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Medieval Dances: Matching the Repertory with Grocheio's Descriptions Author(s): Timothy J. McGee Source: The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Autumn, 1989), pp. 498-517Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/763778Accessed: 20-11-2015 04:55 UTC

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Medieval Dances: Matching the Repertory With Grocheio's Descriptions*

TIMOTHY J. McGEE

I t has been noted by many scholars that the extant medieval dance repertory and Johannes de Grocheio's descriptions of dance music do not completely match.l On the one hand it would

appear that we have music for which there is no written description, while at the same time no music survives to fit some of the dances described in the treatise. Where we have both music and descriptions

498 for the same dance, the two do not always correspond. Further, Gro- cheio's descriptions seem to disagree with contemporary literary treatises and accounts.

Johannes de Grocheio's De musica (ca. 1300) is the single surviving medieval theoretical treatise to deal with the subject of secular music in any detail.2 Within the section on "musica vulgaris" he discusses

Volume VII * Number 4 * Fall 1989 The Journal of Musicology ? 1989 by the Regents of the University of California

* This paper was read in a somewhat different format at the XIX Annual Medieval Conference, University of Western Michigan, May, 1984.

1For studies of the treatise of Johannes de Grocheio and medieval dance see: Pierre Aubry, Estampies et danses royales (Paris, 1907); Friedrich Gennrich, Grundriss einer Formenlehre des mittelalterlichen Liedes (Halle, 1926); Jacques Handschin, "Uber Estampie und Sequenz I and II," Zeitschriftfiir Musikwissenschaft XII and XIII (1929, 1930), 1-20,

13-132; Lloyd Hibberd, "Estampie and Stantipes," Speculum XIX (1944), 222-249; Ewald Jammers, "Studien zur Tanzmusik des Mittelalters," Archiv fiir Musikwissenschaft XXX (1973), 81-95; Hans Moser, "Stantipes und Ductia," Zeitschrift fir Musikwissen- schaft II (1919/20), 194-206; Gilbert Reaney, "Johannes de Grocheo," in MGG VII (1958), 95-0oo; Curt Sachs, World History of the Dance (New York, 1937); Doris Stock- mann, "Musica vulgaris bei Johannes de Grocheio (Grocheo)," Beitrige zur Musikwis- senschaft Heft 1 (1983), 3-56; Helene Wagenaar-Nolthenius, "Estampie/ Stantipes/ Stampita," L'Ars Nova Italiana del Trecento (Certaldo, 1968), 399-409; Johannes Wolf, "Die Tanze des Mittelalters," Archiv fir Musikwissenschaft I (1918/19), 10-42.

Ernst Rohloff, Die Quellenhandschriften zum Musiktraktat des Johannes de Grocheio (Leipzig, 1972). English transl. Albert Seay, Johannes De Grocheo Concerning Music (Col- orado Springs, 1973).



MEDIEVAL DANCES

vocal dances named round (rotundello, rotunda, rotundellus), es-

tampie (stantipes), and ductia, and instrumental dances: ductia, es-

tampie (stantipes) and nota.3 Of these, only his descriptions of the round and instrumental estampie have been thought to have exact musical exemplars. But it is the thesis of this essay that by looking more closely at the surviving repertory and reading Grocheio's treatise as a practical guide, an extant musical repertory can be found to

correspond to all of his descriptions.

Vocal Dances

Grocheio states that the three vocal dances, (round, estampie, and ductia), have one characteristic in common: they all begin and end with a refrain, although the refrain is used

differently in the round than in the other two forms. In the round the refrains "agree in sound and rhyme":

Responsorio vero est, quo omnis cantilena incipit et terminatur. Ad- dimenta vero differunt in rotundello, ductia et stantipede. In rotundello vero consonant et concordant in dictamine cum responsorio.4

499

That is, in the round all musical phrases have the same ending and all text lines rhyme with one another. In the estampie and ductia, however, "certain refrains agree and others do not." "In ductia vero et stantipede differunt quaedam, et alia consonant et concordant."5 I

interpret this to mean that estampies and ductias have open and close

endings which differ from one another. Grocheio makes an additional distinction between round and the

other two forms in that for rounds there is only a single melody for verse and refrain, whereas for ductias and estampies the melodies of the refrain and verses are different from one another. In forming his definition of the round Grocheio excludes the canon because it does not have a refrain, although he admits that some people would call that form a round:

Cantilena vero quaelibet rotunda vel rotundellus a pluribus dicitur, eo quod ad modum circuli in se ipsam reflectitur et incipit et terminatur in eodem. Nos autem solum illam rotundam vel rotundellum

3 The identity of "stantipes" as "estampie" is discussed in Hibberd, "Estampie and Stantipes," p. 232; and Wagenaar-Nolthenius, "Estampie/ Stantipes/ Stampita," pp. 339-409?

4 Rohloff, p. 134. Translations of Grocheio follow Seay with some alterations by this author.

5 Rohloff, p. 134.



THE JOURNAL OF MUSICOLOGY

dicimus, cuius partes non habent diversum cantum a cantu respon- sorii vel refractus. Et longo tractu cantatur . . .6

The round is so called by many people because it turns back upon itself in the manner of a circle and it begins and ends in the same

way. We, however, call round only those songs whose parts do not have a different melody from the melody of their response or refrain. And it is sung in a slow rhythm.

