A cycle of the ordinary of the Mass belonging to the Avignon school found in the manuscript E-Bc M971 (ff.1r–8r) that almost certainly belonged to the chapel of King Martin I of Aragon (1396–1410). It is made up of five fragments, written, with the exception of the four-part Agnus Dei, for three parts.
The compositional techniques vary from movement to movement. The Kyrie is written in simultaneous style and has no concordances. The Gloria is in discant style and has certain similarities with the melody of a Gloria by Depansis in a contemporary source (F-APT 16bis, no.12): either one melody provided a model for the other, or both are by the same composer (Stäblein-Harder). There are two other versions of this Gloria (E-Boc 2, no.1 and F-APT 16bis, no.34) which have different countertenors, and another (F-Sm 222, no.82) which is lost.
The Credo, in contrast to the Gloria, is in discant style and is less ornamented. Judging from the large number of known concordances (E-Sa 109, no.4; F-APT 16bis, no.46; F-CA, no.6; F-Pn 23190, no.103 (index); F-TLm 94, no.1; I-CF 98, no.2; I-IV, no.60; NL-Lu, 2515, no.3; US-R 44, no.3) it is the most famous liturgical fragment of the Ars Nova. Its inclusion in the index of one of these manuscripts (F-Pn 23190) suggests that it must have been composed before 1376. The version in the Barcelona manuscript contains notable errors, and the most reliable source is the Apt Codex.
The Sanctus is a motet for three voices with troped text. This fragment has no known concordances, although the Sanctus in the Apt Codex (F-APT 16bis, no.15) uses the same troped texts. The Agnus Dei is difficult to classify, despite the fact that its basic style is simultaneous. The outer voices are texted, while the inner voices are not. The contra I offers a complementary counterpoint to the quadruplum and tenor, which implies that it was sung. The only known concordance of this composition appears in a wall painting in Notre Dame, Kernascléden, Brittany. Unlike other known 14th-century cycles of the Ordinary of the Mass the Barcelona Mass does not include an Ite missa est or a Benedictus.
The Agnus Dei and the Kyrie are, in a way, related. They are the only fragments of the work written in imperfect time and minor prolation; the other three fragments are in imperfect time and major prolation. They use similar rhythmic motifs, although these are more complex in the Agnus Dei than in the Kyrie. In both movements the highest voice begins with a similar descending motif. The Gloria and Sanctus offer a contrast to the first and the last fragments of the Mass, in terms of their style and mensuration and of their text, which in both cases is troped. Unlike the Kyrie and, partly, the Sanctus, both fragments are related to the Avignon repertory by virtue of their concordances. The Credo is written in the 4th mode, while the others are mainly in the 1st mode. It is also included in the Toulouse Mass, where it is integrated into the mass as a whole, whereas in the Barcelona Mass it acts as an element of contrast. It is the only one of the five fragments to mention what may be the name of the composer, Sortes or Sortis. This might be the organist Steve de Sort, who was in the service of the royal chapel of Aragon between 1394 and 1407 (but see Sortes). In the Ivrea Codex this composition appears with the subtitle ‘de rege’. In general terms, there is less internal cohesion in the Barcelona Mass than in other 14th-century cycles of the Ordinary of the Mass. The mass is edited in PMFC, i (1956), pp.13–64; in CMM, xxix (1962), nos.19, 25, 47, 56, 72; and in M.C. Gómez: El manuscrito M971 de la Biblioteca de Catalunya (Misa de Barcelona) (Barcelona, 1989).
See also Tournai Mass and Mass, §II, 4.
F. Ludwig, ed.: Guillaume de Machaut: Musikalische Werke, ii (Leipzig, 1928/R), 22
H. Anglés: La música española desde la Edad Media hasta nuestros días (Barcelona, 1941), 26
H. Harder: ‘Die Messe von Toulouse’, MD, vii (1953), 105–28
L. Schrade: ‘The Mass of Toulouse’, RBM, viii (1954), 84–96
H. Stäblein-Harder: Fourteenth-Century Mass Music in France, MSD, vii (1962), nos.19, 25, 47, 56, 72
G. Reaney, ed.: Manuscripts of Polyphonic Music (c1320–1400), RISM, B/IV/2 (1969), 90–92
U. Günther: ‘Les anges musiciens et la messe de Kernascléden’, Les sources en musicologie: Paris 1979, 109–36
M.C. Gómez: ‘Quelques remarques sur le répertoire sacré de l'Ars nova provenant de l'ancien royaume d'Aragon’, AcM, lvii (1985), 166–79
I. Godt: ‘The Mass of Barcelona: How many Hands? How much Mass?’, Beyond the Moon: Festschrift Luther Dittmer, ed. B. Gillingham and P. Merkley (Ottawa,1990), 195–216
MARICARMEN GÓMEZ