763778

Medieval Dances: Matching the Repertory with Grocheio's Descriptions
Author(s): Timothy J. McGee

Source: The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Autumn, 1989), pp. 498-517
Published by: University of California Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/763778
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Medieval Dances: Matching

the Repertory With
Grocheio's Descriptions*
TIMOTHY
498
J. McGEE
t has been noted by many scholars that the extant
medieval dance repertory and Johannes de Grocheio's descriptions of

dance music do not completely match.l On the one hand it would
appear that we have music for which there is no written description,
while at the same time no music survives to fit some of the dances
described in the treatise. Where we have both music and descriptions
for the same dance, the two do not always correspond. Further, Grocheio's descriptions seem to disagree with contemporary literary treatises and accounts.
Johannes de Grocheio's De musica(ca. 1300) is the single surviving
medieval theoretical treatise to deal with the subject of secular music
in any detail.2 Within the section on "musica vulgaris" he discusses
Volume VII * Number 4 * Fall 1989
The Journal of Musicology ? 1989 by the Regents of the University of California
* This
paper was read in a somewhat different format at the
XIX Annual Medieval Conference, University of Western
Michigan, May, 1984.
1For studies of the treatise of Johannes de Grocheio and medieval dance see:
Pierre Aubry, Estampieset dansesroyales(Paris, 1907); Friedrich Gennrich, Grundrisseiner
Formenlehredes mittelalterlichenLiedes(Halle, 1926); Jacques Handschin, "Uber Estampie
und Sequenz I and II," ZeitschriftfiirMusikwissenschaftXII and XIII (1929, 1930), 1-20,
13-132; Lloyd Hibberd, "Estampie and Stantipes," Speculum XIX (1944), 222-249;
Ewald Jammers, "Studien zur Tanzmusik des Mittelalters," Archivfiir Musikwissenschaft
XXX (1973), 81-95; Hans Moser, "Stantipes und Ductia," Zeitschriftfir Musikwissenschaft II (1919/20), 194-206; Gilbert Reaney, "Johannes de Grocheo," in MGG VII
(1958), 95-0oo; Curt Sachs, WorldHistory of the Dance (New York, 1937); Doris Stockmann, "Musica vulgaris bei Johannes de Grocheio (Grocheo)," Beitrige zur Musikwissenschaft Heft 1 (1983), 3-56; Helene Wagenaar-Nolthenius, "Estampie/ Stantipes/
Stampita," L'Ars Nova Italiana del Trecento(Certaldo, 1968), 399-409; Johannes Wolf,
"Die Tanze des Mittelalters," Archivfir MusikwissenschaftI (1918/19), 10-42.
Ernst Rohloff, Die Quellenhandschriftenzum Musiktraktatdes Johannes de Grocheio
(Leipzig, 1972). English transl. Albert Seay, Johannes De GrocheoConcerningMusic (Colorado Springs, 1973).
MEDIEVAL
DANCES
vocal dances named round (rotundello, rotunda, rotundellus), estampie (stantipes), and ductia, and instrumental dances: ductia, estampie (stantipes) and nota.3 Of these, only his descriptions of the
round and instrumental estampie have been thought to have exact
musical exemplars. But it is the thesis of this essay that by looking
more closely at the surviving repertory and reading Grocheio's treatise as a practical guide, an extant musical repertory can be found to
correspond to all of his descriptions.
Vocal Dances
Grocheio states that the three vocal dances,
(round, estampie, and ductia), have one characteristic in common:
they all begin and end with a refrain, although the refrain is used
differently in the round than in the other two forms. In the round the
refrains "agree in sound and rhyme":
Responsoriovero est, quo omnis cantilenaincipit et terminatur.Addimenta vero differunt in rotundello, ductia et stantipede.In rotundello vero consonant et concordantin dictaminecum responsorio.4
That is, in the round all musical phrases have the same ending and all
text lines rhyme with one another. In the estampie and ductia, however, "certain refrains agree and others do not." "In ductia vero et
stantipede differunt quaedam, et alia consonant et concordant."5 I
interpret this to mean that estampies and ductias have open and close
endings which differ from one another.
Grocheio makes an additional distinction between round and the
other two forms in that for rounds there is only a single melody for
verse and refrain, whereas for ductias and estampies the melodies of
the refrain and verses are different from one another. In forming his
definition of the round Grocheio excludes the canon because it does
not have a refrain, although he admits that some people would call
that form a round:
Cantilenavero quaelibetrotunda vel rotundellus a pluribusdicitur,
eo quod ad modum circuliin se ipsam reflectituret incipit et terminatur in eodem. Nos autem solum illam rotundam vel rotundellum
3 The
identity of "stantipes" as "estampie" is discussed in Hibberd, "Estampie and
Stantipes," p. 232; and Wagenaar-Nolthenius, "Estampie/ Stantipes/ Stampita," pp.
339-409?
4 Rohloff,
p. 134. Translations of Grocheio follow Seay with some alterations by
this author.
5 Rohloff, p. 134.
499
THE
JOURNAL
OF
MUSICOLOGY
dicimus, cuius partes non habent diversum cantum a cantu responsorii vel refractus. Et longo tractu cantatur . . .6
The round is so called by many people because it turns back upon
itself in the manner of a circle and it begins and ends in the same
way. We, however, call round only those songs whose parts do not
have a different melody from the melody of their response or refrain. And it is sung in a slow rhythm.
500
The forms he describes as rounds would seem to be the ancestors

of the fourteenth century formes fixes. In the thirteenth century these
forms were somewhat more flexible than those of the later centuries,
but they had two common features: the refrain was repeated after
every verse, and the melody of the refrain was also used for at least
part of the verse.7 Surviving repertory fitting Grocheio's description
of round dance can be found in the thirteenth-century
secular repertory, especially the earliest forms of the ballade, rondeau and virelai. Example i, a Latin rondeau from the final fascicle of the Florence
MS,8 satisfies Grocheio's description and illustrates the requirement
that there be a refrain, but that the melody for the refrain also be the
same as the melody of the verse. In this example the melody of the
refrain that is also used for part of the verse is in italics.
Grocheio describes the vocal estampie (stantipes) as having several
verses, with separate text and melody for verse and refrain, and that
it is difficult to dance. He also states that the number of verses in the
estampie and ductia is not fixed but can be augmented according to
the will of the composer (a point that will be important in the discussion of the instrumental forms of the same name).
Cantilena, quae dicitur stantipes, est illa, in qua est diversitas in
partibus et refractu tamin consonantia dictaminis quam in cantu....
Haec autem facit animos iuvenum et puellarum propter sui difficultatem circa hanc stare.... Numeros vero versuum in tali cantu non
6
7
Rohloff, p. 132.
For examplesof the early secularforms see FriedrichGennrich,Dermusikalische

