Musical Performance and Authenticity

Author(s): Michael Morrow

Source: Early Music , Apr., 1978, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Apr., 1978), pp.
233+235+237+239+241+243+245-246
Published by: Oxford University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3125608

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 MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
AND AUTHENTICITY
MICHAEL MORROW

Bagpipe dancing to gudulka (rebec) accompaniment in modem Bulgaria. (Photograph by courtesy of A. L. Lloyd)

by imitation,
By musical performance I mean the general and par- not from books-any piece of music,
medieval,
ticular problems of performing styles, old andrenaissance,
new- baroque, what you will, offers
the modern
and I interpret authenticity both in its real sense performer
and in the potentiality of' countless
possibilities of interpretation: one medieval piece for
the contemporary cult meaning of the word.
instance,
I suppose it is valid for my purpose could be played in a dozen ways and the
to classify
result would
Western music (at least) into two categories. almost
First, andcertainly appear to be twelve quite
most familiar, is that music capable different pieces of music. Of' course, one of these
of surviving
performances
almost the worst performance: for instance, could, by sheer chance, be more or less
the works
historically
of such composers as Josquin, Monteverdi, correct. But how are we now to judge
Beethoven
and Berlioz, though I once heard awhich ? And supposing
recording of a medieval or renaissance
listener
Monteverdi's Lamento d'Ariana sung by a German could hear a modern performance of a
chanson by Binchois
contralto with continuo by Carl Orff realized-if that or a Dowland lute solo, for
instance, would
is the appropriate word-for ftour hands (or fists) on he say (I use modern English of
course) 'How
one harpsichord: Monteverdi's masterpiece wascan anyone ruin such fine music in this
com-
way?';
pletely obliterated, no mean achievement. or would he exclaim 'What the hell is that?
The second category, however, is Some
theMoorish
one that
barbarity no doubt.'
In monophonic of'
creates so many problems of performance-most music, subtleties of musical style are
particularly
them insoluble. Here, the listeners' enjoyment of critical.
the The unaccompanied singer or
music is largely if not completely dependent,
instrumentalist not
has the sole responsibility of focusing
merely upon technical skill, but more an significantly
audience's attention, and in order to achieve this,
he must
upon the performer's familiarity with the be able both to make use of every rhythmic
particular
musical style of his own time, place and nuance
and melodic social in his technical vocabulary, and to
position. exploit his talent for improvisation and ability to
Where there is no surviving tradition-and memorize. Most renaissance writers on music stress the

pertorming style is something that can only be learned fact that the performer was expected to exploit his
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technique not merely for aesthetic reasons but in order
to astound his audience by his skill. The modest per-
former was not generally admired.
Many of' these traditions survive to the present day
in the remoter parts of' Europe. In many regions of the
Balkans, for instance, the epic ballad, like the medieval
lai, is still part of' modern rural life. These songs are
performed at ceremonial occasions-weddings and so
on-by the descendants of the medieval minstrel:
proud men who regard their art with high serious-
ness. These ballads are no brief interludes in the village
festivities. Like their medieval equivalent, the
narrative, dealing with most subjects, from the slaying
of' dragons to the massacre of" CIA agents, will gener-
ally last for many hours, as may be heard, for instance, Amusements at the Sign of the Planet Venus (pipe and tabor,
on many of the fine recordings made by A. L. Lloyd. hurdy-gurdy, bladderpipe, trumpets, ?shawm). Drawingsfrom the so-called
Medieval House-book, c 1475, Library ofSchloss Wolfegs.
As a method of preserving monophonic music,
notation, medieval or modern, is almost worse than
useless-and it is not too helpful either for poly-
phonic music. Indeed, early in this century, Bart6k innocence of' notation was also a feature of minstrel
insisted that folk music could only be preserved music before the early years of' the 16th century. On
adequately on gramophone record, otherwise the the other hand, polyphonic music firom the middle
essential elements of' performance would be lost. ages to the present day has been intimately associated
Although folk music-or most non-European art with the development and changing styles in musical
music-conveys little or nothing when committed to notation. But, as every folklorist knows, even the most
paper, today we at least have the tape machine to sophisticated- notational systems are incapable of
record the subtleties of' performance. indicating the essentials that make a performing style:
But in the case of medieval song-the monophonic however inspired the music, written notes are mere
works of' the troubadours, trouveres and minne- symbols; a musical performance is an act of creation,
singers, an impressive number of which have and without the performer music does not exist.
survived-the possibility of' reconstructing a perform-Lacking a convincingly stylish performance, much fine
ing style containing any element that might be familiar music may often appear tasteless or meaningless. And
to a medieval listener is so remote as to be, in myyet, while a traditional melody, for instance, can all
opinion, not worth the attempt. The notation of thesetoo easily be reduced to bastardy, it can also be trans-
songs indicates the pitch but not the duration of the formed into a pleasing drawing-room ballad or an
notes, and the total absence of oral tradition provides elegant art song.
a musicological puzzle-but a puzzle without a In recent years there has been a most heartening
solution. Of'course, if'one is prepared to manufacture advance in the knowledge of the construction of
one's own rules-knitting your own middle ages as renaissance instruments, particularly stringed instru-
Thurston Dart put it-one may construct a rhythmic ments, though viol makers seem to be conducting a
style derived from a personally inspired logic or the muted war over what actually constitutes a renais-
product of assured but arbitrary conviction, and then, sance viol. Mass producers of harpsichords have now
of course, the music can be performed. But the result, realized that in order to sell their machines they must
far from bearing any resemblance to medieval call them 'Italian model', 'Ruckers model', and so on.
performing practice, may be a species of quasi- Few makers of' renaissance instruments today seem
composition and a musical performance that to recognize the existence and the importance of what
diminishes the composer and glorifies the modern they would term transitional forms. They appear not
performer. to consider that there must always have been at the
Folk music, unlike western art music, is not con- same time archaic forms, transitional forms and the
ceived in terms of' musical notation, but in terms of latest models. This is as though a naturalist were to
exceedingly idiosyncratic performing styles. This say: the prehistoric eohippus evolved into the horse as

