Ockeghems Missa Mi-mi as Hypophrygian Exemplar in

Fifteenth-Century Vocal Polyphony

Masters Thesis

Presented To

The Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Brandeis University
Department of Music
Seth Coluzzi, Advisor

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Fine Arts

in
Musicology

by
Ian Lorenz

May 2014

Copyright by

Ian Lorenz

2014
 Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Chafe and Dr. Keiler for their helping me to grow as a

musicologist, and I would especially like to thank my advisor Dr. Seth Coluzzi for all the time

and effort that he has given me on mode and modal theory. I would also like to thank my friends

and family for all their love and support throughout this process.

iii
 ABSTRACT

Ockeghems Missa Mi-mi as Hypophrygian Exemplar in

Fifteenth-Century Vocal Polyphony

A thesis presented to the Music Department

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Brandeis University
Waltham, Massachusetts

By Ian Lorenz

Ockeghems Missa Mi-mi has intrigued and puzzled scholars for many centuries after its

creation. A great amount of research has been dedicated to the ambiguous title ascribed to the

mass and what it may have represented during the latter part of the fifteenth century. One area

that has not been covered in such detail is that the mass itself is exemplary through the use of the

Hypophrygian mode, a mode that had been hardly used in polyphony throughout the fifteenth

century. This study, then, critically examines the secular output of contemporary foremost

composers Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, Antoine Busnois, Johannes Ockeghem, and

Johannes Tinctoris in order to establish a stylistic paradigm of the Phrygian modes. After

establishing this paradigm, we come to the realization that the chanson O invida Fortuna by

Johannes Tinctoris represents a burgeoning trend within Phrygian modalityan attempt to

increase the overall Phrygian nature of the work as a whole through the addition of a Phrygian

cadence on the fourth scale degree of the modal octave. In light of this evidence, and given

Ockeghems penchant for musical games, the Missa Mi-mi represents a culmination of this trend

and establishes a paradigm-shift within Phrygian modality, one that favors Phrygian cadences to

iv
the fourth-scale degree instead of the fifth within mode 3 contexts. We then examine and

analyze the nature of A within Ockeghems mass as a whole, before turning to the after effects of

these modal procedures and the ramifications that the Tinctoris chanson, and Ockeghems mass,

had on Phrygian modality moving into the sixteenth century.

v
 Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Survey of Phrygian modality with fifteenth-century chansons 6

Analysis of A-mi cadences within Ockeghems Missa Mi-mi 25

Analysis of Josquins Nymphes des bois as modal allusion to Ockeghems mass 32

Conclusions 40

Tables 43

Work cited 56

vi
 List of Tables:

Table 1: Guillaume Dufays chansons 43

Table 2: Gilles Binchoiss chansons 46
Table 3: Johannes Ockeghems chansons 48
Table 4: Antoine Busnoiss chansons 49
Table 5: Johannes Tinctoriss chansons 51
Table 6: Analysis of Nymphes des bois 52

vii
 List of Figures:

Figure 1: The opening of Marguerite fleur with non-functional A-sonorities 10

Figure 2: End of the third stanza of Ma bouche rit 13
Figure 3: Editorial A-re cadence in mm. 16-17 14
Figure 4: A-mi cadence in O invida Fortuna 20
Figure 5: Tinctoriss example 18 22
Figure 6: Head motive of the Missa Mi-mi and its rhythmic component 26
Figure 7: Melodic component of the head motive, Kyrie, mm. 42-46 27
Figure 8: Missa Mi-mi, Gloria, prominent A-mi cadence, mm. 85-95 28
Figure 9: Missa Mi-mi, Credo, A-mi cadence in mm.40-44 30
Figure 10: Basis for the cantus firmus melody in the second tenor of Nymphes des bois 34
Figure 11: A-mi cadence in the second tenor of Nymphes des bois 37

viii
 Introduction

The incredible amount of scholarship that has been written on Ockeghems freely-

composed Missa Mi-mi is both substantial and warranted. The principal question surrounding

the mass concerns the various titles ascribed to itMi-mi, My-my, or Quarti-tonialong with

the opening motif heard in the bass voice, which begins on E and descends a fifth to A. Ross

Duffin, in his article Solmization and Ockeghems Famous Mass, quotes and translates

Heinrich Besseler from the Chorwerk edition while discussing the title as it is commonly

associated today: The Missa mi-mi took its name from the characteristic descending 5th at the

beginning of the bass part (e and A are mi in the natural and soft hexachords respectively).1

Additionally, this opening descent is a unifying head motive introduced at the beginning of each

successive movement.

While the titling and head motive of the mass have garnered a majority of the

scholarship, the mode of the mass as a whole begs many questions, namely: what sort of

precedent had been set for the compositional use of the Phrygian mode; what of the usage of the

Hypophrygian mode throughout the fifteenth century; does the mass conform to our expectations

of what a characteristic mode 4 work should look like? In the study that follows, I will cover

theoretical definitions for the Phrygian and Hypophrygian modes and pit them against their

1
Ross W. Duffin,Mi chiamano Mimi but My Name is Quarti toni: Solmization and Ockeghems
Famous Mass, Early Music, Vol. 29, No. 2 (May, 2001): 164-184, 166. Further referred to as Duffin.
Heinrich Besselers original comments are from: Johannes Ockeghem: Missa Mi-mi, ed. by Heinrich
Besseler, Germany: Mseler Vertrag Wolfenbttel, 1950(?). Die Missa mi-mi trgt ihren Namen nach
dem charakteristichen Quintfall zu Angang des Basses (e-A, im alten Hexachrodum naturale war e, im
Hexachordum molle A=mi).

1
actual characteristics within works by foremost composers of the fifteenth century in search of a

stylistic consistency leading up to Ockeghems mass. After investigating the mass, I shall

examine an extension of Ockeghems treatment of the Phrygian mode through Josquins

Deploration sur la morte de Ockeghem, a work that contains a modal allusion to Ockeghems

Missa Mi-mi.

Rebecca Stewart, in her article Johannes Ockeghem, a Most Medieval Musician, says

of the nature of Bb within the mass, [t]he title Mi-mi is normally said to refer to the initial e-A

fifth in the Bassus...However, speaking purely musically, and not theologically, I would like to

initially suggest that this MI-MI designation also describes the [e (f) a (b-flat)] relationship so

characteristic of the Gregorian mode IV and of Ockeghems mass2 Stewarts assertion is

generally considered correct by our current understanding, but it is more indicative of the period

after Ockeghem. The increasingly characteristic use of Bb within the E-Phrygian and E-

Hypophrygian modes in the sixteenth century warrants a re-examination particularly on the basis

that the mode itself has been considered one of the most problematic in terms of analysis. This

troublesome nature is mostly due to the variability of the mode and the avoidance of the tritone

(incurred between the second and fifth degrees of the modal octave), which puts less emphasis

on the reciting tone of the mode and more on the tones surrounding it. For example, in the

authentic mode 3 the octave will be E-E, with particular emphasis on the tones E, A and C, the

latter being the reciting tone. The plagal mode 4 would naturally need to encompass the range of

B-B, as can be seen from the very origins of modal theory. The octave B-B, however, was made

out of systematic necessity as opposed to practical considerations for the mode itself. Hence, as

Bernhard Meier has explained, we come to our definition of mode 4 as encompassing the range

2
Rebecca Stewart, Ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus (Ps.42:1): Johannes Ockeghem, a Most
Medieval Musician, Tijdschrift van de Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis,
Deel 47, No. 1/2, [Johannes Ockeghem] (1997), pp. 163-200, 170.

2
of C-C (going as low as A), again with emphasis on E, A, and C, at least in terms of sixteenth-

century polyphony.3

Where Meier is considered an authority on modality in the sixteenth century, however,

his studies are not as pertinent when considering polyphony of the fifteenth century.4 One of the

most active and influential theorists in the fifteenth century was Johannes Tinctoris, a northern

composer and theorist whose application of the modes to polyphonywas unparalleled in his

own time5 In the introduction to his Liber de natura et proprietate tonorum (1476) his

thoughts and methodologies can be seen as being directly representative of Franco-Flemish

composers when he says, [t]o the most famous and most celebrated teachers of the art of music,

Dominus Johannes O[c]keghem, first chaplain of the Most Christian King of France, and Master

Antoine Busnois, singer for the most illustrious Duke of Burgundy6 Harold Powers states that

Tinctorisin chapter 19 of [this same work, a chapter] which discusses appropriate beginning

pitches for polyphonic compositions in each of the modes, implied that the fourth degree, a,

could be regarded as the most important note in the Phrygian mode after the final e and its octave

e.7 In this passage, Tinctoris mentions the starting tones of E la mi grave, A la mi re, and E la

mi re acute for mode 3 and E la mi grave and A la mi re acute for the mode 4.8 While Tinctoris

licenses A within the Phrygian mode, he has not given propriety to its cadential status in the

3
Bernhard Meier, The Modes of Classical Vocal Polyphony: Described According to the Sources, trans:
Ellen S. Beebe (New York: Broude Brothers Limited, 1988), 85.
4
My analysis and modal definitions come from Meier, therefore his study of modality is fundamental
throughout this paper. My point is that The Modes of Classical Vocal Polyphony is more focused on
music of the sixteenth century and will not be as pertinent when trying to establish a stylistic consistency
for the fifteenth century.
5
Frans Wiering, The Language of the Modes: Studies in the History of Polyphonic Modality (New York:
Routledge, 2001), 60.
6
Johannes Tinctoris, Concerning the Nature and Propriety of Tones (De Natura et Proprietate Tonorum),
trans. by Albert Seay (Colorado Springs: Colorado College Music Press, 1967), 1.
7
Harold S. Powers, Phrygian, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie,
pg. 634 (New York: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2001), vol. 19, 634.
8
Tinctoris, De Natura, 20.

