by G. Shaked
Polytextuality evolved as the mouthpiece for different social strata that wanted their ideas and professional musicality expressed.
In the church the second faster voice above the Gregorian cantus was used to express the new ideas in the church in the mouth of the clergymen and monks strata. They were more professional musically in comparison the congregation with new religious concepts to express (like the adoration of Maria). The Gregorian cantus was the simpler expression of the laymen of the congregation.
Thus through polytextuality both strata could be heard that of the congregation and that of the clergy.
This is expressed for example in the motet Ave Maria - Fons Letitie – Latus [1]
Sometimes the upper voices would receive a religious text in the vernacular (and not in Latin) – expressing ideas of the Local clergy – thus bypassing the restriction not to use vernacular in the service.
At other times, polytextuality was used to express in a parallel motion religious and secular phenomena like religious versus earthly love. The earthly love or other vernacular texts would have represented then the voice of the secular court musicians and courtiers.
For example such a piece is the motet Aucun Vont – Amor qui cor – Kyrie [2] where the speakers strata are the congregation (Cantus) – clergy (Duplum) and troubadours-courtiers (Triplum).
Later, these divisions of social strata became less marked in some musical pieces as the composer actually signified his “getting rid” of some of the social strata voices in the text.
So, for example. The clergy would make the congregation Cantus only a formality without specific text and in turn the Troubadours would “get rid” of the religious layer of the clergy by giving the Duplum a secular text.
Thus the interactions and power straggles between strata would receive in the Medieval period a musical polytextual expression.
----------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Claude V. Palisca (ed.), Norton Anthology of Western Music, (2. ed), Vol. 1, London: Norton, 1988, p. 53
[2] Palisca, Norton, pp. 68-71
© 2007
by G. Shaked
Keywords: Dufay, Dunstable, Machaut, Ockeghem, Shaked
Among Johannes Ockeghem's pieces, there are only two pieces which contain more than one simultaneous text:
1. Mort, tu as navre / Miserere Motet-Chanson
2. Petite camusette / S'elle m'amera Chanson
This small number of Polytextual pieces, is very different from the situation of composers which preceded him, such as Guillaume Dufay, John Dunstable and Guillaume de Machaut.
Ockeghem wrote only one polytextual motet, while Dufay and Dunstable used this form for their most sufisticated and festive pieces.
Table : Polytextual texts - a Statistical and Historic analysis
|
|
|
Motets |
|
|
Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Composer |
Years |
Polytextual |
Unitextual |
Total |
Polytextual pieces |
|
Machaut |
1300-1377 |
23 |
- |
23 |
3 |
While with Dufay and Dunstable the Isorythemic polytextual motet, is a major form of composition, with Binchois Ockeghem and Bosnois it is scarcely used.
As can be seen in the next graph:
Graph no. 1 : No. of polytextual motets
Machaut
Dunstable
Dufay
Binchois
Ockeghem
Bosnois
Although Binchois, Ockeghem and Bosnois composed only a few Polytextual motets, it doesn't mean that the motet form was disappearing. This, is because another type of motet became central in their output instead of the polytextual motet - that of the unitextual motet.
As is shown in the two following graphs:
Graph no. 2 : No. of unitextual motets
Machaut
Dunstable
Dufay
Binchois
Ockeghem
Bosnois
Graph no. 3 : Percentage of polytextual motets of all motets
Machaut
Dunstable
Dufay
Binchois
Ockeghem
Bosnois
Graph no. 3 demonstrates that the form of the unitextual motet, from the time of Binchois and Ockeghem was becoming prominent, and was being preferred over the polytextual motet.
It seems that polytextual compositions in a form different from the motet, were written by the various composers examined in this article. However, it doesn't seen that these forms became a major genre of composition with any one of the composers, and remained a minor form in their repertoire.
As can be seen in the next graph:
Graph no. 4 : No. of polytextual forms, except for the motet (chanson, virelai, ballade etc.)