The forms he describes as rounds would seem to be the ancestors of the fourteenth century formes fixes. In the thirteenth century these forms were somewhat more flexible than those of the later centuries, but they had two common features: the refrain was repeated after

every verse, and the melody of the refrain was also used for at least

part of the verse.7 Surviving repertory fitting Grocheio's description of round dance can be found in the thirteenth-century secular repertory, especially the earliest forms of the ballade, rondeau and virelai. Example i, a Latin rondeau from the final fascicle of the Florence MS,8 satisfies Grocheio's description and illustrates the requirement

500 that there be a refrain, but that the melody for the refrain also be the same as the melody of the verse. In this example the melody of the refrain that is also used for part of the verse is in italics.

Grocheio describes the vocal estampie (stantipes) as having several verses, with separate text and melody for verse and refrain, and that it is difficult to dance. He also states that the number of verses in the

estampie and ductia is not fixed but can be augmented according to the will of the composer (a point that will be important in the discussion of the instrumental forms of the same name).

Cantilena, quae dicitur stantipes, est illa, in qua est diversitas in partibus et refractu tamin consonantia dictaminis quam in cantu.... Haec autem facit animos iuvenum et puellarum propter sui difficultatem circa hanc stare.... Numeros vero versuum in tali cantu non

6 Rohloff, p. 132. 7 For examples of the early secular forms see Friedrich Gennrich, Der musikalische

Nachlass der Troubadours (Darmstadt, 1957-67). Discussion also in Gilbert Reaney, "Concerning the Origins of the Rondeau, Virelai and Ballade Forms," Musica disciplina VI (1952), 155-66; Howard M. Brown, "Chanson" The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London, 1980), IV, 135-42; Hans Spanke, Beziehungen zwischen roma- nischen und mittellateinischen Lyrik (Berlin, 1936).

8 Florence, Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenziana MS Pluteo 29. i, trans. in Gordon A. Anderson, ed., 1 pt Latin Conductus-The Latin Repertoire, Notre-Dame and Related Conduc- tus, Opera omnia, Vol. 8, (Henryville, Ottawa, Binningen, n.d.); and Yvonne Rokseth, "Danses clericales du XIIIe siecle," in Melanges 1945 des Publications de la Faculte des Lettres de Strasbourg (Paris, 1947), 93-126.



MEDIEVAL DANCES

EXAMPLE 1. "De Patre principio," Florence, Bibl. Med. Laur. Pluteo 29.1, f. 463r.

J P I tre Jn- J- p i- ro,u de ra J e-I J I De Pa- tre prin- ci- pi- o, Gau- de- a- mus e- y- a

J J l J lIJ J J |J I; i .r I X Fi- li- us prin- ci-

pre- di- cat ec- cle-

De Patre principio Gaudeamus eya Filius principium Cum gloria Novum pascha predicat ecclesia

II Patris ex palacio Gaudeamus Matris in palacium Cum gloria Novum

III Pro mortis exilio Gaudeamus Venit in exilium Cum gloria Novum

pi- um: Cum glo- ri- a, No- vum pascha

si- a.

From the Father in the beginning Let us rejoice, eya The Son was the beginning With glory The Church proclaims a new Passover.

From the Father's palace

Into the mother's chamber

For the exile of death

He comes into exile

[4 more verses] transl. from G. A. Anderson, op. cit., II.

est determinatus, sed in aliquibus plus, in aliquibus minus secundum

copiam materiae et voluntatem compositoris ampliatur.9

Stantipes is a song in which there is a diversity in its parts and its

refrain, not only the rhyme of the words, but also the melody.... This type causes the souls of young men and girls to concentrate because of its difficulty.... The number of verses in such a cantus has not been set, but is laid out in some as more, in others less,

according to the amount of the material and the will of the com-

poser.

9 Rohloff, pp. 132, 134.

501

- I I I I I *P 1 gm I F I I I II




Additional information about the estampie form is found in two

poetry treatises from approximately the same time as Grocheio's De musica. The anonymous Doctrina de compondre dictatz (ca. 1300) states that the estampie should have "four coblas, a refrain and one or two envoys10 set to a new melody".1l The Leys d'amors, compiled by Guil- laume Molinier during the first half of the fourteenth century, ac-

knowledges the existence of a musical form by the same name as the

poetic estampie and goes on to state "but sometimes [estampie] refers not only to the music but also to the text, which is based on love and

homage.... Such minor forms may have an envoy or not, or one may, in place of an envoy, repeat the opening or closing coblas."12

There would seem to be a conflict between Grocheio's statement that the form can have any number of verses (versuum) and the Doc- trina's requirement that an estampie have four coblas. Further, although twenty-six texts have been identified as estampies, initially none would appear to conform to the requirements given in all three of the theoretical descriptions. 3 The problem with the texts, as

pointed out by Lloyd Hibberd, is that not one poem seems to have the

required refrain.'4 It is difficult to believe that contemporary theorists 502 would disagree over basic facts, and that there would be such serious

discrepancies between the theorists' descriptions and all of the sur-

viving repertory. A more probable answer to both problems may lie in the translation of the word "coblas," a word that has two related but

10 An envoy is a statement of dedication. It is usually no more than half the length of a stanza and appears at the end of the poem. The envoy in "Kalenda Maya," Example 2, for example, has been incorporated into the last stanza.

.. "Si vols far estampida, potz parlar de qualque fayt vulles, blasman o lauzan o merceyan, quit vullus; e deu haver quatre cobles e responedor, e una o dues tornades, e so novell." Quoted in Hibberd, "Estampie and Stantipes," p. 224, n. 3. Translation follows Hibberd.

