rod The Nort to Music History te | RENAISSANCE MUSIC inga by Robert P. Morgan ALLAN W. ATLAS Gra Brooklyn College a Det WAW-NORTON & COMPANY New York: LondPART ONE THE 1380s TO THE 1420s INCLUDED: BRASSART # CICONIA « B. CORDIER + DU FAY * DUNSTABLE * GRENON * POWER * SOLAGE + ZACHARIAS DE TERAMOCHAPTER t ‘The “English Sound” For they have a new way ‘Of making pleasant consonance In high and low music In fia, in rests, and in mutation; ‘And they have taken the guise Of the English, and follow Dunstable.? With these lines from his epic poem Le champion des dames, Martin le Franc described the stylistic innovations of Guillaume Du Fay and Gilles Binchois as he understood them from his vantage point at the court of Savoy in the early 1440s, Some thirty years later, Johannes Tinctoris, the most historical-minded iusic theorist of the fifteenth century, had this to say in the preface to his Proportionale musics: “At this time . .. the possibilities of our music have been s0 marvelously increased that there appeats to be a new art, if[ may so call it, whose fount and origin is held to be among the English, of whom Dunstable stood forth as chie.”? Finally, to backtrack to the earliest witness of all, Ulrich von Richental, chronicler of events at the Council of Constance (in modern- day Germany, 1414-18), wrote that what impressed him most about a 1416 service performed by English singers at the Cathedral of Constance was the “sweet English song,” The broad implications of this testimony seem clear ‘nough: English music in the opening decades of the fifteenth century differed from music on the European Continent, and the English—with John Dunstable at the fore—influenced the likes of Du Fay and Binchois (Fig. 1-1) as well as. other Continental composers oftheir generation, Its ako clear that Continental ‘musicians and audiences perceived that English music had a distinct sound of its own, What was this “English sound"? THE ENGLISH SOUND ‘The chief characteristic ofthe English sound was is sonorous, chordal writ- ing, We will approach it from a number of angles Dunstable’s Quam pulchra es ‘There is no better example—we might even call it exaggerated—of the English sound than Quam puldhra es, by John Dunstable (c, 1390-1453; ln- 1. Quoted after Fallows, “The Contenance Angloise,” 196 2. Strunk, Soune Readings, 14-15,May tee Figure 1-1, Du Fay and Binchois, miniature in a copy of Martin Le Francs Le Champion des dane, ©. 1451 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris). fice? y)- Matis there about the piece that would have struck the ealy- feenth-century Continental eat? No doubt it was (0 use modem temincls 083) the largely triadic, C-major-like quality of the piece, o (in terms ning to the ffteenth-century musician) the preponderance of imperfect comommnens {ist and Snths) and sitly controlled dissonance Indeed, there's not single inBrepared dissonance between any two voices on structurally important best g featre that has led modern scholars to apply the term “pan-corsonent" ay Uhl Piece and others like it, Nor ae there any instances of paral perfec Consonances (fOurths, fifths, and octaves), which contemporary Contecra] composers were still willing to tolerate, {Listener on the Continent might lo have noted the suppleness and expan- seal aie atzeytext-generated rhythm, which contrasted withthe gen. Fully sifer, harder-driving, and more complex rhythms oftheir own satan: Finally, Continental audiences might have gasped at the “sensuoummen” of Faust 12-15, an effect produced by nothing mote than a serie of parallel fapinwersion wads (in modem terms). To judge solely and thas pethips are fitly fom written sources, the English had a virtual monopoly er this evn c before the 1420s, SeI€ conscious national identity. A piece such as Dunstable's wea thow cake ages on its sleeve, and it was surely the sonorous quality of pieces like it that ke Franc dubbed the “contenance angloise™ and that Richental charseterincd as “sweet English song.” English Discant Style Fehef entury English composers, ile Dunstable was the greatest ofthe fifteenth-century Eng ne washer tc inventor aor he le prone oe EA Pee ek 2 Quam pul es oves its tad ring toa number of improvistory practices that Engh msc hd probaly tae is gentetons (Te fede of the English for imperfect consonances even in written eens stretcl i back at lest o che thirteenth century.) These practices, which we genealy Jump together under the umbrella-like term “English discant," allowed singers sso often happens, “improvisation” permeated “composition” (the line be. wean them tb fig) and we can seve the rol sye sper two works: Leonel Power’s setting ofthe Marian chant Ave regina caelonum and an earlier, anonymous work, Maria aude gents (Ex, 1-1. e mm. 114, with the notes of EXAMPLE 1-1. (a) Power, Ave repina caelonum, mm, 114, the plainsong melody marked by asterisks; (b) Anonymous, Maria laude _genirix, mm, 18. @© os (SSS Power (4.1448), who was probably slighty older than Dunsuabl, draws on Sanam vesion (he vesion ofthe Catholic ite used atthe Caan oe pet) ofthe Ave rina melody and places it in the middle woice Reng it, Power weaves a simple contrapuntal brie, ins tae oie that was advocated by the theorists but rel nemerenns ctu podled, adc sound. Indeed, the chordal sound ofthe msec eae ine ffeauene tendency ofthe lowest voice to move in paial thn with the ule Voice results once again ina generous number of pale first-inversion trade. Before pursing ths pint, however, we should take note af he ‘manu Script in which the two pieces appear ‘The Old Hall Manuscript hhe Old Hall manuscripe (Fig. 1-2), socalled because it was Jong housed at the Calg of St Edu Ol Hal (es Wag ag if mow rortant English mosic manuscript of the early fieenth century.® Containing TH? sacred pieces composed between 1370 and 1420 the mansicriptconei a veritable anthology of English compositional styles of the time. Mos sking his important source is the fist to transmit a sizable corpus of pieces wit aumbutions to specific composers. And with his 21 (possibly more) works, Leone! Power i tepretnted by thice tes as many piece acy hey ee Figure 1-2. The Old Hall manuscript, f0. 121° beginning of a Gloria by Roy Henry (King Henry V). 3. Now in the British Library, Ms Additional 57950, see Censs-Cataloueposer, Two atributions that catch the eye are those to “Roy Henry," who is pow assumed to be King Henry V, and who would not be the let English monarch to dabble in composition. Equally noteworthy is the “areiburon [2a ls to appeat: Dunstable goes completely unrepresented inthe engin layer (or section) of the manuscript. { poneh the provenance of the Old Hall manuscript—that is, where, when, US ginal ayer was probably prepared during the 1410s forthe privace chapel of Thomas, Duke of Clarence (d. 1421), younger brother of Henry V Pacey served i the duke’ household as instructor ofthe chorstes, which may ae jut Sr his preeminence in the manuscript. Additions made vo this orginal layer in the 1420s consist mainly of pieces by composers associated with he royal chapel of Henry VI suggesting thatthe manuscript might eventually hve come to reside atthe royal household. While is exclusively sacred repertory eneral lick of music by Continental composers (there ate only tivo such Picts), and viral exclusion of Dunstable provide a rather one-sided picture of the music at both of the chapels with which it was associated, the Old Hal manuscript nevertheles stands as the primary source of English music of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, Faburden One of the hallmarks of early-fiftcenth-century English style isthe use of parallel frst-inversion triads, which appear in all three pieces discussed so fon, {ike the English sound in genera, their use in art music probably derive feng an improvisational practice that was known as fibunien, which is described in sugmonymous weatise, The Sight of Fabunden, copied by one John Wylde in the 1430s or later sts eas Process of Sights, natural and most in use, {i is expedient to declare the Sight of Faburden. The which hath but two Sighs thd shoes the plainsong sn Sight, the which isa sixth from the Treble in voices and va FG. with the plaisong in Sight, the which s an octave fom the Lictle ia Noice. These two accords the Faburdener must rule by the Mean erat Beinsong: For when he shall begin his burden, he mus atend tothe la, $RRE. and set his Sight even withthe plinsong and his Voice na Ath bene, Se Pitisong: And afer chat, whether the pmsong ascend or desend he som this description, we can determine how English singers of the period sinsprovisedchree-part polyphony from a plainchant. Cleaty, they por the Preexitent chan in the middle voice, The lowest voice belonged to then 4 Quoted after Trowell, “Faburden and Fauxbourdon,” 47-48 taco ony ings with hoe of wha noe sing, The fabudener adc gh val imagin) a note hat was een wnison wi ‘ot a third above the plainsong and then, whichever note was sighted, sing a pic dat sounded howe, Morcoves, the abunlner would begin the ice by sighting