14th Century Polyphony

MOTET Musicians at Nôtre-Dame created this new genre in the early thirteenth century

MOTET Motets originally consisted of newly written Latin words added to the upper voices of discant clausulae. clausulae . The earliest texts were often a textual trope of the clausula clausula..

MOTET The French word for “word” MOT inspired the name for the genre.

MOTET The Thirteenth-Century Motet is a polyphonic works with one or more texted voices added to a pre-existing tenor, which is set in a modal rhythm.

MOTET Motets are identified by a compound title comprising the first words of each voice from highest to lowest.

MOTET Motets are identified by a compound title comprising the first words of each voice from highest to lowest. Factume est salutare / Dominus

MOTET The motet became the leading polyphonic genre for both sacred and secular music.

MOTET The Early Motet (to ca. 1250)

MOTET Based on the discant clausula

MOTET Based on the discant clausula The new text tropes the original chant text Phrasing of original clausula shapes phrases of added text

MOTET Sung during the Mass or as independent entertainment

MOTET Factum est salutare / Dominus

MOTET These existing motets were reworked New texts added to duplum in Latin or French no longer linked to liturgical context

MOTET These existing motets were reworked New texts added to duplum in Latin or French no longer linked to liturgical context Other voices (triplum) added with texts of their own

MOTET Early Motets (to ca. 1250) Double Motet: Motet: a motet with two added texts above the tenor (Double motet = three voices)

MOTET Early Motets (to ca. 1250) Triple motet: motet: a motet with three added texts above the tenor (Triple motet = four voices)

MOTET The “Additive” Motet Original duplum discarded and another one (or more) composed.

MOTET “Original” Motets composed “from scratch”

MOTET “Original” Motets composed “from scratch” Chant tenor from clausula set in modal rhythm

MOTET “Original” Motets composed “from scratch” Chant tenor from clausula set in modal rhythm Duplum / Triplum added above tenor

MOTET on “Dominus” of “Viderunt omnes”

MOTET melisma

MOTET “Factum est salutare / Dominus” ∨

“Fole acostumance / Dominus” same tenor (2x)


“Fole acostumance / Dominus” same tenor (2x) new duplum…


“Fole acostumance / Dominus” same tenor (2x) new duplum… with secular text...


“Fole acostumance / Dominus” same tenor (2x) new duplum… with secular text... in French

MOTET “Super te / Sed fulsit / Dominus Dominus”” Tenor “Dominus” (first half 2x) Duplum / Triplum with texts from Latin poem

MOTET “Super te / Sed fulsit / Primus Tenor / Dominus” based on “Super te / Sed fulsit / Dominus Dominus””

MOTET “Super te / Sed fulsit / Primus Tenor / Dominus” based on “Super te / Sed fulsit / Dominus” with added untexted “primus tenor”

MOTET Motets in later thirteenth century

MOTET Motets in later thirteenth century By 1250 three voices are typical

MOTET Motets in later thirteenth century By 1250 three voices are typical Upper voices with texts in Latin or French, or French & Latin

MOTET By 1270 the tenor is now called the

CANTUS FIRMUS

MOTET By 1270 the TENOR is now called the

CANTUS FIRMUS = A pre-existing melody

MOTET By 1270 the TENOR is now called the

CANTUS FIRMUS = A pre-existing melody Melody predominantly CHANT

FRANCONIAN NOTATION Franco of Cologne Ars Cantus Mensurabilis (c. 1280)

Innovations in notating RHYTHM

FRANCONIAN NOTATION Noteshape signifies relative duration

FRANCONIAN NOTATION Noteshapes are:

FRANCONIAN NOTATION Noteshapes are:

+ Double long

FRANCONIAN NOTATION The tempus (pl. tempora) is the basic unit Long = 2 or 3 tempora Breve = 2 or 3 tempora

FRANCONIAN NOTATION The tempus (pl. tempora) is the basic unit Long = 2 or 3 tempora Breve = 2 or 3 tempora Franconian system included signs for rests

FRANCONIAN NOTATION

FRANCONIAN NOTATION

FRANCONIAN NOTATION

FRANCONIAN NOTATION With Franconian notation score notation not needed voices written in parts rather than score format

FRANCONIAN NOTATION DUPLUM

TRIPLUM

TENOR

FRANCONIAN MOTETS Motets written in Franconian Notation Written in style made possible by Franconian Notation