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we know it today. Between the two there existed other
horse-like creatures; but these, of course, were merely Recently released on HMV
transitional forms.
The human voice, on the other hand, has the ability
to produce virtually any sound imaginable. Unfor-
tunately, singers (and their public) today and through
the ages have always maintained that there is only one
Martin
valid vocal style-their own. Some time ago a friend of
mine was at a lecture on singing and, as an illustra- Best
tion, the speaker played a recording of' Melba: the THE DAWN OF ROMANCE
audience giggled. In a few years time a similar
Songs and music of the
audience will almost certainly be reduced to hysterics
by a recording of Kathleen Ferrier singing early troubadours of Provence
Kindertotenlieder. CSD3785 E

Even provided one had exact evidence of lost vocal

styles, one would need first to convince the singers (no
mean task), instruct them and then educate the
audience. For there are two things most audiences and
David
all music critics abhor: non-conventional singing and
non-conventional violin-playing. With crumhorns, of
course, anything goes.
Munrow
Early Music Consort of London
One still needs to insist that for the music of any
RENAISSANCE SUITE
period an appropriate vocal style is absolutely
essential. I recently remarked to a friend of mine that,
Music composed for the soundtrack of the
Joel Santoni film 'La Course en tote'
unlike the well-known tarted-up performance of the
medieval Play of Daniel-a performance that included a HQS1415 E
fire-eater, lots of amusing instruments, jolly dances
and featured modern vocal techniques-in order to For release in April
perform a miracle play all one really needs is a few
medieval singers. This is demonstrated in a Folkways
recording (FE 4538 A/B) of a Portuguese passion play
where, as in the Middle Ages, scenes are mounted on a
Kathleen
horse cart and take place in the open air. The singing is
not particularly sophisticated but it is remarkable for
Ferrier
its intensity of conviction. ORFEO ED EURIDICE Gluck
With several very happy exceptions, I have always The complete live performance recorded
found it difficult to work with singers. This is partly
in Amsterdam in 1951 with Greet Koeman,
due to my ignorance of 20th-century vocal technique:
Nel Duval, Chorus and Orchestra of the
articulation from the diaphragm rather than the
Netherlands Opera/Charles Bruck
throat, expression by means of the eyebrows instead of
the voice. I find it hard to come to terms with the RLS725 (2 LP set)
British baritone-beef to the heels like a Mullingar
heifer-singing Captain Stratton's Fancy at 9.30 on a fine EMI
BBC morning; the gorgeous contralto-tenor turning
his best profile to the audience; the soprano attacking
a high note like a screech owl pursued out of a tunnel
by an express train. There seem, however, to be signs
EMI Records Ltd, 20 Manchester Square, London WIA 1ES.
that this post-war breed of singers is gradually being A member of the EMI Group of Companies.
International leaders in Music, Electronics and Leisure.
put out to grass. But I wish I felt a little more confident
about the stylistic conventions of their successors. THE GREAT NAMES ARE ON HMV
I fear that to any singer this may all appear
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offensive: I assure you it is not intended to be. After all
the human voice can and should be the most perfect of
instruments-expressive and agile, and was tradition-
ally so regarded. The fact is that most singers occupy a
curiously ambiguous position in the musical world-
something between musician and actor. Perhaps the
difference is that, while the instrumentalist can take an
objective view of his technique in relation to his instru-
ment, the singer's instrument, like that of the actor, is
himself: to criticize a singer's technique is to criticize
him, and this is hard for him to accept. The instru-
mentalist may come on to the platform, scowl at the

