Jennifer Lynne Bain

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Fourteenth-Century French Secular Polyphony
and the Problem of Tonal Structure
A Dissertation Presented
by
Jennifer Lynne Bain
to
The Graduate School
in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements
for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
Music
State University of New York
at Stony Brook
August 2001
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n er. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n prohibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

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STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
AT STONY BROOK
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
Jennifer Lvnnc Bain
We, the dissertation committee for the above candidate for the
Doctor of Philosophy degree,
hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation.
-J TJL ‘ " v -
Sarah Fuller, Trofessor, Dept of Music
fane Sugarman, Associate Professor, Dept, of Music
Dept of Music
Lawrence Earp, Professor, School of Music

Musicology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School
Dean o f the Graduate School

Abstract of the Dissertation
Fourteenth-Century French Secular Polyphony
and the Problem of Tonal Structure
by
Jennifer Lynne Bain
Doctor of Philosophy
in
Music
State University o f New York
at Stony Brook
2001
The concept o f tonal structure, a particular concern of early music analysts, is a
20th-century construct, which sets out to describe the hierarchical relationship o f pitches
and sonorities in a polyphonic work. Although fourteenth-century writers do not
undertake the topic o f tonal structure in polyphonic music, contemporaneous theories can
guide us to historically informed analytic methodologies that bear on the perception of
tonal structure. This study uses such methodologies, in conjunction with modem
methods o f empirical analysis, to counter recent theories and to identify procedures
which contribute to the construction of tonal structure in individual songs in the secular
polyphony o f Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377). In contrast to a “single key”
approach to tonal structure in fourteenth-century music, I argue for the possibility of
multiple tonal centers within individual songs and examine the role o f chromatic
inflections and cadential goals in delineating tonal structure. All available chromatic
iii

inflections can help to define tonal structure contrapuntally by increasing the tendency in
directed progressions. Moreover, when chromatic inflections appear melodically, outside
the skeletal frame of the contrapunctus, they can still have an impact on the definition of
tonal structure by privileging the individual pitches they decorate. The tonal function of
cadences is dependent upon the type of cadential progression and concluding sonority.
Cadences can be assigned to one o f two main types: perfect-sonority cadences and
imperfect-sonority cadences. Perfect-sonority cadences with ascending semitone motion
in at least one voice are the strongest progressions, while perfect-sonority cadences with
descending semitone motion in one voice appear to be weaker or less conclusive tonally.
The imperfect sonority, in addition to its role as a penultimate sonority in a directed
progression, can serve a special role in the tonal structuring of a song as a cadential
arrival point, simultaneously suggesting repose (through textual position, rhythmic length
and mensural placement) as well as continuation and anticipation (through descending
semitone motion and intervallic structure). Further, although many features of syntax
function in the same way across ail genres, formal characteristics can directly affect
perception o f tonal structure.
IV

To Ross and Ann

Table of Contents
Abstract o f the Dissertation iii

List of Symbols viii
List o f Examples ix
Acknowledgements xiii
I Approaching Tonal Structure inFourteenth-Century Music I

Twentieth-Century Interpretation of Fourteenth-Century
Treatises 4
What should a theory of tonal structure describe? 13
Methodology 23
II The Role of Chromatic Inflections inthe Construction of Tonal

Structure 28
Signature-systems, Chromatic Inflections and Tonal
Structure 31
Bb (and Eb) as Part of Pitch Spectrum 36
Chromatic Inflections and Contrapuntal Usage 44
Melodic Usage of Chromatic Inflections S6
Ballade 32 Plourez, dames, plourez vostre servant 61
III The Role o f Cadences in Delineating Tonal Structure 73

Perfect-Sonority Cadences - the Directed Progression 77
Perfect-Sonority Cadences - Descending Semitone 82
Perfect-Sonority Cadences - Non-Proximate
Resolutions 84
Perfect-Sonority Cadences - Non-Tendency Approach 88
Imperfect-Sonority Cadences 94
Virelai 32/38 De tout sui si confortee 104
Trebor’s Cadences as Paradigms? 110
IV Multiple Tonal Centers 114

Matrix of Relationships 117
The Role o f Initial Sonorities and First Cadences 130
Intersections between Structural Sonorities in some
Machaut Songs 141
V Genre Characteristics and the Perception of Tonal Structure 152

Chronology, Texture and Cadences 154
Monophonic Virelais, Cadences, Chromatic Inflections
and the Definition of Tonal Structure 159
The Cantus Voice in Relation to Texture 169
Parsing Phrases in Machaut’s Rondeaux 174
Rondeau 6 Cine, un, trese, huit, neufd'am ourfine 179
vi

Conclusion 184
Bibliography
Fourteenth-Century Theory Treatises 188
Machaut Complete-Works Manuscripts 191
Editions of Music 192
Literature 193
Indices to Machaut’s Songs Cited in the Text

Numerically 201
Alphabetically 204
vii

List of Symbols
M SA PARIS, Bibliotheque Nationale, fonds fransais IS84
MSB PARIS, Bibliotheque Nationale, fonds franfais 1585
MS C PARIS, Bibliotheque Nationale, fonds fran<jais 1586
M SE PARIS, Bibliotheque Nationale, fonds franâis 9221
MSF-G PARIS, Bibliotheque Nationale, fonds frangais 22545-22546
MS Vg NEW YORK, Wildenstein Collection, MS without shelfmark
Ludwig Ludwig, Friedrich, ed. Guillaume de Machaut: Musikalische Werke. 4

volumes. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1926-43; Reprint. Leipzig: VEB
Breitkopf & Hartel, and Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1954.
Schrade Schrade, Leo, ed. The Works o f Guillaume de Machaut. 2 vols. Polyphonic
Music of the Fourteenth Century vols.2-3. Les Ramparts, Monaco: Editions
de L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1956.
viii

List of Examples
Note on musical examples: The numbering of Machaut’s songs is according to Schrade

and Ludwig (if the numbering differs between the two editions the format is
Schrade/Ludwig e.g. Virelai 31/37). Measure numbers cited in the text without reference
to a particular musical example follow Schrade. For a clearer presentation of the musical
material in the examples chromatic inflections are drawn from a single source, MS A,
unless otherwise indicated.
I 1-1 Dous viaire gracieus, Rondeau 1 19

1-2 Dous viaire gracieus, Rondeau 1; mm.8-9 20
1-3 N 'en fa it n 'en dit n 'en pensee, Ballade 11; mm. 1-4 21
1-4 Dame, de qui toute ma joie vient, Ballade 42; mm. 1-6
and 10-13 22
II 2-1 Lefferts’ example 6 “The signature-systems as

hexachord systems” 34
2-2 Notated chromatic inflections in Ballade 2 according to
MS A 34
2-3 Notated chromatic inflections in Ballades 22 and 27 and
Rondeau 9; inflections according to MS A 35
2-4 Ballade 36, mm. 1-5 38
2-5 Ballade 15, mm.29-35 39
2-6 Ballade 28, opening phrase 39
2-7 Ballade 8 De desconfort de martyre amoureus, mm.25-
30 40
2-8 Reductions of mm. 14-17 and mm.22-25 41
2-9 Rondeau 10 Rose, lis, printemps verdure 42
2-10 Ballade 13 Esperance qui m 'asseure 47
2-11 Expected resolution o f Bb/D 50
2-12 Ballade 12 Pour ce que tous mes chans fa is 52
2-13 First phrase o f Rondeau 1 Dous viaire gracieus 55
2-14 Expected resolution o f opening sonority 55
2-15 Final cadence of Ballade 32 Plourez, dames, plourez
vostre servant 57
2-16 Virelai 31/37 Moult sui de bonne heure nee; mm.26-29 58
2-17 Ballade 2 2 II m ’est avis qu ’il n 'est dons de Nature;
mm.33-37 59
2-18 Ballade 13 Esperance qui m 'asseure, mm. 1-4 60
2-19 Virelai 17 Dame, vostre dous viaire; mm. 13-16 60
2-20 Plourez, dames, plourez vostre servant Ballade 32 65
2-21 Ballade 33 Nes qu ’on porroit les estoilles nombrer 70
III 3-1 Standard cadential patterns 74

3-2 Sachs'example, p. 103 79
ix

3-3 Descending semitone directed progressions 82
3-4 Rondeau 10 Rose, lis, printemps, verdure; medial
cadence 83
3-5 Virelai 23/26 Tres bonne et belle mi oueil; ouvert
cadence 83
3-6 Ballade 25 Honte, paour, doubtance de meffaire, and
Ballade 21 Se quanque amours puet donner a ami;
ouvert cadences 83
3-7 Ballade 36 Se pour ce muir qu 'Amours ai bien servi;
ouvert 84
3-8 Rondeau 7 Se vous n 'estes pour mon guerredon nee\
medial; and Ballade 27 Une vipere en cuer ma dame
mainf, final (and clos) cadence 85
3-9 Rondeau 19 Ouant ma dame les m a u sd ’amer m ’aprent,
final cadence 86
3-10 Ballade 2 2 II m ’est avis qu 'il n 'est dons de Nature; final
cadence 86
3-11 Ballade 30 Pas de tor en thies pair, clos (and final)
cadence 87
3-12 Rondeau 4 Sans cuer, dolens de vous de partirai, and
Ballade 9 Dame, ne regardez pas\ final cadences 88
3-13 Rondeau 2 Helas! pour quoy se demente et complaint;
final cadence 89
3-14 Ballade 14 Je ne cuit pas qu 'onques a creature, final
cadence 89
3-15 Ballade 8 De desconfort de martyre amoureus, final
cadence 90
3-16 Ballade 3 On ne porroit penser ne souhaidier; and
Ballade 19 Amours me fa it desirer, final cadences 90
3-17 Ballade 29 De triste cuerfaire joyeusement/ Ouant vrais
amans aimme a amoureusement/ Certes, je di et s 'en
quier jugement, final cadence 91
3-18 Rondeau 5 Quant j 'ay I 'espart, final cadence 93
3-19 Ballade 6 Dous amis oy mon complaint', refrain phrase
and final cadence 93
3-20 Descending semitone approach to imperfect sonorities
from the penultimate pitch at cadences 98
3-21 Descending semitone approach to imperfect sonorities
from ante-penultimate pitch at cadences 98
3-22 Rondeau 18 Puis qu 'en oubli sui de vous, dous amis 100
3-23 Virelai 30/36 Se je souspir parfondement 102
3-24 Ballade 20 Je suis aussi com cils qui est ravis 102
3-25 Virelai 26/29 M ors sui, se je ne vous voy 103
3-26 Plourez, dames, plourez vostre servant, ouvert followed
by opening sonority 103

3-27 Virelai 32/38 De tout sui si confortee', edition o f text by
Chichmaref; translation mine 105
3-28 Parsing o f refrain of Virelai 32/38 De tout sui si
confortee 107
3-29 Voicing o f initial and final sonorities of each phrase in
Virelai 32/38 108
3-30 Virelai 32/38 De tout sui si confortee, second half 109
3-31 Brown’s (1987) example 2 (the numbers refer to Willi
Apel’s modem edition); for ease of comparison, Brown
transposed all o f the cadences to the same pitch level. 110
3-32 Brown’s (1987) example 2, but with cadences
transposed back to original pitch levels 112
IV 4-1 Significant sonorities in Ballade 15 Se ye me pleing, je

n 'en puis mais and Ballade 20 Je suis aussi com cils qui
est ravis 116
4-2 Tonal relationships among Ballades 11, 15, 16, 20 and
26 117
4-3 Ballade 11 N 'en fa it n 'en dit n en pensee 118
4-4 Ballade 15 Se je me pleing, je n ’en puis mais, section A
only 120
4-5 Ballade 26 Donnez, signeurs, donnez a toutes mains,
section A only 122
4-6 Structural Sonorities in Ballades 15 and 26 123
4-7 Ballade 16 Dame, comment qu ’amez de vous ne soie 125
4-8 Ballade 20 Je suis aussi com cils qui est ravis 128
4-9 The relationship between the opening sonority of each
o f the secular songs with the cadences it follows 132
4-10 Ballade 28 Je puis trop bien ma dame comparer, 1st half
only 133
4-11 First two phrases of Ballade 32 Plourez, dames, plourez
vostre servant 136
4-12 First two phrases of Ballade 33 Nes qu ’on porroit les
estoilles nombrer 136
4-13 Machaut’s secular, polyphonic songs which end on C
sonorities 138
4-14 First phrases o f Ballade 40 and Rondeau 21 139
4-15 First phrases o f Virelai 32/38 and Ballade 15 140
4-16 Summary o f initial and final sonorities in Machaut’s
polyphonic virelais, rondeaux, ballades 142
4-17 Songs beginning and ending on G sonorities; other
songs ending on G sonorities 145
4-18 Songs beginning on G sonorities and ending on D
sonorities; other songs ending on D sonorities 146
4-19 Songs beginning on G sonorities and ending on Bb
sonorities; other songs ending on Bb sonorities 147
XI

4-20 Ballade 8; ouvert cadence I SO
4-21 Ballade 36; ouvert cadence 150
V 5-1 Songs sorted according to number of voices and genre

in relation to chronology; the figures for MSS Vg, A
and F-G represent accretions to the preserved repertory 155
5-2 Final sonorities in two-voice songs according to genre 158
5-3 Final sonorities in two-voice songs according to
chronology 158
5-4 Final cadences of Virelai 15 Se mesdisans en acort and
Virelai 19 Diex, Biaute, Douceur,Nature 160
5-5 Final cadence of Virelai 12 Dame, a qui 161
5-6 Virelai 20 Se d'amer me repentoie\ final phrase of
couplet 161
5-7 Refrain of Virelai 4 Douce dame jotie 162
5-8 Virelai 16, C 'est force, faire le vueil, couplet 163
5-9 First half of refrain of Virelai 10 (to the ouvert cadence) 164
5-10 Second half o f refrain of Virelai 10 (repetition to the
clos cadence) 164
5-11 The refrain o f Virelai 10 De bonte, de valour 165
5-12 Virelai 17 Dame, vostre dous viaire, couplet mm. 13-22 166
5-13 Virelai 12 Dame, a qui 167
5-14 Virelai 2 Loyaute vueil tousjours maintenir 168
5-15 Distribution o f cantus voices which are lower in the clos
than in the ouvert 170
5-16 Distribution of cantus voices which are higher in the
clos than in the ouvert 170
5-17 Distance from initial pitch to final pitch in Machaut’s
monophonic virelais 172
5-18 Distance from initial pitch to final pitch in the cantus
voice of Machaut’s polyphonic secular songs 173
5-19 Rondeau 8 Vo dous regars, douce dame, m 'a mort\ mm.
10-21 176
5-20 Cadential sonorities in Rondeau 8, Vo dous regard,
douce dame, m ’a mort 177
5-21 Rondeau 15 Certes, mon oueil richement visa bel, first
half 178
5-22 Rondeau 6 Cine, un, trese, huit, neuf d ’amourfine,
edition of text by Chichmaref; translation mine 179
5-23 Rondeau 6 Cine, un, trese, huit, neuf d ’amourfine 180
xii

Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge generous doctoral fellowships from the Quebec

Government’s Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et 1’Aide a la Recherche and the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, which have made this research
possible. I also wish to extend my gratitude to the International Machaut Society for
honoring this project with the inaugural Sarah Jane Williams Award.
It is my pleasure to thank the many individuals who have contributed in varied and
substantial ways to the development of my ideas and the completion o f this dissertation.
Sarah Fuller has been everything one could wish for in an advisor: unyielding in her
expectations, but unfailing in her support. Her wisdom and friendship have meant much to
me. The members o f my committee, Jane Sugarman, Judy Lochhead, and Lawrence Earp,
paid meticulous attention to my work. Timothy McGee has most generously given of his
time and advice, and Barton Palmer gladly corrected my wayward translations o f Machaut’s
verse.
On a more personal note I have several family members to thank: my late father for
not flinching when at age nine I announced that I wanted to be either a construction worker
or the Prime Minister of Canada; my mother for asking only once if I’d given up on the idea
o f law school and for never asking when my dissertation would be finished; and, of course,
my husband, Simon, who read many drafts and dealt lovingly with his stressed-out wife and
our stressed-out cat. Finally, I wish to thank my mother’s cousins, Ross and Ann Kennedy,
active and generous supporters of the performance and discussion of music, to whom this
dissertation is dedicated.

I
CHAPTER ONE
Approaching Tonal Structure in
Fourteenth-Century Music
A recent query to the email discussion list of the Society for Music Theory (the
SMT-list) asked what methodologies list members would suggest for the analysis of early
music “up to say, 1600.”1 Though the contributor acknowledged the period covered was
“quite a spread,” the fact that such a question could be posed to an academic list points to
a general assumption that indeed “music before 1600” constitutes a single category
analytically. Though respondents were quick to advocate methodological studies of the
music o f particular periods or composers, and a few made pointed remarks about the
range o f music in question, the two collections of essays which were recommended
highlight (even in their titles) the relatively few attempts to come to grips analytically
with “early music,” in comparison with that of later centuries. Modelsfo r Musical
Analysis: Music Before 1600, edited by Mark Everist, and Tonal Structures in Early Music,
edited by Cristle Collins Judd, offer widely varied theoretical approaches and cover several
centuries and geographical regions of music.2 (Imagine a slender volume entitled “Models
for Musical Analysis. Music Since 1600” )
1The message was posted February 2. 1999.
: Mark Everist. ed. (1992), Modelsfor Musical Analysis: Music Before 1600 (Oxford: B.H. Blackwell): Cristle
Collins Judd. ed. (1998). Tonal Structures in Early Music (New York and London: Garland Publishing).

2
The SMT-list query forefronts another, perhaps more recent, assumption: the idea
that “early music analysis” requires special methodologies, outside the mainstream
methods used to explore music of the common practice period. As Jessie Ann Owens
elucidates.
Analytic methods are not easily found for early music. The theorists o f the time
had their own agendas, and they do not provide models that suit our purposes. As
a consequence, many twentieth-century scholars have chosen approaches that
reflect their own beliefs about early music and its relation to later music. While
some continue to rely on common practice tonality as a prism through which to
view early music, others have begun to explore methods that respect the integrity
and self-sufficiency of the languages of early music.3
Thomas Christensen, in a recent exploration of “presentist” and “historicist” attitudes
towards historical music theory and analytical authenticity, points out, however, that “the
whole notion of analysis is anachronistic in relation to pre-Romantic musics.”4 In other
words, the very act o f engaging in analysis of “early music” is to take a presentist stance
no matter how historicist a scholar aims to be. Conversely, Christensen also makes clear
the fallaciousness o f the extreme presentist position that analysis has the ability to stand
apart from historical inquiry: “From a hermeneutic perspective all analytical activity is
fully historical. The positivist claim to immanence and transcendence made by formalist
theorists can be seen to be a thoroughly historical prejudice.”5 Christensen elaborates,
“All analysis... presupposes some amount o f ‘theory ladenness’ framed by the traditions
and prejudices that are ours. Yet...these traditions and prejudices are historically rooted.
The music analyst can no more escape the burden of the past that conditions
3 Jessie Ann Owens (1998), “Series Editor’s Foreword,” Tonal Structures in Early Music, ix.
4 Thomas Christensen (1993). "Music Theory and Its Histories.” Music Theory and the Exploration o f the
Past, edited by Christopher Hatch and David W. Bernstein (Chicago and London: University of Chicago
Press), 23.
5 Ibid., 32-33.

3
understanding than can the historian.”6 Ultimately Christensen advocates a balance
between the two extreme positions, a hermeneutic dialogue between historical
understanding and present-day concerns.
In the analysis o f early music, a first step towards balancing historical
understanding with present-day concerns is to recognize that specific segments of the
“early music” repertory will require different repertory-specific analytical approaches.
Moreover, in the pursuit of theories of tonal structure, a particular concern of early music
analysts as Judd’s volume suggests, one must acknowledge that tonal structure is a
twentieth-century construct, which describes hierarchical relationships among pitches.
For the fourteenth-century repertory, although we have some medieval criteria and
categories that medieval writers used for assessing basic tonal structure in ecclesiastical
chant, we know that fourteenth-century writers do not undertake the topic of tonal
structure in polyphonic music. However much scholars dealing with that polyphony may
try to glean from contemporaneous treatises to inform their methodologies, the enterprise
itself remains an activity foreign to the fourteenth century. Nevertheless,
contemporaneous theories can guide us to historically informed analytic methodologies
that bear on the perception of tonal structure.
In this study o f tonal structure in fourteenth-century French polyphonic song, I
will use such methodologies, in conjunction with modern methods o f empirical analysis,
to identify standard procedures in the secular polyphony o f Guillaume de Machaut
(c. 1300-1377). Machaut’s secular polyphony represents a significant segment of
fourteenth-century French song, providing a narrowly defined but substantial repertory
6 Ibid.. 32.

4
from which to draw conclusions. Although my conclusions could provide insight into the
broader fourteenth-century repertory, some procedures and strategies are likely particular
to Machaut and may not be generalized to the repertory as a whole.
Twentieth-Centurv Interpretation of Fourteenth-Century Treatises
Fourteenth-century theorists simply do not address twentieth-century concerns
about the tonal organization o f polyphonic music, a situation that has created numerous
interpretive problems for contemporary scholars. Fourteenth-century writers describe
chant theory, rhythmic notation and two-voice counterpoint, but do not detail how to
choose where to begin or end a phrase or a song, or what kinds of intervallic progressions
are appropriate at different moments in a text or a phrase, or how to deal with the
intervallic progressions o f three- or four-voice textures 7 To ground their analyses
historically, contemporary scholars investigating tonal structure have chosen various
different strands from fourteenth-century treatises, such as the concept o f mode or the
pedagogical use o f hexachords, to flesh out larger theories or systems. Sometimes,
however, scholars overlook the historical/cultural context, or the purpose and function of
the writings or the passages themselves.8 To use a narrow example first, Yolanda
Plumley, following Peter Lefferts, proposes a theory of tonal types that places songs in
7 Correspondingly Peter Schubert describes his frustration with sixteenth-century writers on the subject of
formal functions: 'Treatises teach how to make a theme suitable for each of the various modes, how to
treat consonance and dissonance, how to imitate or invert a theme, on which notes to make cadences, and
how to write double counterpoint. But they never tell us when in the course of a piece these devices and
techniques should be used.” Schubert (1995). "A Lesson from Lassus: Form in the Duos of 1577.” Music
Theory Spectrum 17/1: 1.
8 As Lawrence Gushee advocated almost 30 years ago, before assessing what a treatise can tell us about the
music, scholars ought to consider the intellectual style of each treatise, the institution or audience for whom
it was written, and the type of music with which it engages. Gushee (1973). "Questions of Genre in
Medieval Treatises on Music.” Gattungen derMusik (Bern: Franckc Vcrlag): 365-433.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e cop y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p ro d u c tio n prohibited w ith o u t p e rm is s io n .

various flat and sharp categories related to each other through transposition. To support
the idea o f transposition that is central to her theory, Plumley claims, “The tendency to
use low registers, and flatter tonal types in the later fourteenth century repertory is
reflected in the Berkeley manuscript. In an attempt to explain these phenomena, the
author suggests that the traditional gamut beginning on GG could be transposed twice
flatward to begin on FF." 9 The Berkeley manuscript, an anonymous work that comes
from late fourteenth-century Paris, is divided into five separate treatises. The passage to
which Plumley refers comes from the very beginning of the first treatise, in which the
author in typical manner delves into traditional theories to describe the derivation of the
Gamut (the seven-letter alphabet, the Guidonian hand, and the reason for the letter name
“Gamma” instead of “G”, and a little later the names of the ranges, and the hexachords):
Since the singer—to understand what is the mode or tone of any song—
formulates beforehand a conception of it, for this understanding it must first be
known that there are nineteen letters, joint, or pitch names in the hand and two
outside, with all o f which the song of the world is constructed. They are all
written and initially named by these seven letters, repeated three times: A, B, C,
D, E, F, G. O f the letters that exist outside the hand, one, F, is not in common
custom, but according to art it may be placed at the middle o f the thumb outside
the hand [that is, FF]. The other, E, is in common custom, and it is placed at the
first joint o f the middle finger outside the hand [that is, ee]. Furthermore, common
custom begins the hand or palm in the middle of the thumb, saying there
Gamma-ut, which is written with the Greek letter T-ut, and ends it on the said
letter E, where is said E-la; and it is reckoned this way : Gamma-ut, A-re, B-mi,
C-fa-ut, D-sol-re, E-la-mi, F-fa-ut, G-sol-re-ut, A-la-mi-re.. . Art, however,
reckoning the said letter F with the others, begins the hand or palm at the middle
of the thumb outside the hand, ending it as above, and it ought to be said F-ut,
G-re-ut, A-mi-re, B-fa-B-mi, C-sol-fa-ut, D-la-sol-re, E-la-mi, and the rest as
stated above.10
9 Yolanda Plumley (19%), The Grammar o f 14th Century Melody: Tonal Organization and Compositional
Process in the Chansons o f Guillaume de Machaut and the Ars Subtilior (New York and London: Garland
Publishing). 8-9. By the “Berkeley manuscript” Plumley refers here to the theoretical manuscript which
was completed in Paris in 1373. and is currently held at the University of California at Berkeley. A modem
edition and translation is provided by Oliver B. Ellsworth, ed. and trans. (1984). The Berkeley Manuscript.
Greek and Latin Music Theory, vol.2 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press).
10 Ellsworth (1984). The Berkeley Manuscript. 33-35.

6
Here the anonymous author is not talking about transposition, however, but more
accurately addition. Rather than shifting the Gamut to another position (which would
reduce its upper range as well), he extends it by adding the low F, which he claims is not
in common custom (non est in usn communi). The reason for the extension becomes
apparent in the passage quoted: if the Gamut begins on F-ut rather than Gamma-ut, then
the first B in the series of pitches falls into two hexachords rather than one, and both B-fa
and B-mi are available pitches in the lower register. The theoretical addition of F-ut (the
Parisian Anonymous says it is not generally in use) thus provides a tidy explanation for
the regular occurrence of low Bb in the repertory.11 Rather than suggesting transposition
o f the gamut “twice flatward” to explain the prevalence o f flatter tonal types, the
pedagogical purpose o f the passage found at the very beginning o f the treatise is to
provide an elementary explanation o f the pitches available to singers.12 Given its
placement in the treatise and its pedagogical purpose the passage cannot stand as
authentic support for Plumley’s analytic proposition.
In a much broader way, the concept of mode has been used by scholars out of the
context in which it appears in fourteenth-century treatises. Fourteenth-century writers
such as Johannes de Grocheo, Marchettus of Padua, and Jean de Muris, do not discuss
tonal structure in polyphony. Despite this obstacle o f a lack of direct commentary in the
literature, contemporary scholars who wish to address issues of tonal structure would like
to recover an historical viewpoint. Since mode is an undeniably medieval concept which
11 Ellsworth (1984) makes a note of this as well. The Berkeley Manuscript. 35. footnote 2.
11 The idea of Gamut transposition proposed here probably finds its origins in Margaret Bent's proposal for
the transposition of the hexachord system with the use of"hexachord” signatures: Bent (1972). “Musica
Recta and Musica Ficta.” Musica Disciplina 26: 98-99.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n er. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n prohib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

7
addresses pitch relationships, modal categories are particularly attractive to contemporary
scholars. In the writings o f fourteenth-century theorists, however, the topic o f mode
appears in cantus planus treatises that deal with matters relevant to chant, not in
counterpoint or notational treatises that deal with musica mensurabilis or polyphony.13
As Harold Powers has argued persuasively and exhaustively, the function of modal
theory in its various manifestations throughout the Middle Ages, was either to label
already existing monophonic ecclesiastical song or to prescribe rules for editing the
existing chant repertoire and writing chants anew.14 For all practical purposes, mode is
irrelevant to fourteenth-century polyphony. Even in the sixteenth century, when
composers were deliberately organizing collections of polyphonic music according to
modal designations, Powers tells us that the German theorist Sebald Heyden questioned
the necessity o f ascribing modal categories to polyphonic music. Sebald Heyden asked .
Why is it necessary to pursue religiously the ranges of authentic and plagal tones,
as they are called, and the differentiae added to them, when we perceive that they
are hardly taken into account in figural music [emphasis mine]?15
13 Fora history of the development of modal theories and their applications to polyphony, see: Harold
Powers and Frans Wicring (2001), “Mode (I-III),” in The New Grove Dictionary o f Music and Musicians
16, edited by Stanley Sadie, 2ndEdition (London: Macmillan Publishers; New York: Grove’s Dictionaries):
775-823; Powers (1981) “Tonal Types and Modal Categories in Renaissance Polyphony,” Journal o f the
American Musicological Society 34:428-470; (1992) “Is Mode Real? Pietro Aron, the Octenary System,
and Polyphony,” Basler Jahrbuch f i r historische Musikpraxis 16: 9-52; and (1992) “Modality as a
European Cultural Construct.” Secondo Convegno europeo di analisi musicale. edited by R. Dalmonte and
M. Baroni (Trent: Universita degli studi di Trento), 207-219.
14 “The notion of « m o d e » has played a prominent part in Western musical thinking in three historical
periods. In each case it was imported from another time or clime and applied to a musical repertory and
musical practice already well established. In the earliest stages of each of these three periods the imported
modal scheme had been ascribed to one or more aspects of already existing musical practice. Subsequently
the practice would begin to adjust either to improve the fit or in reaction to some novelty provided through
the theory. In the end, the theory would be taken as governing the practice, and music would be produced
to fit that theory.” Harold Powers (1992). “Modality as a European Cultural Construct” 208.
15 As cited by Powers and Wiering (2001) in “Mode,” 797. S. Heyden (1540). De arte canendi. translated
by C. Miller (1972). Musicological Studies and Documents 26 ((Rome|: American Institute of
Musicology). 113.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n er. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n p rohibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

8
Powers argues that Heyden’s question “draws attention to the fact. . .that between modes
and modal theory on the one hand and the actual composition of polyphony on the other
there was no necessary connection either in theory or in practice.” 16 In the early
fourteenth century, where no external evidence of modal designations appears for secular
polyphony (such as ordered collections), Johannes de Grocheo complains about people
who “describe mode as a rule that judges all song at its end.” 17 In an often quoted
passage he writes,
. . . they appear to err in manifold ways. When they say ‘all song,’ they seem to
include secular song and polyphony. But such music perhaps neither proceeds by
the rules of mode nor is governed by them. And besides, i f it is governed by these
rules, they do not say how they operate, or even mention i t . .. Let us therefore try
to describe it otherwise and say that mode is a rule by which anyone can
comprehend any ecclesiastical song and judge it[s mode] by examining its
beginning, middle and end...I say ‘ecclesiastical song’ in order to exclude secular
song and polyphony that are not subject to mode [emphasis mine].18
Despite Grocheo’s admonition, scholars such as Gilbert Reaney, Jehoash
Hirshberg and Christian Berger overtly label Machaut’s polyphonic compositions by
mode.19 Peter Lefferts, who distances himself from modal categories p erse, alludes to
16 Powers and Wiering (2001), “Mode.” 797.
17 E. Rohloff, ed. and trans. (1972), “De Musica” in Quellenhandschriften zum Musiktraktat des Johannes
de Grocheio (Leipzig: Deutscher Verlag fur Musik): 152. English translation by Sarah Fuller (1998),
"Modal Discourse and Fourteenth-Century French Song: A ‘Medieval’ Perspective Recoveted?” Early
Music History 17:67.
18 Ibid.
19 Gilbert Reaney (1963), “Modes in the Fourteenth Century, in Particular in the Music of Guillaume de
Machaut,” in Organicae voces: Festschrift Joseph Smits van Waesberghe, ed. Pieter Fischer (Amsterdam:
Institute for Medieval Music): 137-43, and (1982) "La tonalite des ballades et des rondeaux de Guillaume
de Machaut,” Guillaume de Machaut: Poete et compositeur. Colloque-table ronde organise par
I 'Universite de reims (19-22 avril 1978), Actes et Coiloques 23 (Paris: Klincksieck): 295-300: Jehoash
Hirshberg (1980). “Hexachordal and Modal Structure in Machaut’s Polyphonic Chansons,” in Studies in
Musicology in Honor o f Otto E Albrecht: A Collection ofEssays by His Colleagues and Former Students
at the University o f Pennsylvania. ed. John Walter Hill (Kassel: Bdrcnreiter): 40; and Christian Berger
(1992), Hexachord, Mensur und Textstruktur: Studien zum franzOsischen Lied des 14. Jahrhunderts.
Beihcfte zum Archiv fur Musikwissenschaft 35 (Stuttgart: Steiner): 161-239.

9
the concept in his categorization of cantus lines by authentic and plagal ranges and his
privileging o f the final note o f the cantus.20 Reaney, in his application o f mode to
Machaut’s secular polyphony, finds confirmation solely in the late fourteenth-century
Berkeley manuscript, the only treatise before the fifteenth century to attempt modal
classification of polyphony.21 The Berkeley writer’s comments are brief—a description
o f which finals indicate specific modes—and although there is no doubt that polyphony is
under discussion (by the inclusion of motets), his categories could also encompass
secular monophony as well, since ballades, rondeaux and virelais, at least earlier in the
century, are not always polyphonic:
And now, it remains to clarify some things about other songs (for example,
motets, ballades, and the like) with respect to the judging o f their tones or modes.
Therefore let the judgment be with respect to the final o f all tones or modes of any
song— motets, ballades, rondeaux, virelais, and the like.22
:oPeter LefTerts (1995), “Signature Systems and Tonal Types in the late Fourteenth Century Chanson”
Plainsong and Medieval Music 4/2: 117-147.
21 Reaney (1982), "La tonalite des ballades et des rondeaux,” 295. See also Ellsworth (1984). The Berkeley
Manuscript, 2-4; and Powers and Wiering (2001), “Mode.” 797, column 1.
“ Italics mine. The translation, with slight modifications, from Ellsworth (1984), The Berkeley Manuscript,
85. A comparison of the Berkeley Anonymous’ modal categories of “other songs” with his earlier modal
categories of “ecclesiastical song” reveals two important differences, also noted by Reaney (1982), "La
tonalite des ballades,” 295, and Ellsworth (1984), The Berkeley Manuscript, 85 and 87, footnote 29: the
finals represent different modes in the “ecclesiastical” and the “other” categories, and the distinction
between authentic and plagal melodies applies only to ecclesiastical song. The irksome question, however,
of which voice part makes the determination remains unanswered. The distribution of finals for
ecclesiastical and other songs according to the Berkeley Anonymous can be summarized thus:
Tones Ecclesiastical Songs (p.77) Other Songs (p.85)

I or II D gravis or A acuta A. D. G with Bb. or C with Bb
III or IV E gravis; 3rdalso on B acuta and 4th E, B. A with Bb
on A acuta with Bb
VorVI F gravis or C acuta F orBb
VII or VII G gravis or D acuta GorC
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m is s io n of t h e cop y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n prohibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

10
Aside from a cursory labeling according to final pitches, the Berkeley anonymous gives
no indication as to how mode might constrain or prescribe pitch behavior in polyphonic
song.
The Berkeley writer raises more critical questions than he answers about what
modal theory can tell us about polyphony. Although a posteriori modal categories serve
a practical, liturgical function in regard to chant, what function do they have in relation to
secular music? How do the Berkeley Anonymous’ modal labels reflect or govern the
interaction of two or more voices? In regard to both polyphony and secular monophony,
how do the labels account for the chromatic inflections which are so important to the
sound o f fourteenth-century French secular music?23 Grocheo’s statement from c. 1300
concisely articulates the problem, “if it [polyphony] is governed by these rules [i.e. those
o f mode], they do not say how they operate.. .”24
Both Christian Berger, in Hexachord, Mensur und Textstrtiktur, and Jehoash
Hirshberg, in “Hexachordal and Modal Structure in Machaut's Polyphonic Chansons,”
combine ideas of mode with the hexachordal system and solmization to formulate
organizing principles for tonal structure in polyphonic music.25 Like mode, however,
hexachords and solmization rarely appear in discantus or contrapunctus treatises,
writings which address polyphony. In cantus planus treatises where they do appear, they
serve a pedagogical rather than theoretical purpose; writers use hexachords to explain the
23 Christian Berger’s response (1992) to the question of chromatic inflections is to keep the modal theory
and suppress the inflections {Hexachord, Mensur und Textstruktur). For an in-depth evaluation and
reasoned response to Berger’s modal-hexachordal theory, see Sarah Fuller (1998). “Modal Discourse and
Fourteenth-Century French Song: A ‘Medieval’ Perspective Recovered?” Early Music History 17:61-108.
24 Rohloff (1972), “De Musica” in Quellenhandschriften. 152.
25 Berger (1992). Hexachord, Mensur und Textstruktur. and Hirshberg (1980). "Hexachordal and Modal
Structure”.

11
derivation o f the gamut and to teach intervallic distances for the purposes o f singing. For
example, in the Ouatuor Principalia Musicae the anonymous author introduces
hexachords in the third treatise (on plainchant), in chapter two, entitled, “De nominibus
vocum et intervallis earum [Concerning the names of the pitches and intervals
thereof].”26 Hexachords, used as a convenient device to explain rudimentary theory and
identify distance between pitches, permeate the rest of the third treatise—34 pages in the
Coussemaker edition—which covers the division of the monochord, the so-called
Guidonian hand, mutations, explanations o f the intervals and several examples of each
type, and an introduction to mode and differentiae. But in the fourth treatise, which deals
directly with polyphony, hexachords are nowhere mentioned nor are the syllables used.
The discantus section o f the fourth treatise explains in great detail with countless
examples how two voices can proceed from one harmonic interval to another, without
ever invoking hexachords or syllable names. The instructions for proper contrapuntal
procedure follow a regular format along the lines of, “If you are on a third and the
plainsong descends by one step, you can ascend by another and you will be on a fifth, as
here: lit ”27
26 Edmond de Coussemaker, ed.. (1864-76; 1963). “Quatuor Principalia HI.” in Scriptorum de musica medii
aevi nova series a Gerbertina altera Vol.4 (Paris: Durand; reprint edition, Hildesheim: Olms): 219; and
more recently, Luminita Aluas (1996). "The Quatuor Principalia Musicae: A Critical Edition and
Translation, with Introduction and Commentary” (Ph.D. Dissertation. Indiana University: Ann Arbor.
University Microfilm. Order no. .9627364), 238-259 (English translation on 578).
27 "Si vos estis in tercia et planus cantus descendat per unam vocem. potestis per aliam ascendere et eritis in
quinta, ut hie.” Luminita Aluas (1996). "The Quatuor Principalia Musicae.” Latin on 476. English on 717.
I have modified Aluas’ translation slightly.
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12
In the Ouatuor Prinicipalia Musicae hexachords play no part in explaining contrapuntal
rules.
In those (rare) instances when hexachord names do appear in discantus or
contrapunctus treatises such as the “Volentibus introduci,” and the “Ad sciendum artem
discantus,” it is for the purposes of describing intervallic distances, not to invoke a
principle of organization for tonal structure in the music.28 In “Volentibus introduci,” for
instance, the hexachord names arise in the explication o f the intervals only when it is
convenient: ut re, re mi, fa sol, and sol la describe a major second, mi fa describes a
minor second, ut mi and fa la a major third, etc.29 But when there is no way within a
single hexachord to describe an interval, such as the tritone, the minor sixth and the major
and minor sevenths, the syllables disappear without comment. They reappear in the
discussion of musica ficta, the phenomenon of making a tone a semitone, and a semitone
a tone, because the ficta function of the sign derives from its position in the hexachord:
Est ficta musica quando de tono facimus semitonium, et e converso de semitonio

tonum. .. Ubi igitur invenimus b rotundum, dicimus istam vocem fa, et ubi
invenimus b quadratum, dicimus illam vocem mi; et sic tonus in semitonium
deducendo de necessitate est, et e converso...30
28 The incipit titles used here are in accordance with Klaus-Jurgen Sachs (1974). Der Contrapunctus im 14.
und 15. Jahrhundert: (Jntersuchungen zum Terminus, zur Lehre und zu den Ouellen (Wiesbaden: Franz
Steiner Verlag GMBH). “Ad sciendum artem discantus.” can be found under the title, “Ars discantus.” in
Coussemaker. ed. (1864-76; 1963), Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series a Gerbertina altera.
Vol.3:68-113: and “Volentibus introduci,” under “Ars contrapunctus, secundum Philippum de Vitriaco.” in
the same volume, 23-27. Sachs compares three different versions of “Volentibus introduci.” two found
edited in Coussemaker, ed. (1864-76; 1963), Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series a Gerbertina
altera, Vol.3 (the one above as well as Johannis de Gariandia. “Optima introductio in Contrapunctum pro
rudibus,” 12-13). and the third edited by Sachs himself, 170-173. based on the manuscript Pisa. Biblioteca
Universitaria. 606. pages (sic) 50-51. The three versions are quite different and the passage to which I refer
is only in the “Ars contrapunctus secundum Philippum de Vitriaco,” edited by Coussemaker.
29 Coussemaker. ed.. (1864-76; 1963). Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series a Gerbertina altera.
Vol.3.24-25.
30 Ibid.. 26. There is only one chapter in the second treatise.

