Messe de Tournai

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The Tournai Mass is a polyphonic setting of the mass from 14th-century France. It is preserved in a manuscript from the library of the Tournai Cathedral. The Tournai Mass comprises six movements, each of which are for three voices. * The Kyrie is written in Franconian notation, and is stylistically typical of mid-to-late 13th century practice. * The Gloria has freer rhythmic interplay than the Kyrie, characteristic of Ars Nova developments. It is concluded by a huge amen which makes use of the hoquet technique. It probably dates from the period 1325-1350. * The Credo is in a simple contrapuntal style, and must have been a popular setting, because it is found in three other extant manuscripts, including the Apt Codex. * The Sanctus, like the Kyrie, is Franconian in style and notation. * The Agnus Dei is also Franconian. * The motet to the text Ite, Missa Est ends the mass. This motet is also found in the Ivrea Codex. Because of the wide disparities in style and notation, and because no underlying musical structure (such as a common cantus firmus or parody procedure) has been noted between the mass movements, the Tournai Mass is believed to have been composed independently by several musicians over a period of fifty or more years, and was later compiled by a scribe to be performed as a whole. The first known mass to have been conceived of and composed as a single unified work is the Messe de Nostre Dame by Guillaume de Machaut, who probably knew the T

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