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CHAPTER THREE
Twenty of the songs with one repeated phrase
are represented in more than one manuscript, and in 15
of these, at least one of the other versions shows a
difference in form.[9]
In seven songs, the difference is between one repeat and no
repeats, while in the remaining eight the other
version is in a form from one of the other three
categories. The latter cases will be discussed here
due to their wider divergence in form. They are P‑C
421,2, P‑C
70,1, P‑C 70,31, P‑C 155,10, P‑C
155,27, P‑C 167,37, P‑C 167,56, and P‑C167,43.
In three of these, P‑C 70,1, P‑C 167,37,
and P‑C 167,43, the other version is in an ABAB
form. Bernart de Ventadorn's "Ab joi mou lo vers
e.l comens" (P‑C 70,1) is an interesting
case from the point of view of the potential effect of
form on the transmission process. Its music survives
in three manuscripts, and the main differences occur
in the first half of the song; agreement is much
closer for the last four lines. The first four lines
are given in the example below in all three versions.
Example
11. Bernart de Ventadorn, P‑C 70,1, ll. 1‑4.
The version of R shows a clear ABAB form, with an
almost literal repetition of the first pair of
phrases. One also notices the marked similarities
between the A and B phrases, not only in R but in G
and W as well. In R, both phrases begin with the same
three pitches, both contain the descending minor third
G-E, and both have the same final pitch and similarity
in contour and range. In G, it is the second and third
phrases that are closest for the larger part of the
phrase, while the third phrase substitutes the ending
of the A phrase, thus reflecting in part the ABAB
form. The fourth phrase of G is different from the
first three, but does repeat the same three opening
pitches of its B phrase; it is also closer to the B
phrase of R than to any of its own preceding phrases.
In W, we seem to have a truncated or obscured version
of the ABAB form, with only the A phrase repeated,
albeit with a new initium.
One might be tempted to conclude that R presents
us with the version closest to the original, and that
the other two manuscripts have corrupted this in their
different ways. But it is also possible that the
original version, on account of the unique closeness
among its first four phrases, created a certain amount
of confusion in the transmission, and the scribe of R,
or his immediate source, simply
resolved the problem in the manner that seemed most
tidy and clear.[10]
In P‑C 167,37, the difference in form between the two surviving
versions seems to be a function of the wide divergence
between the two melodies throughout the entire song.
The repeated phrase in X is the third, which recurs in
a varied form in the sixth line; in R, a clear ABAB
form is evident. A similar situation obtains in P‑C
167,43 which was discussed in the section on oda continua forms above.
P‑C 70,31 and P‑C 155,27 both
appear in two versions, with the other version falling
within the category of forms that display some form of
symmetry in their repetition patterns; for both songs
it is ms. G that contains the symmetrical form. The
formal graphs of the two songs are shown below.
In both
versions of P‑C 70,31 the initial phrase is
repeated for the fifth line with a new cadence,
underlining the parallelism of form between the two
halves of the song shown in the rhyme scheme; the
difference is that in ms. G's version the parallel is
more extensive, including the repetition of the A, B,
and D phrases, and some recall of the C phrase as
well. In P‑C 155,27, ms. G repeats the pair of
phrases C and D together, as well as the E phrase,
while R repeats only the D phrase, in the same place
as ms. G, although the cadence of its C phrase recurs
in line 6. In this case, the versions contain
significant melodic differences throughout the entire
song.
The other version of P‑C 167,56 was
classified with the songs with irregular repetition
patterns; it repeats two phrases without any apparent
symmetry. Both versions repeat a truncated version of
an earlier phrase at line 8, except that it is a
different phrase. The phrases in question are shown
below in Example 12 for comparison, along with the
formal graphs for the whole song.
Both of the
other two songs from this category with divergences in
form in their transmission are fairly long songs, more
melismatic than average, and show extensive melodic
divergence throughout. Only the formal graphs for the
two songs are given below; once again we may note that
it is the version of ms. G which contains the
symmetrical form in both songs.
As mentioned, there is a group of songs from
this category in which the repeated phrase can be
considered to have a structural function. The songs in
question are: P‑C 70,31, P‑C 70,42, P‑C
242,64, P‑C 155,3, P‑C 155,18, P‑C
155,23, P‑C 406,15, P‑C 10,27, P‑C
194,3, P‑C 194,19, P‑C 248,60, and P-C 248,83.
(P‑C 242,64 and P‑C 248,60 are discussed
below in the section treating immediate repeats.)
In several of these, the repeated phrase is
strategically placed to form a link between the first
and second halves of the song. For example, in P‑C
70,42 and P‑C 155,3 the last phrase of the first
half of the song is repeated as the last phrase of the
last half; in P‑C 70,31 and P‑C 194,19 the
first phrase of the first half is repeated as the
first phrase of the second half. In P‑C 155,18
the first phrase is repeated at the end with the same
rhyme.
In P‑C 155,23 a metrical feature seems to
have occasioned the repeated phrase. This is a 12‑line
song in which all the lines are octosyllables except 7
and 9, which consist of only four syllables. The
phrases for these two lines are close in all three
manuscript versions of the song, but the repetition in
R is exact except for a slight alteration of the
cadence. P‑C 10,27 and P‑C 406,15 are
interesting for the striking parallels in form between
them, both musical and poetic. Example
13. P‑C 10,27;
P‑C 406,15.
