Index Classifications: Monophony to 1300, Polyphony to 1300

The chanson d’amour L’Amours dont sui espris R. 1545, attributed to the twelfth century trouvère Blondel de Nesle, and its retexted version by Gautier de Coinci served as the basis for several works in the ensuing decades, and these later works provide a useful view into the compositional practices of the era. All of these songs and conductus feature virtually identical line length, rhyme arrangement, and large-scale form, although it is unclear if any or all of these works follow a particular rhythmic mode. An analysis of Blondel’s chanson shows a close correspondence between the textual rhythm and musical motives, with the whole melody built in paired sequences that act almost like question-and-answer phrases—a common technique in medieval song practice. The conductus Purgator Criminum AH. 20,16 from the manuscript W1 uses the L’Amours melody as a tenor and features new upper voices, but these added parts are deeply dependent on the contour and motivic cells of Blondel’s melody. The limited voice exchange and simple counterpoint with the tenor, moreover, marks it as a fairly unsophisticated reworking. The conductus Procurans odium AH. 21,176 from manuscripts F, Mü, and Ma, on the other hand, makes use of more elaborate voice exchanges above the tenor to create a unique, almost static aural effect, like the ringing of bells. The numerous repeating motives and cellular construction of the upper voices’ melodies also suggest this conductus is derived from improvisatory vocal performance practices of the era. Questions of chronology and which works may have influenced one another are more difficult to answer, due to the limited number of medieval songs available to scholars and the general lack of analytical studies of the repertory.

Works: Gautier de Coinci: L’Amours dont sui espris R. 1546 (20-30); Anonymous: Purgator Criminum AH. 20,16 (30-35); Anonymous: Procurans odium AH. 21,176 (35-38).

Sources: Blondel de Nesle: L’Amours dont sui espris R. 1545

Index Classifications: Monophony to 1300, Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Matthew G. Leone

The tenor of the Latin motet Homo, mundi paleas from Wolfenbüttel 1099 is designated Et gaudebit, but the melody is actually Et florebit. Observance of this scribal error allows identification of the motet as a contrafactum of a French motet in the same manuscript, Chascun qui de bien amer.

Works: Homo, mundi paleas.

Sources: Chascun qui de bien amer.

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Reginald Sanders

The LoC manuscript (London Add. 30091) contains fourteen motets that may be divided into two equal halves of seven pieces representing two different styles. All the concordances are listed and each motet is placed in the historical position of the manuscript itself and in the repertory of the early motet (1200-1245). In contrast to the motets nos. 1-7, nos. 8-14 have no clausula source and do not go back to an earlier Latin motet or a version in the old conductus-style. They are contrafacta of bilingual motets, but in contrast to the first group they have hardly been reworked thereafter. From this and other stylistic features, it may be concluded that the second group must be at least twenty years younger than the first. No other manuscript shows the shift from bilingual to Latin contrafacta as clearly as LoC. Adam de la Halle's motet J'os bien a m'amie parler/Je n'os a m'amie aler/(In) seculum may be modeled on the original Latin version of Eva quid deciperis/In seculum.

Works: Works: Anonymous motets including contrafacta: Salve salus hominum/O radians stella/Nostrum (161-62); O Maria, decus angelorum/Nostrum (161, 164); Tu decus es decoris/O Maria, beata genitrix/Nostrum (161, 164); Plus bele que/Quant revient/L'autr'ier jouer/Flos filius eius (165); Quant revient/L'autr'ier jouer/Flos filius eius (165); Candida virginitas/Flos filius eius (165-66); Castrum pudicitie/Virgo viget/Flos filius eius (165-66); Flos ascendit/Flos filius eius (167-68); Ne sai que je die/Johanne (170-71); Cecitas arpie fex/Johanne (170-71); Tedet intueri/Te decet (172-75); El mois d'avril/Al cor ai une/Et gaudebit (175); Ypocrite pseudopontifices/Velut stella/Et gaudebit (175-76); Virgo Virginum/Et gaudebit (175-76); Memor tui creatoris/Et gaudebit (175-76); O felix puerpera flos virginum/In seculum (180-81); Hac in die dulce melos/Cumque evigilasset (182); Hac in die dulce melos/Spes vite miseries/Cumque evigilasset (182-83); Balaam, prophetandi patuit/Balaam (183-84); Arbor nobilis/Crux forma penitentie/Sustinere (185-87); Cruci Domini/Crux forma penitentie/Sustinere (185-87); Eva quid deciperis/In seculum (187-88); Adam de la Halle: J'os bien a m'amie parler/Je n'os a m'amie aler/(In) seculum (188-89).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Andreas Giger

In a late volume of Analecta Hymnica, Clemens Blume selected eighteen texts that are "Tropi ad Offertorium 'Recordare.'" The first two in his edition have an extant polyphonic setting, while the remainder are known only in plain-chant settings or by their texts alone. The second text, O vera, o pia, is the newly identified contrafactum setting. It ends with the troped word nobis, an anomaly which falls outside the rhyme scheme of the text. This feature, rare in condunctus texts, prompted a search for the source of its tenor. The melody is that of the last verse of the Offertorium Recordare, Virgo Mater, which closely follows the chant melody, taken from W1. From a stylistic and historical viewpoint, the most important aspect is the use of a troped word in the text, a practice that had hitherto been found only in motets among polyphonic works outside the obviously troped settings.

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Mirna Polzovic

The clausulae of Florence, Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenziana, Pluteo 29.1 are not transcriptions of motets. Many of the clausulae have short melismas at the end, which would render them unrelated to existing motets. Anomalies in notation do exist, but these can be reconciled through the application of standard fractio modi and the use of some system of equipollentia, already in use in the cum littera sections of contemporary conductus.

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Felix Cox

Identification of the tenor is accompanied by a discussion of concordances and structural and textual features in the following motets: from the Wolfenbüttel 1099 manuscript, Canticum letitie,A grant joie, and He! mounier porrai je moudre?; from the Madrid manuscript, Ave gloriose plena gratie; from the Las Huelgas manuscript, Nos. 84, 94, 112, and 141 (Clama, ne cesses, Syon filia/Alleluia); and the English four-part motet, Ave miles de cuius militia/Ave miles, O Edlkude/textless quartus cantus/Ablue. Of the three chant segments, "Potentiam," "De," and "Te," which are the tenors of clausula settings in the Florence manuscript, the first and third are identified and the implications discussed. Speculation is made as to the tenor of the double motet Quomodo fiet id/O virgo virginum/O stupor omnium in modum.

