JASON STOESSEL AND DENIS COLLINS NEW LIGHT ON THE MID-FOURTEENTH-CENTURY CHACE: CANONS HIDDEN IN
THE TOURNAI MANUSCRIPT
The manuscript Tournai, Bibliothèque de la Cathédrale, ms. A 27 (olim 476), is well-known for its early polyphonic setting of the Ordinary of the Mass (fols 28r–33v). Views on the musical cohesion of these settings vary. Charles van den Borren (1957, p. ii) adduced from patterns of transmission and stylistic features that the Mass was the work of several composers over several decades.1 Irene Guletsky has argued for a single composer and a dating of 1317–25. Guletsky‟s conclusions require further scrutiny elsewhere, but David Catalunya‟s re-dating of the Las Huelgas manuscript, which transmits the Credo of the Tournai Mass, to the 1340s has some bearing on this discussion.2 Nicola Tangari‟s recent discovery of yet another transmission of the Credo in a source still in use at Avignon and then Rome in the 1360s challenges both an early dating and a one-composer hypothesis.3 Certainly, the motet Se grasse/Cum venerint/ITE MISSA EST, which completes the Tournai Mass, still attracted the attention of the music theorist Johannes Boen in the 1360s.4
Musicologists have long known that two additional settings of the Ordinary of the Mass, a Sanctus and Kyrie (in that order), appear in ars nova mensural notation in the Tournai manuscript. Yet their true nature has only been recently recognised, despite already being transcribed, albeit erroneously, in well-known twentieth-century monumental editions (see Table 1). In June 2014 Michael Scott Cuthbert announced on social media that he had used computational analysis to show that the once seemingly monophonic Kyrie and Sanctus could be rendered as polyphony.5 In response, Ján Janovčik and Jason Stoessel proposed that each could be performed as a three-voice canon.6 (See Appendices 1 and 2 for Stoessel‟s transcriptions of the Kyrie and Sanctus.)7 The discovery of the Tournai canons changes the history of canonic composition and to some extent established views on the so-called Tournai Mass. Michel Huglo (1988, p. 20
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2 and 2016, p. 27) concluded that the „second‟ Kyrie and Sanctus were additions contemporaneous to the copying of the polyphonic mass, although he hesitated in attributing their copying to the same hand. Yet close inspection of the musical script and ink colours leaves no doubt that the canonic pieces were added by the same scribe responsible for the other polyphonic settings of the Ordinary, and not by one of the subsequent scribes, who continued to add material as late as the sixteenth century. The strong possibility that the Tournai manuscript dates from around 1349, the year in which Bishop Jean Des Prés established a daily Mass extra chorum in honour of the Virgin at Tournai Cathedral (see Huglo 1988, p. 21, and 2016, p. 29), indicates that these are the earliest surviving canonic settings of the Ordinary of the Mass.
The next canonic settings of the Ordinary of the Mass are seen towards the end of the century.8 The musical techniques of the Tournai canons closely resemble those in the tenorless French chace (or chasse) repertoire and are distinct from canonic settings of the Ordinary later in the century. The absence of hocket, which is a dominant feature of the mid- century French chace, nonetheless sets them apart from their secular counterpart. Whether the absence of this musical technique signals the influence of prohibitions issued in 1324 against the use of hocket in the church by Pope John XXII (r. 1316–34) or dates these canons to before the hocket-rich chace repertoire is difficult to tell. Prohibitions against the „cutting up of melodies‟ nonetheless had no effect on the composer of the long „Amen‟ at the end of the Gloria of the Tournai Mass, so it would be unwise to date the Tournai canons using this negative evidence. For now, we assume that the Tournai canons are not much older than the manuscript that contains them, although it is possible that they may have existed in one form or another – especially if orally transmitted – for some time beforehand.9 The aim of this article is to situate the Tournai canons in relation to mid-fourteenth- century French canons, especially those found in Codex Ivrea (I–IV 115) and in the compositions of Guillaume de Machaut.10 Although Spanish caças feature paraliturgical texts, the Tournai canons immediately draw into question the hitherto exclusive association of early canon with the vernacular chace and caccia.11 We take this opportunity to explore compositional techniques shared by the mid-fourteenth-century repertoire of canons without accompanying parts in free counterpoint, principally settings of French vernacular texts. Attendant to this discussion are questions about the status of canon as an improvised
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3 technique in the fourteenth century, and about how knowledge of this technique might have facilitated the realisation of canons, which in this period are notorious for their lack of cues indicating how they must be performed.12 We first examine current theories and observations of canonic techniques in the identified repertoire before proceeding to set out our own analytical framework for understanding early canonic techniques. In this way, we seek to situate the Tournai canons against the background of contemporary French canonic repertoire, as well as to highlight their distinctive features. Compositional Techniques in the Mid-Fourteenth-Century Canon
The repertoire of canons without accompanying non-canonic voices has hitherto been exclusively associated with the mid-fourteenth-century French chace. Pirrotta (1946 and 1947) and others (see Croy [Kassler] 1967 and Newes 1987a and 1987b) have distinguished this category of canon from those accompanied by free, non-canonic parts found principally in the Italian caccia repertoire. Unaccompanied canons in a small number of cacce and in the Spanish caça have been attributed to French influence (Newes 1987a, p. 28). Although Pirrotta (1946) considered the pan-European church to have been a unifying force in the development of canonic techniques on both sides of the Alps, theories concerning their independent development prevail, supported in part by the source situation, even if most Trecento sources of canons are from no earlier than the last quarter of the fourteenth century. Rather than dwelling upon the difficult idea of influence, here we provide a detailed overview of early French canonic techniques that may serve as the basis for a future discussion of patterns of change and possible interactions between other repertoires. The surviving repertoire of mid-century canons in the so-called French style, shown in Table 1, is small in comparison with the canonic caccia repertoire.13 Yet the twelve identified examples reveal that compositions such as Machaut‟s two lais contain a total of eighteen canons, one for each quatrain of poetry. Almost all are three-in-one canons, in which two subsequent strictly imitative voices (comites) are derived from the leading written voice (dux). All items but one in Table 1 are continuous canons. Continuous canon involves the constant unfolding of melody, without repetition (compare Newes 1987b, p. 90) but with phrases related in their structure to earlier ones. In order better to describe and categorise phenomena such as the continuous canon, we define and apply in the following paragraphs a series of terms, including „isoperiod‟, „permutation‟, solus tenor, „melodic design‟ and
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4
„virtual melody‟. This analytical framework will serve to demonstrate, among other things, that continuous canon differs from what Newes (1987b, p. 89) calls the rondellus canon, in which voices frequently cadence together on period boundaries. Only one canon in Table 1, Talent m’est pris, is a circular canon – commonly called a round – in which a voice loops back to its beginning without varying any previous melodic phrases. Four canons are excluded from detailed analysis below: … et belle amie a mon talent is too fragmentary; Hareu, hareu, ie la voy is lost; Jehan Lebeuf d‟Abbeville‟s textless chace has not been transcribed satisfactorily enough to permit any confidence in its analysis; and the status of Machaut‟s triple-texted ballade Sans cuer m’en vois, dolens et esploures/Amis, dolens, maz et desconfortes/Dame, par vous me sens reconfortes (B17) as a continuous canon is disputed.14 Aside from the canons from the Tournai manuscript, the remaining chaces fall into two groups: those that survive in the Ivrea manuscript and those in Machaut‟s lais.15 [INSERT Table 1 NEARBY] Isoperiodicity
John Griffiths (1996a and 1996b) and most recently Mikhail Lopatin (2014) have proposed that several Trecento cacce exhibit repeating ostinato structures. While Griffiths argues for a repeating harmonic structure, Lopatin identifies an underlying melodic ostinato as a structural device in several cacce.16 Since the term „ostinato‟ comes with much baggage, especially in terms of Baroque and twentieth-century compositional processes, we prefer to use the term „isoperiod‟ to refer to successive musical periods of identical length and relatively consistent contrapuntal structure. In mid-fourteenth-century canons each voice follows the previous one in strict imitation at the unison after the same predetermined temporal offset.17 Without exception, the length of a canon‟s isoperiod is equal to the temporal offset between each imitative voice. As a structural quantum, the isoperiod supplies a framework for assessing melodic design against repeated contrapuntal structures. In a three-part canon, for example, the initial three isoperiods of a dux establish a set of rhythmic, registral and voice-leading features that are varied in subsequent isoperiods. Registral and voice-leading features are integrally related to voice exchange, or more properly phrase exchange, which occurs across canonic voices in each subsequent isoperiod. The order in which these melodic features unfold in the first three isoperiods of each voice is repeated in each group of three successive isoperiods. Thus, in a
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5 three-part canon, the fourth isoperiod of the dux is related to the first, the fifth to the second, and so on. Melodic variety between each related isoperiod is maintained through a process of permutation – a term we will define below – which varies the melodic features associated with each isoperiod within the underlying contrapuntal structure behind every isoperiod. As we shall argue, this repeated contrapuntal structure in turn arises from a simple, repeated virtual melody. Isoperiodicity refers therefore to an ordered and repeated series of isoperiods in a composition such as a canon which are related melodically, contrapuntally and structurally. For assessing the structural principles of isoperiodicity in the fourteenth-century canon, Griffiths and Lopatin provide promising insights into a number of Italian cacce. Although it is possible to consider the mid-fourteenth-century French chace in the same way, we propose to develop this model using two contrasting techniques: first by recasting it in terms of late medieval contrapuntal techniques, and then by linking it structurally to another compositional model that was evidenced around this time, the solus tenor. Unlike most cacce, which feature a contrapuntally self-sufficient pair of equal canonic voices on an inessential tenor, early French chaces consist of three canonic voices without a tenor which must be contrapuntally self-sufficient in relation to one another. Or, to put it another way, the dux must be designed so that it provides tenor function when required. It is nonetheless beneficial to consider the „harmonic‟ aspect of chaces, which we understand as resulting from the construction of dyadic contrapuntal pairs in mutual relationship with one another, before moving on to a discussion of a virtual melodic framework.18 We shall not examine in any detail the rhythmic design of isoperiodic structures, although it will become apparent that structural contrapuntal rhythm was organised either at the level of mode (modus) or time (tempus) with reference to mensural notation. A tick-style bar line is used in our music examples to indicate the onsets of larger mensural units that form the macro-rhythmic framework of each isoperiod. In other examples, the duration encompassed by the bar is implied by the sum of the duration of the notes it encompasses. Since, in the canons examined here, the structural rhythmic unit is either the mensural long or the breve, the captions of our music examples will indicate whether the isoperiodic structure is barred at the modal or the temporal onset, that is, at the mensural long or breve.19 Compared to the original mensural notes, note values in transcribed music examples will be
