thoughts on senfl’s missa lhomme arme
there’s a lot of neat anticipatory entrances with voices not carrying the cantus firmus. i think the main melody the soprano carries moves up in some sort of fashion throughout the mass ... possibly systematically by step? the tenor cantus firmus is frequently written in patterns that don’t align to the predominant meter or whatever ... despite being written with the same mensuration symbol as the other voices. the tenor only ever carries the cantus firmus and never any other material until the agnus dei where the soprano and tenor trade roles and music.
a lot of more traditional, more typical conventions of earlier masses, especially lhomme masses, are completely absent in this mass setting- like, there are no complex canons, no extended passages for reduced forces, no augmented forces at the end, ... no reworking of the cantus firmus etc.
que interesante.
i haven’t looked too deeply into senfl and where he was in history; i know he used techniques considered more archaic by his time. i think he also had a penchant for complex canons which is totally absent here. he also loved cantus firmus technique, which shows itself here.
