name

References[link]

• Grant, Michael, The Twelve Caesars, Michael Grant Publications 1975, ISBN 0-684-14402-6

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008)

William Southcombe Lloyd Webber (11 March 1914 – 29 October 1982) was an English organist and composer.

Life and career[link]

Lloyd Webber was born in London.^{[citation needed]} The son of William Charles Henry Webber, a self-employed plumber, he was fortunate, from a musical point of view, that his father was a keen organ 'buff' who spent what little money he had travelling to hear various organs in and around the capital. Often he would take his son with him, and before long, young William started to play the organ himself and developed a keen interest that bordered on the obsessional.^{[citation needed]}

By the age of 14, William Lloyd Webber had already become a well-known organ recitalist, giving frequent performances at many important churches and cathedrals throughout Great Britain. He won an organ scholarship to Mercers' School, later winning a further scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music where he studied with Ralph Vaughan Williams and gained his FRCO diploma at nineteen. Because there was already another student at the college with the name William Webber, William continued to use his second middle name 'Lloyd' from then on as part of his name.

Parallel to his activities as an organist, he began to compose, and several interesting works date from this early period including Fantasy Trio of 1936. Although the Second World War interrupted his composition (he was organist and choirmaster at All Saints, Margaret Street, London throughout the war) its ending marked the beginning of Lloyd Webber's most prolific years as a composer.

In 1938, he was appointed organist and choirmaster of All Saints, later moving to Westminster Central Hall, London, one of the most significant Methodist churches in the United Kingdom. His first compositions developed in the 1930s. In 1942 he married the pianist and violinist Jean Hermione Johnstone (1921–1993).^[1] The marriage, which lasted until his death, produced two sons: composer Andrew (born 1948) and cellist Julian (born 1951).

From 1945 until the mid-1950s, Lloyd Webber composed vocal and instrumental music, choral and organ works, chamber music and orchestral works. Works from this period include the oratorio 'St. Francis of Assisi', the orchestral tone-poem 'Aurora', the Sonatinas for viola and piano, and flute and piano, and numerous songs, organ pieces and choral works. But Lloyd Webber's roots were firmly embedded in the romanticism of such composers as Sergei Rachmaninov, Jean Sibelius and César Franck, and he became increasingly convinced that his own music was 'out of step' with the prevailing climate of the time. Rather than compromise his style, he turned to the academic side of British musical life - teaching at the Royal College of Music, directing the choir at Central Hall, Westminster, and, in 1964, accepting the Directorship of the London College of Music, a post which he held until his death in 1982.

Disillusioned with composition^{[citation needed]}, he wrote virtually nothing for the next 20 years - until shortly before his death, when a sudden flowering of creativity^{[citation needed]} produced among a number of works the mass 'Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae', (available on an ASV CD, DCA961).

Lloyd Webber was by nature a shy and withdrawn character. He had an avowed dislike of self-promotion and found the 'cut and thrust' approach apparently necessary for the furtherance of a composer's career to be complete anathema. He also had no time for the trappings of verbosity, and was a man averse to wasting words or, in his music, notes. "Why", he would ask his pupils, “write six pages, when six bars will do?"

Lloyd Webber's music has recently enjoyed a resurgence and is heard increasingly in both live and recorded performances. When 'Aurora' was recorded for Philips in 1986 by Lorin Maazel and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Greenfield of The Guardian called it "skillfully and sumptuously scored ... music as sensuous as any you will find from a British composer".

In 2005, Lloyd Webber's The Divine Compassion was revived by the Aeolian Singers. This large scale choral work takes 95 minutes to perform and is based on the account of Passion of Christ in the Gospel of John.

