'Doulce Mmoire': A Study of the Parody Chanson

Author(s): Frank Dobbins

Source: Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, Vol. 96 (1969 - 1970), pp. 85-101
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Royal Musical Association
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'Doulce Memoire'

A Study of the Parody Chanson

FRANK DOBBINS

THE RENAISSANCE ATTITUDE to art as craft is reflected in a

veritable cult of competitive setting testing the composer's

ingenuity and invention. Already in the fifteenth century one
finds abundant evidence of this trend in rival versions, sacred

and secular, by famous professional musicians of chansons

like 'De tous biens plaine', 'J'ay pris amours' and 'Fors

seulement l'attente'. A similar situation is found in the poetry

of the time: thus in the fifteenth century one finds numerous
rondeaux with the same incipit but with different continuations,

while the sixteenth century provides a parallel case with the

rdsponse (or rebours) which borrows its form, ideas, images and

even whole lines from the model. The entire neo-Petrarchist

repertoire is emulative, and the vogue of the blason, instituted

by Clement Marot in exile at Ferrara in i535, was overtly

competitive.
The chanson 'Doulce me moire"' was probably first published

at Lyons, in Jacques Moderne's first book of Le Parangon des

Chansons-there are two different editions, both undated but
probably appearing late in 1537 or early in 1538. The piece
was reprinted (with a few minor variants) at Paris in Attaingnant's XXVII Chansons, the first edition of which could not
have been issued before 21 April 1538. It was one of the first
compositions by Pierre Regnault, alias 'Sandrin',2 who was
one of the most successful of Claudin de Sermisy's younger
colleagues in the royal service: both are praised in the Discours

de la Court (Paris, 1543) by the court poet Claude Chappuys-

'... Claudin p"re aux musiciens / Sandrin 6sgal aux anciens

.'. The musical styles of the two composers are remarkably

similar; it is therefore hardly surprising to find two chansons

('Las qu'on congneust mon vouloir sans le dire' and 'Si mon
travail vous peult donner plaisir') attributed to Claudin by
Attaingnant,3 whereas Moderne at Lyons ascribes them to
x Printed in 6o Chansons zu vier Stimmen, ed. Robert Eitner (Publikation
aelterer praktischer und theoretischer Musikwerke, xxiii), Leipzig, 1899,
pp. 103-4.

2 Cf. F. Lesure, 'Un musicien d'Hippolyte d'Este', Collectanea Historiae

Musicae, ii (1956), 245-50.
3 RISM 153915-16 and 153811/154o' respectively.

85

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86

DOULCE

MMOIRE

Sandrin.' It may also be significant that in the farce Le

savetier qui ne respont que chansons the singing cobbler SANDRIN
rebuffs his nagging wife CLAUDINE.

The poem is a decasyllabic huitain with the three-rhyme

scheme a b a b b c b c (with alternating feminine and masculine endings) common to many of the eight-line epigrams of
the time:

Doulce m6moire en plaisir consomm6e

O sikcle heureux qui cause tel sqavoir.
La fermet6 de nous deux tant aym6e
Qui A nos maux a su si bien pourvoir.
Or maintenant a perdu son pouvoir
Rompant le but de ma seulle esp6rance,
Servant d'exemple A tous piteux a voir.
Fini le bien, le mal soudain commence.

The musical form, which may be represented A B A BC D E

/: F :/, proceeds on the principle of one musical line per line
of text, and to some extent mirrors the verse form. The last
line, which Du Bellay later describes as the sole point of the

dpigramme, was invariably repeated in musical settings.

Sandrin's setting observes the conventions of the Parisian

chanson in breaking down each line into subdivisions of four
and six syllables, the former being set to long time-values
(generally some variant of the so-called narrative formula
J J J I J.), followed by a short caesura and a more animated
syllabic continuation, broadening into a melisma before one
of the standard cadential figures.
The poem's expression is tinged with melancholy, more

touching and natural than the Burgundian rhetoric, and

symptomatic of Renaissance neo-Platonism:

Sweet memory consummated in joy,

O happy time of such understanding;
The loving steadfastness of our [united] love,

Which knew so well how to attend our ills.

But now alas has lost its [former] strength

Sev'ring the thread of my [one] only hope.
A sad example all afflicted see,
Cease therefore joy, for sudden evil comes.

