Kyrie
The Kyrie consists of three distinct textual and melodic sections, each stated three times in succession for a total of nine:
Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy)
Christe eleison (Christ have mercy)
Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy)
The chant melody for the two Kyrie sections are often related, but not here, so the overall melodic form is A B C. The third statement of C is extended, a common procedure that creates a complete structure of a a a b b b c c c’. Machaut sets each of these four melodic units (a b c and c’) only once. Performers would likely alternate these polyphonic settings with monophonic chant, though it would also be possible simply to repeat the polyphony.
In the first Kyrie statement, the pitches of the chant are distributed in rhythmic units four measures long in transcription. The melody is presented in full, once. As is usually the case, the contratenor moves in a repeated rhythmic pattern the same length as the tenor’s, and at the same basic rhythmic level, so they function as a pair.
The two upper voices move at approximately the same rhythmic level as the tenor and contratenor. That means the tenor does not have the kind of foundational role it does in most contemporary motets, where it has notes much longer than the parts written above it. Moreover, where in chant-based motets of the period the tenor’s phrases are often reflected in some way in the upper voices, that does not happen here. This may be in part because the rhythmic pattern is so short, but in Qui es promesses / Ha! Fortune / Et non est qui adjuvet (M8), which also has a four-measure pattern, three short units are combined by upper-voice rhythms into a larger talea unit. The generally similar rhythmic movement of both upper and lower voices, however, may be another factor encouraging more continuous motion, and the effect is rather one of four equal voices in through-composed music.
The upper-voice and lower-voice pairs are more rhythmically differentiated in the Christe and in Kyrie II and III than in the opening section, because the upper voices use shorter note values. The tenor phrases are also longer (twelve and eight measures, respectively). These sections therefore are in some ways closer to the sound of the motet, but not so much so that we don’t hear them as connected, both to Kyrie I and to the Mass as a whole. Moreover, the Christe introduces rising and falling scalar passages of a sort we will find prominently stated in the Gloria. Kyrie II and III not only use short notes in the upper voices, but also add passages of syncopation and hocket that provide increased rhythmic drive toward the end of the movement. This too is a technique borrowed from the motet.
The entire Kyrie, then, uses compositional techniques borrowed from the motet, but the result is appreciably different. The Kyrie, unlike contemporary chant-based motets, sounds like a through-composed piece with a fundamentally equal-voiced texture—in other words, a texture similar to that used in the Gloria and Credo.
Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy)
Christe eleison (Christ have mercy)
Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy)
The chant melody for the two Kyrie sections are often related, but not here, so the overall melodic form is A B C. The third statement of C is extended, a common procedure that creates a complete structure of a a a b b b c c c’. Machaut sets each of these four melodic units (a b c and c’) only once. Performers would likely alternate these polyphonic settings with monophonic chant, though it would also be possible simply to repeat the polyphony.
In the first Kyrie statement, the pitches of the chant are distributed in rhythmic units four measures long in transcription. The melody is presented in full, once. As is usually the case, the contratenor moves in a repeated rhythmic pattern the same length as the tenor’s, and at the same basic rhythmic level, so they function as a pair.
The two upper voices move at approximately the same rhythmic level as the tenor and contratenor. That means the tenor does not have the kind of foundational role it does in most contemporary motets, where it has notes much longer than the parts written above it. Moreover, where in chant-based motets of the period the tenor’s phrases are often reflected in some way in the upper voices, that does not happen here. This may be in part because the rhythmic pattern is so short, but in Qui es promesses / Ha! Fortune / Et non est qui adjuvet (M8), which also has a four-measure pattern, three short units are combined by upper-voice rhythms into a larger talea unit. The generally similar rhythmic movement of both upper and lower voices, however, may be another factor encouraging more continuous motion, and the effect is rather one of four equal voices in through-composed music.
The upper-voice and lower-voice pairs are more rhythmically differentiated in the Christe and in Kyrie II and III than in the opening section, because the upper voices use shorter note values. The tenor phrases are also longer (twelve and eight measures, respectively). These sections therefore are in some ways closer to the sound of the motet, but not so much so that we don’t hear them as connected, both to Kyrie I and to the Mass as a whole. Moreover, the Christe introduces rising and falling scalar passages of a sort we will find prominently stated in the Gloria. Kyrie II and III not only use short notes in the upper voices, but also add passages of syncopation and hocket that provide increased rhythmic drive toward the end of the movement. This too is a technique borrowed from the motet.
The entire Kyrie, then, uses compositional techniques borrowed from the motet, but the result is appreciably different. The Kyrie, unlike contemporary chant-based motets, sounds like a through-composed piece with a fundamentally equal-voiced texture—in other words, a texture similar to that used in the Gloria and Credo.
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