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6 uniformly reduced at the ratio of four to one. A modern minim, for example, takes the place of a mensural breve, and the semibreve is used for a long. An exception to this rule is the use of „generic‟ longs to summarise the contents of an organising rhythmic unit within an isoperiod. Note names in this essay will refer to their transcribed note names in examples, or to their mensural note names in the context of original notation. The chaces in Codex Ivrea (see again Table 1) consist of three continuous canons and the sole example of circular canon, Talent m’est pris. Although all chaces are transmitted anonymously in Ivrea, Karl Kügle has attributed perhaps the most ambitious example of mid- century chace, Se je chant mains que ne suelh, to Denis Le Grant.20 In Se je chante, the structure of its five-bar isoperiod transforms over time, moving from one emphasising D- centric consonant sonorities to F-, C- and again F-centric sections of three or more isoperiods (Ex. 1).21 Yet the second to fourth bars of each isoperiod remain strongly oriented to G, D and G sonorities except from bar 80 onwards, where more variety occurs in the third bar of each isoperiod. Within each isoperiod, sonorities are most stable at the beginning and end. The third bar, especially after the first five isoperiods, is unstable, although a preference for cadential progressions in both voice pairs emerges in the last three isoperiods. Further, the isoperiodic design of this chace incorporates a pivot around a G sonority that is avoided at the final cadence. Thus, while a strong tonal centre on F is perceived in Se je chante, forward motion is maintained by G sonorities. [INSERT Ex. 1 NEARBY]
By contrast, Tres dous compains and Umblemens vos pri are astonishingly static across their isoperiods, deriving most of their forward momentum from melodic gestures and local voice leading (Ex. 2).22 Tres dous compains is unabashedly archaic in its control of vertical relations, using passages of parallel fifths more appropriate to the older discant style than to the contrapuntal one. While this might suggest that it is a very old canon, it could also point to its creation within a more conservative tradition where organum was still being sung. [INSERT Ex. 2 NEARBY] Isoperiods are present in each of the chaces of Machaut‟s Lays 16 and 17.23 The six chaces of Le Lay de la fonteinne all feature six-bar isoperiods strongly concluding with <8/5> on G as a tonal centre, except in the final isoperiod, which concludes on a consonant D
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7 sonority. Penultimate sonorities are formed from contrapuntal relations with the melodic degree a step above the final. Machaut‟s Lay 17 will be discussed further below. Before examining how phrase exchange and permutation play a role in early canonic techniques, the structural foundation of isoperiodicity needs to be explored and defined with recourse to another compositional technique evidenced in sources from around 1400 and clearly associated in several cases with canons. That the relationship between the solus tenor and canon has been hitherto overlooked in scholarship – possibly because the full extent of its evidence has emerged only in recent decades – affords a unique opportunity for proposing an innovative but historically anchored model for canonic composition in the fourteenth century. Structural Principles
In his insightful discussion of the chaces in Codex Ivrea, Kügle (1997, p. 155) holds that continuous canons consist of a series of interrelated melodic lines extending over a repeated period of predetermined length, within which successive melodies fall at predetermined points of consonance in relation to each other. We consider this equivalent to a series of permutations on and in an isoperiodic structure. Kügle argues that the process must have been similar to the composition of a motet in which upper voices were added to a predetermined tenor, except that, in the case of a canon, the tenor was a virtual one and not necessarily based upon a chant model as for many motets. Each isoperiod in a fourteenth- century continuous canon can be likened to a talea in a motet. Although Kügle states that „no additional planning akin to the layout of the talea in relationship with the color was needed in the chace‟, in chaces there is a strong sense of precise correspondence between a virtual talea and color, manifest in the ostinato-like succession of consonances that point to a repeated virtual color. Kügle‟s proposed structural model for continuous canons deserves further attention and review, for it suggests the possibility of recovering a historically construed model of early canonic composition. Rather than thinking in terms of the fourteenth-century French motet‟s compositional technique of color and talea, early French canonic technique might be better understood analytically from the evidential basis of the early solus tenor. We propose that the apparent function of a solus tenor as a compositional aid can be extended for analysis, thereby providing a means for moving beyond the „harmonic‟ model of isoperiodicity to one in which a virtual melodic line determines the contrapuntal framework
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8 of a canon. We will demonstrate the validity of this approach first by exploring the significance of sola tenores accompanying canons from around 1400 and then by detailed analysis of the majority of mid-fourteenth century French canons. The label solus tenor was sometimes added to a notated part in music manuscripts from the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The solus tenor is invariably a lower voice and characteristically incorporates the function of two lower voices, often a tenor and contratenor, in whose presence it is regularly found written. For this reason, musicologists had assumed that the solus tenor served as a substitute for a pair of lower voices, possibly in the face of diminished performance forces. In a series of articles, Margaret Bent has instead proposed that the solus tenor may have been used as a compositional aid for adding upper voices to lower voices without recourse to a score.24 Bent suggests moreover that some compositions were composed with an aid of a conflation of lower parts (namely the tenor and contratenor) or a virtual solus tenor. Significantly, three examples of sola tenores that replace or conflate a pair of low canonic voices are extant from the late fourteenth century or shortly afterwards. All three have been amply discussed in the literature, although we bring fresh insights into O Amicus/Precursoris based upon new readings of its text and music. Despite the half-century gap that separates these solus tenor–bearing canons from the earlier chace repertoire, the examples nonetheless shed light on canonic techniques used in the fourteenth century. Pycard‟s Gloria (GB-Lbl 57950, „Old Hall MS‟, no. 27) may be the most recent of this group.25 A solus tenor conflates the tenor and contratenor in canon at the unison with a five-breve temporal offset, against which sound another treble canon and a freely composed voice in the same range.26 Bent (1993, p. 22; reprinted in 2002, p. 267) has concluded that differences between the solus tenor and the lower canonic pair indicate that the lower canon was subsequently modified. The lower canonic voices and the solus tenor both form acceptable counterpoint with treble voices but seem to represent different stages of composition. Bent also observes that differences between the solus tenor and the lower canonic pair occur at the same point in each five-breve isoperiod. The isoperiodic structure is established at the beginning of this composition by the temporal offset between the duces and comites in both canons. Apart from a one-breve pivot at bar 56, the solus tenor exhibits a sequence of consonant counterpoint on the pitches F–C–(D or C)–(A or C)–G.27 These are
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9 not always the lowest pitches in the contrapuntal framework, but they often occur in a middle voice between regular long onsets within the mensural framework. The greatest instability falls on the third and fourth breves of each isoperiod, sometimes as a prolongation of the previous breve‟s contrapuntal function and sometimes as what might be called neighbour- note relations, such as the use of both D and C sonorities in the third breve. After breve 56 there is a strong sense that the series of pitches within the isoperiod has been transformed by the doubling of the first breve (as C) and the penultimate G into F–C–C–G–G. The anonymous Blijfs mi doch bi, gheselle goet survives as a tenor and solus tenor in Amsterdam, Universiteitsbibliotheek, Ms. ES 64, fol. 1r.28 Rob Wegman (1992, pp. 185–7) recognised that the solus tenor of this song encapsulates, albeit in approximate rhythmical terms, the counterpoint formed by the contratenor, whose note values are double those of tenor with which it commences simultaneously.29 Yet, this is a very different class of canon: its contrapuntal structure is dynamic and free from the isoperiodicity observed in Pycard‟s Gloria and the earlier French canonic repertoire. The solus tenor would have easily provided the foundation for an upper voice that is now lost. The voice layout in the Amsterdam fragments suggests that the cantus once appeared on the facing verso in the same opening, possibly with another text that shared the theme of two companions bantering in a singing competition. The anonymous motet O amicus/Precursoris is possibly the oldest surviving example in which a solus tenor conflates a lower-voice canon.30 It survives in GB-Ipswich, Suffolk Record Office, HA 30: 50/22/13.15, fols Iv–IIr, in four voices: two separately texted trebles (C1 and C2), a tenor and a solus tenor. A fifth voice, a contratenor, is derived from the tenor to form a simultaneous mensuration canon. In this canon the imperfect mode of the tenor dux is transformed into the perfect mode of the contratenor comes (the comes‟s longs are worth three, rather than two, imperfect breves); then the imperfect tempus of the diminished tenor is transformed into perfect tempus of the contratenor. In her report on the fragmentary source published with David Howlett, Bent provided an ingenious solution for the canon in O amicus/Precursoris in which she proposed that some notes and rests were transposed in the canonic contratenor. Here we would like to offer some „further variations and refinements‟ as invited by Bent and Howlett (1989, p. 52).