13
[Musica ficta is when we make a semitone from a tone, and vice versa a tone from
a semitone. . .Where therefore we find a round b, we call this note fa, and where
we find a square b, we call this note mi; and thus from necessity a tone is drawn
from a semitone and vice versa... ]
The fact that the syllable names and distances between the syllables were known by all
those trained in basic singing skills, meant that they were very convenient to use in the
treatises for the purpose o f explanation and quick recognition. But they served a
pedagogical rather than theoretical function and did not bear directly upon issues of tonal
structure.
What should a theory of tonal structure describe?
Since the treatises require such interpretive reading, and the musical language of
fourteenth-century French secular polyphony proves complex, many varying analytical
approaches have arisen, ranging from applications of tonal paradigms, to hexachordal
analyses, to modal analyses.31 Moreover, the varying degrees of emphasis on specific
aspects o f tonal construction, such as the trajectory of the cantus line, the cantus-tenor
duet, or the directed progressions of sonorities, reflect a general lack o f consensus on
what a theory of tonal structure ought to explain about the music.32 As Sarah Fuller
31 For further discussion and reference to analytical approaches see Lawrence Earp’s summary (1995) in
Guillaume de Machaut: A Guide to Research (New York and London: Garland Publishing), 283-288.
Tonal paradigms-. Gilbert Rcancy (1963). “Modes in the Fourteenth Century,” and (1982) “La tonalite des
ballades”: hexachordal analyser. Daniel Leech-Wilkinson (1984), “Machaut's Rose, lis and the Problem of
Early Music Analysis.” Music Analysis 3: 9-28; and hexachordal/modal analyser. Christian Berger (1992).
Hexachord, Mensur und Textstruktur, and Jehoash Hirshberg (1980). “Hexachordal and Modal Structure”.
31 Cantus line'. Peter Lefferts (1995). “Signature Systems and Tonal Types.” and Yolanda Plumley (1996).
The Grammar o f!4 lh Century Melody, cantus-tenor duet: Margaret Bent (1998). “The Grammar of Early
Music: Preconditions for Analysis.” in Tonal Structures in Early Music, edited by Cristlc Collins Judd
(New York and London: Garland Publishing. Inc.): 15-59: directed progression ofsonoritier. Sarah Fuller
(1986). "On Sonority in Fourteenth-Century' Polyphony: Some Preliminary Reflections.” Journal o f Music
Theory 30: 35-70, and (1992). 'Tendencies and Resolutions: the Directed Progression in Ars Nova Music.”
Journal o f Music Theory 36: 229-258.

14
reminds us, the type o f questions we ask of a repertory will have a significant bearing on
the answers we get.33 For instance, in the sixties and seventies certain scholars, such as
Richard Hoppin, Wolfgang Marggraf and Gilbert Reaney, searched for the earliest hints
of tonality; Hoppin used terms such as “tonic,”34 and Marggraf claimed that if the
opening and final chord in a chanson are identical then the chanson is tonal.35 Reaney
classified pieces according to mode rather than key, yet as Lawrence Earp notes, “. . .the
concept o f ‘mode’ is reduced essentially to major and minor keys.”36 Today, even though
scholars such as Jehoash Hirshberg, Christian Berger, Peter Lefferts, and Yolanda
Plumley have abandoned the search for tonality, they have retained the underlying tonal
assumption that a single tonality or mode governs each piece, and this is what their
systems o f tonal structure describe. As Sarah Fuller writes:
... twentieth-century scholars have tended to describe tonal structures in early

music in terms o f coherence about a central pitch (a final or a tonic) or adherence
to a template o f mode or tonal type identified by a referential final pitch.37
33 “What are we seeking when we set out to identify tonal structure in a composition or within a defined
repertory of music? What are we expecting to find? Our responses to these questions will largely determine
our results, for they will set the course for how we apprehend and configure the material at hand.” Sarah
Fuller (1998), “Exploring Tonal Structure in French Polyphonic Song of the Fourteenth Century,” Tonal
Structures in Early Music (New York: Garland Publishing): 61.
34 Richard H. Hoppin (1966), “Tonal Organization in Music Before the Renaissance.” in Paul A. Pisk:
Essays in His Honor, ed. John Glowacki (Austin: College of Fine Arts. The University of Texas): 27.
35 Wolfgang Marggraf (1964), “Tonalitat und Harmonik in der ftanzdsischen Chanson vom Tode Machauts
bis zum fruhen Dufay” (Ph.D. dissertation. Leipzig). As reported by Jehoash Hirshberg (1980).
“Hexachordal and Modal Structure.” 19.
36 Gilbert Reaney (1963). “Modes in the Fourteenth Century”: and Lawrence Earp (1995). Guillaume de
Machaut. 578.
37 Fuller (1998). “Exploring Tonal Structure.” 6 1.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n pro hibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

15
In contrast with this “single key” approach, I will focus from the outset on the ways in
which different tonal centers can be established for the listener in a single piece through
the use o f chromatic inflections, significant initial sonorities, and cadential progressions.
Recently many authors have wanted a theory of tonal structure to reflect whether
the different voices in fourteenth-century secular music were written successively or
simultaneously. For those involved in the successive/simultaneous debate, the answer to
whether a single line dominates in terms of tonal structure or whether the polyphonic
fabric stands as a whole, lies in the method of composition. Peter Lefferts, and following
him, Yolanda Plumley, argue that the vocal lines were written successively, starting with
the cantus, and the tonal system they posit, which derives from the final pitch of the
cantus line and the “signature” o f the tenor, begins with this assumption.38 In a series of
studies, Leech-Wilkinson reasons persuasively that the parts were written simultaneously
and advocates a more harmonic approach to the music.39 Although I find
Leech-Wilkinson’s thinking wholly convincing, I believe that for the purposes of talking
about tonal structure the point is moot. However the piece was composed, successively
or simultaneously, what we have with us today are multi-voice works, which when
performed have multiple voices sounding simultaneously, not as individual strands of a
complex. Even if the music were written one voice at a time, it is heard as a polyphonic
3* Weiss and Tarnskin (1984) make the same assumptions in their commentary on Johannes de Grochco’s
De musica. and Aegidius of Murino’s Tractatus cantus mensurabilis. both of which they include in their
anthology. Though Weiss and Taruskin’s pedagogical purpose is to make a marked distinction in attitude
toward text between medieval and renaissance writers, they overlook the pedagogical purpose and context
of the original treatises. Music in the Modem World: A History in Documents (New York: Schirmer
Books): 66.
39 Daniel Leech-Wilkinson (1984). "Machaut's Rose, lis.” 9-11 in particular, and (1993). "Le Voir Dit and
La Messe de Mostre Dame: Aspects of Genre and Style in Late Works of Machaut.” Plainsong and Medieval
Music 2:43-73.

16
whole. What listeners hear and how they perceive tonal structure is dependent upon the
interaction o f the voices, not solely the structure of an individual voice, or a pair of
voices. I will argue that the main objective for a theory of tonal structure in fourteenth-
century French secular polyphony should be to describe the tonal structuring of songs as
polyphonic entities. I follow Peter Lefferts’ succinct suggestion:
One set o f questions that needs to be asked of any piece of music concerns its
tonal behaviour, its way o f working with tones. I take this quite specifically here
to mean its definition o f the extent and content of musical space, its choice of
pitches, and its ways o f favouring certain pitches and discriminating against
others.40
Although Lefferts makes this suggestion in the context of his cantus-oriented system, the
questions posed certainly take into account the polyphonic whole.
The sticky question about how to interpret chromatic inflections and signatures
has also become entangled in theories of tonal structure, since how one renders the
chromatic content of a song drastically affects its sound and consequently how the tonal
structure o f the song is perceived. Some theories o f tonal structure directly address or
describe a position on chromatic inflections: for Peter Lefferts and Yolanda Plumley
signatures function as an external indicator of tonal type,41 while for Christian Berger
chromatic inflections do not function as indicators of altered pitch, but rather as signs of
hexachordal/modal propriety.42 Several recent studies of chromaticism in fourteenth-
century music have posited diametrically opposed views on inflections. For Margaret
Bent and Elizabeth Leach the underlying contrapuntal grammar of a song dictates that all
40 Peter Lefferts (1995), “Signature Systems and Tonal Types.” 117.
41 Lefferts (1995), "Signature Systems and Tonal Types.” and Yolanda Plumley (1996), The Grammar o f
I ■i"' Century Melody.
42 Christian Berger (1992), Hexachord. Mensur und Textstruktur.

17
thirds and sixths must be inflected appropriately in their approach to perfect intervals,
whether or not such inflections appear notationally in the manuscript 43 At the other
extreme, Thomas Brothers argues that notated chromatic inflections reflect fourteenth-
century authorial or scribal intentions which are made less effective structurally when
twentieth-century scholars or performers interpolate additional unnotated inflections.44 I
would contend that both positions claim a more systematic approach (Bent and Leach on
the part of the performer. Brothers on the part of the scribe/composer) than the
manuscript evidence and theoretical sources warrant. I find the idea that singers
systematically adjusted every third and sixth in a piece as unlikely as the notion that they
treated notated works as immutable communication from a composer. My proposed
middle-ground between the extreme positions accepts that many o f the necessary
inflections for performance are in the manuscripts, but that some additional inflections
should be added according to melodic and harmonic context. Rather than try to solve all
o f the interpretive problems surrounding chromatic inflections and performance practice
considerations, I will demonstrate instead how the inflections which do appear (literally)
in the manuscripts of the secular works of Machaut help to define tonal structure.
To arrive at a theory of tonal structure in fourteenth-century French secular
polyphony, it is necessary first to determine local- and large-scale syntactical norms,
which can only be done, as Yolanda Plumley asserts, by “comparing] tendencies in a
43 Margaret Bent (1998). "The Grammar of Early Music”; and Elizabeth Eva Leach (1999). review of
Chromatic Beauty in the Late Medieval Chanson: an Interpretation o f Manuscript Accidentals, by Thomas
Brothers (Cambridge University Press. 1997). in Music and Letters 80/2: 274-281. see especially 279-281.
44 Thomas Brothers (1997). Chromatic Beauty in the Late Medieval Chanson: an Interpretation o f
Manuscript Accidentals (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press).

18
sizeable number of works”.43 Analysts often make claims about what is typical or
unusual in a given piece of music according to the repertory from which it is culled.
With common-practice music, most scholars are in agreement about what the norms are
for a specific period, a particular genre, or an individual composer, because o f a cultural
familiarity with the canon.46 With fourteenth-century music, although several major
studies have appeared offering theories of tonal organization, scholars are not fully in
agreement about syntactical norms, such as what constitutes the chromatic content o f a
song, or how cadences are configured, or how songs are related in terms o f tonal design.
Plumley suggests that to determine these norms "our attention needs to shift from
detailed study of the particular.. .to consideration of the general.. ”,47 and with that in
mind she and Lefferts propose closed and fixed categories of tonal structure. I argue that
tonal structure cannot be determined by closed categories based on external markers
(such as cantus final and signature). Instead, I propose that tonal structure is something
that unfolds for the listener as a song is performed. I examine the ways in which
individual pitches and sonorities are emphasized for the listener in particular songs, and
then compare strategies between songs in Machaut’s secular, polyphonic song repertory.
I argue that to determine syntactical norms and understand relationships between songs,
one must continually negotiate a path between the particular and the global. I conclude
45 Yolanda Plumley (1996). The Grammar o f 14th Century Melody, xv.
46 Peter Schuben (2000) writes in a review of Judd’s Tonal Structures volume. “In later repertoire, one
normal course of events leading to analysis is to hear or perform, to be captivated, to want a deeper
acquaintance, and finally to analyze. In early music, on die other hand, we are intimate with so little of the
repertoire that we need the giant survey to know what the norms are for a given body of work.” Schubert.
Music Theory Spectrum 22/1: 131.
47 Plumley (1996), The Grammar o f l f h Century Melody, xv.

19
that rather than falling into fixed categories, fourteenth-century French songs demonstrate
matrices o f relationships with each other.
Some commentary on Thomas Brothers’ recent description of a Machaut rondeau
will illustrate the benefit this kind o f approach can offer. In his provocative account of
chromaticism in the late medieval chanson, Brothers describes Machaut’s rondeau, Dous
•48
viaire gracieus, (EX. I-1) as having an “unexpected design.”
Example 1-1 Dous viaire gracieus, Rondeau l49
Tnplum
v*
C V gG
t
r> G V gG
r i- r°- a * .
— W---------------- - f - T I- — i T r-P -f -
-P — ^ i x f l—
l—l-------L—
i f-
------- ------ 1 r L f r V - —B -
f — T /T\ C V gA G
Cantus C Vg A G f
my.. . .....-V -
x — PT— H- ---------t - H -------------------- ----------- 1-------------------
* a---------X I ■1r--------------
^ - — £
------------- — F-
1 A7 Dous VI - ai - re g ra - ct eus. 18 De
3 Weil * lies moy es tre pi teus,
je sui un po hon teus, 6 Ne
----n 1 1 9 r\
-Jt---------------------------------------------------------- ---------------UJ------------------------- £----------- x=------------ x x x ----------- :----------------:--------------
----get------- ------- o-------------- «—--- -------------- -a ------------ J----------- S - ------------------------ h
C V gA G
- f t f r p - f ----- -»•—
i t — t- v - i —i-----------
t r |
W AG
. I I AG VgAG
----- * -—4-----r - U m = t t 1*— i — P------ 1 _[H - J
-0 0 •
ii E ftf n »i = H
® (in cuer vous ay ser -
me met- tes en ou bti.
»i . 1
U r fo f-.. P P U ! N 1 *t P ■
4k — — -J -0 ^0 —1-0---
= E = P = i
» CVgAG c VgAG
48 Thomas Brothers (1997). Chromatic Beauty. 93.
49 This is my transcription with manuscript sources of accidentals indicated, not Brothers'. I have not
included accidentals from MS E.

20
He writes:
Machaut’s twelve-measure refrain has five signed F-sharps, and these

straightforwardly emphasize G; but the refrain and hence the song ends
unexpectedly on b-flat/b-flat/f.50
Brothers’ assessment is correct from the vantage point of a listener, in the sense that the
bb fifth is unprepared as a final sonority within the context of the rondeau: no perfect
sonorities on bb appear earlier in the song and the only directed progression to bb (the
cantus/tenor a/c third to unison bb, between mm.8 and 9 in EX. 1-2) is undermined by the
fit to g in the triplum (I will use Guidonian letters when referring to specific pitches in
this study, and will use capital letters, despite the possible confusion, for 'generic’
pitches; it should be clear from the context whether the pitch is specific or generic).
Example 1-2 Dous viaire gracieus, Rondeau 1; mm. 8-9
C w tu s g Tnplum
k i H i '
9 vous ay vous ay
A Tenor* 1 0 “ Tenor * •** 01
■—
- t ^
6 6
3----------- I
The proliferation o f F# and its emphasis on G, however, does not in itself make
the Bb ending “unexpected”. It is common within Machaut’s music to find more than
one tonal center emphasized in a single song, and in fact, of the nine songs o f Machaut
which end on a Bb sonority, all emphasize G as a tonal center to one degree or another
early in the song. In the fixed form songs the initial sonority is an anchor for the listener
in constructing pitch relationships since it returns frequently in the repetition of the
50 Ibid.. 92.

21
musical form at a very clear, defining moment.31 O f the songs which end on Bb,
Ballades 3, 8, 16, 25, and 36 begin with a G/d (or G/G/d) fifth, and Ballade 19 begins on
G/bb/d.32 All o f these songs, except for Ballade 36, continue to highlight G sonorities in
various ways, through initial sonorities of phrases, directed progressions, and cadences.33
In Ballade 11, N ’en fa it n 'en dit n ’en pensee, which begins with an F/f octave (rather than
a G sonority) and ends on a bb unison, an interplay between G and Bb sonorities
maintains itself throughout the entire song. Even within the first phrase which prolongs F
in the tenor and outlines a descent from f to a in the cantus, a long a/c# third creates a G/d
expectation, left unresolved until the ouvert cadence (see EX. 1-3).34
Example 1-3 N ’en fa it n ’en dit n ’en pensee, Ballade 11; mm. 1-4
C an tu s I I
N’en fait
m
n'en dit
^TQ,£r^J j , erf
n en pen -
Vera ma da • me de si -
3 E :o :
T enor
Another Machaut song which ends on a Bb sonority, the four-voice Ballade 42 {Dante, de
qui toute ma jo ie vient) from the Remede de Fortune, is o f particular interest here because
of a discrepancy between the tonal orientation of the cantus-tenor duet and the four-voice
51 See chapter four. p. 130 ff for further discussion on ihe importance of initial sonorities.
52 On ne porroit penser ne souhaidier (B3), De desconfort, de martyre amoureus (B8), Dame, comment
qu ’amez de vous ne soie (B16), Home, paour, doubtance de meffaire (B25). Se pour ce muir quAmours ai
bien servi (B36). and Amours me fa it desirer (B19).
53 These various devices for establishing tonal centers will be discussed in more detail in subsequent
chapters.
S4 See chapter four. p. 117 ff for further commentary on Ballade 11.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p ro d u c tio n prohibited w ith o u t p e rm is s io n .

22
Example i-4 Dame, de qui toute ma jo ie vient, Ballade 42; mm. 1-6 and 10-13
m m . 1-6
T rip lu m
C an tu s
O-
Tenor
mm. 10-13
rj?.. r -f ri ri g’ r1
jn—- 1-— iI-- -----
-
\ i . £ f r - '-f-ff ««— P, j 3] i
IScer ' a | ner
b vi
L . ---- 1i*' ' « Ji k = e = .
77 rf— M - - - •
i i
— r--- - - - 1- ----- L -i • '—U!—— "-[ - - -^
i- - - - -—-■■■■r

23
cadences. The four-voice version begins on a D sonority, rather than G, and cadences in
the first half to D at m.5 and to C at m. 13 with the lowest pitch in the contratenor in both
cadences. The structural cantus-tenor duet, however, which appears on its own as a two-
voice version in Machaut’s earliest manuscript, MS C, emphasizes a G tonal center at
these two cadences. At m.5 the tenor and cantus cadence on F#/a (implicating a G unison
resolution) and at m. 13 they cadence on the expected G unison (see EX. 1-4).
Assessing Dous viaire gracieus within the larger context of Machaut’s output,
yields another perspective on the relationship between G and Bb sonorities. Although the
final Bb sonority in Dous viaire gracieus is unprepared within the context of the song, to
one familiar with the G - Bb design (known only through a presentist observation of a
closed repertory), the Bb sonority may not be unexpected.
Methodology
In the chapters which follow, I argue that tonal structure, a 20th-century construct,
describes hierarchical relationships among pitches in a work as they unfold through the
process o f a song. Although fourteenth-century writers describe note-against-note
counterpoint and progressions of two or three intervals, they do not discuss how to
organize music about one or more central pitches. They do not describe, moreover,
form al aspects o f composition such as the musical-poetic structure o f fixed forms and
ouvert-clos organization.35 The ouvert/clos cadential patterns, however, in both
55 Aegidius de Murino specifics that there are open and closed endings in ballades, rondeaux and virelais.
but he does not provide details about how open and closed endings arc accomplished in terms of pitch
organization. Aegidius de Murino. “Tractatus cantus mcnsurabilis.” Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova
series a Gerbertina altera, Vol.3. edited by Edmond de Coussemaker (Paris: Durand. 1869: reprint edition.
Hildesheim: Olms, 1963): 128.

24
monophonic and polyphonic secular songs certainly indicate that composers worked
within a framework o f primary and secondary goals, or tonal centers. I argue that a tonal
center, the privileging of one pitch over another, becomes established in a song for the
listener through chromatic inflections, the patterning of significant sonorities (initial as
well as cadential), and imperfect- and perfect-sonority cadences. Although some
tendencies and patterns o f tonal construction become apparent from the vantage point of
an observer o f a closed repertory, I posit that tonal structure is individual to the song.
Rather than functioning as an a priori system of categories for composers, tonal structure
functions as a process through a song, as a path is taken through one or more tonal
centers.
Outside of a “tonal” context, fourteenth-century contrapunctus writers detail
progressions o f intervals, an emphasis which suggests that in polyphony tonal structure
comes about through the interaction between two or more voices, not just from the
construction o f a single line o f music (whether or not the voices were composed
successively or simultaneously). According to fourteenth-century theorists, in the two-
voice contrapunctus, or “skeletal frame”, only consonant intervals are allowed, perfect
and imperfect, a vocabulary which is too limited not only for the active surface of a
typical two-voice fourteenth-century work, but also for widely prevalent three-part (and
sometimes four-part) works. Since fourteenth-century writers of these elementary
contrapunctus treatises rarely mention three- or four-part music, and certainly do not
offer a nomenclature for sonorities comprised o f three or four voices, I use Sarah Fuller’s
1986 theory o f sonority to describe and compare “harmonic” units. Fuller extrapolates
three types o f consonant sonorities that appear in fourteenth-century music: Perfect (P),

25
Imperfect (I), and Doubly Imperfect (II).56 Drawing on fourteenth-century treatises in
which contrapunctus writers describe the tension that imperfect intervals create and the
stability brought about by perfect intervals, Fuller makes a distinction between neutral
and directed progressions o f sonorities, noting the impetus created by Imperfect and
Doubly Imperfect sonorities to move toward Perfect sonorities. She quotes Johannes
Boen's Musica, completed in 1357:
It is established thus insofar as a cantus that is judged imperfect through thirds

and sixths, despite its inharmonious quality, attracts and allures the ears toward
the following fifth and octave. This is so that thirds and sixths who are their
[octave’s and fifth’s] heralds and maidservants may announce the perfection of
the cantus in fifth or octave, a perfection the sweeter for being long expected...57
I maintain that the directed progression proves to be key in the definition of tonal
structure. Imperfect sonorities create expectation within musical phrases and at cadences
and expected perfect sonorities provide tonal closure.
In the following chapters I will use Fuller’s historically informed theory of
sonority in conjunction with modem methods of empirical analysis to identify procedures
which contribute to the construction of tonal structure in individual songs. In chapter two
I examine the role o f chromatic inflections in delineating tonal structure by surveying
usage in the secular polyphonic songs of Machaut. Opposing the view that signatures
operate as external markers o f tonal categories, I acknowledge that Bbs and Ebs can serve
as part o f the general pitch spectrum o f a piece, unlike other types of chromatic
inflections. I argue that all available chromatic inflections can help to define tonal
56 Perfect sonorities are "combinations of perfect intervals: unison, fifth, octave and their compounds.”
imperfect sonorities arc "combinations of perfect intervals with an imperfect interval: unison or octave with
sixth or third, fifth with a third." and doubly imperfect sonorities are "combinations of two imperfect
intervals: the third and the sixth.” Fuller (1986). "On Sonority.” 42.
57 Fuller (1992). "Tendencies and Resolutions.” 229-30.

26
structure contrapuntally by increasing the tendency o f imperfect intervals to create the
expectation o f directed progressions. I suggest further that chromatic inflections
sometimes appear melodically, outside the skeletal frame of the contrapunctus, but still
contribute to the definition of tonal structure in various ways. A close examination of
Machaut’s Ballade 32, Plourez, dames, plourez vostre servant, demonstrates how
chromatic inflections can create shifting emphases between two different tonal centers in
a song.
Clearly, cadential goals contribute significantly to the definition of tonal structure
in a song. In chapter three I argue that in terms of tonal structure cadences can render
particular pitches or sonorities as stronger or weaker, or can create the expectation of a
specific tonal center later in the song, through the type of arrival sonority used or through
the contrapuntal approach. I compare significant cadences across Machaut’s secular
polyphonic songs (ouvert and clos cadences in the ballades and virelais, medial cadences
in the rondeaux and final cadences in all the polyphonic fixed-form songs), and propose
two main cadence types: perfect-sonority cadences and imperfect-sonority cadences. I
propose several sub-categories o f perfect-sonority cadences: directed progressions with
upper and lower “leading-tones”, directed progressions with non-proximate resolutions,
and non-directed progressions where the perfect sonorities are not approached by
tendency intervals. I use Machaut’s Virelai 32/38, De tout sui si confortee, to
demonstrate in a detailed way how cadence construction throughout a single song
contributes to the perception o f tonal structure.
In chapter four, in contrast to a “single key” approach I argue for the possibility of
multiple tonal centers. In a shift away from the sequential process of how pieces unfold

27
over time for a listener, I assess points o f comparison across Machaut’s secular
polyphonic output by abstracting key sonorities in groups of pieces and comparing
patterns o f usage. I propose that the initial sonority of fixed form songs can provide an
aural anchor in defining pitch relationships in individual songs. Although many features
o f syntax function in the same way across all genres (such as the use o f cadences and
chromatic inflections), in chapter five I suggest that formal characteristics can directly
affect our perception o f tonal structure. I examine Machaut’s monophonic virelais and
suggest some intersections between monophonic and polyphonic techniques, particularly
in the role of chromatic inflections in establishing tonal areas. I examine Machaut’s
Rondeau 6, Cine, un, trese, hnit, neuf d'amourfine, to argue that the usual highly
melismatic settings o f Machaut’s rondeaux create difficulty in parsing the music and the
text, a situation which raises performance issues and relates directly to the perception of
tonal structure.
By focusing first on particular strategies for establishing tonal centers in
individual pieces, I demonstrate that Machaut’s secular songs construct tonal structure
through the process of a song as it unfolds in performance. Rather than exhibiting the
characteristics of single tonal categories, many of Machaut’s songs are multifaceted in
tonal design, highlighting two or more tonal centers as a song proceeds. Moreover,
within the repertory there are various threads of tonal interrelationships among pieces,
rather than closed categories o f “types” into which individual pieces can be classified.

28
CHAPTER TWO
The Role of Chromatic Inflections in the
Construction of Tonal Structure
Debates over the reading and interpolation of chromatic inflections have been
prevalent through many generations of scholarship, but consensus on the topic is not yet
at hand. Lucy Cross makes the insightful remark that “If medieval performers had been
faced with the same kinds of problems about ‘ficta’ that we are, we should have a far
more lucid legacy from them o f answers to our questions than we do .”1 Rather than infer,
however, that medieval performers knew from performance practice traditions a set of
absolute rules which had to be followed, I maintain that medieval performers had a range
of possibilities that affected many areas o f performance, including the interpolation of
chromatic inflections. Timothy McGee’s recent monograph on medieval vocal
performance details a surprising variety of vocal techniques and embellishments available
to singers. The variety of performance possibilities and traditions suggests that singers
were very free with their interpretation of a notated song, a remembered song, or an
1 Lucy E. Cross (1990). "Chromatic Alteration and Extrahexachordal Intervals in Fourteenth-Century

Polyphonic Repertories” (Ph D. Dissertation. Columbia University: Ann Arbor University Microfilm.
Order no. 9118548), 71.

29
improvised song.2 Perhaps some performances of notated songs were highly inflected
while others were not. Cross’ statement that, “we should begin with the attitude that
there is only one correct reading, regardless of whether or not we are ourselves able to
determine what that is,” betrays a twentieth-century Urtext mentality perhaps
inappropriate to a pre-industrial era when no two versions o f anything—shoes, pots,
jewelry, books—were identical.3 However, in order to make sense of an individual song
it is necessary to make firm decisions about pitch content, at which point the transcription
or the performance reveals analytical and interpretive decisions about the contrapuntal
background and the tonal structure o f the song. Although it is inevitable that
preconceptions about how a piece might go will influence judgements and analysis,
analytical arguments regarding the interpretation of chromatic inflections especially risk
circularity. Analysts have to examine whether their choices about the pitch content of a
piece are influencing or are influenced by their analytical reasoning.
Rather than try to solve all o f the interpretive problems surrounding chromatic
inflections and performance practice considerations, I will demonstrate instead how the
inflections that are actually notated in the manuscripts of the secular works of Machaut
' McGee (1998), The Sound o f Medieval Song: Ornamentation and Vocal Style According to the Treatises.
Latin translations by Randall A Rosenfeld (Oxford: Clarendon Press). See especially pp. l-l I in the
introductory chapter for McGee’s general ideas about the attitude towards vocal practices in the Middle
Ages; very specific details of vocal technique and ornamentation and references to treatises are discussed in
the chapters which follow.
3 Cross (1990). "Chromatic Alteration.” 73. McGee makes a similar argument to mine when he discusses
the meaning of variants in a song as it appears in several manuscripts: "Another possible interpretation of
these variants is that they could be the result of errors in transmission—and that is certainly a possibility—
but given the quantity of chants with variant readings from manuscript to manuscript, a conclusion more in
keeping with the spirit of the late Middle Ages is that, in the transmission of a chant from one locale to
another, exact replication was not considered to be important.” McGee (1998). The Sound o f Medieval
Song, 2.

relate to tonal structure 4 In discussions about fourteenth-century music, notated
inflections and signatures in the manuscripts have often been invoked as part of a code
which identifies pieces as members of a particular class of tonal structures.3 I argue,
however, that tonal structure in fourteenth-century music is not an inherent property of a
piece that can be read from a code, but is rather something which can be constructed from
a piece and how it actually proceeds. I propose that chromatic inflections, instead of
serving as a code to a class of tonal structures, help to construct tonal structure both in
contrapuntal and melodic ways. Contrapuntally, chromatic inflections increase the
tendency o f imperfect intervals, invoking strong expectations of linear semitone motion
and directed progressions. Melodically, outside the frame of the contrapunctus,
chromatic inflections contribute to the definition of tonal structure by emphasizing
individual pitches without playing a functional role in the underlying contrapuntal
progression at hand.
4 To avoid getting bogged down in lengthy discussions of manuscript variants, unless otherwise indicated
the inflections marked on the score in my examples reflect what is found in MS A. I have used MS A in
particular as a primary source for my examples since it is probably the last manuscript compiled during
Machaut’s lifetime, prepared in die early 1370s. and contains the bulk of his repertory.
5 Peter LefTerts (1995). “Signature Systems and Tonal Types in the late Fourteenth Century Chanson.”
Plainsong and Medieval Music 4/2:117-47; Yolanda Plumley (1996). The Grammar o f 14* Century
Melody: Tonal Organization and Compositional Process in the Chansons o f Guillaume de Machaut and
the Ars Subtilior (New York and London: Garland Publishing); Jehoash Hirshberg (1971). “The Music of
die Late Fourteendi Century: A Study in Musical Style” (Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Pennsylvania:
Ann Arbor University Microfilm. Order no. 7126031); Jehoash Hirshberg (1980). “Hexachordal and
Modal Structure in Machaut’s Polyphonic Chansons.” in Studies in Musicology in Honor o f Otto E
Albrecht: A Collection ofEssays by His Colleagues and Former Students at the University o f Pennsylvania.
ed. John Walter Hill (Kassel: Barenreiter); and Christian Berger (1992). Hexachord, Mensur und
Textstruktur: Studien zum franzdsischen Lied des 14. Jahrhunderts. Beihcfte zum Archiv fur
Musikwissenschaft 35 (Stuttgart: Steiner).

31
Signature-svstems. Chromatic Inflections and Tonal Structure
Peter Lefferts (1995) proposes a theory of tonal types for fourteenth-century
music, an a priori (i.e. pre-compositional) system that can be identified and labeled by
final cantus pitch and the signature-system of the song, and which he suggests might have
been used by composers. For instance, if the cantus o f a song ends on c, and an apparent
b signature appears in the tenor part, the song would be labeled c-b, or if a song ends on d
in the cantus and there seems to be no signature in either voice it would be labeled d-h
Lefferts bases his approach on the studies of Siegfried Hermelink and Harold Powers,
both of whom systematized sixteenth-century sacred polyphony principally by
cataloguing signatures, finals and clefs. But the status of signatures in fourteenth-century
manuscript sources is rather different from that in late sixteenth-century printed sources,
and Lefferts does not discuss the status of signatures in fourteenth-century music.6
Although Leo Schrade’s and Willi Apel’s twentieth-century printed editions, on which
Lefferts relies, give the illusion of systematic flat signatures in the music of Machaut,
signatures are not consistently used in the manuscripts.7
The distinction between a signature and an accidental would seem to be
placement: a signature at the beginning o f a line might appear long before the first
occurrence of the pitch it modifies, while an accidental will appear either immediately
before, or within a few notes o f the pitch it modifies. Certainly a flat which appears at
the beginning o f each line o f a voice part would suggest a signature to modem eyes.
6 Siegfried Hermelink (I960), Disposttiones modorum: die Tonarten in der Musik Palestrinas und seiner
Zeitgenossen (Tutzing: H. Schneider): and Harold Powers (1981). Tonal Types and Modal Categories in
Renaissance Polyphony,” Journal o f American Musicological Society 34:428-470.
7 Lefferts (1995). "Signature Systems”, 131, footnote 24.

32
More often than not, however, the situation in the manuscripts is ambiguous. For
instance, in the three-part Ballade 36, Sepour ce muir qu 'Amours ai bien servi, Bb
sonorities figure prominently, occurring frequently a! the beginning or ends of phrases
and concluding both sections. Every B which appears in the tenor, high or low, has to be
sung Bb, whether notated or not, because of octaves with the contratenor or cantus. If
signatures were used with any kind of consistency in the Machaut manuscripts, they
would/should have been used for this tenor part. None o f the manuscripts, however, uses
consistent signatures for Ballade 36. In MS A, for example, the tenor occupies four lines:
line one has no signature, line 2 has a high bb signature, line 3 has a low Bb signature,
and line 4 has an Eb signature.8 Inconsistencies arise in even the most straightforward
examples o f signature usage. For instance, in the two-voice Ballades 1 and 14 (S'amours
ne fa it par sa grace adoucir and Je ne cuit pas qu 'onques a creature), although abb
signature appears at the beginning of each tenor line in MSS C, A and E, it appears much
less consistently in MSS F-G and B. For Ballade I, a possible signature occurs in only
one of five tenor lines in MS F-G and in two of three tenor lines in MS B, while for
Ballade 14 a possible signature occurs in only one o f four tenor lines in MS F-G and one
of two in MS B. Clearly not all scribes thought about signatures in the same way.
Even when signatures do appear in the manuscripts, they usually are not
consistent between the voices o f an individual song, as Ballades I and 14 demonstrate:
8 A closer examination raises more questions than it answers. The first of the three BPs in line one is
notated, so perhaps it is supposed to be a signature even though it occurs later in the line rather than at the
beginning. A high bP signature seems to appear in the second line, although the first pitch is actually a b so
it might simply be a coincidence, especially since the next high b to appear in that line has a P notated again
for it. which should not be necessary if a signature is really in force. The third line has a low Bp signature,
but again it might be an accidental rather than a signature since the second note is a low B and another P
appears later on in the line for the third low B. Line four has an apparent EP signature, but the only E in the
short line is the fourth note, so again, it may not be a signature but rather an accidental.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e cop y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n prohibited w ith o u t p e rm is s io n .

33
the b signature in MSS C, A and E appears only in the tenor, not in the cantus.9 This
discrepancy between voices in terms of signature raises a serious issue for Lefferts’ tonal
types, because often the final and the signature are taken from different voices, the final
always from the cantus, and the signature usually from the tenor. His distinctions
between tonal types are based on what appear to be regular inflections in one voice, a
conflict which he claims his signature categories describe:
Mapped against these signature-systems, the signatures of cantus and tenor are
often conflicting, and if so, usually the upper voice has one flat less or one sharp
more than the lower voice.10
Lefferts characterizes the signature-systems as overlapping hexachord systems in which
upper and lower voices share two of three hexachords each, with the lower voice
extending one hexachord flatward of the upper voice, and the upper voice extending one
hexachord sharpward of the lower voice (see EX. 2-1, after Lefferts).11
The implication o f Lefferts’ proposed theory is that a signature will remain stable
throughout a song, and that within a certain signature category the voices will reflect the
signature in a similar way, with the lower voices generally flatter than the upper voices.
Inflections, however, can and do appear in all voices, regardless o f the inflections or
signatures found in one voice or another. Take for example, the four Machaut songs in
9 “Partial” or “conflicting” signatures have received much attention. See especially E. E. Lowinsky (194S),
“The Function of Conflicting Signatures in Early Polyphonic Music.” The Musical Quarterly 31: 227-60.
R, H. Hoppin (1953), “Partial signatures and Musica Ficta in some Early lS^-Century Sources.” Journal o f
the American Musicological Society 6: 197-215: and W. Apel (1938 and 1939). “The Partial Signatures in
the Sources up to 1450,” Acta Musicologica 10: 1-13 and 11: 40-42.
10 Lefferts (1995), “Signature Systems”, 126.
11 The idea of overlapping hexachord systems comes from Andrew Hughes (1972) and Margaret Bent
(1972), although Lefferts takes it much further and offers it as theoretical explanation rather than the
practical application for interpolating inflections that Hughes and Bent propose. Hughes (1972). Manuscript
Accidentals: Ficta in Focus 1350-1450, Musicological Studies and Documents 27 ([Rome|: American Institute
of Musicology). 46-48 especially: and Bent (1972), “Musica Recta and Musica Ficta.” Musica Disciplina 26:
98-99 especially.

34
Example 2-1 Lefferts’ example 6 “The signature-systems as hexachord systems” 12
Signature-system Overlapping hexachord recta ficta

systems
(soft + natural +• hard)
Bb F C Eb/E B
Eb Bb F Ab/A E
F C G Bb/B F#
Bb F C Eb/E B
C G D F/F# C#
F C G Bb/B F#
G D A C/C# G#
C G D F/F# C#
Lefferts c-b category. Ballade 2, Helas! tant ay doleur et peinne, is the only one to
resemble Lefferts’ scheme, although no signature appears in any line o f either voice (see
EX. 2-2). Notated bbs appear twice in the tenor and b*i once while f# occurs three times
in the cantus.13
Example 2-2 Notated chromatic inflections in Ballade 2 according to MS A
Voice Bb Bb Eb Eb F« Cf
Cantus 3
Tenor 2 1
The other three songs in Lefferts’ c-b category (in EX.2-3), however, do not at all reflect
this kind o f distribution o f chromatic inflections between the voices. For instance, in
Ballade 22, II m ’est avis qu 7/ n 'est dons de Mature, although bb is more frequent in the
lower voices, no sigttalure is found in any voice in any manuscript, and the sole eb in the
song appears in an upper voice, the cantus. F#s (high and low) and c#s appear in lower
12 Lefferts (1995). "Signature Systems”. 130.
13 Contrary to Schrade’s edition (pp.70-71) no tenor signature appears in MS A.

35
as well as upper voices. In Rondeau 9, Tant doucement me sens emprisonnes, both an
upper and lower voice (the tenor and cantus) have bbs and both an upper and a lower
voice (the triplum and tenor) have F#s (f# and F# respectively). In the two-voice Ballade
27, Une vipere en ctier ma dame maint, bb appears once in each of the tenor and cantus
parts, not in the tenor alone, and the only notated F# in the song occurs not in the cantus,
but in the tenor. From these four songs, grouped together by Lefferts, it cannot be
generalized that lower voices are flatter than upper voices, or that shared signatures
constrain chromatic content, which brings me to question to what extent the four songs
constitute a "type’ aside from their cantus endings on c.
Example 2-3 Notated chromatic inflections in Ballades 22 and 27 and Rondeau 9;

inflections according to MS A
Ballade 22:
Voice Bt> BP Eb Ed FS C#
Triplum 2
Cantus 1 I I I
Contiatcnor 2 I 3 1
Tenor I 4 2
Ballade 27: ?b signature in 1 o f 2 lines of the ten

Voice Bb B4 Et> EP F* C#
Cantus 1 3
Tenor 1 1 I
Rondeau 9: )b signature in 1 of 3 lines of the car

Voice Bb BP Eb EP FI C#
Triplum 2
Cantus 2 3
Contratenor 2
Tenor I 2
Lefferts’ theory is attractive because it is so systematic. By extrapolating
theoretical $ and # signatures from the b signatures which do sometimes appear in the
literature, and associating all o f them with cantus finals, Lefferts offers an a priori system

36
(i.e. a pre-compositional framework for composers) akin to tonal key signatures.
Signatures, however, even in conjunction with final cantus pitches, do not predict what
the chromatic content of a song will be or how inflected pitches relate to tonal structure.
Rather than describing pitch behavior in other voices, on the few occasions when a
signature does occur consistently in a voice part in a given song, the purpose of the
signature is to provide performance information to the singer of that specific voice part
about how to sing that specific pitch.14
Bb (and Ebl as Part of Pitch Spectrum
Although, as I will argue, chromatic inflections of all available types in the
fourteenth century can arise as tendency pitches either contrapuntally or melodically, not
all inflections are treated equally. Scholars have widely acknowledged that in relation to
other notated inflections bb has a special designation as a member of the medieval
Gamut, and it is described as a recta pitch rather than fic ta 15 Indeed, often bb (and Bb,
also justified as a Gamut pitch by the Berkeley anonymous) is handled differently from
other notated inflections, most obviously in its use as a final cantus and tenor pitch in a
14 Hughes (1972). Manuscript Accidentals, and Bent (1972), "Musica Recta and Musica Ficta.” have
posited that a b can signal a hexachord beginning on Bb, which would make Eb a recta pitch in the lower
voice, 46-48 in Hughes and 98-99 in Bent Cross (1990) argues eloquently. “All the information we have
indicates that flats were not to be understood as fixed, or even to imply their own duplication at the octave
(as modem accidentals do), much less at the fifth or fourth. Such species duplication can only have a
musical not a systematic cause,” Cross (1990) ."Chromatic Alteration.” 130.
>s Andrew Hughes (1972), Manuscript Accidentals, 41-52 especially, and Margaret Bent (1972). "Musica
Recta.” 73-100.

37
number o f secular songs by Machaut and other composers in the fourteenth century.16
Sometimes Bbs (bb or Bb) simply form part of the pitch spectrum.
Many scholars have grappled with this phenomenon and have dealt with it in a
variety o f ways. Schrade and Ludwig use Bb (and Eb) signatures in their editions, Bent
and Hughes describe hexachord signatures and refer to transposition of the Gamut,
Leech-Wilkinson describes hexachordal shifts which are used as “a temporary darkening
of the harmonic field,” Plumley transposes the Gamut “twice flatward”, and she and
Lefferts use flat signatures (among others) to designate various tonal types.17 Ultimately,
whether or not transposition o f the Gamut or signatures or hexachords are invoked, all of
these writers are trying to account for the same thing: in some songs Bbs play a central
role as part o f the pitch spectrum, quite aside from their role as tendency pitches, or
pitches which affect tonal ‘shading’.
Often the notation o f Bb follows the exhortations o f some theorists (usually
writing about plainchant) to sing Bb when descending or when ascending from F to B,
16 Machaut’s Rondeau 1 and Ballades 3,8.11.16, 19,25, 36, and 42/RF5. According to Lefferts (1995)
also Ballades 34,89. 105. 107.110.126. 133.141. 164. Virclais 1% and 297. and Rondeau 70 from WiUi
Apel. ed.. (1970-72). French Secular Compositions. texts edited by Samuel N. Rosenberg. 3 volumes.
Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae 53 ([Rome|: American Institute of Musicology’): as well as Virelai 85 and
Rondeau 58, from Gordan Greene, ed. ( 1989), French Secular Music: Rondeaux and Miscellaneous Pieces.
Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century 22 (Les Ramparts. Monaco: Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre); and
Ballade 77. from Gordan Greene, ed. (1982), French Secular Music: Manuscript Chantilly. Afusee Conde 564.
2 vols. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century 19 (Les Ramparts. Monaco: Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre).
17 Hughes (1972), Manuscript Accidentals. 41-52; Leech-Wilkinson (1984). "Machaut’s Rose, lis and lire
Problem of Early Music Analysis.” Music Analysis 3:18; Plumley (1996) The Grammar o f 14* Century
Melody. 8-9 especially; and Lefferts (1995). "Signature Systems.” In "Musica Recta.” Bent (1972) writes.
"If bbs can be freely applied to a part without a signature, what significance can a bb signature have?” 98.

38
and to sing Bb when ascending through B to C.18 Sometimes this usage occurs in a
functional situation (as part of a directed progression i.e. Bb is indicated when
approaching C and Bb when approaching A), while other times it occurs more in a
melodic context (i.e. not as part o f the counterpoint). If melodic rules, however, were so
fixed that the choice o f Bb or Bb was solely dependent on melodic direction, it would
never be necessary to notate either sign (and our interpretive job would be much
simpler!). Some signed Bbs in the repertory do in fact rise to C (and some signed Bbs do
descend to A), a clear indication that the Bb (or Bb) is not being used as a tendency pitch
but rather as a member o f the available pitch spectrum. This usage is most prominent in
songs in which perfect Bb sonorities play a pivotal role in the structure, such as Ballade
36, Se pour ce muir qu 'Amours ai bien servi (see the cantus mm. 1-2 and the tenor m.4 of
EX. 2-4).
Example 2-4 Ballade 36, mm. 1-5
Cantus 5
f-..- ■
® Sc pour ce mutr cttfA - m cun

C ontntcn or
— ^ -------------f - — r -----------------
-jr... .. ... --------- L -------------
■\—
—
V
--------------------- -1-------- 1— F - J ------- -— -------- t q -------------- f—
Tenor b b
y -\ - a— n - \>m. *•- -....... 1------- - t 1 — ' ~ r ------------------------------

: ---------------- V—4 - r r r
18 For example, in the first treatise of the Berkeley Manuscript, the author writes:".. .note that whenever
one ascends from (or from below) F-fa-ut to b-fa-S-mi, indirectly or directly, or when one descends to F-fa-
ut before ascending to C-sol-fa-ut, he ought to sing fa on b-fa-S-mi (by b)...” [Pro quo nota quod
quandocumque ab vel de sub F-fa-ut asccnditur usque ad b-fa-S-mi mediate vel immediate, et iterum
descenditur usque ad F-fa-ut priusquam asccndatur ad C-sol-fa-ut. debet cantari fa in b-fa-s-mi per b... |.
Oliver B. Ellsworth, ed. and trans. (1984). The Berkeley Manuscript, Greek and Latin Music Theory, vol.2
(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press). 44-45.

39
Ballade 15, Se je me pleing, je n ’en puis mais, which ends on a C sonority and is
saturated with Bbs and Ebs, presents an extreme example (see the tenor in mm.29-30 and
the cantus in m.34 o f EX. 2-5).
Example 2-5 Ballade 15, mm.29-35
30 |--------------1
s£ = g -— - - H r — — ■— - f l - f --- m--- m~L—■ m — o-----------

* — i— -------
i------1
- i p b T - i
* Car. quant
Tenor
-- 1 --—1
~V i ' N — 1------------ --- , — .
- J — *— d -W ------------- J —
^ 5 —St*----------- - i ----------- —
At the other end o f the spectrum, particularly striking instances of a non-tendency use of
Bb can occur in songs where Bb does not play a structural role at all, as for example in
the opening phrase o f Ballade 28, Je puis trop bien ma dame comparer, in EX. 2-6.
Example 2-6 Ballade 28, opening phrase
f r — p~r p f m p . j ' i J— -----------------------------------

— I— !— I— - j ---------
i : ■■ / r - i --------------
* Je puts trop bien
S V
m---------------------------- m
~--------------------- - > --------------c----- 1-------------Sj—
—
T f - r
f ~ '~ * ' * --------------------
. Tenor 1 i
—i............
f e -------j d - tJ. L ■_ o’
Moving away from a unison a with the tenor, the contratenor stops momentarily on a very
dissonant bb between the consonant a/e fifth o f the tenor and cantus. Since the
bb continues up to c, it does not serve the functional purpose of increasing the tendency
to a. We might first hear it as an early suggestion (or foreshadowing) of bb playing a
structural role in the song, but in fact it is the only Bb notated at any pitch level in any
voice in the entire song. As an available pitch in the Gamut, it is used here for aural

40
prominence, a device all the more effective with each repetition of the A section of the
song because o f its singular use.
Notated Ebs, like notated Bbs, in addition to their tendency role, sometimes can
form part o f the pitch spectrum. This usage is most easily identified by melodic
approaches to F (see for example the tenor in m.31 of EX. 2-5 above), or by the use of
perfect sonorities on Eb.19 Ballade 8, De desconfort de martyre amoureus, which ends on
a Bb sonority, similarly uses Eb as part of the pitch spectrum in the tenor, ending the first
phrase o f the B section on an Eb/bb fifth (EX. 2-7).
Example 2-7 Ballade 8 De desconfort de martyre amoureus; mm.25-30
Cantus ■a b
J L zJ » . — - —
-t 1
--------- - j —
---- 7 0 ,0 J mm-d—
* — 70 * — i - ■ -
— # -------------------------
^ T H --------------1— 1 f # --------------
« Wis et ge - uns <fa * mou- reu«se pa - stu re
Tenor
1 “
------- " W » v ----------------------
9 -
/
t
B* ...
" J m tf f 9' '
- i—)-------------------- “+ f 5-------------------- “
— =—
# M =
Eb, in fact, is most prevalent in songs which end on a Bb sonority. O f the ten songs
which do not end on a Bb sonority but use Eb, five use the inflection only once or twice
for contrapuntal purposes (Ballades 4, 12, and 22, and Rondeaux 3 and 8), while the other
five, all o f which end on a C sonority, have a strong Eb presence (Ballades 15, 18, 31,
and 41/RF4, and Rondeau 10). Leech-Wilkinson brings one of these songs (Rondeau 10,
Rose, lis printemps verdure) to our attention, as an especially lovely example o f a
Machaut song that partially incorporates both Bb and Eb as fundamental elements of its
19 A feature that is particular to the pitches Bfc>and Ep; rarely will an FS or CS do the reverse i.e. descend to
E and B respectively. Ballade 9 mm.4-5 and 58-59 offers an exception to this observation (FS descends to
E both times), and Rondeau 2. m.26.

41
pitch spectrum; the sections of the song which use Eb and Bb figure all the more
prominently because o f their juxtaposition with Eb and Bb sections (see a transcription of
the whole song on the following two pages, EX. 2-9)20
In addition to its role as a fundamental element o f the pitch spectrum, however,
Eb also serves a functional, contrapuntal role in Rose, lis, priniemps verdure, in terms of
the larger tonal structure of the song, where D sonorities and C sonorities mark points of
arrival (indicated in EX. 2-9 with arrows), signed Ebs increase the tendency to D, while
signed Bbs increase the tendency to C. Twice, tenor Ebs first are introduced into the
pitch spectrum of the song, fleshed out with cantus octave and contratenor/triplum fifth
and third, and then become functional a few notes later when the cantus forms an Eb/c
sixth, and the new sonority initiates a directed progression cadentially to a D octave (EX.
2 - 8 ).
Example 2-8 Reductions of mm. 14-17 and mm.22-2S

14 17
This dual role of Eb in Rose, lis, printemps verdure confirms that the only way to judge
how chromatic inflections relate to the construction of tonal structure is to examine
precisely their usage in particular situations. The presence or absence of a signature does
not in itself determine how inflections will function in a given piece, or what the
relationship is to tonal structure. The rest of the chapter will turn to two general ways,
contrapuntal and melodic, in which I propose chromatic inflections are used as tendency
pitches to contribute directly to the creation o f tonal structure for the listener.
20 Leech-Wilkinson (1984). "Machaut's Rose, lis." especially 18.

42
Example 2-9 Rondeau 10 Rose, lis, priniemps verdure 21

Triplum
ko - ie,
r nr
Et to us
Et quant
Contratcnor
13
- o '-
M # V t = e t » rj bau -
vez
mon
(T)
21 Triplum rhythms according to Richard Hoppin (1960), “Notational Licences of Guillaume de Machaut,"
Musica disciplina 14: 22.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n prohibited w ith o u t p e rm is s io n .

43
19 __________
i 1 r
»• :
r Pr 9 &
£ D lt r g r r.rr rr Cr gp•-4 ^ °
et ires dJuce o
dont jc vous
ire
a
va
U S- XB3-
O' £
rr
i .
a
r\
dour.
Bien puis
rs
o*
pas en 1 d o u cour.
dire par hotv

44
Chromatic Inflections and Contrapuntal Usa2e
Sarah Fuller has argued convincingly that the directed progression—contrapuntal
motion from tension to resolution, or from imperfect concord to perfect—is an essential

'2 '?
part of harmonic syntax in fourteenth-century music. She stipulates that conjunct
motion from imperfect intervals or sonorities to perfect that deviates from the normative
minor third to unison, major third to fifth, and major sixth to octave, “may still be
perceived as, and function as, ‘directed,’ but with attenuated effect.”23 In other words,
semitone motion in one voice is not absolutely necessary to the progression, but it
certainly strengthens it.24 In contrapuntal terms, chromatic inflections increase the
tendency o f imperfect intervals, which invoke strong expectations of linear semitone
movement and directed progressions, and contribute to the definition of tonal centers
" Sarah Fuller (1986), “On Sonority in Fouriccnth-Centuiy Polyphony: Some Preliminary Reflections,”
Journal o f Music Theory 30: 35-70; and Fuller (1992), ‘Tendencies and Resolutions: The directed
progression in Ars Nova music,” Journal o f Music Theory 36: 229-58.
23 Fuller (1992). “Tendencies and Resolutions.” 232.
24 Lucy Cross (1990), Margaret Bent (1998), Elizabeth Eva Leach (1999), advocate that all thirds and
sixths which are Followed by fifths or octaves should be adjusted chromatically to create semitone motion,
whether or not semitone motion appears notationally in one of the voices. Although I agree that inflections
sometimes must be interpolated. I do not support a “default” position in which all uninflected imperfect
sonorities are systematically adjusted. See chapter three, p.77 ff for further discussion of my position
which follows that advocated by Klaus-Jurgen Sachs (1974 and 1984). Lucy Cross (1990), “Chromatic
Alteration,” see, for example, p.99 and 189; Margaret Bent (1998), “The Grammar of Early Music:
Preconditions for Analysis,” Tonal Structures in Early Music, edited by Cristle Collins Judd (New York
and London: Garland Publishing, Inc.), 15-59; Elizabeth Eva Leach (1999), review o f Chromatic Beauty in
the Late Medieval Chanson: an Interpretation o f Manuscript Accidentals, by Thomas Brothers (Cambridge
University Press. 1997). in Music and Letters 80/2: 274-281. see especially 279-281: Klaus-Jurgen Sachs
(1974), Der Contrapunctus im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert: Untersuchungen zum Terminus, zur Lehre und zu den
Ouellen, Beihefte zum Archiv fur Musikwisscnschafl 13 (Wiesbaden: Steiner), see especially 103-110: and
Sachs (1984), “Die Contrapunctus-Lehre im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert.” in Die mittelalterliche Lehre von der
Mehrstimmigkeit. edited by F. Zaminer, Geschichte der Musiktheorie 5 (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche
Buchgesellschaft). 161-256 (see especially 199-205).

45
within a song.25
Directed progressions are most obviously associated with cadential situations, and
I will discuss that role in detail in the next chapter on cadences. Progressions of
imperfect sonorities to perfect sonorities, however, follow one after another in surface
and structure within individual songs in the fourteenth-century repertory. Since the
contrapuntal fabric o f the music is riddled with directed progressions, the only way to
decide which are important in the delineation of tonal structure is to turn to other musical
elements such as rhythm, mensural placement, and the relationship between directed
progressions and the grammatical parsing of textual units. Few scholars, if any, would
dispute that points o f caesura in the texts and line endings which correspond with musical
arrivals help to define tonal structure (a topic that I will pursue in chapter three), but most
would overlook the initial sonorities of textual units. Yet in fourteenth-century secular
music, the initial sonorities of larger musical sections stand out aurally and structurally,
as points o f reference, most significantly because they mark the beginning of large
segments o f the text. I would argue further that the initial sonorities o f all textual-
musical phrases are key places for important sonorities to surface. The placement o f an
imperfect sonority in the initial position of a phrase or a section of a piece has a
particularly strong impact on the perception of tonal structure. An even more striking
device is to position an inflected imperfect sonority at the beginning of a textual-musical
unit. When used to initiate a phrase or song, the inflected imperfect sonority through its
increased instability immediately creates forward momentum quite unlike a perfect
25 Lucy Cross might disagree: "Naturally it will happen that at most pauses, cadences or stops in polyphony
there are penultimate sharps, since a stop requires a fifth, octave, or unison, and the rules of counterpoint
demand the alteration. But sharps and flats in themselves do not function, as they do in later tonal music,
as the determinants of focal pitches,” Cross (1990), "Chromatic Alteration.” 189.

46
sonority in the same position. The initial inflected imperfect sonority may participate in
an immediate directed progression, or in a delayed or prolonged directed progression, or,
although it suggests a directed progression, it may instead initiate a sequence of thirds or
sixths which eventually results in a directed progression, but not the one the initial
inflected sonority suggested.26 Often, because o f its aural effectiveness, the initial
inflected sonority plays an important role in the definition of tonal structure.
Inflected initial sonorities are most likely to occur at the beginning of internal
phrases in a song, although they do on occasion serve as the initial sonority of a song.27
Ballade 13, Esperance qui m 'asseure, twice employs inflected initial sonorities, both of
which implicate G sonority resolutions, important to the structure o f the song. The final
musical phrase (but not textual phrase) of the first half of the song begins with an Ff/aa
tenth (m. 11), and the refrain phrase in the second half begins with an a/f# sixth in m.33
(see EX.2-10). It is not insignificant that both are introduced by a four-minim figure in
the tenor, and both resolve to a G/g octave, the first as a delayed resolution, the second as
an immediate resolution.
26 Initial inflected sonorities (either at the beginning of a song or for an internal phrase) can be found in:
Ballades 1, 7 ,8 . 12, 13, 14. 15. 20.21. 22,26. 29. 30. 31, 33. 38.4I/RF4
Rondeaux 1.5 .8 . 12. 13
Virelais 2, 12. 25/28,26/29.27/30.29/32,32/38
~ For a discussion of the tonal effect of such usage at the beginning of a piece, see Fuller’s (1992)
discussion of Motet 11, Dame je sui cilz / Fins cuers doulz / Fins cuers doulz. and Rondeau 1. Dous viaire
gracieus. in “Tendencies and Resolutions,” 243-244.

47
... 28
Example 2-10 Ballade 13 Esperance qui m 'asseiire
> I
m
C jn iu s
r i
Es - pc ran - qui m 'as- sc -
Dous pen ser. de nour- n -
a
Tenor
ti : w— "■ m
i— p i
r ^ -a £ F ^ c £ r --r ^ --r f r /g ai
re. Joi - e sans P«. vie
re, Tres bon e- ur. plat
¥ f
r= W -g-
s
-o o /•
IT S S3*
- ■oUVERT CLOS
Pvcrcr-ffrr~rgB weil.
-O^
cued
=n* a
£
T T
3 = :n r H i
28 The cantus rhythm is emended in mm. 11-14 according to Wulf Arlt (1982). ‘Aspekte der Chronologie
und des Stilwandels im franzdsischen Lied des 14. Jahrhunderts ” in Aktuelle Fragen der musikbezogenen
Mittelalterforschung: Texte zu einem Basler Kolloquium desJahres 1975. Forum Musicologicum: Basler
Beitrage zur Musikgeschichte 3 (Winterthur Amadeus): 246.

48
meini grant bien re - cuetl.
Q
<y
27
t
3C
Quant A m'a tant chi
) m l
<y
Q ue j' atm me ten
O
o

49
In Esperance qui m 'asseiire, the pitch G functions as a primary referential pitch in
the tenor throughout the song, while the cantus emphasizes both d and g throughout,
supported below by the tenor referential G. The opening phrase sets the parameters for
the G/d sonority : beginning on a d unison, the declamation of the first word “Esperance”
involves a directed progression to a G/d fifth immediately followed by a directed
progression to a/e. The melodic c# which presumably continues throughout m.3 during
the bb/d to a/e progression suggests the privileging of d, even as the immediate
contrapuntal progression emphasizes a/e.29 Although the cantus emphasizes g twice as
the upper limit o f its range in the first ten measures, the G/g octave is first implicated
with the long-held F#/aa tenth, which begins the phrase “vie a mon weil,” in m. 11. The
inflected sonority, however, does not get an immediate or fully satisfactory resolution.
The F# in the tenor initiates a circling around G which is not supported in the cantus until
the minim G/g octave resolution in m.13, which occurs mid-syllable.
The G/g octave receives further emphasis in the second half o f the song, at the
perfect-sonority cadence that ends the first textual phrase “Et meint autre grant bien
29 Andrew Hughes (1972) in Manuscript Accidentals, argues against the continued effect of inflections.
Hughes makes a case for the “once-only” effect o f inflections (as opposed to signatures), claiming that: (1)
our assumptions about the lastingness of inflections is anachronistic, based on eighteenth- and nineteenth-
century usage (p.70); and (2) in most cases where it appears that an inflection has a lasting effect, the
continued effect can be explained by rules causa necessitatis (unnotated inflections required to make
imperfect fifths and octaves perfect) and pulchritudinis (unnotated inflections required to adjust sixths and
thirds in their approaches to octaves, fifths and unisons) (p.69). I would argue that: ( I) Hughes’ idea of a
very clear system in which signatures provide recta pitches with occasional inflections having a once-only
ficta effect much more closely resembles eighteenth- and nineteenth-century usage than the conclusion that
inflections are used loosely and inconsistently and their lastingness can really only be judged by context:
and (2) the argument that apparent lasting effect can be explained by rules causa necessitatis and
pulchritudinis cannot be valid if we consider, which I think we must, that monophonic and polyphonic
secular traditions are integrally connected. In specific terms, inflections are as freely used in Machaut’s
monophonic repertory as they are in his polyphonic repertory, and sometimes inflections appear to be
lasting but their lastingness cannot be explained by the rules associated with polyphony, i.e. the adjustment
o f thirds and sixths to be closer to the perfect intervals which follow, or the perfection of imperfect
intervals.

50
recueil” in a directed progression (likely inflected although unmarked; melodically it
would be clear to any singer that this is a cadential moment).30 But it is the long-held
a/f# sixth that initiates the refrain phrase, which firmly implicates a G sonority and
emphatically focuses the ear on its G/g octave resolution in m.34. Following the a/e fifth
of the pre-refrain cadence with the linking four-minim motive, the inflected imperfect
sonority that begins the refrain provides impetus for the phrase through its initial
instability. It offers one last pointed reminder of the G/g octave, and plays an important
role in the tonal structuring o f the song.
Not all initial inflected sonorities resolve conclusively, but they still provide
impetus for the phrase, creating anticipation and expectation in the listener even if those
expectations are ultimately unfulfilled or redirected. Sometimes an inflected sonority
will initiate a string o f inflected, or at least imperfect sonorities at the beginning of a
phrase. The second section of Ballade 12, Pour ce que tous mes chans fais, begins in just
this manner. With no inflections appearing in the first half o f the ballade, the Bb/d tenth
which opens the second half stands out aurally. According to contrapuntal grammar the
listener might expect the major tenth to resolve outward to an A/E perfect twelfth (EX. 2-
1 1 ).
Example 2-11 Expected resolution of Bb/D
10 • 12
30 Quite possibly the cadential G octave is further emphasized by an inflected initial sonority in m. 19.
Although no inflection is marked in the manuscripts for the F of m. 19, a singer might inflect it because of
similarities to m. 11 (the tenor and cantus begin with an F/aa tenth, and the tenor rises by step from F to a in
a similar rhythm).

51
Rather than an A/e twelfth, however, a C/eb minor tenth follows instead, which
momentarily resolves to a D/d octave before the phrase ends on a D/bb sixth, an
imperfect sonority cadence. Despite the momentary D octave, the whole of the first
phrase remains unstable and tension-filled (see EX. 2-12). In the following phrase the
initial c o f the cantus potentially bridges the two phrases by offering a resolution to the
unstable bb of the cantus, but the tenor Eb arrives first and undermines any sense of a
bridge. The resultant Eb/c sixth initiates a second phrase with an inflected sonority,
which twice accentuates a D/d octave before concluding with an Eb/G third, another
inflected, imperfect sonority cadence.
Both the inflected initial sonorities and inflected cadential sonorities of these two
unstable phrases contribute to the larger delineation of tonal structure in the song, through
the interplay between D and F sonorities. Since the first phrase of the song ends on a
C/G fifth (m.4), and a D/C ouvert/clos relationship is fairly common (a procedure used in
ten ballades), when the ouvert ends on a D sonority, the listener is led to expect a clos
cadence on C. The clos o f Ballade 12, however, does not comply and instead cadences
on an F unison. As already discussed, the Bb/d tenth which opens the second section
(m. 12) initiates another unresolved expectation; rather than resolving to an A/e twelfth, it
moves through another inflected sonority and rests on the D/bb sixth, which again leads
us to expect a C sonority. As already illustrated, the following phrase obviates the
expected C sonority, and instead emphasizes D, but ends on an E/G third, this time
leading us to expect a unison F. When the phrase “Pour ma dame au doulz accueil”
begins with the unison F (along with a repetition o f the opening tenor melody in the
cantus), offering a contrapuntal bridge rather than a true resolution, for the first time in

52
the song the listener’s expectations are at least partially fulfilled. It is significant that it is
an F sonority that finally follows its tendency interval, and not the earlier expected C
sonority, since ultimately it is an F unison that will end the song.
Example 2-12 Ballade 12 Pour ce que tous mes chans fa is
Cant us
Pour
J. " J* -J ce
El ■P0^.
Tenor
3
m m
que tous mes chans fats
ce que ne chant mats
r
4
O- =
De do
» r ^ r g r A t - P££T
Re - - pns
m£
£
I QUVERT
il - - j . J ,_. . j JJ .J J l .J1} J ^ p |» p i J-^ l

reus sen - te*
de mein - te
1— 1
S t
^ - r - t
I CLOS
h f a — 1 .'I— 1 1 =■=■
& ■ pr "■ - ’
1 p r F —* . o- 6'_ -
® ment
- - - -r ,1- --. [■=*----

1 1---- v_ - - g e n t _____
-*¥'------------------- w*--------------- o - ----------------- *t^r =- - - - -,— ^ »•—^

|r —
|j
|y r :
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n prohib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

53
. t
A — f — f- — ^
1-------------- 1------------- 1—
—
■—
1P
- / i
H -r,. > . P
rzrr-jzz /} v^=1 9WPmP
« Mats qui vtai - c - ment sa • roit 7c que mes
r --------------------- ----- - — i i------------ "1 r i

10
£
f
P m m J ) --------------
f)| » — -------------
— hs*- A J —
r f— f
■m- p .- P P mm.m
p rr,
” las cucr re - coil Pour ma dame au doulz
"i —p 1---- „■-i - - - - - - - - --- 1 * 1
- F ------------- ----- --------------------------

■ 1
-----------
!*-. r . — r
^ ---- 1
= b =
18-
-y*=—=*^r
3E £ £
p
cueiL Ja ne me bias- me
i f
P
26
J- j* .J- .Jj3 J .J) o»^ JrT^>‘—-p‘- O- jj 3E

chant mats que sueil
—I
n« p•
-• oA * n *. 'o- o «%•
-
m
T T
The interplay between D and F sonorities recurs in the last three phrases: “Pour
ma dame au doulz accueil”, which begins with the F unison in m. 16, ends on a D/a fifth
in m. 18, while “Jamais ne me blasmeroit” begins in m. 19 with a C octave and cadences
on an E/G third in m.21, again providing an expectation of F. A melodic bridge links the
E/G third to the refrain phrase, which is otherwise set apart from the rest o f the song with
its syllabic setting and long rhythmic units, and which begins in m.22 with a D/a fifth
rather than the expected F. The D/a fifth, prolonged through a G/bb to D/a directed

54
progression, moves through an imperfect F/a third to the E/G which ended the last phrase
and finally cadences fully to a unison F. Although the Bb/d tenth which opens the second
half does not relate directly to cadential goals and tonal centers o f this section o f the
piece, by its position following the clos cadence and its function as a tendency interval, it
contributes significantly to the layering of expectation and diverted resolution that shapes
the tonal structure o f the song.
Since it is much less usual to use an inflected sonority at the beginning of a song
than at the beginning of an internal phrase, the doubly-inflected sonority with which
Rondeau 1, Dous viaire gracieus, begins cannot fail to strike even the modem ear, and
capture the “sweetness” o f the text it sets (EX. 2-13).31 The F#/a/c# sonority does not
resolve immediately but rather guides the entire first phrase. Doulz viaire gracieus,
somewhat condensed in relation to other rondeaux by Machaut, lacks any
characteristically long, drawn-out melismas and the first phrase in fact comprises the
whole of the A section o f the rondeau.
31 Numerous debates have arisen about the connection between medieval texts and their musical settings,
with John Stevens taking perhaps the most extreme (and contentious) position in his claim that medieval
music is about number relationships, not textual relationships. Wimsalt (1991) uses Deschamps’ Art de
dictier (1392) distinction between “natural music” (poetry) and “artificial music” (notated music) to further
support Stevens’ argument specifically in relation to the music of Machaut. Several other authors, however,
have found evidence to the contrary in specific Machaut works, notably Ddmling (1972). and Bent (1991).
Moreover. Machaut provides us with (at least) one self-conscious attempt to establish direct meaning
between music and text in his literal, palindromic musical rendering of the rondeau text “Ma fin est mon
commencement [My end is my beginning!” The difficulty in trying to establish less obvious associations
than the “Ma fin est mon commencement” example between text and music (beyond the syntactic parsing
of the text and its relationship to the syntactic parsing of the music), is the problem of discerning when a
structural or melodic event is a general stylistic feature of the music and when it has specific implications
for the definition of textual meaning. John Stevens (1986). Words and Music in the Middle Ages: Song,
Narrative, Dance and Drama, 1050-1350. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). James I. WimsatL
“Chaucer and Deschamps’ ‘Natural Music'.” in The Union o f Words and Music in Medieval Poetry, edited
by Rebecca A. Baltzer, Thomas Cable, and James I. Wimsatt (Austin: University of Texas Press. 1991):
132-150. Wolfgang Ddmling. “Aspekte der Sprachvertonung in den Balladen Guillaume de Machauts.” Die
Musikforschung 25 (1972): 301-307; Margaret Bent “Deception. Exegesis and Sounding Number in
Machaut’s Motet 15,” Early Afusic History 10(1991): 15-27.

55
Example 2-13 First phrase of Rondeau 1 Dous viaire gracieus32
Tnplum
f r... .
C antus
^ J jj JJ £
Dous at - re gra - ct cus,
Weil lies rnoy es tre pi leus.
Tenor SC
T je sut un po hon teus,
,
r i ITS
-u
-«r-
dfe:
P •«
P -ot>
The tenor/cantus F#/a at the beginning suggests a resolution to a unison G, and the
cantus/triplum a/c# suggests a resolution to a G/d fifth, all o f which would result in a
G/G/d fifth, a sonority which only arrives at the end of the first phrase (see EX.2-14).
Example 2-14 Expected resolution of opening sonority
While the tenor and the triplum as individual voices co-operate with our expectations at
the beginning o f Dous viaire gracieus, the cantus moves up to a bb, creating another
unstable, imperfect, inflected sonority. Although the tenor and cantus exchange voices
and in a directed progression resolve to a unison G at the beginning o f m.3 (with the
triplum doubling the cantus an octave above), the G occurs in the middle of the word
“viaire.” The final syllable o f “viaire” coincides with the beginning of a progression of
32
MS A has only the cantus and tenor voices, while MSS C. Vg and G contain the triplum as well.

three imperfect sonorities, creating more tension and forward momentum until the initial
sonority of the phrase and the song, F#/a/c#, returns in the original voices at the
penultimate syllable o f “gracieus”. In a directed progression it resolves to the expected
G/G/d at the end o f the phrase. The whole o f the first phrase (and the A section of the
rondeau) serves as a prolongation o f the initial inflected sonority, which on a larger level
o f tonal structure decorates and emphasizes the G sonority resolution.
Melodic Usage of Chromatic Inflections
Since contemporary scholars have had a particular interest in “harmonic” syntax,
the topic o f melodic construction in fourteenth-century secular music has received less
consideration in general, with the notable exception of Plumley’s 1996 monograph, and
Leech-Wilkinson’s articles on monophonic virelais.33 Correspondingly, because the
topic of chromatic inflections has involved issues of performance practice which mostly
have focused on contrapuntal requirements (thirds and sixths lying close enough to the
perfect intervals which follow), the melodic usage of chromatic inflections in fourteenth-
century music has received less attention. With the phrase “melodic usage” I mean to
describe those inflections in polyphonic settings which serve a melodic purpose that
appears to lie outside the frame o f the contrapunctus. In contrast to Lucy Cross, who
engagingly documents unusual melodic intervals involving chromatic inflections
(augmented seconds, fourths, sixths etc.), I examine the function o f melodic chromatic
inflections which do not participate directly in the contrapuntal framework, but which
33 Yolanda Plumley (1996). The Grammar o f I-?' Century Melody.: and Daniel Leech-Wilkinson (1991).
"Not Just a Pretty Tune: Structuring Devices in Four Machaut Virelais.” Sonus 12/1: 16-31: and (1996).
"The Well-Formed Virelai.” in Trent’anni di Ricerche Musicologiche: Studi in onore di F. Alberto Gallo.
edited by Patrizia Dalla Vecchia and Donatella Restani (Rome: Edizioni Torre d’Orfeo): 125-141.

57
contribute to the definition o f tonal structure by emphasizing particular pitches.34 These
melodic, chromatic inflections may serve a syntactical function structurally by creating
expectation o f a goal tone through semitone movement, but co,:!rapuntally they do not
have a syntactic purpose. The final cadence of Ballade 32, Plourez, dames, plourez
vostre servant, demonstrates the structural significance o f such inflections (see EX.2-15).
Example 2-15 Final cadence of Ballade 32 Plourez, dames, plourez vostre servant
Cantus
y CTi l f - -E-f Pr Pr*r if £

Contratenor
Ai b» Jw
£ *
Tenor AB AB
□DC
“O----------
I >P
At the final cadence o f Ballade 32, the melodic eft in the cantus—reiterated five times in
mm.44-45—both reminds the listener of the breve-long efts in m.8 of the cantus and m.32
o f the contratenor, and creates the expectation of a cantus d. This implication of d is at
odds with the contratenor b*i (supported by G in the tenor), which suggests a resolution to
either an F/c or C/c sonority.35 The cantus eft which has no place harmonically as a
consonant interval in the penultimate sonority, achieves its d resolution melodically,
while the contratenor bt? which functions harmonically with the G in the tenor (and with
34 Lucy Cross (1990), "Chromatic Alteration.” 211-298.
35 Thicc other Machaut songs end with a G/b third to C/c octave progression between tenor and cantus:
Ballades 22 and 27, and Rondeau 19. The contratenor in both Rondeau 19 and Ballade 22 sing an E below
the G/b third, and forms a fifth in the cadential sonority; in Ballade 22 the triplum doubles the contratenor
an octave above. Ballade 30 uses the same tenor/cantus contrapuntal progression but to a D/d octave
(approached by a/cS), and the contratenor in similar fashion sings an F5 below the a/cS third.

58
both the d and e in the cantus), invites the pitch c which never arrives. Although the c#
stands outside the contrapuntal frame, structurally it implicates the final sonority o f the
song.
Machaut has a predilection for two melodic formulas involving chromatic
inflections, which seem to be specific to the inflection: F# often arises as a decorative
pitch in a particular melodic motive and then becomes part of the counterpoint in a
directed progression; and C#, which sometimes appears as a melodic figure in cadences
or directed progressions to E, signals an ouvert quality to the listener whether or not a
cadence or directed progression to D actually follows later in the piece. For instance, at
the beginning of the B section in Virelai 31/37, Moult sui de bonne heure nee, the cantus
f t first decorates g melodically (not harmonically since the tenor holds a long G), and
then plays a role in two directed progressions, the second of which is also a cadence (see
EX. 2-16). In the melodic context of the shaping of the cantus line, the ft in its emphasis
of g, plays an important role structurally from its first appearance in m.26. But
contrapuntally the ft takes on structural significance only when it becomes part o f a
directed progression in m.27 and then again in m.29, where it also participates in a
perfect-sonority cadence.
Example 2-16 Virelai 31/37 Moult sui de bonne heure nee\ mm.26-29
Cant us
I _ «
r#-f-rrr r
i
ilVtrgff =
Si que bonne A - mour g n- a

Que j'aim la n CUT et c tn
3: c
»■
H -------------- tf= |m
" T t------------
-------- L c r
Te n o r 3 - 5 6 - 8

59
In Ballade 22, II m 'est avis qu ’il n ’est dons de Nature, the pattern appears in the triplum
first as melodic elaboration, and then similarly participates in two directed progressions,
the second o f which is also a cadence (see EX. 2-17).36
Example 2-17 Ballade 2 2 II m 'est avis qu ’il n ’est dons de Nature; mm.33-37
Triplum
Cantus
soil te Ne sott
Tenor
JL
ML.
10— 12
The pitch c# sometimes appears in another common melodic pattern in cadential
situations or directed progressions, participating in an ascending melodic pattern to e.
The c# alerts the listener to the significance of the pitch d, which increases the unstable
quality o f the cadence or directed progression to E/e or a/e.37 One example o f this
phenomenon was described earlier in the discussion of Ballade 13, Esperance qui
m 'asseiire, (see EX. 2-18). In the first phrase of the song c# appears both functionally as
36 Other examples can be found in: Ballade 20 mm.9-10 in the cantus: Ballade 23 m.9 in die triplum:
Ballade 24 mm.26-28 in the cantus: Ballade 31 mm20-21 in the contratenor. and Ballade 34 mm. 19-20 in
Cantus I (in m.33 the pattern returns but this time it ends most likely on ft (to agree with the tenor F) and
no directed progression arises involving ft).
37 In one occurrence of this melodic technique, the cS melodic motive appears in the context of a D/a/d
perfect sonority (embellishing the cantus d) rather than in the context of an F/d or bP/d imperfect sonority
which initiates a directed progression (Ballade 21, mm.6-10).

60
part o f an a/cl third to G/d fifth directed progression, and melodically when it continues
through the bb/d to a/e directed progression. Within the cadence to a/e, the c l confirms
the privileging of d, a significant referential pitch in the structure of the song.38
Example 2-18 Ballade 13 Espercuice qui m ’asseure; mm. 1-4
Cantus i i
m a
t f f - i T O
& - pc qui
_ Dous pen de
„ Tenor _____
•*» : w ^
i— p i
Seemingly an upper voice technique, the c l melodic pattern appears in triplum
voices as well as cantus.39 Not restricted to polyphony, the c l melodic motive also arises
in monophonic contexts. The first phrase of the B section of Virelai 17, Dame, vostre
dous viaire, ends with the motive, which includes a repetition of the last three notes, a
cadential tail (see EX. 2-19). The ouvert phrase which follows immediately concludes
again on e, but the expectation provided by the c l finds resolution in the clos cadence on
d.
Example 2-19 Virelai 17 Dame, vostre dous viaire\ mm. 13-16
-1 »•----
m J ,r
D ane. et fai - re le <*°y. C ar a noy
On qua n'oy. Eins con ptoy
38 The c5 in the ouvert of Ballade 14 similarly begins contrapuntally and then continues melodically
through a directed progression to an a/e fifth. Although primarily associated with c5, one example of this
melodic technique can be found utilizing f* (rising to aa), and similarly starts contrapuntally but becomes
melodic (Ballade 30. mm.30-35; the f! would likely continue to the end of m.33).
1Triplum examples can be found in Ballade 18 mm.6-7 and Rondeau 6 m.2.

61
Thus far I have provided short examples from a broad number of pieces to
demonstrate how chromatic inflections can contribute to the definition of tonal structure
through contrapuntal and melodic means. In a close analysis of Machaut’s Ballade 32
Plourez, dames, plourez vostre servant, I will illustrate how these techniques can function
together in a single song to create tonal structure for the listener. The analysis introduces
some of my ideas about cadences and multiple tonal centers, topics which will be taken
up more fully in the next two chapters.
Ballade 32 Plourez. dames, plourez vostre servant
Plourez, dames, plourez vostre servant was written during Machaut’s “long
illness o f winter 1361/2 to July 1362.” Included in the Voir dit, the poem emits despair;
Machaut himself claims that he thought he would die during the long illness and
describes the song as his “testament,” his will.40 Machaut’s hopelessness and tenuous
hold on life are accentuated through the many inflected, imperfect sonority cadences
which create tension throughout the song. As Sarah Fuller writes, “Ploures, dames
manifests . . . virtuoso manipulation of open T [Tension]-endings and delayed resolutions
that are intimately connected with text syntax and meaning.”41 Although many of
40 As elucidated by Daniel Leech-Wilkinson (1993), "Le Voir Dit and La Messe de Nostre Dame: aspects of
genre and style in late works of Machaut,” Plainsong and Medieval Music 2:1: 46-7. A summary of the
dating of Plourez. dames can be found in Lawrence Earp (1995). Guillaume de Machaut: .4 Guide to
Research (New’ York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc.), 355. For a modem text and translation sec
Guillaume de Machaut (1998). Le Livre dou Voir Dit (The Book o f the True Poem), edited by Daniel
Leech-Wilkinson and translated by R. Barton Palmer (New York and London: Garland Publishing. Inc.):
42-45.
41 Sarah Fuller (1992), “Tendencies and Resolutions: The Directed Progression in Ars Nova Music.”
Journal o f Music Theory 36: 248.

62
Machaut’s songs use imperfect-sonority cadences to create expectation and structure the
song tonally, their prominence in Ballade 32 is extreme.
Resolution in Ballade 32 comes rarely. After beginning with a perfect sonority on
C ,42 Ballade 32 rapidly introduces a straightforward 6/3 - 8/5 directed progression to a
perfect sonority on D at the first caesura in the text “Plourez, dames” (see EX. 2-20). The
notated c# in m.2 o f the cantus quickly alerts the listener to the focal nature of d in the
song. The contratenor, however, rather than sustaining its arrival note in m.3, keeps
moving and decorates its cadential tone, introducing a curious melodic pattern (a bb a),
which it reiterates five more times in the song.43 According to some theoretical sources
and much o f what is found in the music of Machaut and other fourteenth-century
composers, normally a B found between two As would be sung Bb to lead to the A. This
b, however, signals to the singer that the situation is unusual, and is signed very clearly
42 The tenor, in fact, sings a G, a common opening pitch for a tenor in a song that ends on D; here, however,
the G functions as the fifth of the opening C sonority, a fact which Kurt von Fischer uses to establish the
essential nature of the contratenor in French music of the fourteenth century. Kurt von Fischer (1961). “On
the Technique, Origin and Evolution of Italian Trecento Music,” Musical Quarterly 47,41-57. Jehoash
Hirshbcrg rejects Von Fischer’s argument “that the varying number of voices is typical of Italian trecento
music but is ‘unthinkable’ in fourteenth-century French song (p.80).” because it contradicts his successive
composition stand (p.82). Hirshbcrg concedes that there may be two types of ballades with contratenor
(p.84): “ 1. Ballades in which cantus and tenor are conceived as an independent core, with the contratenor
being an optional, added voice. 2. Ballades conceived as three-voice compositions. This is not to imply
that the contratenor still is not added after the cantus and the tenor have been completed, but that the cantus
and the tenor are written with a contratenor in mind.” Jehoash Hirshberg (1971), “The Music of the late
Fourteenth Century: A Study in Musical Style” (Ph.D. Dissertation. University o f Pennsylvania: University
Microfilms, Order no. 7126031).
43 See m.21. mm.23-4, m.26, m.43. and mm.45-6.

63
b^, a pitch which normally leads to c.44 The melodic hinting at the tonal importance of c
and the continuation of movement in the contratenor through its cadential tone, already
undermines the first D sonority resolution.
The second musical phrase, which ends on the rhyme word “servant” in m.8,
concludes with an inflected imperfect-sonority cadence on E/G#/c# approached by
descending semitone motion in all voices. The full breve, sustained, inflected sonority
creates tension through its unresolved state and pushes the ears towards a D/a/d
resolution o f equal weight cadentially later in the song. The initial sonority of phrase
three in m.9 provides a tidy bridge between phrases two and three (the tenor takes up the
cantus c#, the cantus takes up the tenor E an octave higher, and the contratenor G# moves
on to a, its note o f resolution). But the cadential resolution at the end o f phrase three in
m. 11 does not carry the structural weight of the imperfect-sonority cadence at the end of
phrase two. Like phrase one, phrase three cadences contrapuntally in a directed
progression to a perfect sonority on D in m. 11 at a point of caesura in the text. However,
although the cadential sonority arrives at the beginning of a mensural unit in the
prevailing pulse, only the cantus and contratenor arrive together and are held for just a
semibreve. Moreover, the tenor enters on the third minim of the semibreve initiating a
bridging passage which harmonically sustains a D/a fifth between tenor and contratenor,
but with a lot o f rhythmic activity in all voices. The weakened effect o f the cadence in
44 Hirshberg explains the bQ in hexachoidal rather than melodic terms: “In ballade 32. measure 3. B natural
is indicated in the contratenor part in all four sources (Ex.2). There is no B flat in the first two measures,
and the only justification fora natural sign is the avoidance of hexachord molle. which might easily be
implied by the movement from f to b,” from Jehoash Hirshberg (1980), “Hexachordal and Modal Structure
in Machaut’s Polyphonic Chansons.” Studies in Musicology in Honor o f Otto E. Albrecht. edited by John
Walter HilL, (Basel and Kassel: Barenreiter), 24. Patrick Little suggests that “perhaps BQ itself in certain
contexts has associations of sharpness and pain for Machaut.” Patrick Little (1980). “Three Ballades in
Machaut’s Livre du V oir-D itStudies in Music (Australia) 14: S9.

64
m.l 1, mid-phrase textually and without ail voices stopping and fully sustaining the
cadential sonority, provides inadequate closure for the much stronger cadence o f m.8,
fully sustained on a rhyme word at the end of the first textual phrase.
The fourth musical phrase o f the song, which ends in m. 16 at the ouvert on a
rhyme word in the text, maintains harmonic tension by again concluding on an imperfect
sonority, this time E/c#/e held for an imperfect long. The minim d that follows in the
tenor (and initiates a melodic bridge linking the disparate E/c#/e of the ouvert with the
perfect C/G/c sonority at the beginning o f the song) is not substantial enough to resolve
the accumulated harmonic and melodic tensions o f the first four phrases of the song.
After the repetition of the first three phrases the D/a/d sonority which concludes the clos
phrase finally offers some resolution in the song. The tortuous contrapuntal, cadential
progression, however, contributes further to the harmonic and melodic tensions of the
song, suggesting the uncertainty of Machaut’s future. Even supported by G in the tenor,
the contratenor bh suggests a resolution to c.4S This implication of c in the contratenor is
at odds with the melodic c# in the cantus—reiterated five times in mm.22-23—which
reminds the listener of the breve-long c# in m.8 and creates the expectation o f d. In other
words, the contratenor b*l which functions harmonically with the G in the tenor (and with
both the d and e in the cantus), invites the pitch c which never arrives, while the cantus cs
which has no place harmonically as a consonant interval in the penultimate sonority,
achieves its resolution melodically.
4S As mentioned already in footnote 35, three other Machaut songs end with a G/b third to C/c octave
progression between tenor and cantus: Ballades 22 and 27, and Rondeau 19. The contratenor in both
Rondeau 19 and Ballade 22 sing an E below the G/b third, and forms a fifth in the cadential sonority; in
Ballade 22 the triplum doubles the contratenor and octave above. Ballade 30 uses the same tenor/cantus
contrapuntal progression but to a D octave (approached by a/cS), and the contratenor in similar fashion
sings an FS below the a/c? third.

65
Example 2-20 Plourez, dames, plourez vostre servant Ballade 32
e e «■
0-
t T
;;3
• .-s ,
h
m
<
«
n il
<
t.y
■;::i
3 “•
<i T
—

66
a
o
<
a
<
<c
ia.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n o f th e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n proh ibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

67
The hinting at a tonal focus on the pitch c within a D-centered environment
continues in the second half o f the song. The musical phrases five, six and seven all
correspond to full lines o f text, ending on rhyme words. Like the initial sonority of the
song, the initial sonority of this second section (m.25) begins with a C octave (between
tenor and contratenor rather than contratenor and cantus), but the cantus makes the
sonority imperfect with its e third/tenth. In m.26 the contratenor sings bb again between
two as—pushing the ear towards c—and at the end of phrase five in mm. 27-28 the
harmonic/melodic tangle o f the clos is reiterated: the b*l of the contratenor, harmonically
supported by the tenor G, does not resolve, but the melodic c# of the cantus reaches its d
resolution. In both phrases six and seven the tenor ends with an E (mm.32 and 36
respectively), a step above its final D at the end of the song, but the two Es support very
different cadential sonorities: phrase six, like phrase two, ends with a doubly inflected
imperfect-sonority cadence (m.32), while phrase seven ends with a perfect sonority on E
approached by a descending semitone in the tenor in a directed progression. The doubly
imperfect E/c#/g# cadential sonority of m.32 very strongly suggests a resolution to a
perfect D sonority later in the song. The perfect-sonority pre-refrain cadence on E in
m.36 is more ambiguous in its implications for tonal structure. The descending semitone
in the tenor signals a weaker cadence to the listener and a secondary point o f repose,
since descending semitones (in any voice) are completely avoided at final cadences in the
fourteenth-century French repertory. Moreover, pre-refrain cadences usually serve an
ouvert function, setting up the final cadence at the end of the refrain and the end o f the
ballade, and as an ouvert function or secondary goal, a cadence on E can imply a final
cadence on either D or on C. Early in the refrain, however, with the text “Se Dieus et
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n proh ibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

68
vous [If God and you]'1, a fully convincing cadence to D finally arrives, with nothing
interrupting or undermining the cadential progression or the arrival o f the cadential
sonority. The mercy o f God and the prayers of the Ladies offer Machaut his only
assurance of survival: “And I see myself in danger of death, If God and you don't attend
to me. [Et si me voy de mort en aventure, se dieus et vous ne me prenez en cure.]” The
conclusion of the refrain “ne me prenez en cure [don’t attend to me]” repeats again the
cadential progression of the clos, where, as I described earlier, melodic and harmonic
implications are at odds with each other. The contratenor bH, which functions
harmonically with the G in the tenor and with both the d and e in the cantus, invites the
pitch c which never arrives, while the melodic c* which stands outside the contrapunctus
frame o f the penultimate sonority, G/b^/d-e, achieves its d resolution.
By establishing an opposition between C and D sonorities, where ultimately C as
a potential tonal center is never achieved, Ballade 32 turns the common D/C ouvert/clos
relationship on its head.46 In contrast, Ballade 33, Nes qu 'onporroit les estoilles
nombrer, which shares striking similarities with Ballade 32, follows the D/C pattern in a
very straightforward, if not model format (see EX.2-21). Several authors comment on the
similarities. Leech-Wilkinson writes:
46 To begin on a C sonority and end on a D sonority is highly unusual, indeed unique (o Plourez. dames,
plourez vostre servant.; of the seventeen songs which begin on C sonorities, only four end somewhere else
and Plourez, dames is one of these.

69
At first glance it [B33] seems to be almost identical to Ballade 32, Pleures,

dames. The two pieces start identically, they use many o f the same melodic
shapes and many o f the same rhythmic figures, and their closing bars use the
same cantus material reordered. One hardly notices, at first, that the two pieces
have different harmonic centres, Ballade 32 being D-based while Ballade 33 is
based on C .47
Although it may take a few moments visually to recognize the different harmonic centers
in Ballades 32 and 33, aurally the recognition would be almost immediate. As I have
argued, in Ballade 32, a tonal focus on D is introduced in mm.2-3 with the c# in the
cantus of m.2 and the directed progression to a D/d octave in m.3, even with the
contratenor’s b^ hint of c. The inflected imperfect sonority in m.8, moreover, confirms
further the expectation of a D tonal center. In Ballade 33, Nes qu ’on porroit les estoilles
nombrer, if the cantus c in m.4 were sung uninflected as it is notated, the cadence to d
would be heard as a weaker cadence, possibly a secondary goal (see EX.2-21). Even if
the cantus c o f m.4 were inflected as c# in performance, the immediate return to a C/c/g
sonority at the beginning o f the second phrase and the subsequent directed progression
and cadence to C/G/c at the end of the phrase points to a very different relationship
between C and D by m.8 than that found in Ballade 32. Ballade 33, with an easily
discemable tonal design, encompasses only perfect-sonortfy cadences on D and C
throughout, in a very clear ouvert/clos patterning.
47 Daniel Leech-Wilkinson (1993). "Le Voir Dit and La Messe de Nostre Dame: aspects of genre and style
in late works of Machaut,” Plainsong and Medieval Music 2/1:50. See also Gilbert Reancy (1971),
Guillaume de Machaut, Oxford Studies of Composers 9 (London, New York and Toronto: Oxford
University Press), 42; and, Etty Martha Mulder (1978), Guillaume de Machaut, een grensbewoner:
Samenhang van allegorie en muziek bij een laat-Middeleeuws dichter-componist. Guillaume de Machaut
entre deux mondes: Les rapports d ’a lligorie et musique chez un poete-compositeur de la Jin du Moyen Age
(avec un resume en frangais) (Amsterdam: Stichting Musicater). As Lawrence Earp summarizes. Mulder
suggests that, “An image of despair is mirrored in the similar musical material of Plourez. dames (B32),
Nes qu 'on (B33), and Se pour ce muir (B36),” Earp (1995), Guillaume de Machaut, 556.

70
Example 2-21 Ballade 33 Nes qu 'on porroit les estoilles nombrer
Cm
m
1
* -3
1a.

71
<l!k.
1
£3 c<
I
%rv
i!::l
(
♦gu. ■PL
lb
I::-
it:*.
'!::l
*5. «:s.
o
m te l 3 «f cH- £
< ■
%*. o
A j
<i:».
O
n g
O
CQ f_.
<

72
Clearly both melodic and contrapuntal uses of chromatic inflections contribute
directly to the perception of tonal structure. They function along with the careful
manipulation of directed progressions and cadential sonorities to establish tonal centers
or render particular pitches as weak or strong tonal areas. Inflections are one level or one
kind o f signal, which interacts and intersects with others—an important one being
cadences.

73
CHAPTER THREE
The Role of Cadences in Delineating Tonal Structure
Cadences are critically important to the perception and assessment of tonal
structure in Machaut’s secular songs. Machaut’s cadences are usually long-held
sonorities that align with the ends of textual units on rhyme words within the poetic
scheme. As points o f reference these cadences set up tonal relationships and guide the
listener through the tonal structuring of a song. Since fourteenth-century theorists do not
provide us with any kind o f typology for cadences, modem scholars have had to come to
their own conclusions about what constitutes a cadence. Although Jacques o f Liege uses
the term cadentia to describe the progression of an imperfect concord to a perfect,1
neither he nor any other fourteenth-century writer discusses appropriate ways to conclude
musical phrases or sections contrapuntally; they say only that discant and organum
1 “Cadentia igitur in consonantiis dicitur, cum imperfecta concordia perfectiorem concordiam sibi
propinquam attingcre nititur ut cadat in illam et illi iungatur secundum sub et supra, descendendo videlicet
vel ascendendo. Quantum igitur ad cadentiam, una sccunda sive tonus sub vel supra petit unisonum. Et
similiter una tertia in semiditono. Sed una tertia in ditono petit quintum. Et similiter una quarta in
diatessaron, aut petit unisonum. aut quintain. Quinta, scilicet diapente, propter bonitatem suam. tenet locum
suum. Perficitur tamen in unisono aut in diapason. Sexta, scilicet tonus cum diapente, petit duplum vel
quintam. Septima in semiditono cum diapente petit diapente vel diapason, ut praecedens. Octava. scilicet
diapason, stat in se ipsa, non pcrfectibilis per aliam. nisi per unisonum. (Therefore, cadentia in intervals is
said to be when an imperfect concord strives to touch a more perfect concord close to it so that itfa lls into
it and is joined to it either by descending or ascending according to whether it is below or above. Therefore
with respect to cadentia a second or tone seeks a unison either below or above. Similarly a minor third
[seeks a unison]. But a major third seeks a fifth. Similarly a fourth seeks either a unison or a fifth. A fifth
holds its own place on account of its good quality. It is perfected nevertheless in a unison or an octave. A
sixth, namely a tone with a fifth, seeks an octave or a fifth. A minor seventh seeks either a fifth or an
octave, as above. An octave, stays in its place, not made more perfect through any other interval except
through a unison. |” Jacobi Leodiensis Speculum Musicae. ed. Roger Bragard. Corpus scriptorum de
musica. vol. 4 ([Rome|: American Institute of Musicology, 1963). 123. Translation mine.

74
should end with a perfect sonority.2 Many fourteenth-century pieces end with the major-
sixth-to-octave, major-third-to-fifth or minor-third-to-unison progressions illustrated in
Example 3-1, which has led twentieth-century scholars to take these progressions as the
norm by which all other cadences (internal, sectional, or final) are judged as proper or
valid.
Example 3-1 Standard cadential patterns
l#
L3T■
' u- HW — £ — —fto o ------
6 - * 3 - 5 3 - 1
If phrase endings do not conform to these cadence types sometimes they are rejected.
The fact, however, that not all fourteenth-century pieces conclude with the 6/3 to 8/5
progression (or variations o f it), means that. (I) the other progressions that occur at the
ends o f pieces were viewed by fourteenth-century composers as valid cadences, and
therefore (2) the 6/3 to 8/5 standard is not the only one by which all cadences, internal or
final, are to be judged.
In 1987 Howard Mayer Brown challenged scholars of fourteenth-century music
with the task of going “beyond the simple formulation of the theorists that a cadence
normally involves a sixth expanding to an octave, or a third contracting to a unison, by
collecting and classifying what are patently cadences in fully fashioned works o f art,
* Although in the repertoty many works begin or end on a fifth, Jacques of Liege prefers to limit initial and
final sonorities to the more perfect unisons and octaves: "Unisonus autem et diapason, quia perfectissimae
sunt concordiae, ideo finis principalis sunt discantuum et organorum. Possunt tamen discanlus in diapente
terminari. quia saepe fit ubi unus supra tenorem est discantus. [However the unison or the octave, which
are the most perfect concordances, are the final and initial of discant and organum. The discant can
nevertheless terminate in a fifth, which would often be done when one discant is above the tenor. | " Jacobi
Leodiensis Speculum Xfusicae. vol. 4. 123.

75
information that we can then apply to passages that are less than obvious.”3 Brown took
up his own challenge and proposed a number of different cadential progressions that he
extrapolated from the six ballades o f Trebor, progressions which I will be discussing
further below.4 But these various cadential progressions have not been much
acknowledged in the literature. Perhaps six ballades were too small a sample, and since
Brown’s examples were taken from varied points of caesura in the text they may not have
been entirely convincing to readers. My own study of the secular polyphonic songs of
Machaut suggests, however, that despite the small sample, the cadential progressions that
Brown proposed need to be taken seriously and studied further. To counter the problems
o f methodology, I have catalogued progressions that occur only at significant and
comparable points in the musical-poetic structure in the seventy secular polyphonic
works of Machaut. The ouvert and clos cadences of Machaut’s ballades and virelais,
along with the medial cadences o f the rondeaux and the final cadences of all of
Machaut’s fixed forms, should be agreeable to most scholars as points of cadence, and
should also provide a large enough sample on which to base some reasonable claims
about the usage and structure o f cadential progressions.
From this survey o f Machaut’s cadential practice I argue that cadence types in
Machaut’s songs are widely varied in terms of their contrapuntal progressions and types
o f arrival sonorities. The various cadence types are of differing structural weights and
degrees o f conclusiveness, and, as points o f articulation, they can impart various degrees
3 Howard Mayer Brown (1987), "A Ballade for Mathieu de Foix: Style and Structure in a Composition by
Trebor.” Musica disciplina 41:81. Also quoted by Thomas Brothers (1997). in Chromatic Beauty in the
Late Medieval Chanson: an Interpretation o f Manuscript Accidentals, (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press), 108.
4 See p. 110 ff of this chapter.

76
o f nuance to the perception o f tonal structure. I propose two general categories of
cadence, which I have labeled according to the intervallic structure o f the sonority on
which they conclude: Perfect-Sonority cadences, which provide usually stable arrival
points, and Imperfect-Sonority cadences, which provide unstable arrival points that
strongly implicate specific perfect-sonority cadences later in the song. I posit several
subcategories o f perfect-sonority cadences. Besides the conventional patterns outlined in
EX.3-1, several other cadential progressions to perfect sonorities are also available,
directed progressions with no semitone motion; directed progressions with descending
semitone motion in one voice; directed progressions with non-proximate resolutions, and
non-directed or “neutral” progressions.5 In terms of tonal structuring, progressions with
descending semitone motion in one voice have a weaker or less conclusive tonal function,
and as such are used only at internal cadences. Directed progressions with non-proximate
resolutions and non-directed progressions can be found at any structural location, internal
or final, and may be used to render an arrival point as weak tonally depending on its
context within the song. I propose further that some Perfect-Sonority cadences most
commonly appear in specific pitch locations. I argue also that the imperfect sonority, in
addition to its role as the penultimate sonority in a directed progression, can serve a
special role in the tonal structuring o f a song as a cadential arrival point (an imperfect-
sonority cadence). As a cadential arrival, the imperfect sonority simultaneously suggests
repose (through textual position, rhythmic length and mensural placement), as well as
continuation and anticipation (through descending semitone motion and intervallic
structure), features that are important structurally in terms of raising the expectation for a
5 Sarah Fuller (1986) makes a distinction between neutral and directed progressions. See “On Sonority in
Fourteenth-Century Polyphony: Some Preliminary Reflections,” Journal o f Music Theory 30: S1

77
certain tonal goal later in the song. I will discuss each of the various types of cadential
progression found in Machaut’s songs, with reference to their role in terms o f tonal
structure.
Perfect-Sonoritv Cadences - the Directed Progression
Variations o f the “standard” directed progressions in EX.3-1 (6-8, 3-5 and 3-1)
are the most common, although not the only progressions, used at sectional and final
cadences across the fourteenth-century French repertory. By “directed progression” I
refer to the term that Sarah Fuller proposed in 1986 and described further in 1992.6
Fuller defines the directed progression as “a succession o f two adjacent sonorities—the
first imperfect in nature and unstable in quality, the second perfect in nature and stable in
quality— in which the first resolves to the second according to the norms of
contrapunctus voice-leading.”7 Fuller broadens the definition further by stating,
“Imperfect-to-perfect progressions that deviate from these norms may still be perceived
as, and function as, ‘directed,’ but with attenuated effect.” 8 It is Fuller’s broader
definition to which I refer here.
It has been a common editorial practice to suggest inflections at the 3-1, 3-5, and
6-8 cadences when they are not indicated in the manuscripts and yet are “necessary” in
order for the thirds or sixths to lie closer to the unisons, fifths or octaves that follow.
Since semitone motion increases the strength of a progression in terms of its tonal weight,
6 Fuller (1986), “On Sonority ” 35-70.
7 Sarah Fuller (1992) “Tendencies and Resolutions: The Directed Progression in Ars Nova Music ” Journal
o f Music Theory 36: 231.
* Fuller (1992), “Tendencies and Resolutions,” 232.

78
the thorny issue o f the interpolation of inflections has a direct bearing on the perception
of tonal structure.9 The editorial practice just described has been criticized in recent
years from various sides of the debate about the interpolation of chromatic inflections.
Lucy Cross, for instance, endorses that all thirds and sixths should be adjusted in relation
to the fifths and octaves which follow, not just those in cadential situations: “causa
pulchritudinis applies to thirds and sixths as they progress to perfect intervals, regardless
of cadence points. There is no suggestion .. .that the resulting ficta are discretionary,
optional, or a matter o f taste.”10 Thomas Brothers, on the other hand, suggests that
cadences without notated inflections may be deliberate on the part o f the composer. He
argues that without the inflection the tendency of the interval is not as strong and the
cadence as a whole is rendered tonally weak, a device which could prove useful to the
composer."
Although proponents of Cross’ position present a uniform view on the part of the
theorists in regard to the necessity o f a semitone approach to the perfect interval,12 Klaus-
9 See chapter two, p.44 ff for discussion of the effect o f semitone motion.
10 Lucy E. Cross (1990), “Chromatic Alteration and Extrahexachordal Intervals in Fourteenth-Century

Polyphonic Repertories” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University; Ann Arbor; University Microfilms,
Order no. 9118S48), 99. This viewpoint, also advocated by Bent and Leach, is discussed briefly in chapter
two. pp.28-29, p.44, footnote 24 and p.49, footnote 29. Bent (1972), “Musica Recta and Musica Ficta.”
Musica Disciplina 26: 73-100; and Elizabeth Eva Leach (1999), review of Chromatic Beauty in the Late
Medieval Chanson: an Interpretation o f Manuscript Accidentals, by Thomas Brothers (Cambridge
University Press, 1997), in Music and Letters 80/2: 274-281, especially 279-281.
11 Brothers (1997), Chromatic Beauty, 106-107. Brothers is not the only scholar to accept these non-
semitone progressions as valid. Using a modal/tonal analogy that I would rather avoid. Maria Teresa Rosa-
Barezzani refers to them as modal cadences, as distinguished from tonal cadences which have a “leading-
tone”. Rosa-Barezzani (19%), “Modale und Tonale Kadenzen im Weltlichen Repertoire von TuB,” in
Modality in the Music o f the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, edited by Ursula Gunther, Ludwig Finscher
and Jeffrey Dean, Musicological Studies and Documents 49 (Neuhausen-Stuttgart. American Institute of
Musicology Hansslcr-Verlag), 93-128; see 105-109 especially.
12 See also Margaret Bent (1998), "The Grammar of Early Music: Preconditions for Analysis.” in Tonal
Structures in Early Music, edited by Cristle Collins Judd (New York and London: Garland Publishing.
Inc.), 25-35 especially; and Elizabeth Eva Leach (1999), review of Chromatic Beauty, especially 279-281.

79
Jurgen Sachs, in his exhaustive studies of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century treatises,
makes it clear that the theorists are not in agreement over this “rule”.13 He specifies
instead that the theorists concur that cantus and tenor voices should proceed to the closest
notes in contrary motion, requiring linear movement by a second, “but not necessarily the
semitone.” 14 This point is so important to his discussion o f the rules o f the progressions
o f consonances that when Sachs first introduces the topic and presents the three formulaic
progressions o f imperfect intervals to perfect (3-1, 3-5, 6-8), he leaves out the clef with a
footnote stipulating that, “The music example remains without a clef on purpose, in order
that the thirds and sixths can be understood as both small and large [see Example 3-2]”15
Example 3-2 Sachs’ example, p. 103
♦ —*■
—
ft — Jl—•
fl-o—— —i i —e —
Aligning myself with Sachs, I would maintain that non-semitone directed progressions
are acceptable to some theorists and by extension are acceptable in the music of Machaut
without chromatic adjustment, either within a phrase or at a cadential situation.16 I would
not suggest, however, as Brothers does, that inflections should never be interpolated, but
rather that performers should make decisions about the interpolation o f inflections based
13 Klaus-Jurgen Sachs (1974), Der Contrapunctus im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert: Untersuchungen zum Terminus,
zur Lehre und zu den Quellen, Beihefte zum Aichiv fur Musikwissenschaft 13 (Wiesbaden: Steiner), see
especially 103-110; and Sachs (1984), “Die Contrapunctus-Lehre im 14. und IS. Jahrhundert’’ in Die
mittelalterliche Lehre von der Mehrstimmigkeit, edited by F. Zaminer. Gesehichte der Musiktheorie 5
(Darmstadt: WissenschaiUicheBuchgescilschaft), 161-256 (see especially 199-205).
14 Sachs (1974), Der Contrapunctus, 108.
15 Sachs (1974), Der Contrapunctus, 103. footnote 128. “Mil Absicht blieb das Notenbeispiel
ungeschlusseit damit Terzen und Sexte sowohl klein als auch grofi gedeutet werden konnen; die Quinte
aber mufi rein sein.” English translation mine.
16 See also Daniel Leech-Wilkinson’s comments about the tenor in Machaut’s Messe de Nostre Dame, in
Leech-Wilkinson (1990). Machaut’s Mass: An Introduction (Oxford: Clarendon Press). 60.

80
on the tonal context of a specific passage within a song, or within the oeuvre o f a
particular composer.
A brief examination o f Machaut’s perfect-sonority cadences to D and the notated
evidence o f C#s demonstrates how tonal context can play a role in such determinations.
The notated pitch C# appears to be used in different ways in songs that end on C
sonorities and D sonorities, which suggests that the appearance or absence of inflections
at cadences may relate directly to the tonal structuring of a song. When D sonorities are
used at ouvert cadences, the cadential arrival on D usually is marked as a weaker ouvert
sonority through a variety of cadential progressions (various weaker cadential
progressions will be described below). One way to render a cadential sonority as a
weaker arrival point is to avoid an ascending semitone approach in all voices. Of 29
songs which end on a C sonority, 21 of which have medial or ouvert cadences on D, only
five include a notated C# somewhere in the course o f the piece. In only one o f these,
Ballade 31, is a C# notated in an ouvert cadence to D, and it is, in fact, the only notated
C# in the song.17 In contrast, in the thirteen songs which end on D sonorities, C#s
17 In the cantus, m.29. In Rondeau 12, which has a medial cadence on a D/a fifth approached by G/bt\ the
only ci? is found in the second half of the song, in a non-cadential directed progression to a D/d octave, in
the middle of a melisma on the penultimate syllable (in the cantus. m. 15). In Ballade 18. which has an
ouvert cadence on a D/a/d sonority approached from Eb/G/c, the only c9 appears melodically in a directed
progression to E/b/e (in the triplum, m.6; for other occurrences of this CSf melodic pattern see the
discussion in chapter two. pp.59-60). In both Ballades 22 and 34. neither of which have ouvert cadences on
D. the Cits appear in internal cadences or directed progressions to G sonorities. Ballade 22 has an ouvert
on G/b/d/g, but the contratenor d is approached by e not cJf; the c which appears two notes previous in the
contratenor is doubled in the tenor and supported below by an F in the cantus, and so cannot be inflected as
a cit. One cit which does appear in the song, is involved in a non-cadential directed progression to a
G/G/d/g sonorities, while the other appears as a melodic embellishment within a prevailing G/b/d/g
sonority (the first instance is in the contratenor in m. 14. and the second in the cantus in m. 17). In Ballade
34 which has an E/b/e/e ouvert, the only c9 occurs later in the song in a cadence to G/G/d/g (in cantus I.
m.44). In summary', of five songs which end on a C sonority and in which Cits can be found, only one song
has two Cits while the rest have single occurrences, and only a single Cit in all of the examples is associated
with a cadence to a D sonority at an ouvert or medial cadence (Brothers (1997). makes a similar
observation in Chromatic Beauty, 106-107).

81
proliferate. With the exception of Rondeau 5 and Ballade 4 in which only one or two C#s
appear respectively (and in which the final sonorities are not approached by step from C),
the number o f Cits in individual songs ranges all along the spectrum from four to
thirteen.18 However, in all o f these songs, even in the two songs which include thirteen
notated Cits, Cits are never marked for the C which is directly involved in the final
cadential progression to a D octave.19 Taking the position of Lucy Cross, Margaret Bent
or Elizabeth Leach, singers would sing Cit in all of the cadences to D just mentioned
(ouvert, medial and final). Taking Brother’s position, there is only one ouvert, medial or
final cadence to D in which a Cit should be sung: the ouvert cadence to d in Ballade 31,
which includes a notated cit. I would support neither position, and argue instead that the
notated evidence suggests a contextual basis for determining when to interpolate an
inflection. Based on prevalence and usage in songs which end on C and D sonorities, the
notated evidence suggests that Cits should be interpolated when D sonorities have been
established as focal tonal centers (since the semitone increases the tendency of the
interval and the strength of the progression). Inflections, however, should not be
interpolated when D sonorities serve more of a secondary role in the tonal structuring of a
song. The whole tone approach at ouvert or medial cadences functions as a signal to the
listener that renders the cadence as weaker.
18 For the sake of simplicity, my numerical count of notated CSs is based on what is found in MS A (except
for Ballade 39, a later song which appears first in MS F-G): Ballade 4 (2). Ballade 14 (S), Ballade 21(11),
Ballade 23 (7), Ballade 30 (7). Ballade 32 (8), Ballade 39 (13), Virelai 28/31 (4), Rondeau S (1). Rondeau 6
(6). Rondeau 7 (4), Rondeau 11 (3). and Rondeau 22/RF7 (6).
19 Sometimes a C* appears a few notes before the cadential progression, sometimes twenty notes earlier.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of th e co p y rig h t o w n er. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n p rohibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

82
Perfect-Sonoritv Cadences - Descending Semitone
The directed progression without semitone motion is not the only device that
Machaut uses to make a cadence tonally weaker. At internal, structural cadences in
Machaut’s songs it is common to find directed progressions with descending semitone
motion in one voice.20 The semitone approach increases the tendency and strength o f the
progression, but because descending semitones are completely absent at final cadences,
their tonal effect is one of relative weakness. Theoretically, descending semitone
progressions to perfect sonorities could involve a number of pitches (F-E, C-B, G-F#, D-
C#, Eb-D, Bb-A), but in Machaut’s songs the choices seem to be pitch-specific,
involving F-E, Eb-D, and Bb-A in many different combinations, some of which are
included in EX.3-3.
Example 3-3 Descending semitone directed progressions
1 — -1
t s - r - ■ rw 0
0 O—
*8= h z
HBLjb + J o - * - 5 - -0 - 0 -
« 3 -1 3 - 1 3- 1 3 - 5 3 - 5 3 - 5 3 - 5 6 - S 6 - 8 6 • 8
Although in the two-voice songs these voice-leading progressions occur between tenor
and cantus, in three- or four-part songs the progression may occur in other voice parts
with the third or fourth voices participating in different ways. The most obvious third or
fourth voice involvement is to simply combine a 3-5 with the 6-8 as in the ouvert
cadences o f Rondeau 10 and Virelai 23/26 (EXX. 3-4 and 3-5 respectively).
:o Brothers (1997) makes similar observations but refers to the cadences as lowered-second and lowered-
sixth. Chromatic Beauty, 106-107.

83
Example 3-4 Rondeau 10 Rose, lis, printemps, verdure, medial cadence

m|| |I 25
Tnplum
[Cantus!
tsl
douce o dour
k Contratenor
, Tenor t
Example 3-5 Virelai 23/26 Tres bonne et belle mi oueil, ouvert cadence
—
Jf----------- m— 0 -----------------
® cn I'cs cueil
1
A 1. 1
-* — i i i —
& ----- d — Si ------------------ = ----- u
*)Z —
iGTennr f—
1 i] r ------------------
n_
8
Sometimes, however, Machaut destabilizes the arrival further by having the third voice
create an imperfect interval with the lowest voice at the goal sonority, as in the ouvert
cadences o f Ballades 25 and 21, imperfect sonority cadences I will discuss later (EX.3-6).
Example 3-6 Ballade 25 Honte, paour, doubtance de meffaire, and Ballade 21 Se

quanque amours puet donner a ami; ouvert cadences
B a lla d e 2 5 , o u v ert B a lla d e 2 1 . o uvert
C antus
k C antus
=o= :.W j > i.

ft "O
C o n tra ten o r
VO- ICO - d a-m i puct de - si
C o n tra te n o r
Tenor Tenor
-X ------------------------------------------------------------ n ----- q ------------

I f e ----------- 4 8 ? - x -------------— — ~ Ifa — 6 ------------

84
Third voice involvement can be complicated further. In the ouvert of Ballade 36,
Machaut sets up a 6/3 - 8/5 progression with the semitone Eb-D in the tenor, but just as
the cantus reaches its cadential note, the contratenor delays the resolution by moving up
to bb, in order to approach its cadence tone through a descending semitone as well. The
tenor quickly abandons its cadence tone and leaps to G, forming a G/bb - D/a
progression (EX.3-7).
Example 3-7 Ballade 36 Se pour ce muir qu ’A mours ai bien servi, ouvert

C aitu s
Tenor F f
Pcrfect-Sonoritv Cadences - Non-proximate Resolutions
Although the authors of discant treatises do suggest contrary motion progressions
from imperfect to perfect intervals, such as the 3-1, 3-5 and 6-8 directed progressions, in
their examples o f note-against-note counterpoint, they detail a much greater variety of
possible progressions of imperfect to perfect intervals. Some examples involve similar
motion from one interval to another, or leaps in one voice to form a perfect interval that is
not the closest perfect interval, as well as progressions from one perfect interval to
another, all o f which are also found frequently in fourteenth-century music. The
following two cadential progressions—here presented as they are found in songs by

85
Machaut—are commonly included as possible intervallic progression in various
contrapunctus treatises (EX. 3-8)21
Example 3-8 Rondeau 7 Se vous n ’estespour mon guerredon nee, medial; and Ballade
27 Une vipere en cuer ma dame maint, final (and clos) cadence
Rondeau 7, medial Ballade 27. final
Cantus
at
mon g u er- re -d o n ne Dieus gait
Tenor
O'
3 E
:o;
~ €T
Both o f these progressions begin with a tendency interval, an imperfect sonority, and
consist o f semitone movement in one voice and a leap in the other. The progressions are
both directed but non-proximate. In the first progression, which also falls into the
category of descending semitone progressions, the tenor leaps down to form a fifth rather
than step up to the expected unison. In the second progression, which incorporates
ascending semitone motion in the cantus, the tenor leaps down to form an octave rather
than stepping down to a fifth.
Machaut uses both o f these directed progressions with non-proximate resolutions
at cadential points in his songs at the pitch levels indicated in EX. 3-8 (a pitch-specific
tendency). As mentioned earlier, the descending semitone G/bb - D/a progression only
21 For examples by Petrus dictus Palma ociosa. see “Compendium de discantu mensurabili,” in Johannes
Wolf (1913-14). “Ein Beitrag zur Diskantlehre des 14. Jahrhundeits." Sammelbande der Internationalen
XfusikgeseUschaft 15:511; and for examples in “Quol sunt concordationes” (incipit following Sachs
(1974), Der Contrapunctus), see Coussemaker. ed.. (1864-76; 1963), “Ars discantus. secundum Johannem
de Muris,” in Scriptorum de musica. vol. 3.72.

86
appears at internal cadences and is weaker, but the ascending semitone G/b - C/c
progression occurs at both internal and final cadences. When third or fourth voices are
added to the G/b - C/c contrapuntal progression at final cadences, they always sing E (or
e), whether they sound above or below the progression. The three-voice Rondeau 19, and
the four-voice Ballade 22 exhibit the same cantus/tenor procedure o f Ballade 27 (EX.3-
8), but add a contratenor E a third below the tenor which leaps up to G to form the fifth
within the C octave; in Ballade 22 the triplum doubles the contratenor above the cantus
(see EXX.3-9 and -10 respectively).
Example 3-9 Rondeau 19 Quant ma dame les mans d'am er m ’a prent, final cadence
C a n tw
T enor
Example 3-10 Ballade 2 2 II m 'est avis qu 'il n 'est dons de Nature; final cadence
J 1
—m — zr m # —g ~r~~
r
*
♦

87
On the one occasion in a structural moment in Machaut’s songs when the same third to
octave contrapuntal progression is used at a different pitch level, an A/c# third to D/d
octave, the third voice follows the same procedure and sings an F# below (EX.3-11).
Example 3-11 Ballade 30 Pas de tor en thies pais, clos (and final) cadence
Cantus
r r
------- --------------
=1
1 ... u te
* Contratenor r" 1
j-
d
.a w . _
■ ---a.
_ . ..
O'
- - i
Tenor' 1
Unlike the two progressions just discussed where at least one voice resolves to the
expected pitch, in two of Machaut’s final cadences the perfect sonority which arrives
does not at all resolve the imperfect sonority which precedes it. In the two-part songs,
Rondeau 4 and Ballade 9, the final cadences set up directed progressions with tendency
intervals and neither voice in each cadence concludes on the pitches implied by the
imperfect sonority (EX.3-12). Technically, although the progressions are anomalous and
weak tonally they are not incorrect in contrapuntal terms since they follow the theorists’
guidelines and proceed from imperfect to perfect intervals. Moreover, in both cases,
although the penultimate imperfect sonorities imply immediate resolutions to Bb and F
octaves respectively, there is nothing in either song that would direct the ear toward those
particular sonorities, and if they actually arrived they would be rather surprising. Even
though the final cadential progressions are in immediate terms weaker progressions and
tonally inconclusive, the larger tonal structuring of both songs creates expectations o f the
perfect G sonorities on which the songs conclude.

88
Example 3-12 Rondeau 4 Sans cuer, dolens de vous de partirai, and Ballade 9 Dame, ne
regardez pas, final cadences
Rondeau 4. final Ballade 9. final
C antus
JOz
g art
-O1- -O -
Tenor
O
TT
o
implication
O O XX o
o o o
actual actual
Perfcct-Sonoritv Cadences - Non-Tendencv Annroach
Not all perfect-sonority cadences incorporate an imperfect sonority at the
penultimate position. The lack of a tendency interval might seem to imply a weaker
cadence tonally, but some cadence types occur frequently enough in structural positions
that they may not be perceived as particularly weak. Although contrapunctus treatises
generally forbid progressions of two of the same perfect interval, progressions from one
perfect interval to a different kind of perfect interval are permitted by many theorists, and
not surprisingly, Machaut makes use of these progressions both within phrases and at
cadences.22 For instance, at the final cadence of Rondeau 2 the cantus and tenor move in
contrary motion from a D/a fifth to a C/c octave (EX.3-13), and at the final cadence of
Ballade 14 the cantus and tenor move in similar motion from an a/e fifth to a D/d octave
(EX.3-14).
“ See Sachs (1974), Der Contrapunctus, 112-117; and “Et nota quod septum” (incipit following Sachs
(1974), Der Contrapunctus), in Coussemaker. ed. (1864-76; 1963). "Philippi de Vitriaco: Liber
musicalum,” in Scriptorum de musica. vol. 3,37-41.

89
Example 3-13 Rondeau 2 Helas! pour quoy se demente et complaint, final cadence
C artus
lour7
L.
m
Tenor
mI
Example 3-14 Ballade 14 Je ne cuit pas qu 'onques a creature, final cadence

C a n tu
- Ik — * f p i» *= ■
1
---------- o --------------------
tie - sir
i ................ -
Tenor
------------------------- D-----------
5 t
This last progression type, in fact, seems to be one of Machaut’s preferred cantus/tenor
voice-leading for cadences to Bb (another example of pitch-specific tendencies). O f nine
songs which have final cadences on Bb, three use directed progressions,23 while four use
the similar motion fifth to octave progression found in Ballade 8 (EX.3-15) 24
23 Ballade 36, Se pour ce muir qu 'Amours ai bietx servi, and Ballade 42/RF5. Dame de qui toute ma joie
vient, both use a 6/3 - 8/5 progression, while Ballade 11, N ’en fa it n en dit n 'en pensee, has a 3-1 cadence.
24 The progression is also used in Ballades 8 and 25, and Rondeau 1. In Ballade 25 the cantus c sounds
dissonant against the contratenor D which might indicate that the c is a non-structural pitch in the
progression. However, the minim d which follows in the cantus is equally dissonant against the minim E in
the contratenor, which is also dissonant against the tenor F. In Rondeau 1 the F/c fifth moves in contrary
motion to a unison bb.

90
Example 3-15 Ballade 8 De desconfort de martyre amoureus, final cadence

C antu*
£
Ie • ment mo
=m
Tenor
o
k
8
Somewhat similarly, Ballade 3 leaps from a unison F to the octave Bb, while in Ballade
19 the cantus and tenor exchange pitches, F in the cantus and C in the tenor (EX.3-16).
Example 3-16 Ballade 3 On ne porroit penser ne souhaidier, and Ballade 19 Amours me

fa it desirer, final cadences
B a lla d e 3 , fin a l B a lla d e 19. final
C an tu a T rip lu m ____
C an tu s I
T k
vcr
m
Tenor
Tenor
NOT
BUT k
O-
O-
♦ (t )o
Machaut's subtle handling o f cadential progressions and phrase endings, however,
makes it difficult sometimes for the analyst and/or listener to distinguish between
structure and ornamentation.23 In Ballade 19 the fourth which results from the cantus and
25 Kevin Moll (199S) would support this claim: "From a purely analytical standpoint, it is sometimes
difficult to ascertain which is the structural pitch in cadences that are embellished” "Structural
Determinants in Polyphony for the Mass Ordinary from French and Related Sources (ca. 1320-1410;”
(PIlD. Dissertation. Stanford University; Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, Order no. 9516881). 208.