In a manuscript preserved at the Chateau of Chantilly

(Conde MS 520, f. 43') the text is attributed to 'Le Roy'

(i.e. Frangois I).5 There is a good case for the authenticity of

4 RISM 153817/1543x3.

5 It also figures in a manuscript of the King's verse in the hand of the

poet Saint-Gelais; cf. Autographes & Documents Evocateurs de cinq siicles
d'histoire, Pierre Ber es Catalogue, Paris [1969], No. 13.

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DOULCE

MEMOIRE

87

this attribution. After his defeat at the Battle of Pavia in 1525,

Franqois, like his great uncle, Charles d'Orlans, turned to

poetry as his principal distraction during his long imprisonment; much of his correspondence with his literary-minded
sister, Marguerite de Navarre, his mother Louise de Savoie,
and with various court ladies (including the notorious Diane
de Poitiers) has survived. This deepened interest made him a
more avid and discerning patron of verse. His mentors in-

cluded Clement Marot, Mellin de Saint-Gelais and Claude

Chappuys, any of whom might have aided and abetted him

in his poetic essays. It is significant that a number of pieces

attributed to him in Chantilly MSS 520 and 523 and else-

where appear in other sources, both manuscript and printed,

ascribed to one or other of these three poets.
If one accepts the attributions of the standard edition of
the King's verse' and those of the Chantilly manuscripts, it
would seem that the composers represented in the chanson
publications of Attaingnant and Moderne favoured the texts
of Franqois second only to those of the famous Marot; for 30
of his poems are found in 42 settings, all appearing between

1528 and I549-.

In musical sources before Ronsard's Amours of 1552, however, and even in many literary collections both manuscript
and printed, no poet is mentioned. Thus 'Doulce memoire'
was anonymous in a manuscript of poems by Marot and his

school compiled in Ferrara in 1535.8 The poem was first

printed in i538, in an anthology of chanson texts edited

by Marot: Les Chansons nouvellement assemblies oultre les anciennes

impressions. It occurs, again anonymously, as the second piece

in Alain Lotrian's anthology S'ensuyt plusieurs belles chansons
(Paris, 1542),' and as the first in the Fleur de Podsie series
(Paris, 1543-8).x1 Later publications include the Recueil des
Chansons tant musicales que rurales (V. Sertenas, Paris, n.d., and

N. Bonfons, Paris, 1572).11

The possibility of the poem being by Marot himself cannot
6 Poisies du Roi Franfois I, ed. A. Champollion-Figeac, Paris, 1847. This is
based on two sixteenth-century manuscripts, Paris, Bibliothdque Nationale, fr. 1723 and 2372.
7 For a complete list, see Appendix.
8 E. Picot, Catalogue des Livres de la Biblioth~que de M. le Baron James de
Rothschild, Paris, 1912, iv. 288.

* Reprinted A. Percheron, Geneva, 1867, p. 4.

10 Reprinted in Raretis bibliographiques, Brussels, 1864, p. 5-

11 Other collections are listed in Howard M. Brown, Music in the French

Secular Theatre, Cambridge, Mass., 1963, p. 207.

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88

DOULCE

MEMOIRE

be ruled out, although it does not appear in any of the contemporary or subsequent editions of his work. One late source

would even seem to lend support to Jean Rollin's tenuous

theory that the musically inclined poet composed his own
melodies.11 The source in question is the Pedagogus of J. T.
Fregius (Basle, 1582), a didactic manual which devotes over
a hundred pages to the science of music, quoting numerous
examples from the chansons of Claudin, the Lieder of Forster,

Senfl, Othmayr and others, and the psalm-settings of Utendhal. The fourth example illustrating the Dorian mode quotes
the whole of Sandrin's superius, which is superscribed 'Quartum exemplum Clementis Maroti'.a
Ex. 1

Doul - cc m~- moi - re en plai - sir con-som. - - - e. en

La fer- me - ti de nous deux tant ay - m - - e, de

10

- ---- ,-s---- I , , ., .J

plai-sir con-sorn - m - - - O 0 siec -leheu-reux qui cau-se tel sfa - nous dcux tant ay m6 - - - Qui a nos maux a s u si bien pour- -

3A

It

W!,

? HI I' , ,I II' j -

-voir. Or main-te - nant a per- du son pou - voir Rom - pant le but de ma scull'
voir.

20

25

es- pi - ran - cc, Setr - vant d'ex -em - ple tous pt - teux a voir. Fi-ni

AE: . , - 'I .I I I

le bico, Ie mal sou-dain corn - men - - ce corn - - -

A2

men

cC

cc.

