Machaut and the 'Critical' Phase of Medieval Polyphony

Polyphonic approaches to word setting create two broad genres: 'consensual', where the voices sing the same words, and 'critical', where they express differing views. This division illuminates two phases in the development of polyphony during the Middle Ages: the first, up to the end of the twelfth century, was concerned with the cultivation of consensual genres—organum and conductus (versus) in the twelfth century itself. The second phase was a critical one. Its inauguration was marked in the thirteenth century by a sharp contrast with what had preceded it, as the motet emerged from the clausula. The genre was typified at this time by the combination of contrasting voices in diverse ways. Musical art of the fourteenth century transferred this critical voice into the domain of vernacular song. The critical voices were now usually wordless, possibly instrumental; so it was music itself that commented on the verbal expression of the poem, a parodic and abstractive voice symptomatic of aestheticism. The fifteenth century was simultaneously a period of retrenchment and synthesis, a divided agenda that manifested itself in polyphonic pluralism, as the different styles of mass, motet, and song asserted themselves. The rise of the imitation principle represented the end of the critical phase and the dawning of a new consensual one. Historiography of the time saw this as polyphony's coming of age.

The development of polyphony is one of the most important strands of medieval music history, as a casual glance at any textbook will reveal. It will not be so obvious from that same glance that word setting is central to it. Andrew Hughes's Style and Symbol is an honourable exception for addressing the matter in depth.¹ Yet as the historical sketch given above implies, word setting defines the stages of development no less precisely than do changing attitudes to consonance and dissonance and increasing sophistication in the notation of rhythm. In part a monolothic conception of the Middle Ages as a unified historical period has obstructed more strongly characterized depictions of its various stages. 'Medieval music, as a rule, makes little effort to reflect either the emotions or the meanings of its texts',² states Richard Hoppin in an uncharacteristically unguarded assertion. Such a claim reflects a common tendency, encouraged by fragmentary survival of the music, for musicologists of medieval music to think in general terms about, say, liturgical chant or troubadour song. The emergence of these repertories over long periods of time and in different places must guard against ready acquiescence in broad generalizations about style and aesthetic.

There has been a general awakening to the importance of word setting in writings on medieval music during the last couple of decades or so; and the topic is now usually dealt with in a more three-dimensional manner than formerly. Marie Louise Göllner has been something of a pioneer in this respect. Her early study of fourteenth-century Italian repertory paid close attention to word setting;³ and a chapter in it comparing the songs of Guillaume de Machaut with the contemporaneous Italian madrigal sowed the seeds of later work by her and others, notably Wolfgang Dömling. Now forty years later a collection of her more recent writings has been published.⁴ Its sixteen essays are drawn from thirty years' work, but mostly from the second half of that. Although all have been published before, they are not as well known as they deserve to be, so their reissue is well justified. The essays are organized in five sections, but the bulk of the book is concentrated in the central three dealing with liturgical chant and its polyphonic settings, the motet in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the songs of Guillaume de Machaut. This last section relates directly to the second book under consideration here, a welcome new addition to Machaut bibliography.⁵ Its eighteen essays by as many scholars deal variously with the motet Hé! Mors/Fine Amour/Quare non...