Nachlassder Troubadours
(Darmstadt, 1957-67). Discussion also in Gilbert Reaney,
"Concerningthe Originsof the Rondeau,Virelaiand BalladeForms,"Musicadisciplina
VI (1952), 155-66; Howard M. Brown, "Chanson"TheNew GroveDictionary
of Music
and Musicians(London, 1980), IV, 135-42; Hans Spanke, Beziehungen
zwischenromanischenundmittellateinischen
Lyrik(Berlin, 1936).
8 Florence,BibliotecaMediceo-Laurenziana
MS Pluteo 29. i, trans.in GordonA.
LatinRepertoire,
Notre-Dame
andRelatedConducAnderson, ed., 1 pt LatinConductus-The
tus,Opera omnia, Vol. 8, (Henryville,Ottawa,Binningen, n.d.); and Yvonne Rokseth,
"Dansesclericalesdu XIIIe siecle,"in Melanges1945 des Publications
de la Facultedes
Lettresde Strasbourg
(Paris, 1947), 93-126.
MEDIEVAL
DANCES
1. "De Patre principio," Florence, Bibl. Med. Laur. Pluteo
EXAMPLE
29.1, f. 463r.
De
Pa- tre
us prin-
I
F
pre-
pi-
II
di- cat
ci-
ec-
De Patre principio
Gaudeamuseya
Filius principium
Cum gloria
Novum pascha predicat ecclesia
II
Patris ex palacio
Gaudeamus
Matris in palacium
Cum gloria
Novum
III
Pro mortis exilio
Gaudeamus
Venit in exilium
Cum gloria
Novum
um: Cum
pi-
cle-
Gau- de-
o,
i
.rJ J |J
JlIJ
li-
ci-
prin-
J Jl
Fi-
gm
de ra
PI tre Jn- J- pi- ro,u
I
si-
glo-
a-
Je-I
e-
mus
I; I
ri-
a,
y- a
No- vum pascha
*PI I 1II
a.
From the Father in the beginning

Let us rejoice, eya
The Son was the beginning
With glory
The Church proclaims a new Passover.
From the Father's palace
Into the mother's chamber
For the exile of death

He comes into exile
[4 more verses]
transl. from G. A. Anderson, op. cit., II.
est determinatus, sed in aliquibus plus, in aliquibus minus secundum

copiam materiae et voluntatem compositoris ampliatur.9
Stantipes is a song in which there is a diversity in its parts and its
refrain, not only the rhyme of the words, but also the melody....
This type causes the souls of young men and girls to concentrate
The number of verses in such a cantus
because of its difficulty....
has not been set, but is laid out in some as more, in others less,
according to the amount of the material and the will of the composer.
9 Rohloff, pp. 132, 134.
501
THE JOURNAL
502
OF MUSICOLOGY
Additional information about the estampie form is found in two