It is doubtful whether this sophisticated melody could have

been composed in monophonic form by an amateur: it is

articulated in such a way as to be inevitably part of a polyphonic complex; the cadential formulae are typical of the
Claudin-type polyphony, and are rarely found, for example,
in the monophonic pieces of the Bibliothbque Nationale MSS
1s J. Rollin, Les Chansons de ClUment Marot, Paris, 1950, passim.

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DOULCE

MEMOIRE

89

fr. 9346 and 12744.13 Sandrin's melody does not have the tonal

unity of such pieces, nor their repetition of simple phrases.

Moreover the static nature of the melody for the second line
of text depends for its effect on the harmonic changes in the
lower voices, while the broad melismas of the final line
represent the height of artifice.

Nevertheless, this chanson could not have enjoyed such a

lasting vogue without certain lyrical and recognizable features.

Thus Sandrin's initial phrase is clearly of a simple and

memorable nature reminiscent, for example, of the much

emulated tenor of Ockeghem's 'Fors seulement' (Ex. 2a). It

is perhaps also significant that the second sub-phrase of

Sandrin's opening melody (bars 3-6), though modified to

have a strong character suitable for imitation in the lower

voices, recalls the sixteenth-century version of the popular
tune 'Sur le Pont d'Avignon', as used, for instance, in a setting

in Petrucci's Canti C of 1503 (Ex. 2b), or as it recurs in the

melody for Psalm 81 in Symon Cock's Souterliedekens of I540
(Ex. 2c). The resemblance of the whole opening melody to
the psalm-tune we know as the 'Old Hundredth' may not be
entirely fortuitous; for the tune was taken over in Day's
Whole Booke of Psalms (1564) from Psalm 134 of the Genevan
Psalter of 1551."1
Ex. 2

a)

C1

If

".

'

b)

TEXTUAL PARODIES

In Attaingnant's XXVII Chansons of 1538 Sandrin's 'Doulce

memoire' is immediately followed by Pierre Certon's setting
13 Le MS de Bayeux, ed. T. G6rold, Strasbourg, 1921, and Chansons du XVe
sicle, ed. G. Paris and A. Gevaert, Paris, 1875 (reprinted 1935) respectively.

1" Poem by Th6odore de Beze; cf. P. Pidoux, Le Psautier Huguenot, Basle,

1962, i. 120.

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90

DOULCE

MEMOIRE

of 'Fini le bien le mal soubdain commence',15 which also

occurs as a 'r6sponce' in the literary sources printed after
1538. The poetic reply begins with the last line of its model,
and presents exactly the same rhyming words, but in reverse
order, concluding with the opening line of the original:
Fini le bien le mal soubdain commence,
T~smoings en sont noz malheurs qu'on peult voir,
Car tout le bien trouv6 par l'esp6rance,

Le mal nous l'a remis son pouvoir.

O tant d'ennuy, qui a voulu pourvoir

De varier la fermet6 aym6e,
Il auroit bien qui sgauroit son sgavoir
Doulce m6moire en plaisir consomm&e.

Strangely there is little musical resemblance between the two

settings. It is perhaps significant too that Moderne did not
print Certon's piece in the first book of the Parangon des
Chansons, although it is found in his second book which also
appeared in 1538. The absence of the piece in the Chantilly
and Rothschild manuscripts also suggests that the rdsponse

was added later. But the two remain inseparable in most

subsequent musical editions of the chanson."

Sandrin's piece also appears in a number of manuscript

sources, one of the most interesting being the four part-books

at the Ulm Stadtbibliothek," which have a Latin contrafactum

text, although the original music remains essentially unchanged:

Dulcis memoria ./. Et suavis recordatio
Candidi et synceri amici

Falsorum autem fratrum memoria

Vulnerat viscera, Perturbans praecordia ./.

A number of the instrumental versions give the Latin rather

than the French incipit. Three manuscripts in the University
15 Printed in Pierre Certon: Zehn Chansons, ed. Albert Seay (Das Chorwerk,
lxxxii), Wolfenbuittel, 1962, pp. I-3; and Pierre Certon: Chansons publiles
parPierre Attaingnant, Livre I, ed. H. Expert and A. Agnel (Maitres Anciens

de la Musique Frangaise, i-ii), Paris, x966-7, ii. 50-51.