12 "Et alqunas vetz ha respieg no tant solamen al so ans o ha al dictat, quom fa damors o de lauzors a la maniera de vers o de chanso. Et adonx segon nostra sciensa pot haver loc. Aytals dictatz no principals podon haver tornada o no e pot hom en loc de tornada repetir la una cobla del comensamen o de la fi." Translation and original from Hibberd, "Estampie and Stantipes," p. 224.

13 The extant examples are: "Kalenda Maya" from Paris, BN fonds francais 22543, fol. 62; "Souvent souspire" from Paris, BN, MS fr. 845, fol. 159, MS fr. 847, fol. 136, MS nouv. acq. fr. 1050 (MS Clairambault) fol. 208, Bibl. Arsenal 5198, fol. 332; nineteen texts in Oxford, Bodleian Lib. Douce 308, fols. 179r-186, transcribed in Walter 0. Streng-Renkonen, ed., Les estampies franfaises (Paris, 1930); one by Rostanh de Berenguier and four by Cerveri de Girona, transcribed in A. Pillet and H. Carstens, Bibliographie der Troubadours, Halle, 1933, 427:3, 434a: 19, 50, 59, 69; four estampies by Cerveri and an additional text called "Desiranca," that may also be an estampie, in Martin de Riquer, ed., Obras Completas del Trovador Cerveri de Girona (Barcelona, 1947), 64-81.

14 Hibberd, "Estampie and Stantipes," p. 224-27. He deals with "Kalenda Maya" and the nineteen texts from the Oxford manuscript, but the other five have the same problem. Only three of the texts have separate envoys, but for the others that requirement can be met by substitution, as allowed by the Leys d'amors.



MEDIEVAL DANCES

separate meanings. i) It refers to an entire stanza, and in this con- nection has a wider use as a part of the description of some poetic forms; coblas doblas, for example, refers to a poem in which the stanzas are rhymed in pairs. 2) It refers to paired lines, as in the use of the word "couplet" today. 5

In its first meaning, coblas is synonymous with verse, and it is in this sense that it is used in the Leys d'amors. But in the Doctrina it is used in its second sense. There it refers to the make-up of each stanza or verse: that an estampie verse must have four paired lines and a refrain. Interpreted in this manner, the descriptions of estampie in Grocheio and the Doctrina complement rather than contradict one another. The Doctrina describes the poetic form of each verse, and Grocheio states that there is no specific number of verses in an

estampie-a fact borne out by all of the surviving texts which have from three to five verses each.

Both Grocheio and the Doctrina state that there must be a refrain-a text couplet that returns at the end of each verse-and that it must have a new melody. Since not one existing estampie text identifies a separate set of lines as "refrain," I would suggest that there must have been a convention for selecting certain lines of each es- 503

tampie to serve in that capacity. This suggestion is obviously speculative, but it is lent some support by the musical and poetic structure of Kalenda Maya, Example 2, one of the two estampie texts for which music survives.16

Each verse of "Kalenda Maya" is composed of fourteen irregular- length lines that can be separated into the requisite four couplets as follows:

couplets Poetic lines no. of syllables 1 ~1,,2 5+5

3 9 2 4, 5 5+5

6 9 3 7 9

8 9 4 9-11 13

12-14 13

15 M. Raynouard, Lexique Roman ou Dictionnaire de la langue des Troubadours (Paris 1836-45, reprint Heidelberg, n.d.) Vol. 1, 422. Also see "Coblas" in The New Grove IV, 508.

16 The other is "Souvent souspire" which has a form and melody closely related to "Kalenda Maya." There has been some controversy as to which is the original; see Heinrich Husmann, "Kalenda Maya," Archiv fiir Musikwissenschaft X (1953), 275-79; Hendrik van der Werf, "estampie," The New Grove VI, 257; and Gwynn S. McPeek, "Kalenda Maia: a Study in Form," Medieval Studies in honor of Robert White Linker, (n.p. Editorial Castalia, 1973), 141-54.




EXAMPLE 2. "Kalenda Maya," Paris, BN, fonds frany. 22543, f. 62r.

Ka- len- da maya, ni fuelhs de faya, ni chanz d'auzelh ni flors de

9 E r r r r r r f > r i glaya, non es que'm playa, pros domna guaya tro

r r Lr r r ij rt r r qu'un y- snelh mes- sa- tgier a- ya, del vostre belh cors, que'm re-

10 ^ m -

-traya, plazer novelh qu'a-mors m'a- traya, E

I 15 i ' r I r 1 r r7 I - - jaya, e'm traya, vas vos, domna ve- ra- ya, E

.- r J i-- r r T r Jr rI r I il rrrr'~~~~~J J [:j I I I ' a

chaya, de playa, '1 gelos ans que'm n'e- stra- ya.

Kalenda maya ni fuelhs de faya ni chanz d'auzelh ni flors de glaya non es que'm playa, pros domna guaya, tro qu'un ysnelh messatgier aya del vostre belh cors, que'm retraya plazer novelh qu'amors m'atraya, e jaya e'm traya vas vos, domna veraya; e chaya de playa '1 gelos, ans que'm n'estraya.

[e jaya e'm traya vas vos, domna veraya; e chaya de playa '1 gelos, ans que'm n'estraya.]

May Day! Neither the beech tree's leaves, nor the bird's song, nor the flower of the swordlily, are what please me, my most gay lady; until a swift messenger comes from you (lit. from your lovely body) who'll tell me some good news, for love and joy excite me and draw me toward you, lady, and may the jealous one fall down wounded before I leave you.

[for love and joy excite me and draw me toward you, lady, and may the jealous one fall down wounded before I leave you.]

