Machaut Rondeau 14, “Ma fin est mon commencement“ (crab canon over a palindrome)

For more information, visit #!theneglectedcomposer/tmqmf (see August 2016) Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300 – 1377) - Rondeau 14, “Ma fin est mon commencement“ (“My end is my beginning“) Transcription and animation by Jordan Alexander Key website: transcription: Performance found on Machaut: Dreams In The Pleasure Garden - Chansons Performed by: Charles Daniels, Angus Smith, & Don Greig The form of a Rondeau is AB-aA-ab-AB, with letters representing musical content and capitalization representing text content. Where a letter is capitalized, the same text and music as before appear. Where a letter is lowercase, the same music but different text appear. You can see how the form matches the text below. The musical content of this Rondeau is particularly interesting and hinted at by the text “in my end is my beginning. As you can see in the animation, the music is not always read from left to right, but sometimes starts to move in reverse. This is because this music actually “retrogrades“ in a variety of ways between verses 1 & 2, 5 & 6, and 7 & 8. For example, at the end of the first line “Ma fin ce mon commencement,“ the Tenor (lowest voice) begins to read his music backwards. Meanwhile, the Triplum (top line) and Cantus (middle line) swap lines. The Triplum moves down and reads the Cantus backwards while the Cantus moves up and reads the Triplum backwards. In this way, the beginning of the verse becomes the end of the verse. Machaut provides variety and variation by simply reversing the original music. Ultimately, the Triplum line is just the Cantus line sung backwards and the Tenor line is a palindrome. Knowing this, one realizes that while each verse of the piece can be somewhat long, the musical content is actually minimal. One could notate the music fully, actually writing out the retrogrades for each voice, but this is unnecessary. All one really needs to realize this music is what is provided here. Enjoy some enigmatic music from the 14th century! Take note that the text of those lines which are sung in retrograde are also written syllabically in retrograde for this animation. For more information on this music feel free to visit my website and read my blog at Blog Post: (see August 2016) –-1377-Rondeau-14-Ma-fin-est-mon-commencement-My-end-is-my-beginning _________________________ French Text: A. Ma fin est mon commencement B. Et mon commencement ma fin. a. Et ceneure vraiement A. Ma fin est mon commencement. a. Mes tiers chans trois fois seulement b. Se retrograde et einse fin. A. Ma fin est mon commencement B. Et mon commencement ma fin. _________________________ English Translation: A. My end is my beginning B. And my beginning my end a. And this holds truly, A. My end is my beginning a. My third melody three times only b. Reverses itself and thus ends. A. My end is my beginning B. And my beginning my end.