91
tenor variation of the F/c - Bb/bb progression, is considered imperfect and unstable in the
fourteenth century, and is made more unstable against the e in the triplum, an imperfect
tenth to the C and a dissonant seventh to the F; structure and ornamentation become
difficult to untangle. Instead of the F, the G could be regarded as the structural pitch,
taking into account the G F bb figure; the F, rather than serving as a structural pitch is
perhaps simply a clever reminder o f the two-voice cadential pattern to Bb.
A similar examination o f structural versus ornamental notes could help to explain
the unusual final cadence o f the triple texted Ballade 29, which ends with the shared
refrain, ‘Triste, dolent, qui larmes de sane pleure [Sad, mourning, who weeps tears of
blood]’'.26 The ballade concludes with a final cadence that includes a highly dissonant
sonority and seems to contradict the contrapuntal “rule” that sixths should be major in
their approach to octaves: D/F#/bb approaches a C/G/c perfect sonority (see EX. 3-17).
Example 3-17 Ballade 29 De triste cuer faire joyeusement/ Ouant vrais amans aimme a
amoureusement/ Certes, je di et s'en quier jugement, final cadence
AB VgG
£
m
sane pleu
BVg
t
pleu
m
pleu
m
IDI
O
OR 8
5
w
26 Also noted by Wolfgang Ddmling (1972). "Aspekte der Sprachvenonung in den Balladen Guillaume de
Machams,” Die Musikforschung 25: 301.

92
Elizabeth Leach argues that the bb is a signature that should be contravened by
contrapuntal necessity and made bb, “to effect the final cadence of the piece,” especially
since manuscripts Vg and B also indicate that Fs should be sung in the middle voice.27
The cantus/tenor duet, however, even at a final cadence does not have to be a D/b sixth to
a C/c octave. Instead the C/c octave can be approached by a D/a fifth, as happens with
the final cadence of Rondeau 2 in EX. 3-13 above. Rather than dismissing the cantus bb
as an error, it could be interpreted as a dissonant melodic embellishment o f the structural
a, used here to accentuate the very graphic final two words of the refrain text, as Domling
notes, the only simultaneously declaimed text in all three voices in the entire song: “sane
pleure [weeps (tears of) blood]” 28
Despite the admonition o f the theorists, Machaut on occasion uses parallel octaves
in his music, even at cadences. For instance, in Rondeau S, following a sequence of 6 - 8
progressions, a three-breve prolongation of an F/d sixth suggests a resolution to an octave
E/e. When the E/e octave arrives, however, it simply slides into an octave on D (EX. 3-
18).
v See Elizabeth Eva Leach (2000), "Guillaume de Machaut's De toutesflours,” Music Analysis 19/iii: 348.
3 Ddmling (1972) only describes the bt>, not the contrapuntal context, in "Aspektc der Sprachvertonung.”
301. Another example of a chromatic inflection being used to comment on the text is more of a musical pun
cleverly noted by Elizabeth Leach, involving an inflection I had puzzled over in Ballade S. Riches d ’amour
et mendians d'amie. An apparent d* (not found anywhere else in Machaut’s oeuvre to my knowledge)
appears in m. 14 above bs, an inflected sonority cadence. As Leach points out, it is a witty gesture that the
rare d* should coincide with the syllable "mi” in "d’amie”. Elizabeth Eva Leach (2000). "Interpretation
and Counterpoint: The Case of Guillaume de Machaut’s De toutesflours (B31),” Music Analvsis 19/iii:
331.

93
Example 3-18 Rondeau S Quant j'a y I'espart, final cadence

C an tu s
40
Tou dou
Tenor
m. m □a. mi TT
8 6 * 6 8 6 8
The final cadence of Ballade 6, is more complicated (EX.3-19). In Dous amis oy
mon complaint, although the listener hears parallel octaves from D/d to C/c at the surface
level, it could be argued that at the structural level the cantus moves from B to C with a
Landini figure incorporated (b-a-c), which is further embellished from above with the e-
d, all o f which culminates in a sixth to octave progression. However, since the cantus
e—approached by leap from a—is so strikingly dissonant against the D in the tenor, the
cantus d as a consonant resolution carries more structural weight, suggesting that the
parallel octaves are not merely surface, but also structure.
Example 3-19 Ballade 6 Dous amis oy mon complaint', refrain phrase and final cadence
. C a n tu s ^0 *
* r Pu c f r r
Quant tes cuers moy
% 1 o*
Tenor
• a nr
o
- 8
* W
•e ■»— O
6 - 8 8 - 8

94
Taking the whole refrain phrase into account, one might wish to argue that the structural
cadence is the sixth to octave progression ending on a C sonority on the syllable “moy”
(“when your whole self in me”Y and that “ne maint” (“does not dwell”) is a post-
cadential extension to the phrase.29 The problem with this line of argument is the
placement of the cadential progression, in relation to both text and non-contrapuntal
musical elements. The actual ending of a Machaut song, which I take to be the final
cadence, arrives on a strong mensural position and is long-held; usually a melisma, often
a long melisma, occurs on the penultimate syllable; all voices arrive together and they
stop together, and the final sonority coincides with the final syllable o f the song.
Although sometimes a stronger contrapuntal progression may occur before the final
sonority o f a song, the location of the final arrival point in relation to text placement and
the musical elements listed above cannot be disputed.
Imperfect-Sonoritv Cadences
In the same way that large-scale textual divisions can identify perfect-sonority
cadences, even when the contrapuntal progressions do not comply with normative
cadential patterns, they can also contribute to a sense of arrival and cadence when the
concluding sonority is an imperfect, rather than perfect interval. In contrast to some
recent scholarship, I argue that just as perfect concords can function as initial as well as
cadential sonorities, imperfect concords can function as both penultimate sonorities and
cadential goals. These imperfect-sonority cadences are points of repose which mark
musical arrivals, but at the same time signal continuation to the listener by fact o f their
29 Translation by Richard Hoppin (1978). Anthology o f Medieval Music. Norton Introduction to Music
History I (New York: Norton). 140-2.

95
unresolved state intervallically. As Sarah Fuller, Margaret Bent and Elizabeth Leach have
argued convincingly, the progression from tension to resolution, or from imperfect
concord to perfect, forms the basic unit of contrapuntal grammar in fourteenth-century
music.30 At the level o f the contrapunctus, progressions of imperfect sonorities to perfect
sonorities follow one after another in individual songs in the fourteenth-century repertory.
I would argue further, that at the level of the phrase or section, the imperfect sonority as a
point of arrival is very useful in the shaping of the large-scale organization of individual
songs. The imperfect sonority as a cadence sonority, rather than a penultimate, creates
for the listener the expectation that a later phrase will end on the perfect sonority that it
implies; in other words, it initiates a large-scale directed progression. It is not necessary,
therefore, for an immediate contrapuntal resolution to follow an imperfect-sonority
cadence.
In 1995, however, Kevin Moll wrote:
In the vast majority o f cases, doubly-imperfect sonorities act as penultimates;

therefore, they must be considered sustained sonorities, as opposed to cadences
proper, even when occurring at the ends of text sections. If other factors (such as
its having the duration of a long, or the placement of double strokes immediately
afterwards in the source) deem that a doubly-imperfect sonority really does stand
in the position of a cadence, then the situation must entail some further
explanation [emphasis mine].31
Furthermore, in 1998 in reference to a passage in Machaut’s mass Margaret Bent
contends that.
In the Gloria and Credo ... performers often treat the long held notes as points of
arrival, full and half closes, after which they breathe before proceeding to the next
phrase. The “half closes” are not that at all in fourteenth-century terms, but
30 Bent (1998). “The Grammar of Early Music": Fuller (1986), “On Sonority” : Fuller (1992). “Tendencies
and Resolutions”: and Leach (1999). Review of Chromatic Beauty. especially 279-281.
31 Kevin Moll (1995), “Structural Determinants." 210.

96
penultimates, driving towards the resolutions that inevitably follow— on the first
beat of the following measure.32
Agreeing that imperfect sonorities are tension-filled, I argue that other factors in addition
to counterpoint contribute to the shaping of phrase endings. Through location in the text,
mensural position, and temporal length, imperfect sonorities in Machaut’s songs function
as cadential goals. Although some o f these cadences contrapuntally link with the initial
sonority o f the following phrase, others have only a partial or no contrapuntal connection
with what follows immediately. Since Margaret Bent’s comments are directed at
performers’ interpretations of fourteenth-century music, this question of nomenclature
becomes more than an abstract theoretical discussion or point of debate; it also becomes
an issue of performance and interpretation.
Kevin Moll, in his dissertation on fourteenth-century mass movements, provides a
very useful list o f the “Defining Elements of Cadence in the Fourteenth-Century,” in
descending order o f importance:
(1) concurrence with a grammatical unit in the text (at the phrase level); (2) rests
in all voices, double strokes, or untexted ’interlude’ following cadence; (3) long
cadential note in each voice, with no voice continuing without repose; (4)
rhythmic placement of cadence consistent with the prevailing pulse; (5) directed
contrapuntal motion of the individual voices; (6) only perfect consonances
sounding at resolution o f cadence; (7) all voices sounding at point o f cadence; (8)
presence of hockets or melismas in preceding measures.33
Although I quibble with his preference for perfect sonorities, Moll’s other contributory
elements certainly fit with Machaut’s ouvert cadences in the ballades and virelais, and the
medial cadences in the rondeaux: Machaut’s ouvert and medial sonorities coincide
32 Margaret Bent (1998). "The Grammar of Early Music.” 47.
33 Moll ( 199S) writes. "In order to be of structural significance to the listener, a cadence must be
recognizable as such. i.e.. asa 'point of arrival'...,” "Structural Determinants.” 202.

97
with grammatical units in the text; rests or strokes in the manuscripts typically appear
after the cadential sonority; all voices sound together; the cadential notes are long and the
rhythmic placement is consistent with the prevailing pulse. Moll’s preference for perfect
sonorities is probably a formal issue. He is judging cadences in fourteenth-century Mass
movements, which do not display the same kind of formal musical-poetic schemes that
are found in secular songs, and so almost by necessity, final cadences become the norm
by which all other potential cadences are compared. However, almost 30% o f the ouvert
and medial endings in Machaut’s secular polyphony, which otherwise display all of the
accepted features o f a cadence, end with imperfect or doubly imperfect sonorities, a large
enough sample to merit close examination.
Imperfect sonorities, as described by Sarah Fuller in 1986, consist o f imperfect
intervals, either alone or in combination with perfect intervals, while doubly imperfect
sonorities consist of imperfect intervals in combination with each other.34 Machaut uses
some specific types o f imperfect sonorities at ouvert and medial cadences, some of which
are outlined in Examples 3-20 and 3-21: minor thirds, major thirds, major sixths, major
sixths and thirds together, major sixths with perfect octaves, major thirds with perfect
fifths, and in one case a minor third with a perfect fifth. Marked as cadences through all
o f the other musical means put forward by Moll, the imperfect and doubly-imperfect
sonorities, because o f their tendency intervals, function as musical arrivals which imply
continuation and create forward impetus. For the listener the arrival is unstable. I would
argue, moreover, that the instability is created not only by the interval structure of the
cadence sonority, but also by a descending, semitone approach in at least one o f the
w Sarah Fuller (1986), “On Sonority”. 42.

98
voices. This descending semitone motion, in which one of the notes of resolution
precedes the unstable, imperfect sonority, heightens anticipation and expectation of
closure further along in the song (see EXX.3-20 and 3-21). In each of the nineteen
cadences under consideration, such a descending semitone approach occurs in at least one
voice, in one o f two ways: either directly as the penultimate pitch, as demonstrated in
EX.3-20, or, through a double neighbor figure as the ante-penultimate pitch, as
demonstrated in EX.3-21.
Example 3-20 Descending semitone approach to imperfect sonorities from the

penultimate pitch at cadences
R o n d e a u 18, m e d ia l B a lla d e 2 8 , o u v e rt R o n d ea u I I , m ed ial
C an tu s C an tu s
n
• • •
dous a •
r
C o n tra ten o r1
fist py -
I
i
ma* li -
r gnotst hon -
p
C o n tra te n o r
£
Tenor
Tenor
Example 3-21 Descending semitone approach to imperfect sonorities from ante

penultimate pitch at cadences
B a lla d e 7 , o u v ert V irelai 3 1 /3 7 , o u v ert
C an tu s
3 E
pt
( Tenor
1
One o f Margaret Bent’s arguments against treating imperfect sonorities as points
o f arrival, is that in fourteenth-century terms they are “penultimates, driving towards the
resolutions that inevitably follow—on the first beat o f the following measure.”35 She
3S Beni (1998), “The Grammar of Early Music.” 47.

99
complains that performers take a breath after these penultimates, before proceeding to the
next phrase. I would counter first that resolutions do not always follow on the first beat
of the following measure, and second, that when they do—as Sarah Fuller observes—
their function is to bridge sections o f pieces, to link the conclusive but unresolved end of
one phrase, or section of a piece to the beginning of another .36 In either case I would
propose that if all o f the other textual-musical elements suggest a phrase has ended and a
cadence is at hand, performers should take a breath.
1 must state strongly, however, that when an imperfect sonority cadence is
followed immediately by the sonority of resolution that it implies, the contrapuntal
connection does not diminish the role of the imperfect sonority as a point of arrival, or
the perfect sonority as a point o f departure.37 For instance, in Rondeau 18 in EX.3-22, all
voices in the medial cadence arrive at the end of a textual phrase— a rhyme syllable in
the poetic structure—on a well-established modus unit. The cadence sonority is
sustained with no voices continuing motion and all voices are followed by a rest. The
GG/D/G perfect sonorities which begin both sections of the song do link up
contrapuntally to what precedes, but they initiate new textual units and rhythmic motion
begins immediately: by the second breve (or half note) the voices have moved to a new
sonority. I would maintain that all textual-musical elements, except for the counterpoint,
indicate that the medial cadence is a point of arrival, and the initial sonorities of the two
musical sections are points of departure. Accordingly, to accentuate the musical structure
36 Fuller (1992), Tendencies and Resolutions.” 246.
37 Of the nineteen cadences examined here five are followed immediately by their sonorities of resolution:
Ballade 7, Ballade IS, Ballade 26. Rondeau 11 (only to the opening sonority of the second section, not to
the opening sonority of the first section) and Rondeau 18.

100
singers should take a breath following the medial cadence as indicated by Machaut’s rest,
before they proceed to the B section or the repetition o f the A section.
Example 3-22 Rondeau 18 Puis qu ’en oubli sui de vous, dous amis38
C antus
J •J i u- J|gJOT
I 4 7 Puis qu'en bit sut vous. dous a - mts.
3 M ar n le jo u r que mour en vous mis.
5 M ats ce ten - ray que vous ay pro mis.
C o n tra te n o r
err *W
-$ ir
:W : zo z
Tenor
<-
-f —r~r
* eT j I'G f -S f --
18. Vie a - mou- reu - se et jote a Dteu com • mant
6C est que ja mats n'a ™

y nul au - tre a * m ant
£
i
i i
38 As Ludwig indicates in his edition, the tenor and contratenor are quite different in MS E (e.g. the sonority
in m.2 begins C/E/a as opposed to D/F#/a). but the initial sonorities of each section and the medial and final
cadences are identical.

101
The question still remains, however, about how to account theoretically for what
is essentially an incomplete contrapuntal progression when no perfect sonority
immediately follows an imperfect-sonority cadence, or when the perfect sonority which
does follow is not considered a resolution because it is a point o f departure rather than a
point of arrival. I would suggest that these imperfect sonority cadences frequently
function as part of large-scale directed progressions. The imperfect sonority has enough
strength and force to extend beyond adjacent elements and initiate a directed progression
over a substantial temporal span. In Rondeau 18, it is the final cadence of the song—
rather than the initial sonority o f each section—which completes the progression and
provides a resolution equal in weight to the tension provided by the imperfect sonority
cadence of m.4.
The large-scale progression is one way in which tonal relations create structure
over the temporal process o f a song. Similar large-scale progressions occur in many
other songs with imperfect-sonority cadences at ouvert or medial positions. In fourteen
o f the nineteen imperfect-sonority cadences under review, the sonority which follows
immediately either does not link up at all contrapuntally with what precedes, or only one
voice cooperates in terms o f voice-leading. For example, in several ouverts the cadence
arrives on a minor third and the adjacent sonority does not provide a local progression to
a unison. Although the lower voice moves immediately to its anticipated pitch, the
ouvert sonority as a whole sets up an expectation for the unison that comes at the clos,
from the third. At the ouvert in Virelai 30/36 in EX.3-23, the cantus leaps up a seventh to
the following sonority, a displacement which would never happen at a perfect-sonority
cadence, and as an immediate resolution cannot be considered conclusive. Instead the

102
ouvert E/G ending resolves on a large-scale at the arrival o f the F unison clos cadence
sonority.
Example 3-23 Virelai 30/36 Se je souspir parfondement

O tra t Initial Sonority Clos
, C an tu s
- 0—0 •
LiPX . .1 0-0 g
Et vo m a- dou • cc -
3 ):
I Tenor
3T
At the ouvert in Ballade 20 in EX.3-24, again the cantus does not resolve properly from
the ouvert to the opening sonority, leaping up to a fifth rather than stepping down to a
unison, but the clos offers a large-scale G unison resolution.
Example 3-24 Ballade 20 Je suis aussi com cils qui est ravis
O u v e rt In itial S onority C lo s
~rr
^ Cf
C ar je m o- - ment
O
>
T enor
-c o
in Virelai 26/29 in EX.3-2S the cantus, after the ouvert, instead o f descending to a unison
ascends to create another imperfect interval, and again resolves instead on a larger scale
to the G unison at the clos.

103
Example 3-25 Virelai 26/29 Mors sui, se je ne vous voy

CJn*u* Ouvert Initial Sonority Clot
- * ---------!------- ^ v
d-
— 1--------:------ r ~
m
%9 - stour Es - tern Tel ne gnn gnour
Jr 1 -L
---- 0 *----------------
— w ......
Tenor
In Ballade 32 in EX.3-26 a clever melodic bridge links the two very disparate sonorities,
E/c#/e and C/G/c The minim d in the tenor, however, does not seem substantial enough
to resolve the imperfect E/c#/e. But the D/d octave of the clos (even with the added
fifth), provides a large-scale resolution.
Example 3-26 Plourez, dames, plourez vostre servant, ouvert followed by opening
sonority
Cantut Ouvert biitul Sonority Clot
16 23
o
—
tr
3E
I am not suggesting that all imperfect ouvert and perfect clos cadences are
patterned this way.39 Rather my intention is to demonstrate how imperfect-sonority
cadences can contribute substantially to the perception of tonal structure within a song,
39
See, for example. Ballades 21 and 22.

104
precisely because they are unstable intervallically and inconclusive contrapuntally. They
contribute to the perception of tonal structure by pushing the ears toward a stronger
resolution later on in the song.
Virelai 32/38 De tout sui si confortee
Thus far I have considered perfect- and imperfect-sonority cadences only at
undeniably significant points in the fixed forms: the ouvert cadences in Machaut’s
ballades and virelais, the medial cadences in his rondeaux, and the final cadences of all
these fixed forms. It remains now to follow through on Howard Mayer Brown’s
suggestion and apply the results to “passages that are less than obvious.”40 In a close
examination o f Machaut’s virelai, De tout sui si confortee, I will use the text and musical
elements other than counterpoint as a guide to cadences within the fabric o f the song, and
will demonstrate how perfect- and imperfect-sonority cadences contribute to delineation
of tonal structure at the level o f the phrase.41
Machaut’s De tout sui si confortee is a late work, appearing for the first time in
MS A, dating from 1370-7742 The lover in the poem appears to be determined to feel
consoled and have happy thoughts for the rest of her life (see EX. 3-27 below).
40 Brown (1987). "A Ballade for Matliieu de Foix.” 81.
41 My contrapuntal conclusions about this polyphonic virelai support Daniel Leech-Wilkinson’s analyses of
short- and long-range melodic tensions in his studies of Machaut’s monophonic virelais. Lecch-Wilkinson
(1991), “Not Just a Pretty Tune: Structuring Devices in Four Machaut Virelais.” Sonus 12/1: 16-31:and
(1996), “The Well-Formed Virelai.” in Trent "ami di Ricerche Musicologiche: Studi in onore di F. Alberto
Gallo, edited by Pauizia Dalla Vecchia and Donatella Restani (Rome: Edizioni Torre d’Orfco): 125-141.
42 HoepfTner (1921, rep. 1965). Oeuvres de Guillaume de Machaut. vol. 3 (Paris: Champion: rep. New
York: Johnson). 257. links the date of this work to that of Rondeau 4 Sans cuer, dolens, de vous departirai:
see also Gilbert Reaney (1952). “A Chronology of the Ballades. Rondeaux and Virelais Set to Music by
Guillaume de Machaut,” Musica disciplina 6: 37.

105
Example 3-27 Virelai 32/38 De tout sui si confortee; edition o f text by Chichmaref;43
translation mine
Dc tout sui si confortee I am so consoled by everything

Que ja mais n'ieit hostelce That neither sadness nor despair
Tristesse n'esmay Will ever take up residence
En mon cucr. ainôis aray In my heart, but rather I will have
Lie et jolie pensee. Happy and joyful thoughts
Tant com je vivray. As long as I will live.
Bien faire et avoir cucr gay. To do good and have a happy heart
C'est tout; plus n'emporteray. Is everything; no more will I carry away
Quant scray finec; When I have finished;
Dont lie et loiaulz seray So happy and faithful will I be.
Et le contraire fcray And I will do the opposite
De ma destinee. Of my destiny.
Car lassc. dcsconfortcc, For wretched, disconsolate.
Triste. dolente, csplourec Sad. sorrowful, covered with tears
Estc lone temps ay. Have I been a long time.
Mais je me conforteray But I will take comfort
Et ccluy qui tant m'agrec And the man who pleases me so much
Sur tous amerav. I will love more than all other man.
De tout sui si confortee... I am so consoled by everything.
Si quc gayc me tenray And so I will keep on being happy

Ne ja ne le guerpiray Nor will I ever throw him over
Hcure ne joumee. For an hour or a day;
Car en ceste pel morray. Rather in this skin I will die.
Fors tant quc je maudiray Save only that I will curse
Longue demouree; A long delay;
S'onneur et sa renommec. His honor and his renown.
Qui "tout passe" est appellee. Which is called “surpasses all.”
Toudis garderay, Will I always protect.
Et tant com durer porray And as long as I can endure.
Plus que creature nee More than any creature bom
Li obeyray. Will I be obedient to him.
Dc tout sui si confortee... I am so consoled by everything...
Ainsi riens ne soufferay Thus I will suffer nothing

N'a chose ne penseray And will think of nothing
Qui me dcsagree That upsets me.
Et le temps oublieray. And I will ignore time as it passes
Tant que rcvenir verray Until I see returning
D'estrange contree From a foreign country
Li qui trap plus m'a amee. Him who has loved me
Servi, gardee, honnouree Served, guarded, honored me.
Que nulz; bien le s?ay. Much more than any man - well I know it.
Pays et foy li porteray. Peace and loyalty will I bring him.
43 Vladimir F. Chichmaref ([1909|; 1973). Guillaume de Machaut: Poesies lyriques. Edition complete en
deux parties, avec introduction, glossaire etfacsim iles publiee sous les auspices de la Faculte d ’Histoire
et de Philologie de Saint-Petersbourg, 2 volumes, continuous pagination (Paris: Champion), reprint in one
volume (Geneva; Slatkine), 2:631-32 no.38.

L06
Pour cc qu'a li sui donnee Because to him I am given

De fin cucr et vray. With a heart pure and true.
De tout sui si confortee... I am so consoled by everything...
Although the lover claims that “neither sadness nor despair will ever take up residence in
[her] heart,” she reveals her true struggle when she tells us that for a long time she has
been “wretched, disconsolate, sad, sorrowful, covered with tears.” The discrepancy
between the contentment she now feels and the discomfort she felt before is made all the
more evident when both states o f being are set to the same music (see EX.3-28 below):
musically what is in the first phrase “confortee” is also “desconfortee”; and musically in
the second phrase where the lover will never entertain sadness (“Que ja mais n'iert
hostelee, tristesse n'esmay”), she was also sad, sorrowful and covered in tears for a long
time (“Triste, dolente, esplouree, este lone temps ay”).
If imperfect sonorities are accepted as cadential goals, I can parse the refrain into
five phrases with rhythmically similar endings, as it is outlined in EX.3-28. The parsing
o f phrases in EX.3-28 reveals musical parallels that would only become apparent to the
listener if the singer phrased the song this way. The refrain consists of two initial musical
phrases (marked x and _y), which are subsequently repeated with some variations (that is,
x l and yl), and followed by the final cadential phrase, labeled z. Both x phrases end with
a 6-8 directed progression to a C octave, establishing already the importance o f the C
sonority which figures prominently in the second half o f the song (EX. 3-30, discussed
below). Both >>phrases end with imperfect-sonority cadences on E/G thirds, providing
large-scale expectations o f the final F-unison cadence, which when it arrives is
approached by the same E/G third. A unison ending typically concludes a song where the
two voices have maintained a close proximity throughout, often crossing over each other,

107
Example 3-28 Parsing o f refrain o f Virelai 32/38 De tout sui si confortee
Cantus
Phrase X
De tout fo r-
Car des fo r-
O
Tenor
Phrase Y
Que ja-m ats n’lcrt n'es may

T n- ste do - plou * re lone temps
■O-
Phrase XI AC
ray
for - ray
Phrase Yl AC
-O-
e pen
tant m’a
-O-
PhrascZ
Tant
Sur tous
TT

108
a feature of they phrases o f De tout sui si confortee. Like phrase x, phrase y begins with
an F/c fifth, but this time the cantus has the lower pitch, rather than the tenor, and while
the cantus quickly rises the tenor descends and they cross through the a which divides the
fifth. Indeed voice-crossing plays a part in both variation phrases (EX.3-29).
Example 3-29 Voicing o f initial and final sonorities of each phrase in Virelai 32/38
® • cantus
q - tenor
U “ . .... -
m -- m II "
"" • _ II1
■
C9 n ■ n
Q
m • li 0 m a n it
ti o e
« Phrase X Phrase Y Phrase XI Phrase Yl Phrase Z
mm 1- 5 mm 6 - 1 2 mm. 13 -16 mm 17- 23 mm 24- 27
The first four phrases all begin with F sonorities (phrase x l an F/a third) and end away
from it. Moreover, both cantus and tenor in they phrase cadences encircle from above
and below the final F unison of the song, making it an even stronger resolution once it
arrives.
The second half (the couplet) of De tout sui si confortee is tonally structured
around its C octave clos.44 The first phrase and the ouvert both end on D octaves,
rendered as subordinate tonal goals to the C octave through their whole tone approaches
(see EX. 3-30). The directed progression to a D/d octave with a c# semitone approach
that begins the second phrase (in m.33) provides momentum, made all the stronger
because the c$ is unique to the song (perhaps a musical pun in fact, since the
straightforward sixth-to-octave progression is set to the text “C’est tout. [Is
everything.]”). But because the directed progression with semitone approach is at the
beginning o f a phrase, which ultimately ends with an E/G third imperfect sonority
44 In all of Machaut’s virelais the cantus of section B (whether monophonic or polyphonic) will end either
on the same pitch as section A (the final pitch of the song), or a fifth higher (supported at the octave below
by the tenor, if the song is polyphonic). In De tout sui si confortee the B section ends on a C octave, with
the cantus a fifth higher than the F unison ending of the A section.

109
cadence, the directed progression does not suggest a D tonal center to the extent that it
would at a cadence point, where both voices stop and the sonority is long-held. In the
same way that the first half of the song, which concludes on an F unison, twice cadences
to the C sonority that is central to the organization o f the second half of the song, the
second half, which concludes on a C octave, cadences in the second phrase on an E/G
third, recreating the expectation of the F unison central to the first half o f the song. In De
tout sui si confortee, tonal structure is constructed from the interplay between F and C
primary sonorities, in which imperfect cadences to E/G thirds and perfect cadences with
no semitone approach to D octaves both function as secondary goals in the song, that
create expectation of, and a desire for resolution to the F and C sonorities respectively.
Example 3-30 Virelai 32/38 De tout sui si confortee; second half
C a n tu b b
32
Bien
Dont
faxre
be
et
e*
a -
joy •
votr
auiz
cuer
sc -
g*y.
ray
C est
Et
tout
le
plus
con-
n'cm
tn i
p o r-
re
tc
fe
r f i
Tenor
£
IO U V E R T
® ray. Quant se - ray fi -

m
ne -
i •
e
— •*
&
ra y ,---------- De m a d e - sU ne e
1 r ~ ...............-
V V . - g - ---------- £ ------------- f -------- —
- « ...................... ......
TT~ " 1

110
Trebor’s Cadences as Paradigms?
Although I have thus far surveyed only Machaut’s cadences, a comparison of
significant cadences in the ballades of Trebor suggests that Machaut’s cadences represent
a broader fourteenth-century practice. In 1987 Howard Mayer Brown provided us with
“Some Cadences in the Ballades of Trebor,” reproduced as EX.3-31, which I have
labeled as a, b, c, d etc. for easier reference.
Example 3-31 Brown’s (1987) example 2 (the numbers refer to Willi Apel’s modem
edition);43 for ease of comparison, Brown transposed all o f the cadences to the same pitch
level
no 112. m 4 no 112, m. 17 no 108. m.53 no 110, m.59
— 1-------- --------------------
■ ° ■ — ---------1------n----------
!
- B ------O -----U----------
(»
) (b) W (*0
I . 1
^ ------ a -------- n -------------- ---------n ---------------bfil- ------ J — „ ---------------
no 110. m 33 no 111. m.12 no 111. m.37 no 112. in 32 no 113. m 7
y -o -
¥
1 i £
(C) (0 (g) O') (0
i "O TT ----------c r
i "cr-
i IT
no 110. m 9 no 112. m 4S no 108. m.58 no 108, m.7

I
g tv
i i
0) 00 0) (m)
£ TT TT
Many o f the cadences that Howard Mayer Brown identifies are the same contrapuntal
progressions I have located at significant points in Machaut’s songs. The first two
45 Willi Apel, ed. (1970-72), French Secular Compositions o f the Fourteenth Century, 3 volumes. Coipus
Mensurabilis Musicae. S3 (American Institute of Musicology).
46 Howard Mayer Brown (1987). “A Ballade for Malhieu de Foix.” 102.

Ill
cadences that Brown finds are the directed progressions with ascending and descending
semitone motion respectively. Cadence (c) is the 3-5 directed progression without
semitone approach, while cadence (d) is non-directed 5-8 progression in contrary motion.
Cadence (e) is the descending semitone directed progression with non-proximate
resolution (similar to cadence (f), which is not a progression that Machaut uses at all in
the cadences I have surveyed). Cadence (j) uses the non-directed 5-8 progression in
similar motion, while cadence (k) uses the directed progression with non-proximate
resolution with an ascending semitone motion in one voice. Finally, cadence (m) depicts
an imperfect-sonority cadence approached by descending semitone motion in one voice.
What I find particularly compelling for a broader perspective on fourteenth-
century French cadences is that once Trebor’s cadences are transposed back to their
original pitch levels (see EX.3-32), several o f his cadences match the pitch-specific
tendencies I found in Machaut’s songs, in (b) the Eb/c sixth to D/d octave; in (e) the
similar motion G/bb third to D/a fifth; in (j) the F/c fifth to Bb/bb octave; and in (k) the
G/b third to C/c octave. A survey o f the significant cadences in Trebor’s six ballades
(ouvert, clos, pre-refrain and final) further corroborates these findings.47 While the ten
cadences to C and G (the clos and final cadences o f 108, 109, 111, 112 and 113), use the
6/3 - 8/5 model, which would be typical for Machaut, the two cadences to Bb—the clos
and final of 110—use the F/c fifth to Bb/bb octave cadence. All o f the ouvert and pre
refrain cadences go to either an A or a D sonority between cantus and tenor, and in four
47 Although I did not include the pre-refrain as one of the "significant” and comparable cadences in the
discussion of Machaut’s songs, it often plays a structural role. In each of Trebor’s six ballades, however,
the pre-refrain cadence is a significant moment where all voices stop for at least a full breve; aurally it
cannot be missed amidst Trebor’s otherwise very active musical surface, and so I have included it in the
discussion here.

112
Example 3-32 Brown’s (1987) example 2, but with cadences transposed back to original
pitch levels
no 112, m.4 no 112, m 17 no. 108, m.53 no 110. m.59
3E
i =*=**=
(b) (c) tf)
® O is U— « o Or-
no 110. m 33 no I I I , m 12 no I I I . m.37 no 112. m.32 no 113. m7
¥ (e)
:o z
(0
jar.
(g)
£
(h) (0
-------- o “O —
i O Or- i
O
no 110. m9 no 112. m45 no 108. m.58 no 108. m 7
£0) -to- m o:
ft) 0) (">)
o
o f these cadences the contratenor forms an imperfect sonority with its F# third between
the D/a fifth o f the tenor and cantus. Three involve a descending semitone approach to
F# while two involve a descending semitone approach from Bb to A. Three of the four
perfect sonority cadences to A all use a Bb semitone approach in the lower voice, similar
to Machaut, and use either 6/3 - 8/S or 3-5 cadences.48 Of the eight cadences to D,
Trebor, like Machaut, exploits the many possibilities: two o f the eight use a 3-5
progression;49 three use the 6/3-8/S progression, specifying a descending semitone from
48 The ouven and pre-refrain of 109 and the ouvert of 111. The ouvert of 108 uses a B/GS sixth to A/a
octave between tenor and cantus. The contratenor notably does not form a third with the tenor and resolve
to the fifth above A (avoiding D?, like the fifteenth-century cadences): instead it doubles the tenor in the
penultimate sonority and leaps down an augmented fourth to the FF below the tenor A.
49 The pre-refrains of 108 and 111, both include an F8 in the third voice just like the ouvert of Machaut's
Ballade 25, the pre-refrain of Ballade 34 and the medial cadence of Rondeau 11.

113
Eb in the tenor;50 and o f the other three, the ouvert of 112 has a tenor which leaps down
from G to D, resembling the G/bb third to D/a fifth paradigm (but the upper voices do not
comply), while the ouvert o f 110 and the pre-refrain o f 112 do follow the G/bb third to
D/a fifth model. A. study o f six pieces by one composer from a later generation than
Machaut cannot give conclusive results for the whole of the fourteenth-century repertory.
But Trebor’s ballades do provide evidence that various types o f perfect- and imperfect-
sonority cadences and pitch-specific tendencies are either part of a broader fourteenth-
century French technique, or at least were in circulation by composers following
Machaut.
In Machaut’s secular polyphonic songs, these various cadential types contribute
directly to the tonal structuring of individual songs by establishing stronger or weaker
tonal areas, or by implicating a particular tonal center later in the song. The idea of
varying degrees o f structural weight suggested by particular progressions is critical to the
discussion in the next chapter on multiple tonal centers in individual songs.
50 The pre-refrain of 110, and the ouvert and pre-refrain of 113.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e cop y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n proh ibited w ith o u t p e rm is s io n .

114
CHAPTER FOUR
Multiple Tonal Centers
1 have argued that chromatic inflections and different kinds o f cadences in the
secular polyphony o f Guillaume de Machaut establish tonal areas of varying weights
within pieces. Previous attempts to describe tonal structure in fourteenth-century music
have usually placed individual pieces in single, fixed categories, which do not account for
the possibility o f more than one tonal center occurring within a piece.1 While Gilbert
Reaney and Jehoash Hirshberg, for example, both ascribe pieces to particular modes,
Peter Lefferts and Yolanda Plumley categorize every extant secular polyphonic work
from the fourteenth century according to 22 tonal types, each of which is designated with
two labels: the specific pitch in the gamut (rather than pitch-class) with which the cantus
ends, and a signature, either t*, b, bb, # or #£.2 According to Lefferts and Plumley, these
1 Gilbert Reaney (1963), “Modes in the Fourteenth Century, in Particular in the Music of Guillaume de
Machaut” in Organicae voces: Festschrift Joseph Smits van Waesberghe. ed. Pieter Fischer (Amsterdam:
Institute for Medieval Music): 137-43, and (1982) “La tonalite des ballades et des rondeaux de Guillaume
de Machaut” Guillaume de Machaut: Poete et compositeur. Colloque-table ronde organise par
I'Universite de reims (19-22 a\>ril 1978). Actes et Colloqucs 23 (Paris: Klincksieck): 295-300; Jehoash
Hirshberg (1980), “Hexachordal and Modal Structure in Machaut’s Polyphonic Chansons.” in Studies in
Musicology in Honor o f Otto E Albrecht: .4 Collection o f Essays by His Colleagues and Former Students
at the University o f Pennsylvania, ed. John Walter Hill (Kassel: Barenreiter): 19-12; Peter LefTerts (1995).
“Signature Systems and Tonal Types in the late Fourteenth Century Chanson.” Plainsong and Medieval
Music 4/2: 117-147; and Yolanda Plumley (1996). The Grammar o f Nth Century Melody: Tonal
Organization and Compositional Process in the Chansons o f Guillaume de Machaut and the Ars Subtilior.
(New York and London: Garland Publishing).
: Lefferts (1995), “Signature Systems and Tonal Types.” 131 especially. Plumley (1996). The Grammar o f
14th Century Melody, uses Lefferts’ theory' as the basis for her study, assessing pieces according to Lefferts'
groupings.

115
tonal types—easily recognized by notational markers, i.e. signature and final cantus
pitch—would have served as pre-compositional parameters for fourteenth-century
composers, analogous to key signatures for composers of tonal music. Besides some
methodological problems raised in chapter two, their fixed categories, however, do not
allow the full matrix o f relationships among pieces to emerge.3 For instance, although
Ballades IS and 20—both designated as G-b by Lefferts—share a final G in the cantus
and a strong presence o f Bb (and bb) in the tenor, in overall tonal design the two songs
establish different tonal centers altogether: Ballade IS emphasizes F and C tonal centers
in the first half o f the song and a C tonal center in the second half, while the whole of
Ballade 20 is very G centered (see the reductions in EX. 4-1).
Example 4-1 Significant sonorities in Ballade 15 Seje me pleing, je n 'en puis mais and
Ballade 20 Je suis aussi com cils qui est ravis
ca n tu s - round n o tc h e s d s
te n o r = d ia m o n d n o tc h cad s
in itial (O P 1 ) 1st c a d e n c e (C A D I ) o u v ert clos in iu l (O P 2 ) p re-refrain final
rA I *
w m w
» B a lla d e 15 * V* * ♦
— -------------------- xm
m — ;— 1 . | i - T ~ — n# *f ----------|S ------------------------------------------------------------
----------------- -----------------------------------------------
W B a lla d e 20
The final cantus pitch reflects only one of the many possible tonal relationships that can
arise between pieces, and offers only part o f The story’ for any individual piece. A
specific song can share a particular focus with one song, and a different focus with
another song. A sequence o f significant sonorities for an entire rondeau might resemble a
3 See chapter two. p.31 IT.

116
sequence of significant sonorities for the first half of a ballade. A sequence of significant
sonorities between the tenor and cantus o f a two-voice song might relate directly to the
tenor and contratenor o f a three-voice song.
Rather than assign pieces to individual tonal categories which prioritize one
element over all others, I suggest that individual pieces relate tonally to some works
through one feature and to other works through other features, in a complex of
relationships. Using the initial observations of a sequential approach that assesses how
individual pieces unfold over time, I establish a more abstract approach to the grouping
o f pieces according to tonal profile. In contrast to a “single key” model, I propose a
theory o f tonal structure for the secular polyphony o f Machaut that allows for multiple
tonal centers within a song, and accounts for a matrix o f relationships across the body of
Machaut’s works, rather than single categories for each piece.4
I will support my proposal through a series o f investigations. To begin, I examine
how tonal relationships within a group of five songs challenge the notion of separation
according to a final-pitch’ criterion. I then look at how initial sonorities and first
cadences contribute to the varied tonal profiles of songs. To assess multiple tonal centers
within and between pieces, I compare abstracted significant sonorities across Machaut’s
secular, polyphonic repertory, and focus on tendency groups, clusters of works which
unfold in similar ways. I must stress, however, that the intent is not to offer another set
4 Both Sarah Fuller and Daniel Leech-Wilkinson have broached the topic of more than one tonal orientation
in the discussion of single pieces or a small number of pieces. I am advocating that across Machaut's
secular polyphony as a whole, shifting from one tonal center to another is a commonplace element of tonal
structure. See Fuller (1987), “Line. Contrapunctus and Structure in a Machaut Song.” Music Analysis 6. 37-
38: and (1998). “Modal Discourse and Fourteenth-Century French Song: A 'Medieval' Perspective
Recovered?” Early Music History 17. especially 70-74. 79; and Leech-Wilkinson (1996). "The Well-
Formed Virelai.” in Trent ’anni di Ricerche Musicologiche: Studi in onore di F. Alberto Gallo, edited by
Patrizia Dalla Vccchia and Donatella Restani (Rome: Edizioni Torre d'Orfco): 125-141.

117
o f fixed categories (i.e. initial- and final-sonority groupings), but rather to use some
groupings to demonstrate the broad matrix of relationships among pieces in the secular
polyphony o f Machaut.
Matrix of Relationships
A close study o f five ballades of Machaut will demonstrate some o f the many
possible tonal relations that can arise between pieces. Ballades 1S and 26, for instance,
relate to each other through shared tonal centers on F and C, while Ballades 16 and 20
share tonal centers on G. Ballade 11 relates to all four ballades through tonal centers on
F or G, and to Ballade 16 also with a shared tonal center on Bb. Each pair of ballades
linked in the schematic rendering of relationships in EX. 4-2 shares a particular tonal
association, which I will describe in some detail.
Example 4-2 Tonal relationships among Ballades 11, 15, 16, 20 and 26
B20
Through a variety of means both Ballades 11 and 15 establish or imply tonal
centers on F as they start out (EXX. 4-3 and 4-4 respectively). Both songs begin with
perfect sonorities on F, an F/f octave in Ballade 11 and an F/c fifth in Ballade 15. In
Ballade 11 the tenor leaves from and returns to F in the first phrase (mm. 1-4), giving the
pitch an immediate emphasis (see EX. 4-3). The second phrase affirms the focal nature
o f the F/c fifth by beginning with the G/btl tendency interval (m.5), which immediately
moves to its F/c resolution. Within this tonal emphasis on F, the G/d o f the ouvert (m.7)

118
Example 4-3 Ballade W N ’enfait n 'en dit n ’en pensee5
C a n tu s
•— i
N’en fait n'en dit n'en

Vera ma da - me de-
B
Tenor
~n~ it 8
*
OUVERT CLOS
O n- ques * say.
Me ray.
O-
n O
n o
Eins
f rr
yert
rrrrffL im ,
de cuer
i
vray De moy
m
zm i
* <4 I ff-
. P
5 Following Leach (1997) I use the MS C tenor pitches and rhythm for mm.9-10. Elizabeth Eva Leach
(1997). ~Counteipoinl in Guillaume de Machaut's Musical Ballades” (Ph.D. Dissertation. Oxford
University), 30-31.

