The Salve Regina Settings in the Eton College Choirbook

Ph.D. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (expected 1998)
(ljmac5@student.monash.edu.au)

The Eton College Choirbook was compiled around 1500 and contains English works which date from the late 15th to early 16th centuries. The manuscript is historically important as it is an example of the English style of writing during a period of considerable political and social turmoil. Musically, the Eton Choirbook is quite valuable, as it is the only surviving example of late 15th century English writing. Its main predecessor, the Old Hall manuscript, dates around 1460, leaving us with a period of nearly half a century unexplained in terms of English compositional style.
　イートンクワイヤーブックは１５００年頃に編纂され、１５世紀後半から１６世紀初頭までの英国音楽が含まれている。この写本は政治的社会的騒動の期間の英国の音楽スタイルを示すものとして歴史的にも貴重なものである。またこの写本は１５世紀後半の英国音楽の唯一の遺産でもある。
　イートンクワイヤーブックの先輩格にあたるオールドホール写本は１４６０年頃までの作品をも含むが、この写本はほぼ半世紀にわたる説明の困難な英国の作曲形式を示している。

During the second half of the 15th century English music was developing a style of its own, independent of what was happening on the Continent. The Eton manuscript typifies this style and is a tremendous advancement upon the style of writing displayed in the Old Hall manuscript. For example, many of the Eton works are based around original material, allowing more freedom in the lower voices, and there are a few examples of works written for 7, 8 and 9 parts.
　１５世紀後半の英国音楽は大陸で発達していたものとは異なった独自のスタイルで発展してきた。イートン写本はこうしたスタイルや、オールドホール写本に認められる書法を極端に発展させたものである。たとえばイートン写本の多くの作品は低声部がより自由に動くような独自の作風を基本としている。

In order to gain some insight into the Eton style of writing, I have chosen to study settings of the Salve regina, thus giving me control of one element - text - in my study. These works are quite unique in themselves and hence, this study will begin with a discussion of the characteristics of the Eton Choirbook itself, its role in English musical history and how these fifteen settings are situated within this realm. I will then present a detailed analysis of these works, examining such musical characteristics as form and structure, text setting, vocal arrangements, cantus firmus setting, rhythmic and motivic configurations, time signatures and cadences. Finally, owing to the controversial nature of the following area, a detailed analysis of the modal structure of these pieces will be a major feature of this study.
　イートンスタイルにおける書法を研究するために、私はSalve reginaをその対象として選んでみた。Salve Reginaはたいへんユニークなものがあり、これを研究することによりイートンクワイヤーブックの特徴やその英国音楽史における役割などを議論することができる。

It is hoped that as a result of this thesis, more light may be shed on the Eton College Choirbook , and on the Salve regina settings themselves, in particular as to the modal practice used in English music during the Renaissance era.

DEFINING THE ROUND

A. Definitions and Forms

The unique species of canon called the round is a simple part song which employs canonic imitation at the unison and/or octave. The round is compared with several related forms, and a survey of important factors considered in defining the round appears at the end of this section. The forms included in the discussion are: circle canon, canon at the unison and/or octave, fugue, roundel rota (rotte or rote), rondellus (rondel), catch, glee, caccia, and riddle canons.

As stated in The Harvard Dictionary of Music, the round is a "common name for a circle canon, i.e., a canon in which each singer returns from the conclusion of the melody to its beginning, repeating it ad libitum." Another definition found in Oscar Thompson's International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians is "a canon in the unison, in which the performers begin at set rhythmic intervals, returning again to the initial section after the melody has been sung through, as if turning around in a circle."

Noteworthy is the description found in Webster's New International Dictionary where it is stated that the round may or may not be repeated, and that ". . . three or four voices follow each other around in a species of canon in the unison."

