Franco-Flemish Chanson and the Fantasia

Pervasive Imitation and the Chanson Exemplified

In the pervasive imitation of Josquin, the listener is given clear references to the borrowed melody with each new canonic exposition. The technique was applied to the most serious composition of the day, the motet, but was so successful that it found application in the Franco-Flemish chansons of the first half of the sixteenth century as well as the fantasia. Texts that talk about love in French rather than Latin furnish the first clue that the music is a chanson, not a motet. Other than the text, the most significant differences between the chanson and the motet are the faster tempo, shorter overall duration, and freely composed musical subjects of the chanson.

In the chanson, the composer invented his own themes rather than importing them from existing music. Most often, the subjects that were used in the imitative expositions of a chanson were variants of the initial one.

In the chanson, the composer invented his own themes rather than importing them from existing music. Most often, the subjects that were used in the imitative expositions of a chanson were variants of the initial one. The analysis that follows is presented with permission of the publisher from my Chansons of the 16th Century: Franco-Flemish and Parisian Chansons Printed by Pierre Attaingnant (Pacific, MO: Mel Bay, 2002). The chanson to be studied, "Vive la Marguerite" or "Long Live the Daisy," appeared in a print dating from 1529. It beautifully exemplifies both pervasive imitation and the spinning-out of new subjects from a single original.

Franco Flemish Chanson "Vive la Marguerite"

The motive that constitutes the subject appears as the first seven notes in the soprano voice. It is followed in close imitation immediately in the alto and bass voices. Two new variants appear even before the bass has finished its statement. The first variant is found in the alto voice in measure 3 and contains the interval of the third of the initial subject. The second variant appears in the soprano voice of measure 4 as the interval of the inverted third. A third variant appears in a new exposition beginning as the upward leap and subsequent descending scale beginning in the second half of measure 4 and continuing in an exposition that ends in measure. Here the subject is given in inversion, expanded the interval to a fourth, and presented in faster note values. Even as the exposition finishes, the original subject appears in the soprano beginning in measure 7.

A fourth variant appears in the soprano in measure 9. Its opening leap is derived from the second half of measure 4. The variant continues from measure 9 in a protracted version of the variant that appeared in the soprano at measure 5. At the same time, the original subject is presented in the bass in measures 9-10 and supports the same subject in parallel thirds in the alto above. The variant that is found in the soprano at measure 9 is answered in the bass at measures 11-12. A fifth variant, a hybrid, enters in the second half of measure 15 and is answered in the next measure in the soprano. The same exposition repeats in measures 20-21. The ascending scale of the original subject enters in the bass in measure 22. A refrain begins at measure 25. With it comes an exposition on a final variant of the initial subject, a strong echo of the starting idea in its texture and formality. The exposition is followed in measure 27 by another, the nearly literal repeat of the exposition found beginning in the second half measure 4.

The Wordless Motet or Chanson: the Fantasia

The fantasia was an instrumental composition for lute, harpsichord, and sometimes small ensemble. It was, for all practical purposes, a motet or chanson composed without a text and with special consideration to the idiom of the instrument. The fantasia remained immensely popular throughout the sixteenth century. Fantasias appeared in print sources or copied by amateur and professional musicians into their household manuscripts into the early seventeenth century. The fantasia owed its long currency to its artistic merit but also to its use as a tool in humanist education.

The technique of pervasive imitation not only permitted some of the most sophisticated and intellectually satisfying music of the day, but also set a standard for musical composition that church officials, music theorists, and scholars declared worthy of emulation and study. It became known as the "learned style."