First Polyphonic Mass | Missa Tournai & Motets (1320)

In the treasury of Tournai Cathedral there is a musical manuscript which, among all the Gregorian chants, contains as the only polyphonic entry a mass for three voices, which has gone down in musical literature as the "Messe de Tournai". 

The Missa Tournai is probably the oldest polyphonic mass that exists as a complete ordinary cycle. This does not mean, however, in the sense of later times, that the five Mass movements come from the hand of one composer and were conceived from the outset as a closed, complete Mass. Seen in this light, the "Messe de Nostre Dame" by G. de Machault is still the oldest monument. The Missa Tournai is perhaps an accidental example of a compilation of various movements into a whole mass.

In other manuscripts of this period, it was customary to record several Kyrie or Gloria or Sanctus movements in succession, and then to select the movements as required. According to some authors, such a need could have been the annual meeting of the guild of notaries in Tournai. Some of these movements of the Missa Tournai also appear in other manuscripts, such as the Credo in the codices of Apt, Las Huelgas and Madrid. The motet Ite missa est also appears in the Ivrea codex. 

In our rendition, the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and Ite missa est - Motet were performed according to the Tournai manuscript; the Credo was mainly performed according to the Apt tradition, taking into account better readings in the other manuscripts. Musically, this mass ın a period of transition from the "ars antiqua" to the "ars nova", as the terms are according to the theorist of this period, Philippe de Vitry. Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei still belong entirely to the "ars antiqua", which is already shown by the typical notation of modal notation with its many ligatures. The voices are designated Tenor, Motetus and Triplum.

They move rhythmically completely simultaneously, as is common in the Conductus style. All these movements are in III or also in IV mode. The Credo is also set entirely as a Conductus, each syllable of the text usually having only one tone. The whole movement is strongly structured and very memorable because of the constant flow into a longer, fermata-like sound, which is then usually connected by a very short instrumental link to the following opening sound of a new movement. The Credo has a tempus imperfectum (two-beat rhythm), so it is not subject to the scheme of a mode.

The most important piece of the mass is undoubtedly the Gloria, which belongs to the new era, the "ars nova". In its astonishing quality, it was certainly written by one of the best musicians of the time. Here, too, the voices always progress simultaneously. The tonal events are of well-balanced regularity. The upper voices bring many small values, are melodically more flexible and supple, not as terse as in the other movements. The Gloria and the Credo have in common the structure and the sectional merging of the two movements. The large-scale Amen, enriched with all the technical means of the "new art", is the climax of this work.

Almost as long as the Gloria itself, this Amen seems like a contemporary motet, like a piece in its own right. Above the quiet tenor, the two upper voices run in rapid movement, often bringing hoquetus sections in which the melodic line, alternating note for note, is distributed between the two voices. Simply put, the Ite missa est is an isorhythmic double motet. The cantus firmus of the tenor is performed rhythmically and melodically exactly twice, above which the duplum brings a Latin text exhorting the mighty lords to love their neighbour, the triplicum a French love song advising wise renunciation to the spurned.

To get a further impression of the music around the Missa Tournai, which may have been composed or recorded around 1330, some motets from the ars antiqua and finally a selection from the important work of Philippe de Vitry have been included. All motets from the ars antiqua are based on the III mode. 

Three motets above the tenor: Regnat (from the Graduale of the Assumption), for two and three voices, one and two text.

Tenor: Alma, Duplum: Alma redemptoris, Triplum: Ave regina caelorum.

Here, two Marian antiphons are sung over the tenor, which is repeated five times.

Tenor: Mane prima sabbati, Duplum: O nacio, Triplum: Condicio nature. An ancient double motet from the "Roman de Fauvel", that satirical poem of the early 14th century.

The Roman de Fauvel is already a main source of the ars nova and also Philippe de Vitry's (1291-1361). It contains four motets by Vitry. Another main source for this brilliant poet-composer is the already mentioned Codex of Ivrea with seven motets.

Vitry is better known as a theoretician of the ars nova, which he gave its name to with his treatise "Ars nova" of 1320. That he was as brilliant a musician as his famous contemporary Machault is shown by our motets, all written between 1315 and 1330. (Dates are taken from the article: Philippe de Vitry in M GG, vol. 13, by H. Besseler). Lyrically, some of these motets are aggressively polemical against political and religious conditions. Musically, hardly any piece is the same as another. It is impossible to describe even one exhaustively in a small space. Motets of such pronounced melodicism, rhythmic differentiation paired with an almost mathematical shaping of the tenor, which then result in such an artful sound sequence as "Tribum" or "In arboris" are to be sought throughout the century.

Konrad Ruhland

The Tournai Mass and the motets on this disc give a picture of the music of the period from about 1250 to around 1330, as far as it presents itself in the "highly official" genres, in the Ordinary settings of the Mass and in the motet. This period is largely determined by a music-historical epoch whose novel works were given the name ars antiqua around 1320. Its leading genre is the motet. The motet presupposes the glorious history of the first great Western polyphony, the organum of the 12th and early 13th centuries, from whose powerful musical organism it emerges. The clausulae, the discantus parts of the organum distinguished by the accelerated rhythm of the tenor, which were also available as parts to be exchanged in cloister collections, became the motet through the retexting of the upper voices, which at the same time became a compositional work that existed on its own and was no longer conceived in a larger context (organum) like the clausula.

As in the time of the organa composition, France is the setting for a composition that is now extremely focused on the possibilities of rhythm. A peculiarly distanced relationship to language goes far beyond the independence of the rhythmic structure from the linguistic style of the text, which is also to be found elsewhere in the Middle Ages, and extends to the seemingly incompatible simultaneous performance of different texts distributed among the voices, even texts in different languages. The textualisation of the upper voices requires a new relationship of the word syllables to the tones, the fixation of which necessitates a new written musical representation, mensural notation. The great master of the older motet, with its strict connection of voices, is Adam de la Halle (+ 1286 or 1287), who succeeded Franco of Cologne (fl. around 1250).

The independence achieved by each voice leads to a new style that dynamises the top voice in the movement of Petrus de Cruce (fl. c. 1300). In the motet, secular music is realised alongside sacred music, which also dresses political intentions and satire critical of the times in the garb of musical performance. The "Roman de Fauvel" (1316) demonstrates this type of trend-setting literature and music. The music of the troubadours, centred on southern France, is still alive in the work of singers such as Peire Cardenal (+ 1271) and Guiraut Riquier, but died out around 1300. The trouvère music of northern France flourished in the work of Adam de la Halle. Citizens, united in singing communities (puis), now mastered this art formerly supported by the nobility.

Around 1300, the productive power waned. In Germany, minnesong and sung proverbial poetry continue to dominate. Reinmar von Zweter (fl. around 1260), Tannhäuser (after 1267) and Ulrich von Lichtenstein (fl. around 1276) are still influential in our time. The outstanding master of the late period was Heinrich von Meissen, called Frauenlob, with whose death in 1318 the flowering of these genres ended. Southern countries cultivate sacred music that is supported by the people. Italy complements the sequence with the lauda. The master of both genres is Jacopone da Todi (fl. 1306). Spain's counterpart to the lauda is the cantiga. Around 1315, the "Ars nova" emerged in France, with Philippe de Vitry as its protagonist, and the motet - now isorhythmic - as its main genre. The old and the new art meet in movements of different origins and dates (probably the first third of the 14th century) which have come down to us as the Tournai Mass.

The greatest musician of the "Ars nova", Guillaume de Machaut, began his work around 1330. At the same time, the music of the Trecento was taking off in Italy.