FRANCONIAN MOTETS Motets written in Franconian Notation Written in style made possible by Franconian Notation Each voice has distinctive rhythm Rhythm no longer shaped by Modal Rhythm

FRANCONIAN MOTETS Adam DE LA HALLE (c. 1240-1288?) De ma dame vient / Dieus comment porroie / Omnes

FRANCONIAN MOTETS Tenor “Omnes” > Gradual Viderunt Omnes (4) x 3

FRANCONIAN MOTETS Tenor “Omnes” > Gradual Viderunt Omnes (4) x 3 Duplum (Motetus) > Dieux, comment porroie

FRANCONIAN MOTETS Tenor “Omnes” > Gradual Viderunt Omnes (4) x 3 Duplum (Motetus) > Dieux, comment porroie Triplum > newly composed with quotes from songs

FRANCONIAN MOTETS Each voice has its own pace Duplum = woman’s point of view Triplum = man’s point of view Parts are independent

FRANCONIAN MOTETS Harmony allows thirds and other dissonances P 4 now being treated like a dissonance Cadences still demand “perfect” consonances Cadence patterns developing

ROTA English culture was tied to that of France after the Norman Conquest in 1066

ROTA English culture was tied to that of France after the Norman Conquest in 1066 Although they adopted French culture, English musicians created a distinct musical style

ROTA Prominent “imperfect consonances” Improvised partsinging in close harmony documented as early as 1200

ROTA Prominent “imperfect consonances” Improvised partsinging in close harmony documented as early as 1200 Emphasis on harmonic thirds and triads including the final sonority

ROTA Voice-exchange evolved into elaborate techniques

ROTA Voice-exchange evolved into elaborate techniques The RONDELLIUS two or three phrases are heard simultaneously, with each voice singing each one in turn

ROTA Rondellus Triplum: a b c Duplum: c a b Tenor: b c a

ROTA A ROTA is a perpetual canon or round at the unison

ROTA Sumer is icumen in

ROTA Sumer is icumen in Two voices sing a voice-exchange pes (Latin for “foot” or “ground”).

ROTA Sumer is icumen in Two voices sing a voice-exchange pes (Latin for “foot” or “ground”). Four upper voices in canon producing alternating triadic sonorities of F–A–C and G–B-flat–D

POLYPHONY By 1300, “composition” meant creating polyphony, not monophony.

POLYPHONY Writing down music of multiple parts in coordinating vertical sonorities to create a sense of direction that would be a hallmark of Western tradition and set it apart from almost all other musical traditions.

FOURTEENTH CENTURY Difficult conditions in Europe

FOURTEENTH CENTURY Difficult conditions in Europe “Mini Ice Age” Floods

FOURTEENTH CENTURY Difficult conditions in Europe “Mini Ice Age” Floods The BLACK DEATH

FOURTEENTH CENTURY Difficult conditions in Europe “Mini Ice Age” Floods The BLACK DEATH

FOURTEENTH CENTURY BUBONIC PLAGUE killed one third of the Europe’s population 1347-1350

FOURTEENTH CENTURY BUBONIC PLAGUE killed one third of the Europe’s population 1347-1350 Victims died within days Survivors fled urban areas

FOURTEENTH CENTURY GREAT SCHISM 1378-1417 King Philip IV of France French Pope in Avignon Corrupt clergy bureaucracy

FOURTEENTH CENTURY SCIENCE & SECULARISM William of Ockham (c.1285-1349) Knowledge from experience and the senses Eyeglasses, Mechanical clocks, Magnetic compass

FOURTEENTH CENTURY

compass William of Ockham

FOURTEENTH CENTURY VISUAL ARTS The Florentine painter GIOTTO achieved more naturalistic representation and a sense of depth and symmetry PERSPECTIVE

FOURTEENTH CENTURY VISUAL ARTS

Giotto, Arena Chapel, Padua

FOURTEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE Increased literacy led to more literature in the vernacular. Dante Alighieri and Giovanni Boccacio in Italian Geoffrey Chaucer in English

FOURTEENTH CENTURY MUSIC Increased attention to secular song, though much sacred music continued to be composed.