Machaut
Dunstable
Dufay
Binchois
Ockeghem
Bosnois
It seems that polytextual pieces besides the motet never occupied a major place in the repertoire of these composers, as is demonstrated above (graph no. 4). In no genre of composition they form a major percentage of the composers' output, as for example were polytextual motets in Dufay's repertoire. For example: Ockeghem wrote only one polytextual chanson, out of twenty one chansons he composed - which constitute 5%; while polytextual motets constitute more than 50% of all his motets.
Summery: The above table and graphs demonstrate that in the beginning of the fifteenth century a change occurred in motets and polytextuality. The polytextual pieces of Dufay and his motets demonstrate it well because of their diversity. Among his pieces there could be found polytextual isorythmic motets (old style), polytextual non-isorythmic motets, unitextual motets (new style), and other polytextual pieces (not motets).
It can be said that Dufay's pieces demonstrate the shift to the form of unitextual motet (a shift of taste toward a clearer pronunciation of text). Also evident is the change from isorythem as an organising element of pieces toward other organizing-frames of pieces (such as the form-fix).
The generation of composers following Dufay - Ockeghem and Bosnois, the repertoire includes only a few polytextual motets, and more unitextual motets. For example, Bosnois dedicates a unitextual motet, 'In Hidraulis' to Ockeghem, while in the past it was costumery to dedicate polytextual motets to other composers. Furthermore, there are more attempts to combine polytextuality, perhaps in another manner, with the tradition of the chanson and the form-fix , attempts which it seems did not become a prominent and central form of creation.
Types of polytextuality
One of the questions that arises, following the conclusions from the first
part of this study, is whether the change from polytextuality to unitextuality
was sharp, or a gradual shift toward clearer and clearer textual contours.
This question can be defined also as: is the polytextuality of the feefteen
and sixteen century, in which there was a growing preference of unitextuality,
different then that of preceding centuries.
In order to attempt and answer this question, let us examine the number of texts in polytextual pieces of each composer and composer.
Graph no. 5 : No. of polytextual pieces, divided according to no. of simultaneous texts
Machaut
Dunstable
Dufay
Binchois
Ockeghem
Bosnois
It can be seen in the above graph, that in the feefteenth century, from Dufay onward when polytextuality is used, there is a preference to the "lighter" contour of two simultaneous texts. In fact it can be deduced that the shift from polytextuality to unitextuality is a shift toward "lighter" contours of text.
© 2003
The New Pavarotti: Mr. Camel from the Opera Amnon
----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear visitor, please take a short moment to sign my guest book!
----------------------------------------------------------------
Emails are
gladly received
Josquin
Des Prez : Biography; At the court of Louis XI; Two Textual layers in Josquin
's 'Tu Solus'; The Motet-Lament 'Absalon, fili mi'
Johanenes Ockeghem
: Biography; S'elle m'amera-Petite Camusete
The Philo-Semitic motets
of Philippe de Vitry
ABSTRACT: The
painting "Libreria Musicale" (Musical Library) by Giuseppe Maria Crespi,
as a source of information on the "Storia della Musica" (History of Music)
by Father Martini
The
music of Abraham Casseres (Jewish Music)
Music in
the Bible
Jacques Offenbach:
The Tales of Hoffmann
Short Story : "Letters
from the Grave: Mozart writing to Beethoven"
A translation of Girolamo
Mei's letters go Vincenzo Galilei and Giovanni Bardi
Vincenzo Galilei as the
Forefather of Opera
The allegory of
Monteverdi, Peri and Caccini's Operas on "Orfeo" (Orpheus)
Girolamo Mei's
biography
The harp
as a hidden symbol in Bernini's 'David'
Other articles by G. Shaked:
ART -
BIBLICAL STUDIES -
BIOLOGY
-
CINEMA
-
LITERATURE
-
MUSIC -
PHILOSOPHY
-
PHYSICS
(ACOUSTICS)