Compositional Practice in the Fifteenth-Century Motet

Compositional Practice in the Fifteenth-Century Motet
Rob C. Wegman

Handout (2.4 Mb pdf file)

Example 00	Introductory example: ending of Richard Davy, O Domine caeli terraeque creator, The Sixteen directed by Harry Christophers, from The Pillars of Eternity, Music from the Eton Choirbook, 3 (Collins Classics, 13422; 1992).
Example 1a	“Pleni sunt celi,” from Mass De Angelis (Liber Usualis, 39).
Example 1b	“Pleni sunt celi,” three-part simple counterpoint in plainchant notation, arranged in score, from Scottish Anonymous (LonBL Add. 4911).
Example 1c	“Pleni sunt celi” with notes broken according to the rules of countering.
Example 1d	Top voice of Pleni, comparison between simple version (from Ex. 1b) and version “broken” according to the rules of countering (from Ex. 1c).
Example 2a	Deus creator omnium, four-part “contracenture” based on plainchant Kyrie trope in top voice (Scottish Anonymous).
Example 2b	Deus creator omnium, hypothetical original in note-against-note counterpoint.
Example 3	Variant readings in fifteenth-century chansonniers, collected by Howard Mayer Brown.
Example 4a	John Dunstable or Leonel Power, Salve regina, bars 1–24: comparison between versions in (a) the Ritson Manuscript LonBL Add. 5665, and
Example 4b	(b) Italian sources (ModB, AostaS D19, TrentC 90 and Trent 92).
Example 5a	Richard Davy, O Domine caeli terraeque creator, bars 1–9.
Example 5b	Richard Davy, O Domine caeli terraeque creator, bars 1–9 “unbroken.”
Example 5c	Further “unbreaking” of Ex. 5a.
Example 6a	Reginam salvet Deus, five-part florid counterpoint.
Example 6b	Reginam salvet Deus, simple counterpoint, broken.
Example 6c	Simple counterpoint on monophonic tune Reginam salvet Deus.
Example 7	Anonymous, Adoretur beata trinitas, prima pars, bars 1–84 (TrentC 89, fols. 129v–131r, paper dated c.1460–62) written to commemorate the recapture of Bordeaux from English occupation (1451)
Example 8	Deo gratias, five-part music example from Tinctoris, Liber de arte contrapuncti (1477), II.xx, illustrating counterpoint fashioned scripto (as opposed to mente)