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10
Bent determined from the solus tenor of O amicus/Precursoris that its canonic contratenor needs to be performed a fifth higher than the tenor dux. She and Howlett nonetheless overlooked a vital clue in the text of Cantus II that explicitly states this (Table 2). Although they proposed that mellisona concordia in line 2 implied a canon at the fifth, it can denote no more than a perfect consonance, given that in the fourteenth century all concords of the unison, fifth and octave were considered sweet sounding. Rather, lines 6 and 7 prescribe the interval of imitation, especially if Bent and Howlett‟s tentative emendation of epogdoi to hemioli is discarded. Epogdous is the ancient Greek term for sesquioctava or the 9:8 proportion. Students of Pythagoras know that the 9:8 division of a string produces a whole tone, knowledge that was transmitted to the Middle Ages in Boethius and in numerous Latin writings on music from late antiquity onwards (e.g. Friedlein 1867, p. 11 [I.1], and Ellsworth 1993, p. 350). As reported by Bent and Howlett (1989, p. 83), Thomas Walker suggested that scemus was an alternate orthography of semus. Rather than denoting „half‟, semus can be taken as an adjective denoting a part of a whole. When in grammatical apposition with the whole tone, semus would seem to refer to the diatonic semitone.31 Scemus/semus has nothing to do with the written-out diminution by half in the last third of the tenor. Thus lines 6 and 7 instruct the musician to perform the comes „by climbing up three-whole-and-a-semi tones‟, in other words, at the fifth above. [INSERT Table 2 NEARBY] The preceding line of the text of cantus II also has nothing to do with the notational practice of using different-coloured inks to indicate a change of time; rather, it uses color in the sense of a repeated borrowed melody often found in the tenors of isorhythmic motets (see Newes 1987b, pp. 12–13 and 26). The ablative clause in lines 6–7 specifies how the color or borrowed melody is changed. Finally, line 8 may refer to the English usage of the term pes to denote repeated tenors. Bent and Howlett (1989, p. 83) tentatively suggest this but do not adopt it in their final reading. The rhyming of both technical terms, coloribus … pedibus, confirms this newly proposed reading. We accordingly read line 8 with the following line to indicate that the canonic voices step out the same period of 30 breves together but in different modes (or tempora, in the case of the diminished taleae). Despite a change of mode and therefore different durations, the two canonic voices begin and end together, especially when mensural alteration in the comes is taken into consideration. Bent‟s reading of this line to
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11 indicate a reversal of rests and notes in the comes now seems strained. How the macro- rhythmic parity between the dux and comes is achieved is intimated, albeit opaquely, in the following stanza, which states that the cursus of its two voices can be changed subtly so that while one proceeds simply (that is unchanged), the other‟s journey can be shortened. This is achieved by transferring the pair of long rests that forms the sixth and seventh durations of the tenor‟s talea from the comes contratenor to the performed tenor. The adverb viriliter, possibly a reference to viriliter agite („be a man‟), serves as a subtle encouragement for one singer to perform the notes as written (currens suum simpliciter cursum) and another not to fall silent, but rather to sing on by ignoring the written rests (iter breviter). Our interpretation of the mensuration canon at the fifth above in O amicus/Precursoris is shown with the solus tenor in Ex. 3. Bent‟s reading of the upper voices is perfectly concordant with this interpretation, and the reader should consult her and Howlett‟s article. [INSERT Ex. 3 NEARBY] In a recent article, Michael Anderson (2013, pp. 650–4) has discussed the transformation of imperfect to perfect modus and tempus in O amicus in relation to the triplum text, in which John the Baptist speaks of the coming of the stronger man, of none that is greater than the Spirit. The idea of the imperfect made perfect references a key idea in the Christological narrative in the motet for Christ‟s predecessor. Certainly the play on precursoris and cursus between the plainchant tenor and triplum text is significant. To return to the main thread of our argument, the three cases of sola tenores transmitted with canonic voices illustrate that, at least conceptually if not compositionally, canonic textures can be thought of in terms of consonant relations with a repeated melody, akin to the idea of the color in the medieval motet and the talea whenever isoperiodic structures are evident in canons.32 In the case of O amicus, the solus tenor traces the line of the lowest voice in the two-part canonic texture (Bent‟s basso seguente type). This is not necessarily the case in Blijfs mi doch bi, gheselle goet, whose solus tenor at first follows the tenor even when it is not the lowest voice before synchronising with the double note values of the contratenor. Yet, all three cases illustrate that the solus tenor‟s note is always consonant with the other canonic voices. Problems nonetheless arise, with the potential for further recomposition when free, non-canonic parts are added in relation to the solus tenor, as Bent has demonstrated in the publications cited above.
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12
To illustrate how the idea of the solus tenor as an analytical category can inform an understanding of isoperiodicity, we turn to Machaut‟s Lay 17. Le Lay de confort features twelve chaces with similar isoperiodic structures, although the first and last chaces are based on a four-bar isoperiod rather than the more common six-bar one (Ex. 4). While each isoperiod varies in its internal structure, there is a strong preference for concluding each on consonant <5/1>, <5/5> or <8/5> sonorities on F. In several instances, different consonant sonorities are clearly possible at the same point in an isoperiod, but the note (or notes) shared by both sonorities unifies all occurrences of an isoperiod. For example, the commonality of D in the alternative sonorities at the beginning of chace 3 point to D and G respectively as structural tones at those points. Similarly, more complex sonorities, like the penultimate ones in chaces 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 11 are the consequence of different contrapuntal relationships built on and around a structurally important G that descends to the final F in each isoperiod. In these and other cases, Machaut seems to be selecting notes from a matrix of limited consonant contrapuntal relations to each structural tone, while simultaneously observing conventions of contrapuntal progression (especially directed progression) and voice leading. The latter criterion has implications for our discussion of permutation below.33
[INSERT Ex. 4 NEARBY] Based upon the foregoing summary of contrapuntal isoperiodic design, Ex. 5 proposes putative sola tenores for the twelve chaces in Machaut‟s Lay 17. Fundamental for arriving at this structural virtual melody are the principles of dyadic counterpoint, especially the strong tendency of imperfect consonance to be followed by perfect consonance reached by contrary melodic steps. These principles have been already detailed in the literature, and we shall refrain from rehearsing them here.34 Because it is fundamental to dyadic counterpoint, consonance serves above all to inform when a tone might be the most structurally significant within a nexus of dyads in polyphonic textures. For example, in the penultimate sonority of chace 2 of Lay 17, a fourth may sound above the solus tenor note G, but only if it is supported by a third below (i.e. an E). The result is an effective shift of the contrapuntal emphasis or tenor function from G to E.35 Admittedly, this analysis often glosses over the spicy dissonances that Machaut weaves into his music‟s surface structures through voice
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13 leading and melodic elaboration. Yet, it does not change the fact that dissonance is not fundamental to counterpoint, despite its centrality in providing distinctive, individuating musical features in polyphonic works. Finally, the astute reader will notice that the profiles of several of these sola tenores at times resemble respective melodic lines in each chace, which points to the centrality of melodic design in the isoperiodicity of the mid-century canons. The opening of chace 2, for example, features two interlocking descending melodic fifths, as in the proposed analytical solus tenor in Ex. 5. [INSERT Ex. 5 NEARBY]
To continue the exercise of proposing a series of sola tenores as structural virtual melodies for the French repertoire of canons would soon tire readers, who are instead invited to extrapolate their own readings using the methods outlined here. Rather, we return to a discussion of other techniques used in mid-fourteenth-century French canons before a concluding section that situates the Tournai canons within this repertoire according to a clearer picture of its structural principles and compositional techniques.
