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• La tricotée (2 settings)

La tricotée (2 settings)

for 3 voices or instruments.

The melody at the heart of these three pieces seems to have been one of the earliest popular songs to figure in art music, at least to judge by the archaic style of no. 1, which seems to belong to the first half of the fifteenth century. Actually the tune seems to have survived through the following century, emerging in a dance setting of the beginning of the seventeenth century from a Dutch keyboard source.'
In the two French settings the tune is in one of the lower parts, above which the discantus sings a rondeau text. Performing these “combinative chansons” is often problematic, as the rondeau structure in the top part is usually in conflict with the form of the songs in the lower parts; however, the first piece is unusual in having the popular melody complete in each section of the rondeau, so in this case there is no problem. In no. 2 the lowest voice has another popular melody. Given that later in the fifteenth century musicians abandoned the “respectable” rondeau part in their popular song settings, and allowed the melody to “come out” fully, there is something to be said for performing these pieces without the text in the discantus, i. e. having this part sung vocalised or played on instruments. It seems fairly essential that the La tricotée melody should be clearly heard in these settings.
The sources used were as follows: no. 1, Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, Cod. Q. 15; no. 2, Escorial, Biblioteca del Monasterio, MS IV. a. 24, and no. 3, Cancionero Musical de Palacio (Madrid). I am grateful to Jeannine Alton (nos. 1-2) and Jack Sage for the translations. The original note values have been halved throughout, which should not, however, deter performers from using brisk tempi, especially in no. 3. Editorial accidentals, applying to the one note only, are printed small above the stave.