In every culture there are songs. Many songs will be forgotten after a while, but other songs have a more long-lasting life. In some rare cases, one song can have a big influence. Such a song is the fifteenth-century song L’homme armé (mp3 – source):
L’homme, l’homme, l’homme armé,
L’homme armé
L’homme armé doibt on doubter, doibt on doubter.
On a fait partout crier,
Que chascun se viengne armer
D’un haubregon de fer.
In translation:
The armed man should be feared.
Everywhere it has been proclaimed
That each man shall arm himself
With a coat of iron mail.
We do not know who made this chanson. It could have been the composer Guillaume Dufay (c.1400-1474). Anyway, during the second half of the Renaissance a large number of masses was composed that use this chanson. Among the composers are important names such as Dufay, Josquin, Ockeghem, Obrecht, and others.
The melody is constructed such that it allows all kinds of transformations in polyphonic compositions: backwards, upside down, double speed, fragmented, embellished, and so on. In many cases it is required to know the melody thoroughly in order to recognize the subtle ways it is included in the composition.
As an example we take the Hosanna from the mass that is the fourth in a series of six L’Homme armé masses in a anonymous, late fifteenth-century, Neapolitan manuscript. One of the voices has the text ‘On a fait partout crier’. First as it is in the song, and then backwards. Listen to the original phrase: (mp3 – source), and now to the mass fragment: (mp3 – source).
In numerous compositions composers have played with this melody, which thus carved a deep trail in music history.
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