A 'William Lloyd Webber Festival' took place in the spring and summer of 2007 in London.^{[citation needed]}

Selected works[link]

Orchestra[link]

• Lento in E Major for String Orchestra (1939)
• Waltz in E Minor for Orchestra (1939)
• Aurora, Tone Poem for Orchestra (1951)
• Three Spring Miniatures for Small Orchestra (1952); orchestration of original piano work

1. Gossamer (A Little Waltz)
2. Willow Song (A lament)
3. Tree Tops (A Toccatina)

• Serenade for Strings

I. Barcarolle (1951)

II. Romance (1980)

III. Elegy (1960)

• Invocation for Harp, Timpani and String Orchestra (1957)

Brass band[link]

• Little Suite for Brass

I. Prelude

II. Adagio

III. Festive March

Chamber[link]

• Three Pieces for Cello and Piano

1. In the Half-Light (1951)
2. Air Varié (adapted from Tantum Ergo by César Franck)
3. Slumber Song

• Fantasy Trio in B Minor for Violin, Cello and Piano (1936)
• Sonatina for Flute and Piano (1941)
• Benedictus for Violin and Organ (1942)
• Nocturne for Cello and Piano or Harp (1948); from the oratorio St. Francis of Assisi
• Air and Variations for Clarinet and Piano (1952)
• Sonatina for Viola and Piano (1952)
• Country Impressions (1960)

1. Mulberry Cottage for Flute and Piano (1960)
2. On Frensham Pond (Aquarelle) for Clarinet and Piano (1960)

• A Lyric Suite for Cello and Piano (1964)
• Summer Pastures for Horn and Piano
• Suite in B♭ for Trumpet and Piano
• The Gardens at Eastwell (A Late Summer Impression) for Violin and Piano or Harp (1982)

Piano[link]

• Three Spring Miniatures for Piano (1952); also orchestrated

1. Gossamer (A Little Waltz)
2. Willow Song (A lament)
3. Tree Tops (A Toccatina)

• Six Pieces for Piano

1. A Song for the Morning (1957); composed under the pseudonym Clive Chapel
2. Scherzo in G Minor
3. Arabesque
4. Romantic Evening
5. Explanation; composed under the pseudonym Clive Chapel
6. Song without Words

• Three Pieces for Piano

1. Presto for Perseus
2. Autumn Elf
3. Badinage de Noël

• Scenes from Childhood for Piano

1. Cake Walk
2. Sentimental Waltz
3. Air
4. Scherzo
5. Evening Hymn
6. China Doll

• A Short Tone-Study for Piano
• River Song for Piano 4-Hands
• Danse Macabre for 2 Pianos

Organ[link]

• Chorale, Cantilena and Finale
• Three Recital Pieces (1952)

1. Prelude
2. Barcarolle
3. Nuptial March

• Aria – Thirteen Pieces

1. Prelude on St Cross;
2. Choral March
3. Communion
4. Solemn Procession
5. Prelude on Passion Chorale
6. Prelude on Rockingham
7. Festal March
8. Prelude on Gerontius
9. Aria
10. Verset
11. Prelude on Winchester New
12. Vesper Hymn
13. Meditation on Stracathro

• Reflections – Seven Pieces

1. Prelude
2. Slumber Song
3. Summer Pastures
4. Romance
5. Intermezzo
6. Christ in the Tomb (from The Divine Compassion)
7. Postlude

• Eight Varied Pieces

1. Arietta in A Major
2. Minuet
3. Recessional
4. Andantino alla Cantilena
5. Introit
6. Dedication March
7. Pastorale
8. Epilogue

• Songs without Words – Six Pieces

1. Noel Nouvelet
2. Song without Words
3. Trumpet Minuet
4. God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
5. The Coventry Carol
6. Good King Wenceslas

• Five Portraits for Home Organs
• Elegy
• Six Interludes on Christmas Carols

1. Interlude on 'The Holly and the Ivy'
2. Interlude on 'Whence is this goodly fragrance?'
3. Interlude on 'Noël nouvelet'
4. Interlude on 'Good King Wenceslas'
5. Interlude on 'Coventry Carol'
6. Interlude on 'God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen'

Choral[link]

• Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae for Choir and Organ (1979)
• Princeps Pacis (The Prince of Peace), Mass for Chorus and Organ (1962)
• The Saviour, A Meditation upon the Death of Christ for Chorus and Organ
• The Divine Compassion, Sacred Cantata for Tenor, Baritone, Chorus and Organ
• St. Francis of Assisi, Oratorio for Soprano, Tenor, Baritone, Chorus, String Orchestra and Harp (1948)
• Born a King, a Christmas cantata for Soloists, Chorus and Organ
• Songs of Spring, Cantata for Female Chorus and Piano
• O Lord, Spread Thy Wings O'er Me, Anthem for Soprano (or Treble Voice), Chorus and Accompaniment
• Spirit of God, Anthem for Chorus and Organ
• Dominus Firmamentum Meum, Anthem for Chorus and Organ
• Lo! My Shepherd Is Divine, Anthem for Soprano, Alto, Chorus and Organ
• Lo, God Is Here, Anthem for Chorus and Organ
• Seven Anthems

1. Sing the Life, Easter Carol for Chorus and Accompaniment
2. A Hymn of Thanksgiving for Unison Voices and Organ
3. O Love, I Give Myself to Thee for Female Chorus and Organ
4. O for a Closer Walk with God for Chorus and Organ
5. Then Come, All Ye People, Carol for Chorus and Accompaniment
6. The Lord Is My Shepherd for Chorus and Organ
7. Love Divine, All Loves Excelling for Chorus and Organ (1964); from The Good Samaritan

• Tantum Ergo, Anthem for Bass Solo, Chorus and Organ
• Jesus, Dear Jesus, Carol for Boy Treble, Children's Choir and Organ
• The Stable Where the Oxen Stood
• Most Glorious Lord of Lyfe, Anthem for Chorus Suitable for Easter; words by Edmund Spenser
• Meeting Place, a Meditation upon the Birth of Christ for Baritone, Chorus and Piano or Organ (1964)
• Jamie Brown, a Happy Story in Song for Two-Part Chorus and Piano (published 1962)

Partsongs

• April for Female Chorus and Piano
• Corinna's Lute for Female Chorus and Piano
• Sun-Gold for Female Chorus and Piano, words by May Sarson
• Moon Silver for Female Chorus and Piano
• Lament for Female Chorus and Piano
• I heard a Rush of Wings for Female (or Children's) Chorus and Piano
• The Moon for Unaccompanied Chorus
• A Magic Morn for Female Chorus and Piano
• The Heather Hills for Female Chorus and Piano

Vocal[link]

• The Call of the Morning (1950); words by George Darley
• Love, Like a Drop of Dew (1950); words by W. H. Davies
• I Looked Out into the Morning (1951); words by James Thomson
• Over the Bridge (1951); words by James Thomson
• How Do I Love Thee?
• The Forest of Wild Thyme (1951)
• The Pretty Washer-Maiden, words by William Ernest Henley
• To the Wicklow Hills (1954); words by R.G. Leigh
• A Rent for Love (1982); words by Irvonwy Morgan
• So Lovely the Rose, words by Joseph Murrells
• Eutopia, words by Francis Turner Palgrave
• The Cottage of Dreams
• Lullaby
• Spring Is the Time for Love
• Three Arias for Tenor and Organ

1. And I Saw a New Heaven
2. The King of Love (from The Saviour)
3. Thou Art the King (from The Divine Compassion)

Discography[link]

• Music of William Lloyd Webber, (ASV Digital, CD DCA 961, 1996)
• Organ Works of William Lloyd Webber, (Priory, PRCD 616, 1998)
• William Lloyd Webber piano music, chamber music and songs, (Hyperion, CDA67008, 1998)
• Sacred Choral Music of William Lloyd Webber, (Priory PRCD677, 1999)
• Invocation, (Chandos CHAN 9595, 1998)

References[link]

1. ^ Obituary: Jean Lloyd Webber

External links[link]

• William Lloyd Webber's biography
• Air Varie and In the half-light by William Lloyd Webber played by his son, Julian Lloyd Webber
• [1] Performance of Aurora by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lorin Maazel
• Guardian article written by Julian Lloyd Webber about his father