In addition to these important characteristics, the round is distinctively different from all other canons in that it employs the principle of the circle in all parts, and for this reason it is often called a "circle canon," which traditionally returns from the end of the composition to a repeat from the beginning. Some rounds are even printed in a circle and graphically picture this concept of perpetual motion common to the round. The photograph preceding this article pictures a circle canon and has been taken from the cover of The Songster's Assistant by Timothy Swan (1758-1842). The manuscript is stored in the Public Library of the City of Boston.

Perhaps the most important feature of the round, as the term applies herein, is its classification as a canon at the unison and/or octave. Traditionally, canons which are constructed at intervals other than the unison or octave are not called rounds, but they merely represent other types of canon defined by Apel in The Harvard Brief Dictionary of Music as "A contrapuntal device whereby an extended melody, stated in one part, is imitated strictly and for its entire length in one or more other parts." The round is distinguished from the fugue in that the latter is far more complex. In the fugue the answer to the subject may be real or tonal. Furthermore, it may enter at unequal distances of time and pitch.

The diagram in Chart 1 illustrates a schematic drawing of a four-voice round and serves to clarify the discussion.

In Chart 1 the melody of the round has four sections (lines) represented by the letters A, B, C, and D. When performed simultaneously, the harmony of the traditional round is relatively simple, often involving only tonic and dominant chords. The voice entrances, one through four, are at equal intervals of time and each voice contains two repetitions of the complete round. During performance, voice one begins first and, as a result, ends before the other parts; voice four becomes a solo at the completion of the second repeat. (Other methods of performing rounds are discussed in the Six Collections of Rounds arranged for bassoons and published by the IDRS.)

The round is also known as a roundel a diminutive of the word round, and historically the terms appear to have been used interchangeably. Rota is another name for round, and is sometimes spelled rotte or rote. Rota is a Medieval Latin term meaning wheel, and is used primarily in the British Isles; however, the term has received considerable use elsewhere, especially when referring to the famous Sumer is icumen in. Galpin defines rota this way: ". . . the word Rota, a name given by Latin writers to the Organistrum or Hurdy-gurdy, which was played by turning a wheel (rota) and thus setting the strings into vibration." [1] This definition gives further understanding of the circular principle involved in composing and performing the round.

The round is sometimes called a rondellus, which is Latin for rondel.[2] Harrison says: "A rondellus is a round; a rota is a canon at the unison."[3] The latter part of his statement is in concurrence with previously given definitions - if one agrees that the rota is also a round; however, the first portion of Harrison's statement needs further clarification:

Gustave Reese, who appears to have based his definition of rondellus, in part, on a description given by Walter Odington, quotes him as saying: a rondellus is "two or three melodies . . . sung simultaneously by as many voices and all the voices are to sing each melody in turn." Witness Reese's explanation in the following:

When distinguishing between the rondellus and rota (or round), it is then concluded that Reese and Harrison do not fully agree on the precise definition of rota, and only partially agree on the definition of rondellus.

In this study, the rota and rondellus are both considered rounds, each of a particular kind: (1) the rota is a strict canon type of round which when scored and performed contains consecutive entrances for equal distances of usually one, two, or three measures; (2) in the rota the canonic imitation of melodic intervals and rhythms occurs before the first phrase has been completed, and the set pattern of entrances, in terms of the time interval, does not vary and is maintained between each of the subsequent parts; (3) in performance the rondellus resembles the rota with consecutive entrances; however, the entrances occur phrase by phrase and each of the phrases contains a different part of the common melody; (4) traditionally when scored the rondellus has simultaneous entrances and resembles the mid-section of the rota type of round where all parts operate together; (5) in performance both types have common melodic material imitated at the octave and/or unison, and they also have phrases of the same length repeated at liberty.

