Certain revisions concerning borrowing needed to be made to the author's original article, "The Solus Tenor in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries," which appeared in Acta Musicologica 39. A solus tenor is a line that can assume a strongly harmonic character, as demonstrated in Royllart's isorhythmic motet Rex Karole, Johannes genite/Leticie, pacis, concordie. The definitive characteristic of a motet with this kind of tenor is that it can be performed in either a three-part or a four-part setting. As in the anonymous Januam quam clauserat/Jacinctus in saltibus/Quartus cantus/Jacet granum, these pieces work equally well with either number of parts. Another interesting aspect of these works is illustrated by the motet Inter densas deserti/Imbribus irriguis/Admirabile est nomen tuum, whose tenor scholars recently determined was actually added by a later scribe. So, the piece was actually based on a different borrowed tenor than the one that currently accompanies it. In all of these pieces, the common thread is a tenor with a strong harmonic character that belongs to a motet that can function with either three or four voice parts.

Works: Royllart: Rex Karole, Johannes genite/Leticie, pacis, concordie (176-77); Motet: Inter densas deserti/Imbribus irriguis/Admirabile est nomen tuum (176); Matteo da Perugia: Gloria in Mod (177); Johannes Brassart: Magne decus potencie/Genus regule esperie (177); Motet: Januam quam clauserat/Jacinctus in saltibus/Quartus cantus/Jacet granum (178).

Index Classifications: 1300s, 1400s

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley