Talk:Cantus firmus

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l'homme arme[edit]

It would be good to break out a separate l'homme arme article in due course.

References

I need to add references to the two suggested l'homme arme origins:- The St Michael the Archangel attribution is from 'The Pelican History of Music, vol2' ed Robertson & Stevens, Pelican 1963 The 'Cambrai pub' attribution is from Pryer's article on Dufay in 'the New Oxford Companion to Music' Oxford 1983

I think the standard reference on Cantus Firmus is still Sparks' 'Cantus Firmus in Mass & Motet' Berkeley 1963

Linuxlad 10:38, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I think we definitely have enough for a l'homme armé article. It will need a musical example, of course. Thanks for the Pryer reference--I had never heard this one, and it's a good story. I remember reading that the "armed man" probably referred to arming oneself for the ongoing fight with the Turks (remember, this was right around the time of the fall of Constantinople) --there's a pretty good article in Grove which I can look up when I get home from work. Also if I remember there are a total of 31 settings of the tune in masses between 1450 and 1650. Fun stuff. Antandrus 16:03, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Plural[edit]

— Is it correct that the plural of "cantus" should be "cantus" and not "canti" ? http://www.math.ohio-state.edu/~econrad/lang/ln2.html reports "cantus" as belonging to second declension with plural in -i. --Wentu 20:48, 29 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wentu, I canot explain why that site gives cantus as second declension. But a Google search on {cantus declension} will show this to be a decidedly minority opinion. My reference works confirm cantus as fourth declension. Noetica 22:49, 29 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Pre-existing?[edit]

The article defines it as "pre-existing", but that is not really required. Composers also compose new cantus firmi from scratch. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1000:B075:2CCF:B0D0:FA65:6CF5:4187 (talk) 18:31, 15 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Wouldn't that still assume the cantus is written first, and only afterward used as the basis for a polyphonic composition? Well, logic aside, what is needed (as always on Wikipedia) is a reliable source verifying that there may be exceptions.—Jerome Kohl (talk) 22:53, 15 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]