FOURTEENTH CENTURY ROMAN de FAUVEL F latterie (Flattery) Avarice (Greed) V illanie (Villany) V ariété (Fickleness) E nvie (Envy) Lâcheté (Cowardice)

FOURTEENTH CENTURY ROMAN de FAUVEL F latterie (Flattery) Avarice (Greed) V illanie (Villany) V ariété (Fickleness) E nvie (Envy) Lâcheté (Cowardice)

ROMAN de FAUVEL F latterie (Flattery) Avarice (Greed) V illanie (Villany) V ariété (Fickleness) E nvie (Envy) Lâcheté (Cowardice)

Fond Français 146, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale

ARS NOVA Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361) Ars Nova (c. 1320) “This completes the ars nova of Magister Philippe de Vitry”

ARS NOVA Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361) Ars Nova (c. 1320) “This completes the ars nova of Magister Philippe de Vitry”

Vitry compositions among the 169 pieces of music in Fauvel

ARS NOVA MENSURATION SIGNS MODE = Division of the Long TIME = Division of the Breve PROLATION= Division of the Semibreve Major / Minor

ARS NOVA Shifting emphasis to duple meters was criticized by Jacque de Liège “Perfection is brought low, and imperfection exalted.”

ISORHYTHM Motets of Philippe de Vitry some of the earliest uses of ISORHYTHM

ISORHYTHM Motets of Philippe de Vitry some of the earliest uses of ISORHYTHM Rhythmic structure of the tenor of motet

ISORHYTHM TALEA “cuttings” (pl. taleae) Rhythmic pattern COLOR “color” (pl. colores) The melodic notes of the tenor

ISORHYTHM TALEA “cuttings” (pl. taleae) Rhythmic pattern The tenor is laid out in segments of identical rhythm.

ISORHYTHM TALEA “cuttings” (pl. taleae) Rhythmic pattern Taleae in tenors in 1200s = short patterns Taleae in tenors in 1300s = longer patterns

ISORHYTHM TALEA “cuttings” (pl. taleae) Rhythmic pattern The slow pace of the tenor makes it less a melody and more of a foundational structure.

ISORHYTHM COLOR “color” (pl. colores) The melodic notes of the tenor

The color and may repeat, but not necessarily with the rhythm.

ISORHYTHM “In arboris / Tuba sacre fidei / Virgo sum” attributed to Vitry

ISORHYTHM “In arboris / Tuba sacre fidei / Virgo sum” attributed to Vitry

Tenor refers to the Virgin Mary Duplum ( Motetus) and Triplum refer to Mary

ISORHYTHM “In arboris / Tuba sacre fidei / Virgo sum” attributed to Vitry The tenor includes two statements of the color 6 repetitions of the talea

ISORHYTHM “In arboris / Tuba sacre fidei / Virgo sum” attributed to Vitry Coloration indicates changes from duple to triple Introitus

HOCKET “Hiccup” Two voices alternating in rapid succession, each resting while the other sings The device was developed in the thirteenth century

ARS NOVA HARMONIC PRACTICES Greater prominence of imperfect consonances Cadences required perfect consonances, but their resolution could be sustained Parallel octaves and fifths continued to be used

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377)


The leading composer of the French Ars Nova Born in northeastern France, middle-class family Educated as a cleric and took Holy Orders

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) 1323–1340, worked as secretary for John of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia, Resided in Reims after 1340 Royal patrons supported him, including the kings of Navarre and France

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) First composer to compile his complete works and to discuss his working method He wrote his poems first, then the music

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) First composer to compile his complete works and to discuss his working method He wrote his poems first, then the music Liked music “sweet and pleasing”

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) He paid for the preparation of several illuminated manuscripts of his works He composed many major musical works and numerous narrative poems

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) 23 motets, most from early in his career 20 are isorhythmic, 3 which use secular songs as tenors. Often include hockets


Messe de Nostre Dame “Mass of Our Lady”

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) Probably the earliest polyphonic setting of the Mass Ordinary to be composed by a single composer and conceived as a unit Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Santus, Agnus Dei & Ite missa est

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) In the fourteenth century, anonymous composers in France, England, and Italy set individual movements polyphonically. A few mass “cycles” were assembled from individual movements

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) Composed for the cathedral in Reims Performed at a Mass for the Virgin Mary celebrated every Saturday After Machaut’s death, an oration for Machaut’s soul was added to the service, and performed until fifteenth century

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) UNIFYING DEVICES Recurring motives Tonal focus on D in the first three movements and on F in the last three

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) UNIFYING DEVICES All six movements are for four voices, including a contratenor (“against the tenor”) that moves in the same range as the tenor.