poetry treatises from approximately the same time as Grocheio's De
musica. The anonymous Doctrina de compondredictatz (ca. 1300) states
that the estampie should have "four coblas, a refrain and one or two
envoys10 set to a new melody".1l The Leysd'amors,compiled by Guillaume Molinier during the first half of the fourteenth century, acknowledges the existence of a musical form by the same name as the
poetic estampie and goes on to state "but sometimes [estampie] refers
not only to the music but also to the text, which is based on love and
homage.... Such minor forms may have an envoy or not, or one may,
in place of an envoy, repeat the opening or closing coblas."12
There would seem to be a conflict between Grocheio's statement
that the form can have any number of verses (versuum)and the Doctrina's requirement that an estampie have four coblas. Further, although twenty-six texts have been identified as estampies, initially
none would appear to conform to the requirements given in all three
of the theoretical descriptions. 3 The problem with the texts, as
pointed out by Lloyd Hibberd, is that not one poem seems to have the
required refrain.'4 It is difficult to believe that contemporary theorists
would disagree over basic facts, and that there would be such serious
discrepancies between the theorists' descriptions and all of the surviving repertory. A more probable answer to both problems may lie in
the translation of the word "coblas," a word that has two related but
10 An envoy is a statement of dedication. It is usually no more than half the length
of a stanza and appears at the end of the poem. The envoy in "Kalenda Maya,"
Example 2, for example, has been incorporated into the last stanza.
.. "Si vols far estampida, potz parlar de qualque fayt vulles, blasman o lauzan o
merceyan, quit vullus; e deu haver quatre cobles e responedor, e una o dues tornades,
e so novell." Quoted in Hibberd, "Estampie and Stantipes," p. 224, n. 3. Translation
follows Hibberd.
12 "Et
alqunas vetz ha respieg no tant solamen al so ans o ha al dictat, quom fa
damors o de lauzors a la maniera de vers o de chanso. Et adonx segon nostra sciensa pot
haver loc. Aytals dictatz no principals podon haver tornada o no e pot hom en loc de
tornada repetir la una cobla del comensamen o de la fi." Translation and original from
Hibberd, "Estampie and Stantipes," p. 224.
13 The extant
examples are: "Kalenda Maya" from Paris, BN fonds francais
22543, fol. 62; "Souvent souspire" from Paris, BN, MS fr. 845, fol. 159, MS fr. 847, fol.
136, MS nouv. acq. fr. 1050 (MS Clairambault) fol. 208, Bibl. Arsenal 5198, fol. 332;
nineteen texts in Oxford, Bodleian Lib. Douce 308, fols. 179r-186, transcribed in
Walter 0. Streng-Renkonen, ed., Les estampiesfranfaises (Paris, 1930); one by Rostanh
de Berenguier and four by Cerveri de Girona, transcribed in A. Pillet and H. Carstens,
Bibliographieder Troubadours,Halle, 1933, 427:3, 434a: 19, 50, 59, 69; four estampies by
Cerveri and an additional text called "Desiranca," that may also be an estampie, in
Martin de Riquer, ed., ObrasCompletasdel TrovadorCerveride Girona (Barcelona, 1947),
64-81.
14 Hibberd, "Estampie and Stantipes," p. 224-27. He deals with "Kalenda Maya"
and the nineteen texts from the Oxford manuscript, but the other five have the same
problem. Only three of the texts have separate envoys, but for the others that requirement can be met by substitution, as allowed by the Leysd'amors.
MEDIEVAL
DANCES
separate meanings. i) It refers to an entire stanza, and in this connection has a wider use as a part of the description of some poetic
forms; coblasdoblas,for example, refers to a poem in which the stanzas
are rhymed in pairs. 2) It refers to paired lines, as in the use of the
word "couplet" today. 5
In its first meaning, coblas is synonymous with verse, and it is in
this sense that it is used in the Leysd'amors.But in the Doctrinait is used
in its second sense. There it refers to the make-up of each stanza or
verse: that an estampie verse must have four paired lines and a refrain. Interpreted in this manner, the descriptions of estampie in
Grocheio and the Doctrina complement rather than contradict one
another. The Doctrina describes the poetic form of each verse, and
Grocheio states that there is no specific number of verses in an
estampie-a fact borne out by all of the surviving texts which have
from three to five verses each.
Both Grocheio and the Doctrina state that there must be a
refrain-a text couplet that returns at the end of each verse-and that
it must have a new melody. Since not one existing estampie text identifies a separate set of lines as "refrain," I would suggest that there
must have been a convention for selecting certain lines of each estampie to serve in that capacity. This suggestion is obviously speculative, but it is lent some support by the musical and poetic structure
of Kalenda Maya, Example 2, one of the two estampie texts for which
music survives.16
Each verse of "Kalenda Maya" is composed of fourteen irregularlength lines that can be separated into the requisite four couplets as
follows:
couplets
1
2
3
4
Poetic lines
no. of syllables
~1,,2
5+5
3
4, 5
6
7
8
9-11
9
13
12-14
13
5+5
9
9
15
M. Raynouard, LexiqueRoman ou Dictionnairede la langue des Troubadours(Paris

1836-45, reprint Heidelberg, n.d.) Vol. 1, 422. Also see "Coblas" in The New GroveIV,
508.
16 The other is "Souvent
souspire" which has a form and melody closely related
to "Kalenda Maya." There has been some controversy as to which is the original; see
Heinrich Husmann, "Kalenda Maya," Archivfiir MusikwissenschaftX (1953), 275-79;
Hendrik van der Werf, "estampie," The New Grove VI, 257; and Gwynn S. McPeek,
"Kalenda Maia: a Study in Form," Medieval Studies in honor of RobertWhiteLinker, (n.p.
Editorial Castalia, 1973), 141-54.
503
THE
OF
JOURNAL
2. "Kalenda Maya," Paris, BN, fonds frany. 22543, f. 62r.
EXAMPLE
len- da
Ka-
gla-
non
ya,
Lr
qu'un y-
fuelhs de faya,
r r
es que'm pla-
r r
pros
ya,
-tra-
a-
r
ja-
zer
pla-
I- - I
ya, e'm tra-
ya,
del
ya,
r
.- r J rIi-I
chaya,
de
'
pla-
ya,
novelh qu'a-mors m'a-
r r7
vos, domna
ans que'm n'e-
tra-
ya,
i
ya,
Ir
rrrr'~~~~~J
los
tro
vostre belh cors, que'm re-
ra-
Til r Jr
'1 ge-
ve-
f >r i
r r
15
1r
vas
ni flors de
domna guaya
ya,
rt
ij
snelh mes- sa- tgier
ni chanz d'auzelh
10
504
ni
maya,
9E
'
MUSICOLOGY
stra-
ya.
Kalenda maya
ni fuelhs de faya
ni chanz d'auzelh ni flors de glaya
non es que'm playa,
pros domna guaya,
tro qu'un ysnelh messatgier aya
del vostre belh cors, que'm retraya
plazer novelh qu'amors m'atraya,
e jaya
e'm traya
vas vos, domna veraya;
e chaya
de playa
'1 gelos, ans que'm n'estraya.
May Day! Neither the beech

tree's leaves, nor the
bird's song, nor the flower
of the swordlily, are what
please me, my most gay
lady; until a swift
messenger comes from you
(lit. from your lovely
body) who'll tell me some
good news, for love and joy
excite me and draw me
toward you, lady, and may
the jealous one fall down
wounded before I leave you.
[e jaya
e'm traya
vas vos, domna veraya;
e chaya
de playa
'1 gelos, ans que'm n'estraya.]
[for love and joy excite me

and draw me toward you,
lady, and may the jealous
one fall down wounded
before I leave you.]
[:j
MEDIEVAL
DANCES
EXAMPLE 2. continued
II
Ma belh'amia,
per Dieu no sia
que ia'l gelos de mon dan ria;
que car vendria
sa gelozia,
si aitals dos amans partia;
qu'ieu ia ioyos mais no seria,
ni ioys ses vos pro no'm tenria;
tal via
faria,
qu'om ia mais no'm veiria;
selh dia
morria,
donna pros, qu'ie'us perdria.
[e jaya
e'm traya ...]
My lovely friend, by God,