504



MEDIEVAL DANCES

EXAMPLE 2. continued

II

Ma belh'amia, My lovely friend, by God, per Dieu no sia let that jealous one not que ia'l gelos de mon dan ria; laugh at my pain! His que car vendria jealousy is dearly sold if sa gelozia, it parts two such lovers. si aitals dos amans partia; I would never be happy qu'ieu ia ioyos mais no seria, again without your favour, ni ioys ses vos pro no'm tenria; I'd travel that no one tal via would see me ever. That faria, day I die, lady, when I qu'om ia mais no'm veiria; lose you. selh dia morria, [for love and joy ...] donna pros, qu'ie'us perdria. [e jaya e'm traya ...]

[3 more verses] transl. by David N. Klausner

The musical setting is in three double versicles: bars 1-4 and 5-8; 9- o and 1 1- 1 2; 13-15 and 16- 18. The melody of the third versicle 505 (bars 13-18), is in strong contrast to the other two, and therefore is

musically well-suited to act as a refrain. The text for this section, "e

jaya e'm traya," etc., is also of a sufficient summary nature to logically permit its repetition after each verse. My suggestion, therefore, is that at the end of every succeeding verse the melody of bars 13-18 along with the corresponding text from verse i, lines 9-14, would have been repeated as a refrain. The manuscript is not marked to indicate a repeat of the last versicle nor is any other text so marked, but the clear requirement of a refrain in both Grocheio and the Doctrina (and the presence of refrains in all surviving instrumental estampies) strongly suggests that a refrain was a standard part of the vocal es-

tampie form. The format seen in Example 2 is not the only type of text and

musical setting for a vocal estampie. Analysis of the other twenty-four estampie texts indicate that there must have been at least two different types of musical settings. In "Kalenda Maya" and eight others the numbers of lines and syllables is the same in each stanza, allowing for a single musical setting to serve for all stanzas.l7 The other seventeen

texts, however, have a varying number of lines per stanza and varia- tion in the lengths of the lines, which would require a separate musical

'7 Numbers 1 and 6 in the Streng-Renkonen edition, "Souvent souspire," and all five texts by Cerveri de Girona.




setting (or adaptation) for each stanza.l8 Both formats, however, obey the requirements of Grocheio and the poetry treatises. In addition, they have in common the fact that within each stanza the couplets are of different lengths. This requires musical phrases of varying lengths, an important element in Grocheio's description of the estampie-form.

The vocal ductia in Grocheio's description is a lively song, sung in a carol by young people:

Ductia vero est cantilena levis et velox in ascensu et descensu, quae in choreis a iuvenibus et puellis decantatur ....l9

Ductia is a light dance song, rapid in its ascent and descent, which is sung in carol (choreis) by young men and girls.20

This is far from detailed, but when read with the preceding descriptions of round and estampie, a more definite picture of the ductia

emerges. Grocheio has separated dance songs into two formal cate-

gories: those that have the same melody for verse and refrain, and those in which they are different. Dance songs with integrated mel-

506 odies he calls "round," leaving the category of separate melodies to describe both estampie and ductia. The ductia, therefore, is a lively dance, usually performed by young people, with separate refrain and verse melodies, open and close versicles, but in some way different from the estampie. Only one popular dance form in the Middle Ages seems to answer that description: the carol.

And indeed Grocheio does tell us in a rather convoluted way that the ductia is sung "in choreis," that is, in a carol.21 His reason for using the word "ductia" for its title rather than "chorea" (since he had chosen to invent Latin terms for secular forms) would have been to

i8 It has been noted that texts answering this description have a form similar to the lai or descort, which in turn is related to the sequence; for discussion see Gennrich Grundriss, and Handschin, "Uber Estampie."

'9 Rohloff, p. 132. 20 The word "choreis" means "ring dance" or "carol," as well as "chorus," the

translation usually chosen. 21 Christopher Page, Voices and Instruments of the Middle Ages (London and Mel-

bourne, 1987), pp. 82-83, has recently arrived at the same conclusion by means of a different approach. For discussion of the "carol" form and its identification as the source of the rondeau, see Alfred Jeanroy, in Petit de Julleville, Histoire de la langue et de la litterature francaise (Paris, 1896), Vol. I; and Jeanroy, Les origines de la poesie franfais lyrique en France (Paris, 3rd ed., 1925). But see doubts about his theory in Reaney, "Concerning the Origins," pp. 156-57. Further on "carol" and "carole" see J. Stevens, et al., "Carol" panel discussion in International Musicological Society Congress Report X (Ljubljana, 1967, pub. 1970), 284-309; and "Carol" in The New Grove III, 802-15. The relationship of chorus to the method of performing a carol is suggested in Andrew Hughes, "Mensural Polyphony for Choir in 15th-Century England," Journal of the American Musicological Society XIX (1966), 152-69.



MEDIEVAL DANCES

avoid confusion caused by the various meanings of that word, includ-

ing its references to the formation for dancing the round. "In the round" was certainly one aspect of the carol, but as can be seen in the following descriptions, carol dancers also used other formations.