The rhyme schemes for the two songs differ only in
the extra b rhyme at line 6 of P‑C 406,15. Both
share an ambiguity in the division of the stanza, with
the a rhyme of line 4 acting as a pivot shared by both
halves, so that the point of division must fall after
line 3 to respect the symmetrical unity of the second
half, and after line 4 to respect that of the first
half. In both songs, it is the fourth musical phrase
that is repeated in the fifth line, with an altered
cadence. In effect, the repetition reflects the
structural ambiguity of the rhyme scheme by joining
the two halves of the song. (It is interesting to note
the further formal parallels between the two songs,
whose melodies are not very similar in themselves;
phrase C is recalled in the next‑to‑last
phrase in both melodies, and phrase D is recalled in
the last phrase.)
In P‑C 194,3, the repeat of the G phrase
articulates the second half of the song in accordance
with the meter and rhyme; the last four lines of this
song are shown below, with the formal graph.
Example
14. Gui d'Uisel, P‑C 194,3, ll. 6‑9.
Example
15. Guiraut Riquier, P‑C 248,83.
Example
16. Peire Vidal, P‑C 364,37, ll. 1‑4.
Example
17. Guillem Ademar, P‑C 202,8.
Another distinct sub‑category is formed
by songs where the phrase repetition is immediate
rather than after other phrases. Ten songs from the
one‑repeat category have this form of
repetition, but they share this formal feature with a
substantial number of songs from other categories,
where immediate repetition is combined with other
repetitions. The songs from the one‑repeat
category are P‑C 242,64, P‑C167,52, P‑C
167,59, P‑C 364,4, P‑C 364,36, P‑C
10,15, P‑C 10,27, P‑C 406,15, P‑C
406,40, and P‑C 248,60. In four of these it is
the first phrase that is repeated, in two it is the
second phrase, and in two it is the last phrase. The
middle phrase is repeated in two of the songs, P‑C
10,27 and P‑C 406,15, and these were discussed
together in the section above dealing with repeats
that have a structural function.
It may be worth noting that ten‑syllable
lines predominate in this group; seven of the ten
songs are isosyllabic, containing only lines of ten
syllables.[12]
The significance of this appears most clearly in the role of
the caesura in this meter, and where the repeated
phrase is the first in the song, a relation with the
ABAB form seems evident. Two good examples of this are
the famous alba "Reis glorios" (P‑C 242,64), by Guiraut de
Borneill, and Peire Vidal's "Si co.l paubre, can
jatz el ric ostal" (P‑C 364,36), and the
opening lines of both songs are reproduced below. Examples
18 and 19. Guiraut de Borneill, P‑C 242,64, ll.
1‑2 and Peire Vidal, P‑C 364,36, ll. 1‑2. In
"Reis glorios," the caesura after the fourth
syllable is evident in both text and music. In the
first stanza it is further emphasized by the internal
rhyme at the fourth syllable ("‑os");
succeeding stanzas do not continue the internal rhyme,
but do respect the caesura in their syntax. Musically,
the repeated pitches separated by the interval of a
fifth produce a strongly defined opening that seems to
give added weight to these first four syllables. In
the song by Peire Vidal, the caesura is emphasized
musically by the leap after the fourth syllable. In
the first stanza, it corresponds with a textual
caesura, but in succeeding stanzas, the syntactic
pause occurs irregularly, not always in the first two
lines.
Although we are usually at a loss to explain a
composer's selection of one particular form over
another, it is always wise to look at the textual
structure before abandoning the attempt. A case in
point is a song by Raimon de Miraval (P‑C
406,40) in which the second, B phrase is immediately
repeated. Its music and text have the following form:
Here the
only obvious stanzaic division indicated by the
versification is a break between the fourth and fifth
lines; the melody is exceptionally free of any
repetition of initial or cadential material that might
set up a structural pattern. When we look at the
syntactic divisions in the text, however, we note that
in five out of the six stanzas, a syntactic pause
occurs at the end of the third line, and in four of
these another is found after the sixth line. The
melodic division produced by the repetition of the B
phrase in the third line therefore matches that of the
syntax. That the poet did have the syntactic structure
in mind when creating his melody (or vice versa) is
further suggested by the strong melodic punctuation
effected at the end of the sixth phrase by a melisma
of seven pitches (three is the maximum in the rest of
the song) terminating on the final of the song; this
is also the only phrase besides the last that ends on
this pitch.
This concludes our study of songs from the
category of one‑repeat forms. Effects of
structural linking and patterning arising from
repetition of cadences and rhymes were not considered
expressly in this section, but they are just as
significant here as in the category of oda
continua forms. The interested reader may wish to
look at the following songs in particular in this
regard: P‑C 293,13, P‑C 70,42, P‑C
155,18, P‑C 167,4, P‑C 392,28, P‑C
364,4, P‑C 10,12, P‑C 10,15, P‑C
406,15, P‑C 194,3, and P‑C 248,83.
«
Chapter IIIa
Contents
Chapter IIIc »
[9]
The songs are: P‑C 70,31, P‑C 155,10,
P‑C 155,16,P‑C 155,23, P‑C
155,27, P‑C 167,15, P‑C 167,37, P‑C
167,43, P‑C 167,56, P‑C 167,59, P‑C
364,4, and P‑C 364,39.
[10]
The scribe of R has been accused of regularizing
forms that may have originally been more complex.
On the other hand, there are also examples where G
presents the version with the regular or
standardized form, while R gives a less tidy form;
some of these are discussed in succeeding pages.
[11]
The songs from other categories with this form
are: P‑C 293,18, P‑C 47,6, P‑C
30,19, P‑C 364,31, P‑C 355,5, and P‑C
96,2.
[12]
P‑C 242,64 has ten-syllable lines for five
of its six lines. |