Missa L'Homme armé

General Commentary

Two Readings of the Missa L'homme armé

There are two extant transmissions of Caron's Missa L'homme armé: VatSP B 80 (VatSP B 80 Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS San Pietro B 80), ff. 99^r-113^r and VatS 14 (VatS 14 Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Cappella Sistina 14), ff. 140^v-152^r — see the Sources. [Go to the sound files of this mass based on VatS 14]

Both sources attribute the mass to Caron as illustrated below:

The San Pietro attribution is only one in that source by the principal scribe Nicholas Ausquier. As the San Pietro graphic above illustrates, the identification (used as this site's monogram) consists of an opening initial plus the word caron. Our interpretation of the initial has considerable influence on scholarship's quest in identifying a given name to the composer (Find out more about Caron). The drawing of the letter is sufficiently ambiguous for it to be read as either F or P. We come down on the side of F for the following reasons: clear presence of an unconnected cross-bar (rather then the completion of a bow); upper element consists of a clubbed crook; and in P's by the same hand, the ascender extends above a bow which is drawn in one stroke (i.e. is a semicircle). The secondary ascender to the left is ornamental. Without the ornamental secondary ascender and clubbing, the initial would resemble the ductus of other f's by the text scribe in all but slope.

[as a footnote: Our celebration in determining the letter as F and therefore indicating Caron's given name is Firminus might be tempered by the possibility that the scribe used the letter to indicate the Italian form of Philippe — Filippo]

In VatSP B 80, the title of the setting appears three times each under the tenor line: ff. 99^r, stave 3, 101^v, stave 8 and 103^r, stave 5. On the second and third occasions the title is written as lhome lhome arme; the title's first appearance is lome lhome lhome arme. In VatS 14, the identification appears only once (f. 127^v, stave 7) and is written as lome lome arme.

The San Pietro reading, comprising the 13^th gathering and half of the 14^th gathering of the manuscript as it is now preserved, is copied onto folios drawn up with 9 staves — the standard for this source but for seven exceptions which see 10 pentagrams, two of which occur in this reading to accommodate the Patrem (ff. 103^v and 104^r). Of interest is that the altus line is identified as either contratenor[1] or triplum[2]. But for one exception[3] the term is found nowhere else in San Pietro, nor is it replicated in the Capella Sistina reading (VatS 14).

Caron's setting is one of five L'homme armé cycles transmitted in VatS 14[4] and is the 16^th of 19 items preserved in this source. The work is entered onto folios each drawn up with the standard (i.e. for VatS 14 and 51) 10 staves. The top two are indented (concerning the opening folio, 127^v: the top four to accommodate the illumination of a stylised K — also characteristic of these sources), but in effect so are others on each page by the inclusion of calligraphic initials for tenor and CTB lines. As Table I below shows, the sources' distribution of music in a number of sections is somewhat different:

TABLE I: Distribution of Music in the two transmissions of Caron's Missa L'homme armé.

The dissimilarity in the allocation of music to pages occurs from the outset where San Pietro opens its reading with the Kyrie [I] distributed on a single recto side (the first page of the gathering), whereas in VatS 14, the whole "movement" is entered onto facing pages. This configuration is subsequently used for the Et in terra/Domine fili and Qui tollis/Cum sancto sections of the Gloria. In San Pietro, five pages are needed which see the Et in terra and then the Domine fili/Qui tollis transmitted on two sets of facing sides and then the Cum sancto allotted to one verso page. The opening of the Patrem thus fills the next recto side and effects an "internal" folio turn at measures 26-27. This is not required in the Capella Sistina transmission of the Credo which sees facing sides devoted to the Patrem, Crucifixus/Et ascendit and Et expecto. In San Pietro, a further "internal" folio turn is required for the Et ascendit at measures 152-153. The remaining difference in allocation is at the Agnus Dei where San Pietro assigns 3 sets of facing pages (one for each Agnus), and VatS 14, 2 sets with the Agnus [I]/[II] on the first.

It has been noted by this writer elsewhere that the distribution of music on folios may provide us with clues as to how an ensemble might have been situated around a performance manuscript[5]. In the case of VatSP B 80, the consistent ordering of the four voices on a single page, reading from the top: superius, tenor, altus and bassus) suggests that the choir may well have stood in this configuration as well: facing the manuscript and from left to right: bassus, altus, tenor and superius. For the VatS 14/51 choirbooks, the ordering may have been altus, bassus, tenor and superius. (Research continues on this matter, however becoming clearly apparent is that if the entry of music on folios is reflective of an ensemble's positioning or to put it another way, determined the configuration, our nowadays standard, of from left to right soprano, alto, tenor bass, did not occur for old music.)

As a general rule both sources consistently transmit the following clefs: S — C¹; CTA — C³; T — C³; CTB — C⁴, although 7 exceptions might be noted in the Capella Sistina reading[6]. The breadth of the CTA ambitus in this setting is such that it cannot be contained within the standard 5-line stave unless clef changes are employed. In this case many would be needed and thus it seems that leger lines have been adopted (both above and below the stave) as the better option in ensuring the best readability possible. The oftentimes-required leger lines are hand drawn in San Pietro, and ruled in VatS 14.

There is a very high degree of commonality in the sources' transmission of mensural signatures as Table II below shows:

TABLE II: Distribution of mensural signatures in the two transmissions of Caron's Missa L'homme armé.