3
modes, let alone Phrygian cadences to such a tone in modes 3 and 4. It is similarly interesting

that in all of Tinctoriss examples there are no instances in his mode 4 melodies where he uses

Bb, except in chapter 45 when he discusses irregular finals of tones.9 By this, Tinctoris shows

the possibility of transposition to the fifth below through the addition of a Bb in the key

signature. He gives three examples in every mode that are transposed as far as two flats; hence

in his mode 3 examples, he shows both A-Phrygian and D-Phrygian, and also D-Phrygian

transposed down an octave; the mode 4 examples are used in the same transpositions as those in

mode 3.10 Similarly, in Chapter Three, discussing the Hypolydian mode 6, Tinctoris discusses

the use of Bb within melodic ascents or descents to and from F.11 Tinctoris then goes through

each mode and regulates the use of Bb melodically around the tone F (in order to avoid linear

tritones), and does so even in the case of mode 3 (an example of which will be discussed in

greater detail further on). What is interesting, however, is Tinctoriss example of mode 4 on E

containing no Bbs. In an example dedicated to the use of Bbs, in a range outlining B-a, and,

already permitting to the tone A in both Phrygian modes, Tinctoris could easily have created a

melody that necessitated its use, but he did not. Since Tinctoris had already shown the

plausibility of Bbs within a mode 3 example, this would have afforded him the opportunity to

make such a point known, but he desisted.

As we shall see, the dichotomy between composer and theorist, especially for Tinctoris,

becomes ever more grey while discussing aspects of his compositional style and his usage of

mode. Tinctoriss theories, however, illuminate a significant point in terms of the Phrygian

modes throughout the fifteenth century in that Tinctoris did not subscribe to the view that mode 4

works needed Bbs. This is in light of the fact that Tinctoris based his theories on the Franco-

9
Tinctoris, De Natura, 37.
10
Ibid, example 65.
11
Ibid, 12-13.

4
Flemish school of composition in which he himself was trained. Thus, it would do well for us

to investigate and correlate a stylistic consistency for the prominent Franco-Flemish composers

and examine their secular outputs in terms of their use of the Phrygian modes and their decisions

surrounding the fourth scale degreethe nature of this particular tone in the given octave species

will constitute either a convergence or a divergence within modal theory.

5
 Survey of Phrygian modality within fifteenth-century chansons

What follows is a survey of the foremost composers within the Franco-Flemish tradition

in and around the fifteenth century, focusing on those composers use of Phrygian modality in

their secular output and how it relates to our current discussion of the Hypophrygian mode.12 We

will begin by examining one of the most prolific composers of the first half of the fifteenth

century, Guillaume Dufay. Most significant to our current study are the 84 chansons that belong

to him, of which three are in the Phrygian mode: Je me complains piteusement, Malheureulx

cueur, que vieulx tu faire?, and Adieu, quitte le demeurant de ma vie.

Je me complains piteusement13, a three-voiced ballade with ambitus of all voices between

A-A (all encompassing the range of a-a') and no signature given for the work, begins with a

three measure textless opening (centering on a D-sonority), which culminates in an A-mi cadence

that corresponds with the entrance of the topmost voice (labeled Primus in the transcription).

The entrance of the other two voices (Secundus and Tertius) are brought in one measure later and

all come to a close together in m.7 on a weak E-mi cadence.14 This same tonal center returns

12
In an attempt to facilitate one particular aspect of modality throughout these composers careers, I am
solely focusing on their secular works. While there are a greater number of secular works than there are
sacred works for a number of these composers, focusing on a robust tradition with allow for a much larger
sample of modality than would a study focused primarily on their masses. While I am not opposed to
such a study, it would less fit the purpose of this survey in trying to make a composite modal summary of
composers treatment of Phrygian modality.
13
Guillaume Dufay Opera Omnia, Volume 6: Cantiones, ed. by Heinrich Besseler (Rome: American
Institute of Musicology, 1964), 29.
14
This particular Phrygian cadence, a formation that is used quite often throughout Dufays chansons, is
brought about when the two of the voices involved in maintaining the cadence (in this case Primus and
Secundus) descend by half step (e-d-c# in the Secundus, f-e in the Primus). The Tertius voice, as well,
supports the Phrygian cadence by leaping a fourth from D to A. Within fifteenth-century cadential
practices, cadences were either strong or weak based upon the tones in the resolution (i.e. fifths and

6
three measures later but is not cadential in this instance (m.10). The first section is then brought

to a close with an A-mi cadence (mm.17-18). The B-section of the work continues in the same

manner as the section that preceded it: establishing A-mi (m.22), moving toward a weak E-mi

cadence (m.28), confirming A-mi once more (m.31), and then closing the work with a final

cadence of A-mi. The work is then in A-Phrygian with the only questionable aspect of modal

assignation coming from the lack of Bbs in the key signature (normally used to indicate a

transposition, but here withheld). However, the ambitus of the voices, the primary and

secondary nature given to the two Phrygian cadences throughout the work, and the two closing

sections having finals on A-mi strongly indicate the Phrygian mode transposed to A.15

Malheureulx cueur16, a three-voiced virelai with ambitus in all voices emphasizing the

range of C-C (c'-c'' in the discant, c-c' in the contratenor, and c-c' in the tenor), begins on a C-

sonority and concludes the first line of text on a non-cadential G-sonority in m.5. This moment

of non-cadential closure causes a change in the surrounding texture and shifts the emphasis of

the voices from C to G, this change ultimately coming to fruition with a cadence on G in m.11.

Having cadenced on G, the voices then shift back to C and close the next phrase of text on C

(m.16). The tone E, being present within the preceding music but not emphasized cadentially or

melodically, begins to come forth in the following phrase when Dufay initiates a weak cadence

on E-mi in mm.18-19. E is then more firmly highlighted as the modal final when Dufay

cadences on B-mi three measures later (mm.21-22). The last phrase of text, and the final of the

octaves), a principle still maintained from the fourteenth century. Cadences that contain fifths and
octaves were seen as perfect, whereas those that contained a third were seen as less perfect, or imperfect.
The use of double half-step motion in the cadence, resulting in a third placed in the cadence must
therefore weaken the cadence. This distinction, however, becomes much more difficult as we progress
further into the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
15
While all A-mi cadences throughout the work are visually shown through musica ficta, Dufay
structured the cadences so that they could only be understood as cadences in A-mi and not A-re (A-re
cadences would incur a tritone between G# and D prior to their resolution).
16
Dufay Opera Omnia, 43.

7
work, then, comes to a close on E-mi, thereby suspending any doubts of modal grounding. The

corresponding B-section opens on an E-sonority and, just as in the opening phrase of text in the

A-section, comes to a non-cadential pause on an A-sonority (m.31) before moving toward D for

the start of the next phrase. The end of the phrase, initiated by D, culminates in an A-re cadence

in m.35.17 The next phrase begins on an open E-B fifth that moves back toward C and cadences

on C mid-phrase in mm.38-39 before a non-cadential pause on C in m.40. After this pause, the

voices move through A back to E and eventually close the B-section on the mode affirming E-mi

cadence.

Adieu, quitte le demeurant de ma vie18, the last example in Dufays chansons, is the

shortest example of the three containing only 22 measures worth of music. This rotundelli,

containing no signatures and ambitus of the voices comprising a mixture of C-C and E-Ethe

cantus voice comprising the range of c'-c'', the contratenor e-e' (as high as g'), and the tenor voice

similarly using the range of e-d'opens with an E-sonority that moves towards a weak cadence

on G in m.5. Dufay, however, passes through G to C before bringing A to the fore through an

evaded cadence on A-re in mm.8-9. The move to A instances motion towards D, which is

fulfilled by a cadence on D in mm.11-12 and also coincides with the conclusion of first half of

the piece. The second section of the work opens on an A-sonority before ultimately moving to

an E-mi cadence in mm.14-15 and, shortly thereafter, cadencing on G in mm.16-17. The

cadence to G then moves back to E before the work closes on the final E-mi.

The first of these three chansons, Je me complains, represents one of the strictest

examples of Phrygian modality to be exhibited in this survey, as the cadential motion

17
Once more, Dufay has composed the three voices as to instill no doubts that this cadence will be A-re,
as opposed to A-mi. The vertical alignment of all tones involved, from top to bottom, a'-g'-f', e, and b,
means that an A-mi cadence cannot occur without having a pronounced tritone between tenor and the
contratenor.
18
Dufay Opera Omnia, 90.

8
continuously reiterates the final of the mode and the fifth scale degree of the modal octave.

Usually this type of back-and-forth motion between the final and the reciting tone is exhibited

much more in the Dorian, Lydian and Mixolydian authentic modes, of which this melody would

most commonly fit into an A-Dorian context given the cadential formation. For instance, it

would be odd, but of course not unprecedented, to see a work in the Phrygian mode 3 that moves

between Phrygian cadences on the final and Phrygian cadences on B. The fact that the so calmly

alternates between A-mi and E-mi cadences, however, is uncommon in light of the natural

tendency of the authentic mode 3 to highlight the sixth scale degree of the modal ambitus. As a

matter of fact, we would expect the treatment of the authentic Phrygian mode to look like the

second Dufay example, Malheureulx cueur, in which we have cadences on C, B-mi and also A-

re, or even Adieu, quitte.

Continuing our survey, we next come to the works of another Burgundian composer and

contemporary of Ockeghem who is most known for his use of formes fixes within his secular

music, Gilles Binchois. His chansons comprise some forty-seven rondeaux and eight ballades.

Of the fifty-seven chansons that are indisputably attributed to Binchois, forty-two make use of

the Dorian modes (on D, G, and C),19 with twelve in the Lydian mode and three in the

Mixolydian mode. There are, however, no chansons in the Phrygian modes.