a unison—thus singing a fiih below the plainchant note— Ind, wo the extent posible, bin and end each word on sighed Unison a between, the faburcener was free to sight this above, thus producing a note that was (after transposing it down a fifth) a third below the plainsong. Mean. tuhile dhe aeble or highest voice, sing a fourth above the chant, thus paralleling the fi 2 n octave above. the fiburdener at ether a ssth or an oct seltues soy ‘ollowing the anonymous theorist’s prescriptions to the letter, 2 group of Engl gen could start with the Sarum version of the chant Vos gui secuti and end up with a polyphonic fabric such asthe following: :XAMP 8 qui secu; the mene EXAMPLE 1-2, A reconstruction of faburden on Ves qui secu; t {ridl, with plainchan) and web onthe upper staf, the faburdener on the lower staf (smaller notes are the sighted, or imagined, notes). sel (ESSE ERs SE ees ba bg pte 2 $2 og cee (Poot be 0 ee eee pee ee be sure, the result is hardly “high” art music. But works such as Dun- sacs un pln and Power vere ok ths Et sole cn ‘unsophisticated improvisational practice as their starting point, perhaps one sciously, and absorbed it into art music of the highest quality, and so conti significantly to the changing sound of early-fifteenth-century music. As for the term “faburden,” there was 2 long tadition in Englan« — nessed by Chaucer, among others—in which the word “burden’® (proba ny derived ftom the French bourdon, a low drone) referred to the lowest col multivoice piece. The prefix “fa” probably was added as a result ofthe ten eney of the faburden voice, when singing a fifth below the F of a somone, ne ‘flats and, consequently, E-fats (to Keep fourths and fiths perfec), ne which would have been sung to the syllable fa (See Chapter 3). “Fabu a then, accurately described both the placement and the “tonal sviaonson 0 the one voice part that truly improvised, and the term came to be uset describe the process as a whole. 5. Afier Naw Grove, 6: 352.Fauxbourdon By 1425-30 at the latest, Continental composers had developed their own counterpart to English faburden, Continental faaxbourdon can be seen clearly jn the second parts of both the verse and the “Gloria Patni” of the three-part ini Sena jicnum, by Johannes Brasar (2. 1420-45), who served in imperial chapel of the Holy Roman Emperors during the 1430s and 1440s the impel cha iy Emperors during the 1430s and 1440 The overall sound of this picce, while resembling that of faburden, was ar- Bed at ina very different manner. Brasrt frst placed the plainchant melody an the top voice, here the superius (or cant), transposing it up an octave snd ‘omamenting it lightly (in Anthology 2, the notes of the plainsong are marked ‘with an asterisk), He next composed the lowest voice, the tenor, which moves ‘mostly note against note with the superius, mainly in sixths punctuated by the octave, Finally, rather than writing out the middle voice, he merely jotted down the instruction “a fauxbourdon.”” From this instruction, or canon (tule), the singer would know to double the chant-bearing superivs at a fourth below. his fauxbourdon reaches us as a written practice in which the composes determined all three voices, in contrast to the English faburden technique, in which the lowest voice was improvised. . But fauxbourdon was not always quite so simple, Indeed, the eatlest datable example of the technique (from 1427), the communion Ves qu secut from Du Fay's Missa Sancti Jacobi, is far more artistic (Ex. 1-3): EXAMPLE 1-3. Du Fay, the communion Vos qui seauti from the Missa San Jacobi, mm. 111 . " = — Sa aa Fesonioa| gi weer ‘As he generally did in his fuxbourdon settings, Du Fay managed to maintain the emphasis on parallel § triads while giving the tenor at least some sense of independence. Even with Du Fay’s ingenuity, however, fuuxbourdon wears quickly. There js simply not enough contrast. Composers soon recognized this lack of variety and assigned the technigue to certain specific musical functions: short chant settings from the Proper of the Mass (as in Du Fay), short verse sections within longer settings (as in Brassrt), and other small-scale picces such as hymns and the Magnificat, The weal impotance of fauxbourdon, like that of English fa- burden, lay not in any aesthetic pretense of its own (though short bursts can be beautiful), but in the influence it had on compositions of a more ambitious kind. Just as the influence of faburden infuses a composition like Dunstable's Quam puldina es with a distinctive sound, so the