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Reginald Sanders

While contrafactum technique is common throughout Medieval and Renaissance music, there are several contrafacta resettings that are confined within the general circle of Notre Dame practice. Two motets, Ovibus pastoris Mens seduli/(Pro ovibus) and Mes cuers est emprisones/Et pro suo, have tenors set to the same text, yet the music for each tenor comes from a different chant. This relationship between tenors has not been observed before among Notre Dame motets. The identification of these tenors means that all motets in the Madrid manuscript have known tenors.

Works: Anonymous: Ovibus pastoris Mens seduli/(Pro ovibus) (399-401), Mes cuers est emprisones/Et pro suo (406-9).

Sources: Anonymous: Alleluia: Eripe me (408-409), Et pro suo grege (409).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Elizabeth Stoner

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

A series of motets based on the clausula Et gaudebit no. 2 were held in unusual esteem during the thirteenth century, as evidenced by their placement in manuscripts and the treatment of their initials. The motets demonstrate virtually every motet type of the Ars Antiqua except for the two-voice French motet. All of the derived motets are listed in a table. Although the source clausula is from the Feast of the Ascension, the subsequent motets all focus on the Virgin Mary. The most frequently used motet text, O quam sancta, quam benigna, helped to confirm the role of the Virgin Mary in salvation, and its use was approved and encouraged by the clergy of Notre Dame.

Works: El mois d'avril qu'ivers va departant/O Maria, mater pia, vite via/O quam sancta, quam benigna/Et gaudebit (19, 21-23).

Sources: Clausula: Et gaudebit no. 2.

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Felix Cox

While the musical implications of plainchant tenor quotation have been extensively explored for fourteenth-century Ars nova motets, the same level of attention has not been paid to how composers choose tenors for thirteenth-century Ars antiqua motets. In the conventional historical narrative, motets transformed from a sacred Latin genre to borrowing tenors from vernacular songs by the end of the thirteenth century. However, tenor selection motivated by vernacular song idioms appears even in the earliest thirteenth-century polyphonic manuscripts. Certain tenors were selected for their musical simplicity, which allowed vernacular song practices to be incorporated while preserving the plainchant tradition. Unlike later practices, thirteenth-century motets frequently reworked a small number of short and simple tenors. The differences between the treatment of the Iustus tenor in the Magnus liber organi manuscripts (particularly manuscript W1) and in early motets based on the Iustus tenor (A grant joie/Iustus found in manuscripts W2, N, and as untexted organum in F, and Ja n’ert nus/Iustus found in N) show how composers adjusted plainchant tenors to accommodate song forms. The existence of motets using vernacular models as early as the 1240s (in F) demonstrates an earlier relationship between motets and vernacular models than is typically acknowledged. The many motets based on the Omnes tenor (found in Mo and Ba) further demonstrate the flexibility of simple and repetitive tenors in creating motets with overlying song forms, such as the rondeau form of Ci m’i tient/Haro/Omnes. The popularity of the chant Aptatur as a motet tenor even though it is not present in the Magnus liber organi manuscripts also suggests that tenors were selected for musical reasons over strictly textual reasons. By understanding the blending of motet tenors and vernacular song idioms as a practice common throughout the thirteenth century, the chronological questions present in later motets that quote both polyphonic vernacular songs and plainchant tenors can be resolved. Acknowledging the compositional practice of replacing the bottom voice of a polyphonic vernacular song with a similar-sounding plainchant tenor presents a compelling new hypothesis for the origins of motets like Dame bele/Fi, mari/Nus n’iert ja jolis that blend both traditions. The stylistic and modal similarities of motet tenors commonly used in the thirteenth century illuminate a motet tradition that valued the inclusion of vernacular song forms over developing complex tenor melodies. This adoption of vernacular music in motets contemporary to the Magnus liber organi manuscripts rather than a generation later uncovers a previously unrecognized sophistication in early motet composers.

Works: Anonymous: Magnus liber organi (437-41, 453-54); Anonymous: A grant joie/Iustus (441-44); Anonymous: Ja n’ert nus/Iustus (444-46); Anonymous: Ja pour longue demouree/Hodie (446-49); Anonymous: Ci m’i tient/Haro/Omnes (455-58); Anonymous: Amoureusement mi tient/He amours/Omnes (459); Anonymous: Je ne chant/Talens/Aptatur/Omnes (459-62); Anonymous: Psallat chorus/Eximie pater/Aptatur (463); Anonymous: Aucun se sont loe/A Dieu commant/Super te (466-75); Anonymous: Dame bele/Fi, mari/Nus n’iert ja jolis (475-83); Adam de la Halle: De ma dame vient/Diex, comment porroie/Omnes (453), Entre Adan et Hanikel/Chief bien seantz/Apatur (465), De ma dame vient/Diex, comment porroie/Omnes (471-75)

Sources: Plainchant tenors: Iustus (437-46), Hodie (446¬-49), Omnes (from Viderunt omnes) (452-62, 471-75), Aptatur (459-65), Super te (466-71); Anonymous: Nus n’iert ja jolis (475-83); Anonymous: De ma dame (472-75); Adam de la Halle: A Dieu commant (466-71), Diex, comment porroie (471-75), Fi, mari (475-83)

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Matthew Van Vleet

A case study of a family of motets based on the Latus tenor demonstrates the multi-directional relationship between musical models and their offspring and highlights the limitations of general theories of chronology when studying thirteenth-century motets. The Latus discant (from Allelulia Pascha nostrum immolatus est) has a strong transmission history in the major “Magnus liber” sources. The two motetus texts conceived for the discant, Radix venie and Ave Maria, exhibit both similarities that suggest a codependent relationship and differences that suggest strongly independent responses to the same musical model. There is also musical evidence suggesting that the Latus discant was reworked in the creation of motets derived from it. The textual revisions in the double motet Radix venie/Ave Maria/Latus suggest that this motet was created by the unusual (but not unprecedented) method of combining two preexisting texts designed for the same musical model. The members of this motet family and their relationships to each other and to the Latus discant unsettle the conventional logic of motet chronology—particularly the assumption that the conductus motet is the earliest motet—and demonstrate the complexity of motet creation.