It would be beneficial to discuss a few works that have ambiguous features, the first

being the nature of A in the rondeau Margarite, fleur. Along with the ranges of the voices, the

prominent cadence on D at the end of the A section in the work functions as one of the most

heard throughout the work (it needing to be repeated due to the rondeau form) and determines

19
Die Chansons von Gilles Binchois, ed. by Wolfgang Rehm, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der
Literatur in Mainz, Mainz: B. Schotts Shne, 1957. In the chart, the chansons that are ambiguous are
marked with an asterisk. Cadences marked n.s.m.f. in the table at the bottom of the paper mean not
shown through musica ficta.

9
the mode as D-Dorian with a final cadence on A. The presence of cadences on G, evaded

cadences on E-mi and general A-sonorities, however, make this determination problematic. The

editor seems to have been careful with the use of musica ficta, as the work contains A-sonorities

that do not assist modal determination. We can see why this is, however, when we look at the

first move to A in the middle of verse 1 Margarite, fleur de valeur (mm. 3-4; Figure 1). No

cadence can be construed because the use of G#s in the discant would clash with the G-naturals

in the contratenor and a Phrygian cadence is precluded due to the clash between what would be a

Bb against an E-natural.
20
Figure 1: The opening of Marguerite fleur with non-functional A-sonorities

Likewise, the next cadence that would occur in mm. 10-11 on A cannot be made (using the

formal M6-octave cadential motion) due to the same reasons as mm.3-4. The use of a Phrygian

cadence could occur, however, in mm. 28-29, with no significant clashes occurring. Similarly,

the final cadence to A could be A-re through the use of G#s being added to the discant. In spite

of these occurrences however, I believe the work is still rooted in Dorian modality.

Another work with unusual modal traits is Amours et quas tu, a short rondeau composed

of some 15 measures with ambitus of c-c'(-e') in the discant,21 A-g in the tenor and A-a (falling as

20
Binchois, 24. Another work by Binchois that contains non-functional A-sonorities is the chanson
Amoreux suy. This work is in the D-Dorian mode, similar to that of Marguerite fleur. These A-sonorities
are built around the characteristic descending fourth in the bottommost voice against a falling b-a in the
tenor. The discant voice then skips from e' to c', and then to e' at the point of the cadence. Once again
there is no ficta given by the author, but the presence of the descending fourth in the contratenor signifies
that an A-mi cadence should be inferred.

10
low as G) in the contratenor, and making use of notated Bbs in the key signature of the tenor and

the contratenor. The work begins on a C-sonority closing out the first part of the phrase on a non-

cadential A-sonority. The A-sonority continues into the opening of the next phrase before

culminating on a non-cadential sonority to G in m.4 at the close of the phrase. A brief reiteration

of C once more gives way to G, the focal point of the polyphony through this point. C begins the

start of the next phrase, but the introduction of a Bb into the discant voice, having been absent up

to this point, culminates in an A-mi cadence (mm.7-8), ending the first section of the work. The

remaining material, then, completely emphasizes C through a full cadence (mm.9-10) and the

final cadence of the work (13-14). While the ambitus of the discant invokes E-Hypophrygian

connotations, the tenors move away from this interpretation by emphasizing the range A-A.

Likewise, the C-final dissuades any sort of Phrygian interpretation as well. In fact, a C-final

with this key signature would imply either C-Mixolydian (of which an A-mi cadence would be

an improper cadence) or an F-Lydian context ending on the reciting tone. Taking everything into

account, I believe the work represents a G-Dorian context through the emphasis on G in the

opening of the work that then pivots on the very characteristic cadence for that modal

transposition (A-mi) before emphasizing a tone that appears in G-Hypodorian works (C).22 23

21
My designation of the discant ambitus c-c'(-e')shall be given at times throughout this paper in reference
to ambitus that exceed their range above or below by a fourth. In this circumstance, I am drawing
attention to the fact that the range occupies a Hypophrygian ambitus. In Hypophrygian works, the
ambitus will begin on C but will go above the C octave to the final.
22
The only other ambiguous chanson is a rondeau by the name of Adieu, Adieu in which it is left open to
interpretation whether or not the work is in a C-Lydian or a C-Mixolydian context. Much like Amours et
quas tu, however, the work is not in the Phrygian mode.
23
It is worth noting that one of Binchoiss chansons bears a striking resemblance to one of the recurring
motifs heard throughout the Missa Mi-mi. In Ross Duffins article, he says, Of Ockgehems Masses in
the Chigi Codex [which Duffin claims is the most authoritative codex for Ockeghems masses], those
without cantus prius factus typically show their title atop the superius part, as in the Missa Cuiusvis toni
and the Missa Prolacionum [sic]. Ockeghems My my title in Chigi is shown not in the bassus part with
its e-A motto, not in the superius part with its e-e opening, but in the tenor part (Duffin, 179). The
opening tones of the tenor consist of e, g, a, g using the melodic component of the head motive and also
using the rhythm found in the opening of the bassus voice. What is most curious about this motif is the

11
 Let us now turn to chansons of Johannes Ockeghem. Surveying the entire body of his

chansons, three works are set in the Phrygian modes: Ma bouche rit, Presque transi, and finally

Malheur me bat. The first to be examined is Ma bouche rit, Ockeghems famous bergerette.24

The ranges of the voices are c'-c'' in the discant (hitting a below and the upper neighbor d''), e-e'

in the tenor (hitting the c below and the neighboring f' above), and the full range c-f' in the

contratenor. According to the tenor principle, and the Meierian principle a voce piena, the work

can be assigned to mode 3. The chanson opens on an A-sonority and moves through an evaded

cadence on C (m.8), which then continues towards a weak cadence on C (the strength of the

cadence being weakened by the F-E motion in the discant above a full cadence to C) to end the

first phrase in measure 16. The second line of text begins with fauxbourdon between the discant

and contratenor (mm.17-18) and culminates in an evaded cadence on G in measure 26. This

evaded cadence sets in motion a string of evaded cadences in the next line of text, Et le plaisir

que lamore me pourchasse beginning on C (m. 30), moving to an evaded cadence on D (m.33)

and closing on an evaded A-re (m.37) cadence. The refrain is then brought to a close through an

E-mi cadence in mm. 45-46 between the tenor and discant. The B-section contains no cadences

up until the end of the final verse, Vivre ne puis au point ou mavez mis, on A-re, the 7-6

suspension created between the discant and tenor. This cadence is decided through Ockeghems

use of the octave leap from e-e', thereby precluding any Phrygian (fa-mi) motion to A to close

the B-section (Figure 2).

similarity between it and the opening melody of first rondeau of Gilles Binchois, Adieu, Adieu.
Comparing the two, we see that the opening of the rondeau is the same as the full statement of the
melodic component first heard in measure 45 of the Kyrie. It seems less that Ockeghem would have
taken Binchoiss rondeau theme and more that the two compositions may in fact be reflecting a motif that
was popular back during that time period, but lost to us now. Another example of this melody can be
found in the Johannes Tinctoris motet Lamentationes Jeremie (Johannes Tinctoris Collected Works, ed.
by William Melin (American Institute of Musicology, 1976), 115-124).
24
Johannes Ockeghem Collected Works-Volume 3: Motets and Chansons, edited by Richard Wexler with
Dragan Plamenac, American Musicological Society (Boston: E.C. Shirmer, 1992), 73-74.

12
 25
Figure 2: End of the third stanza of Ma bouche rit

The second example is the bergerette Presque transi.26 The ambitus of the voices utilize

the ranges of (a-)c'-c'' in the discant, A-e' (from bass clef into tenor clef) in the contratenor, and

c-c' in the tenor (going as low as A). The contratenor, being the most difficult voice to extricate

the modal ambitus, revolves around c throughout the opening of the work while also hitting the e

above and a below c. While E is not overly present as a boundary in the contratenor, as would

be necessary in order to fulfill the conditions for the Hypophrygian mode, the nature of the

discant and tenor voices is illustrative of mode 4.

As has been discussed in the introduction of this study, the opening bass motif is very

similar to that of the opening descending bass motif in the Mi-mi mass, with the same e-A

descent of a fifth followed by e-f and a descent down to c. With the bass motion extending down

from e to A (moving towards c), and the discant falling from e'-c', C becomes the first goal of the

work through a weak cadence on C (tenor and contratenor have sixth-to-octave motion while the

discant weakens the cadence with E). C continues to be the important tone as all three voices

move toward a non-cadential pause in m. 6 on G. After this pause, C continues throughout the

polyphony up through the close of the second verse (vivant en dueil sans avoir nul confort)

25
Ockeghem, Collected Works, 74
26
Ockeghem, Collected works, 81-82. In the notes and errata portion of the Collected Works (XCI-
XCII), Richard Wexler mentions that, because Presque transi makes use of the archaic double leading
tone cadence, he cites it as being composed around the same time as Ma bouche rit, 1460-1465
(LXXVIII-LXXXII).

13
through the use of a double leading-tone cadence. After having saturated the texture of the work

thus far with C, Ockeghem immediately turns toward A through the descent in the bass voice

from e down to A. The discant voice similarly follows by descending down to low a superseding

the previously low tone of C in its descent. This shift to A then culminates in a cadence on A in

m.16-17, just prior to the close of that phrase (Figure 3).

27
Figure 3: Editorial A-re cadence in mm. 16-17

This cadence, however, is an ambiguous one: while the editor supplies musica ficta signifying A-

re, the cadence could very well be A-mi as well, utilizing half-step motion in the tenor voice, the

usual 7-6 suspension between the contratenor and discant voices, and a third expanding out to a

fifth between the tenor and contratenor. This interpretation of A-mi would not cause a string of

musica ficta to be insinuated upon the polyphony and, as a matter of fact, would fit within the

polyphony of the earlier measures. If we look in m.16, we see that b precedes the cadentially

significant a in the discant (we can see that b appears in m.15 as well before a once more).