119
9 9 ^ •
- i ------------ p - - # . . W !
OY .
='a P F £ I i ' - W 1n r
® ct a mo- e. Tant com je VI- vray
--------1
-Jr — t ------- 0m0mn -------- J* f n . - 4 ---------- 1 _ ] L i .... - + f l! . - I
— rrp * -4--------- 0-* - £— a-------- a---------
Et \ t__
# = = — fef- nM “ t e o -------------------------- •
. ______ .9
4 - - - - p
— p
would seem to set up an F sonority at the clos cadence, a sonority that does not in fact
arrive.
In Ballade IS the implication of a tonal center on F is less straightforward because
of a shifting emphasis between F/c and C/c sonorities. The first phrase of Ballade 15,
which begins with an F/c sonority, suggests that it will also conclude with an F/c
sonority, when the tenor sustains a two-breve G with the cantus decorating a b^ above
(mm. 5-6 in EX. 4-4). Instead of resolving to F, however, the tenor leaps down to C while
the cantus moves as expected by semitone to c (m.7). The tonal importance of the octave
on C, becomes apparent in the perfect sonority cadence to a D octave at the end of phrase
two (mm. 10-11). The weaker descending semitone approach in the tenor, from Eb to D,
signals an ouvert/clos type o f relationship between D and C respectively. The G/b
imperfect sonority cadence at the ouvert (mm.22-23) leads smoothly into the F/c and
could set up an F/c clos (see chapter three, EXX. 3-22, -23, -24, -25 and -26)6 Although
the G/b implicates a tonal center on F, the clos cadence returns to the C octave, and the
G/b functions more directly as a contrapuntal link back to the opening sonority.
6 Chapter three, pp. 100-103.

120
Example 4-4 Ballade 15 Seje me pleing, je n 'en puis mats, section A only
C antus
r — i
tj J...j »• p s r p r l * r .Tg l
Se jc me pleing, je n'en
Me fu ne ne sc - ra
=te=
c r c r ' r
Tenor I
za:
zaz
o
-p
10*
P r ? , * A E f - f e g g
puis mais. Qu’on • • - •
ja tnais Com
. w- f % j
19* I OUVERT I CLOS
g—Jpxj_jajaJL ioz
• ques nulz si mal e- u •

suu ne si d o le • reus.
£ m • o
zaz
u

121
Ballade 26 (EX. 4-5) has similar tonal strategies to both Ballades 11 and 15.7 As
in Ballade 11, the tenor/cantus pair in Ballade 26 begins with an F/f octave, filled in with
a contratenor c. The very first phrase ends on a G/b/e imperfect sonority cadence (m.4),
immediately implicating an F sonority later in the song. With a G in the tenor at the
ouvert (like Ballade 11), the G/b/e imperfect sonority returns and again suggests a long
term expectation o f a cadential F/c/f sonority, perhaps at the clos. Just as in Ballade IS,
however, the expected sonority never arrives as a cadential sonority. Rather, the G/b/e
ouvert links smoothly to the F/c/f initial sonority in the repetition of the first half of the
song.
Although Ballades 15 and 26 follow a very different course in terms o f the cantus
line, their contrapuntal plans are remarkably similar. They both follow the general plan
of beginning with an F sonority and ending on a C sonority, and having the imperfect
sonority ouvert relate back to the F tonal center, while the clos confirms the C tonal
center (see the large-scale plans in EX. 4-6). The tenor and cantus of Ballade 1S at each
o f those locations, in fact, can be extrapolated from the three voices of Ballade 26. In all
three ballades (11, IS, and 26), atonal center on F is not confirmed through perfect-
sonority cadences on F, but rather is suggested through their initial sonorities and the
unrealized implications o f their ouvert cadences.
7 Ballade 26 lias variants between manuscripts in rhythm and pitch. Wutf Arlt (1993) sorts the manuscripts
versions into two groups: I (Vg. B and E) and II (A and G). My transcription follows version II. Despite
the variants, the large-scale tonal strategy' in Version I is the same. Arlt (1993), “Donnez signeurs—Zum
Briickenschlag zwischen Asthetik und Analyse bei Guillaume de Machaut” Tradition und Innovation in
der Musik. Festschriftftir Ernst Lichtenhahn zum 60. Geburtstag, edited by Christoph Ballmer and
Thomas Gartmann (Winterthur Amadeus). 39-64.

122
Example 4-5 Ballade 26 Donnez, sigrteurs, dontiez a toutes mains; section A only
Cintui
$ r . . % - f r p r F i v ... ......................... ..... — >

1 i• r - f t r = s -
-i
r —r - :
i
i
I
! p ! p
f 1 - 1 ■ 1
® D on • ncz. ng - neura. donnez a to u - tes
a S’on •_ neur a - vez et de n - chcs - ses
(m — p — — p —
o* i* - f f 'j 0 - •'
r r - r ,
H ? * P -
- n -----------------P - - 1 "" f
C o n tra ten o r
i i
1
j I ■ L ^ i— .1. J ------
: - j ----
---------- A-.----------m;------------- &--------------------- m~.------------^ ------------------------ &
------ •'
---------------- i---------------------- 1-----------
m\ V v '- A* A*
O
n o
o
*
Ne re - te • - mem fora
tnctns* Pour vous sc • grant
if o
-p
-------- r^K---------■
p s ^crgpir
Ton - neur
me - neur.
- B V
I-
J
----- ----------- j---------
-d m.
^t=~rg —
i ■
a t i& i « • m-
r Lx . £ _ l U t i - . .
■ W
3 E
no
=»; o
o
♦
I

123
Example 4-6 Structural Sonorities in Ballades 15 and 26

ca n tu s - 0
te n o r = ♦
c o n tra te n o r = O
in itia l ( O P I ) ou v ert clo s fin al
« B a lla d e IS
fim
^. m X
w
•
w
* ♦
1
B a lla d e 26
1# ^ •
JBL V
2
m m
X
T
Ballade 11 relates to both Ballades 16 and 20 through shared tonal reference to G
sonorities, although not at easily comparable moments in their musical-poetic structures.
Although Ballade 11 begins with an F/f octave and ends with a bb unison, G sonorities of
various types prove to be defining elements in the structure of the song. The implication
of a G sonority makes itself apparent in the first phrase with the introduction of an a/c#
third mid-phrase (m.2), but a G/d arrival does not occur until the ouvert, when it
functions within the context o f a potential tonal center on F (see EX. 4-3).8 In the second
half o f the song, however, G sonorities are further emphasized. The first phrase (mm.9-
11), “Eins yert de cuer vray,” begins with a G/g octave and ends with a tension-filled
imperfect sonority cadence on a/c#, the inflected third heard in the first phrase of the
song. Again the a/c# provides an expectation of a G/d fifth, which arrives locally as the
initial sonority o f the following phrase (mm. 12-16), but does not become a cadential
sonority later in the song.
8 It is quite possible, as Leach (1997) suggests, that a singer would invoke the c? again in the ouvert's
penultimate sonority, singing a cQ at the clos when the a/c approaches bt>. an interpretation which seems
especially plausible since these two progressions occur again in the second half of the song, though as
bridge passages rather than cadential progressions. Elizabeth Eva Leach (1997). "Counterpoint in
Guillaume de Machaut’s Musical Ballades.” 30-31.

124
As I described in chapter one, Ballades 11 and 16 both belong to a group o f songs
that shift from tonal emphases on G to tonal emphases on Bb 9 Although Ballade 11
begins with an orientation around F, Ballade 16 both begins and ends its first phrase with
a G/d fifth, establishing G as a tonal center early in the song. The emphasis on G returns
most strongly at the F#/a ouvert (see EX. 4-7). The F#/a suggests a long-term resolution
to a G unison, which remains unfulfilled, but like the imperfect sonorities at the ouvert in
Ballades IS and 26, the F#/a links contrapuntally to the initial sonority of the song, in this
case, only to the tenor G. In addition to the emphasis on G, Ballade 16 also shares a tonal
center on Bb (and/or bb) with Ballade 11. Ballade 16 ends with a Bb/bb octave at both
the clos and the final cadence, while Ballade 11 ends with a bb unison at both the clos
and final cadence (see EX. 4-7 for Ballade 16 and EX. 4-3 for Ballade 11). The emphasis
on the Bb tonal center happens earlier in Ballade 16. The song shifts away from the G
tonal center with perfect-sonority Bb cadences in m.7 and m.23, and a Bb/ff twelfth as an
initial sonority for the second half o f the song, aurally an important point o f departure. In
Ballade 11, other than the bb unison clos at the end of the first half of the song, the Bb
tonal center is emphasized in the second half. For instance, the phrase “De moy servie et
amee,” cadences on an a/c third which creates a large-scale expectation of the final
bb unison cadence, and also serves as a contrapuntal link to the bb unison at the
beginning o f the refrain phrase.
9 See chapter one. pp.20-23.

125
E xam ple 4-7 Ballade 16 Dame, comment qu 'amez de vous ne soie
C antus
— 1-----------
> P m f~m _r a • * • a a
f r i r " r * p — &— 1— r 11 1 r
i
r
R
1 1 ” 1 •
:-:u l M
P
1
• n
1 I"
^ Da - me. comment
ne mon cuer.
■ f"— i
----- rr.----------O'---------------------- u -: : p o r ^ <s>~ -----------
b — H------------------------------------------ i
Tenor J «-
qu'vncz de vous ne soi ♦ e. Si n'est qui

com ce quc le sa • Quc vos
-to -
J ------------ 1 -M t I-------------b - H P . r f » - - <-

-< ® -------- ---------------------------------- t T t- n — 1-------------- } U M - 1 11 i— I - - f r 1 j- - - - - - - -
^ tant pe- ust gre-
tre que mi k »-
L | ---------------- --------------------
p ) . - V ^ — :— - ~=Jr-“ 7 - ------------- £ u -
Z r f T ~
o
T

126
OUVERT k CLOS
I--- 1
o
-ver.
O
o
•o
o o
ter N em e po* roit ja res • jo ■ S’tl i- vc-
»
HH
-W»
>o o
*
I i
t pL -• r-t~ P ^ T ~ i° j jJyp—
noil, fo n scu - le ment mo -
f~ fT
-RO-

Ballade 20 (EX. 4-8) relates to both Ballades 11 and 16 through its emphasis on
G, although its G-centeredness is to a much more extreme degree. Ballade 20, in fact,
stands somewhat apart from Ballades 11 and 16, because of its continual emphasis and
implication o f a G tonal center, even in the three phrases that cadence on perfect D
sonorities (mm. 1-3, mm.4-7, and mm. 17-23). In addition to its G/d initial sonority, F#/a
ouvert and clos on G/G, the song is filled with F#/a and a/ft? sonorities which create
layers o f tonal expectations for G sonorities. The F#/a and a/ft? sonorities function as: the
initial sonorities of phrases (m.8, m. 17 [also the initial sonority of the second section],
and m.36); the initiators of cadential progressions at both the clos (m. 14) and the final
cadence (m.47); and as cadential arrivals in imperfect-sonority cadences (at the ouvert
[m. 13], m.29, m.35 and m.44). Perfect-sonority cadences on G provide resolution at the
clos and the final cadence.
In summary, of the five ballades described here, four share tonal features to
varying degrees with two other songs in the group, while Ballade 11 shares tonal features
with all o f the songs in the group. Ballades IS and 26, which end on different cantus
pitches (g and c respectively), relate to each other through tonal centers on F and C; both
relate to Ballade 11 (the cantus of which ends on bb), through their tonal centers on F.
Ballade 20 relates to both Ballade 16 and Ballade 11 through tonal centers on G, while
Ballade 11 and Ballade 16 also share tonal centers on Bb. To place any o f these ballades
in single tonal categories, except perhaps for Ballade 20, would misrepresent them
internally and obscure the layering of relationships among them, and by extension, across
Machaut’s secular polyphony.

128
Example 4-8 Ballade 20 Je suis aussi com cils qui est ravis
Cantus
u
I f m g : ' r i z s n
® ie sui au* si com cilz qui est m * vis.
Car je ne SUI a nulle nens pen - sis.
^ ------------------------- —
M --------o ----------------- — . . ._... — A------------- o ---------
U
□nr
TT
1 I
" m "ff - 0 ----- ---------- — J — i-J -i- — Y i 1
- f — ---------- id - g ? - —
" Q ui n'a • ver • lu, sens ne en * ten -

Jour ne de - mu temps. heu re ne
^ «
---y c»
"O ■
= # o --------- - O --------------------
3*E
cr w
[ f
----- O ' ......... 1-d I■
J*
] — o ------------------------
mo- mcnL
I
M m n
~ —
O
■ - ■
a
L
#o----- ------- O ---------------
.p
T

129
17-
*r , * r . crcf x r , r ? .f r , r
Fob scu - le a m'a* Et sans par -
ret
j-4 j. J- J j'j) ' J '4 4 ;
be
•—o
27-
=fe:
‘j = h - J f r * s 5
ce penser d e- S oil con-tre moy. sott pour moy. bit Fo b
■-a- j «^n J j h j4 j—
za z
m
.p _ m
r J ? - 'T f - r f r r ffp ff* -. -1— d J-fU H — 44
— w - Zf^MZ * r
r ^ n
It qu’aun mieus cent mil -le fois quc mi
i t I
r _ t— 4 4 4 4 = ! -N < * — » — H
° 11
3*E
i p
-------- p

130
The Role of Initial Sonorities and First Cadences
In 1966 Richard Hoppin proposed that there was an increasing tendency in the
fourteenth century to use the initial chord as well as the first cadence to establish the
“tonic” early in a composition.10 Although I do not endorse the notion that the music of
Machaut evolved gradually from less coherent to more coherent tonal relationships in the
form o f a single tonal center guiding a song, I do agree that the initial sonority and the
first cadence can be important moments structurally for establishing tonal centers. For
example, although Ballade 26 (just discussed) ends with a C/G/c sonority and the second
half o f the song is very oriented around a C tonal center, the song begins with an F/c/f
sonority (see EX. 4-5). The tonal importance of the initial sonority is confirmed already
at the first caesura in the text at m.4, where the G/b/e imperfect-sonority cadence creates
an expectation o f a return to the F sonority which began the song. The initial sonority
and the first cadence together establish F as a tonal center.
Few scholars, if any, would dispute that musical arrivals which correspond to line
endings or points o f caesura in the text help to define tonal structure at least temporarily,
but many would overlook the initial sonorities of musical/textual units. Indeed, although
Plumley makes a point of discussing initial sonorities at one point in her monograph, the
categories o f tonal types that she and Lefferts espouse do not account for initial
sonorities.11 In fourteenth-century secular music, however, initial sonorities o f the larger
musical sections stand out structurally, most obviously because the listener hears these
10 Hoppin writes, for instance. "By far the most common, one might almost say the normal, procedure is to
end the first phrase with a standardized cadence formula on the tonic.” Richard Hoppin (1966). "Tonal
Organization in Music Before the Renaissance.” in Paul A. Pisk: Essays in His Honor, edited by John
Glowacki (Austin: College of Fine Aits, The University of Texas): 27.
11For a discussion of initial sonorities in Plumley (1996). The Grammar o f 14th Century Melody, see
especially pp.ISO-163.

131
opening sonorities as the beginning o f something new textually and musically.
Moreover, because o f the repetition schemes the initial sonority of each of the two larger
musical sections o f the secular songs follows a significant arrival point, such as an ouvert
or clos cadence, arrival points marked aurally as significant through long rhythmic units,
mensural position, and the rhyme structure of the text. The diagram in EX. 4-9 uses
brackets to depict the juxtaposition of formal end and initial sonorities through the full
repetition pattern o f each of the three fixed form genres. In the ballade the opening
sonority of the first section (OP1) follows the ouvert sonority (OUV) and the final
sonority o f the song (FIN), while the opening sonority of the second section (OP2)
follows the clos sonority (CLOS). In the rondeau, OP1 follows the medial cadence
(MED) and the final cadence (FIN), while OP2 follows just the medial cadence. In the
virelai, OP1 follows the final sonority and the CLOS of the couplet, and OP2 follows the
final cadence (FIN) as well as the ouvert (OUV) of the couplet.12 Within these repetition
schemes, the listener hears at least one of the two main initial sonorities in direct relation
to two different cadential sonorities, a textual/musical feature which can have a
significant impact on the perception of tonal structure. For example, returning again to
Ballade 26 in EX. 4-5, when the opening F/c/f sonority follows the G/b/e of the ouvert it
serves to reinforce the tonal emphasis on F. When, however, the opening F/c/f sonority
follows the final C/G/c sonority o f the song (to initiate the second or third strophe) it
functions as an immediate aural shift away from the C tonal center.
12 There are. of course, some variations in form that would affect the relationships I have just described.
Virelai 24/27, En mon cuer ha un descort, for instance has a repeating couplet with only a single ending
rather than ouvert and clos endings, and Ballade 40, Ma chiere dame, a vous mon cuer envoy. has ouvert
and clos endings in both sections of the song.

132
Example 4-9 The relationship between the opening sonority of each o f the secular songs
with the cadences it follows
Ballade a a b
OP1 OUV OP1 CLOS OP2 FIN
1___ 1 1___ 1
a a b
OP1 OUV 0P1 CLOS OP2 FIN
_j i___i
a a b
OP1 OUV OPl CLOS OP2 FIN
_l 1___1
Rondeau A B
OP1 MED OP2 FIN
1___i 1__
a A a b
0P1 MED OPl MED OPl MED OP2 FIN
_l I i I___ 1
A B
OP1 MED OP2 FIN
_l 1___1
Virelai A b b a
OP1 FIN OP2 OUV OP2 CLOS OPl FIN
1___ 1 1___ 1 i__
A b b a
OP1 FIN OP2 OUV OP2 CLOS OPl FIN
_l 1___1 1___ 1 1___ 1 I__
A b b a A
OP1 FIN OP2 OUV OP2 CLOS OPl FIN OPl FIN
_l 1___1 1___ I 1___1
OP1 or 2 = opening sonority of first or second musical section respectively; OUV = ouvert sonority; CLOS
= clos sonority; MED = medial cadence of rondeau; FIN = final cadential sonority (in ballades and
rondeaux it is the concluding sonority of the second section, in the virelais it is the concluding sonority of
the first section)
Although initial sonorities can play an important role in the tonal structuring of a
song, the precise relationship between the initial sonority and tonal structure is not the
same for every song. In contrast to the five ballades just discussed in which in each song
the opening sonority initiates a tonal center, sometimes the initial sonority will serve

133
merely as a jumping-off point, rather than as a guiding sonority for some or all o f the
song. The a/a/e which begins Ballade 28, Je ptiis trop bien ma dame comparer, is such a
sonority, appearing only the one time at a significant formal moment amidst an otherwise
very C-centered song (see EX. 4-10). In the first half o f Ballade 28 after the initial a/a/e,
phrases one and two both end with perfect-sonority cadences on C; phrases two and three
both begin with perfect sonorities on C; and the ouvert and clos endings o f phrase three
conclude with a D/b/d imperfect-sonority cadence (which suggests a C octave resolution)
and a C/G/c perfect-sonority cadence respectively. In this focused environment on C,
when the opening a/a/e sonority returns at the beginning of the second and third strophe,
it functions as a momentary shift away from C, not as a signal o f a new tonal center.
Example 4-10 Ballade 28 Je puis trop bien ma dame comparer,13 1st half only
PHRASE I PH R A SE2
Cantus
$ f - f f r f r r — * f F j ■ -p .
-fe — i— ' i— r i n r r — 1 •* < -
| 1- ' 1
puts trop bien ma
Dry vot - re fu. tant
Contratenor
h j k ... L. ..k
r — i— ^
— U v
f | J * r- r ^ J il
r H i
a Tenor
— : ' 1— ■
r - -------- * -------- - - - j . -------------------------------
JQ _
*
*
13 My transcription follows the rhythmic corrections of Hoppin (1960). "Notational Licences of Guillaume
de Machaut.” Musica disciplina 14: 16. footnote 16.

134
PHRASE]
da - me om pa-rer A
belle et si sans per Quc plus
O
O o
o o
OUVERT CLOS
quc fist Py-ma- li •

que Me * e Ja-
J. J.

135
The musical material that follows an initial sonority directly affects the perception
of that initial sonority in regard to its tonal weight. A comparison of the opening phrases
o f Ballade 32, Plourez, dames, plourez vostre servant, and Ballade 33, Nes qu 'on porroit
les estoilles nombrer demonstrates to what degree the perception o f an initial sonority can
be controlled by what follows. As described at the end of chapter two, both ballades
begin with not only the same sonority (a perfect sonority on C), but also with the same
opening cantus material as well (see EXX. 4-11 and 4 -12).14 In Ballade 32, the first
phrase already seems to move away from the suggestion of a C tonal center by
introducing a c l in the cantus and a perfect-sonority cadence to D (see EX. 4-11).
Although a tonal center on C is hinted at through a melodic gesture in the contratenor
after the arrival of the cadential sonority, the second phrase implicates a D tonal center
further through its doubly-inflected imperfect-sonority cadence.15 In Ballade 33, the first
phrase also ends with a perfect-sonority on D, but by the end of the second phrase,
because of the ouvert-clos type o f structure of the cantus line, the D sonority is heard as
an ouvert cadence to the second phrase’s clos cadence on C. Within this ouvert-clos
patterning the cadence on C affirms the initial sonority as a tonal center (EX. 4-12).
Although Ballades 32 and 33 employ the very same initial sonority and cantus material,
in Ballade 32 the initial sonority proves to play a subordinate role, while in Ballade 33 it
plays a primary role.
14 See chapter two. pp.68-69.
15 Most of the phrases in the song either implicate a tonal center on D through imperfect-sonority cadences,
or confirm a tonal center on D through perfect-sonority cadences. See the discussion of Ballade 32 in
chapter two, p.61 ff.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Example 4-11 First two phrases o f Ballade 32 Plourez, dames, plourez vostre servant
Phrase 1 ABG Phrase 2 ABG
i Cantu*
- 0-
Plou rcz vo - su e set

Corps pen scr en set
C o n tralcn o r
\ nM
k
---------------------- — ----o-----------------------
■O---
- ------------------------------ #—
■" ...... -------------
m --------------------------1 • 1 8 -------------
O-----
i —> p
Example 4-12 First two phrases of Ballade 33 Nes qu 'on porroit les estoilles nombrer
Phrase 1 Phrase 2
m m
Ne* quon les
ABG
pluie el
C o n tra lcn o r
Tenor
-O
o
o
137
First cadences also assume different and important roles in the tonal structuring of
Machaut’s polyphonic songs. Hoppin’s assertion that it is usual for the first cadence to
be on the “tonic” comes from a position that a single “tonality” governs each song.
Although I propose that songs often have more than one tonal center, which obviates the
need for a term such as “tonic”, even given Hoppin’s parameters I think his judgement of
what is normative is overstated. Ten of the twenty-nine songs that end with C sonorities
have first cadences on C (Hoppin’s “tonic”), and although 35% represents a substantial
sub-group, describing the strategy as usual is somewhat misleading (see EX. 4-13).16
More importantly, conceiving the tonal significance of the first cadence only in relation
to the final sonority does not allow other tonal relationships to emerge between the first
cadence and the music which immediately precedes and follows.
The initial and cadential sonorities of the first phrase together may assert or point
towards a tonal center, but the large-scale implications are not certain for the listener at
that point in the song. The tonal center may preside over the whole song or it may be one
o f two or more tonal centers. In the eleven songs which end with C sonorities but begin
with F sonorities, rather than introduce the C tonal center early in the song the first
cadence is more likely to relate back to the initial sonority and implicate or confirm a
tonal center on F, either through imperfect-sonority cadences on E/G/b or G/b/e, or
through perfect-sonority cadences on F (see the second grouping of songs in EX. 4-13).
16 These ten. moreover, represent five layers chronologically which goes against Hoppin’s theory of
increasing tonal coherence. Ballade IS comes from the earlier layer of songs in MS C. Ballade 18 and
Rondeau 10 from the second layer in MS C. Virelai 23/26 and Ballades 28.31 and 34 from MS Vg. Ballade
38 and Rondeau 19 from MS A and Rondeau 21 from MS G. For more discussion regarding the
chronological issues surrounding tonal structure, see chapter five, p. 154 fif. I adhere to Lawrence Earp’s
(199S) chronology, outlined in Guillaume de Machaut: A Guide to Research (New York and London: Garland
Publishing. Inc.): 273-277.

138
Example 4-13 M achaut’s secular, polyphonic songs which end on C sonorities
Initial 1"Cadence Final

(C) (F) (O
R2 X F/F X
RIO X C/G/c/g X
R13 X D/a/d* X
R14 X D/d/fS X
R1S X D/a/d X
R17 X D/a/d X
R21 X C/G/c X
V23/26 X C/G/c X
B18 X C/c/g X
B33 X D/a/d X
B34 X C/c/c/g X
B3S X E/G/b X
B41 (RF4) X F/F/F/c X
R3 X F/F X
R8 X E/G/b X
R9 X E/G/b/e X
B7 X F/c X
BIO X C/c X
BIS X C/c X
B22 X F/F/c/f X
B26 X G/b/e X
B27 X F X
B31 X C/G/c X
B38 X C/G/c X
R12 (Bt>/D) D/a X

R19 (D/a/d) C/G/c X
B6 (D/d) E/G X
B28 (a/a/c) C/G/c X
B29 (a/a/a) F/F/C+ X
*In R13 the first cadence is in m.4 for the cantus. although the tenor and the contralcnor keep
moving; all voices stop at m.9 on a C/G/c sonority.
+In B29 it is difficult to determine where the first cadence is because the ballade is triple-texted.
Cadences on F/F/c sonorities, however, arguably occur at the beginning of m.5 (for C ertesje di et
s 'en quierjugement). m.6 (for De triste cuerfaire joyeusement), and m.7 (for both De triste cuer
faire joyeusement and Ouant vrais amans aimme amoureusement).
In the songs which both begin and end on C, even if the first cadence is on C and
confirms a C tonal center, at that point in the process of the song the listener does not
know the significance o f that tonal center for the larger tonal structure of song. For
example, both Ballade 40, M a chiere dame, a vous mon cuer envoy, and Rondeau 21,

139
Ouani je ne voy ma dame n ’oy, establish a C tonal center in the first phrase (see EX. 4-
14). Ballade 40, however, moves on to a G tonal center in the second phrase which
continues as a focal sonority for the rest of the song, while Rondeau 21 ultimately
concludes with the C tonal center established in the first phrase.
Example 4-14 First phrases o f Ballade 40 and Rondeau 21

Ballade 40
Cantus
Ma chie- dame. a vous mon cuer en * - voy
Contratcnor
• n n j
i £ lan
Tenor
Rondeau 21
Cantus
i "1
Quant je voy
i m y
Contratenor
>— i»L—4 J i J fig i'j J

i*f p r r ,r r f
&
i j i________ 1_
m
When the initial sonority and the first cadence both comprise perfect sonorities
but on different pitches, the relationship between the two sonorities and tonal structure
becomes even more uncertain for the listener. As I already illustrated, in Ballade 32,
Plourez, dames, plourez vostre servant, and Ballade 33, Nes qu 'onporroit les estoilles
nombrer, which both begin with C sonorities and have a first cadence on D, the roles of
the initial sonority and the cadential sonority of the first phrase do not become clear until
the second cadence affirms a D tonal center in Ballade 32 and a C tonal center in Ballade
33 (EXX. 4-11 and -12). Similarly, although the first phrases of both Virelai 32/38, De

140
tout sui si confortee. and Ballade 15, Se je me pleing, je n 'en puis mais, begin with an F/c
fifth and end on C/c octaves, the songs proceed with very different tonal strategies (see
their first phrases in EX. 4-15).
Example 4-15 First phrases of Virelai 32/38 and Ballade 15

Virelai 32/38
C an tu s
T3:
r r / . r j ’ r ,r-a
De tout con - for
Tenor
B a lla d e IS
i C an tu s
£ 3=£
m m ?
Se pletng
\ Tenor
£m
In Virelai 32/38 both F and C tonal centers prevail throughout, as described at the end of
chapter three, and the song ends on an F unison.17 In Ballade 15, discussed earlier in this
chapter, although the C/c octave arrival might sound slightly weakened because the two-
breve G/b4 in mm.5-6 creates a strong expectation o f an F/c fifth, the descending
semitone approach to D at the end of the second phrase makes the C octave sound in
retrospect like the prevailing tonal center (see EX. 4-4). The G/b*» ouvert further
implicates a tonal center on F, but the clos and the final cadences conclude on C
sonorities. Although the first phrases o f Virelai 32/38 and Ballade 15 follow the same
general outline o f F fifth to C octave, the very different relationship between the two
sonorities only becomes clear during the course of the song. Initial sonorities and first
17
See chapter three, p. 104 ff for a lengthier discussion of Virelai 32/38, De tout sui si confortee.

141
cadences may suggest a particular tonal center and so are vitally important in the tonal
structuring o f a song, but it is only as the song proceeds and the ear is guided to different
tonal areas that a tonal structure unfolds.
Intersections between Structural Sonorities in some Machaut Songs
In contrast to the strictly limited features of signature and cantus final proposed
by Lefferts and Plumley, I advocate taking the polyphonic unit as an entity and suggest a
complex range o f possibilities for the tonal structuring of a song. To demonstrate some
tendencies o f construction across a larger number o f pieces, however, 1 will use specific
and significant points o f comparison across Machaut’s secular polyphonic output. From a
theoretical perspective, a comparison will provide at least a general picture of the tonal
profile of both individual songs and groups of songs. Moreover, a comparative
examination of groups of songs will demonstrate how pathways unfold through key
points in a song’s tonal construction.
An overview o f the initial and final sonorities of all of Machaut’s secular
polyphony highlights some general tendencies (see EX. 4-16): out of 69 polyphonic
virelais, rondeaux, and ballades, only 25 begin and end on the same sonority (five begin
and end on G, thirteen on C, three on D, and four on F).18 Although 25 is a large segment
(36%) of Machaut’s secular, polyphonic repertory, it is still more likely for a piece to
18 Although Rondeau 6, Cine, un, trese, huit, neuf d'amourfine, is in the group of three songs which begin
and end on D sonorities, in MS C the tenor begins on a G (to the cantus d). rather than on a D as it does in
later manuscripts.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n proh ibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

142
Example 4-16 Summary o f initial and final sonorities in Machaut’s polyphonic virelais,19
rondeaux, ballades20
Begins: G A C D F Imperfect Total

Ends: Sonority21
G 5 2 2 1 10
Bb 5 1 1 2 9
C 2 13 2 11 1 29
D 7 2 1 3 13
F I 2 1 4 8
Total 18 8 17 7 16 3 69
begin on one sonority and end on another. This in itself suggests that a song is not
conceived ‘in’ one tonal frame. The phenomenon of differing initial and final sonorities
is accentuated by the fact that, although perfect sonorities on G, C, D, and F can be used
as either initial or final sonorities, two sonorities can be found as exclusively one or the
other: perfect sonorities on A are used only at the beginning of songs and perfect
sonorities on Bb only at the end. Moreover, no pieces begin or end on sonorities on E
19 Virelai 29/32, Dame, mon cuer emportez. begins on a single pitch b and Virelai 30/36. Se je souspir
parfondement. begins on a single pitch E, both, however, immediately proceed to F/c sonorities and arc
included in the F-beginning column.
20 One polyphonic ballade is left out of the count because it is multi-tcxted and canonic, which makes it
difficult to compare with the other songs: Ballade 17, Sans cuer m 'en vois, dolens et esplourez /Amis,
dolens, maz et desconfortez / Dame, par vous me sens reconfortez.
21 The songs which begin with imperfect sonorities arc: Ballade 19. Amours me fa it desirer. G/bo/d;
Rondeau 1, Dous viaire gracieus, Fff/a/c$ to G/bb/d; and Rondeau 12. Ce qui soustient moy, m 'onneuret
ma vie, bb/cb-d. Three others begin with sixths, but the sixths are a minim decoration in the cantus of
structural fifths and so are not listed in the imperfect sonority category (that is. Ballade 38. Phyton, le
mervilleus serpent, F/d-c: Ballade 40. Ma chiere dame, a vous mon cuer envoy. c/aa-g; Virelai 26/29. Mors
sui, se je ne vous voy, G/e-d.
22 Although the pitch A never appears as a final cantus pitch in fourteenth-century polyphonic music, it
does occur as a final pitch in two monophonic songs by Machaut: Virelai 11. He! dame de valour, and
Virelai 13. Quantje sui mis au retour. Bb does appear occasionally in imperfect initial sonorities: in
Ballade 19. Amours me fa it desirer, bb is in the tenor between a G/d fifth: Rondeau 12. Ce qui soustient
moy, m 'onneur et ma vie. has a bb in the tenor with a d in the cantus (embellished by e or eb depending on
one's interpretation of performance issues and chromatic inflections). The monophonic Virelai 27/30.
Liement me deport, begins with a bb.

143
or B, although sonorities on E do appear as internal initial or cadential arrival sonorities
in the polyphonic virelais, rondeaux and ballades.
The summary in Example 4-16 also points out some other clusters o f like-
organized pieces. Works which begin on G sonorities, typically end on D, G or Bb, but
not on C, a curious statistic considering that C is Machaut’s most preferred end sonority
in the secular polyphony.23 If a song begins on C, it has an overwhelming likelihood of
ending on C, while if it begins on F, it is likely to end on C but may also end on F. The
number of intersections in the chart which have only one or two members makes clear
that many options are available, even if rarely used; a clear distinction arises between
possibilities and tendencies.
To highlight similar strategies among some tendency groups, pieces which share
initial and/or final sonorities, I have compared significant sonorities in the songs which
begin with G sonorities. This group of songs is compelling because it comprises three
distinct clusters, songs which begin and end on G sonorities (EX. 4-17), songs which
begin on G sonorities and end on D sonorities (EX. 4-18), and songs which begin on G
sonorities and end on Bb (EX. 4-19). For each of these clusters I have provided a table
that includes significant sonorities for each song in the group, along with the significant
sonorities o f songs which share the same end sonority, but have different initial
sonorities. Comparing the songs in this way provides a general picture of a number of
intersections between individual songs and groups o f songs. Across the top of each table
I have indicated the position o f the particular moments in each song according to genre.
23 In contrast, only one of Machaut’s motets ends on a C sonority, while half the motets end on F.

144
using the sigla mentioned earlier.24 For all o f the songs I have also included the measure
number (according to Schrade’s edition) where I place the first cadence since its exact
location may be debatable in certain songs. Sometimes in the discussion that follows I
will compare the relationship o f the medial and final cadences o f the rondeaux with the
ouvert and clos cadences o f the ballades and virelais. Although the medial and the final
cadences in the rondeaux end different sections of music, while the ouvert and clos
cadences in the ballades and virelais provide two different endings for the same music, in
terms o f tonal structure the relationship often is comparable.
In ten o f the eighteen songs which begin on G sonorities and end either on G, D,
Bb or F, the first cadence either confirms a G tonal center through a perfect-sonority
cadence on G, or implicates a G tonal center through an imperfect-sonority cadence
involving F#/a or a/c# 25 One might expect this organizing feature to occur also in the
group of five songs which share an end sonority on G but begin on various other
sonorities. When imperfect-sonority cadences are used at the first cadence, however,
they almost always relate directly to the initial sonority. It is most unusual for a first
cadence to use an imperfect-sonority cadence to implicate a new tonal center rather than
further implicate a focal pitch or tonal area set out by the initial sonority.26
24 In addition to the points of comparison listed in chapter three, p.75 and p. 131 of this chapter. I also
include the first cadence (CADI), and for the ballade the pre-refrain cadence (PR) as well.
25 Rondeau 18. Virelai 26/29. and Virelai 31/37 (in EX. 4-17): Ballades 4,23. and 30 and Rondeau 22/RF7
(in EX. 4-18); Ballades 16 and 25 (in EX. 4-19); and Ballade 2, which begins on a G sonority and ends on
F. and is not included in EXX 4-17, -18, or -19. In the fifteen songs which share end sonorities (but not
initial sonorities) with the three large clusters of G-beginning songs, three have first cadences which clearly
implicate G and all of these fall in the Bb-ending group (Ballades 19 and 42/RF5 and Rondeau 1 in EX 4-
19). Two of these. Ballade 19 and Rondeau 1, begin with imperfect sonorities that involve G/d (B19 begins
G/bb/d and R1 begins Ff/a/c? and moves immediately to G/bb/d), and in fact G functions as a tonal center
in both songs.
26 The one exception in all of the songs represented in EXX 4-17, -18. and -19 is Ballade 36 in EX. 4-19.
which begins with a G/d fifth and has a first cadence on C/E't/a implicating a tonal center on Bb.

145
Example 4-17 Songs beginning and ending on G sonorities; other songs ending on G
sonorities
0 =cantus ♦ =tenor
S ongs b eg in n in g a n d e n d in g o n G sonorities
O =triplum 4 =contratenor
O P1 CADI B : o u v e r t c lo s O P2 B : p r e - re tra in fin a l

V: fin a l V : o u v e rt c lo s
R: m e d ia l R: fin a l
B a lla d e 20
m.3
~r
“a
-a + -
m
R o n d ea u 4 m .5
± xz -n -* -
R o n d ea u 18
m .2
sr
♦
w f i
~ar -sr
V iic lai 2 6 /2 9 m.5
V irelai 3 1 /3 7 m.5
O th er songs en d in g o n G sonorities
B a lla d e I m .5
B a lla d e 9 m .6
zm— : zmzi
B a lla d e 13 m .4
-ma- zmn
B a lla d e 4 0 m .4
<5 O
A—o-
R o n d ea u 20 m . 10
• ____
* T h e re is n o co m m o n refrain to th e th re e strophes in B a lla d e 4 0 an d th e seco n d h a l f o f d ie so n g is w ritte n w ith o u v e rtc lo s

endings.

146
E xam ple 4-18 Songs beginning on G sonorities and ending on D sonorities; other songs
ending on D sonorities =cantus
0 =cantus * =tenor
S ongs b e g in n in g o n G so n o rities i n d en d in g o n D so n o rities O =iriplum ❖ =conlratenor
OP1 CADI B: ouvert cios OP2 B: pre - refrain final

V: final V: ouvert clos
R: medial R: final
B a lla d e 4 m .7
B a lla d e 23
© tn.7
B a lla d e 30 m .9
B a lla d e 39
m.3
V irelai 28/31 m .4
R ondeau 7 m .8
R o n d e a u 2 2 /R F 7 m .7
O th e r songs e n d in g on D sonorities
. B a lla d e 14 m .4?
m .3
a*
B a lla d e 3 2
m .3
R ondeau 3
m .7
R ondeau 6 m.8
R ondeau 1 1 m .7

147
Example 4-19 Songs beginning on G sonorities and ending on Bb sonorities; other

songs ending on Bb sonorities
0 =cantus + =tenor
0 =triplum O =contratenor
S ongs b eg in n in g G so n o rities a n d en d in g o n B n so n o rities
OP1 CADI B: ouvert clos OP2 B: pre - refrain final

V: llnal V: ouvert dos
R: medial R: final
B a lla d e 3 m .5
-4-
B a lla d e 8 m .6
B a lla d e 16 m .4
4 -# -
w
. B a lla d e 25 m .3
-♦o
i m 4 -0 -
B a lla d c 36 m .7
& ~r~<r
O th e r songs e n d in g o n B b so n o rities
B a lla d e 19 m .7
ra:
R ondeau I m .5
m
, B a lla d e 1 1 m .4
-Jf— 0 - — ....f------------!—r;---------
-& ------------- ........II
•* 8 h ' - • rf r ♦ ■ ................ 1U ---------1----------- 4_ ... |l»»
B a lla d e 4 2 /R F S m .3
» O-
ip -+ZT

For this reason, songs which share the same end sonority but not the same initial sonority
will likely not share imperfect sonorities at the first cadence, and indeed imperfect-
sonority cadences involving F#/a or a/c# are not used in the five songs which end, but do
not begin, on G sonorities. Instead, three have first cadences on a/e (Ballades 9 and 13,
and Rondeau 20), a sonority which appears in all five songs at other structural moments
as well: at the ouvert in Ballades 1,9, 13 and 40, and at the medial cadence in Rondeau
20, as well as at the pre-refrain cadence in Ballade 1 (as an octave not a fifth), the pre-
refrain cadence in Ballades 9 and 13, and the ouvert in the second half of Ballade 40.
Only one o f the five songs which do begin and end on G also uses a/e as a structural
sonority throughout (Rondeau 4 in EX. 4-17); the other four songs in this group use
imperfect-sonority cadences to implicate G at all ouvert, medial and pre-refrain
cadences.27
If a song begins on a G sonority but the first cadence does not confirm or
implicate a G tonal center, it can introduce another tonal center, which may or may not
also relate to the final sonority o f the song. For example, Ballade 20, which begins and
ends on a G sonority (see EX. 4-17), suggests a D tonal center with its first cadence on a
D/a fifth. D as a tonal center is confirmed internally when the second phrase also
cadences on a D sonority (EX. 4-8, m.7), but all o f the structural sonorities in the song
point towards a G tonal center, and indeed the song ends on a G sonority.28 At the other
27 F?/a appears at the ouvert and pre-refrain cadence in Ballade 20, and at the ouvert cadences in Virelais
26/29 and 31/37. and A/C?/F? functions as the medial cadence in Rondeau 18.
28 The D octave cadence of the second phrase is particularly interesting because it is approached by a/c?.
which creates an expectation of a G/d fifth, the opening sonority of the song. The a/c? sonority' occurs
again as the opening sonority of the second section, which in this context could now implicate either a G/d
fifth or the D/d octave which it resolved to earlier; the first phrase of the second section cadences again to a
D/d octave, this time, however, approached by an E/c? sixth.

