Songs materialising as music: medieval monophony in song books and music manuscripts

ABSTRACTThis survey of the mise-en-page of manuscripts that include medieval monophonic song focuses on complex multigraphic written artefacts presenting music on staves. Comparing the formatting of thirteenth-century French chansonniers and fifteenth-century collections of monophonic songs (BnF fr. 9346 and BnF fr. 12744), there are obvious differences in the mise-en-page. But when, where and why did the changes in the production of manuscripts and the materialisation of songs take place? This article proposes a distinction between entirely pre-ruled ‘“full” music manuscripts’, ‘music manuscripts’ employing pre-ruling and ‘manuscripts with music’ where the staves were drawn only after the text has been written. Moreover, ‘songbooks’ mainly interested in lyrics can be distinguished from ‘song books’ focusing on the music. The interrelation of production process, content and manuscript type is discussed using the example of the conductus In hoc ortus occidente. The emergence, interrelation and particularities of layouts are discussed for vernacular thirteenth- or fourteenth-century songbooks with Dutch, English/Anglo-Norman, French, Galego-Portuguese, German, Italian and Occitan texts. The two-column layout is found in songbooks all over Europe (except for Italian laudari). This article examines models such as rolls, libelli, Dominican liturgical books, particularities of layouts such as different strophic page layouts and as the separation of verses in some troubadour chansonniers and Galego-Portuguese cancionieros as well as the dissemination in German speaking regions through minstrel schools. Comparing French, German and Italian song books of monophonic song as well lais/Leich and/or polyphony reveals differences in the production process of Italian ‘“full” music manuscripts’ (BAV Rossi 215/I-OST, I-REas and I-Fl Mediceo Palatino 87), German ‘music manuscripts’ (A-Wn 2701, A-Wn 2777 and CZ-Pu XI E 9) and French ‘manuscripts with music’ (BnF fr. 146 and the Machaut-collections).