YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

THE ROLE OF ACOUSTICS IN THE PERFORMANCE OF RENAISSANCE POLYPHONY
ments to singers or a choirmaster until 1427. 4 Nonetheless, the ordinals and necrologies
make it clear that polyphony was cultivated in the Aquensian liturgy from the
fourteenth century and probably earlier, even if payments to singers as such were
unspecified.
Two examples of late-fourteenth century polyphony from Aachen have come
down to us. An English codex now in the Municipal Library at Erfurt (Stadtbücherei,
Amplonia Quarto 332) was once owned and heavily annotated by Johann Barba,
rector of the Marienkirche’s chapel of Saint Catherine from about 1391 to at least
1401. 5 Among Barba’s annotations are polyphonic settings of two chants: Syß
willekomen heire Kerst, a vernacular acclamation or Leise that the ordinals specifically
prescribe (see Example 1), and Gloria in excelsis Deo, the verse for the responsory
Hodie nobis celorum rex, which corresponds to the text sung by the angelic
choirs as described in Luke’s gospel (see Example 2).
In light of the date of composition of these works, which is to say the end of the
fourteenth century, they are remarkable for their rhythmic and textural simplicity;
indeed, one might be tempted to call them archaic. Syß willekomen heire Kerst has
the chant melody as a cantus firmus in the lowest voice in primarily long note-values,
while the upper two voices proceed in ternary subdivisions of the beat characteristic
of modal rhythm. Gloria in excelsis deo has an elaborated version of the chant in the
uppermost voice instead of a chant-based cantus firmus, and in this aspect looks forward
to chant elaborations in polyphony of the fifteenth century, but otherwise its
rhythmic and textural organization is similar to that of Syß willekomen heire Kerst.
Neither piece contains the syncopation so characteristic of late fourteenth-century
polyphonic style, and there is not a single rest. In sum, Barba’s settings resemble the
motet of the early-thirteenth century more closely than the liturgical polyphony of
the late-fourteenth.
One can only speculate as to the reasons for this conservative style – among
them would surely be the influence of the improvised polyphony cultivated in Aachen
during this period – but I would like to suggest that the acoustics of the building at
the time played a role. Architectural historians believe that the new choir was constructed
around the small eastern apse (see Figure 3), allowing the church’s cursus
to continue uninterrupted until the structure was finished. 6 During Barba’s tenure at
the church, then, the layout and acoustics of the building would not have changed at
all despite the enormous choir taking shape outside its walls. Before the completion
4 RICE, Music and Ritual, pp. 242–243 and 298–302.
5 H. LOERSCH, Ueber ein Verzeichniss der Einkünfte der Katharinenkapelle beim Aachener Münster
aus dem Ende des 14. Jahrhunderts, in Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsvereins, 10 (1888), pp.
97–100.
6 J. BUCHKREMER, Zur Baugeschichte des Aachener Münsters, in Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsvereins,
22 (1900), pp. 238–240.
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