Works: Anonymous: Radix venie/Radix venie/Latus (162-84), Ave Maria fons letitie/Latus (162-84), Quant l’aloete s’esjoist en mai/Latus (194), Radix venie/Ave Maria/Latus (184-91)

Sources: Anonymous: Latus discant from Allelulia Pascha nostrum immolatus est (154-158, 162-91); Anonymous: Ave Maria fons letitie/Latus (184-91, 194)

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Matthew Van Vleet

Although generally considered to be two directly opposed forms, the conductus and the clausula have many interrelations. One unifying feature is that the upper voices in both forms are written in the same style. Both forms employ melismas, albeit to different extents. Sometimes features from the two genres blend together in one piece. In the three-part conductus Si membrana esset celum, the melisma is based entirely on plainsong. This would be done in the same manner in a clausula. On the other hand, entire sections of clausulae are sometimes inserted directly into the fabric of conducti. Thus, these two genres have much more in common than was originally believed.

Works: Conductus: Parit preter morem (69), Veris ad imperia (70), Legis in volumine (70), Purgator criminum (70), Suspirat spiritus (70), Ver pacis aperit (71), Isaias cecinit (71), Flos de spina procreatur (71), Ave Maria gratia plena (72), Adiuva nos (72), Si membrana esset celum (74), Benedicamus Domino (76), Dic Christi veritas (89).

Sources: Estampie: Piec'a que savoie (69); Song: A l'entrada del tens clar (70); Conductus: Veris ad imperia (70); Blondele de Nesle: L'Amour donc sui espris (70), Ma joie me semont (71); Sequence: Laetabundas (71), Flos spina procreatur (71), Deus creator omnium (76).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley

Understanding a wide breadth of material is essential in comprehending the music and musical practices of both the medieval and renaissance periods. Practices of musical borrowing underwent many changes throughout the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. In chapter one, a comparison of two fourteenth-century motets, Deus militum/De Flore martyrum/Ave Rex gentis and Ave miles/Ave rex patrone/Ave Rex shows how two different pieces borrowed from the same plainchant melody. Both tenors begin the same way, then diverge by adopting two contrasting rhythmic patterns. The Fountains Fragment, as is described in detail in chapter three, preserves various polyphonic pieces which illustrate the manner in which plainchant was transformed into these newer pieces, producing a much different affect primarily through rhythmic means. Chapter seven focuses on the basse dance as people in the fourteenth century used it: not for dancing, but for liturgical pieces. Overall, many transformations occurred in music over the span of these four centuries, and much of this centered on some form of borrowing practices.

Works: Motet: Deus tuorum militum/De Flore martyrum/Ave Rex gentis (17-33), Ave miles/Ave rex patrore/Ave Rex (17-29); Anonymous Mass in British Museum, Add. 40011 B and Old Hall (102-11); Leonel Power: Missa Alma redemptoris (223-24).

Sources: Antiphon: Antiphonale Sarisburiense (18-29), Ave regina caelorum, mater regis (18-29); Plainchant: British Museum, Add. 40011 B Sanctus No. 7 (102-11), British Museum, Add. 40011 B Agnus No. 11 (102-11); Basse dance: La Spagna (191-212).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300, 1300s

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley

Refrains are elements which repeat not just within a particular piece, but also from work to work. This includes repeating between different genres, and sometimes appearing in different contexts. The persistent question that has long perplexed scholars is how exact a repetition of a refrain needs to be before it can be considered a refrain. Varying meters, rhythms, and melodies sometimes obscure an appearance of a refrain in a specific work, as in Adam de la Halle's Rondeau 72. In this work as in many others, in order to consider a specific passage a repetition of a specific refrain, precise similarities of both verbal and musical patterns must be present.

Works: Adam de la Halle: Rondeau 72 (5-7, 13-17); Motet: Que ferai, biaus sire Dieus?/Ne puet faillir a honour/Descendentibus (5-7), Ne sai ou confort trover/Que por moi reconforter/Et spera bit (5-7); Jacquemart Giélée: Renart le nouvel (5-7, 13-17); Tibaut: Le roman de la poire (5-7, 21).

Sources: Refrain: Hareu, li maus d'amer m'ochist! (5-17).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley

Borrowed refrains play a central role in the Roman de Fauvel. As pieces borrow from one another, old pieces are transformed from one genre to another and are given new verbal and musical coloring. Amour don't tele est la puissance is essentially a dit á refrains on the model of Jacquemart Giélée's Renart le Nouvel, and in fact borrows three entire refrains from this source. Han Diex ou pourrai je trouvei is made up of the fourteen-line motetus split into fragments from Nevelon d'Amieus's Dit d'Amour. A surprising amount of both refrain music and text contributed significantly to this manuscript, as is illustrated by a complete catalogue.

Works: Ballade: Douce dame debonaire (106), Ay amours tant me dure (106), Amour don't tele est la puissance (110), Han Diex ou pourrai je trouvei (111-12), La Complainte Douteuse (125-26).

Sources: Roman de Fauvel (110-31); Jacquemart Giélée: Renart le Nouvel (110-11); Nevelon d'Amiens: Dit d'Amour (111-12).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300, 1300s

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

The use of variation as a compositional technique in the Middle Ages falls into four broad categories: the variation motet, hocket variations, the ostinato motet, and harmonic ostinato. These categories call into question the belief that composition in the Middle Ages was strictly additive. Many of the works that employ variation technique also borrow material from pre-existing tunes. In addition, hocket variation is one way in which vocal compositions were reworked for instruments.

Works: Anonymous: Plus joliement/Quant li douz/Portare (38-39); Anonymous: Mundi dolens/Tenor (38-40); Anonymous: Sicut a prophetis/Propter (40); Anonymous: Deus tuorum militum/De flore martyrum/Ave Rex Gentis (40-41); Anonymous: Regina celi letare/Ave regina/Ave (45).