Permutation
Phrase exchange and permutation provide the means for beginning to evaluate relationships between each isoperiod and across series of isoperiods (typically groups of three isoperiods). The principle of phrase exchange appears to have been adopted and extended to govern the isoperiodic design of chaces in the Ivrea manuscript and Machaut‟s canonic lais.36 We employ the term „permutation‟ to describe this extension of phrase exchange: the material of all three opening isoperiods in the canonic dux returns in a varied form for at least one more presentation during the remainder of the piece. Unlike the earlier use of phrase exchange, permutation in chaces involves ornamentation or modification of the melodic and rhythmic content of the earlier isoperiods.37 Talent m’est pris demonstrates the principle of phrase exchange in its simplest form, where there is no change to the isoperiods upon their repetition. In Table 3 each dux isoperiod is labelled I, II, or III, with the length of each isoperiod corresponding to the temporal offset of the chace. The comites enter in turn, and the voices can repeat ad infinitum, that is, as a round (Ex. 6). [INSERT Ex. 6 NEARBY]
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14
[INSERT Table 3 NEARBY] Other chaces from the Ivrea manuscript use permutation to move beyond the straightforward use of phrase exchange in Talent m’est pris. Their greater length and emphasis on rhythmic devices such as hocket or rapid rhythmic figurations, often for pictorial or dramatic purposes, means that resemblances to the opening isoperiods may be less obvious. However, permutation among isoperiods is easier to identify when we take a synoptic view of the dux according to each of the opening three isoperiods aligned with its variants. For instance, the dux of Umblemens vos pri (Ex. 7) comprises seven presentations of each of the three opening isoperiods. There are clear resemblances between isoperiods Ia, Ib and Ic, and likewise between IIa and IIb and between IIIa and IIIb. Even when the melodic writing becomes more animated as the work progresses, correspondences still exist that indicate adherence to a permutation framework – for example, the emphasis on the pitch A at the end of the second and third bars of isoperiodic group I, or the progression F–G–A across the last two bars of this isoperiodic group. Sometimes resemblances may occur between two isoperiods at some distance from each other; for example, the second bars of isoperiods IIIb and IIIg both have a prominent descending F–E–D melodic movement. Even where the melodic profile seems to depart from the opening isoperiod, the choice of notes adheres to the sonorities associated with the isoperiodic structure overall (compare Ex. 7 with Ex. 2). In other words, permutation is constrained by isoperiodicity, notwithstanding variety of rhythm or melodic ornamentation. [INSERT Ex. 7 NEARBY] The chaces from Machaut‟s canonic lais employ a standardized approach to permutation: in each of the six chaces in Le Lay de la fonteinne the dux presents isoperiods Ia, IIa, IIIa, Ib, IIb, IIIb twice in succession. Musical repetition corresponds to the pair of text strophes in each chace. The isoperiods Ib, IIb and IIIb are variants of the opening three isoperiods. This structure is also employed in eight of the chaces in Le Lay de confort, while the other chaces in this work (numbers 3, 4, 6 and 9) extend the permutation for another iteration, with Ic, IIc and IIIc being further variants of the opening dux isoperiods (Tables 4a and 4b). This supports the view that Machaut was keenly aware of the structural coherence that permutation design could bring to each chace. [INSERT Tables 4a and 4b NEARBY]
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15
The second chace, „Et si ne m‟a que d‟un oueil‟, from Machaut‟s Le Lay de confort demonstrates the procedure outlined in Table 4a.38 The end of each dux isoperiod is articulated by means of long notes, rests and cadential motion, and there are clear resemblances between each of the three opening isoperiods and their varied repetitions later in the piece. Each isoperiod draws upon sonorities associated with the isoperiodic structure outlined in Ex. 4, notwithstanding that structurally important notes may occasionally occur as melody notes on metrically weak positions surrounded by various kinds of rhythmic and dissonant activity. Overall, the chaces in Machaut‟s Lays 16 and 17 employ permutation as we have described, although sometimes with less obvious melodic similarities between isoperiods. This may arise, for instance, through the use of rests for one or sometimes two bars in succession within an isoperiod. For example, in chace 4 of Le Lay de confort, isoperiod Ib has rests for the third and fourth bars, while isoperiod IIb has rests for all but the third and fourth bars. In similar fashion, chace 6 of Le Lay de confort has one-bar rests in several of its isoperiods. Although reducing obvious melodic and rhythmic similarities between isoperiodic groups, this use of rests does not reduce the clarity of cadential motion and articulation between isoperiods in either chace 4 or chace 6 of this lai.39 In other chaces, the different choice of melodic notes between one isoperiod and its later variant may at first seem unrelated. In the third chace (labelled „Chace 6‟ in Leo Schrade‟s edition [1956]) of Le Lay de la fonteinne, for instance, isoperiod IIIa begins with a whole bar of rest followed by a G lasting for all of the next bar, while isoperiod IIIb begins with a whole bar of rest followed by the pitch A for a full bar.40 However, consideration of the isoperiodic structure for this chace (omitted here for reasons of space) would show how both G and A belong to the sonorities associated with the second bar of each isoperiod of this piece. „Ne say se me suis vantee‟, the ninth chace from Le Lay de confort, offers an intriguing example of Machaut‟s careful regulation of permutation in his canonic lais (see Ex. 8, the dux only from this chace). While similarities between isoperiods are evident, as, for example, between isoperiods IIa and IIb, similarities between other isoperiods are far less apparent. While scanning isoperiods Ia, Ib and Ic, for instance, the contrast in pitches, rhythms and use of rests seems calculated to obscure any permutational resemblance. Furthermore, in several places in this chace, the use of rests within isoperiods, but not
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16 between them, seems to blur the distinction between consecutive isoperiods. This is in contrast to chaces 4 and 6, where rests do not impede the sense of isoperiodic structure overall. In chace 9, from isoperiod Ib onwards, we can see how rests may give a sense of continuity to the following melodic activity, which goes across the divisions between isoperiods.41 Yet a comparison of Ex. 8 with Ex. 4 reveals that Machaut drew consistently upon sonorities associated with the isoperiodic structure of this chace in the design of each isoperiod, no matter how dissimilar the melodic and rhythmic profiles may appear. Therefore, correspondences between dux isoperiods and their variants is reinforced more generally in Machaut‟s chaces through sonorities determined in large part by the isoperiodic design of the work, whereas permutation appears to play a more variable role in the structural articulation of individual chaces. [INSERT Ex. 8 NEARBY] Melodic Design Closely related to the idea of isoperiodically constrained melodic permutation is melodic design in the early canonic repertoire. Although our discussion is confined to the mid- fourteenth-century French canonic repertoire, the principle outlined here can also be observed in Italian trecento canons. One of the more straightforward ideas seems to have been that a canonic melody needed to be designed so that it made use of different registers as each successive voice entered. Thus, while the first isoperiod of the canon might stay within the lower fifth of a melody‟s ambitus, as each voice entered, it would climb or leap into a higher register such that its first note in the next isoperiod formed a consonance with the entering voice. Clearly this strategy is integrally related to the principle of phrase exchange and the exploration of a contrapuntal space within a limited range of dyadic combinations. In Se je chant the descent from A to the tonal centre of D sets a relationship suitable for the entry of the first comes, which comes in at the fifth above the relevant note in dux (Ex. 9). Noticeably, after the entry of the first comes, the dux then, in the second isoperiod, climbs upwards in preparation for the entry of the second comes, which forms a fifth-plus-octave sonority with the upper voices at the beginning of the third isoperiod. A similar observation applies to the descending phrase from C to F in Tres dous compains. Umblemens vos pri presents a different picture, wherein a rest clearly punctuates the end of the first phrase and the comes enters below the dux (Ex. 10). Pointedly, at the entry of the second comes in all
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17 three chaces, the dux always forms an octave above one of the comites as part of an <8/5> sonority. The same principles can be observed in Machaut‟s three-part lais (Exs 11 and 12). [INSERT Exs 9, 10, 11 AND 12 NEARBY] In the case of the Tournai canons, the Sanctus canon (Appendix 2, bars 1–11) illustrates a classic technique of ascending register shift at the beginning of each canonic entry, which is close to the design of Se je chant. The Kyrie canon (Appendix 1, bars 1–15), on the other hand, displays a relatively static structure that privileges an ambitus of a fifth and reaches into the upper register only at its conclusion. However, other features of the Tournai Kyrie would have been well-known to contemporary musicians, especially in the context of improvisation. For instance, the descending stepwise motion of the opening dux isoperiod is matched by a passage of contrary motion upon the entry of the first comes (see the second system of the transcription in Appendix 1). This passage recalls the principle of „neighbouring consonances‟ for successions of dyads, which is found in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century treatises.42 According to this method, a melody (often a cantus firmus) that ascends or descends by step may be set to an expanding and contracting succession of intervals. In this way, a unison may be followed by a third in contrary motion, which is then followed by a fifth, and so on for other sonorities. Although these registral placements present themselves as well-known strategies for commencing canons in three voices, we propose that these melodic features may have also served to alert performers to the presence of a canon (or to jog their memories in the case of a known composition) when there was no other form of notational or verbal prompt signalling the presence of such a composition, including the temporal offset between successive entries. It seems reasonable to argue that a skilled singer would have had merely to glance at the profile of a mensural notated voice of a canon to grasp its true nature. The Tournai Canons Reconsidered The Tournai Canonic Kyrie and Permutation Table 5 illustrates the permutation structure of the Kyrie. Each of the three isoperiods and its variants is represented in Table 5 by the roman numerals I, II and III (similar to the tables for permutation discussed above). The dux material comprises three cycles through the three isoperiods, but without a return to the opening isoperiods that gave the sense of control and
