Unusual tenores and independent quotations in fourteenth-century isorhythmic motets
Résumé
Nowadays, key features of fourteenth-century isorhythmic motet composition, especially in France, are well known: in addition to the distinctive pluritextuality, it is possible to mention the repetitions of the tenor (color and talea) or even the overall periodicity of upper voices. Similarly, it has often been underlined that the tenor melody often stems from plainsong. From then on, the cantus firmus is generally accompanied, in manuscripts, by a Latin quotation particularly useful to find the source. These last norms, however, do not apply to all motets of French provenance. Some, mostly composed during the second half of the century, have an obviously invented tenor or an independent quotation, occasionally non-liturgical, and expose in this way a heterogeneous composition.
Thus, this paper will aim to analyse these defining features through a corpus of a few motets preserved in the famous Ivrea and Chantilly manuscripts. Certain compositional paradoxes will be highlighted in particular. Indeed, although these motets seem, at first glance, to move away from conventional processes, they also reveal a respect of traditions. While some melodies can be indirectly connected to liturgical pieces, textual quotations frequently stem from the literary framework of plainsong (Bible or Church Fathers texts). Finally, the composition of the isorhythmic tenor will be revised in light of these features at the end of the fourteenth century.