Sources: Anonymous: Portare (38-39); Anonymous: Propter (40); Anonymous: Ave Rex Gentis (40-41); Anonymous: Ave (45).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Daniel Rogers

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Understanding the logic behind the refrain cento, which is the combination of frequently unrelated texts in succession in all the voices of a motet, has long evaded scholars. Finding a relationship between texts or a reason for their use has been difficult. Often, texts are combined that have no narrative relation to each other. Examining the motet Qui amours veut maintenir/ Li dous pensers/ Cis, a cui provides evidence that the refrain cento in fact acted as a structural and unifying device through lexical repetitions and phonetic patterns, even when no apparent narrative logic exists. The tenor is created through these techniques. Then, the upper voices are generated based on the linguistic sounds produced in this lowest voice. Since this piece behaves in a manner common to the majority of French motets utilizing the refrain cento, it can be said that this technique is used to create the structure of the piece and unify all aspects of it.

Works: Motet: Qui amours veut maintenir/Li dous pensers/Cis, a cui (187-97).

Sources: Chansons: Salut d'Amours, Renart le Nouvel, Suite Anonyme de la 'Court d'Amours' (189).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley

Defining the term "conductus" in a manner that works for the entire genre has been elusive. However, this task becomes more manageable by breaking down the conducti into smaller sections and carefully examining the application of their borrowed sections. Two major types of text setting appearing in conducti are musica cum littera and musica sine littera. In the former, most of the text is declaimed, and the music is explainable in terms of the rhythmic modes. Construction of parts in the latter is determined by strictly musical concerns, and only sometimes is the music modal rhythmically. Conducti draw their sources primarily from organum and motets. Notation of musica sine littera sections, as exhibited by Ego reus confiteor, is measured and presented modally and includes a large number of ligatures. This particular conductus consists of three parts, and draws its lowest two parts from three sources from earlier in the thirteenth century. Polyphony flows seamlessly until the musica cum littera section. At this point, notation becomes fully rhythmic and utilizes the first rhythmic mode. This rhythmic change is the main difference between the new work and its borrowed source. Other differences include a high number of elisions and extensions into longa perfectas.

Works: Conductus: Sursum corda (141), Premii dilatio (141), Ego reus confiteor (141, 144, 147-54).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley

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

The literature that considers the development of the genre of French polyphonic song around 1300 overlooks a collection of motets built on French tenors in the Montpellier Codex (F-MOf H 196), the Turin motet book (I-Tr vari 42), and the Roman de Fauvel (F-Pn fr. 146). Rather than following the style of polyphonic chanson by composers like Adam de la Halle, which includes the near homophonic setting of a single text in all voices, composers of these motets took their ideas from the compositional practices of the early motet, including the conventional treatment of overlapping musical phrases and a polytextual setting. In addition to these features, the upper voices of these motets mirror the structure of their borrowed tenors in a variety of ways and to varying degrees. Throughout this body of motets, two techniques are prominent. The first includes the adopting of the repetitive structure of the tenor in the upper voices, both musically and textually. The second prominent technique composers use to reflect the structure of the tenor in the upper voices is to retain the conventional overlapping of phrases between voices while creating song structures in all three parts.

Works: Anonymous: Tout solas et toute joie/Bone amour/Ne me blasmes (374-80); Anonymous: Dame bele et avenant/Fi, mari/Nus n’iert (380); Anonymous: Par une matinee/O clemencie/D’un joli dart (381-82); Anonymous: Entre Copin et Bourgeois/Je me cuidoie/Bele Ysabelos (382-85); Anonymous: Amours m’a pris/Bien me maine/Riens de vous vaut (382-86); Anonymous: En mai, quant rosier/L’autre jour/Hé, revelle toi (386-87); Anonymous: Au cuer ai un mal/Ja ne m’en repentiray/Jolietement (387-90); Anonymous: Au tans nouvel/Chele m’a tollu ma joie/J’ai fait tout nouvelement (391-93); Anonymous: S’on me regarde/Prennés i garde/Hé, mi enfant (391-98); Anonymous: Je voi douleur/Fauvel nous a fait present/Autant (398-400).

Sources: Anonymous: Ne me blasmes (374-80); Adam de la Halle: Fi, mari (380); Anonymous: O clemencie (381-82); Anonymous: Bele Ysabelos (382-85); Anonymous: Riens de vous vaut (383-86); Anonymous: Hé, revelle toi (386-87); Anonymous: Jolietement (387-90); Anonymous: J’ai fait tout nouvelement (391-93); Anonymous: Hé, mi enfant (391-98).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300, 1300s

Contributed by: Daniel Rogers

The history of the motet is in itself a history of musical borrowing. Many more implications surround this borrowing that go beyond simply comparing the motet with its source. Two of these are historical and musical considerations. In the early twelfth century, clausulae developed into motets in varied manners. With the addition of words, the rhythm, and sometimes the melody, underwent transformations. As poems were inserted into these melodies, words and even entire phrases were altered, as in the motet Doceas hac die/Docebit. Poetic and musical forms did not always share the same form. One form of the motet that utilized a very specific kind of borrowing is the refrain cento. Since the end of the nineteenth century, musicologists studying the thirteenth-century French motet have arrived at widely disparate definitions of the term refrain cento. Some view this procedure as an entire genre while others see it only as a technique within the broader genre of the motet. Examining motets that have been studied by musicologists since the late 1800s reveals the way in which the definition of this term has changed. Upon reevaluation, some pieces recently have been deemed not to embody the characteristics of a refrain cento, while others have been determined to indeed exhibit these traits. The term refrain cento has gone from denoting a genre in which pieces use at least one refrain from an outside source in conjunction with other text and music, to a technique within the genre of the motet which utilizes various refrains from many different sources. In the latter definition, the musical and poetic characteristics contained within the refrain cento are so disparate that they can only constitute a technique, and not a genre.

