THE
POLYPHONIC
PERIOD
OF
MUSIC
PUBLISHER TO THEUNIVERSITYOFOXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH
NEW
YORK ANDTORONTOTHE
OXFORD
HISTORY
OF MUSIC
VOL.
II
THE
POLYPHONIC
PERIOD.
PART
II
METHOD
OF
MUSICAL
ART,
jjoo-itfoo
BY
H.
E.
WOOLDRIDGE,
M.A.
OXFORD
AT
THE
CLARENDON
PRESS
1905
PRINTED ATTHE CLARENDON PRESS BYHORACEHART, M.A.
UNIVERSITY
OF CALO
SAiNTA
BAKiUR
PREFACE
WHEN
preparing
the firstvolume
of thiswork
Iwas
permitted
by
the kindness of thekeeper
of theLaurentian
Library
atFlorence
tohave a
considerablenumber
ofpages
of theAntiphonarium
Mediceum
photographed,
and was
thereby enabled not
only.tostudy
itsmethods
at leisure,but
alsoto exhibit
some
interestingexamples
in facsimile. Ihad
hoped
to obtain similarmaterial forthe presentvolume,
and
to give illustrations of
another very remarkable
work
inthesame
Library,commonly
known
as the SquarcialupiMS.,
containing compositions
by
Landini
and
his school,but
permission to
make
photographs
was
in this case, I regret tosay,not accorded.
For
my
examples from
thiswork,therefore,and
from
some
others in Florence, Iam
indebted
to thecourtesy of
a
student of theMS., Mr.
J. Wolf,and
of Messrs.Breitkopf
and
Haertel,who
publisheda
number
of thatgentleman's transcriptions in the quarterly
Journal
of theInternationale Musikgesellschaft.
The
examples
of thework
of
Machault
Iowe
to the kindness of the authorities oftheBibliotheque Nationale in Paris,
who
allowed
all necessaryphotographs
tobe
made.
Idesire also to
thank Mr. Godfrey Arkwright
forpermission to printan
extractfrom
his edition of Tye's six-partMass
E'uge bone,
Mr.
J. R. Stainerand
Miss
Stainer for leave touse their published facsimiles
and
transcriptions ofMSS.
inthe
Bodleian
Library,Miss
Stainer formost
kindly scoringmany
examples
from
printed part-books,and
Mrs.H.
E.Wooldridge
for translating largeportions ofimportant
German
works
formy
use.CONTENTS
CHAPTER
ITHE
FIRST
DEVELOPMENT
OF
POLYPHONY
PAGE
ARS
NOVA
iMUSICA
FICTA
63
THE HEXACHORDAL
SYSTEM
72
FAULX
BOURDON
81CHAPTER
IIFORMATION
OF
SCHOOLS
ENGLAND
BEFORE
AND
INCLUDING
DUNSTABLE
.126
FRANCE AND THE GALLO-BELGIC
PROVINCES
. .170
THE
PROPORTIONAL SYSTEM
aoa
OKEGHEM
AND
JOSQUIN DESPRES
. . ..an
CHAPTER
IIITHE NETHERLAND
SCHOOL
CONTEMPORARIES
OF
JOSQUIN
341PUPILS OF
JOSQUIN
259
SECULAR
Music,
FRANCE
275
ITALY
386
OFFSHOOTS OF THE FLEMISH
STOCK,
VENICE
. .299
POLAND
. .300
CHAPTER
IV
THE
ENGLISH
SCHOOL
PAGE
MUSIC
AFTER
DUNSTABLE
AND
BEFORE
THE
RE-FORMATION
315
DURING THE REFORMATION
PERIOD
....
340
CHAPTER
V
THE
PERFECTION OF
THE
METHOD
LASSUS
359
WILBYE
365
PALESTRINA
374
THE
FOLLOWERS
OF
PALESTRINA
....
391INDEX
. . .....
396
ERRATA
Page15, lastbar offirstexample,
45>kst Dar ffirstexample, for [[ '
J--^
read [fP
J3^
THE
SECOND
PART
OF
THE
POLYPHONIC
PERIOD OF
MUSIC
CHAPTER
I
THE
FIRST
DEVELOPMENT
OF
POLYPHONY
f
ARS
NOVA
15HAVING
in the formervolume
of the presentwork
discussed the origin, the rise,and
the first constitution of Polyphony,we
may now
proceed, in that part of our undertakingwhich
stilllies before us, toconsider the variousphases ofitsdevelopment.
And
first itmay
be said that the actualcommencement
ofthisdevelopment,
which
continuedunbroken
totheend
ofthesix-teenth century,is notclearlytobeobserved, as
we
might
perhaps have supposed, in that culmination of the earlymethods
ofdiscant,
known
as theFranconian system,towhich
we
havejust referred as the first constitution of Polyphony.That
system,in its
main
features a combinationof melodies cast in various stronglymarked
poetic rhythms, reconciledupon
thecommon
ground
ofan exclusively triple measure,and
requiringconcordupon
the strong beat only,must
infact beperceived, notwith-standing the appearance of great resourcesand
multifarious1Arsnovawasa nameoften
used by themusicians of the fourteenth century
to distinguish their methods from those of the Franconian period, which they
calledArsantiqua, andin thissense it was adoptedasthetitle oftheir earliest treatise.
THE
ART,
1300-1400
activity
which
it derivesfrom
thenumerous
contemporary formsof composition, as ofextremelylimited capacity. Indeed, if
we
regard the music of this period not only
from
the theoretical point of view but also as the subject of performance, therestricted nature ofits
means and
the limitations of its prospectare both clearly apparent; for the subservience of all other considerations to those of continuity of rhythm,
and
the con-sequent complete confinement of interest within thebounds
of a peculiarly rigid ternary measure,
must
necessarily giveriseto
methods
which
arenotonly fatiguing in theirmonotony,
but
which
would seem
also to offer in themselvesno
suggestionof improvement, since the defects are radical,
and
arisefrom
the nature of the system.