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18 balance seen in Machaut‟s chaces. When the dux reaches the end of its material, the comites end without completing all three isoperiodic groups. [INSERT Table 5 NEARBY] The dux in the edition of the Kyrie in Appendix 1 has been labelled according to the sequence of isoperiods shown in Table 5. There are obvious similarities among the permutations for each of the three isoperiods (I, II and III) of the dux. For instance, isoperiod Ib preserves isoperiod Ia almost intact apart from rests and some small rhythmic diminution in the third and fifth bars. Although isoperiod Ic includes more rhythmic diminution, the melodic contours of the previous isoperiods Ia and Ib are still evident. Likewise, isoperiodic groups II and III reveal very similar melodic and rhythmic profiles, with the most rhythmically animated material occurring in the third group of each (IIc and IIIc). A comparison of isoperiods reveals several interrelationships. Most obvious among these is the cadential pattern A–G that appears at the end of group I isoperiods in successive voices (see Appendix 1). This means that the A–G progression is always heard in one voice during performance. This descending melodic step is always preceded by the pitch B, and this same B–A–G progression is heard three times in the opening isoperiod (Ia), indicating that a recurrent melodic pattern underpins the Kyrie structure overall. A scan of each isoperiod shows the static nature of the consonant sonorities on each dotted minim within each seven- bar isoperiod of the Kyrie, with little variation between isoperiods. However, the first pitch, G, of the isoperiod Ia presents an ambivalent case, because it supports D a fifth above but cannot support the pitch A that appears in later permutations. The prominent position of the whole-bar D at the beginning of isoperiod IIIa and its appropriation at the beginning of isoperiod Ic suggests that this note is structurally more important since it can support sonorities containing either G or A that occur during the piece.43 It is possible, then, that the Kyrie is based on a virtual melody comprising a three-fold isoperiodic repetition of a filled-in descending fifth starting on D, but with the third repetition truncated to omit the note D (giving D–C–B–A–G–D–C–B–A–G–C–B–A–G). This pattern suggests a chanson-style compositional process in which a slightly lower tenor and slightly higher triplum voice are constructed in relation to a middle cantus voice. The virtual melody may be regarded as a newly made song line to serve as scaffolding for the composition.
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19
Ex. 13 presents the proposed melodic scaffolding in the upper stave with the sonorities arising from isoperiodicity and permutation on the lower stave. Notice again how the first bar of the isoperiodic structure presents an ambivalent situation, with the D–C virtual progression disguised by sonorities that emphasise D but not C until the second half of the composition. The pivot at bar 36 (in Appendix 1) to a sonority where A occupies the full duration of the first bar ensures the virtual note C a more structurally significant presence in the remainder of the composition. Although the virtual melody ends each of its threefold descending patterns on G, <5/3> sonorities occur on either E or G at this point. In the first instance (the fifth note of the top stave in Ex. 13), there is a <5/3> on E, while the second iteration concludes with a <5/3> on G (tenth note). In the final case, the E sonority gives way to a G sonority only in the last two isoperiods (corresponding to the isoperiods IIc and IIIc in Appendix 1). Similarly, semibreves 3 and 8 (the note B on the top stave) in Ex. 13 take E and G sonorities respectively, while the B in the last iteration of the virtual pattern (the twelfth note) appears to create an ambiguity between G and E sonorities, with the latter more clearly projected in systems 6 and 7 of Appendix 1. All of this suggests that E sonorities may have been used both to provide variety from G sonorities and to give forward momentum through delays to expected <8/5> sonorities until the end of the work. [INSERT Ex. 13 NEARBY] While the virtual song line in Ex. 13 accounts for all of the sonorities throughout the permutation structure and isoperiodicity of the Kyrie, a structurally important pitch (apart from the note C at the opening) is sometimes only implicit in the texture, as, for example, at bar 51 where the third virtual song pitch B is not present in the E/G/E sonority (see Appendix 1). Also noteworthy are the brief rhythmic figures used to ornament the virtual song line towards the end of the Kyrie. For instance, short-note patterns around the virtual note C occur in isoperiod Ic and in bars 4 and 6 of the final isoperiod IIIc (bars 46, 60 and 62 of Appendix 1). These embellishments suggest an awareness of the potential for obscuring the structural significance of this note, something that could have delighted performers – especially, perhaps, in the context of improvisation.44 The Tournai Canonic Sanctus and Solus Tenor Principle
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20
Roman numerals with a lower-case letter indicate isoperiods and their permutations in the transcription of the Tournai Sanctus in Appendix 2. Comparison of each identified isoperiod highlights several aspects of its design and cross-periodic relationships. Firstly, the <8/5> sonority on D always appears in the final bar of each isoperiod and is emphasised in the majority of instances by cadential progressions 6–8 or 3–5 in the last two bars of each isoperiod. Only three out of 23 isoperiods (IIf, IIIf and Ig) end less emphatically. In terms of the contrapuntal progression over each isoperiod, as summarised in Ex. 14, one might conclude that it is based upon a virtual repeating solus tenor that is identical to the opening gambit, D–G–F–E–D. Yet a scan of the first bar of each isoperiod reveals that D cannot function as a virtual solus tenor note; rather, the first pitch of the repeating solus tenor must be A, with due consideration of the upper and lower appoggiaturas on the first dotted minim at this point in the canonic isoperiod. The virtual solus tenor A–G–F–E–D in semibreves (mensural longs) provides an explanation for the shift from E-, G- and C-based sonorities in the second bar of each isoperiod: the notes of each successive sonority are consonant with G, C harmonising at the fifth below, E-based sonorities at the third below or the sixth above. Sometimes G is only implicit, as in the <10/8> sonority on C that is formed at bar 62 (see Appendix 2) when all three parts are performed in canon. Evidently there is also a coefficient regulating the permissible combination of dyads, since G is never harmonised with a fourth unless it is supported by another dyadic combination, such as E a third below G. Some prolongation of this G across the following bar or onset also occurs in each isoperiod from bar 81 onwards in Appendix 2, where F-based sonorities in the third bar of each isoperiod are delayed by a semibreve, similar to the use of a suspension or an appoggiatura in the first long of some isoperiods. [INSERT Ex. 14 NEARBY] The melodic and rhythmic similarities across isoperiods Ia to Id in the Sanctus outline the solus tenor notes. By contrast, isoperiods Ie to Ih appear to support consonant sonorities above the sounding or virtual solus tenor notes, including endings on the fifth and octave above (A and D respectively). There is a generally uniform rhythmic profile in the second isoperiodic group (II) notwithstanding some contrasts in pitch; for instance, its second bar takes either a B above or a C below (which can be harmonised simultaneously with a C an octave above), both of which support the sounding or virtual solus tenor pitch G.45 The third
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21 isoperiodic group (III) likewise maintains similar rhythmic content overall, while the melody often reinforces the solus tenor (evident on the second semibreves on G in isoperiods IIIb, IIIe, IIIf and IIIg, and the progression E–D on the onsets of the last two bars in isoperiods IIId to IIIg). The technique of permutation clearly projects the solus tenor for the first half of the Sanctus (bars 1–60 in Appendix 2). The solus tenor continues to govern the choice of consonant sonorities for the remainder of the piece, although its permutation appears to have a lesser role in consonant choices. This is evident especially in bars 61–85 of Appendix 2, where none of the voices trace the solus tenor pattern. However, the sonorities in each isoperiod, especially those formed at each onset, are consonant with the virtual solus tenor pitches. In other words, contrapuntal structures can still be construed in relation to the virtual solus tenor even when it is not explicitly present. It is possible nonetheless to trace the now- virtual solus tenor as it moves from voice to voice in these systems. Finally, from bar 86 to the end the solus tenor is projected clearly in one voice in every isoperiod. Other structural features of the Sanctus are noteworthy. There appears to be a strategic placement of a rest on the first bar of isoperiods from bar 41, which culminates with further rests in the same location, leading to a „general pause‟ in all voices at bar 66 of Appendix 2. This creates a strong break which emphasises the beginning of the „Benedictus‟. Furthermore, the solus tenor pitch A becomes prominent from bar 71 onwards, though it may be implied, perhaps retrospectively, in the whole-bar rest in all voices at bar 66. Lastly, the „Osanna‟ is marked by the distinctive prolongation of the pitch G across the onset of the third dotted semibreve, offering further illustration of the composer‟s sensitivity to the liturgical significance of different sections of the „Sanctus‟ text. This of course reinforces a general understanding of the liturgical division of the Sanctus into the „Sanctus‟, „Benedictus‟ and „Osanna‟. Although we have traced sola tenores in Machaut‟s chaces and in the Tournai canonic Sanctus, we do not claim that a solus tenor is a feature that can be identified in every chace or chace-like composition. As we have shown, the Tournai canonic Kyrie provides a contrasting compositional approach to the solus tenor seen in the Tournai canonic Sanctus and elsewhere, but the Kyrie still appears to invoke the principle of a virtual melody to underpin its contrapuntal structure overall.
