ABSTRACT
What, then, of Murino? The scenario proposed in Chapter 5 for the creation of S’il estoit/S’Amours might seem to be in conflict with his theoretical testimony if we read him as implying that ars nova motet composition began with tenors that were either chosen to suit some main upper-voice theme or allowed to dictate that theme (both of which interpretations were chronicled in Chapter 2). 1 And, more broadly, the range of upper-voice structures analyzed in Chapter 4 throws a potential wrench into this system by decoupling tenor form from upper-voice form to a range of extents. How might keeping all of this in mind inflect our understanding of Murino’s directives? The important point, it seems to me, is to ask what Murino’s own main theme is.