149
extreme, Ballade 39 and Virelai 28/31, both of which begin with a G sonority and also
introduce D as a tonal center at the first cadence (EX. 4-18), never confirm G as a tonal
center. In these two songs all other structural sonorities confirm the D tonal center that
ends each song, through imperfect-sonority cadences involving c#/e at the pre-refrain in
Ballade 39 and at the ouvert in Virelai 28/31, and through perfect sonorities on D, at the
opening of the second section in each song, and at the clos and final cadences of each
song. Although these three songs (Ballades 20 and 39, and Virelai 28/31) relate to each
other very directly in the trajectory o f their first phrases, their initial sonorities and first
cadences assume various levels of tonal significance depending on what happens later in
the song.
Similarly, in the path through a song, the ouvert or medial cadence may relate
more directly to the opening sonority which follows immediately, or it may relate on a
larger scale to the clos or final sonority. If it relates to the initial sonority, it is often
through an imperfect-sonority cadence which serves as a contrapuntal link. If the ouvert
or medial cadence relates on a larger scale to the clos or final cadence, it is either as an
imperfect-sonority cadence which strongly suggests a specific sonority at the clos or
final, or through a perfect-sonority cadence which suggests a clos cadence usually a
whole step or a third lower than the lowest-sounding voice at the ouvert. In the songs
which begin on G and end on Bb all o f these possibilities are exploited (see EX. 4-19).
Ballades 16 and 25 both use F#/a at the ouvert between tenor and cantus, which creates
an expectation o f a unison G, and through this expectation links contrapuntally to the
opening G in the tenor. Ballade 3 also uses an imperfect-sonority cadence at the ouvert,

150
but the a/c third creates an expectation o f bb, which is fulfilled by the Bb/bb octave at the
clos cadence at the end o f the repetition.
Both Ballades 8 and 36 have perfect-sonority cadences at the ouvert a second and
a third above their clos cadences respectively. In both songs the ouvert cadences on a D
sonority which is rendered weak tonally by descending semitone approaches: in Ballade 8
the tenor approaches D directly through Eb (see EX. 4-20), while in Ballade 36 the
contratenor approaches a directly through bb, and the tenor approaches D indirectly from
Eb by arriving on D prematurely and leaping up to G before settling back on D (see EX.
4-21).
Example 4-20 Ballade 8; ouvert cadence

1 1 k
Tenor
Example 4-2! Ballade 36; ouvert cadence
Cantus
Tenor
r t t f
- J r -------- - o L ----------------^ — --------------------

u —
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e c o p y rig h t o w n e r . F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n p rohib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

151
Although both songs begin with a G sonority and have similar ouvert cadences on D,
their clos cadences conclude on different sonorities. In both cases the first cadence of the
song points toward the tonal center confirmed by the clos.29 Ballade 8 introduces the C
sonority o f the clos as a tonal center with a perfect-sonority cadence on C as the first
cadence in the song. Ballade 36 is one o f the rare songs that has an imperfect-sonority at
the first cadence which does not relate back to the initial sonority, and instead strongly
implicates the Bb sonority o f the clos with the C/EMa imperfect-sonority cadence in m.7.
Within the context o f each o f these two songs, a perfect sonority on D at the ouvert
functions as an unstable ending that invites a stable, but different clos sonority.
Not all o f Machaut’s songs explore more than one tonal center, but the possibility
is present in every song. While aural signals direct the ear to particular tonal centers, the
listener cannot know fully the path that will be taken until the song is complete, because
expectations often have more than one possible resolution. My discussion thus far of
tonal centers and how they are established has not dealt with questions about chronology
or genre in their relationship to tonal structure. Although chromatic inflections and
cadences are used in similar ways to establish one or more tonal centers across
chronological and generic boundaries, some distinctions do arise. In the next chapter I
will elucidate these differences with a special focus on Machaut’s virelais and rondeaux.
29 Ballade 8 is one of only four ballades, all early chronologically, in which the clos and die final sonority'
are not identical. In addition to Ballade 8. Ballade 6 has a clos on an F/F unison and a final C/c octave:
Ballade 10 has an F/c clos and a C/c final: and Ballade 15 has a C/c clos and a C/G final.

152
CHAPTER FIVE
Genre Characteristics
and the Perception of Tonal Structure
Genre is a compelling point of departure for discussing issues which relate to
tonal structure. In an analysis of the interpolated chansons in the Voir Dit, Daniel Leech-
Wilkinson argues that musical parallels are found among all of the genres represented in
the Voir Dit songs. He suggests that,
Machaut’s musical ideas were conceived at a level below that of form,

mensuration or tonal type. Depending upon his choices about those three, the
musical ideas were o f course realized differently. And the different characters of
each realization...were settled at a higher level still, as Machaut began to think
about how to set a particular text.1
I agree that many features o f syntax—such as cadential types and various uses of
chromatic inflections—can be found across all genres o f Machaut’s music. I would
argue, however, that because some aspects of form directly affect our perception of tonal
organization, Machaut’s musical ideas are integrally related to (i.e. at the same level as)
both genre and tonal structure. Choice of text-type, because it is directly relevant to the
form and the function of its musical setting, dictates to a certain extent several features of
the song’s tonal construction. For instance, if Machaut decided to write a motet, or set a
Mass movement, the use of pre-existent material and isorhythmic technique would
1 Daniel Lcech-Wilkinson (1993), "Le Voir Dit and La Messe de Nostre Dame: Aspects of Genre and Style
in Late Works of MachauC Plainsong and Medieval Music 2:61.

153
constrain the underlying contrapunctus structure of his composition.2 Similarly, through
repetition schemes and ouvert and clos endings, the musico-poetic structure o f the fixed
forms offers constraints to tonal structure in Machaut’s secular songs, and since the
repetition schemes and lengths (and function) of the poems differ between the fixed
forms, some genre-distinct differences arise in the delineation o f tonal structure.
Genre-distinct differences, however, also intersect with chronological location
and textural considerations. For example, although Machaut composed only one
monophonic ballade, and no monophonic rondeaux, 25 of his 33 virelais are monophonic
settings. Moreover, all 25 o f Machaut’s monophonic virelais come from the earliest
stage of his output, along with an even larger number of polyphonic ballades and
rondeaux. Genre distinctions then between the virelais and Machaut’s other songs from
the earliest chronological stage are also distinctions between monophonic and polyphonic
settings.
To explore these intersections, I will first consider cadence types in relation to
chronology and texture. I will then examine Machaut’s monophonic virelais, songs
which come from the earliest layer chronologically. Since Machaut was writing
monophonic and polyphonic songs at the same time, one would expect to find, and
indeed can find, some parallels in syntax and tonal construction. The monophonic song,
however, cannot rely on the interaction of voices to establish different tonal areas, or to
set up moments of stability or instability through perfect or imperfect sonorities. I
propose several ways in which chromatic inflections are used in monophonic songs to
destabilize certain pitches and push the ear towards other stable pitches. I argue,
2 As Sarah Fuller (1986) demonstrates with discussions of Motets 9.15.17 and 18 in "On Sonority in
Fourteenth-Century Polyphony: Some Preliminary Reflections,” Journal o f Music Theory 30: 35-70.

154
moreover, that the cantus lines in monophonic songs distinguish themselves from the
cantus lines o f polyphonic songs through the general trajectory from initial pitch to final
pitch, through register, and through ouvert and clos endings.
Finally, I will consider Machaut’s rondeaux, which present a different kind of
genre-specific consideration in relation to tonal structure. With few exceptions
Machaut’s rondeaux are highly melismatic, a consequence of short texts in conjunction
with extended musical settings. The parsing of music and text in all o f Machaut’s songs
can present some difficulty in terms of interpretation, but the highly melismatic character
of the rondeaux makes the parsing even more difficult. The interpretive problems
associated with phrasing raise performance issues that relate directly to the listener’s
perception o f tonal structure. I argue that in the rondeaux especially, Machaut is more
likely to use musical elements alone, rather than music and text, to signal significant
moments in a song’s tonal structure.
Chronology. Texture and Cadences
The chronological order of Machaut’s secular songs evidences a shift in his
treatment of specific genres, particularly in his approach to the number of voices he uses,
and in an increasing preference for polyphonic over monophonic settings. The average
number of voices in the secular songs increases by one after MS C (F:Pn 1S86), the
earliest source o f Machaut’s works, but the virelais go from one voice to two, while the
ballades and rondeaux go from two voices to three (see EX. 5-1).3 After MS C no
3 MS C (F:Pn 1586) is the earliest of Machaut’s complete-work manuscripts, compiled in the mid-1350s. It
is divided into two sections. Cl and CIL with the Cl section thought to be earlier. See Earp (1995).
Guillaume de Machaut: A Guide to Research (New Yoik and London: Garland Publishing, Inc.). 77-78. for
further description and discussion.

155
Example 5-1 Songs sorted according to number of voices and genre in relation to
chronology;4 the figures for MSS Vg, A and F-G represent accretions to the preserved
repertory
M S C (F :P n 1586) 1 2 3 4 Total
m i d - 1350s
Ballades l5 206 3 2 26
Rondeaux 6 2 2 10
Virelais 2 6 1 26
Total: 27 26 5 4 62
M S V e fU S .N Y w ) 1 2 3 4 Total
compiled in late 1360s
Ballades 1 10 3* 14
Rondeaux 1 5 6
Virelais 59 1 6
Total: 7 16 3 26
M S A (F :P n 1584) 1 2 3 4 Total
c o m p ile d in e a r lv 1 3 7 0 s
Ballades 1 1 2
Rondeaux I 2 3
Virelais 2 2
Total: 1 3 3 7
M S F -G (F : P n 2 2 5 4 5 -2 2 5 4 6 ) 1 2 3 4 Total
compiled in 1390s
Ballades 2 2
Rondeaux 1 1
Virelais
Total: 3 3
4 1am following Lawrence Earp’s summary of the chronological output of Machaut’s music. See Earp
(1995), Guillaume de Machaut: A Guide to Research. 273-277.
5 Ballade 22, II m 'est a\’is qu "il n ’est dons de Mature, appears in MS C as a cantus pan only, although
conliatenor and tenor staves are labeled but blank. In all other manuscripts it appears as four voices.
6 Ballade 42/RF5, Dame, de qui toute ma joie vient, appears as only two voices in MS C but in later
manuscripts the song has four voices.
7 Virelai 26/29, Mors sui. se je ne vous voy. appears as one voice in MS C. and as two voices in all other
manuscripts.
8 This group includes Ballade 22 (see footnote 5 above) and Ballade 42/RF5 (sec footnote 6 above).
9 This group includes Virelai 26/29 (see footnote 7 above).

156
monophonic settings appear among the seven new virelais, one of which is three voices
( Tres bonne et belle, Virelai 23/26), and the rest of which are two. Although for the
ballades and rondeaux there are three- and four-voice settings in MS C, the two-voice
configuration outnumbers the others. This situation is entirely reversed after MS C, when
the four-voice settings remain rare for the ballades and rondeaux, two-voice settings are
virtually abandoned, and the three-voice arrangement becomes the norm.10
The blurred intersections among number of voices, genre, and chronology can
make it difficult to ascertain which aspect is responsible for syntactical or structural
differences between pieces. Jehoash Hirshberg, for instance, concludes that Machaut’s
early compositions display a “linear-modal procedure of setting the tenor a fifth below
the cantus.” 11 He relates the procedure to cadence types and claims that Machaut’s
cadences evolve chronologically into the 6/3-8/5 standard cadence:
The evolution o f the regular discant cadence (that is, the progression of a major
sixth to an octave, with the possible ftlling-in by a fifth with its own leading tone)
is one o f the most important aspects of the gradual evolution of Machaut’s
harmonic technique. It is essential to place the various types of cadences in
chronological focus in order to avoid misconceptions.. the cadence in which the
tenor has a leap is usually of a modal nature...1
There are several problems, however, with his line of argument. Hirshberg’s perception
o f an evolutionary shift from many cadence types to a standard cadence type corresponds
chronologically to Machaut’s shift in preference from two-voice settings to three-voice
10 For detailed discussion of the vocal configurations among the principal Machaut manuscripts, see Sarah
Jane Williams (1968). “Vocal Scoring in the Chansons of Machaut” Journal o f the American
Afusicologicai Society 21: 251-257.
11 Hirshberg (1980). “Hexachoidal and Modal Structure in Machaut’s Polyphonic Chansons.” Studies in
Musicology in Honor o f Otto EL Albrecht, ed. J. W. Hill (Kassel. Basel: Bdrenreiter): 39.
12 Hirshberg (1980). “Hexachordal and Modal Structure.” 40.

157
settings in the ballades and the rondeaux. //'Machaut’s cadences did evolve over time,
the shifting preference in number of voices would make it difficult to determine whether
Machaut’s conception o f cadential progressions changed, or whether he more simply
adjusted his cadences to accommodate the constraints of working with three voices, his
newly preferred texture. I would argue, however, that Machaut’s cadential progressions
did not evolve chronologically into a standardized type, but that the various cadential
types discussed in chapter three coexisted over time. Except for the canonic Ballade 17
and the palindromic Rondeau 14 (which have special constraints in terms o f tonal
organization), all o f Machaut’s three- and four-voice songs end with an octave between
the cantus and the tenor, and a fifth (or twelfth) in the contratenor and/or the triplum,
regardless o f the song’s position in terms of genre or chronology. This uniformity of
cadential sonority would seem to invite a standard progression, and certainly the 6/3-8/S
progression appears with regularity across Machaut’s three- and four-voice ballades and
rondeaux and in his one three-voice virelai. When other kinds o f progressions occur in
Machaut’s three- and four-voice ballades and rondeaux, however, they are as prevalent in
the later works as they are in the early works. Although Hirshberg claims that cadential
leaps in the tenor are modal, and implies that they belong to an earlier style, there is no
particular theoretical reason to associate leaps in the tenor with modality. More
importantly, the percentage o f songs that end with a leap in the tenor is comparable in the
works which are first found in MS Vg or later manuscripts to those which first appear in
the early MS C .13 In other words, Machaut’s cadences did not evolve into a single type,
13 25% (9/36) of the ballades and rondeaux in MS C end with leaps in the tenor (B3. B4. B8. B9. B14. B 16.
B22, R4. and R22/RF7). compared to 23% (6/26) of those which first appear in MS Vg or later (B25. B27.
B30. B32. B33 and R19). Clearly there are distinctions as well according to genre since none of the
virelais end with a leap in the tenor, and more ballades end with leaps in the tenor than rondeaux.

158
but rather various three-voice cadence types, including tenor leaps and the 6/3 - 8/5
“regular discant cadences,” appear in both early and late songs.
In the two-voice songs, since there are no third voices to constrain cadential
progressions, perfect-sonority cadences offer three distinct cadential possibilities—
unisons, fifths and octaves—and Machaut uses all of these. The three cadential sonorities
are distributed along generic lines (EX. 5-2). This reflects a chronological distribution as
well, because all o f the polyphonic virelais appear in MSS Vg and A, and most of the
two-voice ballades and rondeaux appear in MS C (EX. 5-3).14
Example 5-2 Final sonorities in two-voice songs according to genre
unison fifth octave

Ballades 3 6 10
Rondeaux I 7
Virelais 6 1
Example 5-3 Final sonorities in two-voice songs according to chronology
unison fifth octave

MS C 3 6 15
MS Vg 4 I 2
MS A 2 1
Notwithstanding the actual progressions, the distribution of final sonorities alone in
Machaut’s two-voice songs counters the claim that Machaut’s cadences evolved into the
standard major sixth to octave progression; only three of the ten two-voice songs written
after MS C end with an octave, and, in fact, only two of these end with the 6-8
progression.
Clearly, the relationships among the number of voices in a song, chronology,
genre, and tonal structure are layered and complex. One group o f songs, which contrast
14 Six of the eight two-voice rondeaux and seventeen of the eighteen two-voice ballades appear already in
MS C.

with the rest o f Machaut’s output in terms of genre and texture, provides a relatively tidy
and large sample of songs to discuss aspects of tonal structure in relation to genre The
virelais which are found in the first layer of songs in MS C and probably date from the
1340s are not only all from the same chronological period, but they are also all
monophonic. Although the main focus of this study is secular polyphony, since Machaut
composed these early virelais during the same period that he wrote his first polyphonic
songs, a comparison o f techniques proves fruitful.
Monophonic Virelais. Cadences. Chromatic Inflections and the Definition of Tonal

Structure
Lawrence Earp has argued convincingly that Machaut’s monophonic virelais
developed stylistically from the tradition of the rondel, the thirteenth-century dance song,
and that “Machaut had reserved the genre virelai as the dance genre.” 15 He argues further
that the tuneful and rhythmic, mostly syllabic virelais contrast with Machaut’s
polyphonic ballades and rondeaux, which owe more to the stylistic tradition o f the
thirteenth-century grand chant courtois. As Earp describes, the ballades and rondeaux
“self-consciously represent a very different type o f music, a rarified, elegant complement
to sophisticated poetry.” 16 Considering that these virelais are monophonic, “tuneful”, and
early chronologically, one might assume they are also simple and conservative. Despite
their apparent simplicity, however, and possible “low-register” function as dance songs,
15 Lawrence Earp (1991), “Genre in the Fourteenth-Century French Chanson: The Virelai and the Dance
Song,” Musica disciplina 42: 131.
16 Earp (1991). "Genre in the Fouiteenth-Century French Chanson,” 132. See also Lawrence Earp (1991).
“Lyrics for Reading and Lyrics for Singing in Late Medieval France: The Development of the Dance Lyric
form Adam de la Halle to Guillaume de Machaut” in The Union o f Words and Music in Medieval Poetry.
edited by Rebecca A. Baltzer. Thomas Cable, and Janies I. Wimsatt tape recorded by Scquentia (Austin:
University of Texas Press): 115-116.

160
the monophonic virelais display complex details of voice-leading, something Daniel
Leech-Wilkinson has demonstrated recently.17
Since Machaut was composing the monophonic virelais during the same time
period as some o f his early polyphonic songs, one would expect to find some
intersections in technique, despite the differences in style and the constraints of melodic
writing versus contrapuntal writing. Although imperfect- and perfect-sonority cadences
are obviously not part o f the monophonic vocabulary, some of the melodic features of
these cadence types are used in monophonic songs to establish tonal centers and
destabilize pitches, particularly through the use of chromatic inflections as cadential
arrivals and through ascending and descending semitones in the approach to cadences.'8
Stable monophonic cadential arrivals such as clos or final cadences are sometimes
approached by whole step from above, resembling tenor rather than cantus approaches in
the “standard” polyphonic cadences (see EX. 5-4).
Example 5-4 Final cadences of Virelai 15 Se mesdisans en acort and Virelai 19 Diex,
Biaute, Douceur, Nature
Virelai 15. final cadence
j 'l i -i- j
® Bien me re -co n - fort
Sui jus -qu'a la m ort
Virelai 19. final cadence t |

^ jo u v e rt I clos
I® D » - r a e d e - J i- r c - *
^ -=l - «
De vous tie fu ne - - - e.
17 Daniel Leech-Wilkinson (1991). “Not Just a Pretty Tune: Structuring Devices in Four Machaut Virelais,”
Sonus 12/1: 16-31; and (1996) “The Well-Formed Virelai,” Trent'anni di Ricerche Musicologiche: Studi in
onore di F. Alberto Gallo, edited bv Patrizia Dalla Vecchia and Donatella Restani (Rome: Edizioni Torre
d’Orfeo): 125-141.
IS See Daniel Leech-Wilkinson (1996). “The Well-Formed Virelai.” especially 128-129.

161
Frequently the approach to the cadence pitch is by step from below, either directly or
indirectly, resembling the “standard” cantus rather than tenor voice-leading in polyphonic
cadences. Sometimes in this approach from below, the stepwise motion must be by
semitone (see EX. 5-5).
Example 5-5 Final cadence of Virelai 12 Dame, a qui
Virelai 12, final cadence

i | ouvert I clos
-—1i N — ST ■ r ,
A. I1 • ' ---f1 ! —
i----------- ------ ---------- ;----------
1 1
# r = !“ ™ A “ ^ 1 ^1* 1 -
Je n’ay mi - c ties scr vt
Sot e pour fa • mour de li
At other times, based on contextual elements such as an earlier notated inflection which
probably continues, the approach is most likely by semitone but the penultimate note
does not have its own inflection in the manuscript (see EX. 5-6).
Example 5-6 Virelai 20 Se d'amer me repentoie, final phrase o f couplet
f e j i L f L f i 4i...r pip i jn
to y au ment ou que jc sot - e,
Gay. chan tani el plein de joi - e.
The rest o f the time, the approach to the cadential pitch is by whole tone in the notation,
and there is no precedent in the piece for the inflection of the lower pitch. The chronic
issue returns of whether unnotated inflections should be interpolated to convert what
appear to be whole tones into semitones. Virelai 4, Douce dame jolie, is one of many
examples: it ends with a G-F-G figure, which occurs four times melodically in the song,
and no F#s are notated in any of the manuscript versions (see EX. 5-7). Whether or not a
fourteenth-century singer would have inflected the F, however, the melodic approach to

162
the cadential pitch is not the only feature which makes the cadence stable. In other
words, although an F# might emphasize the G tonally, an F would not necessarily
destabilize it since the cadential pitch G otherwise has been set up as a tonal center (both)
by its formal placement, and by the tonal structuring of what has preceded it.
Example 5-7 Refrain o f Virelai 4 Douce dame jo lie

Phrase I P h rase2
5
I Dou - ce da - me jo - li - - e. Pour Dieu ne pen- ses mi -

4 He ■ las' et je men - di • - • e ITes - pc - ranee et ifa - t -
Phrase 3
10 , 1 5
e Que nulle ut sig - nour re - ♦ e Seur it*oy fora vous scu • le - mcnl
e. D ont ma jote est fe m - - e Se pi te rte vous ert prent
In Douce dame jolie the opening leap of a descending fifth directs the ear
immediately, setting up the two referential pitches that permeate the song, d and G. The
first phrase continues by circling arcund the G, and cadences on a. Within the context of
the opening leap and the circling around G, the cadential a sounds unstable, accentuated
by the bb which decorates the first a in the closing figure. The second phrase reaffirms
the centrality o f G and d with an ascending leap this time, and the phrase concludes with
the same cadential figure, again ending on an unstable a, decorated by bb. The first four
measures o f the third (and final) phrase o f the refrain are almost identical to the first
phrase, except that G receives even more emphasis at the beginning. Rather than cadence
on a again, just as the third phrase reaches the a musically, a new textual line begins and
stretches out the musical phrase by three measures to finally cadence on G. Whether it is
an F or an F# which approaches the final G would not particularly undermine or enhance

163
the sense o f arrival, given its formal placement within the rhyme scheme of the poem,
and given the cadences and the melodic structuring of the phrases which precede.
In the earlier discussion of cadences in polyphony, I argued that a descending
semitone approach contributed to the weakening of a cadential arrival in both imperfect-
and perfect-sonority cadences. I would suggest that Machaut used the same descending
semitone technique in the monophonic songs to render certain cadences as weak and
guide the ears towards a later, more stable cadential arrival.19 For example, in the ouvert
cadence o f the couplet in Virelai 16, C'est force, faire le vueil, the melody descends
through F to a breve on E, which leads the ear through the repetition to the clos cadence
on D (EX. 5-8).20
Example 5-8 Virelai 16, C'est force, faire le vueil', couplet
2. Car Par
3U n dous mal a Kxta-te • rur Que well souf • (hr Hum • btc •
|ouven 20
- i1^ J'J ! j. ;i f rr - I
doulz n • ant re - gut
- ment* se Dteus me gut.
Virelai 10, De bonte, de valour, approaches a chromatic inflection at a cadential
arrival by leap rather than by step, an exceptionally striking use of a chromatic inflection
in terms o f aural effect and tonal structuring. The paired ouvert/clos phrases in both the
19 In all of Machaut’s virelais. rondeaux, ballades and motels there is only a single song in which one could
possibly argue that it ends with a descending semitone in any voice, and that is Virelai 11. He! dame de
valour. Although the song literally ends with an ascending approach from G to a. a bb is very prominent in
the penultimate measure.
~° If the same melody was excerpted from a chant item the E arrival after a descent from high e. would
sound stable instead.

164
refrain and the couplet of De bonte, de valour, follow the a/G ouvert/clos cadential
pattern. In the first half o f the refrain (with which the virelai begins), the rhythmic
structure o f the melody aligns neatly with the text to create three short (two-breve)
phrases (see EX. S-9, cadence pitches marked above; see EX. 5 -1 1 for the music and text
together).
Example 5-9 First half of refrain o f Virelai 10 (to the ouvert cadence)
Phrase 1 Phrase 2 Phrase 3

a Fff a
IJ>J J. !J. i>J IJ>J J. IJ>J J>J a J.

De bon-tc. deva-lour. de biau-te. dcdou-cour. madamccstpa- re- c
The melodic repetition of the refrain (following the ouvert) creates some asymmetry
when, corresponding to the reduced syllable count of the repetition, the second and third
phrases elide to become one three-breve phrase rather than two two-breve phrases (see
EX. 5-10, again with the cadence pitches marked).
Example 5-10 Second half o f refrain of Virelai 10 (repetition to the clos cadence)
Phrase 4 (identical to phrase 1) Phrase 5 (phrases 2 + 3 elided)

a G
ij >j j . ij . j >j ij >j j >j u. j . i

De ma-nie- re. d’a-tour. de sens, de grace est cou-ron- nc- e
The F# cadence of the first half plays a critical role not only in the tonal structure
o f the refrain as a whole, but also in the elision in the repetition. The first cadential pitch,
a, typically functions as an ouvert to either G or F. The cadence to Ftt in the second
phrase, however, just like an inflected imperfect-sonority cadence, strongly implicates G

165
as a tonal center. Since the second cadence to a appears at the ouvert following the
cadence to F#, the a functions this time to further our expectation of a cadence on G,
probably at the clos, which indeed takes place in the second half of the refrain.
Melodically, the F# cadence o f the second phrase deliberately follows an Ft), the two
pitches separated only by a D to create a striking, aural juxtaposition and thereby increase
the expectation of G (see EX. 5-11). The opening G of the third phrase in De bonte, de
valour follows the F# arrival to securely link the second and third phrases. In the
repetition, however, the F# becomes a minim decoration of the cadential G which
follows. Rather than functioning rhythmically and textually as an arrival, the F
participates in the elision o f the second and third phrases, making one three-breve phrase
out o f what was before two two-breve phrases.
Example 5-11 The refrain o f Virelai 10 De bonte, de valour

P h n sc I P h ra s e 2 P h rase 3
P h ra se 4
| ouvert I
® De c.
bon - l de va - lour.
l De
fL btau - tc de dou • cour Ma dame est pa • re e
De ma- rue - re, <fa • tour.
P h rase 5
clos
De sens de p a c e est co u -ro n ne • e
In the earlier discussion o f the role of chromatic inflections in polyphony (in
chapter two), I proposed that some chromatic inflections melodically suggest a focal
pitch or sonority other than the cadential pitch or sonority that actually arrives, a

166
cadential technique that renders the arrival as weak.21 The same kind of cadential
approach surfaces in the monophonic virelais as well. In the first cadence o f the couplet
in Virelai 17, Dame, vostre dons viaire, the melody ascends from c# through d to cadence
on e, alerting the listener to the focal nature o f d, which destabilizes e and gives it an
ouvert quality (see EX. 5-12). This first cadence proves to be important in the tonal
structuring o f the couplet by implicating d as a tonal center and by establishing e as an
unstable pitch. Indeed the ouvert phrase that follows immediately concludes again on e,
and the expected d does not arrive until the clos cadence at the end o f the repetition.
Example 5-12 Virelai 17 Dame, vostre dous viaire, couplet mm. 13-22
Dame.
frr p F
bten fai - re le
L F
doy.
^ - r '
C ar a
r
noy
■ ill u
G nef tc.
On ques en vous scr* vant n'oy, Etns con gnoy Que rtcns
o uven
con -
In both polyphonic and monophonic songs, Machaut sometimes uses chromatic
inflections to initiate phrases, a device which can be especially effective in the tonal
structuring o f a song. In Virelai 12, Dame a qui, which begins with a three-note
ascending motif, F-G-a, heard many times throughout the song and decorated by bb, a
chromatic inflection appears at the beginning o f the couplet, suddenly shifting the tonal
orientation (EX. 5-13). After the clos cadence on F, approached by semitone from below,
a notated bh at the beginning o f the second section introduces through a stark leap of a
:I The ascending c? melodic motive that I described in chapter two (p.59 ff) appears once in a monophonic
context at that pitch level, and twice the pattern occurs starting on F? instead (in Virelais 18 and 20 at the
ouvert in the refrain).

167
tritone a phrase which circles around c, a new and brief focus for the song. Immediately,
the following phrase parallels the ouvert and clos cadences at the end of the first section
o f the song and returns to an orientation around F and a.22
Example 5-13 Virelai 12 Dame, a qui
8=
I
t Dame. a qui M’ot D ecuer. sans pen - ser lai du
Qu'en ha M’ait Vos cuers qu'a Ues •con - fi tu
4 S en gc Hi Que ce n est mi • e droi tu re
Car en Par Par- n • roit mi - e drot tu re.
10 I cios
m
Je n ay m» * e des ser
Soi e pour Pa • mour de
Que toudis soie en ou bh.
Bel le, i'll es tott eins
15
“f-r
2. Car de tres lov- al a mour Metnl jour Vous ay a -me
3 N”on - qucs vos cuers not ten rour Dou plour Qui m’a tout a
| ouvert [ clos
20 ,
n i »• *• *• . . i
- ru - en
The initial c# o f Virelai 2, Loyaute vueil tousjours maintenir, relates more
directly to the larger tonal structuring o f the song, although, as always, the question arises
as to how long the inflection lasts. My editorial suggestions in EX. 5-14 take into
account the straightforward melodic contours (the c# remains to decorate the second d,
but becomes c*i when part o f a descending pattern), the rise to the cadence pitch c from G
“ In contrast, the signed bs which begins Tuit mi penser, Virelai 25/28, shapes the whole of the first section
of the song (the b? inflection is found only in MSS Vg and G). Although a c follows the initial b=.
ostensibly resolving it. the repetition of the bQ at the end of a two-breve rhythmic pattern repeated three
times, leaves it standing unresolved until it is picked up again an octave lower at the end of the A section
and finally cadences to C. Two polyphonic virelais 29/32 and 30/36 similarly begin with single pitches (b
and E respectively), that resolve up by semitone to a perfect sonority, a fifth on F. Only in Virelai 29/32 is
the pitch actually inflected, and in MS A it is only the second time through in the manuscript after the
appearance of bfc>s.

168
(if it were still c# a sharply outlined melodic tritone would result), and the fact that the
second phrase begins exactly as the first (the parallel is so apparent that surely a c*i would
have been indicated if a c# was not intended).
Example 5-14 Virelai 2 Loyaute vueil tous jours maintenir
I Loy • au le well tous jours m e in - te - m r Et de c u e rs e r - vtr M a d a-m e d c-b o n -

4 Son ties doulz vo - loir sans re- pen- Ur Et It o - be - tr Com a mis. sans m'ef -
fat - re 3 Ne ja ne m’en quier de • par - Ur. Eins weil tou - dis fat re
Given my reading o f the inflections, the initial c# of Virelai 2 in immediate terms
highlights the d that follows. Rather than reinforce the principal tonal focus, however, in
relation to overall tonal structure its main effect seems to be to destabilize the two
cadential pitches o f the song, c and F. Although the first phrase begins with the c#/d
figure, it ends on c, approached by semitone from below. Immediately taking up the c#/d
figure the second phrase destabilizes c and ends this time on F, also approached by
semitone from below. The two short textual/musical phrases o f the B section reassert the
importance o f F and c. The first phrase prolongs a high f through neighbor notes and
descends by step to cadence on c, and the second phrase cadences on the low F again, this
time in a direct approach by leap from c. Although chromatic inflections in the
monophonic virelais typically confirm a tonal center, when the c t returns with the
repetition o f the first musical phrase in Virelai 2 (now with new text), it suddenly shifts
the tonal orientation of the song and destabilizes c and F.

169
The cantus voice in relation to texture
Despite the similarities in details of syntax between the monophonic virelais and
Machaut’s polyphonic songs, some features of large-scale tonal organization in the
monophonic virelais contrast significantly with the corresponding cantus lines in
Machaut’s polyphonic ballades and rondeaux. In the monophonic virelais, the distinctive
approach to ouvert-clos organization, register, and the relationship between initial and
final pitches, arises from genre characteristics. The stylistic constraints of the early
virelais in their dance-song function (or, at least, dance-song model) and their
monophonic status, contribute directly to the perception of tonal structure.
Although many scholars have generalized that clos cadences conclude a second or
third lower than their ouvert counterparts in the fourteenth-century repertory, a close
examination o f Machaut’s secular songs outlines a more complex situation and a
distinction between genre groups.23 The ouvert and clos cadences of Machaut’s virelais
demonstrate the greatest consistency. O f the monophonic and polyphonic virelais which
contain ouvert and clos endings (two-thirds of Machaut’s total virelai output), the cantus
always ends lower at the clos, mostly by second, sometimes by third, and twice by fifth
(see EX. S-1S). Similarly, in the ouvert and clos endings o f the ballades and the medial
and final endings of the rondeaux, i f the cantus ends lower in the clos or the final, it is
always by second or third (see EX. 5-15).
23 Lucy Cross (1990), for example, indicates in relation to fourteenth-century ballades and rondeaux, that
" . . .a brief inspection of that repenoire bears out our expectation at this point that the overwhelming
number of ouvert endings both in tenor and cantus parts (as these voices are usually an 8ve apart at the
cadences) are a whole step above their respective clos ” "Chromatic Alteration and Evtrahexachordal
Intervals in Fourteenth-Century Polyphonic Repertories” (PhD. Dissertation. Columbia University: Ann Arbor:
University Microfilms, Order no. 9118548), 148. Acknowledging that what may be true for Machaut may
not be true for the fourteenth-century repertory' as a whole, 1 would suggest that my findings for Machaut s
output warrant a more thorough examination of the rest of the fourteenth-century French repertory'.

170
Example 5-15 D istribution o f cantus voices which are lower in the clos than in the ouvert
second third fifth total:

Virelais 13 6 2 21 (of 21)*
Rondeaux 11 1 12 (of 21)
Ballades 15 13 28 (of 41)+
total: 39 20 2 61 (of 83)
+ Includes the monophonic B37, but not the canonic B17.

* Only 2 1 of the 33 virelais have ouvert and clos endings.
But sometimes the cantus ends on a higher pitch at the clos or final cadence, by a
•ya Ar * •* an
semitone, a third, a fourth, and in single instances each, a sixth* or a seventh
higher than the ouvert or medial (see EX. 5-16).
Example 5-16 Distribution o f cantus voices which are higher in the clos than in the
ouvert
semitone third fourth sixth seventh total:

Virelais 0 (of 21)*
Rondeaux 1 5 2 8 (of 21)
Ballades 4 4 3 1 1 13 (of 41)+
total: 5 9 5 1 1 21 (of 83)
+ Includes the monophonic B37. but not the canonic B17.

* Only 21 of the 33 virelais have ouven and clos endings.
The ballades and rondeaux clearly demonstrate a much greater variety in the relationship
between ouvert and clos cantus pitches than the virelais. Much of this has to do with
~4 Significantly, all of the ballades which end a semitone higher in the clos cadence than the ouvert. end on
a in the cantus at the ouvert and on bt> at the clos. In Ballade 3 the cantus is the lowest voice of an a/c third,
in Ballade 16 the upper voice of an Ftt/a third, and in Ballade 25 and Ballade 42/RF5. the fifth above D.
The cantus of Rondeau 18 ends on G with the medial on Fit.
25 Ballades 29. 38.40 and 4 1/RF4. and Rondeaux 1.2 .4.9, and 20.
26 Ballades 4. 15 and 22. and Rondeaux 7 and 11.
:7 Ballade 30.
a Ballade 21.

171
their stylistic differences.29 If the monophonic virelais are to assume a dance quality,
whether or not they are actually danced to, their large-scale structure requires some
predictability. Since the ballades and rondeaux come from a tradition of songs to be
listened to, the composer has the freedom to experiment with the tonal organization. In
the ballades especially, ouvert cadences are often imperfect sonorities that either relate
back to the opening sonority or ahead to the clos, which partially explains the greater
variety in ouvert-clos structuring in the ballades.30
The cantus lines in Machaut’s monophonic virelais distinguish themselves from
the cantus lines in his polyphonic songs in large-scale tonal design. Although almost half
(32 of 66) of Machaut’s polyphonic cantus lines share the same initial and final pitches
(see EX. 5-18), only 2 of 25 monophonic virelais begin and end on the same pitch (see
EX. 5-17). Only one monophonic virelai begins on a pitch lower than it ends, and more
than half o f Machaut’s monophonic virelais follow a general downward trajectory of at
least a fifth from initial to final pitch (see EX. 5-17). I would venture that this
discrepancy represents a distinct difference in Machaut’s conception of monophonic and
polyphonic cantus lines. This difference supports my earlier claim that the polyphonic
fabric as a whole needs to be considered in order to assess tonal structure in Machaut’s
29 Jehoash Hirshberg claimed that sixty per cent of Machaut’s ouvert cadences in the ballades end on the
second degree, while forty per cent end on the third degree. These statistics do not hold, howev er, even
when assessing the tenor voice. The tenor in 42 of 68 clos cadences in the polyphonic virelais. ballades and
rondeaux, end a second or third lower than the ouvert. The ballades, in fact demonstrate the greatest
variety: tenor voices at the clos may end a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh lower than the
ouvert or a semitone or third higher. Hirshberg (1971), T h e Music of the Late Fourteenth Century: A Study
in Musical Style” (Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Pennsylvania: Ann Arbor University Microfilms. Order
no. 7126031). 61-62.
30 See the discussion of imperfect sonority cadences in chapter three, p.93 IT. and the discussion of Ballades
15. 26 and 16 in chapter four. pp. 119-126.

172
polyphonic songs.31 Tonal areas in polyphony are established by the two or more voices
that are involved, which means that one voice may appear to be stable when examined in
isolation, but its role can change significantly when it is heard in a contrapuntal setting.
In a monophonic context, variation in tonal design relies solely on the movement of the
cantus, a phenomenon easily observed when the cantus begins on one pitch and ends on
another.32
Example 5-17 Distance from initial pitch to final pitch in Machaut’s monophonic virelais
Final C D F G a bh c d f E TOTAL
Distance 4% 12% 28% 40% 8% 4% 4% # %
same V12 V5 2 8%
Down V22 V7 2 8%
second
Down V6 V27/30 V13 4 16%
third V33/RF6
Down
fourth
Down V9 V3 V4 V19 6 24%
fifth V10
V21
Down V2 V8 VI V18 6 24%
sixth V15 V20
Down
seventh
Down V25/28 V14 VII 4 16%
octave V16
Up
second
Up third
Up fourth V17 1 4%
Up fifth
Total: 25
31 See chapter one, pp. 15-16.
32 This procedure is also discemable in Machaut’s lais. An observable difference in the construction or
monophonic and polyphonic cantus lines supports Leech-Wilkinson’s idea that Machaut composed the
cantus lines of polyphonic songs at the same time as the other voice parts, or at least with the other pans
firmly in mind. For my earlier remarks on the simultaneous versus successive debate, see chapter one.
pp. 14-15. Leech-Wilkinson (1984). "Machaut’s Rose, lis.” 9-11 in particular, and (1993). "Le Voir Dit and
La Messe de Nostre Dame: Aspects of Genre and Style in Late Works of Machaut” Plainsong and Medieval
Music 2:43-73.