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) UNIFYING DEVICES Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Ite, missa est are isorhythmic.

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) KYRIE Chant Kyrie Cunctipotens Genitor

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) KYRIE TENOR: 28 notes of chant, 4-note talea x 7

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) KYRIE TENOR: 28 notes of chant, 4-note talea x 7 Contratenor also isorhythmic

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) KYRIE TENOR: 28 notes of chant, 4-note talea x 7 Contratenor also isorhythmic Upper voices partially isorhythmic

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) Kyrie I: Polyphony, Chant, Polyphony Christe: Chant, Polyphony, Chant Kyrie II: Polyphony, Chant Kyrie III: Polyphony

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) Polyphonic songs (chansons, “songs”) in the formes fixes

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) “Treble-dominated” songs major innovation of the Ars Nova The treble or cantus carries the text Slower untexted tenor supports the cantus. A contratenor may be added, Triplum in same range as cantus

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) RONDEAUX Two musical phrases ( A and B) Text includes a “refrain” (AB) Form: ABaAabAB

GUILLAUME de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377) RONDEAUX “Rose, liz, printemps, verdure”

A B a A a b A B

Rose, liz, printemps, verdure, Fleur, baume et tres douce odour, Bele, passés en douçour, Et tous les biens de Nature, Avez dont je vous aour. Rose, liz, printemps, verdure, Fleur, baume et tres douce oudour. Et quant toute creature Seurmonte vostre valour, Bien puis dire et par honnour: Rose, liz, printemps, verdure, Fleur, baume et tres douce oudour, Bele, passés en douçour.

ARS NOVA … ARS SUBTILIOR Composers at the court of the Avignon pope across southern France and northern Italy cultivated complex secular music.

ARS NOVA … ARS SUBTILIOR ARS SUBTILIOR a continuation of Ars Nova in secular polyphonic songs in the formes fixes and developing the complexities of Ars Nova notation

ARS NOVA … ARS SUBTILIOR Love songs intended for an elite audience Pieces notated in fanciful shapes Rhythmically complex

“Belle, bonne, sage” Baude Cordier

“Tout par compas” Baude Cordier

Performing Fourteenth-Century Music There was no uniform way to perform polyphonic music. Pictorial and literary sources indicate vocal, instrumental, and mixed groups. All vocal performance was most common.

INSTRUMENTS Instruments separated into 2 categories: HAUT and BAS

INSTRUMENTS HAUT (“high”) instruments were loud, for outdoors and dancing. Cornetts Trumpets Shawms Sackbuts

INSTRUMENTS BAS (“low”) instruments were soft in volume and were played indoors Stringed instruments: harps, lutes, and vielles Portative organs Transverse Flutes Recorders

INSTRUMENTS Percussion instruments were common in all kinds of ensembles

“FALSE MUSIC” MUSICA FICTA, or Chromatic Alterations

“FALSE MUSIC” Raising or lowering a note by a half-step to avoid the tritone Pitches altered to make a smoother melodic line, especially at cadences.

“FALSE MUSIC” Raising or lowering a note by a half-step to avoid the tritone Pitches altered to make a smoother melodic line, line, especially at cadences cadences.. The resulting pitches lay “outside the gamut” and were thus “false “false”, ”, or ficta

“FALSE MUSIC” Raising or lowering a note by a half-step to avoid the tritone Pitches altered to make a smoother melodic line. line. The resulting pitches lay “outside the gamut” and were thus “false “false”” or ficta

“FALSE MUSIC” Medieval singers were trained to recognize situations in which a ficta were needed, so accidentals were rarely notated. notated. (Modern editions ficta accidentals above the staff, to indicate editorial intervention)

WHITE NOTATION White Notation uses a five-line staff, and three clefs—G, C, and F. Usually the only accidental notated as a ‘key’ signature is B-flat, though later composers experimented with more

WHITE NOTATION MEASURES AND BARLINES There are no barlines or measures But the length of the breve usually acted as a time unit analogous to the modern concept of a measure

WHITE NOTATION NOTE VALUES and RESTS

WHITE NOTATION MENSURATION Mensuration deals with the division of the Breve (called Tempus or “time”) and the Semibreve (Prolationis Species or “prolation”)

WHITE NOTATION MENSURATION Breve divisions (Tempus) are either “perfect” (division into 3s) or “imperfect (division into 2s). Semibreve divisions (Prolation) are either “major” (3) or “minor” (2)

WHITE NOTATION MENSURATION

A line through the mensuation symbol indicates that all note values are cut in half ( alla breve).

