Gilles Binchois: L'argument De Beauté

Discantus, Brigitte Lesne

Composed by: Gilles Binchois
L'argument de beauté (The argument of beauty)

In these 15th-century polyphonies, musica ficta or 'feigned music'--accidentals not noted in the manuscripts but which have to be added in the melodic line--is left to the art of the performer.
In 1941, musicologist Charles van den Borren underscored the freedom and even the 'whim', which, according to him, held sway in this matter: 'What are noteworthy are the alterations expressly marked and the divergences that they offer from manuscript to manuscript... Putting aside certain eventualities provided for by theory [causa necessitatis], the accident was considered a sort of ornament whose use or non-use was left to the initiative of the choral director or the performer: causa pulchritudinis, the argument of beauty, such was the watchword...'

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