Differences in Performances: Kalenda Maia and the "Kyrie" from the Christmas Mass

As one might expect, there are a number of instrumentation, rhythmic, and melodic differences between different recordings and manuscripts of both the songs Kalenda Maia and the Kyrie from the Christmas Mass. The piece Kalenda Maia will be examined first, then the Christmas Kyrie. The first difference between sources arises in the story behind the composition of Kalenda Maia, though perhaps it is more surprising that so much of the story is the same. Kalenda Maia is an estampie that Rambaut de Vaqueiras wrote to a fiddle tune. The story is that he loved Lady Beatrice, and she loved him until people began spreading false rumors about Rambaut. She was convinced by them, and told Rambaut she would not love him anymore. One day two fiddlers were playing an estampie and the Marquis observed that Rambaut was not singing along or having a good time. The Marquis knew that he was so sullen because Beatrice no longer loved him. The Marquis asked Beatrice to convince Rambaut to write a new song, so she did. Kalenda Maia is the song he wrote to that tune the fiddlers were playing. 12 This story behind Rambaut's composition of Kalenda Maia is the same in the sources consulted except for one minor difference: Wishart's version of the tale claims Beatrice is the Marquis' daughter, while Aubry's says she is his daughter. Perhaps the stories came from the same manuscript and are so similar for that reason, but that manuscript does not make clear what the relation was between Beatrice and the Marquis.