16 RISM 154410 (Susato, Second livre), 154917 (Attaingnant, Premier livre),

I551" (Du Chemin, Premier livre), I56o6-I6443 (Phalese et al., Septiesme
livre); the risponse remains anonymous throughout the numerous revised

editions of the Phalkse volume. 'Doulce m6moire' is printed without

sequel in RISM 1554"2 (Le Roy & Ballard, Premier recueil), and in the

Trattado de Glosas, Libro segundo of Diego Ortiz (15535 in the bibliography

of Howard M. Brown, Instrumental Music Printed before r6oo, Cambridge,

Mass., 1965).
1 Schermer 236, No. 9.

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DOULCE

MEMOIRE

91

Library at Basle also include the Sandrin piece, without

attribution and with hybrid incipits.18 A similar manuscript
collection at Regensburg gives the incipit as 'Dulci memori',

and ascribes the piece to Manchicourt (the composer of a

bicinium version).19

The lasting popularity of the piece is witnessed by the fact

that it is found about a century after its first appearance in
the Shirley Part Books,2" a collection of music for viols in the

hand of William Lawes. The incipit given is 'Dulcis Memoria',

and it is perhaps notable that a few of the minor points of
variance with the Moderne and Attaingnant printings correspond with those of the Ulm manuscript. But there is no consistent pattern of variants in the different sources which might

suggest a definite genealogy.

Like many of the chansons musicales of Claudin and the Paris

School, 'Doulce memoire' is found in some of the many

collections of noels which were printed in the course of the

sixteenth century. Most of these give only the new religiously

orientated texts (generally connected with Christmas or

Easter), and merely suggest a suitable secular tune, though a

few are found with monophonic melodies notated above.

Most of the pieces whose secular originals were single quatrains

or huitains have extra stanzas appended. Thus the second

piece in Jehan Chaperon's Noelz nouveaulx of 1538 begins

'Doulce nouvelle en la terre adnoncee', and tells of the Angel
Gabriel's visit to the Virgin Mary, in six eight-line strophes.
Barthdlemy Aneau's Chant Natal (Lyons, 1539) describes its
second piece as 'Noel en suite de la Royalle chanson, Doulce
mimoire', thus supporting the case for the poem's royal author-

ship. Aneau provides five stanzas, each beginning 'Doulce

mdmoire', and the first remaining very close to the secular

text: the original two lines remain unaltered, and thereafter
by merely changing a word here and there he transforms the
amorous ditty into a hymn of thanksgiving for the advent of

Christ:

Doulce memoire en plaisir consomm6e

O si&cle heureux qui cause tel sgavoir.

Nativit6 de Dieu tant reclam6e

Qui A nos maulx a sceu si bien pourvoir.

18 F IX 59-62, No. 52 (incipit 'Dulce memore'); F X 17-20, No. 54 ('Dulce

memore'); F X 22-24, No. 25 ('Doulce').
19 Cf. W. Brenneke, 'Die HS AR 940/41 der Proske-Bibliothek zu Regensburg', Schriften des Landesinstitutsfiir Musikforschung, Kiel, i (1953), 66.

0o British Museum, Add. MSS 4o657-6i.

4

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92

DOULCE

MEMOIRE

Or maintenant as monstr6 ton pouvoir

Rompant le but d'infernale puissance,
Donnant exemple A tous joyeux A voir
Finy le mal, le bien soudain commence.

The reversal of 'mal' and 'bien' in the last line is explained in

a Latin marginal note-'Post tenebras speranda lux. Job. 17'.
There are also a number of references to 'Doulce memoire'

in French sixteenth-century theatre. The Chant Natal men-

tioned above, which includes a Pastoral, may have been

presented on stage. There is no doubt about the dramatic

intention of the same author's Satyrefranfoyse sur la comparaison

de Paris, Rohan, Lyon, Orlians & sur les choses mimorables depuis

I'an r524 entitled 'Lyon Marchant', performed in the Collbge

de la Trinit6 at Lyons in 1541 and published in the following
year by Pierre de Tours. After the prologue, Arion enters
astride a dolphin, 'sonnant sur un luz ou lyre un chant piteux
et lamentable comme Doulce mimoire ou aultre'.

The description of Sandrin's song as 'sad and melancholy'

contrasts with the attitude of another Protestant poet, Bonaven-

ture des Periers, who suggests the piece for the joyful celebrations of St. Martin's Day (15 May) in 1539.21
Viens soulas Chantons en une
Nous rendre las Fortune

De passetemps et plaisance Doulce mimoire loysir

Sus chantons tous Et voire
Dirons nous Doulce midmoire

Le content ou Jouyssance Avant ou pour ung plaisir

[italics mine]

These two stanzas also survive in a musical setting by the

local musician Coste (or Costa) published at Lyons in 1540,
which, with its short musical quotations, has something of the
character of a fricassee.