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22
[INSERT LINE SPACE HERE] The reader might ask why the Tournai canons remained undiscovered for so long, especially given that this has not been the case for several chaces in the Ivrea manuscript, which lack any indications of their canonic nature, including the temporal offset and the interval of imitation. Certain features of the texts in the Ivrea chaces Se je chante, Tres dous amis and Umblemens might have served as cues: their topics are, respectively, falconry, an amorous chase and a friendly dispute. The sensible answer might be that musicians who were familiar with this repertoire would have known that these were canonic works and how to perform them. This is possibly correct, but as we have shown above, chaces share distinctive features of melodic design, isoperiodic structure and melodic repetition and permutation to suggest that a musician trained in the intricacies of canonic techniques would have recognised them by eye, ear or both. Rudimentary knowledge of canonic techniques would also have allowed a musician to recognise whether a written-out single line was canonic. Huglo seems to have recognised that the Sanctus lines had a contrapuntal relationship to one another, and as recent experience has shown, it was only a short leap of trying out a canonic performance of a line that led to the discovery of a canon. All of these features also point to practices of musical improvisation. The rules of thumb for melodic design, the establishment of a short repeated but virtual solus tenor or cantus melody and the regular punctuation of each isoperiod with cadential progressions offer a mental framework upon which to generate melodic lines and their permutations. Only one musician in a group need possess such knowledge, since all decisions are made by the first voice in a canon, the dux. A further historically significant query might be whether the Tournai canons could have functioned within a liturgical context, and indeed what an appropriate strategy for the texting of all voices would have been. Three possibilities can be considered. The first is that the comites sing the same configuration of text as the dux, but that all voices conclude when the dux reaches its final note. The less convincing alternative is that the two comites trail off into a monophonic ending. In either case, texts would overlap, so that, for example, the dux would begin singing the „Christe‟ while the comites are finishing the first „Kyrie‟. Both solutions seem unsatisfactory, mostly because their overlapping texts would produce a
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23 fivefold plea for mercy from God, Christ and God again – which is liturgical nonsense. A more orthodox solution has the comites simultaneously sing the same text as the dux. The performance as a whole would satisfy the liturgical requirement of a thrice-threefold plea to the godhead. A similar conclusion for the Sanctus seems particularly apt given the „general pause‟ that is cleverly built into the canon to separate the „Sanctus‟ from the following „Benedictus‟ to allow for the consecration of bread and wine, a tradition that was to become most pronounced in the following century of polyphonic settings of the Mass. In the Kyrie, the innovation of incorporating the threefold plea into a canonic structure, rather than repeating the same section of music three times, is both ingenious but also adaptive of the techniques discussed above. Within a repeating isoperiodic structure, each isoperiodic phrase of a canon, through voice exchange and permutation, unfolds in multiple (but finite) ways, always in relation to other voices, in a process of forward movement that simultaneously turns about on its own permutated self after a regular number of isoperiods. Yet permutation requires particular strategies and a degree of forward planning in order to be successful. The degree of planning evidenced by the Tournai Sanctus in this respect exceeds the imagined improvisatory frameworks of canonic techniques set out above. It would have been easy enough for a musician singing the dux to indicate a pause to his companions. Yet, the planning required for adding rests in each isoperiodic phrase before arriving at the start of „Benedictus‟ points to either advanced visualisation or music writing‟s role in the final form of this canon. The written evidence is plainly before our eyes in the Tournai manuscript, but we cannot entirely rule out the possibility that visualisation of the isoperiodic structure, assisted by a simple repeated virtual melody, and the permutation of melodic possibilities lay within the grasp of a competent singer-composer.46 In conclusion, the discovery of the hidden canons in the Tournai Kyrie and Sanctus has prompted several questions about their design and performance that also extend more generally to the chace repertoire of fourteenth-century France. Notably, the Tournai canons demonstrate that compositional processes hitherto associated with a secular genre were also used in contemporaneous sacred contexts and that, among these processes, repeated virtual melodies provided significant structural underpinnings. Further, the canonic techniques of isoperiodicity and permutation are found with remarkable consistency across the mid- fourteenth century French repertoire, with the canonic lais of Machaut showing especially
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24 cohesive application. Awareness of these principles permits us to gain fresh insight into this canonic repertoire but also alerts us to the sophistication and ingenuity of musical processes that may have been evident to well-trained fourteenth-century musicians but which could escape detection during the centuries to come. Appendix 1 [INSERT Appendix 1 HERE (2 pp.)] Appendix 2 [INSERT Appendix 2 HERE (3 pp.)]
NOTES This research was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council (project number DP150102135). 1. 1 The following abbreviations are used in this article to refer to libraries: A-Iu Innsbruck, Universitätsbibliothek A-MICb Michaelbeuern, Bibliothek des Benediktinerstifts A-Wn Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek B-Tc Tournai, Bibliothèque de la Cathédrale CS-Pu Prague, Universitni Knihovna CS-Vb Vyšší Brod (Bohemia)/Hohenfurth, Stiftsbibliothek D-Mbs Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek NL-EINrhc Eindhoven, Regionaal Historisch Centrum (olim Helmond, Gemeentearchief, Historisch Informatiecentrum) F-CA Cambrai, Bibliothèque municipal F-CHRm Chartres, Bibliothèque municipale F-Pn Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France F-Sm Strasbourg, Bibliothèque Municipale I-APa Ascoli Piceno, Archivio di Stato I-Fl Florence, Archivio Capitolare di S. Lorenzo I-IV Ivrea, Biblioteca capitolare I-Rvat Rome, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana US-R Rochester, Sibley Music Library
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25
2. See Guletsky (2009), pp. 167–80, and Catalunya (2016), pp. 106–8. We thank Dr Catalunya for providing us with a copy of his unpublished dissertation. 3. See Tangari (2015); also see Cuthbert and Tangari (2017). Another transmission of the Gloria of the Tournai Mass has been recently discovered in Hermetschwil, Benediktinerinnenkloster (formerly Sarnen, Benediktinerkollegium), Fragmentensammlung II, Cod. chart. 151 (removed rear pastedown) and Cod. chart. 151 (transfer to rear board). A digitisation of the latter can be found on e-Codices, above D, on A line, read as indication of B
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26
b. Sanctus bar 51 breve in MS read as long (descending stem to right of initial note in ligature is missing); bar 56 long rest is omitted in MS at the point where there is a clef change mid-stave; bar 89 pitches EDC] ECD in MS; bar 91 long rest is very faint in manuscript; bar 113 ascending stem to the right of the C.O.P. ligature is missing in MS. 8. See Lerch (1987b) and Newes (1987a). The earliest of this group include settings by Pycard in the Old Hall manuscript (GB-Lbl 57950, nos 26 and 27), two Glorias by Matteo da Perugia and the anonymous isorhythmic Credo Patrem ab eterno/Patrem omnipotentem/TALIS EST from F-CA 1328. The use of the plica in the latter might date this composition close to the mid-fourteenth century, although its „pan- isorhythmic‟ techniques point to later trends in the century; see Lerch (1987a), pp. 49–52. 9. Notational errors in the Sanctus canon (see n. Error! Bookmark not defined.), if considered copying errors, may point to the existence of an exemplar; on the other hand, an oral tradition, especially one informed by knowledge of canonic techniques, would overcome many of the problems in the notation. 10. We use the convenient terms „French‟ and „France‟ in this article to refer to populations and regions of Europe in which French language and culture prevailed, notwithstanding the fact that French was widely cultivated in the courtly contexts of England, Italy and Catalonia during the fourteenth century. Our usage does not denote a geopolitical or nationalist identity; that would only emerge many centuries later. 11. Marchi‟s recent reading of references to St Cecilia in Nicolò del Preposto‟s Dappoi che ’l sole i dolçi raçi asconde nonetheless points to the influence of sacred topoi upon the caccia; see Marchi (2015), pp. 5–22. 12. In addition to the Tournai canons discussed here, the long delay in discovering the true nature of the three-voice canonic chaces in the Ivrea manuscript illustrates some of the difficulties in recognising canons in manuscript sources; see Pirrotta (1946), p. 318. 13. Thirty-seven cacce and madrigals using canonic techniques are now known, although six madrigals use canon in their ritornello alone. The number of known cacce has increased following the identification of a further two in the San Lorenzo palimpsest (I-Fl 2211), in which gathering XVI is specifically devoted to cacce; see Janke and Nádas (2016), vol. 1, p. 24, and Epifani (2017). This follows the recent spectacular discovery of three cacce in the Reggio Emilia fragments (I-APs Notarile
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27
mandamentale di Montefortino, 142); see Gozzi and Ziino (2007). We warmly thank Michele Epifani for providing a copy of his article in advance of publication. 14. Hasselman (1970), vol. 2, p. 19 attempts to transcribe Jehan Lebeuf‟s chace with bizarre results, especially in terms of the resulting melodic ambitus. On the need for different numbers of voices in different sections of Machaut‟s Sans cuer/Amis, dolens/Dame, see Dulong (2007), pp. 64–7. On the editions of this work, including three-part versions, see Earp (1995), pp. 371–2. We reserve discussion of canonic techniques in Machaut‟s retrograde canon, Ma fin est mon commencement (R9), for a future study devoted to this distinctive canonic technique. 15. This article is not concerned with some of the problems surrounding the classification of genres using canonic techniques. The index of the Trémoïlle manuscript (F-Pn naf. 23190) places Umblemens (listed as Humblement), Se je chante and the anonymous Hareu, hareu, je la voy in its list of motets; see Bent (1990), p. 224). The historiographic bias of grouping chaces with secular chansons is discussed in Newes (1987b), pp. 57–61, and Kügle (1997), pp. 152–3. 16. Wulstan (2000), pp. 1–3, also observes several instances of invisible grounds or scaffolds in music from around the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. 17. The term „temporal offset‟, which aptly describes the musical time distance between imitative entries in a polyphonic texture, is borrowed from music information retrieval and music cognition; see, for example, Huron (2016), p. 142. 18. On the two-part contrapuntal foundation of fourteenth-century music, see Bent (1998) and (2003) and Leach (2000); for its theoretical underpinnings see Sachs (1974). The following analysis is also influenced by Fuller‟s concept of sonority in fourteenth- century music; see Fuller (1986) and (2013). 19. Although we have adopted the modern technical term of „onset‟ to describe the beginning of a large metric unit in music, our thinking on this matter is influenced by Boone‟s use of the term initium in mensural music for „denoting “first” pulses in this specific sense: the idea of “first among equals” here seems no more oxymoronic, on an abstract level, than that of non-emphatic pulse itself‟; see Boone (2000), p. 6. 20. Kügle‟s attribution is based upon the description of one of Denis Le Grant‟s chaces in Gace de la Buigne‟s Roman des deduis; see Kügle (1997), pp. 159–60. On this chace‟s citation in Machaut‟s ballade 12, see Plumley (2003a) and (2003b).