The catch is a term applied to a vocal piece in which a musical device is used whereby the melodies and words are interrupted and passed back and forth between the different voices in such a way as to disguise the typically bawdy text. These are frequently humorous, fascinating, appalling, vulgar, and, therefore, often socially unacceptable. "Musically, there is no difference between a round and a catch . . . (and) in practice, the terms round and catch are interchangeable. [6] Ravenscroft and other Tudor musicians made a practice of using the term canon as a synonym for catch and round. [7]

The glee and the Italian caccia, which was developed from the older French chase, are similar to the round in that they are simple part songs which employ imitation. They differ from the round in these respects: the glee displays a freer canonic imitation with more chordal harmony and frequent cadences; the caccia has a lively hunting, fishing, or other naturalistic text sung as a two-voice canon and accompanied by a free tenor in longer note values. The poetic form of the caccia " . . . was irregular, though many cacce, like madrigals, had a ritornello, which was not always in canonic style". [8]

Riddle canons of various types were written during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. They are sometimes called puzzle or enigmatic canons and " . . . are notated without informing the performer about the number of parts or the time or pitch distance between the parts." [9]

Since the glee, caccia, and riddle canon do not fit the definition of round as developed in this section, they will not be treated further in this discussion.

B. Summary Definition of Round

Based on the author's research, the following fourteen points comprise a summary definition of the round:

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ROUND

A. c. 1065-1453

The history of rounds discloses that very few examples have survived from the period before 1500. Therefore, study and analysis of the genetic stages are veiled by speculation and uncertainty; however, information and musical examples become more plentiful from the year 1509 to the present.

Several informative studies dealing with rounds have been made by English scholars. Frank Ll. Harrison, Senior Lecturer in Music, Oxford University, has written texts on Medieval English music, and in a recent study of the rondellus, previously cited, Harrison says that a rondellus is a round and a rota is a canon at the unison. Accepting these definitions as valid, the author begins with significant information from Harrison's research. This reveals that three settings of the hymn tune known as Nuc Sancte nobis spiritus were used in the late eleventh century; with the earliest of these pieces, which is a rondellus, given the approximate date of 1065:
　Ｆ．ハリソンはrondellusはroundであり、rotaはユニゾンでのカノンであるという。このような定義が正しいとすると、著作者はハリソンの研究から重要な情報をえることができる。こうした研究により、たとえば11世紀に歌われていたNuc Sancte Nobis Spiritusとして知られるヒム（讃歌）の３つの部分はrondellusのもっとも初期の例としてあげられよう。
　

An excerpt from the Nunc Sancte rondellus appears in Example 1. Harrison indicates that it was composed in two parts with no indication of repeats, and his explanation for grouping the parts, as seen in Example 1, is that the two phrases were " . . . sung together four times, once for each line of the hymn, with exchange of voices for each line" [11] In the arrangement shown in Example 1, note the parallel motion between the intervals of a fourth, fifth, and octave, a technic commonly used by composers of organum dating from the ninth century to the early thirteenth century.

Further insight into the development of the round may be derived from studying its canonic ancestors found in the Notre Dame compositions of Perotin. Historically, canon technic is thought to have been the result of an "interchange" of melodies between several parts, and according to Gustave Reese, the process may be traced to Perotin's Viderunt:
　歴史的にはカノンのテクニックはいくつかのパートの”声部交換”の結果として出来上がったと考えられる。そしてＧ．リースによれば、そのプロセスはペロタンのViderunt Omnisにまでさかのぼれるであろう、とのことである。

Speculation has been cast on the development of the round and catch as they relate to the first part-singing in England. One such discussion appears in An Introductory Essay on the Rise and Progress of the Round, Catch and Canon by Edward F. Rimbault. He quotes Gerald Barry's [14] description of the peculiar manner of singing used by the Welsh and the inhabitants of the North of England during the twelfth century. Rimbault believes Barry is describing the process of singing rounds and, for this reason, his comments may provide additional insight into the history of rounds:

The statements of Gerald Barry tend to support the belief that part-singing came naturally to Englishmen, and that down through the generations they actively participated in this form of musical entertainment. Rather than describing the performance of rounds, however, the medieval singing ". . .possibly refers to the unlimited duplication of voices in the old organum fashion, as first described in the Musica Enchiriadis . . . and still retained as late as the fourteenth century in a modified form." [16] The singing does resemble performance practices employed in rounds to the extent that it was a group activity with an unlimited number of parts; however, Barry does not mention the technic of canonic imitation, nor does he explain to what extent the parts were different - both important prerequisites to performing rounds.