The feast was traditionally celebrated at the liberal Abbey

of Notre Dame de l'Isle Barbe on the river Sa6ne a few miles

from Lyons, and Des Periers describes the journey by boat in

a highly musical poem, depicting the sounds of nature as well
as those of the merry company which included the Mantuan
21 'Du Voyage de Lyon A Nostre Dame de l'Isle, 1539', published in Le

Recueil des Oeuvres de feu Bonaventure Despiriers, ed. A. du Moulin, Lyons,

1544 (ed. L. Lacour, Paris, 1856).

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DOULCE

MEMOIRE

93

lutenist Alberto da Ripa, then in service at the French court:

IA Albert

Ouvrier expert

Du Roy en Musique haulteine

Avecques sons
De chansons

Ha sacr6 une Fontaine

Perhaps these songs included his transcription of 'Doulce

memoire', which survives in posthumous editions by Le Roy
and Ballard at Paris and by Phalkse at Louvain.22

Des Periers, described by the poet-musician Eustorg de

Beaulieu as 'excellent musicien et bon luthiste', was employed

as a secretary by Marguerite of Navarre, whose Comidie jouei
au Mont de Marsan le jour de Caresme-prenant 1547" also quotes

the first line of 'Doulce memoire'. In this play the naive

shepherdess replies to the questions of the three intriguing

ladies, La Mondaine, La Sage and La Supersticieuse, with a
series of love songs, the present song being in response to the
enquiry: 'Qui l'entretient en ceste amour ayme ?'
In the anonymous farce Le Badin, la Femme et la Chambridre"
the jester begins by quoting the first line of the song with the

repeat of the second part of the line, as in Sandrin: 'Doulce

memoire en plaisir consommee, En plaisir consommie'. The
whole eight-line stanza is given in the later Comidie de la
Fidelite nuptiale by the Antwerp schoolmaster G6rard de
Vivre.2" In Act II, Scene IV, the seducer, Chares, optimistically awaiting an invitation to the chamber of the virtuous
Palesta, serenades her to the accompaniment of the lute.
MUSICAL PARODIES. I: CHANSONS

The current vogue of competitive setting is reflected in as

many as ten parodies of Sandrin's chanson by different composers. Three of these are in two parts, a texture greatly
favoured in the sixteenth century, probably on account of its
pedagogic purpose and instrumental suitability. The first twovoice version appeared in the fourth book of the Parangon des

Chansons, published at Lyons in 1538 and reprinted there a

year later. Its composer was the Florentine organist Francesco
22 RISM 15622, No. 6, and 157412, No. 15.
a3 Marguerite de .Navarre: Thedtre profane, ed. V. L. Saulnier, Paris, 1946,
P. 304.

, Ancien Thiitre francais, ed. Viollet le Duc, Paris, 1854, i. 271.

's Antwerp, 1577, P. 25.

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94

DOULCE

MEMOIRE

de Layolle (1492-1540), who was resident at Lyons from the

early I520s. Layolle's setting retains Sandrin's superius, but
treats it as a bass part, adding a second voice in free counterpoint; as an exercise in contrapuntal composition it is lacking
in imagination. The added part is underlaid with full text,
but ill fits the words-moreover the wide range and frequent
extended scale passages give it the character of a singing
exercise. It sounds more effective in instrumental perform-

ance.b

Er. 3

I I 1, . ,--I
(F1

This piece was also printed in Rhau's second book of Bicinia

at Wittenberg in i545. The publisher's preface explains the

didactic nature of the pieces and their aptness for instruments.

A second parody by Pierre de Manchicourt, then maitre de

chapelle at Tournai, appears in the same collection. This is a

much more skilful contrapuntal reworking of Sandrin's

melody, which is heard mainly in the top voice, but reflected

in the lower voice (tenor) by means of imitation (Ex. 4a).

