Evidence contrary to the a cappella hypothesis for the 15th-century chanson
2011; Oxford University Press; Volume: 39; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/em/car054
ISSN1741-7260
Autores Tópico(s)Renaissance Literature and Culture
ResumoIN the Mellon Chansonnier, which resides at Yale's Beinecke Library, is a chanson by Antoine Busnoys with a curious beginning (illus.1).1 All three parts, the cantus, tenor and the contratenor, begin with a breve–semibreve–semibreve–breve figure: Thus the chanson employs the fully imitative style of the second half of the 15th century, a style that Busnoys did much to establish as a norm. However, the contratenor, which begins this point of imitation, is different. It not only presents the opening subject in breves and semibreves, but also carries what could be described as a countersubject, a syncopated figure that begins with the two-note neume blackened on its second element. All three voices eventually present this syncopated countersubject, but it appears first in the contratenor, and at the same time as the subject, that is, in score format. Score format within a staff in mensural notation is unusual, but not entirely unknown. Split-notes do occur upon occasion in sacred music, in contexts where we assume that half the voices would go to one pitch, and half to the other, as in the bass line of Busnoys's motet Victimae paschali laudes (ex.1).2
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