The original text to this song (in French):
- Ma fin est mon commencement
- Et mon commencement ma fin
- Est teneure vraiement
- Ma fin est mon commencement.
- Mes tiers chans trois fois seulement
- Se retrograde et einsi fin.
- Ma fin est mon commencement
- Et mon commencement ma fin.
The English translation:
My end is my beginning
And my beginning my end
And true tenor.
My end is my beginning.
My third part three times only
Moves backwards and so ends.
My end is my beginning
And my beginning my end
This song is a rondeau with three parts. The most interesting aspect of this song is that the musical score actually illustrates the text, The top two voices have the same melody in opposite directions. If you look at the score and read the second voice backwards, starting at the end, it is the same as the top voice starting at the the beginning and reading it normally. This illustrates the text, "My end is my beginning and my beginning is my end." The bottom voice reaches the midpoint of the song and then reverses itself. The sections repeat three times so the text "My third part three times only, moves backwards and so ends" is literally true.
Since I have a copy of the score I was able to see exactly how this was done. Then I listened to the recording several times to see if I could pick any of this out by listening, but I couldn't. I don't think that anyone could pick this out by listening to it. I found this interesting. It was as if a mystery or a puzzle was hidden inside the score and the explanation was in the text, but musically it did not change the sound at all. It sounded pretty much like the other music of similar forms from this genre. You can only put the puzzle together by analyzing the text and the score.
No comments:
Post a Comment