1. Chapter 5 The Middle Ages
Later Medieval Polyphony

2. Key Terms
Motet
ars antiqua
ars nova
Isorhythm
Hocket

3. Later Medieval Polyphony
Late Middle Ages moved toward:
Greater melodic independence
More intricate rhythms and notation
Greater focus on secular music
de Vitry treatise Ars Nova (New Art)
Sophisticated notation system c. 1320
Widely used for more than two centuries
Previous music now ars antiqua—ancient art
These trends clearly visible after 1250 in the motet

4. The Motet Originated in Notre Dame School
Composers added new words (mots, in French) to upper voice of organum
Different words for each voice!
Three voice motets became standard
Poetry shifted from:
Latin to French
Sacred to secular (love poems, political satire)
Voices moved at different speeds
Top voice fastest, bottom voice slowest

5. Guillaume de Machaut Lived c. 1300-1377
A priest who served the courts of France and Luxembourg
Greatest composer and greatest French poet of his day
Described himself as short in height, blind in one eye, gout sufferer, and lover of nature, horseback riding, and falconry

6. Machaut, “Quant en moi”
Based on repeated chant fragment from Eastertide service, played by viol
Above this are two faster voices, each singing a different poem about love
Viol slow, tenor faster, soprano fastest
Isorhythm—rhythms of each stanza repeat
Easiest to follow in the viol part
Count quarter notes:
9 9 (rest 3) (rest 9)

7. Machaut, “Quant en moi” Hocket— Quick alternation between voices
Derived from old French word for hiccup
Note clever wordplay between soprano and tenor at line 7 of each stanza

8. Machaut, “Quant en moi” SOPRANO’S POEM When I was first visited by
Love, he so very sweetly
Enamored my heart;
A glance is what he gave me as a gift
And along with amorous sentiments
He presented me with this delightful idea:
To hope
To have
Grace, and no rejections,
But never in my whole life
Was boldness a gift he meant for me.
TENOR’S POEM
Thanks to
love
and
consummate
beauty
Fearing,
Feigning
Are what
consume me
entirely.

9. Machaut, “Quant en moi”
Resting points between phrases, but voices don’t rest together; unfamiliar cadences
Some major and minor chords, but scale and tonal center are hard to hear
Metrical, moderately fast tempo
Quirky, nervous rhythms, great rhythmic variety
Nonimitative polyphony in three parts
Soprano, tenor, and viol used throughout
No obvious patterns of repetition
Poetry about love’s joys and sorrows

10. Machaut, “Quant en moi” Note complicated rhythm of upper voices
Nervous, hyperelegant manner of uttering words