And fayre tressed euery tresse, Had Myrthe done, for his noblesse, Amydde the carole for to daunce, But herof lyeth no remembraunce, Howe that they daunsed queyntly: That one wolde come al priuely Agayne that other; and when they were Togyther almoste, they threwe yfere Her mouthes so, that through her play It seemed as they kyste always;22

"Such a carol had never been seen, nearly a quarter league long"23

If the various formations were chosen at the whim of the leader, the carol would be correctly described as a "leaders dance." That would especially differentiate it from a round dance where there 507 would be no need for a leader. The word ductia, from the Latin word "duco," apparently identifies the most distinctive aspect of the dance itself, rather than its musical form. Perhaps, therefore, the dancers in the often reproduced mural, "The Effects of Good Government," by Ambrogio Lorenzetti from 1337-1339 in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena, are illustrating a carol with their formations of both a circle and "under-the-bridge. "24

In support of the above theory is the form of the extant carols. The earliest surviving repertory of carols with music is from fifteenth- century England,25 seemingly too late for inclusion in this discussion. On the other hand, there appears to be little change in the form of the texts between the thirteenth and fifteenth century, and so we can

suspect that the form of the music found in the fifteenth-century carols would be similar to that used for the earlier texts.26 They all

22 Geoffrey Chaucer, The Romaunt of the Rose and Le Roman de la Rose, ed. Ronald

Sutherland (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1968), lines 799-808. 23 "Tel carole ne fu pas veue Pres d'une quart dure d'une lieue." Phelipe de Remi,

from "La Manekine," cited in Sachs, World History, p. 271. 24 A recent reproduction of the fresco accompanies the article by Howard Mayer

Brown, "Fantasia on a Theme by Boccaccio," Early Music V (1977), 324-39. 25 The entire repertory is edited and discussed by John Stevens in Medieval Carols,

Musica Britannica, Vol. 4, (second revised ed., London, 1958). Also see "Carol," The New Grove III, 802-04.

26 Richard L. Greene, The Early English Carols (Oxford, 1935); Peter Dronke, The Medieval Lyric (London, 1968).




have several verses, each one of several couplets, and a refrain (sometimes called a "burden") sung at the end of each verse.27 This would agree with what Grocheio seems to be implying about a difference between carol and estampie concerning the number of musical phrases used in setting the couplets. In an estampie the couplets are set to at least two musical versicles preceding the refrain, and as can be seen in the majority of the surviving estampie texts, the music of each versicle would have to be somewhat different at least in length, thus the "diversity in its parts and its refrain." For the carol, however, there is only a single musical versicle always the same length, thus making a simpler form. The differences in the musical forms of vocal estampie and carol can be expressed as:

Estampie Carol Vs 1 A A' A A'

B B' refrain refrain

Vs 2 C C' A A' 508 D D' refrain

refrain

Vs 3 E E' A A' F F' refrain refrain

etc.

In choosing to describe the carol as a "leaders dance," I suspect Grocheio has been entirely consistent; the other two vocal dances also seem to be named for an aspect of dancing. We have already seen that he rejected calling the canon a round, although he admitted that some people would see that by musical form it merited that name. Gro- cheio, however, was apparently not describing all-inclusive musical forms but only the music for dance songs. We can assume that canons were not dance songs, and so he used the term round only for those songs with refrains that were danced in the round. In fact, the musical forms he wishes to call "round" actually had a number of names, including those of the formes fixes mentioned above, but he refers to them only by the name of their dance formation. The most distinctive aspect of Grocheio's "round" was that it was danced entirely "in the round." The name "estampie" (or "Stantipes") would consequently

27 For discussion of the performance of a carol see J. Stevens et al. in IMSCR X, 1970; and Andrew Hughes, "Mensural Polyphony."



MEDIEVAL DANCES

tell us something about the steps of that dance-that there was little motion-"stante pedes" = standing/stationary feet28-but with movements irregular and more complicated, as Grocheio seems to imply, and perhaps for that reason more suitable for all ages than was the

energetic carol.29

Instrumental Dances

Grocheio mentions only three forms of instrumental dances (ductia, estampie, and nota) and states that all of them have double versicles. Beyond that, his descriptions of the three forms is

anything but clear, a point noted by the many scholars who have

previously attempted to understand his statements. The instrumental ductia is distinguished only in that it features "regular percussion":

Ductia sonus illitteratus, cum decenti percussione mensuratus.... Sed cum recta percussione, eo quod ictus eam mensurant et motum facientis et excitant animum hominis ad ornate movendum secundum artem, quam ballare vocant, et eius motum mensurant in duc- tiis et choreis.30

509 Ductia is an untexted piece measured with appropriate percussion. ... But I say with regular percussion because these beats measure it and the movement of the performer, and excite the soul of man to moving ornately according to that art they call dancing, and they [the percussive measure] measure its movements in ductia and carol.

The instrumental estampie is described as "complicated," which would seem to associate it closely with the "difficult" vocal estampie, and without the regular percussion found in ductias:

28 Moser, "Stantipes und Ductia," also translates "stantipes" in this way, as does Sachs, World History. But Hibberd, "Estampie and Stantipes," associates it with the French and Provencal verb "estampir," meaning "to resound."

29 For a different theory of the identification of the carol see John Stevens, Words and Music in the Middle Ages: Song, Narrative, Dance and Drama, 1050-1350 (Cambridge 1986), pp. 163-75. Stevens concludes that the medieval carol must not have been a

"single form but a potential for form, a dance-idea waiting to be realized by various forms." (p. 171). His conclusion is derived in part from the evidence that the carol had a variety of dance formations, which he believes would have required a variety of musical forms. He suggests that the formes fixes were once carols, thus identifying "carol" with the forms I believe are "rounds." On the other hand, it is also possible that we both are right; that in earlier centuries the formes fixes were danced as carols (i.e. a

variety of dance formations), but by ca. 1300 that type of dancing was done only to the form Grocheio calls "ductia," and this is the form that comes down to us in the later centuries with the name "carol."