The
compositions of the thirteenthcentury therefore
may
be said to represent rather the close of the old state of things than the beginning of the new,and
itwill probably appear,
from
our examination of themethods
immediately succeeding, that although
much
of the oldersystem
was
incorporated in the new, the actual development of music, aswe
understand it,which
was
now
inaugurated,had
its beginning, not in the Franconian cantus mensurabilis, butin the reaction againstit.This reaction
was
first displayed in a return to the duplemeasure,
which was
now
againbrought forwardto stand beside thetripleas ameans
of at least equal importance forthe artof music.The
circumstances of this restoration areunknown,
though they have often been guessed at,
and
by
most
writersupon
the subject aresupposedto be connected withthe popularvocal
and
instrumental practice of the time; but sinceevery-thing ofimportancerespectingthis alsois
unknown, and
we
are therefore without themeans
of properly justifying an opinion withregard to its possible influenceupon
the learnedmethods,we
shall probably do well to follow our usual course, incon-tenting ourselves with such suggestions as
may
be obtainablefrom
thecontemporary treatises.THE
3measure
is probablythatwhich
occursin the treatise ofWalter
Odington
writtenabout theyear1280
as part ofan
accountof variouserroneous
methods
adoptedinhistimeforthe notation of themodes
of rhythm. After reference to several special peculiarities of treatment in the thirdand
fourthmodes
(the dactylicand
the anapaestic),he
continuese
There
are othermusicians
whose
figuration of the longs, breves,and
pauses in thesemodes
isindeedthesame
asmy
own,
but(intheirvaluation)they dividethelonginto
two
breves only, asif it containedtwo
times,' the tempus it will be
remembered was
brevis rectaf
and
the breve intotwo
semibreves, seldom three; also theirlongpauseoccupiesbut
two
spaces,and
the breve oneV
Odington
makes
no comment,
butthe passageitselfis alreadymost
suggestive, forit is certainly a curious circumstance thatthis information should be given
by
the very authorwho
also inanotherpart of the
same
work,and
intreating of thesame
modes,refers as a matterofhistorical interest to the original alteration ofthe oldduplelong totriple value, as anecessity of the ternary system,
which
first revealed itself in thosemodes
2.
May
we
not therefore,
we
are encouragedto ask, inferfrom
Odington^sstatement, just given, that the constant distortion of the dactyl
and
anapaest in triplemeasure
always noticeablefrom
thefactthat apart
from
the cantus mensurabilis thesemetresmust
of coursehave maintainedtheirpropriety
had
atlengthbecome
so intolerably
wearisome
to musicians, that inthe rendering ofpassagesconfined tothe third
and
fourthmodes
the temptationto return to the true valuesproved
sometimes
irresistible;and
that thusthe system
which
firstcame
throughthesemodes
now
received, also through them, the first
and most
deadly of theblows
which were
toend
it?Be
this,however, asitmay,
it is clearfrom
Odington'sstate-1 '
Aliiautem,in hismodis,utunturlongisetbrevibus etsemibrevibusetpausis
secundum quodegoaccipio,sed tantum dividunt longam in duasbreves,utduo tempora habentem,et brevemin duas semibreves, et raroin tres. Etpro longa duospatiaoccupat pausa, probreviunum.' Cousse. Script,i.245.
9 See
ante, vol.i.pp. 105, 106,121.
4
THE
METHOD
ART,
1300-1400
ment
that the binary system, considered as ameans
ofcom-position for concerted voices,
was
alreadyin his time again in existence,and
thereisabundant
evidence to prove that at the openingof the fourteenthcenturyitwas
firmly established both in France
and
Italy,and
that its regulation, so far aswas
at firstnecessary,was
complete. Its recognition involved certainchangesof
more
orless importance,ofwhich
perhaps themost
striking
was
the entire renunciation of the former governing principle impliedinthe invention of the sixmodes
of rhythm.This apparently
was
inevitable, since the recovery of the oldbinary values of the third
and
fourth modes, soclearlysuggestedby
Odington,must
have been at once destructive of thearti-ficial scheme, so far as those
modes
were
concerned,and
it isevident that
no
new
system ofthesame
kind,upon
thefounda-tion of one simple
measure embracing
thewhole
ofmusic
in its uniformity,was any
longer possible.The
rhythm
of onesort, therefore,
which had
hitherto governed the composition, confining the polyphonicmelody
within the strictest limits,now
gave
way
to the bipartite structure of musicalTime,
with all its complicated possibilities,and
anew
system arose, inwhich
the ternaryelementsofthe old invention were represented in a Perfect scheme,while
an
Imperfectscheme
displayed thenewly
recoveredbinary measure.
These schemes
derivedtheir designationsfrom
thetwo
kindsof longae
upon which
theywere
formed, the fundamental value ofthe ternaryscheme
being the old longaperfectaand
that ofthe binary
scheme
the old longa imperfecta;and
since theternary
scheme
now
containedallthatwas
left ofthe oldmodal
structure, its theoretical division of the long a division into three equal breves only, actually the old sixth
mode
was
perceived as representative of the oldsystem,
and
was
thereforecalled
Modus
Perfectus; thedupledivision of the binaryscheme
being of necessity raised to the
same rank and
calledModus
Imperfectus. Infuture, therefore, in place of the oldsystem ofDEVELOPMENT
OF
POLYPHONY
5
value ofa perfect long,
we
shall perceive anew
system oftwo
modes
only, differingfrom
each other in character,and
notreducible toa
common
value.m m
The
origin ofbothmodes
may
ofcoursebesaid tobe containedinthe duplex? longa
from which
we
derive thetwo
longsshown
above, but this value,
though
still acknowledged,was
not yetconsidered as a part of the
new
system; the doctrinewhich
includedit
came
later, aridthe note itself eventuallybecame
themaxima,
orinEngland
the large; its division into longs beingcalled
Modus
maior, while the division of the long into breveswas
calledModus
minor.The
rules for the long ofMode
Perfectwere
practically thesame
as those laiddown
in the Franconian scheme,and
sinceaccording tothose rules the perfection of thelong
was
destroyedby
asingle breveorits equivalentplaced immediately before orafter it, it is evident that the Trochaic
and Iambic rhythms
could still be
employed
in thenew
system with theircharacter-isticnotation, 1,1",
though
theywere
no
longer included initstheory.
