| Program Notes on:
Love’s Illusion
Music from the Montpellier Codex 13th Century
One of the first names we can associate with the Western poetic conceit
of "courtly love" as we understand it today is that of the troubadour Duc
Guillem IX of Aquitaine (1071-1127). The fin’amors (the phrase originates
in the Langue d’oc, an old French dialect from South of France) or true
love of Guillem and his contemporaries was usually extramarital and was
intended for the young, brave and exceptionally good-looking, who performed
renowned deeds in its service. Guillem’s granddaughter Alienor, known to
us as Eleanor of Aquitaine, grew up with this literary heritage. As wife
to Louis VII of France and Henry II of England, and as mother of Countess
Marie de Champagne (d. 1198), with whom she lived for several years, Alienor
brought some of the finest poets of fin’amors north with her to various
courtly establishments. The poets of the north, called trouvères,
were greatly influenced by the troubadours, but they refined the earthy
style of the Provençal lyrics, smoothed its rough edges, and created
the genteel rhetoric of fin amours (a phrase that originates in the Langue
d’oeïl, an old French dialect from the North of France).
From the extensive literature of fin amours there emerge two inviolable
precepts: first, true love may exist only outside of marriage and, second,
a man must subject himself totally to the will of his beloved, whether
her requests seem rational or not. A woman’s physical perfection (often
manifested by blond hair and blue eyes) was an outward symbol of her inner
goodness, for which a man yearned and suffered, to the point of death.
True, this code did raise the woman above the level of pleasure object
or chattel in the marriage market, making her both judge and prize in a
realm of love outside of marriage. But this elevation only moved her from
outright oppression to a starring but essentially passive role in a single
dramatic episode. The romantic love expressed in the literature of fin
amourswas probably little more than a clever illusion; the reality of day-to-day
life remained unchanged.
The thirteenth-century ethos of fin amours is found in epic romans of
Arthurian legends, by Chrétien de Troyes and others, as well as
in thousands of trouvère love lyrics. The lyric poems, generally
set to music as melodic chansons without written instrumental accompaniment,
form one of the most important musical repertoires of the high Middle Ages.
The rhetoric and idiomatic expressions of fin amours and the musical style
of the trouvères had a profound influence on the most important
polyphonic genre of the thirteenth century: the motet.
The motet developed from the common medieval practice of troping—adding
words to textless musical passages. In the liturgical polyphony in late
twelfth-century Paris, the vocalized lines added to certain plainchants
were occasionally texted. At some point shortly thereafter, such pieces
began to be composed independent of direct liturgical associations, and
the texted line and the genre itself were called motetus, from the French
mot (word). French secular texts were eventually substituted for the sacred
Latin words, and a vigorous new musical-literary hybrid was created. There
are motets with one, two or three texted voice parts (motetus, triplum,
quadruplum), each with its own poetic text above a wordless tenor usually
derived from plainchant. There are Latin motets, French motets, and polyglot
motets with both Latin and French texts. With two and sometimes three poems
sung simultaneously, the motet carries the trope concept to its vertical
and horizontal limit, creating an effect not to be heard again until the
eighteenth century, in the ensemble finales of Mozart’s operas.
For this program we have chosen French motets on courtly love texts
from the Montpellier Codex. Collected in France around 1300, this manuscript
is the richest single source of thirteenth-century French polyphony. Spanning
the entire century, it contains polyphonic works in all the major forms
of its era—organum, conductus, hocket and, primarily, motets. Its 315 motets
(not counting several duplications and incomplete works) have generally
been divided into an early group (about 1200 to 1270, Mo 19 through 252)
and a late group (about 1270 to just past 1300, Mo 253 through 345).
The French double motet, by far the most popular rype of motet in the
thirteenth century, dominates the Montpellier Codex. Its tenor is usually
based on a plainchant fragment, but sometimes on a dance or popular tune
as in Mo 256, 260, 270, 323, 325 and 337. Each of the two upper voices—motetus
and triplum—has its own text. There are also several triple motets (including
a third texted part, or quadruplum) among the earlier motet group, as well
as many lovely examples of French motets consisting of only a tenor and
melody line. Many of the two-voice French motets resemble the chansons
d’amour of the trouvères, with an added accompaniment (Mo 200, 223,
231 and 241). In fact, bits of trouvère songs were often incorporated
into the upper voices of motets (Mo 21, 111, 128 and numerous others).
The texts of the upper voices of a double or triple motet may be so
closely related in content that they resemble a verbal theme and variations
(Mo 260). However, in some cases, these texts are connected in a surprising
manner, with passionate love of the Lady Marian and the Virgin Mary expressed
in very similar language (Mo 20 and 21). In yet other cases, the texts
seem to bear little connection with each other. In one such motet, a plaintive
love song, a diatribe against hypocrisy, and a rousing drinking song are
sung simultaneously (Mo 33).
Toward the end of the century, a notational system was developed that
allowed for a wider range of note values and more precision in notating
them. Motets influenced by this new system show a greater rhythmic flexibility
and variery in the upper voices (Mo 256, 270 and 311). In motets attributed
to Pierre de la Croix of Amiens (fl. 1270-1300), such as Mo 215 in this
program, the three musical lines of the double motet become increasingly
differentiated, with a slow-moving tenor, moderate motetus, and a triplum
distinguished by rapid declamation. This texture was favored into the fourteenth
century, when the motet returned to its sacred origins, expanding in size
and scope in the monumental compositions of Guillaume de Machaut and Philippe
de Vitty. The motet continued to be an important vehicle for harmonic and
structural innovation through the Middle Ages and beyond.
There has been much discussion about performance practice of thirteenth-century
motets. On what occasions were they performed, by whom, for whom, in what
manner? The predominance of fin amours texts seems to point to the purely
secular environment. But the liturgical origins, the use of sacred and
moralizing Latin texts (Mo 328), as well as occasional references to the
amorous adventures of nuns and monks (Mo 33 and 34), suggests that these
motets were composed and performed in clerical rather than in courtly circles,
probably for the entertainment of the performers themselves. Many scholars
have believed that since motet tenors have essentially lost connection
with their chant texts—or never had them in the case of dance tunes—these
tenors should be performed on instruments. While this practice may be perfectly
valid, there is no evidence that purely vocal performance is not equally
appropriate. We have occasionally added vocal drones and doublings, and
because these motets, especially those in the early group, are often quite
brief, we sometimes perform them more than once in order to highlight one
particular voice part or to allow the whole work enough time to make its
impression upon hearers whose ears are new to these remarkable old sounds.
SUSAN HELLAUER |
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