30 Rohloff, p. 136.




Stantipes vero est sonus illitteratus, habens difficilem concordantiarum discretionem, per puncta determinatus.... Propter enim eius difficultatem facit animum facientis circa eam stare et etiam animum advertentis.... Dico etiam per puncta determinatus, eo quod percussione, quae est in ductia, caret et solum punctorum distinctione

cognoscitur.31

The estampie is also an untexted piece, having a complicated suc- cession of concords, determined by versicles. . .. Because of its com-

plicated nature, it makes the soul of the performer and listener pay close attention ... [the estampie form] is determined by versicles since it is lacking in that percussion which is in ductia, and [the form] is recognized [by only] the differences between its versicles.

The only other distinction he makes between ductia and estampie is the number of double versicles: three and perhaps four for the

ductia, six and perhaps seven for the estampie:

Numerum vero punctorum in ductia ad numerum tria ... Sunt etiam aliquae ductiae quattuor habentes puncta, puta ductia 'Pierron'.... Numerum vero punctorum in stantipes quidam ad sex

510 posuerunt ad rationes vocum inspicientes. Alii tamen de novo in-

spicientes forte ad numerum septem concordantiarum vel naturali inclinatione ducti, puta Tassinus.32

People have set the number of puncta in ductia at three.... There are also some ductiae having four puncta, as, for example, the ductia 'Pierron'.... Some, using the pitch syllables as a basis, place the number of puncta in stantipes at six. Others, again inspired perhaps by the number of the seven concords or led by natural inclination, as, for example, Tassinus, augment the number to seven.

But in the light of his earlier statement that the number of verses in vocal ductias and estampies is not fixed, verse number would not seem to be a very strong basis on which to differentiate types of dance music. And in fact the surviving instrumental estampie repertory does not support his statement; the number of verses varies from four to seven. Grocheio's other difference between the two dance forms, the

presence or absence of an "appropriate percussion," appears at first to be so obscure that it has led to a variety of interpretations by modern scholars.33

3' Rohloff, p. 136. 32 Rohloff, p. 136. 33 Sachs, World History, pp. 290-91, took it to mean that the ductia was in binary

rhythm and the estampie in ternary. H. Wagenaar-Nolthenius, "Estampie/," p. 405, interprets it to mean that the ductia was played with percussion and the estampie by solo vielle (mentioned in the treatise as the ideal instrument for secular music).



MEDIEVAL DANCES

Earlier the treatise mentions that Grocheio considers the sound made by all musical instruments to be percussion, which implies that the word "percussion" can be taken to mean "instrumental sound" in

general.

Sed si haec omnia subtiliter considerentur, inveniuntur a percussione fieri, cum omnis sonus percutiendo causetur, prout in sermon- ibus de anima comprobatum est.34

But if all these things are considered more carefully, they are found to happen through percussion, since every sound is caused by strik- ing as is proven in my remarks on the soul.

Siegmund Levarie has suggested that the key to understanding the difference between Grocheio's ductia and estampie forms is con- tained in the statement about the estampie's "complicated nature" that requires listeners and performers to pay close attention.35 He believes that this is a reference to its having versicles of varying lengths. In contrast to the estampie, the ductia would have the same number of beats in each versicle. "Appropriate percussion," therefore, would seem to mean "with the same number of instrumental 511 sounds," that is, versicles of the same length. This agrees with what we have seen to be a part of the description of the vocal ductia and is further supported by the fact that, in contrast to the regular ductia, all identified estampies, both texted and textless, have versicles of varying lengths.36 There are no identified instrumental ductias to call upon,37 but since equal-length phrases and a separate refrain are characteristics of the vocal ductia (carol), we may now assume that instrumental dances with those same characteristics are also ductias.

34 Rohloff, p. 134. 35 Siegmund Levarie, "Communications," JAMS XXVII (1974), 367-69. 36 For sources of vocal estampies see fn. 9 above. Instrumental estampies identi-

fied as such in their sources are: seven in Paris, BN, fonds francais 844, fols. 103v- 104v. Facsimile in Jean Beck, ed., Le Manuscrit du Roi, fonds franfais No. 844 de la Bibliotheque Nationale, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1938), Vol. i; and Aubry, Estampies et danses royales. Transcriptions in Aubry, and Timothy J. McGee, Medieval Instrumental Dances (working title), forthcoming. Eight [called "Instanpitta"] in London, BL Additional 29987, fols. 55v-62r. Facsimile in Gilbert Reaney, ed., The Manuscript London, British Museum, Additional 29987, A Facsimile Edition, Musicological Studies and Documents 13 (Rome, 1965). Transcriptions in Jan ten Bokum, ed., De dansen van het trecento, Scripta musicologica ultrajectina (Utrecht, 1967, 2nd ed. 1976); Sebastian Kelber and Josef Ulsamer, Mittelalterliche Spielmannstdnze aus Italien, Das Blockfloten Repertoire, Vol. I (Celle, 1978); and McGee, Medieval Instrumental Dances. McGee also includes other probable estampies.

37 But see Frederick Crane, "A Study of Theoretical Writings on Musical Form to ca. 1460," (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iowa, 1960), where the composition "Petrone" in the Robertsbridge Codex, BL. Add. 28550, is identified as the ductia "Pierron" mentioned by Grocheio (Rohloff, p. 136).