Ockeghem supports this turn to A through the use of D and F in the tenor and contratenor in

these two measures. Likewise, it would not be unwarranted of Ockeghem to signal the

upcoming cadence by anticipating the Phrygian motion over a D-sonority. Looking at the

potential hexachordal content of the tenor in mm.15-16, we see that f is established on the first

two beats of the bar, after which Ockeghem skips over E and moves straight to d. This d then

falls stepwise down to G (m.16), which hits d once more before falling to B and A. The

27
Ockeghem, Collected Works, 81.

14
hexachordal content of these two measures in the tenor illustrates a turn to the mollis hexachord

by way of one very important skip (f-d in m.15). Had Ockeghem passed through E in order to

get to D he would have both oriented us around the natural hexachord and stabilized the E in the

discant in m.15. Instead, he passes over E and roots us firmly in the mollis hexachord (itself

composed of the tones f-g-a-bb-c-d). Similarly, the exclusion of E in the discant elucidates this

point even further. An argument against the use of the Bbs could be raised in that the tritone

would briefly sound on the second bar of m.16 between the discant and the contratenor, as the

contratenor itself is in the natural hexachord. However, the cadentially significant discant and

tenor argue in favor of a mollis interpretation of this cadence. Immediately after this cadence,

Ockeghem extends the E in the contratenor while the discant and tenor finish the phrase,

culminating in a hexachordal shift from mollis to natural in the tenor and mollis to durus in the

discant.

The next phrase brings back the tone C between the voices and shifts towards a cadence

on G in mm.23-24. This use of G continues to clarify B-durus (B-mi) while the voices continue

to bring in C, E and G before closing the first section on the final of the mode, E-mi. The second

section of the work begins on an A-sonority but closes its first phrase through a non-cadential

pause to G. It is G, then, that is carried into the following verse ultimately culiminating in a

double leading-tone cadence to G just prior to the end of that phrase in mm.42-43. G is then

used as a pivot in order to get back to a full cadence on C for the first ending of the section

(mm.49-50). The second ending of the B section bypasses this move to C to affirm the final of

the work through a Phrygian cadence to E. This Hypophrygian work, then, could very well be an

example of mode 4 utilizing a Phrygian cadence to the lowest point in the ambitus (the

15
controversial cadence discussed above). Whether or not this moment is an A-re or an A-mi

cadence, however, is still a matter for debate.28

The last Phrygian chanson by Ockeghem to be covered is Malheur me bat29, a three-

voiced work containing the ambitus E-E in between both the discant (e'-e'') and the tenor (e-e')

and (c-)e-e' in the contratenor. If the ambitus of the work was not proof enough of the chansons

modality, the tenor and contratenor, immediately after beginning on octave Es, move toward a B-

mi cadence which is evaded through the contratenors fall from a down to g instead of

confirming the cadence with an ascent from a to b (mm.3-4). The cadential motion to B is

similarly weakened by the repetition of the tenor melody from mm.1-2 now repeated in the

discant in mm. 3-4. The motion to B is ultimately bypassed in favor of E, which is secured by

the move to a weak cadence on E-mi (mm.7-8) and culminates in a full cadence to E-mi heard

between the discant and the tenor (mm.10-11). Ockeghem then turns back to the fifth degree of

the modal octave ten measures later through a full cadence to B-mi (mm.20-21) before

immediately moving toward the reciting tones of the mode through an evaded cadence on C

(mm.22-23), an affirmation of this turn through a weak cadence to C (23-24) before moving

toward an evaded cadence on A-re (mm.25-26).30 Ockeghem composes the A-re cadence in such

28
Due to the use of F and B-natural working within close proximity of one another throughout the
opening of the work suggests begs the question for such a mollis shift there as well. The opening,
however, is saturated in C and not A, like the moment in question. Regardless of these assertions, the
cadence remains one of ambiguity.
29
Ockghem, Collected works, 95.
30
The difference between a weakened cadence and an evaded cadence is ultimately determined by the
resolution of the voices involved. In a weakened cadence, the strong cadential voices involved resolve
but contain a third over the cadencing tone (e.g. in a cadence to D a weakened cadence would impose an
F in the resolution of the cadence). An evaded cadence means that the cadence does not resolve properly.
For instance in a three-voiced work, if the discant and the tenor voice prepare their characteristic 7-6
suspension for a cadence on D, the discant would have the cantizans procedure (D-C#) while the tenor
carries the tenorizans (E). While this is going on, however, the contratenor structures this cadential
suspension by holding onto the tone A. The most usual point of evasion would come in the contratenor
by moving up a half step to Bb instead of resolving either by an octave leap (A-A) or through resolution
to D.

16
a way as to preclude any other interpretation of this cadential moment through the use of e in the

contratenor while the discant and the tenor resolve the cadence. The first section of the work

then closes on a weak E-mi between the tenor and the contratenor (mm.27-28). The second

section continues the emphasis of E by way of two consecutive weak E-mi cadences in mm.32-

33 and in mm.36-37. The saturation of E is then temporarily lifted when Ockeghem turns us

toward G through a weak cadence (mm.40-41) and then to an evaded cadence (mm.41-42).31

After the temporary turn to G, E comes back into the framework through an evaded cadence on

E-mi (mm.44-45), which in turns falls to an evaded cadence on C (mm.47-48). C is the tone that

continues to permeate the texture through a weakened cadence (mm.52-53), which is then

confirmed by a cadence (mm.53-54). After maintaining C for so long, the voices then fade back

towards the modal final of the work as a whole by closing on an E-mi cadence.

Ockeghems treatment of the Phrygian mode, then, is quite consistent, aside from the use

of the Hypophrygian mode in the Presque transi. In Ma bouche rit, the best option for a

Phrygian cadence on A would have been at the close of the B-section. Instead, he asserts the

dominance of E by supporting the cadence on A by the leap of an e-e' octave in the contratenor,

thereby erasing any suggestion of an A-mi cadence. In Malheur me bat, we see Ockeghem

composing a thorough example of a mode 3 work which elucidates the reciting tone of the mode,

C, and the secondarily important tone A. Ockeghems use of a Phrygian cadence to the fifth tone

in the octave species thereby helps to sustain the nature of E-Phrygian by extending the Phrygian

cadential procedures to B. His treatment of the A-re cadence in this work similarly nods to the

31
While the cadence does in fact take place between the two modally significant voices, the contratenors
d remains unresolved. Similarly, the continuation of this evaded moment continues in the following
measure when Ockeghem once more moves towards g' in the discant (which is in turn supported by the
entrance on g of the tenor) but is evaded once more in the contratenor from an ascent not from d to g but d
to e.

17
tone but Ockeghem otherwise shows preference to B and C over A, as well keeping E in the

contratenor of the cadence itself.

The use of the Hypophrygian mode for Presque transi is quite interesting as it stands as

one of the only chansons examined in this modal framework. Whether or not it features an A-re

or an A-mi cadence is certainly one of ambiguity, and but the mode as a whole is certainly worth

noting. It is also worth noting that the chansons of Ockeghems most immediate contemporary,

Antoine Busnois, not only contain no instances of A-mi cadences within the E-Phrygian mode

but there are also no Phrygian-mode chansons contained within his secular output.32 This fact

32
Busnoiss chansons, like those of Ockeghem, are listed at the bottom of this paper in alphabetical order
and are based off of the alphabetical listing in: Paula Higgins, "Busnoys, Antoine." Grove Music Online.
Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed April 24, 2014,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/04437. The collected table at the end
of this paper comes from nine different transcriptions: A Florentine Chansonnier from the time of Lorenzo
the Magnificent: Florence Biblioteca Nazional Centrale MS Banco Rari 229, MRM, Volume VII: A
Florentine Chansonnier, ed. by Howard Mayer Brown, Music Volume (Chicago and London: The
University of Chicago Press, 1983)[*]; The Mellon Chansonnier, Volume 1: The Edition, ed. by Leeman
L. Perkins and Howard Garey (New Haven and London: Yale University Press), 1979[]; Clemens
Goldberg, Die Chansons von Antoine Busnois: Dei sthetik der hfischen Chansons, Quellen und Studien
zur Musikgeschichte von der Antike bis in die Gegenwart, Band 32 (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang,
1994) []; Catherine Brooks, Antoine Busnois, Chanson Composer, Journal of the American
Musicological Society, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Summer, 1953), pp. 111-135 [CB I]; Catherine Brooks, Antoine
Busnois as a composer of Chansons, PhD diss. (New York University, 1951), [CB II]; The Musical
Manuscript Montecassino 871, ed. by Isabel Pope and Masakata Kanazawa (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1978), 391 [M]; Der Kopenhagen Chansonnier, ed. by Knud Jeppesen, (Kopenhagen: Levin &
Munksgaard, 1927), 42 [K]; Ottaviano Petrucci: Canti B, ed. by Helen Hewitt, MRM vol. II-Canti B
(Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1967), 117 [B]; Trois Chansonniers Francais Du
XV Sicle: Fascicule I, ed. by Eugenie Druz (Paris, 1927), [TC]. The only chanson that exhibits a
Phrygian persona is Ma damoiselle ma maistresse, with ambitus E-E in all voices and a cadential
tendency toward E-mi and G. The mode, however, becomes clear at the end of the work due to the final
on A-re, thereby establishing the work in A-Hypodorian (similar modal treatment can be found in the
conjecturally attributed chanson Au travail suis by Ockeghem. (The final of the work is most definitely an
A-re cadence, but there are two interpretations on the treatment of musica ficta for the close of the work.
The first, the one currently accepted in this paper, is found in (Goldberg, 330-331), which accounts for the
alteration of the tone B from a potential mollis to the natural due to the Busnoiss insistence of the octave
leap of E in the contratenor. This change in musica ficta would need reinforcement due to the placement
of a notated Bb in the tenor at the start of the contrasting section of the work. Similarly, the cadential
procedures that occur at the close of the piece are very close to the cadence at the very opening of the
work on A-re. The contrasting transcription (TC, 22-23) places a mollis signature at the close of work
(making the final cadence of the work A-mi) but uses an A-re cadence for the first cadence of the work.