Works: Motets: Doceas hac die/Docebit (20-24), Nostrum est impletum/Nostrum (28), Salve salus hominum (35-38), Ypocrite pseudopontifices/Velut stella/Et gaudebit (39-40), Veni doctor previe/Veni sancta spiritus (41), Quant revient et fuelle/L'autrier joer/Flos filius eius (43-47), Navrés sui au cuer/Navrés sui pres du cuer/Veritatem (79-81), Méliacin or Le Conte du Cheval de Fust (82), J'ai les biens d'amours/Que ferni, biau sire Dieus?/In speculum (105), Li jalous par tout sunt fustat/Tuit cil qui sunt enamourat/Veritatem (106), Ci mi tient li maus d'amer/Haro! Je n'í puis durer/Omnes (106-7), Mout me fu grief/Robin m'aime/Portare (107), Ne m'oubliez mie/Domino (108), Ne puet faillir (111-12), Brunete, a cui j'ai mon cuer done (111-12), Hé! monnier (114), Je l'avrai ou j'i morrai (114), Endurez, endurez (114), Renvoisiement i vois a mon ami (114), Tout leis enmi (115-16), La bele mócit, Dieus! (120-22), Cele m'a s'amour donée (120-22), Cis a cui je (120-22), Nus ne sait mes maus (124).

Sources: Clausula: Nostrum (28); Tenor: Flos filius eius (43-47); Refrain: C'est la fin, la fin, que que nus die, j'amerai (66-68), Se j'ai servi longuement/Trop longuement/Pro patribus (68); Motet: En mai, que neist/Domine (68), Ne m'oubliez mie/Domino (69), C'est la jus en la roi/Pro patribus (101), Cele m'a s'amour donée/Qui mon cue, et mon cors a (101-104).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley

The St. Victor repertory of polyphonic conductus, while peripheral to the Notre Dame manuscripts, may in fact predate them. Instances of alternate texts to the same music, voice exchange in the three-part pieces, and treatment of melismas point to interrelationships between the two schools. Clausulae are borrowed from liturgical texts for use in para-liturgical compositions based on assonance. Using this evidence, the St. Victor manuscript can be assumed to have been compiled from sometime before 1209 to around 1244.

Works: Stella serena (313-17); Veri solis presentia (316); Deduc syon (317, 321); O felix bituria (321, 324-25); Naturas deus regulis (323).

Sources: Ave Maria (313-17); Mater patris (316); Benedicamus domino (317-26).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Felix Cox

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Just as certain architectural styles are spread over several cultures, we find "international" melodies scattered in manuscripts all over Western Europe. They mostly originated in France and later were adapted musically (variants) and textually (variants and contrafacta) to their new surroundings. Gennrich discusses contrafacta of monophonic liturgical chants (such as the famous sequence Laetabundus exsultet fidelis chorus), of liturgical motets (O Maria, maris stella/Veritatem), sacred motets and conductus (Agmina milicie celestis omnia), and of Latin songs (Bulla fulminante sub judice tonante). Gennrich is not always able to clarify the priority of identical melodies with different text, but provides the music and its sources wherever possible.

Works: Allein Gott in der Höh (German Chorale 265-66); anonymous: Mei amic e mei fiel (267); O Maria, Deu maire, Deus t'es e fils e paire (267); Adam de St. Victor: O Maria, stella maris (267); anonymous: Glorieuse Deu amie, dame de pitié (268-72); Johannes Rodericus: O Maria, maris stella (268-72); anonymous contrafacta: Or hi parra (273-78); O Gras tondeus (274-78); Frölich erklingen (274-78); Gautier de Coinci: Hui enfantez Fuli fiz Dieu (273-78), L'amour dont sui espris (331-40); anonymous contrafacta: Fille de Dieu, ben as obras (280-81); Diable, guaras non tormentes (280-81); Auiatz, seinhors per qual razon (279-81); Philippe le Chancelier: Agmina milicie celestis omnia (281-96), Bulla fulminante (325-30); anonymous: De la virge Katerine chanterai (283-96); L'autr'ier cuidai avoir (283-96); Philippe le Chancelier: Li cuers se vait de l'ueil plaignant (322-24); anonymous contrafacta: Seyner, mil gracias ti rent (322-24); Veste nuptiali (235); Blondel de Nesle: L'amour dont sui espris (331-40); Ma joie me sement de chanter (is a contrafactum of Walter of Châtillon's Ver pacis aperit, or the other way round, 342-43); anonymous: Ar ne kuthe ich sorghe non (346-47).

Index Classifications: Monophony to 1300, Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Andreas Giger

Gennrich discusses not those refrains that are repeated after each couplet of a song (chansons à refrain), but those that exist sometimes as isolated very short pieces, sometimes interpolated in other works. They mostly have their own melodies and were created by the poets with a particular intention. Later these refrains were borrowed (with or without music) in chansons avec des refrains, long poems (such as the Cour d'Amour and the Roman de Renart le Nouvel), and motets, usually at the beginning and at the end. Sometimes they even adopt another text (contrafactum). According to Gennrich, refrains are neither folk songs nor parts of them. They were, however, originally conceived as refrains and not designated as such merely because they appear in several pieces. The end of the article includes a list of motet-refrains.

Works: Jacquemart Gielee: Renart le Nouvel (366); Mahius li Poiriers: Cour d'Amour (367); Messire Thibaut: Roman de la Poire (367); Anonymous: Salut d'Amour ((367-68); refrains "Qui aime Dieu et sa mere" (373); "Sache qui m'ot" (373); "Cui donderai je mes Amours, mere Dieu" (373); "Ne vous hastés mie, bele" (373); "Pitiés et Amours, pour mi" (373); "Amours ne se done, mais ele se vent" (374); Si come aloie/Deduisant/Portare (374); Haro! haro! je la voi la/Flos filius eius (377); Je quidai mes maus/In seculum (377); Je m'en vois/Tieus a mout/Omnes (378).

Index Classifications: Monophony to 1300, Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Andreas Giger

The motet enté emerged from the trope tradition. First, the motet was a poetic effort, underlaying preexisting clausulae with new text. Often poets took advantage of musical repetitions, supporting them with closely related texts that thus became suitable for quotation, i.e., they acquired refrain character. Later these motets served as models for the newly composed motet enté where refrains (text and melody) were taken as points of departure and textually and musically troped.

Works: Anonymous motets Ja n'amerai autrui que vous/Pro patribus (243-44); J'ai trouvé qui m'amera/Fiat (244-48); Hé! ha! que ferai?/Pro patribus (251-52); Li dous termines m'agrée/Balaam (253-54).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Andreas Giger

Gennrich discusses the reuse of popular songs in motets and of parts of motets as popular songs, providing transcriptions and including the variants. The features of the chanson largely determine the priority (chanson or motet): if the textual and musical structure of the chanson correspond, Gennrich assumes it to antedate the motet. The following list represents the author's view of priority.