Three compositions, all from the manuscript Paris, Bibliotheque Na- tionale, fonds fran?ais 844, answer this description. (In the manu-

script one is without title and the other two are labelled "dansse real," and "danse.")38 All have equal-length versicles (two have three and the other four), and all have "refrains" in the form of short open and close endings (see Example 3).39

As to the third instrumental form, the nota, Grocheio makes only a passing reference to its four double versicles and states that these

compositions could be considered "either a form of ductia or an in-

complete estampie." "Sunt tamen aliquae notae vocatae quattuor punctorum, quae ad ductiam vel stantipendem imperfectam reduci

possunt."40 Only two surviving compositions are identified as notas, and al-

though both are texted, we have already noted similarities between vocal and instrumental dances of the same name, suggesting a close

correspondence between those forms.4, The earliest nota is by Adam de la Bassee (late thirteenth century), and is identified in the source as a contrafactum of a secular dance composition "notula over the [composition] which begins 'to play and dance'...."42 It has five double

512 versicles (one more than Grocheio states), all of the same length and with related melodic curves, and a sixth unrepeated versicle, twice as long as the others, having a contrasting melodic curve. The composition fits Grocheio's description of ductia in that all of its phrases are regular, but the contrasting melody in the last versicle resembles the form of the texted estampie with a final refrain phrase that contrasts with the verse.

The other nota, named "La Note Martinet," is not in the same form as Adam's. It is composed of a number of irregular-length phrases (some of them double versicles, others single) and a refrain- like cadence that recurs at irregular periods throughout the composition. The irregular length of the phrases relate this piece to the estampie, and the presence of a separate refrain place it in the general

38 fol. 5r, 104 v. Facsimile and transcriptions see note 37 above. Aubry, Estampies et danses royales, p. 12, also suspected that two of these dances were ductias.

39 The "dansse real" does not have indications that the versicles should be repeated, but Grocheio states that double versicles are a feature of all secular dances, and so I feel confident that repetition of each verse was intended in that composition. 40 Rohloff, p. 136.

41 Both compositions are transcribed and discussed in Gennrich, Grundriss, pp. 167-74; "La Note Martinet" is transcribed in Handschin, "Uber Estampie," pp. 127- 28. Also see Gustave Reese, Music in the Middle Ages (New York, 1940), 226-27, and Andrew Hughes, "The Ludus super Anticlaudianum of Adam de la Bassee," JAMS XXIII (1970), 1-25.

42 "Notula super illam que incipit De juer et de baler . .," quoted in Hughes, "The Ludus," p. 9.



MEDIEVAL DANCES

EXAMPLE 3. "Danse," Paris, BN, fonds franc. 844, f. 5r.

~~ rir FI: !r I: I rir ~ j , I' lJRef.] IJ t I ~ 1. 1Rei

: "12. I I I J N I li r Ir S1

' Ii f I J I X J eI I. IJ A I1 r r ir > ir i N J N. i r 1i1

: b J I f etc.

$i r r ir r If r N r ' -

A I1.

,-J. I ,J ^ I J f I etc.

category with both ductia and estampie, but its unique form prevents close identification with either.

What is common to the two vocal notas is exactly what Grocheio states: they have some aspects of both ductia and estampie, without

being either one. Considering the degree of difference between these two notas it is not surprising that he could not define the form any more precisely. In the tenth-century writings of Regino of Prum the word "nothae" is assigned to those antiphons that do not conform to a single mode, that is, those that do not exactly fit the formal definition.43 Similarly, in the compositions cited above, the designa- tion "nota" would also appear to be something of a "catch-all" classi- fication for dance compositions with unique forms that bear some resemblance to other forms.

43 Quoted in Willi Apel, Gregorian Chant (Bloomington and London, 1958), p. 175. I am indebted to David McCartney for bringing this to my attention.

513




The fourteenth-century writer Jehan Maillart mentions the nota

along with other dances:

Li auquant chantent pastourelles; Le autre dient en vielles, Chan- sons royaus et estempies, Danses, noctes et baleriez, In leiist, en psalterion, Chascun selonc s'entencion, Lais d'amours, descors et balades, Pour esbatre ces genz malades.44

Some sang pastourelles about Robichon and Amelot, others played on vielles chansons royal and estampies, dances and notas. On lute and psaltery each according to his preference [played] lais of love, descorts and ballads in order to entertain those who were ill.

It is clear from this reference that the nota was a dance type distinct from estampie, "danse," and "baleriez," but the nature of those differences-whether they arose from dance steps or the dancing formation (round, line, couples, etc.)-is not clear. It can be con- cluded from the existing examples, however, that since each nota had a unique form, the dance steps or sequences would have had to have been individually adapted, and that would have set it apart from the

514 other dance types. Earlier I speculated that Grocheio was attempting to associate the names of the dance types with some aspect of their dances, and indeed it is possible to speculate that the word "nota" also referred to some significant aspect of dancing, for example that it had to do with "noted" dance steps. On the other hand, given the absence of any attempt on Grocheio's part to say something about the nota as a dance-he mentions only the number of versicles-and since the music of the two known notas would seem to have nothing in common

except their lack of conformity to the other dance types, it would seem more likely that in this case Grocheio simply borrowed the term for

irregular antiphons. Four nameless compositions usually considered to be medieval

instrumental dances might now be suspected to be notas. Three of them are from British Library MS Harley 978.45 They are all in two parts and have double versicles, although their versicles are written

44 Le Roman du Comte d'Anjoy, ed., Mario Roques (Paris, 1931), lines 1 -18. 45 Fol. 8v-gr. Facsimile in Harry E. Wooldridge, Early English Harmony from the

10th to the 15th Century (London, 1897), Vol. 1, P1. 18-19. Transcriptions in Archibald Davidson and Willi Apel, Historical Anthology of Music (Cambridge, Mass., 1946), Vol. i, pp. 43-44 (first two only); Ernest Sanders, ed., English Music of the Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries, Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century, ed. Kurt von Fischer assisted by Ian Bent, Vol. XIV (Monaco, 1979), 24-26; and McGee, ed. Medieval In- strumental Dances. Also see discussion of the purpose of these compositions in Wulf Arlt, "The reconstruction of instrumental music: the interpretation of the earliest practical sources," Studies in the Performance of Late Medieval Music, ed. Stanley Boorman (Cam- bridge, 1983), pp. 82-87.



