triplum: Let the people protected by Arthur
applaud song; let embellished praise
be sung to the most high.
Pleasing things will be conferred on the English
in a most holy result.
Lo, the military flourishes with
the clergy; the chorus of musicians,
moreover, shouts its odes,
from whom John of Corby
shines out in unblemished fashion.
Whose compositions not seen before I invoke,
which John Hauboys unlocks
in his Book of Theory,
from which the radiating practice
of Thomas Marcon springs, as I know.
The compositions of Richard Blithe
please holy people and kings,
also those of John of Exeter,
with whose art Canterbury
radiated for many years.
But let William Mugge, the root of the flowers,
contribute to the types of songs;
Edmund of Bury
is the golden foundation of the tenors,
whom the court favours.
The warlike prince approved the compositions
which William Oxwick created,
glowing golden to the eye,
which John Ipswich savoured
with the melody of his wonderful voice.
The flower of Oxford is wondered at,
Nicholas who is called
‘of Hungerford’;
let Edmund de Miresco be joined to them
in a wondrous threesome.
William of Tideswell excels
on the lyre; the voice of Simon Clement
soothes the ears not a little,
the bone of whose hand
shines bright upon the organ.
Adam the Deacon performs
excellently. May the healthful life
of these men flourish for a long time,
so that for them, when all is done,
the gate of heaven may lie open.
motetus:
Tubal is proclaimed
the source of harp-playing
and organ-playing,
fashioning the beginnings
of music as the story
of Genesis relates.
The weights of Pythagoras
by the beauty of numbers
make the law of art spring,
which Boethius examining
opened out more widely,
praising the king of kings.
By the teaching of Gregory
every order sings the deeds
of the Son of God;
Guido [of Arezzo] the source gave principles,
lines, and spaces
to the monochord;
But Franco [of Cologne] gives to the theory
of music measure
which the colours bind.
These are the springs
of the age, whose rivers
still water all the realms.
The ‘foot’ [tenor] of this three-part piece
is [sung once and] repeated twice
under the rules of hemiolus so that those,
the majesty of whose names
is sung in the triplum,
may importune the lord.
To them the lowest,
least, John Allen [Johannes Alanus]
recommends himself
so that the praise of these men
may with mighty sounds
defend him from envious men.
tenor:
Their voice has gone out through all the earth,
to the end of the world.
English: David Howlett © 2017
Beneath the northern star
Music for the 100 Years' War