homophonic, triadic sonority of fiuxbourdon lucks within a work like Du Fay’s enticing setting of Ave regina caelorum, probably weitten before 1430 (Anthology 3). With no plainsong and with no more than an occasional nod toward parallel § chords, mainly at ca- dences, the piece is a thoroughly chordal, rhythmically simple work marked by erystal-clear declamation, We could even say that it represents a fanxbour- don-infiuenced style. ‘With both fiburden and fiuxbourdon, then, we see a process that is repeated many times in the history of Wester music: a style of improvisation—eall it an “unwritten tradition” —gives rise to a ely limited, highly stylized written approximation that in tum becomes the basis for more ambitious, freely com- posed compositions. And in the opening decades of the fifteenth century, this proces resulted in the emergence of what we now call the triad—a concept unknown to Dunstable, Du Fay, and their contemporaries, who would have “analyzed” theit works and taught others how to write them in terms of in- tervals, ftst between superius and tenor and then between each of those two voices and any others. The triad soon became the underlying basis of com- position, and transformed the sound of music. ANGLO-CONTINENTAL CONTACTS ‘The idea that the English sent their “sounds” across the channel and that ie transformed Continental styles overnight is obviously simplistic. Yet itis certain that the early 1400s saw ample contact between musicians from England and ‘musicians of the Franco-Flemish tradition on the Continent. Whether we un~ derstand such contacts as instances of one tradition influencing the other, or ‘merely contributing new elements to a common, ever-growing stylistic pool, or just rubbing elbows with an already established style seems immaterial. Here ‘we will simply consider a few of the contacts, remembering that no one of them by itself played a decisive role. English musicians were present at the Council of Constance, among them the Earl of Warwick's minstrels and the singers of the bishops of Norwich and Lichfield, who arrived after having performed in Cologne (in Germany). Contacts of a different sort came about through the protracted English occupation ef northem France, beginning in 1417. Thus Binchois served an English nos peman and used a Sarum chant in one of his psalm setings, He even saw his '&: De plus en plus (see Ex. 5-7), quoted in Leonel Power's Anima As for Dunstable: not only did he serve John, Duke of Bedford, when the luke was Regent of France, but he actually owned land in Englsh-occupied France. Eventually, in 1438, he joined the retinue of Humphrey, Dake of Gloucester, who opened channels of communication between Englaad and the carly Tealiau luumanist movement. Perhaps it was through Gloucester’ con nections that a large number of works by Dunstable and other English com. Poses found their way to Italy and came to be included in a manuscripe copied at the Ferrarese court of Leonello d'Este in the late 1440s. Indeed, Dunstable is far better represented in Continental manuscripts than he isin English sources, Finally, the urban centers of the Low Countries (modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands), where a new tradition was just then taking root, stood at the very hub of Anglo-Continental rade, and a city such as Bruges was teeming with English merchants and diplomats who fostered their native musical ta dition, In such ways, over two or three decades, Continental composers did indeed assimilate the English sound, OTHER ENGLISH FEATURES English music contributed more than its rich sonority, although that was certainly its most conspicuous feature. Another innovation was the idea of imbuing the five movements ofthe Ordinary of the Mass with asense of mesical unity by basing each of them on the same cant finmas—a preexisent mclody thas formed the basis ofa new polyphonic piece (fll discussion ofthis epoch ‘making idea appears in Chapter 9). We now look at three other features of English music that would eventually find their way to the Continene Paraphrase Technique A favorite technique of the English was to place the cantus firmus (in this Petiod, usually a chant melody) in the superius and paraphrase it—that is, em. bellsh iat mes so lavishly that the identity ofthe original plainsong melody was nearly lot. A fine example of the practice occurs in the two-veiee section ‘of Dunstable’s Ave regina caelonum (Ex. 1-4): Examete 1-4, Dunstable, Ave regina caelorum, mm. 44-61, with the notes of ‘he