　

The origin, date, composers, and authenticity of the rhythmic and melodic notation of Sumer is icumen in have been questioned in recent years. Reports appear in Music Review, and in Musica Disciplina (articles on early music), a publication of the American Institute of Musicology. Opinions vary; however, a general date of the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century is given for Sumer is icumen in. M F. Bukofzer published his study of the famous rota in 1944. He presents a very convincing "re -examination of the traditional opinions," and concludes that Sumer is icumen in dates from 1310 - 25, rather 1240. [17]

Whether composed in 1240 or 1310, it is the first known example of a round which combines rota and rondellus types, and for this reason is assigned a place of distinction. A photocopy of the original manuscript appears in Example 2.

Ex. 2. Anonymous, Sumer is icumen in (Photocopy of the original manuscript.) [18]

It can be observed that the Latin text is written below the English, and the performance instructions are also written in Latin. The music is skillfully composed, and the combining of the voices into a four-part canon, accompanied by two harmonically supporting parts, makes an important specimen to include in this study.

Old Hall Manuscript provides the next round. According to Harrison, the manuscript contains four canons at the unison by Pycard, Byttering, and an anonymous composer, and a Sanctus by Pycard. Harrison believes that the Sanctus contains a three-voice rota over a cantus tenor, and explains that it is a very unusual discovery owing to ". . . the fact that a part which is sung as a rota is a plainsong. . . . The construction of the rota, based on the pre-existing melody is an ingenious feat, and one unmatched, as far as I know, for more than a century afterwards." [19]

Example 3 displays a modern scoring of the Sanctus Plainsong followed by a three voice setting of the rota. The specimen is the first of two 15th-century examples recorded in this brief history of rounds.

Rimbault published his study of The Rounds, Catches and Canons of England in 1863. At this time he believed the logical successor to Sumer is icumen in was a roundel entitled Row the Boat, Norman. Witness his testimony in the following account:

I have fortunately discovered a very interesting "roundel" of the fifteenth century, of which the following is the history: - In 1453, Sir John Norman, being the first Lord Mayor of London who "brake that anncient and olde continued custome of riding with great pompe into Westminster, to take his charge, choosing rather to be rowed thither by water," the watermen made of him a roundell or song to his great praise, the which began: -

For this we have the. authority of a contemporary, Robert Fabyan, who was Sheriff of London in 1493-4. [20]

The melody accompanying Row the Boat, Norman, and appearing in Example 4 emerges as the same melody for Turn Again, Whittington, or Heave and Ho, Rumbelow, in various collections, as for example, John Playford's 1673 edition of the second edition of John Hilton's Catch that Catch Can (1658), [22] Rimbault's edition of English rounds and Mary Taylor's collection of rounds. Writers are not certain which is the original set of words, and there are conjectures over whether the melody was written for the Norman or Whittington text. Mary Taylor confirms the complexities involved in this case, and injects a sense of consternation colored by a touch of humor as she offers this analysis of the Norman text problem:

Mysteries surrounding the composition of rounds, near the time of and earlier than Row the Boat, Norman, are partially solved as an attempt is made to determine which set of words was first used with the Norman melody. If the round was composed for Whittington's inauguration, as has been suggested by Rimbault and Mary Taylor, the melody may have been passed down from previous generations and sung as a folk song. According to Taylor, it became a natural choice to be used with the new set of words celebrating Norman's inauguration 56 years later. This suggests that many of the anonymous rounds contained in collections by Ravenscroft, Rimbault, and modem editors, are folk songs. (Row the Boat, Norman, and several other rounds from the preceding works are included in the author's arrangements. for bassoon ensembles.)

