Determining the purpose and chronology of the three Marigny motets in relation to the Roman de Fauvel is difficult at best. Examination of the historical role in connection with these motets can make both the chronology and music clearer. Most important historically is their connection with and references to the downfall of Enguerran de Marigny. The evidence suggests that these motets existed before the Roman de Fauvel and were modernized with Fauvel material in order to create specifically tailored political messages.

Works: Vitry: Garrit gallus/In nova/Neuma (35-37), Aman novi/Heu Fortuna/Heu me (36, 38), Tribum que non abborruit/Quoniam secta latronum/Merito (36).

Sources: Floret/Florens (39); Heu Fortuna from Roman de Fauvel (43).

Index Classifications: 1300s

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley

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

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

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

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 repertory of the Cypriot manuscript developed at the court of Cyprus as various court poets contributed poems that were borrowed and used in musical compositions. These works draw from a good deal of the same literature for their references, and consistently refer to characters from Greek mythology such as Jason, Medea, Pygmalion, and Oedipus. Contrary to earlier scholarship, some similarities between this repertory and music of the west do exist. Strong textual and formal similarities exist between the anonymous motet Toustans que mon esprit mire and Machaut's Lay de Notre Dame. Both focus especially on simultaneous appearances of sustained notes. Incessanter expectari/Virtutis ineffabilis also bears a strong textual connection with Vitry's Impudenter circuivi. This repertory does in fact bear connections with western music.

Works: Motet: Toustans que mon esprit mire (96-97), Incessanter expectari/Virtutis ineffabilis (98-99).

Sources: Machaut: Lay de Notre Dame (96); Vitry: Impudenter circuivi (98-99).

Index Classifications: 1300s

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley

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

Scholars have long debated over the true evolution of the practice of fauxbourdon. They argue over whether it was a reproduction of an English method of cantus supra librum, or if it was conceived independently on the continent. The technique first appeared in the Communion of Dufay's Missa Sancti Jacobi, and the term "faburden" was in use in England by 1430. It evolved from a tradition of improvised polyphony in England that involved three voices singing in a primarily parallel style. The borrowed cantus firmus appeared in the middle voice, a technique that sets English practice apart from the continental one, where the cantus firmus appears in the treble. Musicians on the continent used and modified faburden, with similar aural results. Two written examples in the Old Hall manuscript are exceptions that prove the rule that faburden was an improvisatory technique. O lux beata Trinitas uses the plainchant in the middle voice transposed up a fifth and in a rhythmically flexible manner, with the outer voices lightly ornamented. In the Gloria trope Spiritus procedens, the chant is paraphrased untransposed in the middle voice. Thus, pieces using fauxbourdon exhibit the characteristics of faburden, proving the English origin of the practice.

Works: Dufay: Missa Sancti Jacobi (345); Binchois: Te Deum (351); Anonymous: O lux beata Trinitas (352); Gloria trope: Spiritus procedens (352); Credo: Conditor alme siderum (352); Anonymous: Te Deum (352).

Index Classifications: 1300s, 1400s

Contributed by: Rebecca Dowsley

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