We
find, moreover, that the old device ofalteration,which
gave totwo
breves the value of three,was
also at firstcontinued inthe
new
practice,though no
place of course couldbe found forit inthe theoreticalscheme.
Mode
Imperfectwas
quite simple, the long remaining always of the value of
two
equalbreves.The
division ofthebreve intosemibreveswas
called Tempus,and
this, itwillberemembered, was
alsothename
often giveninthe old systemto the breveitself. In the Tempus, as in the
Modus,
thedivisionwas
necessarily twofold, consisting ofTempus
Perfectum, in
which
each brevewas
valuedas three semibreves,THE
METHOD
ART,
1300-1400
TEMPUS
Perfectum Imperfectum
* *
Again,
we
findthattherules ofFranco were
continuedforthebreveof
Time
Perfect,and
italsoappearsthatthe olddistinctionof
major and minor
semibreves,which
correspondedthough
insmaller values to the alteration of breves, still existed in practice; also that the breve of
Time
Imperfectwas
again simply divided,and
requiredno
rules.The
division of the semibreve into the next possible smallervalue the
Minim
was
called Prolatio, the enlargement ofthe system. This again
was
both Perfectand
Imperfect, thePerfect being of course a division into three minims,
and
theImperfect adivision intotwo.
PROLATIO
Perfecta Imperfecta
Though
unrecognized officiallyby
the older theorists, thisimportant feature of the
new
systemhad
been alreadynow
in use, as a practical necessity, for
some
time,and by
one atleast of the earlier musicians Pierre de la Croix, a
composer
of the Franconian period it
had
been systematically adoptedas part of his technical
method
:Odington
also in his treatisehad
made
an
attempt towards its regulation,and
before thecloseofthecentury it
had
probablybecome
common.
At
first,the
minim
was
withouteither distinctivename
orfigure; itwas
treated as a lesser kind of semibreve,
and was
writtenlike thesemibreve asaplainlozenge*.
When,
however, attemptswere
made
to regulate it, a distinctivename
and
figurebecame
necessary; the note loosely calledsemibrevis then appeared as
1'
Rursumqueinveniturbrevis divisa insexvelseptemparies,quas adhuc semi-brevesvocantminusiuste.' Odington, Cousse. Script,i.236.
POLYPHONY
7the
Minima,
and
the lozenge received the addition of adown-ward
stroke.In presenting examples ofitsuse, ithas been considered that the earlier specimens will naturally be thought to be the
more
interesting,
and
since theworks
of Pierre de la Croix belong in point of time to the former period,and moreover
may
alsobe said to
throw
considerable lightupon
the originand
natureofthe
necessity forasmaller valuethan
any
hitherto recognized, afew
semibreve passagesfrom
the Motettsofthis author, each intended to besung
in the time of one brevis recta,may
be
givenfrom
the fourteenth-centurytreatise ofJean
de Muris,Speculum Musicae
*.i.
Four
Semibreves.**"**
-*--S'amours eust point de poir . . . Je m'endeusse bi-en
-3-S'amours east point de poir. . . Je m'en deusse bi-en
ii. Five Semibreves.
ART,
1300-1400
iii. Six Semibreves. iv. Seven Semibreves.
*
9
point to the conclusion that the songs
from
which
theywere
taken
must
have been ofunmanageable
length ascompared
with those with
which
theywere
to be combined,and
that thepassages here
shown
represent, soto speak, akind of discharge or overflow of accumulating syllableswhich
threatenedfrom
time to time to obstruct themovement,
or to render impossible asimultaneous terminationof allthe parts.Copies of the Motetts
mentioned by
De
Muris
fortunatelystill exist inthe well-known Montpellier
MS.
; moreover, thesehave been reproduced
by
M.
deCoussemaker
inhis accountof the collection,under
thenumbers
X
and
XI
of his examples.An
examination ofthem
therefore iseasy,
and
itmay
be said that the evidence revealedby
a reference to the contextof theimportant passageshere givenisapparentlyaltogether favourable
to our conjecture with respect to the necessity for the smaller
values. In the opening of the second
Motett
referred toby
De
Muris, for instance, theupper
part or triplum ofwhich
begins
Aucun
ont trouve, thecomposer would seem
to haveconstructed for himself a
problem
ofsome
difficulty.For
above a tenor passage extending over only six perfections, or
eighteen breves,
and
a discantusmoving
freely in this space with only nine syllables of text, he has undertaken, for thetriplum, to bring into equivalence a complete stanza of four
long lines of ten
and
nine alternately, or in all thirty-eight syllablesof text; he hasalsochosen forhisown
work
a type ofmelody
unfavourable to his attempt,for it involves the expen-diture of one imperfect long, three brevesand
one breverest,
and
sevenmajor
semibreves or in all thirty-twominor
semibreves out of a possible fifty-four for eleven syllables only, thus leaving twenty-seven syllables to be dealt with
by
the remaining twenty-two semibreves; he has thereforein the
very beginning of his
work
fivesyllables toomany, and
thesehe
disposes of before proceeding further,
and
providesthem
with the smaller notes necessary to carry them,by
means
of thepassages
shown
in ourexamples from
De
Muris, iiand
io
ART,
1300-1400
AUCUN
ONT
TROVE.
Library ofMedicalFaculty, Montpellier,MS.11.196, Fol.370.
K *!
