YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

POLYPHONY AND WORD-SOUND IN ADRIAN WILLAERT’S LAUS TIBI SACRA RUBENS
In the fourth line of Comes’s poem, ut quina emundans vulnera proluerat, which
describes Joseph of Arimathea’s bathing and cleaning of Christ’s five wounds, two
kinds of sounds dominate: the vowel u as well as two closely related classes of consonants,
namely liquids (l and r) and nasals (m and n). In his polyphonic construction
Willaert (See Example 2) highlights them both by successive and simultaneous
means.
The letter u, which is generally known to be the darkest vowel of the spectrum,
occurs four times, usually on a stressed syllable: UT, eMUNdans, VULnera and
proLUerat. On a horizontal level, the composer often tries to stretch this sound over
different beats, by either using a melisma or a slightly longer rhythmic value. In
addition, from the perspective of solmisation the syllables eMUNdans and proLUerat
are often sung on fa. 17 It will also be noted that from bar 35 onwards the polyphonic
texture is organised in such a way that this vowel constantly figures in one or more
voices. This effect reaches a climax on the second beat of bar 44, where the four
u-syllables are heard together: VULnera (cantus), UT (quintus), eMUNdans (tenor)
and proLUerat (bassus).
Although the prominent presence of the vowel u surely guided the melodic shaping
of this verse, I believe it is still another sonic element that fundamentally influenced
the organisation of Willaert’s polyphonic texture, especially when we compare
it with his handling of the second verse. Whereas this line was mainly characterized
by hard consonantal combinations, the fourth verse is striking because of its
many soft consonants. If we now confront Willaert’s musical translation of the fourth
line with that of the second one, a remarkable difference appears. The systematic
alternation of entrances on the weaker and stronger parts of the measure – which
proved to be the ideal tool for expressing the emotional and sonic content of the
second verse – has given way to a much more mellifluous counterpoint, that not only
carefully follows the rules of the metrical accentuation, but also seeks to heighten
the effect of the soft consonants. This often results in the simultaneous presence of
two (e.g. first beat of bar 38), three (e.g. third beat of bar 43) and even four (e.g. first
beat of bar 44) of these consonants. In short, just as Comes translated the opposite
emotional message of verses 2 and 4 by choosing a radically different sound pattern,
Willaert uses a totally different polyphonic texture in order to stress this poetic effect.
In the second part of his motet, the composer continues his extensive musical
exploration of the poem’s sonic characteristics. At one point, however, Willaert clearly
deviates from this intention. In bars 90–110 (See Example 3), i.e. shortly before
the end of the piece, he exchanges the rich contrapuntal activity of the previous lines
17 For eMUNdans, see altus (b. 31), bassus (b. 33 and 38), quintus (b. 40), cantus (b. 43), altus (b. 44)
and quintus (b. 45); for proLUerat, see altus (b. 34 and 37), cantus (b. 39), bassus (b. 40), tenor (b. 46)
and altus (b. 47). VULnera as well is ocasionally sung on fa: cantus (b. 44), altus (b. 45) and bassus
(b. 47). I wish to thank Jeffrey Kurtzman for his observations on this topic.
71