Melismas in the Speculum musicae

Eight melodies, one for each of the ecclesiastical modes, are given as optional additions to responsories and other chants in the 14th-century Speculum musicae of Jacobus of Liège. The melodies have paired phrases resembling those of contemporaneous dance music. The paucity of surviving melodies of this sort, and their almost exclusive association with secular music, make this series particularly fascinating.