cantus firmus marked with asterisks. Here Dunstable has taken the Sarum version of the plainsong melody, trans- posed it up a filth (a customary ploy when placing it in the superivs), and decorated it to the point where it is sometimes unrecognizable, as it is in the last phrase. The passage also highlights another typically English characteristic, the fall-measure rest between the phrases on “Ave glotios:” and “super om. nes.” We find the same one-measure rest just before the words “Veni, dilecte mi” in Quam pulchra es (Anthology 1, m. 30), where, however, it serves the rhetorical intent of setting off and thus emphasizing the words that follow. Indeed, the coonas (fermatas) over the notes on “Veni might even have been 4 signal for melodic embellishment. Migrant Cantus Firmus ‘While composers both in England and on the Continent customarily placed the cantus firmus in one voice and kept it there, the English sometimes per- mitted it to wend its way through the polyphonic fabric. An example of this technique appears in one of Power's trad-rich settings of Salve regina, which, rather mysteriously, is based on the chant melody Alia redempronis mater (Ex 1-5). The movement of the cantus firmus from superivs to contratenor (middle voice) and back at measures 18-27 can be accounted for ently coone by Power's wish to keep the plainsong melody going while letting the superius drop out. At measures 68°79" on the other ha, his strategy differs: after placing the cantus firmus in the contratenor at measure 71, he Keeps it there ‘even when the superius reenters at measure 75, EXAMPLE 1-5. Power, Salve nging, mm, 18-27 and 68-79.THE MARIAN ANTIPHONS Texts addressed to the Virgin Mary have figured prominent inthe muse dked sf. Thre ween fc, foe Eons ‘Marian antiphons’—Ave regina caelorum, Salve regina, Alma redempioris mater, and Regina cae letore—that were sung throughout Europe at special votive (devo- tional) services dedicated to Mary. These were often sung in what was called the Lady Chapel, following the Office of Compline, the final prayer service of the day in the Roman liturgy. And in the early fifteenth century, English com- Poses in particular produced namerous polyphonic settings ofthe antphons. cause there is no reason to assume that these texts held more aesthetic attraction for English composers than they did for anyone ele, the abundance of English setting ses a question about thei purpose. ln ict, the English set i antiphons to meet the requirements of various institutions, including those ‘outside the church itself, whose statutes often called for the Marian antiphons to be sung polyphonicaly and who put ade specal compestons (or the 6. Ansiphons ere the dey in dei in defining ynzes in medial ad Renaisance mic ‘nay, ons ae don pedantic cnt ng in ot ve is The Manan anon, however, py ane ote chases hy 10 called because oftheir ncasion in 3 typeof cunt book known a an amphone singers who performed them. The statutes of Eton College, for example, dating from about 1453, called for the choristers of the college to participate in a votive service at the Lady altar each evening and to sing, “in the best manner they know,” the Salve regina during Lent and the other Marian antiphons during the other seasons. Thus we see a kind of corporate patronage of music at work, ‘which, though it did not go out and "chase" this or that specific composer, brought about the composition of polyphonie music ina particular genre. We twill eturn Co the subject of patronage from time to time throughout the book, “Sweet” Thirds and Tuning Systems Unfortunately, Ultich von Richental was rather vague about the “sweet En- lsh song’ chat he heard at the Council of Constance. At first, we might assume that he was referring to the music itself, but itis equally possible that he was describing the manner of performance. And, though we can only speculate, it may be that what struck his ear was the English singers’ manner of tuning.” ‘Vocal polyphony was performed according to Pythagorean tuning: that is, in accordance with the ideas of Pythagoras, who understood music as part of the mathematical sciences and whose teachings were passed down by genera tions of music theorists. Briefly (and at the risk of gross oversimplification), ‘octaves and fifths were tuned purely—with the number of vibrations per second in perfect ratios of 2:1 and 3:2. Tuning this way, however, came at the expense ‘of pure major and minor thirds, which to our ears would have sounded some- ‘what harsh and ragged with their respective