‘Clefless’ notation, counterpoint and the fa-degree
Stefano Mengozzi is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research is currently focused on pitch and pitch structures in medieval and Renaissance music theory. A monograph on the hexachordal system from about the 13th to the 15th centuries is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. smeng{at}umich.edu
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Abstract |
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In recent years a number of music scholars have interpreted ‘clefless’ musical works from the 15th century as grounded on the mechanism of hexachordal solmization. The basic assumption that drives such analyses is that medieval and Renaissance musicians were trained to understand the notated pitches as embedded in segments of six syllables and six pitches. Thus, the primary function of the flat and sharps signs found in ‘clefless’ works has been taken to be one of indicating the fa and mi degrees of underlying hexachords.
However, the particular notational features of a ‘clefless’ rondeau, Gilles Binchois’s Mon seul et souverain desir, may point to different conclusions. This study suggests that ‘clefless’ notation ultimately assigns priority to the octave-based notion of musical space (grounded on the seven claves) that shaped not only the structure of the gamut, but also the grammar of counterpoint. While six-syllable solmization may well have been successfully used to sight read this chanson, it was by no means a mandatory step for performance. The non-hexachordal approach to ‘clefless’ notation proposed here is in line with the early history of staffed notation, as well as with the general orientation of medieval and Renaissance theorists on the issue of hexachordal solmization.
Key Words: Gilles Binchois • hexachordal solmization • clefless notation