Guillaume Dufay: Missa l'Homme Armé Agnus Dei

L'Homme Arme was a monophonic melody with political and satirical strains. Dufay made one of the first versions of it in a polyphonic setting in his Missa L’Homme Arme. The beginning of the cycle is designed so that, in the absence of instrumental accompaniment, the cantus firmus is virtually indistinguishable until near the end of the Gloria. The tenor sings the cantus firmus, overlapped by the bass line and other voices that conceal the melody of L'Homme Arme. If this were played by instrumentalists, rather than vocalists, the tone quality of the varying instruments would serve to open up all the parts to the ear, thus illuminating the cantus firmus as well. This hidden quality of Missa L’Homme Arme suggests the playfulness of Dufay with his compositions.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Flemish
• polyphony

[abracadaverous]

Listen very carefully to the cantus firmus from 4:46 through 7:02. The tenors are singing L'Homme Arme backwards! How cool is that? One of the many reasons that Dufay is one of my favorite composers of all time.

[abracadaverous]

@DerangedRanger1 I discovered this by singing the piece. I've never read about it in a textbook or seen it referred to anywhere else. My interest is purely as a singer. I just thought I'd point it out in case anyone else who hadn't sung the cantus firmus or read your textbooks might also find it interesting. Clearly someone else DID listen, heard it clearly, and indeed found it interesting.

But hey, thanks for the snarky, pompous response! Have a lovely day.

[bradbrown0766]

I do not understand one word of this....and I dont need to, to enjoy it. Music like this can only truly be taken in by closing the eyes, and opening the ears. Listening is not enough but actually hearing it is so beautiful. I learned of this composer from my humanities class, but from the age of 12 (Im now 22) I have listened to spanish and italian opera...neither one of those languages do I speak either. Music of this vintage is the finest history has to offer.

[ChampAmp69]

@legomazzytay oh good, cause this isn't considered classical :D

[ccraibleclark]

@DerangedRanger1 The whole point was that you wouldn't be able to hear it! It wouldn't be so subtilior if you could. (yes yes I know that Dufay was not of the subtilior--just a stupid joke)

[legomazzytay]

classical music sucks im just ere for a project lol

[BesACB]

What a stunning piece! Does anyone else feel that whenever the Homme Armee theme shines through very clearly, the music gets wrenchingly emotionally charged?

[luigiperso]

@dvora072096 ,you are welcome ;) I always wanted to get a Master's degree but I am basically self-taught. I have always been very fascinated by the knowledge and skill of these legendary musicians from the past ;)

[abracadaverous]

@luigiperso Thank you! I'm trying to learn about this on my own as much as I can. It's much easier to research something when you know what it's called.

[abracadaverous]

@DerangedRanger1 How on earth did you think I was giving you the impression that I am some imperious musical genius who just heard it? I did indeed have the musical score in front of me, and I was indeed singing the tenor line. I noticed because the "doibt on doubter" phrase combined with the preceding note forms a palindromic perfect fifth which sounds the same going forwards and backwards and looks bright yellow to me. Once I noticed that, all I had to do was trace the line back.

[dvora072096]

@luigiperso RETROGRADE!!! That's the word I was trying to remember!! Holy cow, you earn that Master's degree with all the accolades, bells and whistles, but what good is it when your brain's been fried by chemo?? LOL Thanks for the pro memoria, Luigi! Grazie infinite!