-+-Au-cunonttrove"chant par usage, Maiskmoi en donueo-koi
-son,
THE
DEVELOPMENT
OF
POLYPHONY
n
where
two
excessive semibreves are to befound
in the firstand
threein the second, distinguished
by
stars.It
may
of course be saidthat adifferent explanation of thesepassages is possible,
and
that theymay
very well be accountedfor
by
the love of embroideryand
flourishing ofwhich
certain traces are tobe observedin themusic
ofthe thirteenthcentury,and
especiallyinthe oldorganum
purum
; butwe
have hithertomet
withno
instance of the application ofwords
toany
musical embroidery or florification,and
the existence therefore of a syllable of text for each note even the smallest in ourexamples,
seems
conclusivelyinfavourofourown
conjecture.The
introduction of initial signs indicative of the prevailingmeasure
of a composition belongsto thisperiod.Such
indica-tionswere
ofcourseunnecessary inthe olderscheme
ofuniformtriple
measure
governedby
the fperfection9
or beat of three times,
and
in thenew
system, even, theywere
at first not inuse; the singer
was
instructed to recognize themode
of thecomposition
from
thenumber
of spaces occupiedby
the longpause, or if this
method
failedhim
hewas
advised to haverecourse to experiment,
and
to choose themode
inwhich
the notes arranged themselvesmost
easily*. Signs were,however,eventually perceived as desirable for the definition of
Mode,
Time, and
Prolation,and
with their adoption the elements of thenew
mensural systemmay
be said tohavebecome
complete.The
signswere
atfirstas follows:Mode
Perfect [nr].Mode
ImperfectQ.
Time
PerfectQ.
Time
ImperfectQ.
Prolation Perfect (v), afterwards ().
Prolation Imperfect
Q,
afterwards1
'Modusperfectus cognoscitur per pausas,quandopause interlongas sunt per-fecte, velquandode longausque adaliamlongampernumerumternariuminelius
quamperbinarium temporacomputantur.' ArsPerfectain Musica. Cousse. Script.
THE
OF MUSICAL
ART,
1300-1400
In the recognition of small or temporary changes in the
measure
the singerwas
chieflyhelpedby
a changeinthe colour ofthe written notesfrom
black, thatisto say, to red,and
from
red again to black; various other colours also were in use for similar well-understood purposes1,but the
pigment most
oftenemployed, bothat thistime
and
thenceforwarduntilthebeginningof the sixteenth century,
was
vermilion.The
principal usesof the red notation are describedintwo
ofthe earliestfourteenth-century treatises
Ars
Perfecta inMusica, just quoted in the notes,and
Ars
Nova,
both ascribedto Philippe de Vitry2.The
accountgivenby
the authorofArs
Nova
isasfollows: *Red
notes areusedprincipallyfortwo
reasons. Either becausethe red are to be
sung
in a differentmeasure from
the black,as inthe Motett
Thoma
tibi obsequia,where
in the tenor thered notes are to be
sung
in time perfectand
mode
imperfect,and
theblack intime imperfectand
mode
perfect; ortheymay
be used to indicate adifference of
mode
only, as in theMotett
In arboris,where
in the red notes of the tenor three breves areassumed
forthe "bar"
and
intheblacktwo.1 Dr. F.
Ludwig, inanarticle in theSammelbande derInternationalen
Musik-QeseUschaft,1902-3, describes a MS. ofthis periodin whichmore thanadozen simple note-signsare employed, in fourdifferent colours, andoften two colours togetherupononenote.
a
We
knowthat thenameof Philippe de Vitrywashighlyhonouredamongthe
theorists of the fourteenth century, but with regardtothe identity oftheman
himselfwe arestill uncertain. His famearisesfrom the factthat some ofthe mostimportant innovations ofthisperiod theminimfigure,the completesystem of prolation,the use of red notes, &c. are supposedto have been described or mentionedforthefirsttimein treatisesusually ascribedtohim, andthatthushe has generally received thecreditof these inventions; suchtheoretical descriptions,
however, canaffordnorealgroundforanyspecial attribution,andshould probably
be regarded merely as records of changes already accomplishedin practice.
More-over, itisextremely doubtful whetherthe treatises themselves Ars Nova, Ars
Perfectain Musica,Ars Contrapuncti,Liber Musicalium arereally by him; inthe
view ofthe fourteenth-century musicianshe represented thenewstateof things
as Franco did the old 'Cum antiquitatem per Franconem notum est omni-bustradidisse,novitatemque perPhilippum in maiori parte subtiliter invenisse,'
says a fourteenth-century writer and probably for this reason these early fragmentaryexpositionsof thenewdoctrine, compiledinalllikelihoodbynameless
disciplesoftheschool,appearunderhisname. DeVitryissometimesreferredto
POLYPHONY
13f
Another
use of red notes is to enjoin singing atthe octavein the passages in
which
they occur, as in Gratia miseri,and
in theMotett
called Quelz avis, for in the tenors of theseMotetts all the red notes are taken at the octave.
The
red notes are used alsoforspecial purposes, asin Claerbuch,where
sometimes they indicate that a long followedby
a long is not valuedas three breves, or that thesecondoftwo
brevesbetweentwo
longs isnot"
altera,"as inthe tenorofIn novasitanimus
;or
on
the otherhand
theymay
mean
the contrary of this as regards the longs,and
that breve followedby
breve isworth
three semibreves, asin Inarboris.
(
Red
notes arealsoused
sometimes
when
mode
and
timearevaried, as in Garison,for in the tenor of that
Motett
theblack longs are each valued as three perfect breves,and
red astwo
imperfect breves; in other passages too the contrary occurs, as inthetenoroftheMotett
Plures erroressunt'The
essential purpose of the red notes to distinguishsmallor
temporary
changes ofmode,
time,and
prolation is aloneinsisted
upon
by
the author ofArs
Perfecta,and
we
are told that as regards the distinction ofmode,
iftheblacklongshave been reckoned asinmode
perfect the following longs inredwillindicate
mode
imperfect,and
so also in the contrary sense; as regards the distinction of the tempus,if the black breveshave belonged totimeperfect the red notes willbe imperfect,and
soalso inthe contrary sense;
and
as regards thefinal distinction,if the black semibreves should have been ofthe
major
prolation the redwill be of the minor,and
so also again inthe contrarysense.