The tune is pitched a fourth higher (now transposed Dorian,

which does not affect the original intervallic relations), its
rhythm modified to suit the new style of pervasive imitation,
and the repeat of the first section varied by means of written

ornamentation. Some of Sandrin's phrase endings are altered,

and his static melody at 'Servant d'exemple' (bars 2 1-24) is
replaced by a more melismatic gesture (Ex. 4b).C
Ex. 4

b)

Ser - vant d'cx em - plea toils pi - teux

--

voir

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DOULCE

MEMOIRE

95

Another two-voice version by the French musician Antoine

Gardane, better known for his prolific music printing at

Venice, appeared in Le Roy and Ballard's Chansons a deux

(c. 1555 and 1578) and Phalese's Liber Musicus (1571). The

treatment here was more akin to Layolle's, with Sandrin's

superius retained unaltered as the top voice. Gardane must
have been familiar with 'Doulce m6moire' much earlier, since
his four-voice chanson 'Amour sans fin est le cordier cordant',

the second number in the tenth book of Moderne's Parangon

series (1543), is a reworking of Sandrin's piece: the key is

provided in the fourth and final line of the text-'Doulce
memoyre qui point ne desacorde'-which telescopes the
beginning and end of Sandrin's superius.
The mid-sixteenth-century tricinium also frequently had a
didactic intention." There are two different three-voice

settings, both of which paraphrase Sandrin's superius in a

very free manner. The first, by the Flemish composer Josquin
Baston, appeared in Susato's fifth book of the Fleur de Chansons

series (1552), and was reprinted at Nuremberg in Berg and

Neuber's Tricinia II (i56o). As in the Manchicourt bicinium,

Sandrin's melody is transposed up a fourth; bars 6-9 are

omitted and each melodic motif is treated as a point of

imitation; many of the latter phrases are repeated in stretto,
so that the piece is considerably extended (76 bars as compared to Sandrin's 56). An anonymous version printed in the
second book of Phalkse's Recueil des fleurs (1569) is constructed

in a less 'learned' manner: the parts are not broken up by

rests to highlight imitative entries, but combine in a full har-

mony more akin to the Sandrin model.

An anonymous four-voice paraphrase is found in the third
book of Waelrant and Laet's Jardin Musical (i556). Like the

Manchicourt and Baston examples, Sandrin's melody is

transposed up a fourth; but here it remains close to the model

and figures in the contratenor part, though the superius

frequently joins it in imitative dialogue; the lower voices also

have hints of imitation in the manner of the contemporary
Netherlandish motet. The Antwerp publication is described
as being 'apt for voices or instruments' ('tant propices a la voix

comme aux instrumentz').d

Our last example of the parody chanson is an extended sixpart version (93 bars) by Jacques Buus, published by Gardano
26 Cf. Lawrence F. Bernstein, 'Claude Gervaise as Chanson Composer',
Journal of the American Musicological Society, xviii (1965), 359--8 I; and 'The

Cantus Firmus Chansons of Tylman Susato', ibid., xxii (1969), 197-240.

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96 DOULCE MEMOIRE
at Venice in 1543-." This is the only example which abandons
the original superius, instead paraphrasing Sandrin's tenor in
canon at the octave between tenor and superius, with occasional hints of parody in the other voices. There is, however,
nothing archaic in the sonorous tonally-orientated harmony
and the chromatic inflexions of the melody at the emotional

climaxes.0

MUSICAL PARODIES. II: SACRED

It is surprising to find Sandrin's piece occurring suddenly

(and without acknowledgement) in the last verse of Clemens
non Papa's Magnificat primi toni,28 at the words 'Sicut erat in

principio'. The preceding even verses, set polyphonically,

freely paraphrase the chant" in a consistently imitative style;
then, to conclude, comes the melodically unrelated and
homorhythmic parody (only the mode is the same) which
retains the whole of Sandrin's superius and much of the other
voices, adding an inconsequential second bass part. The same
composer's Magnificat octavi toni uses a different chanson
melody for each verse, but there at least they closely resemble
the Gregorian tone, and the Brussels and Montserrat manuscripts indicate the chanson titles.
The same Brussels manuscript (Conservatoire 27087) in-

cludes a five-voice Mass parody on 'Doulce memoire' by

Cipriano de Rore, which also appeared in print at Venice in

1566." But the most masterly example of the parody principle

in extended form is the four-voice Missa ad imitationem moduli

Doulce mimoire composed by Lassus in 1568 (printed at Paris

in 1577 and 1614, and at Venice in I588).'1 The first Kyrie
opens with an anacrusis d' for superius alone, but then quotes
Sandrin's first five bars almost exactly, extending the rising
rhythmic figure of bars 3-4 sequentially before reverting to
Sandrin's bars 6-9, and then turning back to the chanson's
opening descent to conclude. Lassus's Christe develops Sandrin's

second and third lines (bars 10-17) and again concludes

with the opening descent. The second Kyrie begins with the
27 Cf. Howard Brown, 'The Chanson Spirituelle, Jacques Buus, and Parody
Technique', Journal of the American Musicological Society, xv (1962), I45-73-

28 Jacobus Clemens non Papa: Opera Omnia, ed. K. Ph. Bernet Kempers
(Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, iv), iv (1953), 8-9.
29 Liber Usualis, p. 207.
30 RISM 15661. Cf. Charles van den Borren, Geschiedenis van de muziek in de

NJederlanden, Amsterdam & Antwerp, 1948, i. 273.