MEDIEVAL DANCES

out rather than marked for repeat. The first (according to their ap- pearance in the MS) has three melodic phrases presented twice in the lower voice against a continually changing counterpoint in the upper voice. The second has two phrases, presented first in the lower voice and then repeated in the upper voice transposed up a fifth. And the third has only a single melodic phrase, presented twice in the lower voice and three times in the upper voice transposed up a fifth. Their formal plots can be diagrammed as follows:

No. 1 section 1 2 3 4 5 6

upper voice ctpti ctpt2 ctpt3 ctpt4 ctpt5 ctpt6 lower voice A B C A B C

No. 2

section 1 2 3 4

upper voice ctpt ctpt2 A B lower voice A B ctpt3 ctpt4

No. 3 515 section 1 2 3 4 5

upper voice ctpt ctpt2 A A A lowr voice A A ctpt3 ctpt4 ctpt5

The three compositions all have phrases of the same length, thus

bearing some resemblance to a ductia, but they do not have immedi- ate repetition of the versicles, and there is no common refrain.

The fourth possible nota is from Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Douce 139.46 It has ten versicles (more than any other dance); some are clearly marked for repeat, some have written-out repeats, and some are possibly without repeat. It is monophonic for most of its

length, but contains a single section of polyphony (or more correctly, expanded monophony). The irregular length of the versicles gives it some correspondence to the estampie, but the apparent absence of a refrain eliminates it from close identification with that category. The versicles do not all bear resemblance to one another, which has led one musicologist to speculate that it may be two different estampies.47

46 Fol. 5. Facsimile in Wooldridge, Early English Harmony, Vol. i, plate 24; and John Stainer, Early Bodleian Music, London, 1901, Vol. i, plate 7. Transcriptions in Davidson and Apel, Historical Anthology, Vol. 1, p. 43; and McGee, Medieval Instrumental Dances.

47 See Handschin, "Uber Estampie," p. 8. Arlt, "The 'reconstruction' of instrumental music," pp. 87-99, offers several solutions to the intended order of the phrases.




But without a constant refrain this piece can be neither estampie nor ductia. On the contrary, its formal similarity to "La Note Martinet"- versicles of irregular length with an occasional refrain-suggests that it may be an instrumental nota.

Admittedly, my interpretation of which dances were actually be-

ing described in Grocheio's treatise has been speculative. And if not all of my identifications of specific repertory are equally convincing, the dance types I identify have the important aspect of a continuing historical tradition. The simple round, the energetic carol, the slow and complicated estampie, and the individually choreographed nota can all be traced into the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, providing a continuum that makes sense historically.

To find actual musical types that reflect Grocheio's descriptions helps to bring both the theorist and his treatise into a better historical focus. We know that Grocheio was a teacher at the Sorbonne in Paris

during the late thirteenth century,48 and from an examination of the contents of his treatise, it would seem probable that he wrote it for his students as a survey of sacred and secular music. While the treatise

attempts to be all inclusive, it remains on a rather elementary level, 516 lacking the long, complicated discussions of subjects such as the scalar

and notation systems found in contemporary theoretical writings of, for example, Marchetto da Padova, Walter Odington, and Jerome of Moravia.49 It is likely therefore that this treatise was intended for the liberal arts students at an introductory level, rather than for the advanced audience obviously addressed by the other theorists named above.

It has been observed by others that there are a number of modern

aspects to Grocheio's treatise.50 In place of the long references to

philosophical theories concerning the origins of music found in earlier and contemporary treatises, Grocheio pays mere lip service and calls into question some of the less believable parts of the old myths. The very inclusion of secular music in a theoretical treatise is itself unusual, but as Grocheio states, he was attempting to describe music as it was practiced in Paris at that time. One of the problems he faced in doing so was that of inventing new Latin names for vernacular

compositional types, thus causing the problems for present-day inter- preters with the secular forms discussed above. It would seem probable that he had actual music in mind when he described the six

48 Rohloff, p. 11. 49 Marchetto da Padova, Pomerium and Lucidarium; Walter Odington, Summa de

speculatione musicae; Jerome of Moravia, Tractatus de musica. 50 See for example Stockmann, "Musica vulgaris," and "Grocheo," The New Grove

IX, 664.



MEDIEVAL DANCES

different types of dances, and I find it difficult to imagine that a dance as common as was the carol would be either unknown to him or omitted from a general survey of secular musical forms.

If we read Grocheio's treatise on the level on which it seems to have been intended-as a practical guide for the non-specialist, rather than an advanced description of compositional forms-the section on secular music seems to make more sense. And it is not difficult to believe that, for this kind of audience, his descriptions of dance music would intentionally include aspects of the dances themselves in order to relate their musical structure to their function. Grocheio's non- traditional way of approaching his subject has thus yielded unex- pected information: in addition to his descriptions of secular music, he has given us a tantalizing glimpse of the varieties of dancing from the end of the thirteenth century; a subject on which we have precious little information.

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