Of all the refrains Friedrich Gennrich and Nico van den Boogaard label as centos only three "can reasonably be considered" as such: La bele m'ocit, Dieus!, Cele m'a s'amour donée, and Cis a cui je sui amie. These centos, however, fulfill completely different functions in the motets connected with them: La bele m'ocit appears as a motetus over the tenor fragment In seculum; Cele m'a s'amour donée appears as a motetus over an almost complete Alleluia and verse Alleluia: Hodie Maria virgo celos ascendit; and Cis a cui je sui amie functions itself as a tenor. For this reason the refrain cento is not to be considered a separate genre--comparable, for example, to the motet enté--but a technique, which can appear in various genres. Some examples of unequivocal intertextuality exist between La bele m'ocit, Dieus and a group of motets from the Montpellier manuscript, and between Cele m'a s'amour donée and the motet Nus ne sait mes maus/Regnat from F-Pn fr. 12615. From these unique examples of intertextuality may be deduced a "self-referential mode of composition."

Works: Works: Centos: Amoureusement mi tient li maus que j'ai,Tout leis enmi les prés,Ja pour longue demourée,La bele m'ocit, Dieus!,Brunete, a cui j'ai mon cuer doné,J'ai les biens d'Amours,Hé! cuer joli,Endurés, endurés les maus d'amer,Amors vaint tout fors,Ja ne mi marierai,Cele m'a s'amour doné,Renvoisiement i vois a mon ami,J'ai fait ami a mon chois,Nus ne sait mes maus s'il n'aime,A vous pens, bele, douce amie,Ne puet faillir a honour,Hé monnier, pourrai ja moudre?,Cis a cui je sui amie,Je l'avrai ou j'i morrai.

Sources: Motets: Hé, Amours, morrai je por celi/Omnes (179-80); En son service amourous/Tant est plaisant/In seculum (184); Nus ne sait mes maus/Regnat (185-86).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Andreas Giger