18
only adds to the rarity of the Phrygian modes, thereby greatly increasing the significance of the

works that do exhibit such modal tendencies. We have seen that composers in mode 3 works on

E made use of Phrygian cadences to the fifth degree of the modal octave, but we shall now

examine a change in this technique that could very well have fostered the change within the

Hypophrygian mode.

Having examined a substantial number of chansons from Ockeghem and his

contemporaries, there is one final composer that warrants inclusion: Johannes Tinctoris, a fitting

example given his being both a theorist and a composer during this time. There still appears to

be a schism between scholars regarding the difference between theoretical and compositional

proprietyan issue that seems relevant when studying the works of a theorist-composer (e.g.

whether or not they were basing their theoretical notions on an idealized form of chant and

polyphony or whether they were attempting to describe a compositional stylistic practice). The

difference between the two, however, begins to breakdown when we actually examine the

compositions existing in Tinctoriss oeuvre.

Of these nine chansons, there is one in the Phrygian mode that has substantial

consequences on modality that shall be discussed at length: O invida Fortuna.33 Beginning on

unison and octave Es, O invida Fortuna immediately enunciates the mi-fa relationship between

e'-f' in the cantus while rising from e' to a' (upper neighbor to g') and then falling back to e'.

Tinctoris confirms the modality shortly thereafter by cadencing in m.4 on E-mi. Tinctoris then

moves away from the modal center to confirm the reciting tone C in m.7. One measure later

Tinctoris confirms the reciting tone through an evaded cadence on G only to reinforce the E with

a weakened E-mi cadence in m.11. Just as in the first cadence on E-mi in m.4, Tinctoris once

This inconsistency, coupled along with the dissonance that would be incurred through the use of the
tritone between Bb and E, solidifies the final of the work on A-re and the mode in A-Dorian.
33
Tinctoris, Collected Works, 133-134.

19
again moves to a full cadence on C in m.13. The next phrase begins on A, being supported by f

in the contratenor, which leads to a confirmation of A through an A-mi cadence (Ex. 4).34 After

moving to A Tinctoris moves back to C in m.20 before closing the work on an E-mi cadence that

affirms the E-Phrygian mode.

Figure 4: A-mi cadence in O invida Fortuna

Before considering the modal implications of Tinctoriss chanson, it is necessary first to

investigate its origins alongside those of the Missa Mi-mi in order to establish any congruities

between the two. O invida Fortuna is found in only one source, Florence 176, and it was copied

in Florence during the late 1470s.35 We know also that Tinctoris did a majority of his

composing during the 1470s in Naples: In the early 1470s Tinctoris travelled to Naples to enter

the service of King Ferrante I as singer-chaplain, legal adviser and court tutor in the theory and

practice of musicAlmost all his writings and compositions date from his two decades in

Naples.36 These facts about Tinctoris thus stabilize a timeframe not only for his compositional

output but also for consistency in his location. In terms of the compositional timeframe of

Ockeghems Missa Mi-mi, we know that the four sources are the Antwerp fragments, Cappella

34
This cadence is not shown through musica ficta, nor is it shown in the manuscript that the editor
transcribed the piece from (MS 176), but it is most assuredly an A-mi cadence.
35
Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music 1400-1550. Volume I: A-J. Edited by
Charles Hamm with Herbert Kellman. (American Institute of Musicology: Hnssler-Verlag, 1979), 229.
36
Ronald Woodley, Johannes Tinctoris, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second
edition, ed. by Stanley Sadie, pgs. 497-501, (New York: Macmillan Publishers Limited), vol. 25, 498.

20
Sistina (41 and 63), and the Chigi codex.37 The Chigi codex, which seems to be the most

authoritative, as it contains a multitude of Ockeghems masses, was created between the 1498-

1503.38 This dating, however, places it well outside the scope of O invida Fortuna. Similarly,

the case for the Antwerp Fragments is listed as being created during the second half of the

fifteenth century, containing a snippet of the Agnus Dei from Ockeghems Missa Mi-mi.39 The

dating of the two other known manuscripts containing Ockeghems mass are CS-41 (1482-

1507)40 and CS-63 (1480-1507)41, both of which were copied in Rome.

The unknown dating of the Antwerp Fragments aside, Tinctoriss chanson would have

been composed prior to Ockeghems mass, thus making this one of the first legitimate instances

of an A-mi cadence within an E-Phrygian work. More substantially, it would seem to be an

example of a cadence that stands in polar opposition to the E-Phrygian mode as a whole (as will

be discussed in further detail below). We have seen, however, that in Tinctoriss Liber de natura

et proprietate tonorum he gives an example of the use of a Bb within a mode 3 context in order

to avoid a linear tritone from F. On this rule Tinctoris explains: It must be too that the tritone

must be avoided, not only in these two tones, but also in all the others. Hence, this rule is

generally observed, that, in any tone, if after an ascent to B fa (natural) mi acute there is a more

rapid descent down to F fa ut grave than there is an ascent C sol fa ut, it is sung uniformly by soft

(flat)42

37
Duffin, 165.
38
Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music 1400-1550. Volume IV: V-Z and
Supplement. Edited by Herbert Kellman. (American Institute of Musicology: Hnssler-Verlag, 1988),12.
39
Jacobijn Kiel, The Antwerp Fragments M6, Music Fragments and Manuscripts in the Low Countries,
Edited by Eugeen Schreurs and Henri Vanhulst (Alamire, Leuven-Peer, 1997), 50.
40
Consensus Volume IV, 45-46.
41
Consensus Volume IV, 55-56.
42
Tinctoris, De Natura, 12-13.

21
 43
Figure 5: Tinctoriss example 18, starting at the treble clef

Tinctoriss use of musica ficta in this example merely shows avoidance of the linear tritone, but

it does not account for any cadential activity or the use of musica ficta in mode 4 works in

generaltwo questions that are still problematic in this instance in O invida Fortuna.44 As has

been discussed earlier, the process of expanding Hypophrygian cadential procedures grew out of

a natural inclination to cadence on the lowest tone of the ambitus (e.g. A in E-Hypophrygian).

While this procedure became much more prominent in the sixteenth century, this has been shown

by earlier analyses of fifteenth-century chansons not to be the case throughout the time, or at

least in the secular works of the most prominent composers of that century. O invida Fortuna,

however, steps beyond this approach by cadencing on a tone that has less significance in terms of

the mode itself. With E being given as the final (or any tone given at the appropriate

transposition level) and C being the reciting tone, A would not detract from the mode but would

help to surround the fifth degree of the modal octave. Cadencing on the fourth scale degree of

the E-Phrygian octave through a mi cadence, however, gives priority not only to E but also to A.

Theoretically, this practice is at odds with fifteenth-century practice and the lengths at which

both theorists and composers go to avoid the tritone between F-B. In addition, the implication of

the mollis hexachord into an E-Phrygian context would introduce another tritone between E and

43
Tinctoris, De Natura, Example 18.
44
As has been mentioned earlier, Tinctoriss mode 4 example, immediately following the one just
examined, avoids the use of Bb.

22
Bb, ultimately defeating the characteristics that define the Phrygian mode. However, in O invida

Fortuna we see that Tinctoris introduces an ascent from the tone E in m.14-15 between the tenor

and the discant, which re-contextualizes E as giving way to F. The discant ascends straight to C

before circling around A while the tenor interrupts a straight ascent to C through a skip to G,

ultimately concluding on A. We could say, then, that Tinctoris is elucidating his theoretical

intentions about introducing Bbs in order to avoid linear tritones. While it may have been

common for earlier mode 3 works on E to cadence on C, A-re, and B-mi, here Tinctoris moves

toward a new conception of mode 3.

So why, then, would Tinctoris use a Phrygian cadence on the fourth scale degree of a

mode 3 work? The logic behind this divergence might stem from the impetus to apply a more

robust sense of the Phrygian mode by expanding the characteristic fa-mi cadential procedures to

a tone other than the final: either a co-final or the reciting tone of the mode in question. In the

Phrygian mode 3, the simplest choice would be a B-mi cadence in that it would not introduce any

additional musica ficta. Aside from the B-mi cadence, however, the tone that would come next

would be A due to the great problems that would be caused by attempting a C-mi cadence.

Cadencing on A-mi in a mode 3 work would thus greatly contribute to the Phrygian nature of

the piece as a whole. The implications of the shift in modal conception were tremendous for the

successive treatment of the Phrygian mode, for it was only a matter of time before this expanded

cadential process would permeate plagal mode 4 works in which the ambitus encompasses an

octave built on the fourth scale degree of its authentic mode counterpart. This expansion would

thereby change the conception of mode 4 works by giving both license and cadential priority to

A within E-Hypophrygian contexts.

23
 Since Tinctoriss chanson potentially predates any manuscripts known to contain the

Missa Mi-mi we are left with the assumption that O invida Fortuna was created before

Ockeghems famous mass. This idea would make sense due to Ockeghems proclivity for

musical challenges as represented by the Missa Prolationum, the Missa Cuiusvis toni and the

canonic chanson Prenez sur moi. It would not seem outlandish, then, to posit that, if there were a

burgeoning propensity for the inclusion of A-mi cadences within Phrygian works of the late

1400s, Ockeghems Hypophrygian mass would serve as a culmination of this trend. While there

is still more research that needs to be done in ascertaining more works that exemplify this trend

that may or may not have been going on late in the 1400s, it still stands to reason that

Ockeghems Hypophrygian mass was not only a modal rarity through the use of mode 4 (the

only other instance within his secular output being Presque transi), but was also perhaps the first

major instance of Hypophrygian modality that made prominent use of the expanded cadential

procedures exhibited earlier in Tinctoriss O invida Fortuna. This would then lend weight to the

argument that not only was the use of Bb within mode 4 works not a given (as Stewart suggests),

but that both the mode and the A-mi cadences within the mass stand as the start of a divergence

from fifteenth-century treatment of the Phrygian mode to the continued treatment it would

receive during the sixteenth century.

