November 23, 1997
music history 1
to be accompanied by
MCD 1940
Loyset Compére was a French composer during the late fifteenth century and early sixteenth century. In general, he had a sense for musical phrasing and for the basic elements of the beginnings of tonality. Much of his music has well-balanced symmetry. Two main styles of music are apparent in Compére's music. The first, late Burgundian style, involved structures with duets between the superius and tenor with the other voices in a supporting role, forms based on musical rather than textual logic, expansive melodic lines in the superius part, and the use of traditional liturgical or chivalric types of text. The other style, based on Italian popular forms in the fifteenth century, involved pieces where the bass has the basic fundamental harmonic support, syllabic melodic lines reflect the rhythm and accentuation of the words, voices are treated equally and often are imitated, duets occur in various combinations and contrast with the full polyphony, and text interpretation through illustration, analogy, and contrast occurs. Some of his works fit into either of the two styles; however, others are an intermediate where Compére may have tried to synthesize the two. (Grove Dictionary p.596)
Ave Maria, gratia plena , probably Compére's most famous work, is a cantus firmus motet. He wrote at least five of these motets, each of them sacred, with a text that is common to all voices. The text for Ave Maria comes from various liturgical sources. Compére contains syllabic text declamation, and chordal and duet writing within the work. The piece is not completely like a Netherlands motet or the Italianate type. (Grove Dictionary p.597)
Ave Maria is a four voiced motet in two parts. While the whole piece reveres Mary, the first part begins with a reference towards Mary and ends with a more imploring sentiment- the second part begins with a listing of different Saints with another imploring feeling and ends with more revering words towards Mary.
-first part-
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, serene Virgin. You are
blessed among women, an blessed is the fruit of your womb, Lord have
mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy, O Christ hear us. Holy
Mary, pray for us to the Lord. O Christ hear us. Holy Mother Mary,
pray for us to the Lord. O Christ hear us.
-second part-
Saint Michael, pray for us to the Lord. O Christ hear us. Saint Gabriel,
Saint Raphael, All holy Angels and Archangels of God, pray for us to the
Lord. O Christ hear us. Saint Louis, Saint Francis, Saint Nicholas, Saint
Quintin, Saint Martin, Saint Augustine, Saint Benedict, Saint Anthony, all
holy Martyrs, all holy Confessors, all Saints of God, pray for us to the Lord.
O Christ hear us. Blessed are you, Mary, sweet and godly Virgin, you
outshine the lilies in whiteness, o rose without a thorn, music of the Saints.
O Christ hear us. Amen.
With each change in sentiment within the text, a change in the melody occurs. However, every time the words, O Christe audinos (O Christ hear us), are sung, the same basic melody reappears whether the phrase happens to be in a single line, duet, or four-part harmonization. The only time it occurs in a slight variation is right before the ending.
The first part of the piece remains in the same time signature. It is in two, tempus imperfectum. The second part also starts out in this type of time signature. Later, when the feeling of the text changes, however, the time signature switches to a feeling of three beats per measure, or tempus perfectum (measure 62). This change coincides to the change in the text when it begins talking about Mary and her purity. Perhaps this purity and reverence is why the meter changes to what was considered "perfect" time, in three. The meter changes again back to two when the speakers of the text return to asking that Christ hear them (measure 72).
This piece starts to veer away from the amazingly technical counterpoint of many of the other pieces of the time or the time that preceded it. There is a more clearly defined melody, most often in the superius part, with the other voice parts having lines that provide a more harmonic support to the melody. All lines sing the same text, and at times they even line up with the same text with some chordal types of writing. Both of these factors make the text much more intelligible than the text in many of the pieces composed prior to this one. This understandiblity of the text fits in well with the meaning of much of the text of the piece. The speaker repeats over and over, O Christ hear us. It would be much easier for the speaker to be heard if their text was comprehensible.
Due to the fact that Ave Maria is much more homophonic than other pieces of the period prior to its composition and it has less counterpoint, there are many occurrences of the voices being directly lined up with each other and moving in chordal structures. Also, there exist points where two voices have a duet or the voices are all involved in a type of imitation of thematic material.
-examples of the voices moving in vertical alignment:
measure 14
measures 35-37
measure 57-basically to the end
-examples of the voices paired in duets:
measures 20-23
measures 26-32
measures 41-43
-examples of the voices using imitation:
measures 1-2 (superius and bassus)
measures 17-19 (tenor and bassus)
measures 39-40 (superius and tenor)
measures 44-47 (top three voices)
measures 51-55 (all voices)
measures 55-58 (superius w/ tenor and altus w/ bassus)
While the piece is more homophonic than others, it also seems more tonal. To me, the music definitely has a tonal center of g minor. I do not know if music was thought of in that way during the time this piece was composed, but many elements of the music point to that key, if you had to pick a key for the piece. For example, most of the major cadences in the piece are on G's or a g minor chord.
-some cadences-
measures 16-17-on G (before change in textual thought)
measure 19-on G
measure 30-on G
measure 41-a g minor chord
measures 60-61-a g minor chord
measures 71-72-a g minor chord
measure 74-on G's with a fifth-final chord of piece
The ending of the first part cadences on C major (measures 36 and 37). If this was being heard as a dominant of F major, the second part would probably begin with an F chord; however, the second part begins on a B flat major chord. If Compére had any idea about the beginnings of tonality, this would make a lot of sense because B flat major is the relative major of g minor. However, the key signature of this piece only contains one flat. If the composers were working with hexachords and modes, the only way the key signature could have any flat at all would be if it only had one, in order for the key to exist. The musica ficta used in the piece does point to a possible tonality of g minor though. The ficta used in this piece is mostly E flat and F sharp. The use of the E flats would account for the lack of that flat in the key signature. The F sharps mostly occur in the use of a D major chord which creates a dominant sonority to g minor.
-musica ficta-E flats-
measures 11-13
measure 25
measure 49
measures 64-65
measures 68-69
-musica ficta-F sharps-
measure 16
measure 19
measure 30
measure 35
measure 41
measure 60
Many elements of Compére's Ave Maria differentiate from some of the other music of the time and from music composed in the period immediately before. Some of these elements include the intelligibility of the text, the change in feeling of the music to reflect changes in the text, the move away from counterpoint and toward more chordal and harmonic writing, and the move towards a tonality. Whether Compére meant for this to occur or not, this piece definitely seems to point to a tonal structure. The frequent cadences on g minor along with the musica ficta that can be related to that key help emphasize that tonal center. Compére's music reflected changes in the music from the time immediately prior to its composition, and it definitely took a step toward the music that was written in the following decades and centuries.