Monophonic works identified in medieval sources as motets lie outside our traditional definition of the motet. Although not all monophonic motets were motets entés in the commonly understood sense of borrowing refrains, the concept of grafting (enté) between monophonic and polyphonic repertories was integral to this genre of monophonic motets, as attested to by both medieval theoretical sources and modern analysis. By relating monophonic motets to sampling in today's popular music, one can gain insights about the intertextual nature of monophonic motets and the ways in which they engage their audience through technology (notational) and literacy (musical and textual). For example, the motet D'amor nuit et jor me lo (F-Pn fr. 845), although recorded in nonmensural notation like the other monophonic motets in its source, has notational peculiarities that suggest that it was transcribed from a voice of a polyphonic work recorded in mensural notation. Moreover, "grafting," whether in music or in gardening, implies a sense of cultural refinement that raises the motet enté to a level of technical and intellectual superiority. These motets represent a moment of transition in recording technology (notation and literacy), drawing from both the trouvère tradition, which was monophonic and orally transmitted, and the motet tradition, which grew out of an intellectual and literate context.

Works: Anonymous: En non Dieu c'est la rage (646-49, 674), Quant plus sui loig de ma dame (654-44), D'amor nuit et jor me lo (652, 660-62), Onc voir par amours n'amai (663-64), Bone amourete m'a souspris (664-66), Han, Diex! ou purrai je trouver (672-74).

Sources: Adam de la Halle: Bonne amourete mi tient gai (664-66); Anonymous (from Le roman de Fauvel): Ve qui gregi deficiunt (672-74).

Index Classifications: Monophony to 1300, Polyphony to 1300, 1300s

Contributed by: Elizabeth Elmi, Kerry O'Brien, Virginia Whealton