Presque transi ung peu moins qu’estre mort 3v ·
Ockeghem, Johannes
Appearance in the group of related chansonniers:
*Dijon ff. 55v-57 »Presque transi ung peu moins qu’estre mort« 3v Okeghem · Edition · Facsimile
*Laborde ff. 81v-83 »Presque transi ung peu mains qu’estre mort« 3v · Edition · Facsimile
This page with editions as a PDF
Editions: Ockeghem 1992, p. 81 (Laborde); Droz 1927, no. 48 (Dijon); Goldberg 1992, p. 458 (Dijon); Ockeghem 1998b, pp. VI-IX.
Text: Bergerette; full text in both sources; also in Berlin 78.B.17, f. 152v, ed.: Löpelmann 1923, p. 284.
After Dijon and Laborde:
Presque transi ung peu moins qu’estre mort, Helas, je suis contre mon vueil envie, (4)
Morir ne puis et tousjours m’y convie,
Il m’est advis que la mort me tient tort, (6)
Presque transi ung peu moins qu’estre mort, |
Nearly gone, only a little bit from being dead,
Alas, I am alive against my will,
I cannot die and yet am always attracted,
I think that Death does me wrong,
Nearly gone, only a little bit from being dead, |
1) Dijon, line 2, “vivant en deul ...”
2) Dijon, line 3, missing in MS, there is simply no space for it! After Laborde
3) Dijon, line 4, “Qui sans cesser puis”
4) Dion, line 6, “... mon veul envie”
5) Laborde, line 11, "a celle fin que je soye ..."
6) Laborde, line 12, “... la me tient tort”
In addition some minor differences in spelling.
Evaluation of the sources:
Copied twice by the Dijon scribe after the same exemplar, first in the Dijon chansonnier where the song belonged to its original repertory, and some years later he added it to the Laborde chansonnier (cf. the descriptions of the MSS). He was obviously somewhat confused by the disposition and the range of the two lower voices, when he entered the song into Dijon, and he did not take time to prepare the layout of the music with his usual care. He began by notating the tenor in a C4 clef, but changed it at once into a C5 clef without erasure of the first written. This clef was already in the next staff exchanged with a F3 clef, which was used for the remainder of the part. The contratenor is in an extended range, A-g'; in the song’s first section it is notated in a F3 clef, but changes into a C3 clef for the couplets. This change of clef and its high range in the couplets has apparently induced the scribe to introduce a one flat signature from bar 33. Likewise, in the upper voice he has put a one flat signature in the last two staves of the first section (bb. 16.2-32). The upper voice flats may be caused by his recognizing the needed inflections in the cadence bb. 15-16. The hexachordal signatures in the contratenor, however, are impossible to explain. He also had to skip the third line of text in the upper voice, simply because the notes did not leave any space for the words. He had not foreseen the situation. All in all, this copy seems to indicate that he was not familiar with the song and did not really succeed in his first try.
The later Laborde copy is much better – without spurious key signatures and nearly without errors. He carefully disposed his writing on the very small pages of this chansonnier in such a way that there was room for all the text, and he was more careful with his spelling (see above). The differences in the music are very few: A single change of a dotted figure into a semibrevis and the usual variability in the use of coloration (S bb. 49.3-50.1 and C b. 11.1-2 without coloration; C bb. 10.1, 26.3 and 29.3 with coloration).
Comments on text and music:
The poem is an extremely depressed bergerette in artful, rich rimes. The poet longs for death without specifying the reasons for his dark mood. At the end of the tierce the poet appears to run out of steam and becomes quite repetitive in his banalities.
The low-range Phrygian musical setting adheres to the mood of the words, and all three voices appear to be conceived with the words in mind. The tenor, in particular, is close to the words, and it has the strongest line of melody. Its range is very low (G-c’), and it is combined with a contratenor in the same range, which is placed mostly above the tenor. This forces the contratenor to extend its range in the first section, up to e’.
Normally, bergerette settings obtain their musical effect by virtue of their contrasting the repeated couplets with the long first section. In “Presque transi” this contrast only appears in the poem by the change of rime words, not in its mood, Similarly, there appears to be no contrast in the written music: No change of mensuration, not even a renewed indication of tempus perfectum, nor of hecachordal signature (in the Laborde copy), and superius and tenor seem to proceed in the same track. Only the change of clef in the contratenor signals a difference. In performance the contrast is audible. The black notation of the first two bars of the couplets signals very discreetly a double time, which creates tension in the remainder of the section. The tenor restrict its range to an octave, c-c’, which forces the contratenor into an even higher range, c-g’, to keep its position above the tenor. The change of clef from F3 to C3 may very well indicate that another singer here has to take over. The sound of the voices and subtle changes of rhythm assure the contrast in relation to the first section. It is not immediately visible in the written music, and it may have led the Dijon scribe astray in his first copy.
The memorable opening phrase of the tenor and the ability of the song’s motives to combine with each other compelled Ockeghem to use some of its elements as points of departure in composing of the four-part Missa Mi mi. See further Miyazaki 1985, Fitch 1997 pp. 159-170, Ockeghem 1998b pp. XII-XIII and Fallows 1999 p. 327.
PWCH April 2016