Uppsala MS 76a, no. 8 »En actendant la grace souvereine«

Uppsala 76a, no. 8, ff. 6v-7 »En actendant la grace souvereine« 3v (unicum)

En actendant la grace souvereine
de la bele pour qui suis en tel peine,
j’ay eu ung ris dont je m’ens tiens tresfier
car Bienz Celer, qui d’Amours est greffier,
l’enregistra pour mon premier estreine.

Sy n’ay je nerf que ne tramble ne vainne,
tant ay de peur que ma gloyre soyt vainne;
mais Franc Voloir me fait glorifier

en actendant la grace souvereine
de la bele pour qui suis en tel peine,
j’ay eu ung ris dont je m’ens tiens tresfier.

Aussi je croy, et c’est chose certeine,
que la bouche de dame sy authaine
ne daingneroit semblant verifier
quy ne fut vray, je m’y puis bien fier
et oublier partie de mon actaine

en actendant la grace souvereine
de la bele pour qui suis en tel peine,
j’ay eu ung ris dont je m’ens tiens tresfier
car Bienz Celer, qui d’Amours est greffier,
l’enregistra pour mon premier estreine.

Entered by Hand B. Of the rondeau text the refrain is placed rather carefully under the music of the upper voice, while the remainder is written in the empty space on the lower half of the page. It is remarkable how close to the text all three parts are composed; this first and foremost applies to the refrain, as the lines ending with “... fier” in couplet and tierce are one or two syllables short. The poem is found in several contemporary collections of poems (cf. Fallows 1999, p. 144); their versions show the same metrical characteristics (cf. the edition Françon 1938, p. 206).

The rondeau is composed in a high tessitura (total range d-f”) like the other songs in the small group consisting of nos. 6-9 – it could indicate that this group was copied from a common exemplar. Unlike no. 7 »Quant je fuz prins au pavillon« the voices here retain their usual roles with superius and tenor an octave apart and the contratenor a fifth below the tenor. The superius has a key signature of one flat placed on the uppermost line, that is before f”. This flat only indicates that the voice exceeds the normal gamut by using a fictive or false hexachord on c”, and that the many high Es should not be inflected.