Guillaume Dufay on Music Theory Print

Lamentatio sanctae matris ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Historical context#

The motet probably belongs to a series of four Lamentations for the fall of Constantinople composed by Dufay and mentioned for the first time in one of his letters addressed to Piero and Giovanni de’ Medici. The letter must have been written on February 22, 1454, although the exact year is not specified in the text. The musical score and the texts of the French Chanson and the Latin Cantus Firmus are found in two contemporary manuscript sources: Codex 2794 (fols. 34v-36r) of the Biblioteca Riccardiana in Florence, and MS 871N (fols. 150v-151r) in Montecassino. It is believed to have been composed in the context of the “Feast of the Pheasant”, a banquet and extravagant political show organised in Lille by Philip the Good of Burgundy on 17 February 1454. Its purpose was to propagate the idea of a crusade for the recapture of the city. It is, however, unclear whether the piece was ever performed on that occasion. There are contemporary accounts of the banquet (notably the Memoirs of Olivier de la Marche, and the Chroniques of Mathieu d’Escouchy), which name and describe in much detail various pieces of music performed at it, but they fail to mention this piece. At one point in the show, according to the chronicles, an actor dressed as a woman in white satin clothes, personifying the Church of Constantinople (according to one hypothesis, played by Olivier de la Marche himself ) entered the hall of the banquet riding on an elephant, to recite a “complaint and lamentation in a piteous and feminine voice” (“commença sa complainte et lamentacion à voix piteuse et femmenine”). It has been surmised that this was the moment when Dufay’s motet would have been performed; other authors have conjectured that it was merely a moment of inspiration and that the motet was actually written later.

Nuper rosarum flores

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The two homographic tenors, which define the overall structural plan of the piece, are both based on a Gregorian cantus firmus melody taken from the introit for the consecration of churches, Terribilis est locus iste (‘Awesome is this place’, Genesis 28:17), a fifth apart and with different, interlocking rhythmic configurations. This double-tenor motet construction, which Dufay had used previously only in Ecclesie militantis in (probably) 1431, became a regular feature of his later motets, though Nuper rosarum flores is the sole example in which the tenor secundus draws on the same plainchant as the tenor primus. Although the standard modern version of this chant has seventeen notes for the first four words, late medieval chant books such as the ones used in Florence in the early 15th century, have only fourteen notes. These fourteen notes are used as a canonic color in the two tenors, with an interlocking talea pattern (the rhythm patterns of the two tenor parts are different from each other) that totals 28 longa notes, of which the first 14 are rests. This interlocked pair of tenor parts is stated four times, following a diminution scheme in which the identical notation is interpreted under four different mensuration signs, first in tempus perfectum in integer valor (each longa transcribed as a 6/2 bar), then in tempus imperfectum in integer valor (transcribed as 4/2), then in tempus imperfectum diminutum (4/4), and finally in tempus perfectum diminutum (6/4), resulting in total length proportions of 6:4:2:3. This is unusual for isorhythmic motets, in which the sections normally become progressively shorter, but this proportional structure achieves its own equally effective balance. Moreover, the final isorhythmic section provides the usual drive to an accelerated finish by giving the upper voices the shortest note values in the piece. Each of the motet’s four proportional sections has two sub-sections, suggesting even an eight-part structure. The first of these sub-sections includes just the two upper voices (bicinium), while the second not only is sung by all voices but also features the entry of the two instrumental tenor parts. This large-scale plan contradicts the poetic structure of the text in the upper voices, which is divided into four strophes of seven lines, each consisting of either seven or eight syllables. The first two strophes describe the event being celebrated: “recently roses bloomed in the bitter cold of winter, adorning the Church; today it will be consecrated by Pope Eugenius with holy hands and oils”. The last two strophes run together and are a prayer to the Virgin on behalf of the people of Florence.

Vasilissa ergo gaude

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

Online performance and transctipion in modern notation Huelgas-Ensemble, directed by Paul Van Nevel.