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THE CONDUCTUS 327
appears at the end of intermediate phrases and sections, or even in a
short emphasis upon important words, and at the beginning as well
as at the end of a composition. Some of the pieces which have been
described as conduct! sine caudis are, as a matter of fact, nothing more
than the upper voices of motets, their tenors not having been written
into the particular manuscripts in which they occur. A number of
these have been already identified, and probably many others will be
linked up to their tenors as time goes on. The reason for their appear
ance in the guise of conduct! may be either that the upper voices of
the motet were actually detached for separate performance: or
alternatively, and this is perhaps more likely or more frequent, the
manuscript in question was that used by the singers, or by the higher
voices of the choir, alone, while the tenor volume would be needed
elsewhere for an instrumental player or for a singer in a different part
of the choir. 1
As for the precise manner of performance, all that we can be sure
of is that it was not precise. Outside the choir, theorists might make
detailed rules as to what ought to be done, elaborate explanations of
what had been done, or co-ordinate the new music into a system.
But inside, the music-makers sang and played as convenient to the
occasion or the performers available. 2 It is worse than useless to
dogmatize and say this or that piece was performed in such-and-such
a manner, by a choir composed of such-and-such elements, since it
is fairly certain that many of the pieces we possess were executed in
different ways at different times. In some cases we are quite sure that
the music is all vocal, and that all the voices of the conductus sang
the words : in others, it is possible that they merely vocalized (as, for
instance, when the scribe has begun to write in the text to the upper
part or parts and has crossed it out after a few words as being wrong),
while in others the instrumental character of some parts, notably in
the caudae, is unmistakable. The following is a good instance of this
'instrumental suggestion':
1 For further details see Musical Quarterly, xxx (1944), pp. 462 and 471.
2
Cf. G. S. Bedbrook in Music and Letters, xxvi (1945), p. 78, and Ernst H. Meyer,
English Chamber Music (London, 1946), p. 16.
3
Wolfenbiittel 677, fo. 196\ At (*) Wolfenbiittel gives E F; the correction is from
Assisi 695 and Brit. Mus. Harl. 3965 (from Hereford),
tus.