let that jealous one not
laugh at my pain! His
jealousy is dearly sold if
it parts two such lovers.
I would never be happy
again without your favour,
I'd travel that no one
would see me ever. That
day I die, lady, when I
lose you.
[for love and joy ...]
[3 more verses]
transl. by David N. Klausner
The musical setting is in three double versicles: bars 1-4 and 5-8;
and 1 1- 1 2; 13-15 and 16- 18. The melody of the third versicle
o
9(bars 13-18), is in strong contrast to the other two, and therefore is
musically well-suited to act as a refrain. The text for this section, "e
jaya e'm traya," etc., is also of a sufficient summary nature to logically
permit its repetition after each verse. My suggestion, therefore, is that
at the end of every succeeding verse the melody of bars 13-18 along
with the corresponding
text from verse i, lines 9-14, would have
been repeated as a refrain. The manuscript is not marked to indicate
a repeat of the last versicle nor is any other text so marked, but the
clear requirement of a refrain in both Grocheio and the Doctrina (and
the presence of refrains in all surviving instrumental
estampies)
strongly suggests that a refrain was a standard part of the vocal estampie form.
The format seen in Example 2 is not the only type of text and
musical setting for a vocal estampie. Analysis of the other twenty-four
estampie texts indicate that there must have been at least two different types of musical settings. In "Kalenda Maya" and eight others the
numbers of lines and syllables is the same in each stanza, allowing for
a single musical setting to serve for all stanzas.l7 The other seventeen
texts, however, have a varying number of lines per stanza and variation in the lengths of the lines, which would require a separate musical
'7 Numbers 1 and 6 in the Streng-Renkonen edition, "Souvent souspire," and all
five texts by Cerveri de Girona.
505
THE JOURNAL
OF MUSICOLOGY
setting (or adaptation) for each stanza.l8 Both formats, however, obey
the requirements of Grocheio and the poetry treatises. In addition,
they have in common the fact that within each stanza the couplets are
of different lengths. This requires musical phrases of varying lengths,
an important element in Grocheio's description of the estampie-form.
The vocal ductia in Grocheio's description is a lively song, sung in
a carol by young people:
Ductia vero est cantilenalevis et velox in ascensu et descensu, quae
in choreis a iuvenibus et puellis decantatur ....l9
Ductiais a light dance song, rapid in its ascent and descent, which is
sung in carol (choreis)by young men and girls.20
506
This is far from detailed, but when read with the preceding descriptions of round and estampie, a more definite picture of the ductia
emerges. Grocheio has separated dance songs into two formal categories: those that have the same melody for verse and refrain, and
those in which they are different. Dance songs with integrated melodies he calls "round," leaving the category of separate melodies to
describe both estampie and ductia. The ductia, therefore, is a lively
dance, usually performed by young people, with separate refrain and
verse melodies, open and close versicles, but in some way different
from the estampie. Only one popular dance form in the Middle Ages
seems to answer that description: the carol.
And indeed Grocheio does tell us in a rather convoluted way that
the ductia is sung "in choreis,"that is, in a carol.21 His reason for using
the word "ductia" for its title rather than "chorea" (since he had
chosen to invent Latin terms for secular forms) would have been to
i8
It has been noted that texts answering this description have a form similar to
the lai or descort, which in turn is related to the sequence; for discussion see Gennrich
Grundriss,and Handschin, "Uber Estampie."
'9 Rohloff, p. 132.
20 The word "choreis" means "ring dance" or "carol," as well as "chorus," the
translation usually chosen.
21
Christopher Page, Voicesand Instrumentsof the Middle Ages (London and Melbourne, 1987), pp. 82-83, has recently arrived at the same conclusion by means of a
different approach. For discussion of the "carol" form and its identification as the
source of the rondeau, see Alfred Jeanroy, in Petit de Julleville, Histoire de la langue et
de la litteraturefrancaise (Paris, 1896), Vol. I; and Jeanroy, Les originesde la poesiefranfais
lyrique en France (Paris, 3rd ed., 1925). But see doubts about his theory in Reaney,
"Concerning the Origins," pp. 156-57. Further on "carol" and "carole" see J. Stevens,
et al., "Carol" panel discussion in International Musicological Society CongressReport X
(Ljubljana, 1967, pub. 1970), 284-309; and "Carol" in The New GroveIII, 802-15. The
relationship of chorus to the method of performing a carol is suggested in Andrew
Hughes, "Mensural Polyphony for Choir in 15th-Century England," Journal of the
AmericanMusicologicalSocietyXIX (1966), 152-69.
MEDIEVAL
DANCES
avoid confusion caused by the various meanings of that word, including its references to the formation for dancing the round. "In the
round" was certainly one aspect of the carol, but as can be seen in the
following descriptions, carol dancers also used other formations.
And fayre tressed euery tresse,
Had Myrthe done, for his noblesse,
Amydde the carole for to daunce,
But herof lyeth no remembraunce,
Howe that they daunsed queyntly:
That one wolde come al priuely
Agayne that other; and when they were
Togyther almoste, they threwe yfere
Her mouthes so, that through her play
It seemed as they kyste always;22
"Such a carol had never been seen, nearly a quarter league
long"23
If the various formations were chosen at the whim of the leader,
the carol would be correctly described as a "leaders dance." That
would especially differentiate it from a round dance where there
would be no need for a leader. The word ductia, from the Latin word
"duco," apparently identifies the most distinctive aspect of the dance
itself, rather than its musical form. Perhaps, therefore, the dancers in
the often reproduced mural, "The Effects of Good Government," by
Ambrogio Lorenzetti from 1337-1339 in the Palazzo Pubblico of
Siena, are illustrating a carol with their formations of both a circle and
"under-the-bridge. "24
In support of the above theory is the form of the extant carols.
The earliest surviving repertory of carols with music is from fifteenthcentury England,25 seemingly too late for inclusion in this discussion.
On the other hand, there appears to be little change in the form of the
texts between the thirteenth and fifteenth century, and so we can
suspect that the form of the music found in the fifteenth-century
carols would be similar to that used for the earlier texts.26 They all
22
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Romaunt of the Rose and Le Roman de la Rose, ed. Ronald
Sutherland (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1968), lines 799-808.
23
"Tel carole ne fu pas veue Pres d'une quart dure d'une lieue." Phelipe de Remi,
from "La Manekine," cited in Sachs, WorldHistory, p. 271.
24 A recent
reproduction of the fresco accompanies the article by Howard Mayer
Brown, "Fantasia on a Theme by Boccaccio," Early Music V (1977), 324-39.
25 The entire
repertory is edited and discussed by John Stevens in Medieval Carols,
Musica Britannica, Vol. 4, (second revised ed., London, 1958). Also see "Carol," The
New Grove III, 802-04.
26
Richard L. Greene, The Early English Carols (Oxford, 1935); Peter Dronke, The
Medieval Lyric (London, 1968).
507
THE JOURNAL
OF MUSICOLOGY
have several verses, each one of several couplets, and a refrain (sometimes called a "burden") sung at the end of each verse.27 This would
agree with what Grocheio seems to be implying about a difference
between carol and estampie concerning the number of musical
phrases used in setting the couplets. In an estampie the couplets are
set to at least two musical versicles preceding the refrain, and as can
be seen in the majority of the surviving estampie texts, the music of
each versicle would have to be somewhat different at least in length,
thus the "diversity in its parts and its refrain." For the carol, however,
there is only a single musical versicle always the same length, thus
making a simpler form. The differences in the musical forms of vocal
estampie and carol can be expressed as:
Vs 1
Estampie
A
B B'
refrain
A'
Carol
A A'
refrain
Vs 2
C C'
D D'
refrain
A A'
refrain
Vs 3
E E'
F F'
refrain
A A'
refrain
508
etc.
In choosing to describe the carol as a "leaders dance," I suspect
Grocheio has been entirely consistent; the other two vocal dances also
seem to be named for an aspect of dancing. We have already seen that
he rejected calling the canon a round, although he admitted that some
people would see that by musical form it merited that name. Grocheio, however, was apparently not describing all-inclusive musical
forms but only the music for dance songs. We can assume that canons
were not dance songs, and so he used the term round only for those
songs with refrains that were danced in the round. In fact, the musical
forms he wishes to call "round" actually had a number of names,
including those of the formesfixes mentioned above, but he refers to
them only by the name of their dance formation. The most distinctive
aspect of Grocheio's "round" was that it was danced entirely "in the
round." The name "estampie" (or "Stantipes") would consequently
27 For discussionof the
performanceof a carol see J. Stevens et al. in IMSCRX,
1970; and Andrew Hughes, "MensuralPolyphony."
MEDIEVAL
tell us something about the steps of that dance-that

