Grimace (composer)

A l’arme A l’arme by Grimace, verso 55 from the Chantilly Codex

Grimace (fl. mid-to-late 14th century; French: [ɡʁi.mas]; also Grymace, Grimache or Magister Grimache) was a French composer-poet in the ars nova style of late medieval music. Virtually nothing is known about Grimace's life other than speculative information based on the circumstances and content of his five surviving compositions of formes fixes; three ballades, a virelai and rondeau. His best known and most often performed work in modern-times is the virelai and proto-battaglia: A l’arme A l’arme.

He is thought to have been a younger contemporary of Guillaume de Machaut and based in southern France. Three of his works were included in the Chantilly Codex, which is an important source of ars subtilior music. However, along with P. des Molins, Jehan Vaillant and F. Andrieu, Grimace was one of the post-Machaut generation whose music shows few distinctly ars subtilior features, leading scholars to recognize Grimace's work as closer to the ars nova style of Machaut.

Identity and career

Almost nothing is known about Grimace's life other than the authorship of five works: three ballades, a virelai and rondeau, all of which are formes fixes. Grimace's identity remains unknown and his mononymous name is likely a sobriquet, similar to other composers of his time such as Zacar, Trebor, and possibly also Solage. His name is recorded in medieval manuscript sources with multiple variants, including Grimace, Grymace, Grimache and Magister Grimache. Grimace is thought to be French or to have been active in the courts of southern France, since two of his ballades, Des que buisson and Se Zephirus/Se Jupiter (a double ballade), and the virelai A l’arme A l’arme are included in the Chantilly Codex, a 14th century manuscript containing almost exclusively secular music by French composers. Similarities to the music of Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300 – 1377), the most significant European composer of the 14th century, suggests they are contemporaries. The strongest resemblance is found in Machaut's works from the 1360s and 70s, furthering that Grimace was a younger contemporary of Machaut, who flourished in the mid-to-late 14th century. Musicologist Gilbert Reaney speculated that Se Zephirus/Se Jupiter might have been written for Gaston III, Count of Foix and John I of Aragon.

Music

Overview

External audio
Des que buisson performed by Fortune Obscure
Se Zephirus/Se Jupiter performed by the Ferrara Ensemble

The Chantilly Codex is a primary source of ars subtilior music; however, Grimace's works have been noted as lacking the complicated rhythms that characterize the style, without variations in the value of the shortest note and rarely using syncopated rhythms. His poetry and music, especially his ballades, bear a closer resemblance to that of Machaut, an ars nova composer. Despite their parallels, Reaney notes that Grimace's contributions to the Chantilly Codex are more advanced than those of Machaut. Nevertheless, with P. des Molins, Jehan Vaillant, and F. Andrieu, Grimace was one of the "post-Machaut" generation whose pieces retain enough ars nova qualities to be separable from those of the rhythmically-complex ars subtilior composers such as Johannes Cuvelier and Johannes Susay. Musicologist Wulf Arlt cites Grimace specifically as a transitional figure from the "Machaut-style" to the "Post-Machaut" style; both before ars subtilior. This especially included the continuation of the ballade in the same general structure and style of Machaut.

In both of Grimace's four part works, A l’arme A l’arme and Des que buisson, each upper part builds a contrapuntal relationship off the lowest part (tenor), while the tenor itself exchanges this role with the second lowest part (contratenor), usually when the latter goes below the tenor. This happens often since the contratenor is usually lower, except at important section endings, similar to late works by Machaut such as Phyton (B39), although as B39 is in three parts, the lower contratenor does not, there, take on any contrapuntal foundation.

Ballades

Des que buisson and Se Zephirus/Se Jupiter, recto 53 from the Chantilly Codex

The two part ballade Dedens mon cuer survives, but is incomplete, and shares an identical refrain text with Trebor's ballade Passerose de beaute. Musicologist Yolanda Plumley notes that Dedens mon cuer also has textual similarities to other "Machaut-style" ballades: Egidius's Roses et lis ay veu en une fleur and the anonymous En mon cuer est un blanc cine pourtrait.

En mon cuer est un blanc cine pourtrait Qu'Amour y a navre si doucement D'un dart d'amours que ma dame y a trait, En la playe est un rubins d'orient; En mon cuer, Anonymous

Dedens mon cuer est pourtrait' un' ymage Qu'il n'est nulz hom qui peust ymaginer La grant beaute de son tresdoulz vysage Qu'Amours y a voulu configurer Dedens mon cuer, Grimace

One of two surviving four part works, the ballade Des que buisson is notable for its use of hocket in the triplum (third part) which Günther describes as something that "is striking and contributes to the complementary rhythm of the piece". Since Des que buisson means to represent the coming of spring, musicologist Elizabeth Eva Leach explains the hocket rhythms, as well as falling thirds and repeated notes, as part of a birdsong motif.

