“Conditor Alme Siderum”
A 7th-Century A.D. Latin Hymn.
Sung (Three Voices).
Faux-Bourdon in the English Style.
Available on YouTube at
“Ave Maris Stella”.
Composer: Guillaume Dufay.
Available on YouTube at
Faux-Bourdon, or, Fauxbourdon (also Fauxbordon, and also commonly two words: Faux Bourdon, or, Faulx Bourdon, and, in Italian, Falso Bordone) – French for False Drone – is a technique of musical harmonisation used in the Late-Middle Ages and Early-Renaissance, particularly by composers of the Burgundian School.
Guillaume Dufay was a prominent practitioner of the form (as was John Dunstaple), and may have been its inventor.
The homophony and mostly parallel harmony allows the text of the mostly Liturgical lyrics to be understood clearly.
In its simplest form, Faux-Bourdon consists of the cantus firmus and two other parts, a sixth, and a perfect fourth, below.
To prevent monotony, or create a cadence, the lowest voice sometimes jumps down to the octave, and any of the accompanying voices may have minor embellishments. Usually just a small part of a composition employs the Faux-Bourdon technique.
In a Hymn, the term is sometimes used when the Congregation sings in parallel octaves, with some singers singing a descant over the melody, but the term was historically used to indicate an arrangement of the tune in four parts with the melody in the tenor voice, such as those composed by 16th-Century and 17th-Century English composers, including John Dowland, Giles Farnaby, and Thomas Ravenscroft.
The earliest explicit example of Faux-Bourdon may be in the manuscript I-BC Q15 (Bologna, Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica, MS Q15), compiled around 1435, which contains several examples, including one by Dufay dating probably to around 1430. Since many Early-15th-Century compositions are anonymous, and dating is often problematic, exact determination of the authorship of the earliest Faux-Bourdon is difficult.
Dufay's contribution to this collection contains the first actual use of the term, in the closing part of his Missa Sancti Jacobi. It is possible that his use of the word "Bourdon" was intended as a pun on Saint James’ "Staff" (which Dufay, or the copyist, drew in miniature above the music). Cividale, Museo Civico MS 101 has a work "O Salutaris Hostia" (f. 82v) which seems to be a work of Faux-Bourdon, but not labelled as such.[1][2]
The earliest definitely datable example of Faux-Bourdon is in a motet by Dufay, “Supremum Est Mortalibus”, which was written for the Treaty reconciling the differences between Pope Eugene IV and Sigismund, after which Sigismund was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor, which happened on 31 May 1433. In this motet, which is for four voices, when the tenor—the lowest voice—drops out, the upper three voices proceed in Faux-Bourdon.
Even though its first use appears to have been in Italy, Faux-Bourdon was to become a defining characteristic of the Burgundian Style which flourished in the Low Countries through the middle of the 15th-Century. Composers such as Gilles Binchois, Antoine Busnois, and Johannes Brassart all frequently used the technique, always adapting it to their personal styles.
A related, but separate, development took place in England in the 15th-Century, called “Faburden”. While superficially similar, especially in that it involved chains of 6–3 chords with octave-fifth consonances at the ends of phrases, Faburden was a schematic method of harmonisation of an existing Chant; in the case of Faburden, the Chant was in the middle voice.
Example of Faux-Bourdon.
This is a portion of Ave Maris Stella, a Marian Antiphon,
in a setting by Guillaume Dufay, transcribed into modern notation. The top and bottom lines are freely composed; the middle line, designated "fauxbourdon" in the original, follows the contours of the top line while always remaining exactly a perfect fourth below. The bottom line is often, but not always, a sixth below the top line; it is embellished, and reaches cadences on the octave.
The earliest explicit example of Faux-Bourdon may be in the manuscript I-BC Q15 (Bologna, Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica, MS Q15), compiled around 1435, which contains several examples, including one by Dufay dating probably to around 1430. Since many Early-15th-Century compositions are anonymous, and dating is often problematic, exact determination of the authorship of the earliest Faux-Bourdon is difficult.
Dufay's contribution to this collection contains the first actual use of the term, in the closing part of his Missa Sancti Jacobi. It is possible that his use of the word "Bourdon" was intended as a pun on Saint James’ "Staff" (which Dufay, or the copyist, drew in miniature above the music). Cividale, Museo Civico MS 101 has a work "O Salutaris Hostia" (f. 82v) which seems to be a work of Faux-Bourdon, but not labelled as such.[1][2]
The earliest definitely datable example of Faux-Bourdon is in a motet by Dufay, “Supremum Est Mortalibus”, which was written for the Treaty reconciling the differences between Pope Eugene IV and Sigismund, after which Sigismund was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor, which happened on 31 May 1433. In this motet, which is for four voices, when the tenor—the lowest voice—drops out, the upper three voices proceed in Faux-Bourdon.
Even though its first use appears to have been in Italy, Faux-Bourdon was to become a defining characteristic of the Burgundian Style which flourished in the Low Countries through the middle of the 15th-Century. Composers such as Gilles Binchois, Antoine Busnois, and Johannes Brassart all frequently used the technique, always adapting it to their personal styles.
A related, but separate, development took place in England in the 15th-Century, called “Faburden”. While superficially similar, especially in that it involved chains of 6–3 chords with octave-fifth consonances at the ends of phrases, Faburden was a schematic method of harmonisation of an existing Chant; in the case of Faburden, the Chant was in the middle voice.
The magnificent Choir of the Church of Saint Eugène. Paris, often include examples of Faux-Bourdon in their outstanding regular Choral arrangements for The Divine Mass and The Divine Office.
Their Web-Site, LITURGIA, gives a splendid indication of the quality of their Mass Settings and Office renditions.
You can listen to their renditions on YouTube at YOU TUBE
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