pedes" = standing/stationary
motion-"stante
DANCES
there was little
feet28-but
with move-
ments irregular and more complicated, as Grocheio seems to imply,

and perhaps for that reason more suitable for all ages than was the
energetic
carol.29
Instrumental Dances
Grocheio mentions only three forms of instrumental dances (ductia, estampie, and nota) and states that all of them have
double versicles. Beyond that, his descriptions of the three forms is
anything but clear, a point noted by the many scholars who have
previously attempted to understand his statements. The instrumental
ductia is distinguished only in that it features "regular percussion":
Ductia sonus illitteratus,cum decenti percussione mensuratus....
Sed cum recta percussione,eo quod ictus eam mensurantet motum
facientis et excitant animum hominis ad ornate movendum secundum artem, quam ballarevocant, et eius motum mensurantin ductiis et choreis.30
509
Ductia is an untexted piece measured with appropriatepercussion.

... But I say with regular percussion because these beats measure it
and the movement of the performer, and excite the soul of man to
moving ornately according to that art they call dancing, and they
[the percussivemeasure]measureits movementsin ductiaand carol.
The instrumental estampie is described as "complicated," which
would seem to associate it closely with the "difficult" vocal estampie,
and without the regular percussion found in ductias:
28
Moser, "Stantipes und Ductia," also translates "stantipes" in this way, as does
Sachs, World History. But Hibberd, "Estampie and Stantipes," associates it with the
French and Provencal verb "estampir," meaning "to resound."
29 For a different
theory of the identification of the carol see John Stevens, Words
and Music in the Middle Ages: Song, Narrative, Dance and Drama, 1050-1350 (Cambridge
1986), pp. 163-75. Stevens concludes that the medieval carol must not have been a
"single form but a potential for form, a dance-idea waiting to be realized by various
forms." (p. 171). His conclusion is derived in part from the evidence that the carol had
a variety of dance formations, which he believes would have required a variety of
musical forms. He suggests that the formes fixes were once carols, thus identifying
"carol"with the forms I believe are "rounds." On the other hand, it is also possible that
we both are right; that in earlier centuries the formesfixes were danced as carols (i.e. a
variety of dance formations), but by ca. 1300 that type of dancing was done only to the
form Grocheio calls "ductia," and this is the form that comes down to us in the later
centuries with the name "carol."
30
Rohloff,
p. 136.
THE JOURNAL
OF MUSICOLOGY
Stantipes vero est sonus illitteratus, habens difficilem concordantiarum discretionem, per puncta determinatus....
Propter enim eius
difficultatem facit animum facientis circa eam stare et etiam animum
Dico etiam per puncta determinatus, eo quod peradvertentis....
cussione, quae est in ductia, caret et solum punctorum distinctione
cognoscitur.31
The estampie is also an untexted piece, having a complicated succession of concords, determined by versicles. . .. Because of its complicated nature, it makes the soul of the performer and listener pay
close attention ... [the estampie form] is determined by versicles
since it is lacking in that percussion which is in ductia, and [the form]
is recognized [by only] the differences between its versicles.
The only other distinction he makes between ductia and estampie
is the number of double versicles: three and perhaps four for the
ductia, six and perhaps seven for the estampie:
510
Numerum vero punctorum in ductia ad numerum tria ... Sunt