In Grimace's double ballade Se Zephirus/Se Jupiter, similarities to Machaut are especially apparent since Grimace adopts musical rhymes at the main cadences. The work has the same rhymes as Machaut's double ballade Quant Theseus/Ne quier (B34), with which it also shares a refrain text. Despite this, Leach notes that Quant Theseus/Ne quier is in four parts with two texted upper voices and an untexted contratenor, as opposed to the three-part Se Zephirus/Se Jupiter where only the tenor is untexted. Because of this, closer technical similarities can be drawn to the polytextual double ballade Je me merveil/J’ay pluseurs fois by Jacob Senleches, and Jehan Vaillant’s double rondeau Dame, doucement/Doulz amis. Both texts of Se Zephirus/Se Jupiter have an Ubi sunt theme, which is when, as Leach describes it, "hyperbolical comparisons are made between the lady and/or patron and a list of figures from the classical, biblical and/or Christian past". Other works in the Chantilly Codex are representative of this, often signified by also beginning the text with "Se". Se Zephirus/Se Jupiter is Grimace's second most frequently performed work.

Virelai

External audio
A l'arme A l'arme performed by the Folger Consort
A l’arme A l’arme

Grimace's most frequently performed and best known composition is his other four part work, the virelai A l’arme A l’arme, which musicologist Ursula Günther describes as "unique and extremely interesting", and musicologist Willi Apel characterizes as anticipating the later battaglia form. Musicologist Jeremy Yudkin expands on this, noting the many battle-cry and fanfare-like phrases representing warfare; something that was commonplace in 14th century France. The work is for four parts – two cantus parts, a contratenor, and a tenor – and the cantus voices share text, while the contratenor and tenor parts imitate the upper voices despite being un-texted. At the same time, the contratenor and tenor have their own syncopation and rhythmic interplay with each other. Yudkin notes that the work's second section has a more "chordal texture", leading to a half cadence in the first ending. A copy of the piece in the Codex Reina is missing the second cantus part, although musicologist Virginia Ervin Newes noted that this version is notable "since it has the added text in the tenor and contratenor at each point of imitation".

Rondeau

Grimace's rondeau for three parts, Je voy ennui, survived in manuscript 222 C. 22 in the Bibliothèque municipale of Strasbourg until 1870/1, when it was destroyed during the Franco-Prussian war. The music is now known only in a c. 1866 transcription of this source by musicologist Edmond de Coussemaker; it is preserved in Brussels, Bibliothèque du Conservatoire Royal de Musique, MS 56286. Je voy ennui has less directional counterpoint than his other works, potentially due to errors in the transcription that are now uncheckable.

Doubtful works

Apel proposed that two virelais – C’estoit ma douce and Rescoés: Horrible feu d’ardent desir/Rescoés: Le feu de mon loyal servant – are by Grimace based on stylistic similarities, the latter of which shows considerable textual and musical similarities to A l’arme A l’arme. Their attribution remains doubtful.

Works

List of compositions by Grimace

Title	No. of voices	Genre	Manuscript source: Folios	Apel	Greene
Dedens mon cuer	2	Ballade	Bern, Burgerbibliothek. Sammlung Bongarsiana, A. 471, f 23v University of Pennsylvania, MS 11 (text only)	A 34	G Vol 20: 14
Des que buisson	4	Ballade	Chantilly Codex: 53r San Lorenzo: 146v [99v]	A 35	G Vol 19: 86
Se Zephirus/Se Jupiter	3	(Double) Ballade	Chantilly Codex: 53r	A 36	G Vol 18: 15
A l’arme/A l’arme/Tru tru	4	Virelai	Chantilly Codex: 55v	A 37	G Vol 19: 91 G Vol 21: 22
	3		Codex Reina: 69v	–	–
Je voy ennui	3	Rondeau	[F-Sm 222 C. 22]: 25r	–	–
			MS 56286: 25r	A 38	G Vol 22: 5
No other works by Grimace survive

Doubtful attributions

Title	No. of voices	Genre	Manuscript source: Folios	Apel	Greene
C’estoit ma douce nouriture	3	Virelai	Codex Reina: 64r San Lorenzo: 133v-134r [101v-102r] Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Clm 29775 vol. 8	A 186	G Vol 21: 22
Horrible feu d’ardent desir/Rescoés: Le feu de mon loyal servant	3	Virelai	Codex Reina: 58r	A 222	G Vol 21: 57

Editions

Grimace's works are included in the following collections:

• Apel, Willi, ed. (1970). French Secular Compositions of the Fourteenth Century. Corpus mensurabilis musicae. Vol. 1, Ascribed Compositions. Cambridge: American Institute of Musicology. OCLC 311424615.
• Mudge, Charles Roswell (1972–78). The Pennsylvania Chansonnier: A Critical Edition of Ninety-five Anonymous Ballades from the Fourteenth Century with Introduction, Notes and Glossary. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. OCLC 32768372.
• Greene, Gordon K., ed. (1981–89). French Secular Music. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century. Vol. 18–22. Monaco: Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre.

