‘She Has a Wheel That Turns …’: Crossed and Contradictory Voices in Machaut's Motets

Abstract

The tiered structure of Machaut's motets is often taken for granted: the tenor is the lowest voice, the motetus is in the middle, and the triplum is highest. While this is mostly true of Machaut's work and of Ars nova motets more generally, there are a number of significant exceptions – passages in which the upper voices switch roles and the motetus sings at the top of the texture. The most striking of these are consistently linked with the goddess Fortuna. In Motets 12, 14 and 15, moments of voice-crossing serve to illustrate the actions of the goddess, who traditionally raises the low and lowers the high. While they are certainly symbolic, these instances of voice-crossing are also audible: since the voices retain their distinct rhythmic and textual profiles even while their relative ranges are reversed, voice-crossings allow the listener to hear a musical world turned on its head.