Philip
audience, ignore it, sit down and play; the singer or
the actor, on the other hand, must project himself to
the audience and, however well he has performed, if he
doesn't sense that the audience is adoring him he feels
he has failed utterly.
Today musical authenticity is a subject for serious
kevin
consideration. But, though the connection between Instruments and Service
music and the theatre has always been close, the Geared to Professional Standards
attitude of the modern theatre to historical authen-
ticity is that of a rather shifty lip-service. Any expres- " MOECK HISTORICAL WOODWINDS-recom-
sion of the view that poetry, even Shakespeare's mended models in stock for immediate delivery.
poetry-especially Shakespeare's poetry--could " MONK CORNETTI-we are pleased to announce
benefit even remotely from authenticity of pronuncia- a new, specially designed A cornetto made exclu-
sively for us and to our specifications.
tion, of acting styles, authenticity of music or design,
" LEWANDOWSKI HARPS AND PSALTERIES
would be summarily rejected. Great poetry is for all
-announcing the Hans Memling Harp, an instr
time; Shakespeare is no more or no less Shakespeare ment designed and scaled according to harps
in doublet and codpiece than he is in blue jeans. A depicted by the 1 5th-century painter.
well-known Shakespearean scholar once told me that " BRUSSELS RENAISSANCE FLUTES-by
if we could be transported to an original performance Levin and Silverstein.

of a Shakespeare play we would be bored rigid! Great e RENAISSANCE RANKETS-We are now pro-
publicity is made these days of the latest 'authentic' ducing our own renaissance rankets after the
Leipzig instrument. Please write or call for details.
Shakespeare theatre: apron stage; awfully Elizabethan
e SPANISH BAGPIPES-We can now provide
sets and musicians playing pop versions of' olde Spanish Bagpipes (Gaita Gallega) and accessories
Elizabethan numbers on a preposterous conglomera- at reasonable prices.
tion of' shagbuts, crumhorns and rebecs. But the * VOICING-TUNING-REPAIRS - complete
actors? Any consideration of 16th-century conven- service on most makes of recorders and historical
woodwinds.
tions of' declamation or pronunciation would be to
them unthinkable. * CRACKED HEADS-We can now install syn-
thetic ivory sleeves to repair cracked recorder
Singers have exactly the same reactions to the idea of heads permanently at reasonable cost. Applicable
16th-century pronunciation as do actors. While they to Rottenburgh and Dolmetsch instruments.
feel that 15th-century English, say, is a funny old " REEDS-plastic and cane replacement reeds for
language and are quite prepared to pronounce it as all Moeck instruments, and a complete line of reed-
making supplies and tools.
they are told, 16th-century English is a different
* SATISFACTION UNCONDITIONALLY GUAR-
matter. Being accustomed to editions in modern ANTEED ON ALL SALES AND SERVICE-we
spelling they naively suppose it to be modern English. do our own preparation and warranty work.
Though very far from claiming to be an expert on
this subject, I recently had occasion to read through P.O. Box 1090 Please call or write
New York, N.Y. 10009 for information.
the texts of the Dowland Ayres with a young American 212-674-6715 Visit by appointment only.
singer who was anxious to learn about contemporary

