The ''Montpellier Codex'' (''Montpellier, Bibliothèque Inter-Universitaire, Section Médecine, H196'') is an important source of 13th-century French

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

. The ''Codex'' contains 336 polyphonic works probably composed c. 1250–1300, and was likely compiled c. 1300. It is believed to originate from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. It was discovered by musicologist

Edmond de Coussemaker Charles Edmond Henri de Coussemaker (19 April 1805 – 10 January 1876) was a French musicologist and ethnologist focusing mainly on the cultural heritage of French Flanders. With Michiel de Swaen and Maria Petyt, he was one of the most eminent d ...

in c. 1852.

Format and contents

The ''Montpellier Codex'' can be roughly divided into 8 fascicles, each of which contain discrete

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

s of music. The format of the ''Codex ''is as follows: * 1.

Liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

polyphony (ff. 1r-22r) * 2. French triple

motets In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margare ...

, consisting of a ''

cantus firmus In music, a ''cantus firmus'' ("fixed melody") is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition. The plural of this Latin term is , although the corrupt form ''canti firmi'' (resulting from the grammatically incorrect tr ...

'' with three

contrapuntal In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

lines above it (ff. 23v-61r) * 3.

Macaronic Macaronic language uses a mixture of languages, particularly bilingual puns or situations in which the languages are otherwise used in the same context (rather than simply discrete segments of a text being in different languages). Hybrid words ...

double motets, consisting of a ''cantus firmus'' with two contrapuntal lines above it (ff. 63v-86v) * 4. Latin double motets (ff. 87v-111r) * 5. French double motets (ff. 111v-227r) * 6. French two-voice motets (ff. 231r-269v) * 7 & 8. Three-voice motets, possibly compiled later than fascicles 2-6 (ff. 270r-397v) There are also supplements added to fascicles 3, 5, and 7. Because of the different systems of

notation In linguistics and semiotics, a notation is a system of graphics or symbols, characters and abbreviated expressions, used (for example) in artistic and scientific disciplines to represent technical facts and quantities by convention. Therefore, ...

used in fascicles 2-6 and fascicles 7-8, the ''Montpellier Codex'' has become a crucial source for the chronology of styles of French medieval polyphony.

Music

The ''Montpellier Codex'' is a critical source for what are known as "Pre-Franconian" and "Franconian" motets, after

Franco of Cologne Franco of Cologne (; also Franco of Paris) was a German music theorist and possibly a composer. He was one of the most influential theorists of the Late Middle Ages, and was the first to propose an idea which was to transform musical notation per ...

. While the music in the ''Codex'' is anonymous, a number of attributions can be made, either because of concordances in other manuscripts or on the basis of stylistic similarity, to

Pérotin Pérotin () was a composer associated with the Notre Dame school of polyphony in Paris and the broader musical style of high medieval music. He is credited with developing the polyphonic practices of his predecessor Léonin, with the introdu ...

(from fascicle 1),

Petrus de Cruce Petrus de Cruce (also Pierre de la Croix) was active as a cleric, composer and music theorist in the late part of the 13th century. His main contribution was to the notational system. Life 13th-century composer, theorist, and scholar, Petrus de ...

Adam de la Halle Adam de la Halle (1245–50 – 1285–8/after 1306) was a French poet-composer ''trouvère''. Among the few medieval composers to write both monophonic and polyphonic music, in this respect he has been considered both a conservative and progr ...

, Guillaume d'Auvergne, and

Philippe le Chancelier Philippe le Chancelier, also known as "Philippus Cancellarius Parisiensis" (Philip, Chancellor of Paris) (''c'' 1160–December 26, 1236) was a French theologian, Latin lyric poet, and possibly a composer as well. He was the illegitimate son of Phi ...

. Many of the ''cantus firmi'' are taken from the chants of Notre Dame. While fascicle 1 consists of sacred polyphony, mostly from the

Notre Dame school The Notre-Dame school or the Notre-Dame school of polyphony refers to the group of composers working at or near the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250, along with the music they produced. The only composers whose names hav ...

, the largest body of music in the ''Codex'' is the collection of French

courtly love Courtly love ( oc, fin'amor ; french: amour courtois ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing vari ...

motets. Previously, the motets in the collection were not considered to be

isorhythm Isorhythm (from the Greek for "the same rhythm") is a musical technique using a repeating rhythmic pattern, called a ''talea'', in at least one voice part throughout a composition. ''Taleae'' are typically applied to one or more melodic patterns o ...

ic, as it was felt that the first isorhythmic motets—those of

Philippe de Vitry Philippe de Vitry (31 October 1291 – 9 June 1361) was a French composer-poet, bishop and music theorist in the style of late medieval music. An accomplished, innovative, and influential composer, he was widely acknowledged as a leading musi ...

—were not to be composed until the first decades of the 14th century. Recently, however, Michael Lanford has noted that "of the 148 double and triple motets in fascicles two through five of the ''Montpellier Code''x, 114 have repeating colores." After analyzing several motets, he also demonstrates that "each of Richard Hoppin's 'three isorhythmic procedures' which inform 'future developments of the form' can be found in select tenors from the Old Corpus f the ''Montpellier Codex'' often in ways that demonstrate resourceful approaches to managing the rhythmic modes." For these reasons, Lanford contends that "by glossing over the presence of isorhythmic techniques in thirteenth-century motets, such as those found in fascicles two through five of the ''Montpellier Codex'', scholars have thus limited the appellation of 'isorhythm' using criteria that is well-reasoned, yet perhaps unnecessarily restrictive." One motet in the ''Codex'' was copied from a polyphonic composition by

Willelmus de Winchecumbe W. de Wycombe (Wicumbe, and perhaps Whichbury) (late 13th century) was an English composer and copyist of the Medieval era. He was precentor of the priory of Leominster in Herefordshire. It is possible that he was the composer of one of the most f ...

(fl. 1270s).

Notes

External links

Facsimiles
of the codex at the Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire Médecine de Montpellier
General information and complete index of the codex
at the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music

References

* Bradley, Catherine and Karen Desmond. The Montpellier Codex: The Final Fascicle. Contents, Contexts, and Chronologies. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell, 2018. * Lanford, Michael. (2011). "A Reevaluation of Isorhythm in the "Old Corpus" of the Montpellier Codex." ''College Music Symposium 51''. Retrieved from http://symposium.music.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=13:a-reevaluation-of-isorhythm-in-the-old-corpus-of-the-montpellier-codex&Itemid=116 * Parsoneault, Catherine. ''The Montpellier Codex: Royal Influence and Musical Taste in Late Thirteenth-century Paris (France)''. Ph.D Diss., U of Texas, 2001 * "Sources, MS, V, 2: Early motet", in ''Grove Music Online'' (Accessed October 9, 2006)
(subscription access)
* Tischler, Hans. ''The Montpellier Codex.'' Madison, Wis. : A-R Editions, 1978. ''(Critical edition of the codex)'' * Wolinski, Mary Elizabeth. ''The Montpellier Codex''. Ph.D Diss., Brandeis University, 1988. {{Authority control Ars antiqua Medieval music manuscript sources Music illuminated manuscripts 13th-century illuminated manuscripts

Format and contents

Music

See also

Notes

External links

References