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• Machaut, Guillaume de: 4 Ballades

Machaut, Guillaume de: 4 Ballades

(Je suis aussi, Donnez, signeurs, Gais et jolis, Nes que on porroit) for 3 voices or instruments.

These four ballades by Machaut (c. 1300-1377) are printed after MS f. franç. 1584 of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, one of the major sources for Machaut´s music; however, Je sui aussi appears in this and most other sources in two parts only, and the contratenor is taken from MS f. franç. 9221 of the same library.
The ballade as used by Machaut has an AAB form, in which very often the B and the second A share the same ending. In the case of Je sui aussi this is particularly helpful, as the last few notes of the contratenor are missing in the only source. I have assumed that the ending should be as at the end of A, even though this is tonally a little unexpected to modem ears; Ludwig Schrade, the editor of the official complete edition (in the series Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century, provided an alternative ending in which the contratenor ends on G.
I mentioned above that Je sui aussi survives in most sources as a two-part piece, and this simple fact gives us an essential clue to performing this sometimes puzzling music: the contratenor (middle part in the edition), which is often rhythmically complex, should never be allowed to get in the way of the two main parts. It is good idea to try the pieces first in two parts, and only add the contratenor when the main structure is firmly in place. Many of the rhythms in this music look rather jerky on paper, but there is no reason why they should sound this way in performance. These pieces may be performed either vocally or instrumentally; current wisdom is that voices and instruments should be kept separate in fourteenth-century music, but this may only be “flavour of the month”. If the written pitch seems too low, transposition up a fourth may be helpful (see below)
In this edition the original note values have been quartered throughout. Original accidentals are taken as applying to the whole bar, for the sake of simplicity, but editorial accidentals, printed small above the stave, apply to the one note only.