Works: Richard de Fournival: Chascun qui de bien amer, borrowed from the motet Chascun qi de bien amer/Et florebit (13-16); motets Onques n'amai tant con je fui amée /Sancte and Onques n'amai tant con je fui amée/Sancte Germane borrow Richard de Fournival's chanson Qnques n'amai tant que jou fui amée (16-20); anonymous: En non Dieu, borrowed from the motet En non Dé, Dex/Ferens pondera (21-23); Ernoul le Viel: Por conforter mon corage, borrowed from the motet Por conforter mon corage/Go (24-29); Robert de Reims: Quant voi le douz tens venir, borrowed from the motets Quant voi le douz tens venir/Latus or En mai quant rose/Quant voi le dou tans venir/Latus (29-33); Robert de Reims: Main s'est levée Aelis, borrowed from the motet Main s'est levée Aelis/[Et tenuerunt] (34-35); Robert de Reims: Quant fueillissent li buison, borrowed from the motet Quant florissent li buisson/Domino (35-37); Jehan Erart: Mes cuers n'est mie a moi, borrowed from the motet Mes cuers n'est mie a moi (38-39, 76); motet Fine Amurs ki les siens tient/J'ai lonc tens Amurs servie/Orendroit plus c'onkes mais borrows the anonymous chanson Orendroit plus qu'onques mais sont li mal d'amer plaisant (67-69); motet Sans penseir folur aç servi tote ma vie/Quant la saisons desireie/Qui bien aime a tart oblie borrows the anonymous chanson Quant la saisons desirée (69-72); motets De mes Amours sui souvent repentis/L'autr'ier m'estuet venue volentés/Dehors Compigne l'autr'ier and Par une matinée/O clemencie fons/Dehors Compigne l'autr'ier borrow the anonymous chanson Dehors Compignes l'autr'ier (72-76); motet Boine Amours mi fait chanter/Uns maus savereus et dous/Portare borrows the anonymous chanson Uns maus savereus et dous.

Index Classifications: Monophony to 1300, Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Andreas Giger

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

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

Features of the isorhythmic motet hitherto believed to be typical for the ars nova already can be found in the ars antiqua. Harbinson gives evidence by showing how tenores were rhythmically and melodically transformed for use in the motet.

Works: Motets from the Montpellier Codex: Sans orgueil et sans envie/Iohanne (101); Traveillié du mau d'amour/Et confitebor (104-5); Je gart le bois/Et confitebor (102, 105); Liés et jolis/Je n'ai joie/In seculum (105); Douce dame sans pitié/Sustinere (106); Le premier jor de mai/Par un matin me le vai/Iustus (106).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Andreas Giger

Index Classifications: Monophony to 1300, Polyphony to 1300, 1300s, 1400s

In his discussion of the composition process of thirteenth-century motets, Hofmann emphasizes the adaptation of the plainchant excerpt In seculum and its influence on the upper parts. He distinguishes two categories of notes, the ones in the chain of thirds including d-f-a-c'-etc. (U-class) and the ones of the chain c-e-g-h-etc. (Pu-class). Composers arranged the tenors in a rhythmic mode that would enable as many notes from the U-class to fall on a "locus impar" (Garlandia), i.e., for example, in the first mode on the first and third note of the rhythmic pattern. The upper voice is divided into the same classes of notes and organized according to similar melodic principles as the tenor. Thus not primarily rules concerning intervals but melodic features of the parts determine the consonances (Zusammenklänge) of the motet. Most vernacular motets borrow refrains, i.e., preexistent textual and musical entities that stand at the beginning of the compositional process. The tenor--hitherto believed to have been the unchangeable point of departure--undergoes changes to meet the requirements of consonance with the refrain and relationship of phrases. The composer, who most probably was also the poet, related the remainder of the motetus textually and musically to the refrain, which resulted in its optimal integration. The page numbers for the following motets are listed in the appendix of Hofmann's study (p. XV-XXII).

Works: Mout est fous qui s'entremet/Morrai je en atendant, amour/Omnes; Ma loiauté m'a nuisi/A la bele Ysabelet/Omnes; Salve, laborancium/Celi luminarium/Omnes; Chorus innocentium/In Bethleem Herodes iratus/In Bethleem; O Maria, decus angelorum/De virgula/Et confitebor; Ecclesie princeps/Et confitebor; In serena facie/In seculum; Si vere vis adherere Uti vere/Si vere vis adherere Vitis palmes/In seculum; Trop m'a amours/In seculum; Peto linis oculum/In seculum; Li douz maus/Trop ai lonc tens/Ma loiauté/In seculum; O felix puerpera/In seculum; Chascun dit/Sa j'ai amé folement/In seculum; Bien doit avoir joie/In seculum; Je cuidai mes maus celer/In seculum; Tout adés mi trouverés/In seculum; A une ajornée/Douce dame en cui dangier/In seculum; Cil brunés ne me meine mie/In seculum; Trop fu li regart amer/J'ai si mal/In seculum; La fille den Hue/In seculum; Ma loiaus pensée/In seculum; Ja n'avrés deduit de moi/In seculum; Se j'ai folloié d'amours/In seculum; Nus ne puet chanter/In seculum; Amours en boine volenté/In seculum; Lonc tens ai mon cuer/In seculum; La bele m'ocit/In seculum; J'ai trouvé qui me veut/In seculum; Ne m'a pas oublié/In seculum; Quant iver la bise/In seculum; Li maus amourous me tient/In seculum; Trop souvent me duel/Brunete, a cui j'ai mon cuer doné/In seculum; Salus virgini per quam/Hodie natus in Israhel/In seculum; Dieus! de chanter/Chant d'oisiaus/In seculum; Liés et jolis/Je n'ai joie/In seculum; Hé! trés douces amouretes/D'amours esloigniés/In seculum; L'autr'ier trouvai/L'autr'ier lés une espinete/In seculum; En son service amourous/Tant est plaisant/In seculum; La biauté ma dame/On doit fine amour/In seculum; J'ai les biens d'amours/Que ferai/In seculum; Se griés m'est au cors/A qui dirai/In seculum; Qu'ai je forfait ne mespris/Bons amis/Am in seculum; En nom Dieu, que que nus die, Trop/En nom Dieu, que que nus die, L'amour/Am in seculum; Mout me fu griés/In omni fratre tuo/In seculum; J'os bien m'amie a parler/Je n'os a m'amie aler/In seculum; L'autre jour par un matin/Au tens pascour/In seculum; O felix puerpera, Flos virginum/In seculum; Eva, quid deciperis/In seculum; Amours en cui/En mon cuer/In seculum; Resurrexit hodie/In seculum; Quant se depart/He! cuer joli/In seculum; Puisqu'en amer/Quant li jolis/In seculum; In seculum aritfex/In seculum supra/In seculum; Ja n'amerai/Sire Dieus/In seculum; ...mpendia cujus natura/O homo de pulvere/In seculum; Que demandés vous/Latus; Ja de boine amour/Ne sai tant amours/Sustinere; Li maus amourous/Dieus! pour quoi/Virgo; Q pia capud hostis/Virgo; Au douz mai/Vigro; Li douz chans des oisellons/Virgo; M'ocirés vous/Audia filia; O homo, considera/O homo de pulvere/Filie Jherusalem; Je cuidai mes maus celer Et soustenir/[??].

