The Malmariée in the Thirteenth-Century Motet

This monograph offers a comprehensive study of the topos of the malmariée or the unhappily married woman within the thirteenth-century motet repertory, a vocal genre characterized by several different texts sounding simultaneously over a foundational Latin chant. Part I examines the malmariée motets from three vantage points: (1) in light of contemporaneous canonist views on marriage; (2) to what degree the French malmariée texts in the upper voices treat the messages inherent in the underlying Latin chant through parody and/or allegory; and (3) interactions among upper-voice texts that invite additional interpretations focused on gender issues. Part II investigates the transmission profile of the motets, as well as of their refrains, revealing not only intertextual refrain usage between the motets and other genres, but also a significant number of shared refrains between malmariée motets and other motets. Part II furthermore offers insights on the chronology of composition within a given intertextual refrain nexus, and examines how a refrain's meaning can change in a new context. Finally, based on the transmission profile, Part II argues for a lively interest in the topos in the 1270s and 1280s, both through composition of new motets and compilation of earlier ones, with Paris and Arras playing a prominent role.

Dolores Pesce is Avis Blewett Professor of Music at Washington University in St. Louis, specializing in music of the Middle Ages and the late nineteenth century. Her books include The Affinities and Medieval Transposition; Hearing the Motet: Essays on the Motet of the Middle Ages and Renaissance; Guido d'Arezzo's Regule rithmice, Prologus in antiphonarium, and Epistola ad Michahelem: A Critical Text and Translation; and Liszt's Final Decade.

List of Music Examples List of Manuscripts List of Abbreviations Manscripts Other Abbreviations Introduction Marriage: Mutual Consent and Marital Debt Portrayals of Marriage in Literature and Song Part I. Malmariée Motets in Relationship to Their Tenors 1 Paschal Season Liturgy 2 Assumption Liturgy 3 Other Liturgical Tenors 4 French Tenors and French Text Only Part II. Malmariée Motet Refrains within an Intertextual Nexus 5 Motet Refrains Shared with Other Genres With a Song and a Romance or Narrative Poem With One or More Songs With a Narrative Poem Concluding Remarks 6 Motet Refrains Shared with Other Motets Mo 6, 233 Mo 5, 148 Mo 2, 23 and Mo 5, 142 Mo 2, 30 Conclusion Contents Transmission and Intertextuality Appendix A: Tables 1-7 Appendix B: Texts and Translations of Motets 60, 62, and 67 from MS N(mo) Bibliography Index of Compositions General Index