Both sources are thoroughly consistent in their transmission of modal signatures, one flat in the lower three voice, no flat in the superius, until the Agnus Dei. The pattern remains unchanged in VatS 14, until folio 137^v, staves 4 and 5 which see the inclusion of a flat signature for the last 67 values (from a total of 85[7]) of the dona nobis pacem. This position is perhaps significant as it strongly suggests that for the uppermost line the one-flat modal signature govern only this section of the entire setting. VatSP B 80 sees a regular inclusion of a flat for the uppermost voice in the Agnus [II] and [III] and a more changeable application in the Agnus [I][8].

Manuscript accidentals, although occurring mainly in the uppermost line, are also found in the other voices. Of particular note are the inclusion of the diesis sign in both transmissions of the tenor. As Table III below shows, about half are commonly transmitted; and notable is the Et ascendit where both sources are in full agreement.

TABLE III: Distribution of manuscript accidentals in the two transmissions of Caron's Missa L'homme armé.

* diesis symbol — all other accidentals are a b rotundum

The inconsistency of b rotundum signs at the beginning of staves (f. 110^v) for the San Pietro transmission of the Agnus [I] superius line might be variously interpreted. Of the seven pentagrams required, only three (staves 1, 5 and 6) open with the symbol. For staves 1 and 5 the character might apply to only notes 2 and 3 respectively in which case they might be considered manuscript accidentals rather than as a modal signature. A similar case for stave 6 is more problematic in sustaining, but given that variation of this element does not occur between the sources until this point, it is perhaps ill-judged to simply dismiss the lack of the symbol in the other four staves simply as scribal carelessness.

Collectively, the sources transmit a further 11 b rotundum signs which are "attached" to the pitch F5[9]. Common application occurs only twice[10]. Pitch F5, the second highest in the superius range, is visited 24 times in the setting. Contextual application of the signs, in terms of being found in particular melodic shapes, is seemingly not fully consistent, although many appear in a fairly conjunct ascending pattern to G5 with the contour then moving downwards as the second half of the second stave in the graphic from the San Pietro below shows:

Five further b rotundum signs are also transmitted in the CtB[11]. While none of these are common, in context of the one-flat modal signature, all seem redundant as they consistently apply to the pitch B3 (B2 is never visited in this setting). These signs appear only in the Gloria and Credo and are associated with either a temporary shift to B flat as a "key centre" or a cadential formation as the graphic from the VatS 14 transmission illustrates.

Seemingly the signs serve to confirm "molle" modality at their place of inclusion.

Transmission of text is noticeably different. As the table IV below shows, The VatS 14 reading includes a considerably more comprehensive inclusion of text for the contratenor and tenor voices throughout the setting.

TABLE IV: Distribution of Text in the two transmissions of Caron's Missa L'homme armé.

THE MODEL AND ITS APPLICATIONS

[In progress]

Footnotes

1. recto ff: 99, 100, 103, 105 (for the Et ascendit), 106, 107, 109, 110, 111, and 113.
2. recto ff: 101, 102, 104, 105 (for the Crucifixus), 108: 112 no identifying label.
3. folio 201^r, stave 7: here the word is used to identify an additional voice in the Quia respexit section of a three-part setting of the Magnificat tertii et quarti toni possibly by Du Fay.
4. The others are in order of appearance: an incomplete reading of Du Fay (Kyrie and Gloria), ff. 101^v-105^r; Busnoys, ff. 106^v-117^r; Regis, ff. 117^v-127^r; (Caron's setting, ff. 127^v-138^r); and Fagues, ff. 138^v-149^r.
5. Eakins, R. An Editorial Transnotation of the Manuscript Capella Sistina 51…Liber Missarum, The Institute of Mediaeval Music, Ottawa, Collected Works, vol. XVII, no.3, 2001, pp. xlv-xlvi.
6. ff. 127^v, stave 2, G2 (Kyrie I: S); 130^v, stave 10, C4 (Patrem: T); 135^r, staves 3-4, C2 (Pleni: CtA); 136^r, stave 5, C2 (Osanna [II]: CtA); 136^v, stave 6, G2 (Agnus [II]: S); 137^r, staves 2-5, G2 (Agnus [III]: S); 138^r, stave 2, C2 (Agnus [III]: CtA). These changes of clef are clearly part of editorial policy for this source and its companion VatS 51, whereby the need for leger lines is reduced as much as possible.
7. For the first 18 values (those not with a signature) the pitch B4 is used only twice f. 137^v, stave 3, notes 21 and 36 – for the 1^st time probably being sung as a natural, for the 2^nd as an inflected upper returning note.
8. f. 110^v, staves 1 and 5-6 with; staves 2-4 and 7 without. This inconsistency would not seem to be based on a pragmatic approach whereby the pitch B4 is not visited on those staves without a signature, however.
9. These are: VatS 14: 127^v, 3,12; VatSP B 80: 100^v, 2,20; VatSP B 80: 103^r, 2,9; VatSP B 80: 105^v, 5,20; VatSP B 80: 107^v, 4,1; VatS 14: 136^v, 1,36 and VatSP B 80: 110^v, 2,10; VatSP B 80: 110^v, 6,5; VatSP B 80: 111^v, 3,4; VatS 14: 137^v, 1, 21 and VatSP B 80: 112^v, 1,2.
10. Both are in the Agnus (mm. 9,1 and 102,1): VatSP B 80: 110^v, 2,10 and 112^v, 1,21 and VatS 14: 136^v, 1,36 and 137^v, 1,21.
11. These are: VatSP B 80: 101^r, 7,21; VatS 14: 130^r, 10,43; VatS 14: 133^r, 8,27; VatSP B 80: 107^r, 9,6; VatS 14: 133^r, 9,37.