Musical citation and "grafting" in the late-fourteenth-century Ars subtilior chanson was much more prevalent than is currently believed. At that time, citation was viewed as an opportunity for composers to display their musical and intellectual erudition. A case study of three Ars subtilior chansons beginning with the words "En attendant" by Jacob de Senleches, Philippus de Caserta and Johannes Galiot demonstrates this point in a clear juxtaposition of the Ars subtilior chansons with the Ars nova work Esperance qui en mon cuer s'embat, which serves as a musical and textual source for all three chansons. The common musical material from which all three composers draw brings about a phenomenon of interrelated musical borrowing, which could have been caused by a collaborative compositional process for a common political or religious event relating to the Visconti and Valois families during the politic turmoil of the late fourteenth century. These works also fit into a larger spectrum of songs in French mainstream culture and were clearly products of a circle of composers who knew each other and communicated with each other about their work. In this context, points of musical allusion or citation were evident only in careful observation within a web of intertextual references. Thus, the practice of musical citation and allusion still flourished in the late fourteenth century, playing an important role in the works of Ars subtilior composers in a much more subtle way than previously thought by current scholars.

Works: Johannes Galiot: En attendant la douce vie (289-334); Jacob de Senleches: En attendant, Esperance conforte (289-334); Philippus de Caserta: En atendant souffrir m'estuet grief payne (289-334, 337-46).

Sources: Anonymous: Esperance qui en mon cuer s'embat (293-334, 346-63); Machaut: En amer a douce vie (294-334).

Index Classifications: 1300s

Contributed by: Elizabeth Elmi