The
tendency exhibited in the later of these accounts, the tendency, that is to say, towards amore
restricted use of themeans
affordedby
the red notes,and
their adaptation only topurposes
which
were
as clearly understood as those of theoriginal notation, is characteristic of the development of the materials ofmusic.
A
similartendencywe
saw,for instance, in the case of the original black notation itself, inwhich
each14
THE
METHOD
ART,
1300-1400
figure, atfirstentirelyarbitrary
and ambiguous
initsapplication,became by
degrees clearly defined in intentionand
devotedtothe expression ofonevocal formula
and no
more.SYSTEM
OF
THE NOTE VALUES
OF
'ARS
NOVA
'WITH
THEIR
SIGNS.15
The
ligatures of the older systemwere
continued in thenew, and were
as freely used in all suitable circumstances as formerly.Most
of the figures,and
inmode
perfect the valuesalso,
were
thesame
as before; inmode
imperfect, however,certain changes of value, corresponding to those in the plain
notation of themode,
were
necessary.These
areshown
in the followingexample
:The
forms originallyderivedfrom
the Podatus, Salicus,and
Porrectus, in
which
the final notewas
placed immediatelyabove the penultimate,
were
abandoned,and
new
figures inwhich
the finalform
was
a true longwere
introduced to taketheir place*.
The
stroke constituting the long,though
itresembles the old plica,could not create confusion, since the plica
was
no
longer in use.The
system here described represents thegrowth
of thenew
methods
inFrance
during the last quarter of the thirteenthPerfect of theImperfecttime)istobe effected,accordingtoArsNova,bymeans ofsemiminims. Thesame instruction wasprobably givenwithrespect to nine minims(thePerfect ofthe Perfecttime),butthispart of thetreatiseisapparently
incomplete, for although it professesto contain rules forthe prolation of the semibreve'
quolibettemporeperfecto sive imperfecto,
'
those for Imperfect time alone are given. It should not be supposed that the semiminim formedatthis
time anactual part of the musicalscheme; itwas mentionedonly casually,and
THE
METHOD
OF MUSICAL
ART,
1300-1400
century, the period
which
alsosaw
the steady decline of the old practiceand
thegradualextinction ofsome
ofthemost
importantearly forms of composition.
Only
two
of these indeed, aswe
havealreadyseen, survived.
One
was
the Motett, alwaysextra-liturgical
and
sometimes frankly secular, continuedby
thepro-fessors of {
Ars
Nova
5as a vehicle for their comparatively
extended
and
sustainedefforts; the otherwas
the Cantilena,by
which
name
was
understood aclassrather than aspecialform, aclasscontainingRondels, Ballads,Chansons,
and
other things ofthesame
kindwhich
servedforthe exhibition of alighter skill.But
beside these forms,adoptedfrom
the olderpractice, another,a
new
species,ofthe greatestimportance inthehistory ofmusic,was
now
introduced. Thisnew
form
was
developed in thecomplete ornate settings of the Gloria, Credo, Sanctus,
and
other portions of the ordinary of the
Mass, which were
now
forthe first time composed. Hitherto the subjects
employed
inthe onlystrictly liturgical
form
ofpolyphonic composition thenexisting,the
form
known
asOrganum
Purum, had
been takenboth
words and
music almost entirelyfrom
the Antiphonaland
Gradual, while the ordinary of theMass
on
the otherhand,with the exception of a
few
detachedwords
such as Descendit decaelisorBenedicamus Domino,
forexample,would
appear tohave been entirely
untouched
by
musicians before the close of the thirteenth century.An
interesting,though
by no means
exhaustive account of the musical treatment of the various portions of theMass
at this period, is to befound
in aMS.
in the Hofbibliothek atDarmstadt
*apparently a late fourteenth-century
copy
ofan
earliertreatise written
by
oneJohannes
de Grocheo, ofwhom
nothing else is at present
known.
The
portions of theMass
specificallymentioned
by
this author as receiving choraltreat-ment
are the Kyrie, Gloria, Offertorium, Praefatio,and
Communio;
perhaps he intends also to include the Credo,1
Printed, with a German translationbyJ.Wolf,inthe first numberof the Quarterly Journal of theInternationale Musikgesellschaft, 1899.
THE
17Sanctus,
Agnus
Dei,and
theResponsorium
with Alleluiaand
Sequentia, but while he says distinctly respecting the former textsthatthey
were composed
fwithharmonies'(concordantiis),this statementisomittedinreferringtothelatter.
For
instance, of theKyrie
the author says, (Kyrie
eleyson is a cantuscomposed
withmany
harmonies, ascendingand
descending,in the
method
ofthe simple cantilena,and
issung
ina sustainedmanner
withmany
long notes.5Of
the Gloria, CA
cantus
composed
withmany
harmonies, ascendingand
descending,and
divided into versicular sectionssuch as Quitollis, Quisedes> &c.'
Of
the Offertorium, {A
cantus
composed
withmany
harmonies,like the Conductussimplex,ascending
and
descendingregularly,and
beginning, continuing,and
ending,according tothe rulesof the eightmodes/
Of
the Introitus,on
the other hand, hesayssimply 'intonatur,'
and
with respect to theCredo
and
theremaining portions his information refers only to their
modal
character.
Yet
since choralmusic
forthe Credo, Sanctus,and
Agnus
occurs in the earliest polyphonicMasses
known
to us,we may
suppose that the author did not intend to suggest itsabsencein those portions of the serviceofthe altar.
Choral compositions of these portions arefound,for instance,
in
M.
de Coussemaker's publication of aMS.
found
at Tournai,which
contains the earliestknown
setting of theMass
; aMS.
dating
from
aboutthe year 1300,and
therefore exhibiting also very early specimens of composition in thenew
manner.
Two
short extracts are here given, in
which
already will be observed not onlythe free use oftheminim,
butalsosome
ofthechangesin the
method
of writing the noteswhich
have been describedaboveas characteristic of
Ars
Nova
1.