WHITE NOTATION COLORATION The value of a note in a mensuration can be changed by coloring in the white space of breve, semibreve, or minim and by dotting. In determining a note’s value, coloring is calculated before dotting.

WHITE NOTATION In Perfect Time —where a breve has the value of 3 semibreves— coloring a breve will subtract a 1/3 or its value and imperfects its value and makes a breve equal to 2 semibreves (a duplet)

WHITE NOTATION In Imperfect Time —where a breve has the value of 2 semibreves— coloring 3 consecutive semibreves creates a triplet and perfects their value, momentarily making 3 semibreves equal the value of 1 breve

WHITE NOTATION Josquin uses coloration for all the notes in his lament on the death of Ockeghem, Nymphes des Bois to create “eye music” where the blackened notes indicate mourning.

WHITE NOTATION Josquin uses coloration for all the notes in his lament on the death of Ockeghem, Nymphes des Bois to create “eye music” where the blackened notes indicate mourning. In doing so, Josquin limits himself to longs, breves, semibreves, and minims, since semiminim and fusa values are already “black

WHITE NOTATION LIGATURES White Notation is complicated by several factors, one of them being the continued use of the LIGATURES (multiple-note units) and the conventions associated with their use carried over from neumes.

WHITE NOTATION “BREVE” ligatures At the tempus level, each two-note ligatures has the value of a breve followed by a long (indicated by the downward tail).

WHITE NOTATION “BREVE” ligatures

WHITE NOTATION “BREVE” ligatures

WHITE NOTATION “SEMIBREVE” ligatures The two-note ligatures that begin with an upward tail are semibreves, and each two-note pes or clivis has the value of two semibreves, both the square or oblique forms.

WHITE NOTATION “SEMIBREVE” ligatures

WHITE NOTATION CANONS

WHITE NOTATION In his Missa ‘L’homme armè’ Dufay writes “Cancer eat plenus et redeat medius” (Let the crab proceed full, and let it return by half ) in the tenor part of the third section of the “Agnus Dei.”

WHITE NOTATION

WHITE NOTATION This indicates that the singers perform this part retrograde (crabs where thought of as walking “backwards”) with full rhythmic value, and then forward (or “returning” for the crab) with the notes at half value.

WHITE NOTATION Dufay composes his motet “Nuper rosarum flores” as an isorhythmic motet, built on two tenors

WHITE NOTATION Dufay composes his motet “Nuper rosarum flores” as an isorhythmic motet, built on two tenors

WHITE NOTATION Dufay notates each tenor part with four mensuration signs and a repeat, indicating that each performer plays their tenor line four times, each time with a different mensuration

WHITE NOTATION Dufay notates each tenor part with four mensuration signs and a repeat, indicating that each performer plays their tenor line four times, each time with a different mensuration

WHITE NOTATION The numerical value of the breve changes from

6:4:2:3

WHITE NOTATION The numerical value of the breve changes from

6:4:2:3 WHY?

WHITE NOTATION Dufay wrote this motet for the consecration of the Duomo in Florence.

WHITE NOTATION

WHITE NOTATION Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) S. Maria del Fiore, begun 1296 Dome (1420-1436) consecrated by Pope Eugenius IV on March 25, 1436

WHITE NOTATION

WHITE NOTATION

WHITE NOTATION

WHITE NOTATION The numbers refer to the dimensions of Solomon’s temple described in the Third Book of Kings, 6:1-20 (reduced to their lowest common denominators).

WHITE NOTATION 2 And the house, which king Solomon built to the Lord, was threescore (60) cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in height… 16 And he built up twenty cubits with boards of cedar at the hinder part of the temple, from the floor to the top: and made the inner house of the oracle to be the holy of holies.



WHITE NOTATION 6:4:2:3

6 (the Temple’s total length) 4 (the length of the nave) 2 (the length of the sanctuary and width of the building) 3 (the height of the building)

WHITE NOTATION 6:4:2:3

6 (the Temple’s total length) 4

14th Century Polyphony

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