etiam aliquae ductiae quattuor habentes puncta, puta ductia
'Pierron'.... Numerum vero punctorum in stantipes quidam ad sex
posuerunt ad rationes vocum inspicientes. Alii tamen de novo inspicientes forte ad numerum septem concordantiarum vel naturali
inclinatione ducti, puta Tassinus.32
People have set the number of puncta in ductia at three.... There
are also some ductiae having four puncta, as, for example, the ductia
'Pierron'.... Some, using the pitch syllables as a basis, place the
number of puncta in stantipes at six. Others, again inspired perhaps
by the number of the seven concords or led by natural inclination, as,
for example, Tassinus, augment the number to seven.
But in the light of his earlier statement that the number of verses
in vocal ductias and estampies is not fixed, verse number would not
seem to be a very strong basis on which to differentiate types of dance
music. And in fact the surviving instrumental estampie repertory does
not support his statement; the number of verses varies from four to
seven. Grocheio's other difference between the two dance forms, the
presence or absence of an "appropriate percussion," appears at first to
be so obscure that it has led to a variety of interpretations by modern
scholars.33
3'
32
33
Rohloff, p. 136.
Rohloff, p. 136.
Sachs, WorldHistory, pp.
290-91,
took it to mean that the ductia was in binary
rhythm and the estampie in ternary. H. Wagenaar-Nolthenius,"Estampie/,"p. 405,

interpretsit to mean that the ductia was played with percussionand the estampie by
solo vielle (mentioned in the treatiseas the ideal instrumentfor secularmusic).
MEDIEVAL
DANCES
Earlier the treatise mentions that Grocheio considers the sound

made by all musical instruments to be percussion, which implies that
the word "percussion" can be taken to mean "instrumental sound" in
general.
Sed si haec omnia subtiliter considerentur, inveniuntur a percussione fieri, cum omnis sonus percutiendocausetur,prout in sermon-
ibus de anima comprobatum est.34
But if all these things are considered more carefully,they are found
to happen through percussion,since every sound is caused by striking as is proven in my remarkson the soul.
Siegmund Levarie has suggested that the key to understanding
the difference between Grocheio's ductia and estampie forms is contained in the statement about the estampie's "complicated nature"
that requires listeners and performers to pay close attention.35 He
believes that this is a reference to its having versicles of varying
lengths. In contrast to the estampie, the ductia would have the same
number of beats in each versicle. "Appropriate percussion," therefore, would seem to mean "with the same number of instrumental
sounds," that is, versicles of the same length. This agrees with what we
have seen to be a part of the description of the vocal ductia and is
further supported by the fact that, in contrast to the regular ductia, all
identified estampies, both texted and textless, have versicles of varying lengths.36 There are no identified instrumental ductias to call
upon,37 but since equal-length phrases and a separate refrain are
characteristics of the vocal ductia (carol), we may now assume that
instrumental dances with those same characteristics are also ductias.
34 Rohloff,
p. 134.
35 Siegmund Levarie, "Communications," JAMS XXVII (1974), 367-69.
36 For sources of vocal

estampies see fn. 9 above. Instrumental estampies identified as such in their sources are: seven in Paris, BN, fonds francais 844, fols. 103v104v. Facsimile in Jean Beck, ed., Le Manuscrit du Roi, fonds franfais No. 844 de la
BibliothequeNationale, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1938), Vol. i; and Aubry, Estampieset danses
royales. Transcriptions in Aubry, and Timothy J. McGee, Medieval InstrumentalDances
(working title), forthcoming. Eight [called "Instanpitta"] in London, BL Additional
29987, fols. 55v-62r. Facsimile in Gilbert Reaney, ed., The Manuscript London, British
Museum,Additional29987, A FacsimileEdition, Musicological Studies and Documents 13
(Rome, 1965). Transcriptions in Jan ten Bokum, ed., De dansen van het trecento,Scripta
musicologica ultrajectina (Utrecht, 1967, 2nd ed. 1976); Sebastian Kelber and Josef
Ulsamer, MittelalterlicheSpielmannstdnzeaus Italien, Das Blockfloten Repertoire, Vol. I
(Celle, 1978); and McGee, Medieval Instrumental Dances. McGee also includes other
probable estampies.
37 But see Frederick Crane, "A Study of Theoretical Writings on Musical Form to
ca. 1460," (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iowa, 1960), where the composition
"Petrone" in the Robertsbridge Codex, BL. Add. 28550, is identified as the ductia
"Pierron" mentioned by Grocheio (Rohloff, p. 136).
511
THE
JOURNAL
OF
MUSICOLOGY
Three compositions, all from the manuscript Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, fonds fran?ais 844, answer this description. (In the manuscript one is without title and the other two are labelled "dansse real,"
and "danse.")38All have equal-length versicles (two have three and the
other four), and all have "refrains" in the form of short open and
close endings (see Example 3).39
As to the third instrumental form, the nota, Grocheio makes only
a passing reference to its four double versicles and states that these
compositions could be considered "either a form of ductia or an incomplete estampie." "Sunt tamen aliquae notae vocatae quattuor
punctorum, quae ad ductiam vel stantipendem imperfectam reduci
possunt."40
512
Only two surviving compositions are identified as notas, and although both are texted, we have already noted similarities between
vocal and instrumental dances of the same name, suggesting a close
correspondence between those forms.4, The earliest nota is by Adam
de la Bassee (late thirteenth century), and is identified in the source as
a contrafactum of a secular dance composition "notula over the [composition] which begins 'to play and dance'...."42 It has five double
versicles (one more than Grocheio states), all of the same length and
with related melodic curves, and a sixth unrepeated versicle, twice as
long as the others, having a contrasting melodic curve. The composition fits Grocheio's description of ductia in that all of its phrases are
regular, but the contrasting melody in the last versicle resembles the
form of the texted estampie with a final refrain phrase that contrasts
with the verse.
The other nota, named "La Note Martinet," is not in the same
form as Adam's. It is composed of a number of irregular-length
phrases (some of them double versicles, others single) and a refrainlike cadence that recurs at irregular periods throughout the composition. The irregular length of the phrases relate this piece to the
estampie, and the presence of a separate refrain place it in the general
38 fol.
5r, 104 v. Facsimile and transcriptions see note 37 above. Aubry, Estampies
et danses royales, p. 12, also suspected that two of these dances were ductias.
39 The "dansse real" does not have indications that the versicles should be repeated, but Grocheio states that double versicles are a feature of all secular dances, and
so I feel confident that repetition of each verse was intended in that composition.
40 Rohloff,
p. 136.
41 Both
compositions are transcribed and discussed in Gennrich, Grundriss,pp.
167-74; "La Note Martinet" is transcribed in Handschin, "Uber Estampie," pp. 12728. Also see Gustave Reese, Music in the Middle Ages (New York, 1940), 226-27, and
Andrew Hughes, "The Ludus superAnticlaudianumof Adam de la Bassee," JAMS XXIII
(1970), 1-25.
42 "Notula
super illam que incipit De juer et de baler . .," quoted in Hughes,
"The Ludus," p. 9.
MEDIEVAL
EXAMPLE
3. "Danse," Paris, BN, fonds franc. 844, f. 5r.
!r I:
rir
~~ FI:
I
"12.
'
: b
J
$i r
II
Ii
ir f
r r
IJ t
1.
lJRef.]
,1Rei
I'
j
:
DANCES
I~
J N
I
li
r Ir
S1
A1i
etc.
If
ir
rir
Iir eI J i IN I.
X J J I1
r iIJ
N.
>
'
I1.
A
,-J.
I ,J
I J
etc.
category with both ductia and estampie, but its unique form prevents
close identification with either.
What is common to the two vocal notas is exactly what Grocheio
states: they have some aspects of both ductia and estampie, without
being either one. Considering the degree of difference between these
two notas it is not surprising that he could not define the form any
more precisely. In the tenth-century writings of Regino of Prum the
word "nothae" is assigned to those antiphons that do not conform to
a single mode, that is, those that do not exactly fit the formal
definition.43 Similarly, in the compositions cited above, the designation "nota" would also appear to be something of a "catch-all" classification for dance compositions with unique forms that bear some
resemblance to other forms.
43
Quoted in Willi Apel, Gregorian Chant (Bloomington and London, 1958), p.
175. I am indebted to David McCartney for bringing this to my attention.
513
THE JOURNAL
OF MUSICOLOGY
The fourteenth-century writer Jehan Maillart mentions the nota