1 TheMS.from whichour
illustrationsaretakenis the Messede la confr&rie des Notaires deTournai,until latelyinthe library of the vicar-general of thediocese,
the Abbe Voisin. Examining the transcript made by M. de Coussemaker we
find that it contains settings not only of the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus,
Benedictus,andAgnusDei,butalsoof theliemissaest,whichistreated as a motett, with the notes of the office inthe tenor; in thiscomposition thediscantus(here
called motetus)sings Cum renerintmiseri de Gentes, &c.,while the triplum has a Frenchtext,Segrasse nestamonmaintien, &c.
THE
ART,
1300-1400
i.
KYBIE
ELEISON.Messc dnxiiimesifccle.'
Pub.Tournai, 1861.
Transcribedby C. E.H.deCoussemaker.
=*=*=
Nr
V
nn
^
Kyrie ley -son.
POLYPHONY
19n.
ET
INTERRA
PAX, ETC.Et in ter ra pax ho-mi - ni
-bus, &c.
Et in ter - ra pax ho - mi -ni - bus,&c.
Et iu ter - ra
pax ho - mi
-ni-bus, &c.
Et in ter pax
THE
1300-1400
In this
MS.
1 the influence of the oldersystemisstillapparentin thechoice of measure, only
two
of thenumbers, for instance Gloriaand
Credo, being in thenew
imperfectmode.
In thecounterpoint2, however,a later taste prevails; thirds
and
sixths,forexample, are
now much
more
frequentthan inthecharacter-istic
works
of the thirteenth century; discords also,though
notentirely banished
from
practice,are infrequent,and
areused only singly,and
in a guarded manner, in passingfrom
concord to concord; indeed, sofarwas
this feature,though
constantintheoldpractice,
from
receivingany
recognitionfrom
the writers of thenew
period,that formany
thename
itselfhad
lost its oldsignification,
and had
beentransferredtotheimperfectconcords,which
were
now
often referred to as discordantiae.The
melodies of the voice parts also differwidely
from
those properto
Ars
Antigua.Not
onlythe discouragement of discord, butthe prohibition of consecutive perfectconcordsofonekind,
which
was
now
theoretically enforced, renderedthe impetuousmetrical flow of the individual voices so remarkable in thethirteenth-century music forthe present atleastimpossible. This
there-forenecessarily gives placeto
melody
ofa tentativecharacter,inwhich
also isperceptible the desire to create contrapuntal
formulae, based
upon
the principal habits of progression,and
characteristic
and
pleasing asregardsbothmelody and harmony.
This tendency,
which
we
formerly alreadysaw
in amarked
1 Were
accesstothe orginalMS.atpresent possible,longer extractsthanthose
nowprintedwouldgladly havebeenoffered here. Butunfortunatelyitspresent possessorisunknown, andthe transcription byM.de Coussemaker, though from
itsconsiderable extentitgivesagoodidea of general principles, cannot berelied
upon fordetailed examples
j even in our short extracts from thetranscripttwo
passageshave neededemendation.
3 Theword
Counterpointnowappearsinthe principaltreatisesofthenewperiod
asthe equivalent of Discant,inthatsense,that istosay, inwhichitdefinesthe
intervals which fonn the materials of composition, anddemonstrates the best
methods of
progression, note against note (punctuscontrapunctum), from one concordtoanother,in all combinations of perfect and imperfect, and invarious circumstances. Inorder to save space, the detailsof thissystem will not now
be displayed; theymuch resemble the best rules ofdiscant, andwill moreover
of necessity appear in the various examples of composition hereafter to be given.
POLYPHONY
degreein theEnglish
music
of the previous century\
isalso tobe distinguished in the
Mass
of Tournai,though
perhaps not altogether so clearly in the Kyrie.It is ofcourseprobable that allthe
music
of thefirstyears ofthe fourteenth century
was
similarincharacterto the specimens just given,butwe
cannot unhesitatinglyassume
this as a fact, for although thebelief is supportedby
a majority of thetheo-retical
works
belongingto thisperiod,
which
indicate,aswe
haveseen, ageneral progressive direction inthe
contemporary
effort,it is also truethat other important treatises ofthe
same
period, such as that ofDe
Muris, for example, are reactionaryininten-tion2; moreover, actual specimens of the musical composition
'
Seeante, vol.i.p. 308.
2
Professor Riemann (Geschichte der Husiktheorie, p. 228) distinguishes two writersonmusic, bothalso mathematicians, named Johannes de Muris, ofwhom
one,calledNormanuus,wasconnectedbybirthwiththiscountry, while theother,
whose Christian name was perhaps really Julianus, lectured for manyyears in
Paris, attheSorbonne. Indistinguishing thesetwoindividuals concealed undera
singlename,Prof.Riemannhasbeenchieflyguidedby the opposite character of thedoctrines, ascribed to an apparently single personality, which are displayed in Speculum Musicae (Cousse. Script, ii. 193) on the one hand, and inMitsica Speculativa(Gerbert, Script, iii.283)onthe other. Thisantagonism isof course plainto the student, the first-mentioned work being, as has been said above,
reactionaryin character, while thesecond enters heartily intotheforward
move-ment, and no doubt the fact that both treatises, though antagonistic, bear the sameauthor'sname, mightwellinitselfaffordsufficientgroundforthebeliefthat they represent the work of separate persons, named alikeand holding different opinions. Yetwhenweconsider thatthe actual case of De Murisisnot the only
one of thesamekind,andthatthenameofFrancoofCologneisgiven not onlyto
Arscantus mensurabilisbutalsotothelittle compendium beginning'
EgoFranco deColonia' (Cousse. Script, i. 154^, in which the doctrine is much later indate than that of the great authoritative treatise, and further, that the name of Johannes de Garlandia (orGallandia,as he is called in twoofthebest copiesof
hisgreatwork)isattachedalso later toashortaccount of therulesof fourteenth-century counterpoint(Cousse. Script, iii. 12), the supposition of the existence of
twoindividual writersentitledtobear thesamename ifconsidered asasuitable
explanation of the facts loses, from repetition, much of its probability.