173
Example 5-18 Distance from initial pitch to final pitch in the cantus voice o f Machaut’s
polyphonic secular songs
Final C D F G a bb c d f 8 TOTAL
Distance 8% 9% 14% 41% 23% 6% # %
same B12 R18 R1 BI0B18B22 B4B13 R4 32 48%

V30 B24 B27 B31 B21 R20
B33 B35B41 B23 R6
R2 R3 R8 R9 R7RU
R10R13 R15 V28
R17R21
Down B6 R19 B2 B9B14 6 9%
2nd R5
Down 3rd B3 BS B28 8 12%
B8
B16
B25
B36
B42
Down 4th B7 B26 B30 5 8%
B39
R22
Down Sth V29 B20 B ll V23 7 11%
V32 R12
V31
Down 6th V26 I 2%
Down 7th
Down8ve
Up 2nd V24 B15 B32 3 5%
Up 3rd B19 B1 2 3%
Up 4th
Up Sth B38 B40 2 3%
Total: 66
Machaut’s monophonic virelais also exhibit a difference in register from the cantus lines
in his polyphonic songs, which can be observed through a comparison of final pitches.
(Compare the location of final pitches in EXX. 5-17 and 5-18 to see the marked contrast
in the cantus lines of Machaut’s monophonic virelais and his polyphonic songs.) Only
two of 25 cantus voices (8%) in Machaut’s monophonic virelais end on a pitch higher
than a, compared to 55 of 66 cantus voices (83%) in Machaut’s polyphonic songs. The
contrast is extreme, and because all but one of Machaut’s monophonic songs are virelais

174
and early chronologically, it is difficult to determine whether the different approach to
register has to do primarily with genre, chronology, or number of voices. The most
plausible explanation could add another layer to the successive versus simultaneous
debate in terms o f fourteenth-century compositional practice: when fourteenth-century
composers were writing cantus voices with tenor parts in mind, to allow space for
interaction between the voices the cantus parts would be conceived, at least notationally,
higher in register than they would be if they were written to stand alone.
Parsine phrases in Machaut’s rondeaux
In the focus on virelais, the discussion of genre up to this point has been
inextricable from a comparison of monophonic and polyphonic procedures and some
consequences for the establishment and perception of tonal structure. Machaut's
rondeaux, which are all polyphonic, pose other kinds of concerns for issues which relate
to the perception of tonal structure, specifically in the relationship between text and
music. As Gilbert Reaney writes, long melismas are “almost bound to occur in the
Rondeaux, where only two lines o f text take up the entire composition.”33 For the
listener (or analyst), the play on the sound of particular phonemes and the phonetic
relationship between words, often comes out much more strongly in the rondeaux than a
clear declamation o f the poetic text. The long melismas, lasting from four to, in one case,
28 measures, can make it difficult to parse textual-musical phrases because cadences can
appear musically before a new syllable of text arrives.
33 Gilbert Reaney (1971). Guillaume de Machaut. Oxford Studies of Composers 9 (London: Oxford
University Press), 19.

175
Less adherence to the integrity o f individual words means that both the singer and
the listener must rely on musical elements alone either to determine the phrasing or to
guide the ear toward structural sonorities. For instance, although the setting of “m’a” in
Rondeau 8, Vo dous regars, douce dame, m 'a mort (EX. 5-19) stretches over 23
imperfect breves, musically cadences arrive at m. 13, m. 16 and m.2l. In each case the
arrival sonority follows almost continuous semibreve and minim activity, and all voices
stop for two full breves (except for the contratenor in m. 13). The performance of the
song requires a level o f interpretation on the part of singers that is seldom encountered in
Machaut’s virelais and ballades. The cadences within the melisma are critically
important to the tonal structuring of the song, more so than the medial cadence, which
concludes the melisma. Although the medial and final cadences provide a
straightforward D/C ouvert/clos picture of the song’s tonal structure (EX. 5-20), the rest
o f the song does not comply to that model and instead emphasizes a tonal center on F
through sustained imperfect sonorities on E/G/b (or E/G/e) and sustained perfect
sonorities on F. The melisma cadences at m. 13 and m. 16 reinforce the F tonal center and
need to be brought into relief in performance, even though they occur mid-word.

176
Example 5-19 Rondeau 8 Vo dous regars, douce dame, m 'a mort\ mm. 10-21
C antus
XE
m'a
m‘a
Contnlcnor
-O-
Tenof
-----------— f — f — * «*L» «. ■ f- ■r^t" ■" h N-

— 1-----? * —o --------------- -----2 1 J L
4 -= — E- t —
rff)— i —A— « •— — S k. . k —fM — K - ^ k - — t -

o ---------------
ri- i— r ,— ~m---- 0 ------------ 5-------

- J - * ------------ F------- _ r — ; -------------* ------
*
t t r f h r ' ^ ------- F----- r—-------'-¥■-------a. * m O----

--- ---------1
---- 1----- ----- 1 ■ y —y z =
re J - c f i mort
mort
k mort
\rm J ■ I—a;--- — r™|---- ^ r ~

*1
S ^ ---------- f -* -
jj P m«h
S
^------- “ 1------------ m1--------U• — = 4 = t =
“ ----------------------■ ------------------------
t£ -- o -

177
Example 5-20 Cadential sonorities in Rondeau 8, Vo dous regard, douce dame, m 'a
mort
O Pl M ED 0 = cantus
ml m3 mS m7 m 10 m. 13 m 16 m 21
♦ = tenor
^ = conuatenor
~«o mcr - ■> t =»—

O P2 FIN
m.22 m.24 m.27 m.32 m 35
Another related technique that arises from the long melismas in Machaut’s
rondeaux and the play on the sound and meaning of syllables or phonemes rather than
syntax o f the poetic text, is the dual function of a textual unit.34 At times either within or
at the beginning of a long melisma, a cadential sonority will coincide musically with the
beginning (or the middle) o f a word textually, which results in a textual fusion between
two phrases. Rondeau 15, Certes, mort oueil richement visa bel, uses this technique in
the first half of the song (EX. 5-21). After the first phrase ends in m.8 the second phrase
initiates a melisma that cadences very clearly in m. 14 on a sustained perfect-sonority
cadence with a new textual unit “oueil”. When phrase three begins, however, no new text
is introduced and the phrase immediately launches into a melisma, presumably with the
vowel sound o f m. 14. The word “oueil” in m. 14 thus marks the end o f phrase two with
clear musical signals, but it also continues through the beginning of phrase three, giving
the word two separate functions in the context of the textual-musical frame of the song.
34 The play on the interaction between sound and meaning is emphasized acutely in the both Rondeau 8
(EX. 5-19) and Rondeau IS (EX. 5-21). In Rondeau 8 the three lines of text set to the long melisma just
described, end with “m’a mort”. “m’amort” and ”ma mort”: the three lines of text which end the first half
of Rondeau 15 are similarly vinuosic in word-play: “visa bel”. “vis a bel”, and “vis Abel”.

178
Example 5-21 Rondeau 15 Certes, mon oueil richement visa bel,; first half
PHRASE 1
|* J 3
f C an tu s
P=P :P ff^ ?
Cer
I---
&
C ontra te n o r
Tenor £ £P
ph ra se :
Eg:::
rH- -—- - - - - 1
ICS.
-
m on
=m=, - j £ T ._ ^ I -
9 : |T ri 1 p# T p —
— —
t i * "" “
-f-p -f #Kif =4 r..=^ ^
—
— 1
9 : rI
'
r - —
1-------------------------
------------------------------
o *
—------i- -- K--- p "P-* « '
PHRASE 3
7*
4 - i - r p
—------------
oueil
~ 1
S- ■ ■ l~ g i r — ^ --------------
— g_ .
— 1 T = -4-----i----------
|p - J a
# f = f =
i l— ,I —t—
? r!— 1r-------- -------------- = r f i p p *— P "i « ff
— 01—
r f — ^ = B = P = i i F f - E f f - j 7T
r n - che -mcnt visa bel
'I
---------- = ! —oz-------------
r— r— j - mf *-------
s 1 -------------------------------- -1---------------- - p —
i =
r \
- r 1-
[ y j . r = H = --- O' -------------
— 1 ----------------

179
Rondeau 6. Cine, un. trese. huit. neuf d ’amour fine
The early Rondeau 6, Cine, un, trese, huit, neuf d ’amourfin e similarly involves
discrepancies between the textual and musical points of articulation.35 Probably written
in the early 1350s, the poem uses a numeric cryptogram (5 1 13 8 9 = e a n h j), solved by
Paulin Paris in 1875 as Jehan or Jehanne, and exudes confidence in the purity of love.36
Example 5-22 Rondeau 6 Cine, un, trese, huit, neuf d amourfin e, edition o f text by
Chichmaref;37 translation mine
Cine, un, trese, huit, neuf d'amour fine Five. one. thirteen, eight, nine with pure love
Vl'ont espris sans dcsfinemcnt Has set me ablaze beyond any measure.
Qu'Espoir vuet que d'amer ne fine. - For Hope wishes that I never stop loving
Cine. un. trese, huit. neuf d'amour fine Five, one. thirteen, eight, nine with pure love.
Si quc plus quc fins ors s'afiinc And so more than pure gold
Mes cuers pour amer finement. My heart purifies itself so as to love with purity
Cine. un. trese. huit nuef d'amour fine Five, one, thirteen, eight, nine with pure love
M'ont espris sans desfincmenL Has set me ablaze beyond any measure.
The poem involves a play on the word 'fine’, which the music highlights by setting 'fine’
to the same long melisma at the end of section A in each of “neuf d’amour fine”, “d’amer
ne fine”, and “fins ors s’affine”. and by setting ‘finement’ to the same long melisma at
35 Rondeau 6, Cine, un, trese, huit, neufd'amour fine, appears for the first time in MS C (F:Pn 1586) dating
from the 1350s.
36 As reported by Lawrence Earp (1995), Guillaume de Machaut: A Guide to Research, 300. See Paulin
Paris, ed. (1875; 1969), Le Livre du Voir-Dit de Guillaume de Machaut ou sont contees les amours de
Messire Guillaume de Machaut et de Peronelle, Dame d ’Armentieres, avec les lettres et les reponses, les
ballades, lais et rondeaux dudit Guillaume et de la dite Peronelle, publie sur trois manuscrits du XlVe
siecle, pour la Societe des Bibliophilesfranqois (Paris; Societe des Bibliophiles francois; reprint; Geneva:
Slatkine); xx The poem was possibly written for the marriage of Charles of Navarre and Jeanne of France
in 1352. or for the marriage of the duke of Normandy and Jeanne de Boulogne in 1350. or for the marriage
of the dauphin Charles and Jeanne de Bourbon. On possible dating and associated events, see Earp’s (1995)
summary in Guillaume de Machaut: A Guide to Research. 33*34. and 300.
3 Vladimir F. Chichmaref, ed. (1909; 1973), Guillaume de Machaut: Poesie lyriques. Edition complete en
deux parties, avec introduction, glossaire etfac-similes publiee sous les auspices de la Faculte d ’Histoire
et de Philologie de Saint-Petersbourg, 2 volumes, continuous pagination (Paris: Champion; Reprint in one
volume. Geneva: Slatkine): 2:571 no.6.

180
the end o f section B in “espris sans definement” and “cuers pour amer finement” (EX. 5-
23).
Example 5-23 Rondeau 6 Cine, un, trese, huit, neufd'amour fine
C an tu s ABCG I
r~-£Tcgg ^ Pr _
Cine.
i---------1
1T enor
m tp- -jr' -I i r
J ABCG
O ©-
O------
A B G OR C
AS ---------- M 6 ------ P*
BCG
I
A r f ‘ ~ f— f |» m --- ------------ - g ' - r - t f f r
—t- r-j— r - M M 1 - ? - ; ------j--------------------
p ) = j
** un. trese. huit. neuf tfa - mour ft
I
-(ffl----- ■ ■ m— —Jszz---
--- 1----- ‘"" 'i— n — --- 1--------1-------- 1 — 1--------1---------
— ------- - i — ---- 1------ ^ --------
1 —»•----- • ---------
* TT
T
— ^-1 — * i f =
7r 1
-------- F * F l V ~ f if 'T l*
r*- * l' T .
^ -----------F --------------
1— ■
ne
i4 j ^y = # = = ^ = — o 1--------------
~o~

181
A BCG i t
O'
r>r :rjfc jp g -.g r .g r k
Nfont es- p m sans de -
o'
g p ai . --eg
ABCG
S e
BG
26 a
r CU _nT?r _Prpr r"r-s- -O—
I t I
-n n — i—
j y ■>
o-
ABCG
_o-
v Q ------------
T
Rondeau 6 begins with a G/d tenor/cantus fifth in MS C, but with a D/d
tenor/cantus octave in later manuscripts. Whichever is the “correct” or preferred reading,
the song as a whole is very centered around the D/d octave with which it ends.38 The
expectation o f a cadential cantus d is set up very early in the song when a c# in m.2
creates an augmented fifth harmonically in order to decorate melodically the directed
progression to E/e, which gives it an immediate ouvert quality. Two inflected imperfect
sonority cadences on E/c# (m.8 and m.24) and the medial E-octave cadence (m l 8),
further create an expectation o f a cadential D/d octave. The first musical phrase ends
38 As Lawrence Eaip points out beginning with a G in the tenor makes the reworking of the melodic
material in m.25 all the more striking. Moreover, the song would align with the seven other Machaut
works that begin on a G sonority and end on D. Lawrence Earp (1991), "Genre in the Fourteenth-Century
French Chanson.” 13S. footnote 22. The D reading of the initial pitch in the tenor would align the song
with two others that both begin and end on D sonorities. Rondeau 4 and Ballade 21. Jchoash Hirshberg
notes a more extensive pitch relationship between Rondeau 6 and Ballade 21, Hirshberg (1980).
"Hexachordal and Modal Structure in Machaul's Polyphonic Chansons.” 31.

mid-line “Cine, un, trese, huit” on an inflected, imperfect sonority cadence (m.8), the first
full breve, sustained sonority since the opening sonority of the song. The implication and
forward impetus o f the imperfect sonority becomes even stronger because o f the
disjunction which follows when the c# leaps up to g, and the E leaps down to C to begin
phrase two. The resolution arrives three measures later: a directed progression picks up
the E/c If imperfect sonority and proceeds to a D octave resolution on a full breve
sustained sonority. All o f the musical elements signal a cadential arrival, yet the
cadential sonority itself coincides with the initial syllable o f the important word “Q-ne”.
The syllable “fi” initiates a long melisma, assuming a dual function in musical terms as a
point of arrival and departure. Singers and listeners must rely on the musical signals
alone to indicate points of tonal articulation throughout the song.
Similarly, in the second section of Rondeau 6, which begins with a short melisma,
the first phrase ends on an E/c# imperfect sonority cadence, on the syllable ‘fi’ in the
middle o f “desfinement”. The cadence occurs mid-word and the coinciding syllable
initiates the long melisma o f the final phrase, again providing a textual unit with a dual
function. This time the cadential function is somewhat undermined by semibreve
movement in the tenor from E up to a, a very clever link, however, to the following
measure which begins with a decorated G/d fifth. The c# of m.24 supported by E below
provides impetus for a D/d octave, the final sonority o f the song, and—in the later
manuscripts—the initial sonority as well; when supported by a below, the a/c# suggests a
G/d fifth resolution, the opening sonority of the song in the MS C version. These
expectations and associations coincide with the reworking o f the opening measures of the
song for the final phrase. In this particular case, a metaphorical interpretation may be
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e cop y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n prohib ited w ith o u t p e rm is s io n .

183
appropriate. What Lawrence Earp says about the reworking o f mm. 1-6 in mm.25-29
could be said about the dual implications of the c# in m.24. “The music loops back on
itself. Machaut has constructed a musical circle here, underlining the importance of the
poetic image o f being without end, sans defmement ,”39
Both Machaut’s monophonic virelais and his polyphonic rondeaux display
characteristic features of tonal structure that are different from the polyphonic ballades
and virelais. Although the agents that create a sense of tonal structure are the same
across genres, the number of voices and the stylistic features associated with different
text types have a direct effect on how the listener takes in the tonal structure of the song.
I have explored only some o f the many relationships among genre, chronology, number
o f voices and tonal structure. Much work remains to be done to see how these findings
for Machaut’s secular fixed-form songs relate to the rest of Machaut’s output and the rest
o f the fourteenth-century French repertory.
39 Earp (1991), “Genre in the Fourteenth-Century French Chanson. " 135.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e c o p y rig h t o w n e r . F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n p rohib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

184
CONCLUSION
Since the nineteenth century, analytical studies and discussions about music often
have arisen either explicitly or implicitly from organicist roots. In its most extreme form,
the organicist model states that in order for a work to have aesthetic value, it must have
arisen from a single musical idea or concept. In the debate over tonal structure in
fourteenth-century music, the organicist construct has driven the desire to have a single
pitch or sonority dominate the pitch organization of a particular song. Some authors take
the suggestion that individual works in the fourteenth-century repertory may have more
than one referential pitch as an implication of a lack of tonal organization. Citing a study
by Sarah Fuller on Ballade 7. J'aim miex languir en ma dure dolour, Yolanda Plumley
writes, “Tw o.. recent studies o f Ars Nova songs have stressed the apparent lack of
systematic tonal organisation in Machaut’s works in particular.. Although Fuller does
suggest that a “messy, multi-faceted structure” might be a preferable way to describe
pitch relationships, and structure more generally, in Ballade 7, the messiness she
describes is in how one can account theoretically for a complex o f associations. It is
much easier to describe in theoretical terms a system o f tonal organization where single
1 Yolanda Plumley (1996), The Grammar o f 14th Century Melody: Tonal Organization and Compositional
Process in the Chansons o f Guillaume de Machaut and the Ars Subtilior (New York and London: Garland
Publishing), 6 and 34. endnote 6. The studies in question ate: Sarah Fuller (1987). "Line. Contrapunctus and
Structure in a Machaut Song,” Music Analysis 6.37-38; and Howard Mayer Brown (1987), "A Ballade for
Mathieu de Foix: Style and Structure in a Composition by Trebor.” Musica disciplina 41: 73-107. with
specific reference to p. 91, footnote 38.

185
pieces fall into individual categories than it is to describe a system of tonal organization
that allows for a multiplicity o f relationships. Fuller, in fact, devotes an entire essay to
Ballade 7, and concludes that it manifests a very sophisticated level o f tonal organization:
The tonal design o i J ’aim miex exhibits a remarkable degree o f integration and
coherence both on the surface and at inner structural levels. Rather than
exhibiting the characteristics of a tonic-centred, or even a tonic-directed, system,
it presents a carefully adjusted web o f primary and secondary relationships among
the pitches and intervals. The main functions are defined by initial and terminal
positions in phrases and sections. Changes in position, reinforced by adjustments
in the force o f contrapunctus progressions, permit fluid shifts in balance among
the chief referential pitches. Motion from one area of orientation to another
where closure occurs appears to be a central generative premise. Details of voice
leading, line and rhythm are so constituted that final closure is reserved to the last
phrase where various threads cast forth previously are finally woven together2
The analysis amply demonstrates that unless one subscribes fully to the organicist model,
tonal coherence does not have to come from the composing out of a single referential
pitch or sonority.
It is an ironic twist that Heinrich Schenker, perhaps the most outspoken and
influential proponent of organicism that music theory has seen, notoriously dismissed all
pre-tonal contrapuntal music, because he recognized that pre-tonal music does not
compose out tonic triads, i.e. tonic triads do not dominate form.
In the music o f the early contrapuntal epoch, including even Palestrina, the basic
voice-leading events, such as passing tones or neighboring notes, had not yet
come to fruition, like flowers in bud. Who would have suspected, at that time,
that these phenomena, through the process of diminution, were to become form-
generative and would give rise to entire sections and targe forms! Although the
art of prolongation and diminution ultimately expanded and enriched the form, it
was the force of the first passing tone, the first neighboring note, the power of the
first structural division which bound form to take on organic unity; and the
composer had to make these inner necessities of the background his own. Only
when the ear deteriorated did musicians take refuge in the program as the provider
2 Fuller (1987). “Line, Contrapunctus and Structure,” 53.

186
o f form. This meant a flight from musical conscience and from musical
coherence, <which is> the fruit of background alone.3
For Schenker, musical coherence comes only from the prolongation o f the tonic triad.
Similarly trained in tonal, key-based music, some twentieth-century scholars have
proposed tonic-centered theoretical systems to account for coherence in Machaut’s music
as a measure of aesthetic value.
But tonal coherence and aesthetic value can arise through layers of relationships
among several referential pitches, rather than through the dominance o f a single
referential pitch.4 Challenging the organicist paradigm, I have suggested that Machaut’s
secular songs may not represent 'universalist’ tonal patterns, such as tonal types, but
instead relate to each other in a complex network of relationships. By proposing an
approach that responds to aspects of texture, genre and text, I have broadened the scope
of what might be entailed in the investigation of tonal structure. I see tonal structure as
something not just given, a posteriori, in certain fixed features (such as an ending note or
sonority), but as something which unfolds as a song is performed. Rather than imposing
static categories, 1 see tonal structure as arising through a dynamic interaction among
songs, performers and listeners.
Although I have focused almost exclusively on the secular polyphony of
Guillaume de Machaut, it would be valuable to assess the wider fourteenth-century
French and Italian repertories in light of the various techniques I have described. A
comparison o f these techniques across the fourteenth-century repertory as a whole could
3 Heinrich Schenker (1979), Free Composition (Derfreie Satz), Volume III of New Musical Theories and
Fantasies, translated and edited by Ernst Oster (New York and London: Longman). 128.
4 As Sarah Fuller claims in her (1987) study of Ballade 7. in "Line. Contrapunctus and Structure.''

187
tell us much about what is idiomatic to Machaut, or to fourteenth-century French music,
or to fourteenth-century Italian music, thus furthering our understanding o f these
significant and challenging bodies of work.

188
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Machaut Comnlete-Works Manuscripts fin chronological order according to Earn

(1995)):
(C) PARIS, Bibliotheque Nationale, fonds francais 1586
(W) ABERYSTWYTH, National Library of Wales, 5010 C
(Vg) NEW YORK, Wildenstein Collection, MS without shelfmark
(B) PARIS, Bibliotheque Nationale, fonds franâis 1585
(A) PARIS, Bibliotheque Nationale, fonds franâis 1584
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R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n pro hibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

201
Numerical Index of Machaut’s Songs Cited in the Text
(Numbering According to Schrade/Ludwig)
Titles after Earp (1995) Page#

Bl S 'Amours ne fait par sa grace adoucir 32-33.46 fn26, 145, 148. 173
B2 Flelas! tant ay doleur et peinne 34. 144 fn25. 173
B3 On ne porroit penser ne souhaidier 21. 37 fh 16. 90. 147. 149-150. 157 fnl3.
170 fn24, 173
B4 Biaute qui toutes autres pere 40,81. 81 fnl8. 144 fn25. 146, 157 fnl3.
170 fn26. 173
B5 Riches d 'amour et mendians d 'amie 92 fn28, 173
B6 Dous amis, oy mon complaint 93-94. 138. 151 fn29. 173
B7 J 'aim miex languir en ma dure dolour 46 fn26.98. 99 fn37. 138. 173. 184-185.
186 fn4
B8 De desconfort, de martyre amoureus 21, 37 fnl6, 40.46 fn26. 89 fh24. 89-90.
147. 150-151. 157 fnl3. 173
B9 Dame, ne regardez pas 40 fnl9, 87-88. 145. 148, 157 fnl3, 173
BIO Ne pensez pas, dame, que je recroie 138. 151 fn29, 173
B ll N 'en fait n 'en dit n 'en pensee 21. 37 fnl6. 89 fn23, 117-119. 121. 123-
124. 127. 147. 173
B12 Pour ce que tous mes chansfais 40.46 fn26. 50-54. 173
B13 Esperance qui m ’asseure 46 fn26. 46-50. 59-60. 145. 148. 173
B14 Je ne cuit pas qu 'onques a creature 32-33.46 fn26,60 fn38. 81 fn!8. 88-89.
146, 157 fill3, 173
B15 Se je me pleing, je n 'en puis mais 39.40.46 fn26. 99 fn37. 115. 117. 119-
120. 121. 123. 127. 137 fnl6. 138. 140.
151 fn29, 170 fii26, 171 fn30. 173
B16 Dame, comment qu ’amez de vous ne soie 21. 37 fnl6. 117, 123-127, 144 fii25, 147.
149. 157 fnl3. 170 fn24. 171 fn30. 173
B17 Sans cuer m 'en vois, dolens et esplourez/ 142 fn20. 157. 170
Amis, dolens, mazet desconfortez / Dame,
par vous me sens reconfortez
B18 De petit po, de niant volente 40,60 fn39. 80 fnl7. 137 fnl6. 138. 173
BI9 Amours me fait desirer 21, 37 fn!6. 46 fn26.90-91. 142fn21. 142
fii22, 144 fn25, 147. 173
B20 Je suis aussi com cits qui est ravis 59 fn36, 102. 115. 117. 123. 127-129. 145.
148 fn27, 148-149. 173
B21 Se quanque amours puet donner a ami 46 fn26, 59 fn37,81 fi»18. 83, 103 fn39,
146, 170 fn28, 173
B22 II m 'est avis qu 'il n 'est dons de Nature 34-35.40.46 fn26. 57 fn35. 59.64 fh45.
80 fnl7, 86, 103 fn39. 138. 155 fn5. 155
fn8. 157 fnl3. I70fn26. 173
B23 De Fortune me doypleindre et loer 59 fn36. 144 fn25. 146. 173
B24 Tres douce dame que j 'aour 59 fn36, 173
B25 Honte, paour, doubtance de meffaire 21. 37 fnl6. 83. 89 fn24. 144 fn25. 147.
149. 157 fnl3, 170 fii24. 173
B26 Donnez. signeurs, donnez a toutes mains 46 fn26.99 fn37. 117. 121-123. 127. 130
131, 138. 171 fn30. 173
B27 Une vipere en cuer ma dame maint 35. 57 fn35. 64 fn45.85.86. 138. 157
fill 3. 173
B28 Je puis trop bien ma dame comparer 39-40. 98. 133-134. 137 fnl6. 138. 173

202
B29 De iriste cuerfaire joyeusement / Ouant 46 fn26. 91-92, 138. 170 fn25
vrais amans aimme amoureusement /
Certes, je di et s 'en quierjugement
B30 Pas de tor en thies pals 46 fn26.60 fn38. 81 fnl8. 87. 144 fn25.
146. 157 fnl3. 170fn27. 173
B31 De toutesflours n 'avoit et de tous fruis 40,46 fh26. 59 fn36,80, 81. 137 fnl6.
138. 173
B32 Plourez, dames, plourez vostre servant 26, 57-58.61-69.81 fn!8. 103. 135-136.
139, 146. 157 fn 13. 173
B33 Ares qu 'on porroit les estoilles nombrer 46 fn26.68-71. 135-136. 138. 139, 157
fnl3. 173
B34 Ouant Theseds, Hercules et Jason / Ne 59 fn36. 80 fnl7, 137 fnl6. 138
quier veoir la biaute d'Absalon
B35 Gais et jolis, lies, chantans et joieus 138. 173
B36 Se pour ce muir qu ’Amours ai bien servi 21, 32. 37 fnl6. 38, 84. 89 fn23. 144 fn26.
147. 150-151. 173
B37 Dame, se vous m 'estes lointeinne 170
B38 Phyton, le mervilleus serpent 46 fn26. 137 fnl6. 138. 142 fn21. 170
fn25, 173
B39 \fe s esperis se combat a Nature 81 fnl8. 146. 149. 173
B40 Xfa chiere dame, a vous mon cuer envoy 131 fn!2. 138-139. I42fn2l. 145. 148.
170 fn25. 173
B4I/RF4 En amer a douce vie 40. 46 fn26. 138. 170 fn25. 173
B42/RF5 Dame, de qui toute ma joie vient 21-23. 37 fn!6. 89 fn23. 144 fn25. 147.
155 fn6. 155 fn8. 170 fn24. 173
Rl Dous viaire gracieus 19. 20. 37 fnl6. 46 fn26.46 fn27. 54-56.
89 fn24, 142 fn21. 144 fn25. 147. 170
fn25. 173
R2 Flelas! pour quoy se demente et complaint 40 fn l9.88-89. 138. 170 fn25. 173
R3 Merci vous pri, ma douce dame chiere 40. 138. 173
R4 Sans cuer, dolens, de vous departirai 87-88. 104 fn42. 145. 157 fnl3. 170 fn25.
173
R5 Quant j 'ay I 'espart 46 fn26. 81 fn l8.81. 92-93. 146. 173
R6 Cine, un. trese, huit, neuf d'amour fine 27.60 fn39. 81 fnl8. 141 fnl8. 146. 173.
179-183
R7 Se vous n 'estes pour mon guerredon nee 81 fnl8. 85. 146. 170fn26. 173
R8 Vo dous regars, douce dame, m 'a mort 40,46 fii26, 138, 173. 175-177
R9 Tant doucement me sens emprisonnes 35. 138. 170 fn25, 173
RIO Rose, lis, printemps, verdure 40-43. 82-83, 137 fnl6. 138. 173
RU Comment puet on miex ses maus dire 81 fn!8. 98. 99 fn37. 146. 170 fn26, 173
R12 Ce qui soustient moy, m onneur et ma vie 46 fn26.80 fnl7, 138. 142 fn21. 142 fn22.
173
R13 Dame, se vous n ’avez aperced 46 fn26. 138. 173
RI4 Xfa fin est mon commencement 138. 157
R15 Certes, mon oueil richement visa bel 138, 173. 177-178
R17 Dixetsept, ,v„ .xiii., .xiiii. etquinse 138. 173
R18 Puis qu 'en oubli sui de vous, dous amis 98, 99 fn37, 99-101. 144 fn25. 145. 148
fn27, 170 fn24, 173
R19 Quant ma dame les maus d 'amer m 'aprent 57 fn35.64 fn45. 86. 137 fnl6. 138. 157
fn!3. 173
R20 Douce dame, tant com vivray 145. 148. 170 fn25. 173
R21 Quant je ne voy ma dame n ’ov 137 fnl6. 138-139. 173
R22/RF7 Dame, mon cuer en vous remaint 81 fnl8. 144 fn25. 146. 157 fnl3. 173
VI He! dame de vaillance 172
V2 Loyaute vueil tousjours maintenir 46 fn26. 167-168. 172
V3 Avmi! Dame de valour 172

203
V4 Douce dame jolie 161-163. 172

V5 Comment qu 'a moy lonteinne 172
V6 Se ma dame m 'a guerpi 172
V7 Puis que ma dolour agree 172
V8 Dou mat qui m 'a longuement 172
V9 Dame, je vueil endurer 172
V10 De bonte, de valour 163-165. 172
V I1 He! dame de valour 142 fn22. 172
V12 Dame, a qui 46 fn26, 161. 166-167. 172
V13 Ouant je sui mis au retour 142 fn22, 172
V14 J ’aim sans penser laidure 172
V15 Se mesdisans en acort 160. 172
V16 C'est force, faire le vueil 163. 172
V17 Dame, vostre dous viaire 60. 166. 172
V18 Helas! et comment aroie 172
V19 Diex, Biaute, Douceur, Nature 160. 172
V20 Se d ’amer me repentoie 161. 172
V21/23 Je vivroie liement 172
V22/25 Foy porter 172
V23/26 Tres bonne et belle, mi oueil 82-83. 137 fnl6. 138. 156. 173
V24/27 En mon cuer ha un descort 131 fnl2. 173
V25/28 Tuit mi penser 46 fn26. 172
V26/29 Mors sui, se je ne vous vov 46 fn26. 102-103. 142 fn2l. 144 fn25. 145.
148 fn27. 155 fn7. 155 fn9. 173
V27/30 Liement me deport 46 fn26. 142 fn22. 172
V28/31 Plus dure qu 'un dyamant 81 fnl8. 146. 149. 173
V29/32 Dame, mon cuer emportez 46 fn26. 142 fnl9. 173
V30/36 Se je souspir parfondement 101-102. 142 fnl9. 173
V31/37 Moult sui de bonne heure nee 58. 98. 144 fn25. 145. 148 fn27
V32/38 De tout sui si confortee 26.46 fn26. 104-109. 139-140, 173
V33/RF6 Dame, a vous sans retollir 172

204
Alphabetical Index of Machaut’s Songs Cited in the Text
(Numbering According to Schrade/Ludwig)
Titles after Earp (1995) Page #

B19 Amours me fait desirer 21. 37 fhl6. 46 fn26. 90-91. 142 fn21. 142
fn22. 144 fn25. 147. 173
V3 Aymi! Dame de valour 172
B4 Biaute qui toutes autrespere 40. 81, 81 fnl8, 144 fn25. 146. 157fn!3.
170 fn26. 173
V16 C 'estforce, faire le vueil 163, 172
R12 Ce qui soustient mov, m 'onneur et ma vie 46 fn26. 80 fn 17. 118, 142 fii21, 142 fn22.
173
R15 Certes, mon oueil richement visa bel 138,173,177-178
R6 Cine, un, trese, huit, neufd'amourfine 27,60 fn39. 81 fn!8. 141 fn!8, 146. 173.
179-183
Rl 1 Comment puet on miexses maus dire 81 fnl8. 98,99 fn37, 146, 170 fn26. 173
V5 Comment qu 'a moy lonteinne 172
VI2 Dame, a qui 46 fn26. 161. 166-167. 172
V33/RF6 Dame, a vous sans retoilir 172
B16 Dame, comment qu amez de vous ne soie 21,37fnl6. 117. 123-127. 144 fn25. 147.
149. 157 fnl3. 170 fn24. 171 fn30. 173
B42/RF5 Dame, de qui toute majoie vienl 21-23. 37 fn l6 ,89 fn23. 144 fn25, 147.
155 fn6. 155 fn8. 170 fn24. 173
V9 Dame, je vueil endurer 172
V29/32 Dame, mon cuer emportez 46 fn26. 142 fnl9. 173
R22/RF7 Dame, mon cuer en vous remaint 81 fnl8. 144 fn25. 146. 157 fnl3. 173
B9 Dame, ne regardezpas 40 fn l9.87-88. 145, 148. 157 fnl3. 173
B37 Dame, se vous m ’estes lointeinne 170
R13 Dame, se vous n ’avez aperceu 46 fn26. 138. 173
V17 Dame, vostre dous viaire 60.166.172
V10 De bonte, de valour 163-165. 172
B8 De desconfort, de martvre amoureus 21. 37 fn 16. 40. 46 fn26.89 fn24. 89-90.
147, 150-151. 157 fn!3. 173
B23 De Fortune me doy pleindre et loer 59 fn36. 144 fn25, 146. 173
B18 De petit po, de niant volente 40.60 fh39. 80 fnl7.137 fnl6. 138. 173
V32/38 De lout sui si confortee 26,46 (n26. 104-109. 139-140. 173
B31 De toutesflours n 'avoit et de tous fruis 40.46 fn26. 59 fn36.80. 81. 137 fn 16.
138. 173
B29 De triste cuer faire joveusement / Quant 46 fn26.91-92. 138, 170 fn25
vrais amans aimme amoureusement /
Certes, je di et s 'en quierjugement
VI9 Diex, Biaute, Douceur, Nature 160. 172
R17 Dixet sept, .v., .xiii., .xiiii. etquinse 138.173
B26 Donnez, signeurs, donnez a toutes mains 46 fn26.99 fn37. 117. 121-123. 127. 130
131. 138. 171 fn30. 173
V8 Dou mal qui m ’alonguement 172
V4 Douce dame jolie 161-163.172
R20 Douce dame, tant com vivray 145. 148. 170 fn25. 173
B6 Dous amis, ov mon complaint 93-94. 138. 151 fn29. 173
Rl Dous viairegracieus 19,20.37 fn l6.46 fn26.46 fn27. 54-56.
89 fn24. 142 fn21. 144 fn25. 147. 170
fn25, 173
B41/RF4 En amer a douce vie 40,46 fn26. 138. 170 fn25. 173

205
V24/27 En mon cuer ha un descort 131 fnl2. 173

B13 Esperance qui m 'asseure 46 fn26.46-50. 59-60. 145. 148. 173
V22/25 Foy porter 172
B35 Gais et jolis, lies, chantans et joieus 138, 173
VI He! dame de vaillance 172
VII He! dame de valour 142 fn22. 172
V18 Helas! et comment aroie 172
R2 Flelas! pour quoy se demente et complaint 40 fn l9.88-89. 138, 170 fn25, 173
B2 Helas! tant ay doleur et peinne 34. 144 fn25, 173
B25 Honte, paour, doubtance de mejfaire 21. 37 fn 16. 83. 89 fn24. 144 fn25. 147.
149, 157 fnl3, I70fn24, 173
B22 11 m 'est avis qu 'il n 'est dons de Nature 34-35.40.46 fn26. 57 fn35. 59.64 fn45.
80 fn l7.86. 103 fn39. 138. 155 fn5, 155
fn8, 157 fnl3, 170fn26. 173
B7 J ’aim miex languir en ma dure dolour 46 fn26, 98. 99 fn37, 138, 173. 184-185.
186 fn4
V14 J 'aim sans penser laidure 172
BI4 Je ne cuit pas qu 'onques a creature 32-33,46 fn26.60 fn38. 81 fnl8. 88-89.
146. 157 fnl3. 173
B28 Je puis trop bien ma dame comparer 39-40.98. 133-134. I37fnl6. 138, 173
B20 Je suis aussi com cils qui est ravis 59 fn36, 102, 115. 117. 123. 127-129. 145.
148 fn27, 148-149. 173
V2I/23 Je vivroie liement 172
V27/30 Liement me deport 46 fn26. 142 fn22. 172
V2 Loyaute vueil tous jours maintenir 46 fn26. 167-168, 172
B40 Ma chiere dame, a vous mon cuer envoy 131 fn!2. 138-139. 142 fn2l. 145. 148.
170 fn25, 173
R14 Ma fin est mon commencement 138. 157
R3 Merci vous pri, ma douce dame chiere 40, 138. 173
B39 Mes esperis se combat a Nature 81 fnl8, 146. 149, 173
V26/29 Mors sui, se je ne vous voy 46 fn26. 102-103. 142 fn21. 144 fn25. 145.
148 fn27. 155 fn7. 155 fn9. 173
V31/37 Moult sui de bonne heure nee 58. 98. 144 fn25. 145. 148 fn27
B ll N ’en fait n ’en dit n ’en pensee 21. 37 fnl6. 89 fn23. 117-119. 121. 123-
124. 127. 147. 173
BIO Ne pensez pas, dame, que je recroie 138, 151 fn29. 173
B33 Nes qu ’on porroit les estoilles nombrer 46 fn26.68-71, 135-136. 138. 139, 157
fnl3, 173
B3 On ne porroit penser ne souhaidier 21, 37 fnl6. 90, 147. 149-150. 157 fn!3.
170 fh24, 173
B30 Pas de tor en thies pals 46 fn26.60 fn38. 81 fnl8. 87. 144 fn25,
146. 157 fn!3, 170fn27. 173
B38 Phyton, le mervilleus serpent 46 fn26. 137 fnl6. 138. 142 fn21. 170
fn25. 173
B32 Plourez. dames, plourez vostre servant 26.57-58.61-69.81 fnl8. 103. 135-136.
139. 146. 157 fnl3. 173
V28/31 Plus dure qu ’un dyamant 81 fnl8. 146. 149. 173
B12 Pour ce que tous mes chansfais 40.46 fn26. 50-54. 173
R18 Puis qu ’en oubli sui de vous. dous amis 98.99 fh37. 99-101. 144 fn25. 145. 148
fn27. 170 fn24. 173
V7 Puis que ma dolour agree 172
R5 Ouantj 'av I ’espart 46 fn26.81 fn l8.81.92-93. 146. 173
R21 Ouantje ne voy ma dame n ’oy 137 fnl6. 138-139. 173
V13 Ouant je sui mis au retour 142 fn22. 172
RI9 Quant ma dame les maus d ’amer m 'aprent 57 fn35.64 fn45.86. 137 fnl6. 138. 157
fnl3. 173

206
B34 Ouant Theseus, Hercules et Jason / Ne 59 fn36, 80 fnl7, 137 fnl6. 138
quier veoir la biaute d'Absalon
B5 Riches d'amour et mendians d ’amie 92 fn28. 173
RIO Rose, Us, printemps, verdure 40-43.82-83. 137 fnl6, 138, 173
B1 S'Amours ne fait par sa grace adoucir 32-33,46 fn26. 145. 148. 173
B17 Sans cuer m ’en vois, dolens et esplourez 142 fn20, 157, 170
Amis, dolens, maz et desconfortez / Dame,
par vous me sens reconfortez
R4 Sans cuer, dolens, de vous departirai 87-88. 104 fn42, 145, 157 fnl3. 170 fn25.
173
V20 Se d'amer me repentoie 161.172
B15 Se je me pleing.je n ’en puis mais 39. 40,46 fn26, 99 fn37. 115. 117. 119-
120. 121. 123. 127. 137 fnl6, 138. 140.
151 fn29, 170 fn26, 171 fn30. 173
V30/36 Se je souspir parfondement 101-102. 142 fnl9, 173
V6 Se ma dame m 'a guerpi 172
V15 Se mesdisans en acort 160.172
B36 Se pour ce muir qu Amours ai bien servi 21. 32.37 fnl6, 38. 84. 89 fn23. 144 fn26.
147. 150-151, 173
B21 Se quanque amourspuet donner a ami 46 fn26. 59 fn37, 81 fnl8, 83. 103 fn39.
146. 170 fn28. 173
R7 Se vous n'estes pour mon guerredon nee 81 fnl8, 85. 146,170 fn26. 173
R9 Tant doucement me sens emprisonnes 35. 138. 170 fn25. 173
V23/26 Tres bonne et belle, mi oueil 82-83. 137 fnl6. 138, 156. 173
B24 Tres douce dame que j 'aour 59 fn36. 173
V25/28 Tuit mi penser 46 fn26. 172
B27 Une vipere en cuer ma dame maint 35. 57 fn35. 64 fn45. 85.86. 138. 157
fnl3. 173
R8 Vo dous regars, douce dame, m 'a mart 40,46 fn26. 138. 173. 175-177

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and the Problem of Tonal Structure

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for the Degree of

State University of New York

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THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

Jennifer Lvnnc Bain

Doctor of Philosophy degree,

hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation.

fane Sugarman, Associate Professor, Dept, of Music

Lawrence Earp, Professor, School of Music

This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School

Dean o f the Graduate School

R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n prohibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

Fourteenth-Century French Secular Polyphony

and the Problem of Tonal Structure