Towards the end of the century, Lays became more rhythmically complex. Machaut was ahead of his time as in his Lay “S’onques douleureusement” he incorporates triple time syncopation which, at the time it was written, was a novelty to him, but demonstrated the increasing complexity of the Lay towards the end of the fourteenth century.
One may say that the Madrigal was Italy’s equivalent to the Lay, although it was very different. It was the most popular form among earlier fourteenth composers, and was, rhythmically quite simple. Lorenzo da Firenze’s madrigal “Dà, dà a chi avareggia” is detailed in the appendix. Madrigals normally consisted of two 3-line stanzas, or terzetti, with each stanza set to the same music. Occasionally an additional musical unit is introduced – a ritornello, which is normally in a different metre. The madrigal has few similarities with the Lay, apart from the one line melody.
The Virelai is another form of French secular music and is, again, by and large monophonic. Some examples are detailed in the appendix. It consists mainly of short lines, but also varying line lengths in the poetry, while the music mostly has one note per syllable. The Virelai also often features melismatic ornamentation, which frequently occurs at cadential points. Initially triple time was the norm, but this gave way to duple time, mainly 2/4 and 3/4, in later works.
The Italian Ballata is clearly comparable to the Virelai, in that it had the same musical form. The structure of the Ballata is detailed below, and some examples may be found in the appendix.
(Abba)
A – Refrain of Represa
bb – number of stanzas, each of which consists of two piedi sung to fresh music
a – volta sung to music of the refrain
The verse itself demonstrates the common feature of ballata form where the refrain (A) is only sung at the beginning and end, while the stanzas follow on one after the other.
The Chace developed in popularity towards the end of the fourteenth century, and the basic principle was that two voices chased each other in musical canon, often to portray hunting scenes. They were vivid, colourful pieces, and demonstrate to an extent the increasing complexity of secular music. The Caccia, also canonic, was Italy’s answer to the Chace, although it may be that it was not as popular, as far fewer examples survive today. It was a genre that was filled with excitement and was used to describe any event that needed vivacity in its portrayal. Examples of both may be found in the appendix.
One main difference between French and Italian secular music was that in Italian ars nova pieces with tow voices, the superius was rhythmically very colourful and somewhat less serrated and stumbling than in contemporary French secular music, and is sung over a more leisurely moving tenor.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of the characteristics of French and Italian secular music, but merely an overview of the main features. This is, however, an account of the progress towards the end of the century. It demonstrates that as the years went by different types of piece became popular in both countries and with each new development they brought the features of both Italian and French secular music to a more equal plain. Towards the middle of the fourteenth century the Lay and Madrigal were both the most popular, but are both very different, as detailed previously. Then the Virelai and Ballata became the most popular, and exhibited a growing similarity between the features. Finally, at the end of the century, the Caccia and Chace were in style, and while both portraying the growing complexity of both countries’ techniques, are both extremely similar.
While it is clear that the traditions of French and Italian secular music drew together towards the end of the fourteenth century, there may be flaws in the argument. It could be disputed that certain composers may have exhibited characteristics of either country, or that others used techniques that were not the norm, such as Machaut who, for example, wrote his Lays in 12-stanza form, rather than the normal irregular form. One must therefore only take a broad overview of the period and characteristics of the two countries to draw a conclusion.
It is clear that there are a number of differences between French and Italian secular music in the mid fourteenth century, and that the two traditions drew closer together towards the end of the century by a similar progression that became more and more alike as the different pieces became popular. It must be remarked that while the Lay and Madrigal were not alike in any great shape or form, they both gave way to more popular pieces at more or less the same time, and these new pieces were more similar than they had been. Then the Chace and Caccia were even more alike so it appears that ‘fashions’ were drawing together between the two countries. In conclusion, one may say that while there were major differences between French and Italian secular music during the mid fourteenth century the two traditions drew closer towards the end of the century due to a universal acceptance of the same type of music at the same time.
Bibliography
- “Anthology of Medieval Music” R. H. Hoppin
- “Historical Anthology of Music” vol. 1 (London 1949) A. T. Davidson & W. Apel (eds)
- “Machaut” (London OUP, 1971) G. Reaney
- “Medieval Music: The Sixth Liberal Art” (TUP, 1974) A. Hughes
- “Medieval Music” (London Hutchinson, 1978) J. Caldwell
- “Medieval Music” R. H. Hoppin
- “Music in Medieval Europe” (Prentice Hall, 1989) J. Yudkin
- “Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century: Italian Secular Music” W. T. Marrocco (ed)
- “Source Readings in Music History” rev. edn. (Norton 1998) L. Treitler
- “The Oxford Anthology of Music: Medieval Music” (OUP, 1977) W. T. Marrocco & N. Sandon (eds)
- “The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Music”
Appendix
- Virelai: Machaut “De bonté, de valour”
- Madrigal: Lorenzo da Firenze “Dà, dà a chi avareggia”
- Caccia: Niccolo de Perugia “Dappoi che’l sole”
- Ballata: Francesco Landini “Questa fanciull’ amor”
- Virelai: Jacob Senleches “La Harpe de melodie”
All examples are from “Anthology of Medieval Music” R. H. Hoppin