Philippe de Vitry (31 October 1291 – 9 June 1361) was a French composer, music theorist and poet. He was an accomplished, innovative, and influential composer, and may also have been the author of the Ars Nova treatise. He was widely acknowledged as the greatest musician of his day, with Petrarch writing a glowing tribute, calling him: "...the keenest and most ardent seeker of truth, so great a philosopher of our age."^[1]

Life[link]

Details of his early life are sketchy. While some medieval sources claim that he was born in the Champagne region, more recent research indicates that he may have originated in Vitry-en-Artois near Arras.^[2] Given that he is often referred to in documents as "Magister," he is thought likely to have studied at the University of Paris. Later he was prominent in the courts of Charles IV, Philippe VI and Jean II, serving as a secretary and advisor; perhaps aided by these Bourbon connections, he also held several canonries, including Clermont, Beauvais, and Paris, also serving for a time in the antipapal retinue at Avignon starting with Clement VI. In addition to all this, he was a diplomat and a soldier, and is known to have served at the siege of Aiguillon in 1346. In 1351 he became Bishop of Meaux, east of Paris. Moving in all the most important political, artistic, and ecclesiastical circles, he was acquainted with many lights of the age, including Petrarch and the famous mathematician, philosopher and music theorist Nicole Oresme. De Vitry died in Paris on 9 June 1361.

Works[link]

Vitry has been most famous in music history for the Ars nova notandi (1322), a treatise on music attributed to him, which gave its name to the music of the entire era. While his authorship and the very existence of this treatise have recently come into question, a handful of his musical works do survive, and show the innovations in musical notation, particularly mensural and rhythmic, with which he was credited within a century of their inception. Such innovations as are exemplified in his stylistically-attributed motets for the Roman de Fauvel were particularly important, and made possible the free and quite complex music of the next hundred years, culminating in the Ars subtilior. In some ways the "modern" system of rhythmic notation began with the Ars Nova, during which music might be said to have "broken free" from the older idea of the rhythmic modes, patterns which were repeated without being individually notated. The notational predecessors of modern time meters also originate in the Ars Nova.

Vitry is reputed to have written chansons and motets, but only some of the motets have survived. Each motet is strikingly individual, exploring a unique structural idea. Vitry is also often credited with developing the concept of isorhythm (an isorhythmic line is one which has repeating patterns of rhythms and pitches, but the patterns overlap rather than correspond—for example a line of thirty consecutive notes might contain five repetitions of a six-note melody, and six repetitions of a five-note rhythm).

Five of Vitry's three-part motets have survived in the Roman de Fauvel; an additional nine can be found in the Ivrea Codex.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Bent, Margaret, and Andrew Wathey. "Philippe de Vitry," Grove Music Online, Laura Macy, ed., accessed 18 December 2005 <http://www.grovemusic.com>.
• Fuller, Sarah. "A Phantom Treatise of the Fourteenth Century? The Ars Nova". The Journal of Musicology 4, no. 1 (Winter 1985–86): 23–50.
• Hoppin, Richard H. Medieval Music. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1978. ISBN 0-393-09090-6
• Leech-Wilkinson, Daniel. "The Emergence of Ars Nova," The Journal of Musicology 13 (1995): 285-317.
• Sanders, Ernest H. "Philippe de Vitry". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
• Schrade, Leo. "Philippe de Vitry: Some New Discoveries". The Musical Quarterly 42, no. 3 (July 1956): 330–54.
• Wathey, Andrew. "The Motets of Philippe de Vitry and the Fourteenth-Century Renaissance". Early Music History 12 (1993): 119–50.

Recordings[link]

2009 - En un gardin. Les quatre saisons de l'Ars Nova. Manuscrits de Stavelot, Mons, Utrecht, Leiden. Capilla Flamenca. MEW 0852. Contains recordings of "Vos quid admiramini virginem / Gratissima virginis / Gaude gloriosa" and "Adesto sancta trinitas / Firmissime fidem / Alleluia Benedicta" by Philippe de Vitry.

External links[link]

• Biography at classical.net
• Biography
• Free scores by Philippe de Vitry in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores by Philippe de Vitry at the International Music Score Library Project