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Andreas Giger

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

According to Anonymous IV, Pérotin made revisions to Léonin’s Magnus liber organi. The extent of these revisions is apparent in the two-part organa in three manuscripts, W₁, F, and W₂. The pieces contained in all three sources are generally considered to form the body of the original Magnus liber organi. However, while all three have many pieces in common, each also contains clausulae not found in the others. This conflicts with Anonymous IV’s account that Pérotin abbreviated Léonin’s Magnus liber organi. Thus, all of these manuscripts represent enlarged forms of the Magnus liber organi, and also show different stylistic developments, particularly in the clausulae. Additionally, the total body of new organa nearly doubles the size of the collection’s original form. The additions to the Magnus liber organi show the extent of the technique of “Tenortausch,” the replacement of tenor melismas with melismas of other, related tenors contained within the same manuscript. This technique is evident in a large selection of pieces, primarily the Alleluia settings.

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Elizabeth Stoner

Index Classifications: Monophony to 1300, Polyphony to 1300

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

In the medieval period, the motet was both an applied art and a speculative discipline. It was cultivated within very exclusive social circles. The aesthetic of these groups and the overall contemporary culture allowed for extensive borrowing from and transformation of monophonic and polyphonic music to create new works. Chant developed into organum through medieval rules of consonance, as is the case with the two-part organum Sed sic eum volo. This work also happens to be an organum mensuratum, which means that rhythms exist in a concrete form within the manuscript. Such notation enables modern scholars to more closely study the harmonies and counterpoint of the work. Many motets also allude to their own music. Overall, the most important sources of quotation in the medieval motet are other polyphonic upper voices and the chansonnier repertoire.

Works: Motet: Benedicamus domino (22); Organum: Sed sic eum volo (23-24); Motet: Cest quadruble sans reason (43-44), Trois serors, sor rive mer (43-44), De vulgari eloquentia (91-93).

Sources: Chant: Benedicamus domino (22); Gradual verse: Sed sic eum volo (23).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley

The motet originated when clausulae were given new words, and then each voice part was given an entirely new text. Many different texts were used, and individual words even stopped working together as a textual unit. In this borrowing, although only the words were new and the notes were essentially unchanged, the character of the piece changed significantly. Primarily, this is seen through alterations in rhythm. The introduction of syllabic text into the formerly textless melisma transformed the melisma's fluid character into something heavier and more solid. Phrasing moved from iambic to trochaic. Essentially, text gave the music a new pulsation. All of these characteristics appear in the motet Verbum patris. Through a relatively simple borrowing technique that utilized complex notions about text and rhythm, a new type of composition emerged.

Works: Motet: Verbum patris (452-53).

Sources: Pérotin: Nativitas (Ex semine) (446, 459-60).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley

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

[Need citations of individual articles.]

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

The motet Mout me fu grief/Robin m'aime/Portare illustrates how composers of the late thirteenth century used and combined borrowed texts and tunes. The motetus is the rondeau Robin m'aime; the tenor uses a Portare chant fragment that contains a dual focus between the pitches c and g; and the triplum contains four fragments borrowed from an earlier motet. In Mout me fu grief/Robin m'aime/Portare, the tonal plan of the motet is informed by the motetus, causing changes to be made in the tenor and triplum. Although the chant is often thought to be the "immutable foundation" upon which a motet is constructed, evidence shows that composers thought of it as merely one strand in the polyphonic web. The texts of this motet interact in such a way as to suggest linkages between Mary and the Cross, joy and sorrow, and the Song of Songs tradition of human love as a metaphor for divine love.

Works: Anonymous: Mout me fu grief/Robin m'aime/Portare (30-40).

Sources: Alleluia Dulce lignum (29-34, 38-40); Adam de la Halle: Robin m'aime (28, 30-31, 37-38); Four passages from Montpellier, Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire, Section Médecine, MS H.196 3, 37 (36-37).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Felix Cox

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

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

Motet composers set lines of Ovid’s text that appear in juxtaposition with their respective explanatory glosses, taken from the translation L’Art d’amours. Related proverbs and intertextual refrains serve to comment even more so on Ovid’s original text. Several motet composers used these proverbs and intertextual refrains, and it is likely that these non-Ovidian texts were borrowed from earlier motets rather than a single literary source. Composers who set these texts in motets also appear to have borrowed musical material from each other, though the exact relationship of source and borrowing is not always clear. The current hypothesis is that the motetus voice of Dieus, je fui ja pres de joir / Dieus, je n’i puis la nuit dormir / Et vide et inclina aurem tuam provided the entire textual and musical structure of the Latin double motet Laus tibi salus / Laus tibi virgo / Et vide et inclina aurem tuam. Other motets are discussed in terms of text borrowing, though this borrowing could be between the motets or it could be composers borrowing the same text from the single source, L’Art d’amours.

