It is generally thought that the vertical coincidence of phrase endings among the parts
is stylistically earlier than a staggering of phrase endings. An early motet demonstrating
the vertical coordination of phrase ending is the three-part conductus motet Homo quo
vigeas/Et gaudebit. To form the motet, the duplum has been given the text Homo quo
vigeas and a triplum newly composed in note-against-note style. Staggered phrase
endings occur especially in double motets, such as Ypocrite pseudopontifices/ Velut stelle
firmamenti/Et gaudebit. Another double motet that has staggered phrase endings, O
Maria virgo /O Maria maris stella/In veritate, rhythmically contrasts the parts by setting
the tenor in the fifth rhythmic mode, the motetus in the first, and the triplum in the sixth.
The end-rhymes of the text for Beatis nos adhibe/Benedicamus Domino rhyme with each
syllable of the tenor. It is actually an organum prosula that was used in the liturgy as a
replacement for or trope to the Benedicamus Domino. Like Beatis nos adhibe, many of
the earliest motet texts maintain a tropic relationship to the text of the tenor from which
the clausula has been derived.
The part notation that became the norm in the second half of the century—separate
columns of staves for the upper parts with the tenor running along the bottom of the
page—led to the abandonment of score arrangement in practical sources. In later 13th-
century sources, page turns are sometimes arranged to coordinate with all the parts,
indicating that the singers could perform from the manuscript. There is a rhythmic
distinction between the long, breve, and semibreve, and rhythm-specific ligatures with
modified shapes are introduced. Rests indicated by lines of definite lengths replace the
ambiguous rests that had been determined by modal context.
Trends in the continental repertories of motets at the end of the 13th century included
a number of other significant developments. The Petronian triplum—after Pierre de la
Croix—is characterized by virtuoso declamation of a French text and subdivision of the
breve into more than three semibreves, each carrying its own syllable of text. Pierre’s
own Aucun vont sovent/Amor qui cor vulnerat/ Kyrieleyson is a good example. Secular
cantus firmi were introduced, and binary rhythm is seen in motets like Amor potest
conqueri/Ad amorem seqintur/[Tenor] in the Montpellier codex. Some late 13th-century
French motets tended toward accompanied song, much like Pucelete bele et avenant/Je
languis des maus d’amours/Domino and some motets of the Fauvel manuscript.
Sandra Pinegar
[See also: ADAM DE LA HALLE; ARS ANTIQUA; CANTUS FIRMUS;
CLAUSULA; CONDUCTUS; ORGANUM; NOTRE-DAME SCHOOL; PIERRE DE
LA CROIX; RHYTHMIC MODE]
Everist, Mark. French Motets in the Thirteenth Century: Music, Poetry and Genre. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Huot, Silvia. “Polyphonic Poetry: The Old French Motet and Its Literary Context.” French Forum
14(1989):261–78.
——. “Transformations of Lyric Voice in the Songs, Motets, and Plays of Adam de la Halle.”
Romanic Review 78(1987): 148–64.
Ludwig, Friedrich. “Über die Entstehung und die erste Entwicklung der lateinischen und
französischen Motette in musikalischer Beziehung.” Sammelbände der internationalen Musik-
Gesellschaft 7(1905):514–28.
Page, Christopher. “The Performance of Ars Antiqua Motets.” Early Music 16(1988):147–64.
——. Discarding Images: Reflections on Music and Culture in Medieval France. Oxford:
Clarendon, 1993, pp. 43–111.
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 1210