Motets Wallons. Motets, Conductus et pièces instrumentales
Manuscrit de l'Abbaye de St. Jacques, de Liège - XIIIe et XIVe siècles / Huelgas Ensemble
medieval.org
Musique en Wallonie MW 29 (LP)
1978
A
1. Parce virgo spes reorum
[4:28]
conductus
2. Je n'ai, keu ke nus en die
[3:24]
motet ~
triplum Bien me doi ~ ténor Kyrieleison
3. Pulchra decens [1:34]
motet ~
duplum Lonc tens at ~ ténor et sperabit
4. Herou! Herou! je la voi la
[4:20]
motet ~
triplum Belle Aelis ~ ténor Flos filius
5. Ce sunt amorettes [3:00]
motet ~
triplum Diex! ou porai-je ~ ténor ki n'a
point d'argent
6. Salve virgo virginum [2:00]
motet-litanie ~
duplum Est ilh dont ensi ~ ténor
Aptatur
7. Cis a cui [3:41]
motet-quodlibet ~
duplum Li douls penseirs ~ triplum Qui amour vuet
B
1. Deus in adiutorium [4:32]
conductus II & III
2. Bele Izabelos [3:29]
motet ~ duplum Je me quidoie ~ triplum entre Copin et
Borgois
3. Amor qui cor vulnerat [2:17]
motet ~
triplum aucun vont sovent ~ ténor Kyrie
eleison
4. Quant li dous tens [3:38]
motet ~
triplum Plus joliement ~ ténor Portare
5. Virgo gloriosa [3:59]
motet-litanie ~
triplum Dous rossagnoles ~ ténor Laetabitur
6. Je n'en puis mais [2:56]
motet instrumental ~
triplum J'ai mistote ~ ténor Puerorum
Total de la première face: 22m
Total de la seconde face: 20m 34s
HUELGAS ENSEMBLE
Jan CAALS, ténor
John DUDLEY, ténor
Jo GULINCK, basse
Michel HOLVECK, rebec
Nancy LONG, déchant
Marcel ONSIA, saqueboute
Piet STRYCKERS, vièle
Erik VAN NEVEL, baryton, bombarde, flûte à bec
Paul VAN NEVEL, bombarde, flûte à bec
Flor VERSCHUEREN, percussion
Claude WASSMER, bombarde, flûte à bec
Direction: Paul VAN NEVEL
Manuscrit original conservé à la Bibliothèque
Nationale de Turin. Transcription : A. Auda et P. Van Nevel
Enregistré en la grande salle de l'Abbaye de Park, à
Heverlée (Belgique) les 20 et 21 janvier 1978
Régie musicale et prise de son: Jan VANWELKENHUYSEN
Première publication: Musique en Wallonie 1978
Au recto: Ange Musicien - Collégiale N.-D. de Huy (Belgique)
Portail du Bethléem (vers 1335) (copyright A.C.L. Bruxelles)
THE WALLON MOTETS
The very rich Biblioteca Reale of Turin, in Italy, possesses an
extremely important manuscript, classification no. Vari 42, the
interest of which is increased for us as it has been clearly proved to
be of Liegeois origin.
Originally, this manuscript was, in fact, part of a voluminous
collection of parchments which, from time immemorial, had been
kept in the famous Abbaye Saint-Jacques in Liège.
When the abbey library was sold on March 18th 1788, all these documents
were divided into four lots, which were then numbered as they still are
today, namely: Vari 45, 44, 43 and 42. And it
was thanks to its new owner, Charles-Albert of Savoy, that the
manuscript finally reached the Biblioteca Reale of Turin.
But let us go back a little and try to find out more accurately
what was the geographic origin of the packet of documents and the
date when they were compiled. Firstly, a certain number of
characteristics clearly indicate that the collection comes from the
Abbaye Saint-Jacques in Liège. On the back of the title page, we
can clearly read the name of the Abbot Olbert, first prior of the
abbey. Later, was added on the first page, in a different hand;
„Liber Sti Jacobi in Leodio". And Nicolas Bouxhon confirms this
in his catalogue of the abbey library, drawn up in 1667, and
furthermore describes the musical part which, as can be seen, occupied
the end of the fourth volume (Vari 42): «... folio 249: usque
ad finem hujus operis plurima occurrunt gallia et latina cum notis".
Lastly, in the text, which is however of French origin, there are
certain Walloon characteristics which unfortunately have not yet been
studied as they deserve. Moreover, Friedrich Gennrich, in his Bibliographie
der Altesten Motetten (Darmstadt, 1959) speaks of a manuscript of
the „...Wallonischen Sprachgebiet".
