Par Mallebouche la cruelle 3v · Anonymous
Appearance in the group of related chansonniers:
*Leuven ff. 50v-51 »Par Mallebouche la cruelle« 3v · Edition · Facsimile
This page with edition as a PDF
Text: Rondeau cinquain, full text in Leuven.
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Par Mallebouche la cruelle, A quoy fault que je ne vous celle, par Mallebouche la cruelle, Onques n’y eut en ma querelle par Mallebouche la cruelle, |
Due to cruel Mallebouche, Why should I not keep you hidden, due to cruel Mallebouche, Never in my courtship has there been due to cruel Mallebouche, |
1) Lines 6-7 are each missing a syllable: “A quoy fault que je vous celle / ja soit que vous soiez celle”
2) Line 13 is missing a syllable: “que Loyaute, enqueres le”
Evaluation of the sources:
The unique rondeau was entered into the Leuven chansonnier by its main scribe without any errors in the music. The texting of the upper voice is very careful; the division of the second line with “ennemye” placed under bars 6-7 and “faulse et rebelle” under bars 9-13 is precise indications, and at the start of the second section, great care has been taken to align the words “gentille pucelle” with the six first minimae (bb. 20-21.1). However, in spite of this, three lines of the poem are missing syllables, which make the interpretation of its meaning a bit uncertain.
The song is the third in a series of unique songs consisting of two virelais simples, two rondeaux and a bergerette, which fills out the eighth fascicle in Leuven (ff. 45-54).
Comments on text and music:
It is male love complaint in rich rimes that invoke two allegorical figures, Malebouche, the cruel slanderer, and her antithesis, Loyauté, faithfulness. This exercise in the art of rhétorique is set for three voices, an upper voice in a modest range (c’-d’’) and two tenors in the same range (c-f’), and it explores the quite rare Lydian mode, notated without any hexachordal signatures, but clearly anchored in a F-tonality.
It exhibits a curious blend of old and new, experiment and tradition side-by-side. The first section is kept entirely in the Lydian mode building on C- and G-hexachords and avoiding flattening of any B’s. The contratenor starts before the other voices, and it programmatically announces the F-tonality by sounding the triad on f. The first line ends without cadence on g with the top voice on the concord’s third (b’) in bar 5, while the first cadence to f comes in bar 9 after four syllables of the poem’s second line. This secondary cadence is between the contratenor and the tenor with the contra as the highest voice in a syncopated cadence figure, while the tenor is relegated to a function as harmonic foundation. The upper voice follows the contratenor in parallel thirds above. In this way a sounding reference to the ending of the first line with a third at the top is established – a tone lower. The contra stays above the tenor for the remainder of the line, which ends in and old-fashioned double leading note cadence to F – after some curious plodding by the tenor in bars 11-12. Superius and tenor starts the third line as a canon at the fifth before cadencing in C with the contra as a harmonic filler below.
The pace and sound changes in the rondeau’s second section. The contra opens a three-part unison imitation of a descending scale figure, which changes into octave imitation in superius and tenor, and the words are placed on rows of minimae. In the last line this imitation evolves into a three-part canon at the octave and unison in complementary rhythms characterized by semiminima movement. At the same time b-flats are needed constantly by the abrupt change into the combined F- and C-hexachords. The final cadence to F again involves double leading tones.
The poem is an artful rondeau cinquain, but the music is much lighter in tone with its bright sound and its occasionally rapid delivery of the words. The song is in tempus imperfectum with the beats on semibrevis values, yet an almost parodic effect occurs when the second section begins with imitation of minima movement with a syllable placed under each note. It is as if the composer wanted to demonstrate that he could achieve the greatest possible contrast between the rondeau’s sections by changes in timbre and pace of declamation.
“Par Mallebouche” appears in the series of unique songs, where the first two, »Tousdis vous voit mon souvenir« and »Donnez l'aumosne, chiere dame« as well as the last one, »Si vous voulez que je vous ame« are definitely composed by the same musician. Nothing argues against that this song too has the same origin. It exhibits the same mixture of old-fashioned style and sound treatment and newer elements, the same desire to experiment and attempts to sound modern – and a fondness for cadences with the third at the top. It may very well have been composed by a young musician around 1470, well versed in the music of previous generations and with some knowledge of contemporary music, but not entirely familiar with contemporary compositional techniques.
Parts of this text are included in my publication The unica of the Leuven chansonnier – a portfolio of songs by an ambitious young musician, August 2024.
PWCH July 2024