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21. In reductions, sonorities representing the whole of a perfect or imperfect long (as per modus) in the original are shown as semibreves within a bar. Bars are delimited using tick bar lines on the top line of each stave, rather than solid, through-stave bar lines. Where longs are divided into two or more sonorities, a rhythmic approximation is shown within a bar. Prominent (but by no means all) passing notes are shown in small stemless grace notes with solid bodies. For convenience, we will refer to bars when referring to these reductions. 22. Checchi and Epifani (2015), pp. 28–31, recognised periodic structures (which they call moduli) in Umblemens but maintain the view of Newes (1987b), pp. 89–90, that it and the other chaces in Codex Ivrea represent rondellus canons. Newes borrows the term „rondellus canon‟ from Croy [Kassler] (1967), pp. 363–7. This is despite the fact that earlier in her dissertation, Newes (1987b), p. 31, dismisses Walter Odington‟s association of the rondellus with voice exchange as „idiosyncratic‟. We maintain that principles of permutation take these canons beyond simple phrase-exchange technique. 23. The numbering of Machaut's Le Lay de la fonteinne and Le Lay de confort in this article follows Earp (1995). Schrade (1956) numbers them 11 and 12 respectively. 24. See Bent (1981), pp. 631–3, reprinted in Bent (2002), pp. 241–54, and Bent (1993), pp. 10–26, reprinted in Bent (2002), pp. 38–46, and Bent and Howlett (1989), pp. 43–84. 25. Current biographies of Pycard identify him with Jehan Pycard, who was active in the household chapel of John of Gaunt as early as 1392, or Thomas Pycharde, who was named with Thomas Damett in a document from 1420; see Bent (2001–16), s.v. „Picard, (1): Pycard‟, and Wathey (1995). Bent (2010), p. 85, more recently affirms, with reference to the scholarship of Bowers (1975), that the copying of Old Hall commenced after the accession in 1413 of Henry V of England, but not for the king – rather, for his brother, Thomas, Duke of Clarence. In paired papers, entitled respectively „The Identity of Roy Henry and the Dating of the Old Hall Manuscript‟ and „Three Generations of Lancaster: the Chapel of Musicians of John, Duke of Lancaster, King Henry IV, and King Henry V‟ and delivered at the Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference, Prague, 5 July 2017, Bent and Bowers proposed further refinements to the dating of Old Hall. Bent maintained that the first layer of Old Hall (which contains Pycard‟s Gloria) was completed in 1413–15. Bowers instead dates the same layer to 1417–19; both agree that the manuscript fell into the hands of members of the Royal Chapel, who contributed a second layer, although Bent favours
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a dating of 1416–19 and Bowers one of 1421–22 for this final campaign of copying. See Bowers (2018). I warmly thank Bent and Bowers for confirming these details. 26. Colour images of this source can be consulted on the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM),
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organisation more generally throughout caccia repertoire. See Lopatin (2014), pp. 185–90. 38. Edition: Schrade (1956), Chace 2, vol. 2, pp. 53–5 (bars 33–80). A new edition of Machaut‟s complete lais is forthcoming from Smilansky with Palmer. 39. Edition: Schrade (1956), Chace 4, vol. 2, pp. 58–9 (bars 177–188), and Chace 6, vol. 2, pp. 61–3. 40. Edition: Schrade (1956), Chace 6, vol. 2, pp. 61–3 (bars 206–207 and 218–219). 41. It is worth mentioning also that, in general, there does not seem to be any correlation between the length of a chace (that is, the number of isoperiods corresponding to Tables 4a and 4b above) and the degree of clarity between the end of one isoperiod and beginning of another. 42. Berentsen (2014), p. 228, has traced this principle with particular attention to the fifteenth-century writer Guillelmus Monachus. Berentsen provides short examples to demonstrate the viability of methods drawn from historical sources in modern advanced music training contexts. 43. Moreover, care is taken so that no fourths occur between D and G, while fourths between A–D are supported by D a fifth below in the three-part canonic texture from system 6 to the end (see the transcription in Appendix 1). The same principle of dyadic regulation for fourths between the voices is also seen in the Sanctus. 44. The fourteen pitches of isoperiod Ia of the Kyrie strongly resemble the beginning of the Gregorian chant Kyrie Pater cuncta (Liber Usualis 1953, p. 48), with the minor differences of a filled third, an omitted pitch and the elision of repeated pitches into a single note. Another variant of this melody a fifth lower is found in Reims, Bibliothèque Municipale, 0400 (E. 279) (originally Abbeye Saint- Thierry de Reims), verso of front flyleaf. The melody also occurs in the tenor of the ars antiqua motet O miranda Dei karitas/Salve mater salutifera/Kyrie, which survives in seven sources in either two- or three-voice versions, sometimes with different texts. The melody is a tone lower than the Tournai/Liber Usualis version and is uniformly notated in longs. No other musical similarities exist between the canon and motet, indicating that the chant rather than the polyphonic model was the model for the first isoperiod of the canon. 45. On this process of shifting foci in three- and four-part dyadic counterpoint, see Bent (2003). 46. On the possible role of visualisation in the fourteenth-century motet, especially for isorhythmic tenors, see Berger (2005), pp. 198–251.
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ABSTRACT
The recent discovery of two canons in the manuscript containing the famous Tournai Mass changes the history of canonic genres. This article situates the new Tournai canons within the surviving mid-fourteenth-century canonic repertoire from Francophone regions of Europe, especially canonic chaces in the Ivrea manuscript and the works of Machaut. To achieve this, we examine current theories of canonic techniques before setting out our own analytical framework. In a departure from the dominant view informed by the use of color and talea in tenors of the fourteenth-century isorhythmic motet, we propose instead that the solus tenor can in part inform a better understanding of early strategies for planning and composing canons. Alternatively, some canons can be better appreciated from the basis of a „top-down‟ compositional approach found principally in the song repertoire of the mid fourteenth-century ars nova. Within this analytical framework, shared principles of isoperiodicity, voice exchange, melodic permutation and melodic design across the mid-fourteenth century French repertoire point to a common stock of techniques for composing canons. The Tournai canons provide early witnesses to these techniques, although they avoid more exuberant stylistic elements such as hocket.
