Organum and

the Notre Dame

SchoolPlease take handout

1180 A. D

Notre Dame, Paris

Perotin: 4-part organum, “Viderunt omnes”

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 PolyphonyI. Introduction: The Medieval Concept of Authority

III. Phase II: Notre Dame Organum (Paris ca. 1200)

II.  Phase I: Early Forms of Polyphony (ca. 850 to ca.1160)

IV. The Payoff

Authority: Exhibit A. Gloss

Knowledge is a commentary on or

elaboration of existing authoritative text

Bible or otherauthoritative text

Commentary

I. Introduction: The Medieval Concept of Authority

Ave, ancilla Domini tu humillimalaude felix virgo devotissima

Maria, stella ducents nos ad celestiaubi sonant angelorum cantica.

Gratia, que per Evam fuit perturbata,per te nobis est reconciliata.

Plena . . . .

Authority: Exhibit B. Medieval Prayer & Poem

Poem = commentary on/elaboration of of existing authoritative text

Ave Maria, Gratia plena, Dominus tecumHail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you

1. Organum Defined

= Commentary on/elaboration of existing text

3. Musical Authority =

2. Organum based on Medieval idea of authority

Authority: Exhibit C.

?Gregorian Chant

= Early sacred polyphony; = the earliest Western music in >1 part (e.g.,Viderunt omnes)

rganum?O

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. 1of first descriptions: early organum.

•Parallel Organum = chant elaborated by doubling at higher (or lower) pitch, usually the interval of a 5th

II. Early Forms (cont.)B. Free Organum

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

Newly added voice

Chant (black notes)

III. Notre Dame Organum

Cornerstone 1163

Altar dedicated 1182

ca. 1180-90: Leonin

Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris

III. Notre Dame Organum

A. Leonin and the Magnus Liber

1. Magnus Liber=Great Book

2. Organum duplum 2-voice organum: 1 voice= chant

2nd= newly composed

3. Leonin’s organa based on soloists’ parts of responsorial chants

Primary source for Notre DameOrganum

Responsorial Chant: Viderunt omnes

Organum Choir

1. Original Responsorial Chant:

2. Notre Dame Organum:

Soloist Choir

III. Notre Dame Organum (cont.) B. Two Styles for Elaborating Chant:

1. Organum style (organum purum or pure organum)

2. Discant 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)

Organum Style

SoloistPortion of Chant

III. Notre Dame Organum (cont.) B. Two Styles for Elaborating Chant:

1. Organum purum (pure organum) or organum style

2. Discant 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)

•Chant is sung in lowest part, the tenor

•But tenor notes move more quickly than in organum style (often 1:1)

Discant Style

SoloistPortion of Chant

Organum Style Discant Style

Is organum vs. discant choice up to composer?

•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

1. Wrote substitute clausulae, a new section of music in discant style

2. Tripla and quadrupla

3. Thinking Musically:

Alters chant in lowest

voice or tenor

•Emphasizes not individual creativity, but a process of communal creation

•Relies on Appeals to Authority

•Is Bound by Numerous Rules & Constraints

•Is Based on Sacred Ideas, Texts

•Has Structure that is deeply Hierarchical/Layered

IV. The Payoff Question: What __?

a) Hip-Hop b) Beethoven Symphonies c) Organumd) Medieval culture

IV. The Payoff Question: What __?