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pronunciation. In the modernized spelling of the
Fellowes editions it was immediately apparent that
20th-century pronunciation had completely destroyed
the verse: again and again the stress was on the wrong
syllable, rhyme was debased-'war' and 'star', 'speak'
and 'break', to take two examples that occur many
times. One might ask what is a rhyming couplet that
does not rhyme?
Handmade copy
Singers, like actors, defend these anachronisms by
maintaining first that the language is modern English,
of a flute by
and should be pronounced as such for the sake of
Cahusac with
intelligibility (presumably for an audience of halfwits); silver key and
and second, quite unjustifiably, that they will not only
ivory rings. In
lose face, but be laughed off the platform. Both singers
satinwood,
and actors have a morbid fear of losing rapport with
their audience. How refreshing it is to work with
blackwood or
instrumentalists, who so often are both interested and rosewood.
enthusiastic about acquiring new, and to them often
Corps de
outlandish, techniques.
The importance of the relationship between words
recharge
and music cannot be over-emphasized. A dis- optional.
tinguished musicologist recently said to me that the
15th-century rondeau would never have been per-
formed in full, but only in an abbreviated form, as it
otherwise would have been too boring. Now, like so
many of the other fixed verse forms, the rondeau form
is in fact fixed. Its effect on the listener is a very subtle
blend of" verse and music. To cut the calculated verse-
refrain juxtaposition in order to present a snappy
snippet is insulting to everyone-poet, composer and
audience.

In order to form some idea of past vocal styles it

seems to me valuable, if not essential, to familiarize
oneself with the enormous variety of sounds that the
human voice can produce, with the many highly
sophisticated vocal techniques that are found in tradi-
tional musics throughout the world. It should be
remembered that although a good voice may be the
result of a fine technique, it can-and should-also
have that indefinable quality to move the listener. And
this quality need not necessarily spring from a flawless
STANLEY TOULSON
technique-indeed by its conviction it can often over- & Co.
ride technique altogether.
As a warning against the belief that the expression of 133 High Street
emotion in music is something universal, I'd like to Farnborough
refer to a Yugoslav folksong, sung by a woman accom- Orpington
panied by a bagpipe. The melody is beautiful and very Kent BR6 7AZ
moving-a lament, you would say. In fact it is a
satirical song about women marrying young husbands. Tel: Farnborough
I'm all too aware that I have touched rather lightly 57770
on the way in which old music should be played,

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stressing, rather, the reasons why virtually any modern
attempt to perform medieval or renaissance music can
be at best merely a more or less successful counter- Expert in
feit-a sort of dud five-pound note, or in many cases a
wooden dollar. Though perhaps some might prefer Musical Instruments
the word pastiche as sounding more optimistic. In
recent years the emergence of the old-music virtuoso and Manuscripts with
has done much to encourage the manufacture of
counterfeit performing styles. One finds performer Commercial Capabilities
after performer adopting the same mannerisms,
London firm of international Fine Art Auctioneers
mannerisms based on no known historical practice,
but merely in imitation of a hero's personal idio- is seeking a cataloguer/valuer with wide musical
knowledge and connections.
syncracies.
Performing old music as I do, I continually find Knowledge in depth of stringed instruments is
myself questioning my motives. They are certainly essential: an understanding of keyboard, wood-
wind and brass instruments, as well as of manu-
difficult to justify, but I think the reasons, for what
script and printed music and related material is
they are worth, are twofold. First, my concern with the
also required. Applicants must have practical
music is so obsessive that when I am working I can
experience of preparation of catalogue entries and
believe that it really is possible to produce a perform- estimating market values.
ance that will have all the excitement of the real
Senior departmental responsibilities envisaged
thing-a conviction that can sometimes even persist
with commensurate salary. Initiative and the ability
throughout the course of a concert. It is so easy to hear
to generate new business essential.
the ideal in one's head rather than the disappointing
Write Box No. 1, Early Music, 37 Dover Street,
actuality in the concert hall. But reflection leads inevit-
London, W1X 4AH.
ably to disillusionment and, consequently, I'm afraid I
rarely listen to gramophone records of old music, my
own or anyone else's. For me, recordings that give
pleasure are those of musicians performing with con-
fidence in a style they were born to.
The second is the reason that one reads the classics,
SANDY ROGERS
looks at paintings and sculpture, attends the theatre:
in this way we can share-though in a limited ITALIAN
manner-the feelings, emotions and ideas of men of
other ages and other civilizations. But we must never HARPSICHORD
forget that in any age the artist is addressing himself to
his contemporaries, and his language is composed of a KITS
system of fa'miliar conventions-musical, visual or
literary. If we don't or can't learn these languages, the BAFFO KIT
conventions will be as meaningless to us as the handAfter Giovanni Antonio Baffo, Venezia, MDLXXIIII
8'+8', Compass extended AA-d3
gestures of an Indian dancer are to the average western
audience.
SCARLATTI KIT
We must attempt to approach the arts of the past
8'+8', Compass FF-g3
from the inside or at least from a sense of familiarity,
difficult to achieve in 20th-century Europe. This is,
CLAVICHORD KIT
alas, the age of the found object, rather than the
Compass AA-d3
created object-an attitude towards art uneasily trans-
planted firom ancient Japanese tradition into the world Send stamps or International Reply Coupons (2 for Sur
or 5 for Airmail) for details to:
of Madison Avenue, where it takes its place in a neat
and profitable package that uneasily combines Zen- SANDY ROGERS
without-tears with health food guaranteed to make Warren House, Stone Street, Faversham, Kent,
ME13 8PS, England. Tel. 2437
you thin, pale, weak but spiritual. I suspect that we are