We
admitthe case ofthe two Francos of Paris and Cologne for their separate existence has been attested by an important witness, the Anonymus of the BritishMuseum; butas regards the name of Johannes de Muris, or ofJohannes
de Garlandia, oranyother, given apparently totwodistinctpersons writingupon
thesamesubject,maywenot rather observing that the name itselfin question
isalwaysa famous one suppose that whileinonecaseit isthe truenameofthe
bearer, inthe other ithas been either assumed bya writer doubtful ofhisown
THE
METHOD
1300-1400
of this date,
which might
decide the matter, are exceedinglyrare, the
Mass
of Tournai beingin fact the onlyknown
example
of
any
importance of themethods
ofthistime thatwe
possess.Nor
canwe
speakmore
positively with respect to thecom-positions
which must
have been produced duringtheremaining yearsof thefirst quarter of the century,inwhich
the regulation of thenewly
acquired material,and
thegradual development ofitsadvantages,weredoubtless exhibited, for of thesealsonothing is as yet
known
; indeed, for the first characteristic specimensof fourteenth-century music, specimens in
which
the aimsand
methods
ofthe period are completely revealed,we
must
turn to thetwo
largecollections, preserved atParisand
atChantilly, of theworks
ofthe great representativeFrench
poetand
musician,Guillaume
de Machault,composed
probably between the years 1325and
1370.Machault,
from
his longand
close association with royal persons an associationextending indeedover thewhole
of thefirst half of the century has been sometimes classed with the knightly trouveres; yet his real place is not
among
these distinguishedamateurs, for hewas
at once both lessand
more
than theyx
. Less, socially, sincehe occupied inthe households 1 The
trouveres,duringthe period in whichtheyweremost numerous,
fashion-able, and flourishing the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were essentially poets,andof gentlebirth. Theysangtheir lays,forwhichthey themselves com-posedsuitable melodies, but disdainedtoacquire aknowledgeofaccompaniment, considering themanipulation ofaninstrument asbeneath the dignity of a
gentle-man. Professional musicians therefore jongleurs and minstrels were hired
for thispurpose,andsupported thevoicesof the singersno doubt by meansofthe samerudelyskilfulmethods,whateverthesemayhavebeen,withwhichthey
em-bellished theirownsongs.
Itisof coursedifficultto suppose that the musicalformsevolvedbyamovement
so influential, andso widely extended, as that which gave rise to the trouvere
melodiesshould have failedto producesomeeffect,even though superficial,upon the characterof the learned musictheninthe course ofitsformation; in order,
however,to trace this,we needfirsta proper methodforthe translationof these melodies,andthisisatpresent wanting. Suchamethod,however,willprobably
l)ereachedthrough a consideration of the structure of thepoetic text, for there
can belittledoubtthat the notation of the songs displays thesame intentionas
that of themotetts inthe Florence
M
S., whichmarksthe place of each note inthescale,butleavesitsdurationtobe decidedbythe value of the syllable inthe metricalscheme. Ifthis should be so, and the music of these songs should be
THE
DEVELOPMENT
23of
Jeanne
ofNavarre,Johann
ofBohemia, and Jean
ofFrance, successively, the undistinguished post of secretary;and
more,artistically,
from
the qualities revealed in his work,which
represents,both inpoetry
and
music,the highest points gainedinFrance during the age of serious artistic effort in
which
helived.
The
remarkableimprovements which
he effected in the technique ofFrench
poetry, givingrise,indeed,among
hisown
countrymen
to a comparisonbetween
himselfand
hiscon-temporary
Petrarch,may
belefttobe understoodand
appreciatedby
students ofverse,while ourattentionmust
beconfinedin thepresent
work
entirely to hismusic
; respecting this,however, itmay
be said thatthe exact natureofhis specialadvancesinthatart
must
remain unrecognizedby
us untilwe
are betterinformedrespecting the
works which
immediately precededhis.In turning tothe collectionsof Machault's
music
we
find, asindeed
we
should expect, thathe there appears as acomposer
chieflyof cantilenae, a classof
works
including almost all the secularforms
theninuse; but healsorevealsa stronginclinationtowards the Motett,
and
has even composed, elaborately, onesettingofthe ordinaryofthe
Mass,
infourand
five parts.Thissetting of the
Mass
of material, that is to say,which
considered as the subject ofmusicaltreatment
was
at this timestill
relatively
new
is naturally of considerable interest,and
especially as regards the plan of its construction. This, as
we
may
gatherfor instancefrom
the four-partAgnus
Dei
which
gives an excellent idea of the
methods
of thework,and
ofwhich
onemovement
has been taken as our illustration is largelyshown as truly metrical in character, then it is possible that the influence of
trouveremelodymaybe seenasatleastpartlyaccountingforthe peculiar character of thatwhichbelongstothepolyphonyofthe twelfthandthirteenthcenturies,
ofthe long flowing passages, thatisto say, inpoetic metres,whichwehaveseen asundoubtedly mainlycharacteristicofthatperiod,but the existence ofwhichwe
wereunable toexplain. Only as regards themelody,however, could thetrouveres
have produced anyeffectuponthe learned music,sincethey were, as has beensaid, essentiallycomposersfor thesingle voice; and althoughtheybeganlater,both in
thesouthandinthe north-east of France,to attempt as Adam delaHaledid, for instance the composition of polyphonic music,bythat very fact they pro-motedtheirownextinctionasmelodists,andtheirabsorptionintothe generalbody
24
THE
METHOD
founded
upon
that of the Motett. In the lowest voice theecclesiastical
melody
is displayed,though
not strictly,in figuresresembling the rhythmic ordines,
and
withoutwords;
in the voice immediately ahove are to be found phrases of a similar character, butexhibiting a greater degreeof freedom; while inthe
two
upper parts themovement
is entirely free,and
now
revealsno
trace whateverofthe dependenceupon
poetic metrestill visible in
some
degree in theMass
of Tournaiwhich
was
the principal characteristicof the polyphonicmelody
ofthe thirteenth century.And
this complete freedomwas
in allprobabilityoneof Machault's musicalinnovations.
