Polifoniczne opracowania wersetów z Pieśni nad Pieśniami w czasach Johna Dunstaple’a i Leonela Powera

Polyphonic Settings of Song of Songs Texts

in John Dunstaple’s and Leonel Power’s Times

Marian texts were very popular in England in the fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth century. This English interest in Marian texts is a reflection of a great adoration and devotion to the Virgin in England and the Roman tradition, and can be traced back to the twelfth and thirteenth century when Marian doctrine gained an increasing popularity. It can be even traced back to the ninth century when the earliest known antiphonary saw the light of day. Among all the antiphons, the most prominent were these based on the Song of Songs. Polyphonic settings of the Song texts, which originated in England in the mid-fourteenth century, belong to the category of the polyphonic votive antiphon. Such works can be found in Dunstaple’s and Power’s output, two the most important and famous English composers of that time. Of all their works, Dunstaple’s motet Quam pulchra es appears to be the most popular and well-known, and is considered to be the excellent example of the so-called English style, la contenance angloise. The goal of this paper is to show that in addition to these two composers, there were many others who also set the texts from the Song of Songs and contributed a lot to the development of the English music at that time, and had an influence on the composers from the continent.

Key words: Song of Songs, John Dunstaple, Leonel Power, antiphon, la angloise contenance, English polyphony of the fifteenth century.