243

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living in an age of cultural parasites, an age that
includes early music bores such as myself.
What then about all these first modern really
authentic performances proclaimed by the record
companies and so many concert handbills ? Nonsense.
All this means is an 'imaginative reconstruction', 1970s
style, featuring a few novelties that are the per-
former's interpretation of the translator's idea of what
some 16th-century writer was attempting--usually
unsuccessfully-to describe. This is not authenticity.
Authenticity can only mean the real thing; and no
MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE
modern performance of' any music of the past can
PERCUSSION
sustain such a claim, any more than a bunch of
by PAUL WILLIAMSON
European enthusiasts, however knowledgeable and
skilled, would be capable of giving an authentic
Nakers, Tabors, Side Drums, Timbrels and
performance of' an Indian raga. Use of the word
Cast Pellet Bells on Wrist Straps
Indian, like medieval, renaissance and baroque, con-
stitutes an automatic disqualification. Available from the maker at:
As well as a convenient catchpenny commercial 'The Red Last'
label, I suspect that, for the devotee of what is now Shepeau Stow
termed 'early music', the word 'authenticity' has Whaplode Drove
acquired a special meaning, a meaning less precise- Spalding
Lincolnshire
less rigid, perhaps-than that given in the OED, but
nevertheless one that successfully defines a musical Telephone: Whaplode Drove 518
quality, the presence or absence of which is instantly
apparent to the early music initiate. To the general
public, however, this usage can often be both confus-
ing and misleading; rather as the casual mention of
nakers, which would leave an early music percussion ORIGINAL EDITIONS OF

player unperturbed, might cause a raised eyebrow or PAUL BRUNOLD

two in less esoteric circles. FOR L'OISEAU-LYRE

The early music vogue has added a third class of

concert-goer to the London musical world. The Only a few copies remain of the 1934 Limit
traditional light/serious music distinction has now Editions. These are fully bound, engraved a
been superseded by pop/serious/early music. One printed on "Oiseau-Lyre" paper.
result of the emergence and popularity of the early I - THE WORKS OF CHARLES DIEUPART
music scena is the serious effect on the romantic In two volumes. Handsome covers in white
leather designed by Marie-Jeanne Maudot.
violinist or pianist who, until quite recently, regarded
Volume I Six Suites for Harpsichord. 70 pp.
the music of the 18th century as an important part of' Volume II Vocal Music. Text of songs in
his repertory. Many players who felt this music to be English. 81 pp.
Price for the two volumes FF 300
their special province now find that the vogue for
II - THE
'historically correct' instruments and instrumental ORGAN OF SAINT GERVAIS
CHURCH IN PARIS
styles for baroque music is no lbnger merely the whim
Complete historical study of the famous
of a few old music cranks, but is increasingly becom- Organ played by the Couperin dynasty. The
ing accepted-indeed, insisted upon-by audience Appendix contains documents on the first
and critic alike. Unless he is prepared to risk public Couperins who played this Organ. Illustrated
ridicule or is fortunate to have a name and reputation with photos. Text in French. 100 pp.
Price FF 250
that will shield him from criticism, the traditionally
Available from United Music Publishers
trained violinist must renounce his favourite Handel
1 Montague Street, London WC1B 5BS
sonatas, the pianist the keyboard works of Bach and EDITIONS DE L'OISEAU-LYRE
Scarlatti. LES REMPARTS* MONACO

