The fixed forms of French verse and their stylized poetic conventions may have become a bit stale by around 1500. Guillaume de Machaut first codified the formes fixes, and they persisted through nearly two centuries. A poem such as "A la mignonne de fortune," though perfectly following its conventional bergerette form, may have been read in a satirical light. Its text praises a woman in nearly outrageous terms. "There is not a mouth that could suffice to praise the worst of her perfections." Some of the lady's perfections, in fact, seem deliberately overstated: "Her loyalty is not common" and "Her value crests as the moon," (which, of course, has phases). When Alexander Agricola chose to set the poem to music, he chose a similarly overstated optimism. Agricola's music overtly follows the form of the poetic text. The bergerette, a single-stanza example of the fixed-form virelai, contains a refrain, two contrasting feet, a stanza to the refrain music, and a return of the refrain: AbbaA. Agricola observes the poetic lines within the refrain, setting each to a complete phrase; most begin with imitation between the tenor and the upper voice (the very first line opens with three-voiced imitation) and all end with a cadence. The second section takes a contrasting duple mensuration and departs from the closely imitative relationship into a more homophonic texture. Through most of the song, Agricola maintains a bright F tonality with clear, cadential motions. The exception comes in the middle of the first section, where a suddenly rich dissonance leads to a pair of harsher cadences. It occurs around the moment in the refrain text where the poet speaks of giving up his heart: "...me tien, le coeur qui souloit estre mien." A very complex series of imitative sequences leads then to the conclusion of the section, perhaps belying the previous sunny character; has the speaker reconsidered his affection?

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