24
 Analysis of A-mi cadences within Ockeghems Missa Mi-mi

In turning our attention once more to Ockeghems mass, we find that one idea does not

predominate over all others regarding its appellation. A prominent question surrounding the title

of the mass, as Duffin points out, lies in the intentions of the scribes and the differences between

such titles. The mass is entitled My my in the authoritative Chigi Codex, Quarti toni in Capella

Sistina 41, and in CS 63 there is no name given.45 Duffin makes the assertion that the ascription

Mi-mi is a result of solmization syllables being used as modal identifiers, and that Mi-mi could

stand as an identifier of mode 4 itself.46 This is based off of theoretical conceptions, however,

implying the ambitus of B-B in the Hypophrygian mode. As we have seen though, this

theoretical construction of mode is not the standard ambitus for Hypophrygian works. In E-

Hypophrygian the range in the discant and the tenor will occupy either C-C or A-A, while the

altus and bassus will be made up of the authentic range, E-E. If we posit the use of the natural

hexachord in the C-C ambitus Mi-mi could be indicative of the tones E and A with fa above la.

This rendering of the ascription would elucidate Ockeghems treatment of the tone A within the

given E-Hypophrygian context.

Before examining these instances of A-mi cadences throughout the mass, it would be

beneficial to discuss the two motives that unify the work as a whole.47 In the opening of the

Kyrie, the bassus states the head motive consisting of an e-A descent of a fifth before jumping up

45
Duffin, 165.
46
Ibid, 170.
47
My analysis of Missa mi-mi comes from: Johannes Ockeghem: Masses and Mass Sections-Missa My
my, ed. by Jaap van Benthem, Section III: Masses based on freely invented and unspecified material,
fascicle 2, Utrecht: Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, 1998.

25
to e-f-e and falling to c (Figure 6). This motive is heard at the opening of every movement

within the mass and has two different components to it: rhythmic and melodic. The rhythmic

component is the dotted half-note rhythm (found on beat 1 of m.1 and beat 2 of m.2 in Figure 6),

while the melodic component grounds the fa-mi relationship of the Phrygian mode (e'-f'; m.2 of

Figure 7). This melodic component stands in stark contrast to the polyphonic texture

surrounding it, because whenever Ockeghem makes a special point of highlighting this melodic

component he does so in an ebullient C-sonority (Figure 7). By re-contextualizing this melodic

component into the mi-fa relationship found in the natural hexachord and dramatically reducing

the texture of the voices whenever he highlights this melody (the melodic component is doubly

associated with a homophonic structure), Ockeghem uses two different aspects of the head

motive to keep motivic coherence throughout his mass.

48
Figure 6: Head motive of the Missa Mi-mi and its rhythmic component

48
Benthem, 1.

26
 49
Figure 7: Melodic component of the head motive, Kyrie, mm. 42-46

It is interesting as well that Ockeghem only associates this melodic component in the natural

hexachord, but this will be discussed in further detail as we go on.

The Gloria begins by progressing through a cadence on A-re in m. 5 and leading to an E-

mi cadence in measure 11 between the tenor and the discant, which brings the first phrase and the

line of text to a close (Et in terra pax hominibus bone voluntatis). In measure 12, Ockeghem

states the melodic component of the mass in homophonic texture before moving through evaded

cadences on C in mm. 15 and 16, culminating in a weak cadence on C in m. 17. With C taking

up most of the corresponding texture, Ockeghem then introduces Bbs towards the melodic

descent to F. An evaded cadence in m. 19 on F then leads towards full cadences on D in mm. 22

and 25, bringing the phrase to a close (Laudamaus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te). The next

phrase (Gracias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam) looks as though it is moving

towards an A-mi cadence in mm. 26 and 27, but is avoided, and Ockeghem continues to unravel

this polyphonic line until m. 35, a cadence on either A-re or A-mi depending upon ones

interpretation of the musica ficta. Ockeghem moves through a cadence on C in measure 41 and

another, albeit less strong, A-mi cadence in m. 44 before moving towards a stronger cadence on

G in m. 45 (Domine dues, rex celestis, dues pater ominopotens). The close of the phrase is

49
Benthem, 2.

27
brought about in m. 47, but due to the strength of the cadence on G in the preceding measures,

the close is non-cadential and Ockeghem continues to push the melodic motion forward to an

evaded close in m. 58 (on E-mi) that culminates in m. 59 on A-mi. Immediately thereafter

Ockeghem closes out the first portion of the Gloria on an E-mi cadence (Domine fili unigenite,

Jhesu xpriste. Domine deus, agnus dei, filius patris). The Qui tollis section is markedly

different in its homophonic texture from anything preceding it (even more so than the

homophonic texture of the melodic component of the head motive). The most prominent

cadences that occur belong to E-mi (evaded between tenor and contratenor) in m. 85 and A-mi in

m. 95, which evokes the text at this point as receive our prayer (Figure 8). Not only is this

moment important due to Ockeghems use of both cadences in such close proximity to one

another, but also because of Ockeghems further treatment of this text when it reappears in the

Agnus Dei movement, as we shall see. The two Phrygian cadences, then, allude to the solemn

and penitential quality of the moment through their innate fa-mi connotation.
50
Figure 8: Missa Mi-mi, Gloria, prominent A-mi cadence, mm. 85-95

50
Benthem, 7.

28
 The instances of A-mi cadences throughout the Credo appear towards the beginning. The

very opening of the Credo begins with Ockeghem stating both the rhythmic and melodic

components on top of one another, before moving to C in measure 2 (which is characteristic of

the melodic component). The music moves through C and progresses to the end of the first half

of the phrase on an A-mi cadence (Patrem omnipotentem factorem celi et terre) in m. 8, and

the next half-phrase is brought to a close on an E-mi cadence in mm. 14-15.

The next large A-mi cadence in the Credo comes in mm. 43-44 by way of the melodic

component (Figure 9). This moment is pointed because, up until this point, this component had

only been recognizable through the fall of the semitone residing in the natural hexachord (F-E),

and it is this F-E semitone that gives the melodic component its character. The use of it in the

bass voice then, with implied musica ficta on Bb would switch the semitone relationship to the

mollis hexachord on F below gamma ut, which is given in the following measure. The cadence

itself is weakened when the sixth to an octave between the bassus and the contratenor falls to a

minor sixth between A and f. One can tell, however, that the contratenors motion is not towards

F but towards A, and if we were to use ficta here to establish the A more firmly by raising the F-

natural to an F#, we would then have to raise the C-natural in the discant to C# to avoid a tritone.

This would then entail the raising of the next measures C and would alter the character of the

cadence. It is because of this, that I believe the characteristic semitone of the melodic

component here resides in A through the use of an A-mi cadence.

29
 51
Figure 9: Missa Mi-mi, Credo, A-mi cadence in mm.40-44

The last prominent occurrence of A-mi throughout the Mass occurs in the opening of the

Agnus Dei. The first cadence that occurs is in m. 5 on C, as the text changes to qui tollis

peccata mundi/ Miserere nobis. After closing out the qui tollis on a D-cadence in mm.7-8,

the music immediately thereafter exhibits Ockeghems characteristic use of cadential aversion,

all the while continually pushing his polyphony forward through unfettered counterpoint. The

only other cadence used through the opening section, aside from E-mi closing out the section, is

A-mi in mm. 14-15 between the discant and bassus.52 The fact that Ockeghem once more sets

this portion of text with the two cadences (this time reversed in their order of appearance, A-mi-

E-mi instead of Ockeghems orientation of the two cadences in the Gloria as E-mi A-mi)

establishes his musical inclinations, and also his musical allusions, to the moment as a whole.

When the texture is reduced in the following section to duets between the contratenor and the

bassus (and later the discant), the use of A-mi cadences, at least through the application of

musica ficta, appear here once more in m. 34 and potentially m. 51. The restatement of the

Agnus, however, contains no A-mi cadences as the cadences on C and G (evaded) help to set up

51
Benthem, 12.
52
Another cadence could be seen in the opening of the Agnus Dei movement two measures after the A-mi
cadence in measure 17 with an evaded cadence on G. This cadence is recognized through the 7-6
suspension between the tenor and the discant. Its absence here is intriguing, however.

30
the final, albeit brief cadence on E-mi before the movement, and the mass, are brought to close

on an E sonority.

The mass as a whole, then, might appear at first to conform to later handling of

Hypophrygian modality in the sixteenth century, but the precedent that Ockeghem set by

composing the mass in mode 4, and through the use of Phrygian cadences to the lowest tone of

the modal ambitus, cements the change in Phrygian modality that was beginning in the latter part

of the fifteenth century.

31
 Analysis of Josquins Nymphes des bois as modal allusion to Ockeghems mass

In the generation immediately succeeding Ockeghem the distinction between the

Phrygian and Hypophrygian modes (namely, modes 3 and 4) became increasingly problematic.