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Captions for "New light on the mid fourteenth-century chace"
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Appendix 1 Transcription of canonic Kyrie from Tournai manuscript
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Appendix 2 Transcription of canonic Sanctus from Tournai manuscript
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Ex. 1 Isoperiodic structure: Se je chante. Barred at modal onsets
Ex. 2 Isoperiodic structures: Tres dous compains and Umblemens vos pri. Barred at modal onsets
Ex. 3 Canonic voices and Solus tenor O amicus/Precusoris in score
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Ex. 4 Isoperiodic structures in Machaut‟s Le lay de confort (L17). Barred at temporal onsets
Ex. 5 Putative sola tenores for Machaut‟s Lay 17. Barred at temporal onsets
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Ex. 6 Talent m’est pris
Ex. 7 Anon., Umblemens vos pri merchi, with dux isoperiods aligned
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Ex. 8 Machaut, Chace 9 from Le lay de confort, dux only
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Ex. 9 Denis Le Grant(?), Se je chant, bars 1–11
Ex. 10 Anon., Umblemens vos pris, bars 1–11
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Ex. 11 Machaut, Je ne cesse de prier, first chace from Le lai de la fonteinne (L16), bars 1–12
Ex.12 Machaut, S’onques doulereusement sceus faire ne tristement, first chace from Le lay de confort (L17), bars 1–9
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Ex. 13 Melodic scaffolding and isoperiodic sonorities in Tournai Kyrie canon. Barred at modal onsets
Ex. 14 Isoperiodic structure in Tournai canonic Sanctus. Barred at modal onsets Table 1 French- and Latin-texted unaccompanied canons before c.1380 Composer and Verbal canon Canonic Periodicity Sources Selected Incipit technique Editions Anon., … et belle none Continuous canon 8 or 12 breves? F-Pn Pic. 67, 67v; None amie a mon talent 3 ex 1 at unison US-R 44, 1r; after 8 or 12 quoted in Restoés breves restoés and Un fait d'armes (Hasselman 1970: 138) Anon., Hareu, Cantus trium Continuous canon 9 breves F-Pn n.a.f. 23190, None hareu, ie la voy vocum cum fuga 3 ex 1 at unison ix (index); F-Sm (lost) 9 temporum (F- after 9 breves 222, 59v (index) Sm 222) Anon., Kyrie none Continuous canon 14 breves (7 B-Tc 476, 33r This article (as 3 ex 1 after 14 longs) canon); in three breves parts according to text repetition in Stäblein-Harder (1962, p. 20 [no.17]; monophonically in Cattin and Facchin (1991, p. 393 [no.108]) Guillaume de None but each 12 continuous Varies between 4 F-Pn frç. 1584, Ludwig (1926, Machaut, Le Lay canon is labelled canons 3 ex 1 at and 6 breves 399r-401r; F-Pn IV: pp. 54–66), de confort, “chace” in variously after 4 frç. 1585, 251v- Schrade (1956, II: “S‟onques manuscripts and 6 breves 254v; F-Pn frç. pp. 52–74 dolereusement 9221, 121-122v; [no.12]) sceus faire ne GB-Ccc, Ferrell- tristement” ( L17) Vogüé MS 1, 253v-256v; F-Pn frç. 22546, 94v- 96 Guillaume de None but each 6 Continuous 6 breves F-Pn frç. 1584, Ludwig (1926, Machaut, Le Lay canon is labelled canons 3 ex 1 369r-399r; F-Pn IV: pp. 45–54), de la fonteinne, “Je “chace” in after 6 breves frç. 1585, 248v- Schrade (1956, ne cesse de prier” manuscripts 251v; F-Pn frç. II:pp.39– (L12) 9221, 122v-124; 51[no.11]) GB-Ccc, Ferrell- Vogüé MS 1, 250v-253v; F-Pn
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frç. 22546, 93- 94v Anon., Sanctus none Continuous canon 10 breves (5 B-Tc 476, 32v This article (as 3 ex 1 after 10 longs) canon); breves monophonically but with "in excelsis" at the end of the Pleni and Osanna realised polyphonically in Stäblein-Harder (1962, p. 123 [no.62], Cattin and Facchin (1991, p. 348 [no.72]) Guillaume de Written out Continuous 3 ex 2 breves or 4 F-Pn frç. 1584, Schrade (1956, Machaut, Sans 1? breves 458r; F-Pn frç. III: pp. 88–89 cuer m'en vois, 1585, 302v; F-Pn [no. 17; 3vv, dolens et 1586, 198r-199r; erroneous]), esploures; Amis, F-Pn frç. 9221, Reaney (1955, dolens, maz et 149r; GB-Ccc, pp. 57–58) desconfortes; Ferrell-Vogüé Dame, par vous me MS 1, 304v-305; sens reconfortes F-Pn frç. 22546, (B17) 136v Denis Le Grant none Continuous canon 15 breves (5 I-IV 115, 52v; F- Apel (1972, p. (attr. Kügle 1997), 3 ex 1 at unison longs) Pn n.a.f. 23190, 162), Greene Se je chant mains after 15 breves 8v-9r (index); F- (1982, p. 209) que ne suelh Pn Pic. 67, 67v Anon., Talent Chase de septem Circular canon 3 7 breves I-IV 115, 10r and Apel (1972, p. m’est pris (Talent temporibus ex 1 at unison 52v; F-Sm 222, 168 and 159), m’a pris) fugando et after 7 breves 59v (“De summer Greene (1982, revertendo prima kumt”; CS-Pu no. 65a and 65b) nota non valet ubi XI.E.9, 249v; I- solum brevem IuWo, 30r-31v (IV, 52); Talant et and A-Wn 2777, cetera cassa (IV, 33r (“Die 10); fuga (WoA, mynne”); CZ-VB WoB) 8b, 118r–119r (“Es ist geporn ain kindelein”); Helmond, 215, 99v and 186v Anon., Tres dous none Continuous canon 15 breves (5 I-IV 115, 51v– Apel (1972, p. compains 3 ex 1 at unison longs) 52r 173), Greene after 15 breves (1982, no. 66) Anon., Umblemens none Continuous canon 15 breves (5 I-IV 115, 58v– Hasselman (1970, 3 ex 1 at unison longs) 59r; F-Pn n.a.f. II, pp.15–17 after 15 breves 23190, 39v-40r [no.4, dux only]), (index); A-Wn Apel (1972, p. 2856 ("Ju, ich 233), Greene jag"); A-MICb, (1982, no. 67) , Man.Cart.10 ("Ju, Checchi and ich jag"); D-Mbs Epifani (2015). 716 ("O pia Maria"); A-Wn
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5094 ("O pia Maria"); I-Rvat 1260 (text) Jehan Lebeuf C'est une chace Continuous canon unknown F-CHRm 130, Hasselman (1970, d‟Abbeville, qui se chante a. ii. 2 ex 1 after ?? 50v II: pp. 19–20 [Textless chace] Et le fit Frere [no.5], doubtful Jehan Lebuef solution) d'Abbeville en Pontieu l'an 1362 Table 2 Text and translation of Cantus II of O Amicus/Precursoris
Precursoris preconia May the precursor‟s preachings, mellisona concordia honey-sweet concord, uti prona memoria bring forth, as a favourable Promant gaudia previa memory, auspicious joys.
alterne usis coloribus With colores performed alternatively epogdois plenis tribus by climbing up three-whole- atque semo scandentibus and-a-semi- tones, modis paribus passibus with modes equal in steps
alternatis subtiliter subtly varied, possit duum viriliter he can be the manly of two, currens suum simpliciter running his course simply cursum vel iter breviter or journey briefly.
sic patronum meum tota Thus my notated offerings vi laudare laudis vota seek to praise my patron rightly vire poscunt mea nota with the full force of praise. Critical apparatus 5 alt[er]neusis ms alternatis Bent/Howlett 7 scemo] em. Bent/Howlett after Walker 8 pascibus] implicitly read as passibus Bent/Howlett 9 alternatis] alternatibus ms alternare Bent/Howlett 14 vota ms nota Bent/ Howlett 15 nota ms vota Bent/ Howlett Table 3 Permutation in Talent m’est pris
Bars 1–7 8–14 15–21 22–28 29–35 15–21, etc.
Dux I II III I II (repeats from III)
Comes 1 I II III I (repeats from II)
Comes 2 I II III (repeats from I) Tables 4a and 4b Permutation patterns in Machaut‟s chaces
Dux Ia IIa IIIa Ib IIb IIIb Ia IIa
Comes 1 Ia IIa IIIa Ib IIb IIIb Ia
Comes 2 Ia IIa IIIa Ib IIb IIIb
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Dux Ia IIa IIIa Ib IIb IIIb Ic IIc IIIc Ia IIa
Comes 1 Ia IIa IIIa Ib IIb IIIb Ic IIc IIIc Ia
Comes 2 Ia IIa IIIa Ib IIb IIIb Ic IIc IIIc
Table 5 Permutation structure of the Tournai Kyrie canon Bars 1–7 8–14 15–21 22–28 29–35 36–42 43–49 50–56 57–63
Dux Ia IIa IIIa Ib IIb IIIb Ic IIc IIIc
Comes 1 I II III Ib IIb IIIb Ic IIc
Comes 2 I II III Ib IIb IIIb Ic
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