which were as liturgically bare as one could get.
It was one of the early Avignon popes who issued the most famous of all antimusical screeds. Pope
John XXII, Clement’s successor, was born Jacques Duèse in 1244, in the Provençal town of Cahors (a
little to the north of Toulouse), and reigned from 1316 to his death in 1334. His bull, Docta sanctorum,
promulgated in 1323, complained bitterly about hockets, “depraved” discants, and “wanton”
polytextuality (“upper parts made of secular songs”).^1 These motettish extravagances were to be
condemned, but “consonances” that respected the integrity of the sacred texts were judged desirable,
because music, in moderation, can “soothe the hearer and inspire his devotion, without destroying
religious feeling in the minds of the singers.” John might have been describing the Ordinary settings in the
Apt and Ivrea codices.
Both manuscripts were fairly late artifacts of papal Avignon. Ivrea, the earlier of the two, was
compiled around 1370. We have already encountered it as a source for one of Philippe de Vitry’s motets
(Ex. 8-3; Fig. 8-4). Apt was not put together until the time of the antipopes, about thirty years later. The
music these sources contain could have been composed at any time up to the date of its inscription. That
music consists not of complete or “cyclic” ordinary settings but of individual items (“Mass movements,”
as they are sometimes called, rather misleadingly) and occasional pairs. As a sample of Avignon service
music, Ex. 9-11 contains the first section of a Kyrie from the Apt Manuscript. Motet-style hockets make an
occasional appearance, and John XXII might not have entirely approved, but they are sung in the course of
a melisma and no words are obscured. The piece is attributed to a local composer named Guymont.
When Ordinary settings were paired, it was primarily on the basis of shared textual characteristics,
only secondarily on musical grounds. That is to say the Gloria and Credo, which contrast with the other
Ordinary items by virtue of their lengthy prose texts, were a natural pair. Another natural pair were the
Kyrie and the Agnus Dei, both of which are repetitive petitions or litanies. The Sanctus, though not a
prayer, has a short repetitive text and could make an effective pair with either the Kyrie or the Agnus Dei.
Finally, the Kyrie and the dismissal (Ite, missa est) were frequently set to the same chant melody and
could thus easily be paired in polyphonic settings. Once selected for pairing, ordinary settings were
furnished with shared musical characteristics like those of the Kyrie and Ite, ranging from the general
(common mode, similar vocal complement, and ranges) to the more particular (common textural styles,
mensuration schemes, or even, occasionally, a joint fund of melodic ideas).
A Gloria and a Credo from the Ivrea manuscript show many of these common features. They were in
all likelihood conceived and executed as a pair by the anonymous composer, although they are not
presented that way in the manuscript, where all the Kyries are grouped together for ease of reference,
followed by a section of Glorias, one of Credos, and so on. Their beginnings, together with an incipit
showing the original clefs and mensuration signs, are given in Ex. 9-12.
The clefs (which determine the vocal ranges) and the mensurations are among the factors linking them.
They also share a final (D, making them Dorian or “minorish” pieces), which means that they will also
share characteristic melodic turns and cadential patterns. Finally, they are both cast in the top-down
cantilena texture. Only the top part is texted, which of course favors clarity of enunciation. The tenor and
contratenor were probably meant to be vocalized, but the church organ could also have been used to
accompany a soloist. Scholars are still debating this and many other points of “performance practice.”
EX. 9-11 Guymont, Kyrie