As for the date when the manuscript was compiled, the problem is much
more complex. The most authoritative sources situate it within quite a
long period from between the 13th century (Apel) to about 1350
(Gennrich Reany). Nevertheless, several elements indicate that the
notation dates from the first half of the 14th century rather than from
the end of the 13th. For example, the use of certain ornamentations
such as the „currentes" which would then have to be compared with
older manuscripts. Or again, the binary virtuosity of the triplum in
some of the pieces of the collection. All this points to a highly
developed Franconian notation rather than a notation of around 1280,
the date mentioned by Apel in The Notation of Polyphonia Music.
In short, a comparison between this notation and the notation of
similar works belonging to earlier manuscripts (for example, the
Montpellier, Bamberg and Trêves codices) makes it definitely
possible to situate the compilation of Vari 42 fairly
accurately between 1320 and 1340.
REPERTOIRE
Although, as we have just seen, they were composed in the 14th century,
the three „CONDUCTUS" and the thirty-one MOTETS of
our manuscript are in fact part of the repertoire of the French school
of the 13th century, the Ars Antiqua. Thus it was a
„reactionary" compilation, since this collection, typically Ars
Antiqua, appeared after the beginnings of the Ars Nova: indeed the
first manifestations of this „new art", that is to say,
certain musical insertions of the Roman de Fauvel appeared as
early as 1316; as for the famous treatise of Philippe de Vitry, the Ars
Nova, which gave its name to the entire period, it was written
during the years 1320-1325. The fact that the Liegeois collection
of the 13th century pieces was written during the golden age of the Ars
Nova is all the more significant because seven motets out of the
thirty-one, must be situated around 1270: they can, in fact, also be
found unaltered in the ancient corpus of the codex of Montpellier.
This fact sufficiently indicates that the art of the French 13th
century remained alive until late into the 14th century and that
ecclesiastical circles such as that of the Abbaye de St. Jacques in
Liège could remain stubbornly closed to the very principles of
the Ars Nova isorythm, prolation, coloured notation, binary rythm,
innovations, etc...
The treatise Speculum Musicae which the monk of St.
Jacques, Jacobus de Leodio, wrote at the same date, clearly
indicates moreover that in Liège the Ars Antigua was more
appreciated than the Ars Nova:
„... In a company of competent musicians and people of high
standing, motets in the old style and in the modern style were sung. I
observed that the persons present preferred the pieces in the old
style. (...) where will this futile art lead us, this new way of
singing in which the words cannot be understood, in which the
consonances are lost and the value of the notes changed, in which the
old perfection disappears, in which imperfection reaches the summit and
in which the different types of beat are confused?..." (extract
from the 7th book).
Hence, it is not surprising that it was in the midst of this circle of
defenders of the Ars Antiqua that this vast compilation of musical
art was carried out; it was antiquated no doubt, but unparalleled. This
manuscript, with very careful Franconian modal notation, may therefore
be considered as the last peripheral source of the Ars Antiqua.
As indicated above, our manuscript contains three
„conductus" and thirthy-one motets. With regard to the
conductus, the two versions of DEUS IN ADIUTORIUM (beginning of
side 2) also exist in other older manuscripts; but the third, PARCE
VIRGO (beginning of side 1) is unique. As for the motets, 25 of
them care to be found in the most important collection of 13th century
motets, namely the codex of Montpellier (Library of the School of
Medicine, H. 196). Furthermore, 14 others are also to be found in
another remarkable source of motets of the Ars Antigua: the codex
of Bamberg (Stadtsbibliothek Ms. Ed. IV.6). Finally, 6 small
manuscripts earlier than those of our collection also contain a few
motets that are in the Liège manuscript. We may therefore
consider the manuscript of the Abbaye St. Jacques as a regional
anthology of conductus and motets, all for three voices, coming mostly
from previous manuscripts belonging to the Notre-Dame School.
It is necessary to recall that the motet is the most popular of the
polyphonic forms of the Notre-Dame School? Its purport was borrowed
from the Gregorian foundation of a „discantus" fragment of
an organum. Hence the fact that, in the Liège manuscript, the
tenors are generally indicated by the first word of the fragment
used (PORTARE, APTATUR, SOLEM, etc), this fragment being, of course,
noted in a measured form. In a few rare cases, the basic Gregorian
tenor was replaced by a melody borrowed from the repertoire of the
troubadours or else by the triplum or duplum of another motet. Thus,
out of over 1200 known motets of the Ars Antigua, there are so far 65
in which the tenor is a French melody. The Liège manuscript
contains 8 motets — a relatively high number — the tenor of
which is French; two of them are on the record: BELE IZABELOS and CIS A
QUI; the latter tenor, which was very popular, consists of various
fragments of songs. A number of other voices are written over the
tenor; the most important is the duplum or motetus.
Most frequently a third voice, the triplum, was added. In
certain cases the polyphonic script even had a fourth voice the quadruplum.