B. c.1509 - 1611

John E. Stevens and Jill Vlasto have recently done research which has uncovered several previously unknown 16th-century English rounds. Stevens, through his study of the musical resources contained in a Court songbook belonging to the early years of Henry VIII's reign (1509-47), has discovered 20 rounds and canons. [25] Another source of rounds was found in a manuscript stored in the library of King's College, Cambridge. It contains 57 rounds and canons collected by Thomas Lant in the year 1580. Forty-eight of the rounds appear in one of the three collections made by Ravenscroft, and according to Jill Vlasto who discovered the manuscript none of the remaining nine rounds are included in other printed collections. [26]

A prime source for studying the history of rounds during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries is the work of Thomas Ravenscroft, who edited and published the first collections of rounds in three volumes (Pammelia, 1609, Deuteromelia, 1609; and Melismata, 1611).

The second collection, Deuteromelia is subtitled Catch That Catch Can. Some of its music and the "Catch Can" subtitle were used during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for many subsequent catch book publications of which the following is only a partial list: (1) John Hilton's first edition of the Catch That Catch Can (1652); (2) John Playford and his son Henry Playford's Catch That Catch Can, or The Second Part of the Musical Companion (1685), The Second Book of the Pleasant Musical Companions (1686), The Fourth Edition (1701), and The Ninth Edition (1726); (3) John Johnson's Musical Companion (1740). [27]

C. c. 1750 - Present

The catch was used in England as entertainment music during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and was extremely popular with groups of male voices. Catch clubs were formed and these social organizations promoted the composition and performance of the catch. It became one of the principal vocal forms in use in England during the Classical era.

Interest in the catch, and especially the round, was shown by leading composers including Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms. For example, research has revealed that Georg Kinsky's catalog of Beethoven's works, completed by Hans Halm and published in Munich (1955), includes 44 vocal canons. The Breitkopf and Hartel edition of the complete works includes 22 vocal canons. Twelve additional canons have been located in such works as Fritz Jode's Der Kanon (1925) and Georg Kinsky's catalog. Twenty-four of the 34 canons are rounds. In the case of Schubert, the Breitkopf and Hartel edition of his works contains eleven vocal canons for three voices and all are rounds. [28]

Near the end of the Classical period in the early nineteenth century, the round became less popular and gave way to the more colorful musical extravaganzas of the Romantic period; however, Brahms continued to show an interest in the form and composed several rounds and canons, as for example, Thirteen Canons for Female Chorus (Op. 113). Ten of the seventeen vocal canons by Brahms included in Die Kanon-Kanone are rounds. Rounds and canons were also composed by Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842), and Wie lieblicher Klang, Op. 49 of Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), is a double canon in the form of a round as stated in Musical Form by Hugo Leichtentritt. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the forms were used by lesser-known composers such as Arnold Mendelssohn (1855-1933), Julius Spengel (1853-1936), Raphael Gunter (b. 1903), and Kurt Thomas (b. 1904). [29]

In recent years there has been a renewal of interest in the round from the standpoints of composition, performance, and pedagogy. This renewed interest may be attributed to a recognition of the simplicity, variety, flexibility, and expressiveness of this musical form in its manifold uses and subsequent pedagogical implications. A fine contemporary example of the form is the Rondels for Orchestra (1961) by Niccolo Castiglioni, and David Diamond's Rounds for String Orchestra (1944) is "his most widely played work." [30] The republication of such collections as The Catch Club or Merry Companions (edited by Frederick Freedman and Joel Newman, 1965) is further evidence of this renewed interest. The popularity of rounds among contemporary musicians is noteworthy, and according to Herman Reichenbach, editor, Modem Canons, today's interest in canons is a result of the polyphonic style of much contemporary music. In this collection 26 of the 38 compositions are rounds. These include rounds by Vincent Persichetti, David Diamond, Alberto Ginastera, and Randall Thompson. The Diamond, Ginastera, and Thompson rounds, arranged for bassoons, are included in the IDRS publications.

