For information on the 11th-century codex Montpellier H159, see Antiphonary of St. Benigne, Dijon

Antiphonary of St. Benigne, Dijon

The Antiphonary of St. Benigne is an 11th century musical manuscript in a codex that records antiphonal responses of Gregorian chant, one of the earliest surviving pieces of written music...

The Montpellier Codex (Montpellier, Bibliothèque Inter-Universitaire, Section Médecine, H196) is an important source of 13th century French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 polyphony

Polyphony

In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....

. The codex contains 336 polyphonic works probably composed ca. 1250-1300, and was likely compiled ca. 1300. It is believed to originate from Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

Format and Contents

The Montpellier Codex can be roughly divided into 8 fascicles, each of which contain discrete genres of music. The format of the codex is as follows:

• 1. Liturgical
  Liturgy
  Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
  
   polyphony
• 2. Latin triple motets, consisting of a cantus firmus
  Cantus firmus
  In music, a cantus firmus is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.The plural of this Latin term is , though the corrupt form canti firmi is also attested...
  
   with three contrapuntal
  Counterpoint
  In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
  
   lines above it
• 3. Macaronic
  Macaronic language
  Macaronic refers to text spoken or written using a mixture of languages, sometimes including bilingual puns, particularly when the languages are used in the same context . The term is also sometimes used to denote hybrid words, which are in effect internally macaronic...
  
   double motets, consisting of a cantus firmus with two contrapuntal lines above it
• 4. Latin double motets
• 5. French double motets
• 6. French two-voice motets
• 7 & 8. Three-voice motets, possibly compiled later than fascicles 2-6

There are also supplements added to fascicles 3, 5, and 7. Because of the different systems of notation

Musical notation

Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...

 used in fascicles 2-6 and fascicles 7-8, the Montpellier Codex has become a crucial source for the chronology of styles of French medieval polyphony.

The Music

The Montpellier Codex is a critical source for what are known as "Pre-Franconian" and "Franconian" motets, after Franco of Cologne

Franco of Cologne

Franco of Cologne was a German music theorist and possibly composer. He was one of the most influential theorists of the late Medieval era, and was the first to propose an idea which was to transform musical notation permanently: that the duration of any note should be determined by its...

. While the music in the codex is anonymous, a number of attributions can be made, either because of concordances in other manuscripts or on the basis of stylistic similarity, to Pérotin

Pérotin

Pérotin , also called Perotin the Great, was a European composer, believed to be French, who lived around the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th century. He was the most famous member of the Notre Dame school of polyphony and the ars antiqua style...

 (from fascicle 1), Petrus de Cruce

Petrus de Cruce

Petrus de Cruce was active as a cleric, composer and theorist in the late part of the 13th century. His main contribution was to the notational system.-Life:...

, Adam de la Halle

Adam de la Halle

Adam de la Halle, also known as Adam le Bossu was a French-born trouvère, poet and musician, whose literary and musical works include chansons and jeux-partis in the style of the trouveres, polyphonic rondel and motets in the style of early liturgical polyphony, and a musical play, "The Play of...

, Guillaume d'Auvergne, and Philippe le Chancelier. Many of the cantus firmi are taken from the chants of Notre Dame. While fascicle 1 consists of sacred polyphony, mostly from the Notre Dame school

Notre Dame school

The group of composers working at or near the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250, along with the music they produced, is referred to as the Notre Dame school, or the Notre Dame School of Polyphony....

, the largest body of music in the codex is the collection of French courtly love

Courtly love

Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife....

 motets. The motets in the collection are not isorhythm

Isorhythm

Isorhythm is a musical technique that arranges a fixed pattern of pitches with a repeating rhythmic pattern.-Detail:...

ic, as the first isorhythmic motets—those of Philippe de Vitry

Philippe de Vitry

Philippe de Vitry was a French composer, music theorist and poet. He was an accomplished, innovative, and influential composer, and may also have been the author of the Ars Nova treatise...

—would not be composed until the first decades of the 14th century.