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 For the early music man this is, of course, victory: phonic, some evidently chosen for a fortuitous
virtue has triumphed. But is this really so? Is there not relevance to a particular episode in the poem, others
a place for both styles of performance? Furthermore, specially composed to amplify the literary text. The
how much resemblance does modern baroque bear to Roman de Fauvel is not only an important and remark-
baroque baroque? Who knows?-or, rather, who able poem, it is also in effect a unique anthology of
really knows? If one had the option of listening to, say, medieval music drawn from a period spanning 150
a Handel concerto grosso performed in the really lush years. And although during this century and a half
assured style generally admired in the 1930s and 40s, musical notation had undergone many changes, all the
or a modern baroque reconstruction of the same work music in the Roman de Fauvel is written in the short-
(in which the listener's attention may only too often be lived form of notation current at the time the manu-
diverted from the music to the desperate concen- script was compiled. As this system, clearly, indicates
tration of players striving to reproduce accurately all
certain rhythms that were impossible to represent in
the unfamiliar mannerisms-notatable and un- earlier notations, it would seem reasonable to suppose
notatable-that their conductor has assured them con- that all the pieces in this manuscript were intended to
stitute the real authentic baroque style) whichbe performed in the style current during the early years
performance would one choose to attend ? of the 14th century, with no thought at all for
Like those Handel violin sonatas and the Bach and antiquarian authenticity. It is interesting to observe
Scarlatti keyboard pieces I referred to, many musicalthat the notation has been further modernized by a
works have retained their popularity for generationslater scribe, thus superimposing on the music yet
and also retained their freshness in the face of'
another style of performance.
changing fashions of performance. Yet, if authenticity
Two further questions about authenticity. First,
can only mean the style in which the music was we could be totally familiar with all
supposing
conceived, and if there is only one valid style for each performing styles, how should we approach,
historical
piece of music, it seems to me that we are in danger of'
for instance, an early work of Dufay? 'Authenticity'
condemning out of hand the sensibilities of a not in-that the music must be performed in the style of
insists
the time
considerable number of distinguished musicians andit was written. But would it not have been
some hundreds of thousands of intelligent probable
music that many instrumentalists, even then, had
lovers of the past-condemning them, moreover, for
been trained in a much earlier style of performance,
andtheir
their belief in the superiority of the fashions of could well have been reluctant to acquire
own time over all others: a delusion, certainly, modishly
but one new techniques? How would Dufay have
that through the ages has been the prime inspiration
wished to hear it? His attitude to performance must
for all the works of art. surely have changed radically during the course of his
It is well known that Italian and French music was life; so which is more authentic, the musical taste of
greatly admired in Germany during the early yearsthe
ofyoung Dufay or that of the mature composer ?
the 16th century. It would be interesting to know Secondly and finally, one must realize that a con-
exactly how conversant the average 16th-century siderable amount of surviving medieval music is found
German musician was with Italian and French styles inof'
manuscripts that were compiled many years after
performance; surviving evidence suggests that what the death of the composer. From this one can only
conclude that the music was still valued, was indeed
little information he possessed was often gravely mis-
interpreted. The poor devil just didn't know probably
any still being performed; however, like the
better. So we are left with the interesting possibility
Roman de Fauvel, it seems most unlikely that these later
that 16th-century Germany produced some of performers the would have considered employing archaic
earliest examples of unauthenticity in the perform- musical styles, styles that they almost certainly would
ance of 16th-century music, a point worth consider-have regarded with contempt. So, where does this
ing and one, surely, with a certain relevance to leave
the us today? I really would like to know-and I
subject of authenticity. have no doubt that somehow, somewhere, somebody
A neat problem is presented by the Roman de Fauvel.
will be only too anxious to explain to me how simple it
This is a long allegorical verse satire dating fromallthe
really is.
second decade of the 14th century. The manuscript
contains a large number of musical interpolations Thisorarticle is based on a talk given last November at the Early
glosses on the text, some monophonic, some poly- Music Centre, London.

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