Preceding Ockeghems Missa Mi-mi, mode 3 secular works by Guillaume Dufay, Gilles

Binchois and Ockeghem supported the notion of a modal norm that was in line with theoretical

notions of mode. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, however, there developed a trend to

cadence on both the final of the mode and the fourth scale degree by way of Phrygian cadences,

thereby creating a deeper Phrygian impression. The extension of these changing Phrygian

cadential procedures seemed naturally to permeate mode 4 works as well, as we have seen, but it

is after Ockeghem that the differences between the two modes becomes abstruse. Because of the

legitimatization of Phrygian cadences on both the final and fourth degrees of the mode, cadential

activity between the two modes begins to overlap, as do the ambitus formations. Thus, the

Meierian principle a voce piena for works in the Phrygian and Hypophrygian modes becomes

much difficult to corroborate. This is mainly due to the continuous modal overlapping that

occurs during this process when two voices (usually the cantus and the tenor) will support the

authentic mode and (usually the alto and the bass) support the plagal version of the mode in

question. Because the four voices, and the two modes, are consistently intertwining, there is a

natural tendency for authentic/plagal mixture throughout the course of the work. The

technicalities involved with the Dorian, Lydian and Mixolydian modes pose less of a problem,

32
however, than those of the Phrygian and Hypophrygian modes, because the ranges of the other

modes are generally more specific than those of the Phrygian and Hypophrygian modes.

This is not to say that there were always discrepancies in Phrygian-mode assignation.

There are those that are easier to classify than others, such as Josquins famous chanson Mille

regretz. As a matter of fact Mille regretz demonstrates with relative clarity Meiers principle of

a voce pienathe cantus and tenor voices being in the authentic third mode, c'-e'' in the cantus

and d-e' in the tenor, while the alto and the bass exemplify the plagal, a-a' in the alto and A-c' in

the bass.53 Thus, this modal obfuscation does not necessarily imply that Phrygian works will

always conform to ambiguous assignations of mode.

One work that exemplifies this problematic tendency within Phrygian works, and was in

fact composed around the period in question, is Josquins Deploration sur la morte de Ockeghem

(otherwise known as Nymphes des bois). Composed in lamentation on the death of Ockeghem,

the work has many features relevant to our current study of Phrygian modality, the most

important being the modal allusions towards Ockeghem and his mass. Earlier studies have

argued that Josquin makes use of one clear allusion in relation to the clefless works of Ockeghem

through the lack of clefs notated in the sources of the work.54 It would therefore make sense if

Josquin were to allude to Ockeghem in more than one context throughout the course of the work.

The most notable relation to Ockeghems Missa Mi-mi is the way in which he closes both the

first and second sections of the work, but similarly notable is way that Josquin forms the work

through his use of the authentic and plagal Phrygian modes.

53
The New Edition of the Collected Works of Josquin Des Prez. Volume 28: Secular Works for Four
Voices, ed. by David Fallows (KVNM: Utrecht, 2005), 61-62.
54
Annie Curdevey, Josquin des Prs, Nymphes des bois, dploration sur la mort de Johannes
Ockeghem: de ltude des sources lanalyse, Musurgia, Vol. 7, No. 3/4 (2000), pp. 49-81, 54.

33
 The ambitus of the work delicately balances out between those of the transposed

authentic and those of the plagal Phrygian mode:55 the cantus voice rests between a'-e'' (being

supported by g' below, but never reaching a'' above); the alto encompasses the range of a-a'

while utilizing the neighboring bb' on above the final and f below it; the first tenor is the same as

that of the alto; the second tenor, the cantus firmus of the work (based upon the chant melody of

Requiem aeternam), resides solidly in the a-a' octave; the bass voice lies mostly in the d-d'

octave (staying within the theoretical boundaries of the ambitus by touching the octave above

and descending as far as a third below), with the only exception arising from the descending

skips of a fourth (down to A) that accompany and support Phrygian cadences (hereafter called

Phrygian skips), at the two large dividing points in the work. The cantus firmus melody is

derived from the introit of the Mass on the day of the death or on the day of burial,56 whose

melody is set in the plagal mode 6.

Figure 10: Basis for the cantus firmus melody in the second tenor of Nymphes des bois

The chant would otherwise be classified in mode 5 if it were not for the reciting tone being A.

And although the melody twice hits C above the F-final (with nothing occurring below), the tone

A is given the most prominence. The characteristics of this melody are quite intriguing as the

55
For my analysis I used the edition: Monuments of Renaissance Music: The Medici Codex of 1518,
Volume IV: The Medici Codex, General Editor and Transcription by Edward E. Lowinsky, (The
University of Chicago Press: Chicago and London, 1968), 338.
56
The Liber Usualis, ed. by the Benedictines of Solesmes (Tournai: Descle & Co., 1938), 1807.

34
modally significant fourth below the final is never exploited, but the reciting tone of the mode is.

Thus the melody, before the closing Requiescant in pace only really makes use of the fourth

from A-D (with the transposition of the melody implying Eb instead of E-natural). Only through

the addition of the modally ambiguous Requiescant does the range become completed, which

occurs at the closing of the mass through the alternation of the tones a' and g'.57 Beginning

originally on the tone G, Josquins interpretation of this closing begins on A, and then briefly

moves to G before closing on A, while keeping the procedures around the cantus firmus

essentially the same through 6-5 motion in the alto supported by the Phrygian skip of a fourth in

the bass, as will be discussed below. The cantus firmus melody, then, incorporates shades of

plagal modality while the limited range of the transposed introit affirms a nearly authentic

orientation (aside from the reciting tone). Thus, the pre-existing chant establishes a modal

bivalence between the Phrygian and Hypophrygian modes that will characterize the work as a

whole.58

The mode of the work is immediately brought into question in the opening measures.

Beginning on unison As between the cantus, alto and the second tenor, the second tenor

emphasizes the Phrygian relationship between Bb-A in mm.3-4, which in turn brings in the two

voices that had been missing up until this point. The bass alludes to the second tenor melody by

emulating it a fifth below, thereby immediately changing the cadential texture A-mi to D-mi

through the use of Eb (given in the piece as musica ficta). This move towards the D-mi cadence

does not bring about a strong cadence throughout the other voices but keeps with the texture of

the original utterance in the second tenor through a monophonic cadence. This movement to D-

57
If we are to assume the implied fourth beneath the final of the mode in the original chant melody, then
the implied fourth in the melody after the transposition would assume the range E-E with the final being
A, a non-existent mode. What is interesting is the fact that the melody would seem to imply the
Hypophrygian mode as opposed to the authentic.
58
For my full analysis of Nymphes des Bois, see Figure 6 at the end of this paper.

35
mi is shown immediately to be fleeting through a turn to C in the bass and the second tenor,

while the cantus melody evades C for the monophonic D-mi cadence once more. The nature of

the D-mi cadence, however, is moving from the monophonic cadence towards the polyphonic

(strong) cadence because the bass supports the cadence in m.11 by the leap upward of a fifth (the

Phrygian skip of a fourth in support of the D-mi cadence would be C to G, the skip in this case is

just inverted). The next cadence, then, confirms the status of D-mi through a cadence between

the bass and the first tenor (a move that is established even further by the use of the notated Eb in

the first tenor) in mm.15-16. Likewise, the close of the cantus firmus phrase (mm.13-14) is

diverted in favor of the more emphasized cadence D. Josquin, then, in the first phrase of the

work establishes the final, A-mi, and the fourth scale degree, D-mi, as well, both modal markers

of the Hypophrygian mode. As we have seen, however, cadencing to the fourth degree of the A-

Phrygian octave could very well increase the Phrygian nature of the work. It is as if Josquin is

directly confronting A-mi and D-mi in similar fashion as Ockeghem had done during the Gloria

of the Missa Mi-mi on E-mi and A-mi, similarly working in tandemone right next to the other.

The nature of D-mi in this opening is made more curious by the fact that this cadence all but

disappears after the first phrase. Thus, it appears that Josquins opening is pointed in reference

to the two cadential tones most responsible for the differences between the Phrygian and

Hypophrygian modes transposed to A.

A few of the other notable traits that are similar to Ockeghems Missa Mi-mi in the work

is the way in which Josquin closes out both the first and second sections. As has been mentioned

previously, in Phrygian works it is common for the final cadence to occur prior to the actual

close of the section or the work. What follows after is an extension or expansion upon this final

cadence, which might turn out not to be a cadence at all but just a close. We have most

36
specifically seen this in Ockeghems mass, and such is the case with in Josquins work. The

final cadence of the section would then be the evaded cadence on A-mi through F at m.105:

Figure 11: A-mi cadence in the second tenor59

Similarly in my analysis of the work, this moment is a strong A-mi cadence in spite of its

technically being an evaded cadence. The strength of the Phrygian cadence in the cantus firmus

aligned with the first tenor and the cantus through the motivic falling third from c' to a'

establishes it as a point of closure that is ultimately embellished upon in the measures that follow

it. The expansion that Josquin uses at the close of this section is the use of 6-5, or f'-e', motion in

the alto supported by the Phrygian skip of a fourth in the bass. While the Phrygian cadential

expansion is not something new in Phrygian modality, the use of 6-5 motion throughout

Ockeghems mass is quite extensive. Ockeghems use of 6-5 motion to close out the first section

of the Gloria is supported as it is in Nymphes des bois through the use of A falling a fourth to E

and C falling to B, and it is also supported similarly at the end of the Credo between the same

two voices (alto and bass).

59
Medici Codex of 1518, 344.

37
 Josquin closes the work in a way comparable to Ockeghems mass except for the fact that

he eschews a final-affirming Phrygian cadence in place of the cadential extension.60 The absence

of a final cadence in Nymphes des bois correlates with the lack of a cadence given in the closing

section of the Requiem mass in general. The closing chant of the mass, Requiescat in pace,

begins and ends on the tone A and alternates with the tone G, completes the mass in a modally

ambiguous manner while reiterating its somber message in general. The modally ambiguous

nature of the melody in question, however, establishes the centricity of the tone A. Josquin

keeps to this methodology by evading proper closure and reinforces the 6-5 motion from f'-e' in

the alto and the bass descending from d-A. Josquin, then, both confirms and evades A through a

saturation of the tone for the former and a lack of a final cadence for the latter.