along with other dances:
Li auquant chantent pastourelles;Le autre dient en vielles, Chansons royaus et estempies, Danses, noctes et baleriez, In leiist, en
psalterion, Chascun selonc s'entencion, Lais d'amours, descors et
balades, Pour esbatre ces genz malades.44
Some sang pastourellesabout Robichonand Amelot, others played
on vielles chansons royal and estampies, dances and notas. On lute
and psalteryeach according to his preference [played] lais of love,
descorts and ballads in order to entertain those who were ill.
514
It is clear from this reference that the nota was a dance type distinct
from estampie, "danse," and "baleriez," but the nature of those
differences-whether
they arose from dance steps or the dancing
formation (round, line, couples, etc.)-is not clear. It can be concluded from the existing examples, however, that since each nota had
a unique form, the dance steps or sequences would have had to have
been individually adapted, and that would have set it apart from the
other dance types. Earlier I speculated that Grocheio was attempting
to associate the names of the dance types with some aspect of their
dances, and indeed it is possible to speculate that the word "nota" also
referred to some significant aspect of dancing, for example that it had
to do with "noted" dance steps. On the other hand, given the absence
of any attempt on Grocheio's part to say something about the nota as
a dance-he mentions only the number of versicles-and since the
music of the two known notas would seem to have nothing in common
except their lack of conformity to the other dance types, it would seem
more likely that in this case Grocheio simply borrowed the term for
irregular antiphons.
Four nameless compositions usually considered to be medieval
instrumental dances might now be suspected to be notas. Three of
them are from British Library MS Harley 978.45 They are all in two
parts and have double versicles, although their versicles are written
44
Le Roman du Comted'Anjoy,ed., Mario Roques (Paris, 1931), lines 1 -18.

