Songs Without Words

Abstract The tradition of songs appearing in manuscripts without their texts goes back to the manuscript in Prague and the lost Strasbourg manuscript. But there is also a tradition of pieces that can never have had texts and must have been intended for instrumental performance (a tiny tradition because these musicians must normally have played extempore). But the written tradition really takes shape with the works of Johannes Martini, particularly with his famous La martinella (mid-1460s). Other early examples are Caron’s Helas, and the anonymous Aime qui vouldra, which survive with various texts but must have been textless, this chapter argues. Following the story through Isaac and his astonishing Gentile spiritus, the argument ends up with a group of works, mainly based on a single line of known polyphony, which must have been intended for instrumental performance. But caution is always in order, particularly since one of Isaac’s most successful works, entitled Benedictus, turns out to be a movement from his mass Quant j’ay au cueur.