Faux-Bourdon
Medieval three-part setting with parallel sixths.
What it means
The faux-bourdon is a way of writing of the fifteenth century in which a given melody is notated in the upper voice and accompanied by a lower voice in parallel sixths. A third voice is not written out but improvised, running along with the upper voice at the fourth below. The result is a sequence of parallel first-inversion chords that at section ends leads into an octave with a fifth.
Musical use
The sound differed distinctly from the older polyphony, which rested on fifths and octaves. With the faux-bourdon, the sound of thirds and sixths established itself as the basis of the texture — a development that is connected with English influences and that had consequences for the further history of polyphonic writing. The sound is full, soft, and consonant throughout.
The procedure was applied above all to liturgical chants such as hymns and psalms, whose melody could thereby be adorned polyphonically without having to compose a setting of its own. Since the middle voice is derived from the upper voice, the notation of two voices sufficed.
The name means roughly “false bass” and is interpreted in different ways; there is no secure explanation.
The faux-bourdon is to be distinguished from the related English gymel, a duet in thirds or sixths, and from the later Italian falsobordone, a chordal recitation setting that, despite the similar name, rests on other principles.
The technique is attested since about 1430 and is associated with Guillaume Dufay. Only discant and tenor are notated, which run in sixths and end in the octave; the middle voice is improvised a fourth below the discant. A chain of first-inversion chords results that was valued for its soft sound. The English gymel and the later English discant practice show related procedures.
Performance practice
If you sing the supplied middle voice, keep the fourth to the upper voice exact — it is the basis of the sound. Lead all three voices evenly and in parallel without emphasizing individual ones. And shape the closing turns as an opening into the empty octave-fifth sonority.