31 Orlando di Lasso: Saimtliche Werke, Neue Reihe, iv, ed. Siegfried Hermelink,

Cassel &c., 1964, pp. 3-20.

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DOULCE

MEMOIRE

97

last two lines of Sandrin's music (bars 21-30) but reverts to

the opening descent before developing the final descending
melisma. The two-part Crucifixus and Et iterum and the threepart Benedictus are freely composed.32
INSTRUMENTAL TRANSCRIPTIONS

There are numerous instrumental versions, all of the

melodico-harmonic variation type, using the diminution or
'gloss' technique. Thus not only is Sandrin's melody retained
(with coloration), but so too is the essential harmonic structure
and even the original contrapuntal motion of the lower parts.

Accidentals found in some tablatures but not in others often

give an individual touch of momentary harmonic pungency.

But the main source of differentiation is in the rhythmic
division, the most varied and remarkable being found in the
version of Hernando de Cab'zon.3' f Three more keyboard
versions survive, the first (in old German organ tablature) in
the Cracow manuscript of Jan of Lublin"' dating from the
I540s, the second (in keyboard score) in the Musica de diversi
musici...per sonar d'instromento perfetto printed by Angelo

Gardano at Venice in I577, and the last (in new German

keyboard tablature) in E. N. Ammerbach's Orgel oder Instrument Tabulaturbuch published by Gerlach at Nuremberg in

1583. All but the Venice collection, which erroneously

ascribes the model to 'Rogier' [Pathie], give the title of the

piece as 'Dulce memoriae'.
Eight different lute transcriptions are found in printed
sources3" between I547 and I574 by Pietro Teghi of Mantua,
Hans Newsidler of Nuremberg, Benedict of Drusina, Wolf

Heckel of Munich, Alberto da Ripa of Mantua, Matthiius

Waissel, and two anonymous.g A ninth (anonymous) version

32 For further descriptions see J. Tiersot, La Messe Douce mimoire de Roland

de Lassus (Etudes musicales sur le XVIe sikcle, iv), Paris, 1893; and Henry

Coates and Gerald Abraham in The New Oxford History of Music, iv

(London, 1968), 337-40.

3S Obras de musica para tecla, arpa y vihuela, Madrid, 1578, f. 82; printed in
Antologia de organista clasicos espanoles, ed. F. Pedrell, Madrid, 1908.

4' Facsimile in Tabulatura organowa Jana z Lublina, ed. K. Wilkowska Chominiska (Monumenta Musicae in Polonia, Seria B, vol. i), Warsaw, 1964,
ff. 197"-198; transcribed in Music of the Polish Renaissance, ed. J. M.
Chomixiski and Z. Lissa, Warsaw, I955, pp. 82-83, and in Johannes of
Lublin: Tablature of Keyboard Music, ed. John R. White (Corpus of Early

Keyboard Music, vi), iv (1967), 6o-62. Cf. White, 'The Tablature of

Johannes of Lublin', Musica Disciplina, xvii (1963), 137-62.

3s Listed in Brown, Instrumental Music Printed before I6oo.

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98

DOULCE

MEMOIRE

survives in manuscript at Munich." There are also two versions for cittern by Sebastian Vreedman and Sixt Kargel."7
The last type to be considered are the written-out illustrations of divisions for viols found in three collections. The first,

in Book II of the Trattado de Glosas by Diego Ortiz, published

at Rome in I553,3 quotes Sandrin's four voices with text,

followed by four ricercars for solo viol, the first and third
ornamenting the bass line, the second the superius, and the

fourth adding a fifth voice which oscillates between the

model's bass and tenor. In each case the four-part model

provides a keyboard accompaniment.h

Another version is found in the second book of Dalla Casa's

II Vero modo di diminuir (Venice, 1584), where a viola bastarda

plays in treplicate division (i.e. 24 notes to the semibreve) a

single line taken from Sandrin's four voices; as in the same
publisher's earlier keyboard edition, the model is erroneously
ascribed to Rogier. The last'example is another transcription
for viola bastarda found in Vincenzo Bonizzi's Alcune opere de

diversi autori . .. passaggiate (Venice, 1626). This is arranged in

two-part score, the 'Parte per la Viola' playing quadruplicate

(demisemiquaver) scale passages, ranging widely through

changing clefs from the original bass to its superius, while the

'Parte per il Contralto, o altro Instromento' quotes the

chanson's bass (unfigured).