Works: Anonymous: Cest quadrouble / Vos n’i dormires / Biaus cuers / Fiat (354-60); Anonymous: Laus tibi salus / Laus tibi virgo / Et vide et inclina aurem tuam (358); Anonymous: Ne sai tant / Ja de boine / Portare (364-67).

Sources: Anonymous: Dieus, je fui ja pres de joir / Dieus, je n’i puis la nuit dormir / Et vide et inclina aurem tuam (358-64).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Elizabeth Stoner

Many medieval pastourelle songs contain vivid depictions of rape, and there is virtually no medieval criticism of this practice. One pastourelle motet, Hé, Marotele/En la praerie/Aptatur, and its sacred Marian contrafact, Hé, mere Diu/La virge Marie/Aptatur, offer a rare example of musical commentary on and criticism of casual representations of rape in pastourelle songs. In the pastourelle genre, a knight tries to seduce a shepherdess (Marion/Marot) who remains loyal to her shepherd sweetheart Robin. In many songs, the knight then resorts to force, raping Marion. In Hé, Marotele, however, it is Robin, not the knight, who rapes Marot, an extremely unusual twist of genre conventions. This scene is recounted from Robin’s perspective in the triplum and from Marot’s in the motetus. The Marian motet Hé, mere Diu/La virge Marie/Aptatur has a musical setting nearly identical to Hé, Marotele/En la praerie/Aptatur and retains a textual refrain, suggesting that the sacred motet is a contrafact of the secular pastourelle. Thus, the reader is invited to conflate the penitent speaker in Hé, mere Diu with Robin, adding a moral and spiritual dimension to the pastourelle. Robin’s act of rape is cast as sinful and requiring repentance. Adding to this interpretation, the two motets are presented side by side in manuscript Mo, suggesting a narrative of confession: the penitence in the Marian motet is followed by the revelation of the sin in the pastourelle. Contrasting with the apparent indifference toward rape in medieval songs, this contrafact gives one example of unequivocal condemnation.

Works: Anonymous: Hé, mere Diu/La virge Marie/Aptatur (597-606)

Sources: Anonymous: Hé, Marotele/En la praerie/Aptatur (597-606)

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Matthew Van Vleet

The practice of tenor repetition in Notre Dame organa marks the first time in which the existing chant is manipulated for the purpose of an artistic goal. The practice probably began with the simple addition of a new clausula to an existing one; sometimes these new clausulae may also exist independently. In this practice, the break between the repetitions was simultaneous and obvious. Later, composers began to manipulate the length, mode, and starting point of the tenor, in a way that resembles isorhythm. The duplum was written to be continuous across tenor repetitions.

Works: Organum (numbering from Friedrich Ludwig, Repertorium organorum recentioris et motatorum vetusissimi stili): M12: Alleluia: Adorabo ad templum, (329-31), M 37: Propter veritatem (332-33, 336), M 33: Alleluia: Assumpta est Maria (333, 336), O 16: Styrps Yesse (333), M 40: Timeta dominum (339), M 5: Exiit sermon (343), M 1: Viderunt omnes (343), M 25: Alleluia: Spiritus sanctus procedens (344), M 34: Alleluia: Hodie Maria virgo (345), M 49: Alleluia: Letabitur Justus in domino (347); Clausulae: Adorabo nos. 1-3(329-30), Sanctum tuum nos. 1-3 (340-41), Et confitebor nos. 1-10 (330-31, 344-45), Aurem tuam nos. 1-3 (332-33, 336), Angeli (336), Potentem nos. 1-3 (336-37), Non deficient nos. 1-2 (339-41), Nobis no. 2 (342), Donec veniam (343), Omnes no. 10 (343-44), Hodie perlustravit no.1 (344), Regnat (345-46), Et sperabit nos. 1-2 (347-51).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Felix Cox

In the discussion of the relationship between the clausula and the motet, a systematic study of notational practice, particularly with regard to fractio modi, has often been lacking. Using clausula-motet pairs in Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Pluteus 29.1, motets in first rhythmic mode that have a corresponding clausula are considered. The Latin motets show exceptional musical fidelity to the melismatic originals, but the motets gain flexibility in syllabification by use of fractio modi in the source clausula. Tables compare the motet and clausula sources, and list all instances of fractio modi within the study group. Rhythmic alterations were sometimes made to the source clausula, usually by the introduction of semibreve pairs or by shifting groups of three breves forward by one perfection.

Works: Christe via veritas (151-54); Gaude Syon filia (155-6); Stirps Iesse--Virga cultus (155, 158); Doceas hac die (158-59); Radix venie (158, 160); Immolata paschali victima (160-63).

Sources: Adiutorium no. 2 (147-54); Et Iherusalem no. 2 (155-56); Flos filius eius (a3) no. 3 (155, 158); Docebit no. 1 (158-59); Immolatus est (a3) no. 1 (158-63).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Felix Cox

Coming to a universal understanding of certain terms related to the motet is essential in comprehending the genre. Discantus is a technique that combines two modal parts containing the same amount of notes. Organum combines the modal voice with only one note in the tenor, while copula is a type of discantus that actually combines features of both of the previous techniques. The motet Alleluia Posui adjutorium uses copula, as evidenced by a passage in which the borrowed material appears in the first rhythmic mode with several longae separated into two breves. In these instances, the line is manipulated in one of two ways. Sometimes a plica is used, in which a line is added to the final note of a ligature to show the division of the note into two. Other times, the line is placed after a note to denote a rest or pause. In the case of this motet, a plica is utilized.

Works: Motet: Alleluia Posui adjutorium (85-87).

Sources: Judea et Jerusalem (85).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley

Anonymous IV's statement that Perotin shortened the Magnus Liber and made "many better clausulae or puncta" testifies to two different types of revision. In the first case, existing discantus passages were replaced by more newly-composed ones; sometimes, this serves to actually lengthen the passage in question. In the other case, existing organum passages were replaced by discantus. This hypothesis is supported by the way in which the substitute clausulae are arranged within the fascicles by the scribe of Florence, Bibl. Laurenziana, pluteus 29.1.

Works: Regnum mundi (148); Alleluya: Nativitas (152-56).

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Contributed by: Felix Cox

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300

Index Classifications: Polyphony to 1300, 1300s