The sun., 1910-05-15

quarter % the thirtesnth century and
. Ia itself a most convincing proof Of the
free and spontaneous beauty which
could bs attained In secular music At this
early period.
W. r. ROOkstNO. the English historian
of music, was apparently eager 10 prove
that this music Waa evidence of England .
great priority In the art of oounterpoint.
He quotes a pun on the words canon
and round made by Walter Mapes Of
Oxford e. indicating that both forms Of
composition must have been familiar
In England before the time when John
Of FOrnosts 10 supposed 90 have put this
round on paper. Waiter MapeS belonged
10 the twelfth century. The uss Of the
word canon AZ al indeed Il significant,
because this vigorous form Of imitation IL
believed 10 have been developed by the
Ffpnchnsn Of tho thlrtssnth century
Walter MApOs lived when Henry Of Aniou
united the realms Of England and Nor
mandy under one crown. and the French
knOwlSSlEe Of tho principle Of limitation. >
which 10 az least ~ old a. the early part
Of the twelfth century. NAV have been
carried into England by French musi-
Cians. However. the same line Of thought
leads 60 tho suggestion that the English
musicians may have taught the French.
Little IL anything can bs gained by
following this line Of speculation. The
chief diticulty In tho way Of arriving At
any satisfactory conclusion IL the pAncity
q documents In England This -Sumer
is icumsn in is the only thing II the kind
that has come down 20 us. The whole
sale destruction u cathedrals and other
repositories OI old manuscripts which
took place at tines in Britain may account
for tho absence Of other compositions of
this period.
What 10 perhaps mOre interesting is the
character % the music itself. Il ia al
together probable that tho melody used
in this round was an ancient folk song.
Indeed lie character 10 that Of . danes
song. The music has the RHYTHM Of an
Opsn air dance. and tho teXt suggests tho
festival II tho beginning Of summer.
Considering how common dance songs
were a. features Of the celebration of
season festivals in the Middle ARes We can
not easily sscape the conclusion that
this was one Of them. II isa pity that w.
have not many ot these ancient poly
phonio pieces built upon English folk
tunes. for we might derive from them
important information as % the history
Of music.
Ths early popularity % the ballata tor
dance songl in Italy j. proved by sufficient
evidence Casella. who made a speciality
oF setting the cansone Of Dante. Of whom
he was q friend. also wrote (accoriihG 20
Burneyl the music for ballata by Ismmo
da Pi-tOja. The cacoia. or hunting song.
was also popular aud was som stimea
treated with elementary cOntrapuntal
devices; but il is unquestiOnable that
both the French and the Temings were
prior 10 the Italians Ia the uss of the
methods growing out oG the principle Of
imitation. Il was certainly In France that
the art oi discant was first practised and
Il was In Paris that -heurettss' or vocal
aourizhes were first used, thus leading
the way 10 the restoration Of the ancient
aorid element How rapidly these
Frenchmsn developed their ART We can
gather from the fact that the motet. q
contrapuntal form in which each voice
had a different text. h defined by Walter
OdinEton in the early treatise already
mentioned
Again w. find that the rondo was de-
veloped by the Frenchmen out of folk
tunes. and in this they approached the
stvie though not the elaborate constrlic-
tion of lh- unknown author ~ -Sumer
l. icumen In Couz-emaker t-L'Art
HARMONIOUS aux XIIe 80 XIIIe Siecle-'
and in his later Historic de- Harmonic
au Moyen Ags-l gives two specimens u
rondo 10y the famous French Chans innier
Adam De Ia Hale. who lived from i2I1 till
about I2ss The-s show a certain "a
cility in the I-s u pplyphonic devices Il
the simplest kind Secular songs u
popular character. they have an appreci.
abls resemblance IN fundamental con.
Struction 10 the later Italian frotlole
When We reach the period of the
Netherlands masters we find the secular
song ia high state u devel0pment
Ambros gives numerous examples. and
the most cursory examination of them
will serve 20 show that they wers bat
little below the finish and elegance u the
most interesting mGdriEals u ths late
Italian and French writer's Certain II -
that tho art Of writing secular music for
voices in several parts had advanced 10
a high degree % excellence when such
creations NJ the maduEals % Claude 10
Jeune and Jannequin's Chant des
OissauE- and "Cria de- Paris could 10
produced Those who heard the Chant
des OiseauE. given last winter AZ Kurt
schindlers concert ~ French madrigals.
would surely be Glcd 10 hear many mors
ol ,hs early secular songs of tho poly.
phOniC school
But a. has already been noted the
historians tell us that owing to the i'm.
perfect and troublesOms state of notation
the records Of the miner creations Of the
Old masters are few or unsatisfactory
The lAbOrs u COuassmaksr. however.
have shown that there is no serious Oh.
stacle in the way Of transcnbing the old
notation. even that of tho neums variety
in modem terms.
Ths scarcity Of Examples 10 perhaps
the most significant feature. bat IL IL by
no means unlikely that tho Libraries Of
Europe contain many manuscripts which
have never been ksenly sorItinizcd by
scholars capable of disclosing their ss-
crsts
The whole subject 10 Of intense in
terest 20 the student Of the history Of
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