The St. Jacques manuscript contains exclusively motets of the
usual type for three voices: tenor, duplum, triplum. The
composers of motets showed remarkable creative talent and ingenuity.
This Liège manuscript contains motets which were for two voices
only in the previous manuscripts and to which a third voice was added
afterwards. There are also compositions which were written for three
voices from the start but in which the triplum has been
replaced by a new part. There is also great diversity in the text: a duplum
on a religious text is frequently accompanied by a triplum in
vulgar Latin or in French; but we also find two different vulgar Latin
texts, one adapted to the duplum, the other to the triplum,
in one and the same motet; or, on the contrary, two French texts etc...
Originally, the text of the triplum still had some bearing on
the text of the duplum, but later on, the two texts became
totally independent; that is the case in the Liège manuscript.
The composition of a conductus required a different technique. Here,
the music served as a processional chant and hence its character became
more solemn; its polyphony was thenceforth less complicated than that
of the motet. All the voices have the same text, which is declaimed
practically simultaneously. Moreover, the basic part of the
conductus does not consist of a Gregorian fragment, as in the motet,
but of an original, autonomous melody. Although the first conductus
possessed only a single voice (from the versus of St. Martial), quite
soon they were composed of two parts in the „note-against-note"
style. Later, the conductus was generally composed for three voices
most frequently in a complicated melismatic style which, however,
remains faithful to the principle of equal accents in all the voices
and the simultaneous declamation according to the writing of the
ligatures. The homophonic character of the conductus is still
particularly reinforced by the incessant intersections affecting all
the parts; the tessitura of the whole does not generally exceed the
twelfth; this technique often leads to the repetition of the same theme
by the different voices. During the early years of the Ars Antiqua, the
conductus was very popular. One of the central sources of the
Notre-Dame School, the codex of Wolfenbüttel (Herzog August
Bibliothek, Ms. 677) contains no less than 180 pages of conductus!
Later, in the course of the 13th century, the success of the
conductus diminished in the face of the growing popularity of the
motet. It is undoubtedly for this reason that the St. Jacques
manuscript contains only three.
INTERPRETATION
The interpretation of these various conductus and motets given here by
the HUELGAS ENSEMBLE is based on two essential principles: on the one
hand the respect of Gothic aesthetics in general and, more particularly
of Gothic music; on the other hand, the indications of the musical
notation itself (plicae, ligatures, longae florales, etc...) as
well as the treatises of the period. For the instrumental and
vocal execution of this Liège repertoire, special attention
was given to the application of 13th century techniques or reading,
ornamentation and vibrato, — sometimes still greatly marked
by the Arab influence (cf. the exécution of the plica).
The indications of Hieronymus de Moravia, Johannes de Garlandia,
Johannes de Grocheo, Englebert d'Amont, etc. ... have particularly
contributed to the rediscovery of the exact interpretation of the
various vibratos: flores longi, flores aperti, flores subiti, nota
procellaris, tristropha, etc. ... The instrumental
possibilities have been put to use in accordance with 13th century
customs. The following table shows the various combinations used.
Most of the works are performed in the original hexacord, others are
transposed to the fourth or fifth, as was customary in the 13th
century. Certain motets of the Liège manuscript are moreover
noted one-fifth higher than in the previous manuscripts (particularly
in the codex of Montpellier).
The litany-motets (SALVE VIRGO, VIRGO GLORIOSA) are sung according to
certain processes of antiphonal alternance such as those described by
Robert of Avesbury in his Life of Edward III: „... four
of them sang in the language of the country and four others replied as
indicated in the litany ..."
Finally, the choice of these pieces was made with a view to presenting
all the facets of the St. Jacques manuscript: the religious repertory,
the profane repertory — Latin or vernacular — as well
as the purely instrumental performance.
SOURCES
a. TORINO ms, Biblioteca Reale, Var. 42 Fascsimile edition by
Antoine Auda (Brussels 1953): a magnificent edition, the transcriptions
of which unfortunately bear the mark of time. The transcriptions of the
plicae and certain ties, the arrangement of the text, the use of the
musica ficta and the movements of accents consecutive to the omission
of the anacrusis are inadequate, obsolete solutions. Apart from
this, AUDA's commentaries and the facsimile edition are exemplary.
b. MONTPELLIER ms., Bibliotheque de l'Ecole de Medecine, ms. H.196
(facsimile; Ed. Y. ROKSET).
c. BAMBERG ms; Staatsbibliothek ms. Ed.IV.6 (facsimile, Ed. F.
AUBRY).
d. WOLFENBUTTEL ms., Herzog August Bibliothek, ms. 677 (facsimile, Ed.
J.-H. BAXTER).
Paul Van Nevel