En atendant vostre venue 3v · Anonymous
Appearance in the group of related chansonniers:
*Leuven ff. 72v-73 »En atendant vostre venue« 3v · Edition · Facsimile (72v)
Text: Rondeau quatrain; full text. Its 4th line quotes a rondeau cinquain in Le Jardin de plaisance et fleur de rethoricque, Paris, [Antoine Verard, 1501] f. 91, which was set to music by Ockeghem in the Dijon chansonnier, »Quant de vous seul je pers la veue«.
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En atendant vostre venue, Bien souvent seullete esperdue en atendantvostre venue, Mais Bon Espoir m’a maintenue mon bien que je desire tant, une heure me dure bien cent quant de vous seul je pers la veue. |
Waiting for your arrival, Very often alone and lost waiting for your arrival, But Good Hope has supported me waiting for your arrival, |
Evaluation of the source:
The unique rondeau was copied into the Leuven chansonnier with very few errors – both involving puncti. It is the first song entered by the second scribe who collaborated with the main scribe in finishing the chansonnier. The placement of the words below the upper voice is exact with the important word “tant” placed under the start of the passage containing the song’s highest note (bb. 14.2 ff).
Comments on text and music:
A woman is waiting and hoping for the return of her lover in this short rondeau quatrain. Poetically and musically it has the characteristics of being a local produce. The poem is in the courtly vein involving rich rimes and an allegorical figure (Bon Espoir), but seems to be made up from stock phrases, and the crucial rentrement of the second couplet is less elegant (lines 6-7 “...mon temps en pleurant / en atendant vostre..”). The quote from the somewhat older rondeau set by Ockeghem may not be the only loan in the poem, even if the line is made to stand out by its music. The reuse of the rime word in the fifth line of the Ockeghem song “tant suis de douleur esperdue” is conspicuous.
The poem is set for two very high voices in the ranges c'-f'' and g-a', which never cross and form a self-contained two-part structure in mainly thirds and sixths – and without imitation. Below this duet we find a wide-ranging low contratenor, G-d', which supports the upper voices in a rather clumsy way. In two places it sounds the note B against d' and f''/f' in the upper voices forming a diminished triad (bb. 15.2 and 22.2). It appears that the composer assumed a flattening of the B. However, such a flattening would have consequences and turn the music to the flat side thereby obliterating the effect of the deliberate introduction of the flat before b' in the upper voice at the quote of “quant de vous seul je pers la veue” (b. 26). The change in colour from Mixolydian to Dorian has to come with the quote, or the whole idea of the song as performed by superius and tenor is lost; the shift in colour was probably a conscious reference to the sound of Ockeghem’s song. Designing a suitable low contratenor was beyond the capabilities of the composer – also confirmed by the contratenor’s aimless marking time in bars 25-28.
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 November 2019, revised June 2924