Use of Accidentals in 16th-Century Style（Ｔｈｅ　Ｄｏｄｅｃａｒｄｏｎ）
The only accidental available in the hexachordal solmization system used by singers in the 16th-century style was B-flat. It was used in the so-called "soft" (molle) hexachord beginning on F (as opposed to the durum or "hard" G hexachord with B-natural) to "soften" the tritone between F and B (and also to "soften" the upper neighbor to A).
　16世紀の歌手たちによって用いられたヘクサコードのソルミゼーションシステムにおける唯一の臨時記号はＢ♭であった。これはＦで始まるいわゆる”やわらかいヘクサコードにおいて,ＦとＢで形成される三全音を避けるために、あるいはＡ-ＢをＡ-Ｂ♭と”柔らかく”するために使用された。（対照的にＢナチュラルを使用したＧから始まるヘクサコードは”硬いヘクサコードといわれた。訳注；対斜における問題点のページの一番下の表を参照のこと）

By the 16th century the B-flat had become standard notation in most cases, but many of the other half-step alterations that had become standard singing practice were not generally given in the notation. The extent to which this "false music" or musica ficta was employed in performance can never be determined; however the practice of raising the subfinalis (creating a leading tone) at cadences is generally understood to be the basic usage of musica ficta. In order to somewhat preserve the original notational practice, accidentals for musica ficta are generally given above the notes which they alter. The only notes to which musica ficta can be applied are F, C, and Ｇ。
　16世紀までに、Ｂ♭は多くの場合において標準的には記譜をされるようになった。しかし演奏においてはよく使用されるようになったその他の多くの半音変化はまだ一般的には記譜されることがなかった。（訳注；これがmusica fictaである）　こうしたmusica fictaが演奏においてどの程度用いられていたかははっきりとは知る由はない。しかしながらカデンツにおいてその最後から二番目の音を導音として半音上げることが一般的にはmusica fictaの大きな役割であった。オリジナルな記譜に手をつけないために、musica fictaとしての臨時記号は通常はそのつく部分の音符の上方に書かれるようになった。musica fictaが使用された音符はＦ，Ｃ，Ｇであった。

Note: F-sharp (B-natural in transposed modes) is never used to correct the tritone.
　　　　Ｆ♯は三全音を避けるために使用されるのではない！

The following chart outlines acceptable use of accidentals in 16th-century style. Remember that musica ficta is only used at cadences (except in familiar style):

Mode	Use of B-flat	Allowed Musica Ficta
Dorian	Often	C#
Phrygian	Rarely	None (F-natural is an upper "leading tone")
Lydian	Very often	None
Mixolydian	Sometimes	F#
Aeolian	Sometimes	G#, (F# for fusas only)
Ionian	Sometimes	None
Transposed Modes	Use of E-flat	Allowed Musica Ficta
Dorian	Often	F#
Phrygian	Rarely	None (B-flat is an upper "leading tone")
Lydian	Very often	None
Mixolydian	Sometimes	B-natural
Aeolian	Sometimes	C#, (B-natural for fusas only)
Ionian	Sometimes	None

3. Josquin des Prez (c. 1440-1521)

seventy secular vocal pieces

Masses

The Chanson

Motets and Falsobordone

The Salve Regina Settings in the Eton College Choirbook

Ph.D. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (expected 1998)
(ljmac5@student.monash.edu.au)

DEFINING THE ROUND

A. Definitions and Forms

B. Summary Definition of Round

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ROUND

A. c. 1065-1453

B. c.1509 - 1611

C. c. 1750 - Present

3. Josquin des Prez (c. 1440-1521)

seventy secular vocal pieces

Masses

The Chanson

Motets and Falsobordone

The Salve Regina Settings in the Eton College Choirbook

Ph.D. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (expected 1998)(ljmac5@student.monash.edu.au)

DEFINING THE ROUND

A. Definitions and Forms

B. Summary Definition of Round

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ROUND

A. c. 1065-1453

B. c.1509 - 1611

C. c. 1750 - Present

Ph.D. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (expected 1998)
(ljmac5@student.monash.edu.au)