• Greene, Gordon K., ed. (1982). Manuscript Chantilly, Musée Condé 564 Part 1, nos. 1–50. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century. Vol. 18. Monaco: Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre. OCLC 181660103.
• Greene, Gordon K., ed. (1982). Manuscript Chantilly, Musée Condé 564 Part 2, nos. 51–100. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century. Vol. 19. Monaco: Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre. OCLC 181661945.
• Greene, Gordon K., ed. (1982). Ballads and Canons. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century. Vol. 20. Monaco: Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre. OCLC 880124843.
• Greene, Gordon K., ed. (1987). Virelais. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century. Vol. 21. Monaco: Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre. OCLC 16712618.
• Greene, Gordon K., ed. (1989). Rondeaux and Miscellaneous Pieces. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century. Vol. 22. Monaco: Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre. OCLC 19540959.

References

Sources

Books

• Apel, Willi (1969). Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-37501-7.
• Leach, Elizabeth Eva (2002). "Grimace, Magister Grimache, Grymace". In Finscher, Ludwig (ed.). Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Vol. 8. Kassel: Bärenreiter. ISBN 978-3-476-41020-7. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
• Leach, Elizabeth Eva (2011). "The Fourteenth Century". In Everist, Mark (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-316303-4.
• Roche, Jerome; Roche, Elizabeth, eds. (1981). A Dictionary of Early Music From the Troubadours to Monteverdi. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-520255-7.
• Strohm, Reinhard (2005). The Rise of European Music, 1380-1500. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-61934-9.
• Yudkin, Jeremy (1989). Music in Medieval Europe (1st ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-608192-0.
• Wimsatt, James I. (1982). Chaucer and the Poems of "Ch" in University of Pennsylvania MS French 15. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8476-7200-4.

Journals and articles

• Wulf, Arlt [in German] (1973). "The Development of French Secular Music during the Fourteenth Century". Musica Disciplina. 27: 41–59. JSTOR 20532157.
• Wulf, Arlt [in German] (2001). "Machaut [Machau, Machault], Guillaume de". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.51865. ISBN 9781561592630. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
• Günther, Ursula (2001). "Grimace". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.11784. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. Archived from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
• Newes, Virginia Ervin (1977). "Imitation in the Ars nova and Ars subtilior". Revue belge de Musicologie / Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Muziekwetenschap. 31. Belgium: Societe Belge de Musicologie: 38–59. doi:10.2307/3686188. JSTOR 3686188.
• Plumley, Yolanda (2003). "An 'Episode in the South'? Ars Subtilior and the Patronage of French Princes". Early Music History. 22. Cambridge University Press: 103–168. doi:10.1017/S0261127903003036. JSTOR 3874749. S2CID 194113019.
• Reaney, Gilbert (1954). "The Manuscript Chantilly, Musée Condé 1047". Musica Disciplina. 8: 59–113. JSTOR 20531876.

Online

Blog by subject-matter expert

• Leach, Elizabeth Eva (29 December 2010). "The composer Grimace". eeleach.blog. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020.

Further reading

• Günther, Ursula (1967). "Bemerkungen zum älteren französischen Repertoire des Codex Reine". Archiv für Musikwissenschaft (in German). 24 (4): 237–252 (especially 247). doi:10.2307/930261. JSTOR 930261.
• Handschin, Jacques [in German] (1923). "Die ältesten Denkmäler mensural notierter Musik in der Schweiz". Archiv für Musikwissenschaft (in German). 5 (1): 1–10 (especially 4, 6). doi:10.2307/929659. JSTOR 929659.
• Van den Borren, Charles [in German] (1924). Le manuscrit musical M.222 C.22 de la Bibliothèque de Strasbourg (XVe siècle), brulé en 1870, et reconstitué d'après une copie partielle d'Edmond de Coussemaker (in French). Imprimerie E. Secelle. pp. 71–2. OCLC 476484624.
• Wilkins, Nigel E. (1968). "The Post-Machaut Generation of Poet-Musicians". Nottingham Medieval Studies. 12: 40–84. doi:10.1484/J.NMS.3.38. Reprinted in Wilkins, Nigel E. (2011). "Words and Music in Medieval Europe". Farnham: Ashgate. 8: 40–84.
• Van, Imprimerie J. (1925). Annales De L'academie Royale D'archeologie De Belgique (in French). Imprimerie E. Secelle. pp. 131–2.

External links

• List of compositions by Grimace at the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music
• List of compositions by Grimace at the Medieval Music Database of La Trobe University