ABSTRACT
The significance of Montpellier codex's testimony, particularly to the later thirteenth-century motet repertoire, may have more to do with its size and its very survival than any conscious curation of interrelated compositions on the part of its compilers. Motets on song tenors are dispersed across the fascicle, as are those which use heavily syllabic semibreve tripla, despite the fact that clustering such respective pieces could have enabled a more consistent mise-en-page. Late thirteenth-century motets apparently enjoyed greater fixity, perhaps even a more work-like status, which goes hand in hand with the increased visibility of their author figures and their interest in describing musical communities. In this respect, the compositions of Montpellier codex's final fascicles feel closer to fourteenth-century 'works' by Philippe de Vitry and Guillaume de Machaut than to early thirteenth-century motets, either short and heavily refrain-dependent vernacular compositions or Latin motets based on clausula.