His
treatmentof theMotett,on
theotherhand,was
intenselyconservative,
and would seem
to have been governedby
acon-sideration of the great age of this form,
and by
the fact thatitwas
the single remaining representative of theold serious kindsof composition.
Be
this, however, as itmay,
itwillbe obviousfrom
ourexample
that in Machault's time the development of the Motettbeyond
the stagewhich
ithad
reached at theend
of the thirteenth centuryhad
scarcely begun.We
still find thata fragment of plainsong, loosely set out in passages imitating
the old ordines, serves for the tenor,
and
that above thistwo
French
songs are arranged as motetus (the old discantus)and
triplum; moreover, both are in poetic metre,and though
themotetusexhibits acertain freedom,
inasmuch
as itis notstrictlycontrolled
by
oldrules, the triplum isfrom
beginning toend
inTrochaic rhythm, withoutvariation.
The
special secular forms of composition included in the genericterm
cantilenawhich
areto befound
in the collections of Machault's works, are theRondeau, the Ballade.,and
theChanson
Balladee.Examining
theseit willbe seen, as regards the first, that the rondeau ofMachault
differs entirelyfrom
the
example
givenby Walter
Odington,and
considerably alsofrom
that ofAdam
de la Hale.The
text consists of eightlines of eleven syllables,
and
in this it resemblesAdam
de laHale'sFines Amourettes, alreadygivenJ
,but the ingenious
and
125
characteristic repetition of the first
and
second lines in various situationswhich
is tobe foundinMachault'sspecimen
isabsentfrom
theform
adoptedby
Adam
delaHale
;on
the otherhand
the
music
of the earlierwork
is fullofmelodicrepetition, whilelittle ofthis,apparently, isto be
found
inthelaterone. Alsoit is tobenoticed that the poeticrhythm and
itssyllabicadaptationto the words,
which
govern thewhole
ofDe
la Bale'scom-position, havebeen
abandoned by
Machault,who
indeed recog-nizesno
formal connexion at all betweenwords and
music,beyond
thatwhich
is createdby
thecoming
together of the voices ina distinct close ateach caesuraand
attheend
ofeachline.
With
respect to thenumber
of voicesemployed
inMachault's
form
of rondeau,thesemight
beeither two,three, or four; the text,which
is onlyto befound
in one of theparts,
was
always given to theupper
voice, the remaining voicesprobably singing
upon
some
vowel, inthe oldmanner.
The
remaining formsofcantilenatobefound
inthecollections, the Balladeand
theChanson
Ballades, arenew
to us. In theirgeneral character they are
found
to resemble theRondeau,
but each has ofcourse itsown
special musicalfeature.The
specialindication oftheBallade
would seem
to consist inthe fact that the secondlineofwords
issung
to thesame
music
as the first,with the exception of the last notes,
which form an
ouvert or half close for the first time,and
a clos or true close for the second. In theChanson
Balladee this feature again appears,but is
now
applied to the secondand
third lines of the text.In both the
words
are given to theupper
part only,and
inneither is there
any
musical repetition of importance except thatwhich
has just been described.The
Ballade partakeslargely of the ornamentalcharacter
which
is alsotobe observedin the
Rondeau, and
originally in the Conductus, long passagesof floridcounterpoint
upon
asingle syllableof textoccurring atthebeginning ofthe composition
and
before each close. In theChanson
Balladee themusic
ismuch
more
simple; it is infact essentially syllabic,
and
more
nearly thanany
otherform
employed by Machault
approaches the quality ofa song.METHOD
ART,
1300-1400
AGNUS
DEI.Paris: Bib. Nat.,MSS.,fonds frai^is.
No.22546,fol.I32b. GuillaumcdeMachault.
iPE gnus
i
gnus , gnus De -[Agnus] I?m
De qui=3=
De i, qui tol-quibT^^j
5
ta . .mun
ca - - ta .-Pr-muu
-di,t=,=
^ ,.^
di,3-
:HF^T
J^fe
mi - se re res
METHOD
ART,
1300-1400
bis.
bis.
tS
MOTETT.
[Mode and
Time
Imperfect, Prolation Perfect.]Paris: Bib. Nat.,MSS.,fonds fran^is.
^
drueri
-e,mon so - las, par qui je sui einsi mas . .
au . . cuer,
ma
. . fait grant. desj 1 1
30
ART,
1300-1400
si - oir me so
-loit, . . ma-mours en
pen-inal
2-dt
-sant dou - bloit, mon a-mour crois-tre fai
-temps
1
, B
-soit, . . et tou- dis a- me - nui - soit
-F*-Z-tu
gr^F
1J.
4-^-
=
?
_
mes dou
-lours,maiscest dou tout
tant
BE
THE
31RONDEAU.
DIX
ET
SEPT.Paris: Bib. Nat.,MSS.,fonds
frai^ais.
No.22546,fol. I52b. GuillaumedeMachault.
Dix
32
THE
METHOD
OF MUSICAL
ART,
1300-1400
*=*=
I
se . . . m'a . . douce53E
ir
r
r
riTHE
OF
POLYPHONY
33
34
THE
METHOD
te
vait et detousfruis en mon ver
-gier, forsune seule ro
surpluset destruis par for- tu
-ne, quidurementsoppo
^=^
36
THE
METHOD
ART,
1300-1400
-y h^^
no quier . . . . -P--rCHANSON
BALLADEE.
Paris: Bib.Nat.,MSS.,fondsfran9ais.
No.22546,fol.162*.
DE
TOUT
SUI SICONFORTEE.
Guillaumede Machault.
o
De tout sui si con - for - te - e que jamaisniert