Talk:Le Chant des Oiseaux (Clément Janequin)

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Errata for 2008 (most recent) edition

These are detected by comparison with other editions and musical consistency (i.e. if notes/text differ and are obviously problematic).

b.13 alto (Contratenor), 2nd breve should be f' not a'
b.75 alto, last 3 notes should be g' not a'
b.114 tenor, all notes should be a not b flat
b.145 soprano (Superius), first note should be d' ' not e' '
b.184 and 185 tenor, in each case the 4th note should be d not c.

Text: b.104 alto, should be 'boys' not 'goys'
b.168 bass, both notes should be sung on the syllable 'trai - '
b.169 bass, text should read "-stre, car"
b.170 bass, should read "vous n'e - stes qu'un"
b.171 bass, should read "trai - stre."
Clearly the whole of the 'Co-qu' text from b.174 through 183 in the bass has been misaligned by 1 note with the music. Basically every 'Co-' should be a 'qu' and vice versa up until the middle of 183 (where there is one spare note).

Other issues with the edition: The bar count goes wrong at every double bar. For example b.53 is followed by a double bar, there are 3 more bars in the line, yet the next line begins with b.58 (not 57). The last bar is 212 although the total number of bars (in other editions) is actually 208.
Also the provision of 'ficta' flats and sharps appears inconsistent. To be more specific, ficta Eb's are supplied much more frequently in the second half of the piece than in the first even though the musical context is strictly parallel. For example b.201-2 vs b4-5.
Also I understand that in this epoch F sharps and C sharps are often called for at full cadences into G or D respectively, eg b14 in alto, eg possibly b22 in soprano, and should probably be suggested as ficta.
--Tdent 15:17, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

What is a mauvis?

In modern French, the grive mauvis is the redwing (Turdus iliacus), which rarely breeds (and hence, rarely sings) in France. Moreover, it sounds nothing like the imitations given here. So mauvis probably refers to its close relative, very common in France, the song thrush (Turdus philomena). But I'd like to see confirmation from someone with knowledge of contemporary French. Rp (talk) 17:50, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

You seem to be correct in your assumption: [1], [2]
Carlos (talk) 16:45, 21 April 2016 (UTC)
Yes, I'm pretty sure Janequin wasn't an ornithologist but a poet and he had "la licence poétique" the freedom for each poet to change a word for another. And perhaps, at that time, people called "mauvis" "une grive musicienne" which song is wonderful but which name is a bit too long ;-) Claude (talk) 19:13, 21 April 2016 (UTC)