In a similar way, Josquins use of Phrygian modality within the work confirms an

orientation around the tone A while at the same time emphasizing aspects of the Hypophrygian

mode. As has been stated earlier, this is common within works establishing the trait of a voce

piena in which there will naturally be an overlap between the authentic and plagal modes within

adjacent voices. The strong tendency in the opening of the work to establish the modal center

through an A-mi cadence and then spend the next 13 measures emphasizing what would be the

fourth scale degree of the species through a Phrygian cadence lends itself to a pointed

interpretation pertaining to Ockeghem. Also, while 6-5 motion may be common within Phrygian

mode pieces Ockeghems use of it within his mass, the most emphatic of which appears as one of

60
If there is a cadence that occurs prior to the closing of the work it is specious at best. The proper
cadential voicing occurs between the cantus and the alto to close on octave Es. The bass skips a fourth
from F to C, avoiding the characteristic fourth found in an E-mi cadence. Therefore, while there is
technically a cadence between the top two voices, the separation between the top and lower voices
(especially at cadential points) is one not of resolution but evasion. Even if we were to assume the
implication of an E-mi cadence at this particular juncture, E-mi would be our final cadence before the
cadential extension, undermining the final of the work as a whole. This point, then, is less representative
of an E-mi cadence than of Josquins establishment of specific tones in order to prepare their descent in
the closing of the work.

38
the last gestures heard before the voices dissipate and close on the E and B fifth, signifies another

Phrygian aspect of the work as a whole.61 Therefore, even though there are strong aspects of A-

Phrygian in the work, the overall impression ascertained in the work leaves us with an

overwhelming sense of the Hypophrygian mode as well. This aspect, then, goes one step further

than merely alluding to Ockeghem through traits of the music (e.g. no clefs indicated), but it also

modally alludes to him as well. And while the indebtedness of his mass and his treatment of the

mode therein remained a signifier during Josquins lamentation on the composer, it confirms that

Ockeghem not only had an impact on the propagation of mode 4 itself but the establishing of a

practice that would carry over into the succeeding generation.

61
Not only does Ockeghem close on the final and the fourth scale degrees of the mode by way of
Phrygian cadences, but he also continues the thorough Phrygian nature of the work by emphasizing the
half-step relationship between the sixth and fifth scale degrees.

39
 Conclusions

Based on the analyses of this study, we can therefore conclude that Ockeghem was not, in

fact, the first to use Phrygian modality. While he may have been one of the first to regulate the

treatment of the Hypophrygian mode within polyphonic mass compositions, he certainly was not

one of the first to use the mode polyphonically. As has been shown already, Dufay used the

Phrygian mode in three of his chansons. Ockeghems characteristic use of it warrants many

questions as to our understandings of Phrygian and Hypophrygian modalities. We have found in

this study the establishment of, and divergence from, standardized practices concerning Phrygian

modality. Both Dufays and Ockeghems Phrygian chansons conform to our understanding of

the Phrygian mode in the fifteenth century, aside from the ambiguous cadential moment in

Presque transi. More so, in their chansons we see their general cadential procedures overlap in

mode 3 works: E-mi (final), C (reciting tone), A-re, and finally B-mi. In Tinctoriss O invdia

Fortuna, however, we see a divergence from this practice. As has been shown, Tinctoriss

legitimizing Bbs within an E-Phrygian work so as not to outline a linear tritone around an ascent

to F elucidates his strict adherence toward his own theories. It does not, however, conform to

other mode 3 works in either Dufay or Ockeghem. More specifically, one of the works in which

we would see this procedure is Ma bouche rit. For example, in m.32 of that work, we see the

contratenor skipping from a down to f (on the last beat of the previous measure) and then see a

stepwise ascent from f to a (holding as the tenor and discant prepare a cadence to D) and then

evade the cadence to D by ascending to b and skipping up to d'. Even though the moment is an

40
evaded cadence, it could have warranted the use of a Bb (perhaps we could include this as a

moment of musica ficta). Another moment comes in the tenor in m.43 before the close of the A

section. Having just come off of skip from d, the tenor voice pauses on f before making a

stepwise ascent up to c' before skipping down to a once more. The use of Bb in this regard,

however, would strike against the E-natural in the discant on the following beat, thus its

inclusion would not be warranted.

Ultimately, however, there is more than just outlining of a linear tritone to be taken into

consideration when examining Tinctoriss chanson. It was the composers intention after all not

merely to avoid a tritone through the use of the mollis hexachord, but a compositional decision to

cadence on A by way of a Phrygian cadence. Thus, regardless of whether or not Tinctoris was

strictly adhering to linear avoidance of the tritone, the end result is a fundamental change in the

structure of the chanson. Where Dufay and Ockeghem had cadenced on B-mi as a way of

continuing the Phrygian nature of the work by using a Phrygian cadence on a tone other than the

final, Tinctoriss A-mi cadence in O invida Fortuna elaborates on this trend. More so, Tinctoris

can defend himself against any purist that may claim modal impurity because he can back

himself up with his theory around linear tritone avoidance. Therefore, whether Tinctoris was

acting out of theoretical concern or burgeoning compositional interest, his A-mi cadence caused

a shift in the Phrygian paradigm. Having been copied down in the late 1470s, then, and

Ockeghems mass coming soon thereafter, it would make sense that Ockeghem would have

capitalized on this shift in the Phrygian mode and made a mass that is Phrygian through and

through (Ockeghem composing the mass in the scarce mode 4 only adds to this notion).

Similarly, after the acceptance of a Phrygian cadence to the fourth scale degree of the modal

41
octave, it would make sense for Ockeghem to further this trend by cadencing on the lowest tone

of the plagal ambitus.

Fabrice Fitch says of the mass that [t]he number of sources of which we have some

record suggests that Mi-mi was perceived by Ockeghems contemporaries as central to the canon

of Phrygian Masses. Perhaps it was one of the very first.62 Ross Duffin similarly says, as

Howard Browns modal analysis of Florence 229 makes abundantly clear, Phrygian pieces

whether authentic or plagalwere not all that common at this period. Performers would rarely

encounter works in these modes, so a kind of nickname title is more likely to have arisen for

them as a group.63 Thus, while Phrygian mode works were rare in fifteenth century polyphonic

chansons, we can see the establishment of this Phrygian paradigm-shift ultimately culminating in

Ockeghems mass but having been given license to do so within Tinctoris.

62
Fabrice Fitch, Johannes Ockeghem: Masses and Models, Honor Champion diteur (Paris: Editions
Champion, 1997), 177.
63
Duffin, 177.

42
 Tables
1.) Guillaume Dufays chansons

43
44
45
2.) Gilles Binchoiss chansons

46
47
3) Johannes Ockeghems chansons

48
4) Antoine Busnoiss chansons

49
50
51
6) Analysis of Josquin des Prezs Nymphes des Bois

52
53
54
55
 Work Cited

A Florentine Chansonnier from the time of Lorenzo the Magnificent: Florence Biblioteca
Nazional Centrale MS Banco Rari 229. MRM, Volume VII: A Florentine Chansonnier.
Ed. by Howard Mayer Brown, Music Volume. Chicago and London: The University of
Chicago Press, 1983.

Brooks Catherine. Antoine Busnois as a composer of Chansons. PhD diss., New York
University, 1951.

Brooks, Catherine. Antoine Busnois, Chanson Composer. Journal of the American

Musicological Society, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Summer, 1953): 111-135.

Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music 1400-1550. Volume I: A-J. Ed.

by Charles Hamm with Herbert Kellman. American Institute of Musicology: Hnssler-
Verlag, 1979.

Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music 1400-1550. Volume IV: V-Z and
Supplement. Ed. by Herbert Kellman. American Institute of Musicology: Hnssler-
Verlag, 1988.

Curdevey, Annie. Josquin des Prs, Nymphes des bois, dploration sur la mort de Johannes
Ockeghem: de ltude des sources lanalyse. Musurgia, Vol. 7. No. 3/4 (2000), 49-81.

Die Chansons von Gilles Binchois. Ed. by Wolfgang Rehm. Akademie der Wissenschaften und
der Literatur in Mainz. Mainz: B. Schotts Shne, 1957.

Duffin, Ross W. Mi chiamano Mimi but My Name is Quarti toni: Solmization and
Ockeghems Famous Mass. Early Music, Vol. 29, No. 2 (May, 2001): 164-184.

Fitch, Fabrice. Johannes Ockeghem: Masses and Models. Honor Champion diteur. Paris:
Editions Champion, 1997.

Guillaume Dufay Opera Omnia. Volume 6: Cantiones. ed. by Heinrich Besseler. Rome:
American Institute of Musicology, 1964.

Goldberg, Clemens. Die Chansons von Antoine Busnois: Dei sthetik der hfischen Chansons.
Quellen und Studien zur Musikgeschichte von der Antike bis in die Gegenwart, Band 32.
Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1994.

Higgins, Paula. "Busnoys, Antoine." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford
University Press, accessed April 24, 2014,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/04437.

Johannes Tinctoris Collected Works, ed. by William Melin, American Institute of Musicology,
1976.

56
Johannes Ockeghem Collected Works-Third Volume: Motets and Chansons. Edited by Richard
Wexler with Dragan Plamenac. American Musicological Society. Boston: E.C. Shirmer,
1992.

Johannes Ockeghem: Masses and Mass Sections-Missa My my. Ed. By Jaap van Benthem.
Section III: Masses based on freely invented and unspecified material, fascicle 2. Utrecht:
Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, 1998.

Johannes Ockeghem: Missa Mi-mi. Ed. by Heinrich Besseler. Germany: Mseler Vertrag
Wolfenbttel, 1950(?).

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