Like Cab zon's keyboard version, all these divisions illustrate the principle of 'varied reprise', thus disguising the
structural elements, whereas the earlier lute transcriptions use
conventional repeat signs, the formal aspect being stressed by

the fact that the first and last notes are in long rhythmic

values.

' Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Mus. Ms. 2987, f. xov.

37 Brown, op. cit.

3" Ed. Max Schneider, Berlin, 1913. Cf. Improvisation, ed. Ernest T. Ferand

(Anthology of Music, xii), Cologne, 1961, pp. 38-51.

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DOULCE

MEMOIRE

99

The following musical illustrations were heard during the course of the

lecture:

* A tape recording of Sandrin's setting of 'Doulce m6moire', sung by the

Purcell Consort.

b The two-part version by Francesco de Layolle, performed by the Ars Nova

Ensemble, directed by Peter Holman.
C The two-part version by Pierre de Manchicourt, performed by the Ars
Nova Ensemble.

dThe anonymous four-part paraphrase published in Waelrant & Laet's

Jardin Musical (1556), performed by the Ars Nova Ensemble.

e A tape recording of the six-part parody chanson by Buus, sung by the
Purcell Consort.

rA tape recording of the keyboard version by Hernando de Cab6zon,

played on the harpsichord by Kenneth Gilbert.

s The lute versions by Alberto da Ripa and Pietro Teghi, played by James
Tyler.
h The first recercada by Diego Ortiz, performed by the Ars Nova Ensemble.

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APPENDIX

Musical settings of texts attributed to Franqois I published

(in chronological order of publicat

First

line

Composer

Quant chanteras pour ton ennuy passer Ano

De retourner mon amy je te prye** Anon

Du temps me deulx et non de vous m'amye

Maugr6 moy vis et en vivant je meurs Cl

Si la nature en la diversit6 Anon

J'ay le d6sir content et I'effect r6solu Clau

0
o
0

Bien heureuse est la saison et l'ann6e

Nulle oraison ne te debvroit tant plair
Dictes sans peur ou l'ouy ou nenny Cla

Jane

Dessus le marbre de dure rtcompense

Je n'ose estre content de mon contentement

Jane

Las que crains tu amy, de quoy as d6ffianc

Jane

Qu'esse d'amour, comment le peult-on paindre Jan

Si ung oeuvre parfaict doint chacun contenter
Les yeulx bandez de triste congnoissance

Vous qui voulez sgavoir mon nom C

Chose commune A tous n'est agr6able

Prestez m'en/moy l'ung de ses/tes yeulx bien apri

Vill

O doulce/doulx amour, o contente pens6e C

Mo

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Voulant amour soubz baiser/parler gracieux

Arca

Clau

Le d6partir est sans d6partement Clemens non

Ce qui souloit en deux se despartir Sandrin

Doulce mdmoire en plaisir consommde**** Sand

Vous usurpez dames injustement Sandrin

Quant je congneu en ma pensde Sandrin 1

Las qu'on congneust mon vouloir sans le dire Cl

= San
Certo

Janeq

Cr6q

D'ung amy fainct je ne me puys dtffair

Est-il poinct vray ou si je l'ay song6 Mai

Cessez mes yeulx de tant vous tourmente

II est vray que vostre oeil qui pleure Arca

* References are to RISM unless otherwise stated.

** A three-voice parody by [Le] Heuteur was published by Attaingnant in 1535: R.

XVI. und XVIL . ahrhunderts, Berlin, 1877 (reprinted Hildesheim, 1963), 1535b.
listed in Brown, Instrumental Music before i6oo: 15298, 153I1.

*** Also set by Crdquillon in Susato's third book of Chansons [I544]11.

**** The two-voice parody by Layolle was printed by Moderne later-I 53818/1539

Daniel Heartz's study of Pierre Attaingnant (University of California Press, Berkeley and

paper was delivered, provides much invaluable information on Frangois I as a patron

references to many of the printed sources mentioned above.

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