Est il mercy de quoy l’on peust finer 3v · Busnoys, Antoine
Appearance in the group of related chansonniers:
*Dijon ff. 59v-60 »Est il mercy de quoy l’en sceust finer« 3v · Edition · Facsimile
*Laborde ff. 29v-30 »Est il mercy de quoy on peult finer« 3v · Edition · Facsimile
*Leuven ff. 67v-70 »Est il mercy de quoy l’on sceust finer« 3v · Edition · Facsimile
*Nivelle ff. 37v-38 »Est il mercy de quoy l’on peust finer« 3v Busnois · Edition · Facsimile
*Wolfenbüttel ff. 2v-3 »Est il mercy de quoy on peust finer« 3v · Edition · Facsimile
Other musical sources:
New Haven 91 ff. 8v-9 »Est il merchy de quoy on pueut finer« 3v Busnoys · Facsimile
Paris 2973 ff. 36v-38 »Est il mercy de quoy l’on peust finer« 3v · Facsimile
This page with editions as a PDF
Editions: Gutiérrez-Denhoff 1988 no. 2 (Wolfenbüttel); Busnoys 2018 no. 19 (Nivelle).
Text: Rondeau cinquain; possibly by Chartier; full text in Dijon, Laborde, Leuven, Nivelle and Wolfenbüttel; also in New Haven 91 and Paris 2973; also found in Berlin 78.B.17 ff. 100v-101, ed.: Löpelmann 1927, p. 163; Jardin 1501 f. 66.
After Nivelle::
Est il mercy de quoy l’on peust finer? 1) Pour fondre tout en larmes de plourer, Est il mercy de quoy l’on peust finer? Quel remede puis je a mon fait donner, 8) Est il pitie qu’on sceust en vous trouver? Est il, m’amour, nulle rien suffisante? Est il chose tant soit forte ou puissante dont je sceusse vo grace recouvrer? |
Is there mercy that might bring an end? By melting into weeping tears, Is there mercy that might bring an end? What means can I use to better my situation, Is there pity one might find in you? Is there, my love, nothing sufficient? Is there anything, however strong or powerful, by which I night recover your grace? |
1) Dijon, Leuven, line 1, “... sceust finer", Laborde, "... on peult finer"
2) Laborde, Leuven, Wolfenbüttel, line 2, “... peust trouver"
3) Nivelle, line 3, “Est il m’amour nul rien ...” (error), Leuven "Est il amour ..."
4) Nivelle, line 4, “Est il ma chose ..." (error)
5) Dijon, line 5, "... grace recevoir" (error), Laborde, Leuven, “... vostre grace ... (error),
Wolfenbüttel, “dont je peusse ..."
6) Laborde, Wolfenbüttel, line 7, “... je puisse endurer"
7) Dijon, line 8, “... dont feussiez contente” [error)
8) Dijon, Leuven, line 12, “... fait trouver", Wolfenbüttel, “Quelque remede puisse mon ..." (error)
9) Leuven, line 13, “... bien pour tant ...” (error)
10) Dijon, line 16, “... peu descouvrer”, Laberde, “... tant peuty descouvrer", Wolfenbüttel, “... tant seul peu descouvrer”
– in addition several variations in the spelling
Evaluation of the sources:
The transmission of Busnoys’ “Est il mercy” is unusual consistent. There are small variants in all the sources, but none of them has any real impact in performances; this includes the two contemporary Italian sources, the Mellon chansonnier and the Chansonnier Cordiforme – both copied during the 1470s (published in Perkins 1979, no. 7, and Thibault & Fallows 1991, no. 28). The song must have been quite recent when it reached the group of ‘Loire Valley’ chansonniers and was copied nearly without errors by the main scribes. It is noteworthy, too, that the majority of the variants in the text appear in the rondeau’s refrain – normally the differences crop up in the two last sections (see above).
Laborde, Leuven and Nivelle all have mensural signatures of one flat in all three voices. Dijon has no signature in the upper voice, but sketches flats in the lower voices – it is most probable that the classic combination of no flat in the superius and one flat each in tenor and contra was intended. Wolfenbüttel only has a signature flat in the first section of the tenor – this opens up for a short appearance of the G-hexachord in bar 17, which sounds just as good as with a flat. In reality, the dominance of the F-hexachord in the core voices makes the signature flats rather superfluous.
In addition to some unique details (S bb. 3.3 and 12.2, C b. 23.1) Dijon divides the brevis note in the tenor bar 22.1 into two semibreves – this is also found in the Cordiforme version. Nivelle has a clean version without the cadential decorations that we find in the other sources (Dijon, S b. 25; Laborde, S b. 16; Leuven T bb. 12 and 15; Wolfenbüttel T bb. 12 and 15, S b. 16). Nivelle avoids the parallel fifths between tenor and contratenor in bars 18.3-19.1 in Dijon by replacing the dotted figure with a semibrevis d; these parallels also appear in Cordiforme. Laborde, Leuven and Wolfenbüttel avoid this situation by having a semiminima B instead of c. In bar 8 Wolfenbüttel permits the contratenor to sing in parallel octaves with the upper voice. In superius bar 7.3 a semibrevis replaces two minimae in Laborde and Wolfenbüttel; a similar variant can be found in chansonnier Cordiforme.
Broadly, Nivelle and Dijon are close, and Laborde, Leuven and Wolfenbüttel share many details, but the differences are not enough to speak of separate traditions of transmission. Many details seem simply to depend on the whims of the scribes.
Comments on text and music:
The rhetorical poem was possibly created by the poet Alain Chartier (c. 1485 - c. 1430) as proposed by David Fallows. (1) It is formed as a series of questions from the lover who more and more desperately seeks to win the lady’s favour. If by Chartier, its setting in music is a quite late re-interpretation of the courtly lover’s sufferings. Busnoys’ music is lively and elegant, and possibly a bit mocking when the lover becomes too plaintive.
The highly imitative pair of voices, superius and tenor, are placed an octave apart, c'-d'' and c-d', and they are supplemented by a wide-ranging and active contratenor, G-d', which participates in the imitations. All the questions start in strict canonic imitation at the octave in superius and tenor. The contratenor participates in the two first as the starting voice and at the same level as the tenor. Remark also how the contratenor presents the tranquil tune, which opens the contrasting second section, already before the middle cadence. Here it has a supporting role, but is taken up by the upper voices and projected as a motive.
The motives of the first section are lively with declamation in minimae and many semiminimae. The first motive runs through the C-hexachord with a continuation delineating the F-hexachord in all three voices. The two next motives are simple statements of the F-hexachord; a similar pattern lies behind the second section. The two sections are of the same length, so the only two lines in the second get a more expansive treatment.
In view of the imitative stile, it is remarkable how much care the composer has shown keeping the words pronounced simultaneously in the questioning line ends, see especially bars 8-9, 18-20 and 23-26.
The song conveys the lover’s insistent asking in its fast pace forward. A lamenting note creeps in at the beginning of the last line (bb. 20-22) through the superius’ circling around the b'-flat. This wailing becomes somewhat undercut by tenor and contratenor. Instead of just resting on a G-concord, they chop up the long note and sing “dont / je” in turns – creating an illusion of a micro imitation – and adding a tint of comedy.
PWCH January 2023
1) David Fallows, ‘Binchois and the Poets’, in Andrew Kirkman & Dennis Slavin (eds.), Binchois Studies. Oxford 2000, pp. 199-219, at pp. 212-214.