ratios of 81:64 and 32:27. Yee for ‘most medieval polyphony, with its emphasis on the perfect consonances, the pure tuning would have worked well enough ‘The English, though, liked thirds and triads, and indeed made them a central feature of theit style; but Pythagorean tuning would have left these sounding, anything but “sweet.” What English singers might have done, then, is flatten the fifths (eventually the successive fifths would have reached ehe point of sounding out of tune) in order to achieve pure thirds of 5:4 (major) and 6:5 (minor). In other words, they might have used a tuning system that approached what is known as mean-tone tuning (which would soon become the norm on. keyboard instruments) and they would have done this in response to the triadic sonorities of the English sound. Thus, as they usually do, changes in musical style and in performance practice may well have gone hand in hand. A DUNSTABLE WORK IN DETAIL “The two pieces by Dunstable that we considered eatlier were English to the core and intimately small-scale. Yet Dunstable’s most impressive compositions are his large-scale, sorhythmic motets, pieces in which we see the analysical 7."This paragraph and the next two are based on Covey-Crump, "Pythagoras atthe For 310-21English contemporaries, one of th . 'e most impressive isthe four-voice setting of Veni sancte spictus/ Veni creator (Anthology 4), we vn podefore we look at Dunstable’s motet in some detail, we must fist understand ow torhytin (a modern term) works. There are two important elements + Fig melody, called a or, and a reeutring rhythmnic patter, called stakes makes sorhychm interesting i that, unlike a simple ostinato, the repe- Stone of melody and rhychmis pattern are not necessarily synchreaized, ber ample 1-6 is a homemade illustration of the technique: EXAMPLE 1-6. The elements of isorhythm: (a) a six-not E sorhythm: (a) a six-note color; (b) a ten= component (notes and rests) talea;(¢) che two combined to form isorhythmic voice part Sms (®) Example 1-8 shows the six paired taleae as they extend over three statements of the color: EXAMPLE 1-8, The six taleae and three colores of the tenor in Veni sancte spiritus/ Veni creator. : _ ) SSS tt ir SSS = Sas Here, the melody is clothed in a different th 4 different rhythmic garb at each of is earances, while the rhythmic pattem i res oe le the shythmic pattem returns each time with a different Now to Dunstable’s motet: for his cantus fi his eantus firmus, which lies in the lowest voice (tenor), Dunstable drew on the hymn Veni ceator op he ei in Veni creator spirits, sung on the feast of Pentecost (ako called Whitsunday) hough he quowe only nots 11-32 oe 1-7. The hymn Veni creator spivitus, stanza 1, with notes 11-32 In this motet, Dunstable both simplifies and complicates the isorhythm. On the one hand, he makes each statement of the color coincide with exactly two statements of the talea, so that the second and third statements of the melody return with their original rhythmic pattern intact. This produces a clearer, more audible exposition of both melody and rhythmic pattem than does the non- synchronized combination of our homemade example. On the other hand, Dunstable employs a procedure that had already been widely usec in the four~ teenth century: each pair of talee are presented in progressive diminution (notes of shorter duration), in the ratio 3:2-1: that is (in terms of modern notation), the dotted whole note tied to a dotted half note in taleae I and IT (3 X 3—one measure in the tenor is equal to three measures in ? ime in the upper voices) shrinks to a dotted whole note in taleae Ill and IV (3 X 3), and is farther reduced to a dotted half note in talexe V and VI (I X 3). Dunstable also applies isorhythm to the upper voices, a device known today as pan-isorkythm isorhythm in all voices). Here, though, he proceecks different: the rhythm of each upper voice is the same in taleae I and I (with minor differences); with tleae III and IV, the upper voices unfold in a completely new rhythm; while taleae V and VI introduce a thitd configuration. Thus against the single isorhythmic pattem in the tenor, the upper voices present thre different isorhythmic pattems, each comprising two taleae There are also touches of fomelism (another modern term): that is, at cor responding points in each pair of talea, the melody, or at least the melodic contour, in the upper voices is either identical or similar. Table 1-1 shows the points of melodic correspondence as they appear in the top voice: