From Chant to Polyphony Organum and the Notre

From Chant to Polyphony: Organum and the Notre Dame School Please take handout

1180 A. D

Notre Dame, Paris

Perotin: 4 -part organum, “Viderunt omnes”

n These singers attempt, with the lewdness of a lascivious voice, to feminize all their spellbound little fans with the way they render their phrase. When such practices go too far, they can more easily occasion titillation between the legs than a sense of devotion in the brain. John of Salisbury (ca. 1180)

From Chant to Polyphony Monestary/Convent Cathedral Church Country City

From Chant to Polyphony I. Introduction: The Medieval Concept of Authority II. Phase I: Early Forms of Polyphony (ca. 850 to ca. 1160) III. Phase II: Notre Dame Organum (Paris ca. 1200) IV. The Payoff

I. Introduction: The Medieval Concept of Authority: Exhibit A. Gloss Medieval Concept of Authority = Knowledge is a commentary on or elaboration of existing authoritative text Bible or other text Commentary

Authority: Exhibit B. Medieval Prayer & Poem Ave Maria, Gratia plena, Dominus tecum Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you Ave, ancilla Domini tu humillima laude felix virgo devotissima Maria, stella ducents nos ad celestia ubi sonant angelorum cantica. Gratia, que per Evam fuit perturbata, per te nobis est reconciliata. Plena. . Poem = commentary on/elaboration of of existing authoritative text

Authority: Exhibit C. O? rganum 1. Organum Defined = Early sacred polyphony; = the earliest Western music in >1 part (e. g. , Viderunt omnes) 2. Organum based on Medieval idea of authority = Commentary on/elaboration of existing text 3. Musical Authority = Gregorian Chant ? 4. Organum = elaboration/commentary on chant

II. Early Forms of Organum (to ca. 1160) A. Parallel Organum Pie Jesu Domine, Dona eis requiem

II. Early Forms of Organum (to ca. 1160) A. Parallel Organum • Musica Enchiriadis = Musical Handbook Treatise, ca. 900 A. D. 1 of first descriptions: early organum. • Parallel Organum = chant elaborated by doubling at higher (or lower) pitch, usually the interval of a 5 th

II. Early Forms (cont. ) B. Free Organum Chant (black notes) Newly added voice 1. Melody added to chant in note-against-note style 2. Melodic contour of added line differs from chant 3. Free Organum moves from improvisation to composition

III. Notre Dame Organum Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris § Cornerstone 1163 § Altar dedicated 1182 § ca. 1180 -90: Leonin

III. Notre Dame Organum A. Leonin and the Magnus Liber 1. Magnus Liber=Great Book Primary source for Notre Dame Organum 2. Organum duplum 2 -voice organum: 1 voice= chant 2 nd= newly composed

3. Organum based on soloist’s parts of responsorial chants • Original Responsorial Chant: Soloist Choir • Notre Dame Organum: Organum Choir

III. Notre Dame Organum (cont. ) B. Two Styles for Elaborating Chant: 1. Organum style (organum purum or pure organum) • Chant is sung in lowest part, the tenor • Chant or tenor = long held notes • Many notes in added upper voice or duplum for each note of original chant (often > 20: 1) 2. Discant style

Organum Style Soloist Portion of Chant

III. Notre Dame Organum (cont. ) B. Two Styles for Elaborating Chant: 1. Organum purum (pure organum) or organum style • Chant is sung in lowest part, the tenor • Chant or tenor = long held notes • Many notes in added upper voice or duplum for each note of original chant (often > 20: 1) 2. Discant style • Chant is sung in lowest part, the tenor • But tenor notes move more quickly than in organum style (often 1: 1)

Discant Style Soloist Portion of Chant

Is organum vs. discant choice up to composer? Organum Style Discant Style • If chant was syllabic, then organum style • If chant was melismatic, then discant style

III. Notre Dame Organum (cont. ) C. The Generation of Perotin, ca. 1190 -1210 n 1. Wrote substitute clausulae, a new section of music in discant style n 2. Tripla and quadrupla n 3. Thinking Musically: Alters chant in lowest voice or tenor

IV. The Payoff Question: What __? • Relies on Authority • Is Based on Sacred Ideas, Texts • Is Bound by Rules & Constraints • Emphasizes not individual creativity, but a process of communal creation • Has Structure that is deeply Hierarchical/Layered a) Hip-Hop b) Beethoven Symphonies c) Organum d) Medieval culture

IV. The Payoff Question: What __? Big Idea: Sound & Structure of Music Mirror the Values of the Culture that Created It