INTROduCTION
INTROduCTION Transcription Original note-values have been quartered. Barlines are editorial. Numerals in place of time signatures indicate the number of minim beats in the bar. Beaming of quavers is editorial. Horizontal brackets above the stave indicate ligatures (several pitches joined into a single symbol in the original notation). Roman numerals beneath the stave count isorhythmic taleae. Accidentals Sharp/Natural (mi) and flat (fa) signs in the main manuscripts are printed on the stave as usual; those probably expected from medieval singers but not signed are printed above the stave; those less certainly intended are printed above the stave in parentheses. Plicas A special form of breve or long, the plica, is believed to indicate melodic ornamentation. ( q . e ) and (h . q ) suggest ornamentation for falling-third plicas, and < q . e > for those transmitted only by MS Vg, whose scribe had a special fondness for them, but was not necessarily copying Machaut. † above a note indicates all other plicas, and we can only guess as to how these should be interpreted: rising thirds may be filled with a passing note (e.g. Credo, Contratenor, b. 65), larger skips with an intermediate pitch (Sanctus, Motetus, b. 45, f′ ) or even a melodic link (Credo, Tenor, b. 77, e.g. crotchet d, two quavers e f ); and at unisons and notes followed by a rest performers may wish to experiment with mordents or other discreet ornamentation. Voices In the fourteenth century the work would probably have been performed by solo male voices. Today these will normally be two countertenors and two tenors singing at about modern pitch, although there are arguments for two tenors and two baritones singing about a fourth lower. Performers should feel free to choose any convenient pitch level. Tuning Machaut’s harmony works most effectively in the original Pythagorean tuning. A workable approximation may be reached by singers making fifths as pure as possible and widening as far as they dare the cadential sixths and thirds. For more exact results, a keyboard instrument may be used as a reference point in rehearsal, if it is tuned so that fifths are pure from middle C sharpwards as far as G sharp and flatwards as far as E flat. Pronunciation The Latin text should be pronounced as if it were French, with the following general exceptions: all vowels followed by m or n were nasalized, even when that m or n was followed by a vowel; ‘a’ was pronounced with the front vowel (as in Northern English back); ‘o’ with the close vowel (as in modern French beau); ‘i’ as in modern French si, even when nasalized; ‘u’ as ‘o’ in ‘um’ and ‘un’ when a final syllable or followed by a consonant; and ‘e’ as ‘a’ in ‘en’ and ‘em’ when a final syllable or followed by a consonant. Speed A tempo in the region of minim = 92–108 allows texted quavers to be articulated without breves becoming interminable. Daniel Leech-Wilkinson
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