Fol. 8v-gr. Facsimile in Harry E. Wooldridge, Early English Harmonyfrom the
10th to the 15th Century(London, 1897), Vol. 1, P1. 18-19. Transcriptions in Archibald
Davidson and Willi Apel, HistoricalAnthologyof Music (Cambridge, Mass., 1946), Vol. i,
pp. 43-44 (first two only); Ernest Sanders, ed., English Music of the Thirteenthand Early
FourteenthCenturies,Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century, ed. Kurt von Fischer
assisted by Ian Bent, Vol. XIV (Monaco, 1979), 24-26; and McGee, ed. Medieval InstrumentalDances. Also see discussion of the purpose of these compositions in Wulf Arlt,
"The reconstruction of instrumental music: the interpretation of the earliest practical
sources," Studies in the Performanceof Late Medieval Music, ed. Stanley Boorman (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 82-87.
45
MEDIEVAL
DANCES
out rather than marked for repeat. The first (according to their appearance in the MS) has three melodic phrases presented twice in the
lower voice against a continually changing counterpoint in the upper
voice. The second has two phrases, presented first in the lower voice
and then repeated in the upper voice transposed up a fifth. And the
third has only a single melodic phrase, presented twice in the lower
voice and three times in the upper voice transposed up a fifth. Their
formal plots can be diagrammed as follows:
No. 1
section
upper voice
lower voice
No. 2
section
upper voice
lower voice
No. 3
section
upper voice
lowr voice
ctpti
A
ctpt2
B
ctpt3
C
ctpt4
A
ctpt5
B
ctpt6
C
ctpt
A
ctpt2
B
A
ctpt3
B
ctpt4
ctpt
A
ctpt2
A
A
ctpt4
A
ctpt5
A
ctpt3
The three compositions all have phrases of the same length, thus
bearing some resemblance to a ductia, but they do not have immediate repetition of the versicles, and there is no common refrain.
The fourth possible nota is from Oxford, Bodleian Library MS
Douce 139.46 It has ten versicles (more than any other dance); some
are clearly marked for repeat, some have written-out repeats, and
some are possibly without repeat. It is monophonic for most of its
length, but contains a single section of polyphony (or more correctly,
expanded monophony). The irregular length of the versicles gives it
some correspondence to the estampie, but the apparent absence of a
refrain eliminates it from close identification with that category. The
versicles do not all bear resemblance to one another, which has led
one musicologist to speculate that it may be two different estampies.47
46 Fol.
5. Facsimile in Wooldridge, Early English Harmony, Vol. i, plate 24; and
John Stainer, Early Bodleian Music, London, 1901, Vol. i, plate 7. Transcriptions in
Davidson and Apel, HistoricalAnthology,Vol. 1, p. 43; and McGee, Medieval Instrumental
Dances.
47 See Handschin, "Uber Estampie," p. 8. Arlt, "The 'reconstruction' of instrumental music," pp. 87-99, offers several solutions to the intended order of the phrases.
515
THE
516
JOURNAL
OF
MUSICOLOGY
But without a constant refrain this piece can be neither estampie nor
ductia. On the contrary, its formal similarity to "La Note Martinet"versicles of irregular length with an occasional refrain-suggests that
it may be an instrumental nota.
Admittedly, my interpretation of which dances were actually bein Grocheio's treatise has been speculative. And if not
described
ing
all of my identifications of specific repertory are equally convincing,
the dance types I identify have the important aspect of a continuing
historical tradition. The simple round, the energetic carol, the slow
and complicated estampie, and the individually choreographed nota
can all be traced into the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, providing
a continuum that makes sense historically.
To find actual musical types that reflect Grocheio's descriptions
helps to bring both the theorist and his treatise into a better historical
focus. We know that Grocheio was a teacher at the Sorbonne in Paris
during the late thirteenth century,48 and from an examination of the
contents of his treatise, it would seem probable that he wrote it for his
students as a survey of sacred and secular music. While the treatise
attempts to be all inclusive, it remains on a rather elementary level,
lacking the long, complicated discussions of subjects such as the scalar
and notation systems found in contemporary theoretical writings of,
for example, Marchetto da Padova, Walter Odington, and Jerome of
Moravia.49 It is likely therefore that this treatise was intended for the
liberal arts students at an introductory level, rather than for the advanced audience obviously addressed by the other theorists named
above.
It has been observed by others that there are a number of modern
aspects to Grocheio's treatise.50 In place of the long references to
philosophical theories concerning the origins of music found in earlier and contemporary treatises, Grocheio pays mere lip service and
calls into question some of the less believable parts of the old myths.
The very inclusion of secular music in a theoretical treatise is itself
unusual, but as Grocheio states, he was attempting to describe music
as it was practiced in Paris at that time. One of the problems he faced
in doing so was that of inventing new Latin names for vernacular
compositional types, thus causing the problems for present-day interpreters with the secular forms discussed above. It would seem probable that he had actual music in mind when he described the six
48
Rohloff, p. 11.
49 Marchetto da Padova, Pomeriumand Lucidarium;Walter Odington, Summa de
speculationemusicae;Jerome of Moravia, Tractatusde musica.
50 See for example Stockmann,"Musicavulgaris,"and "Grocheo,"TheNewGrove

IX, 664.
MEDIEVAL
DANCES
different types of dances, and I find it difficult to imagine that a dance

as common as was the carol would be either unknown to him or
omitted from a general survey of secular musical forms.
If we read Grocheio's treatise on the level on which it seems to
have been intended-as a practical guide for the non-specialist, rather
than an advanced description of compositional forms-the section on
secular music seems to make more sense. And it is not difficult to
believe that, for this kind of audience, his descriptions of dance music
would intentionally include aspects of the dances themselves in order
to relate their musical structure to their function. Grocheio's nontraditional way of approaching his subject has thus yielded unexpected information: in addition to his descriptions of secular music,
he has given us a tantalizing glimpse of the varieties of dancing from
the end of the thirteenth century; a subject on which we have precious
little information.
Universityof Toronto
517

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Medieval Dances: Matching the Repertory with Grocheio's Descriptions

Author(s): Timothy J. McGee

Medieval Dances: Matching

t has been noted by many scholars that the extant

medieval dance repertory and Johannes de Grocheio's descriptions of

The forms he describes as rounds would seem to be the ancestors

For examplesof the early secularforms see FriedrichGennrich,Dermusikalische

1. "De Patre principio," Florence, Bibl. Med. Laur. Pluteo

PI tre Jn- J- pi- ro,u

No- vum pa- scha

From the Father in the beginning

For the exile of death

est determinatus, sed in aliquibus plus, in aliquibus minus secundum

9 Rohloff, pp. 132, 134.

Additional information about the estampie form is found in two

M. Raynouard, LexiqueRoman ou Dictionnairede la langue des Troubadours(Paris

2. "Kalenda Maya," Paris, BN, fonds frany. 22543, f. 62r.

fuelhs de fa- ya,

no- velh qu'a-mors m'a-

ans que'm n'e-

vos- tre belh cors, que'm re-

snelh mes- sa- tgier

ni chanz d'au- zelh

May Day! Neither the beech

[for love and joy excite me

My lovely friend, by God,

sung in carol (choreis)by young men and girls.20

tell us something about the steps of that dance-that

there was little

ments irregular and more complicated, as Grocheio seems to imply,

Ductia is an untexted piece measured with appropriatepercussion.

Numerum vero punctorum in ductia ad numerum tria ... Sunt

took it to mean that the ductia was in binary

rhythm and the estampie in ternary. H. Wagenaar-Nolthenius,"Estampie/,"p. 405,

Earlier the treatise mentions that Grocheio considers the sound

ibus de anima comprobatum est.34

36 For sources of vocal

3. "Danse," Paris, BN, fonds franc. 844, f. 5r.

Quoted in Willi Apel, Gregorian Chant (Bloomington and London, 1958), p.

175. I am indebted to David McCartney for bringing this to my attention.

The fourteenth-century writer Jehan Maillart mentions the nota

Le Roman du Comted'Anjoy,ed., Mario Roques (Paris, 1931), lines 1 -18.

50 See for example Stockmann,"Musicavulgaris,"and "Grocheo,"TheNewGrove

different types of dances, and I find it difficult to imagine that a dance

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