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Chapter
5
Polyphony through the Thirteenth Century
Outline
  1. The church prospered during a period of economic growth for Europe between 1050 and 1300.
    1. Donors funded new monasteries and convents.
    2. New religious orders were founded by St. Francis (Franciscans), St. Dominic (Dominicans), St. Clare, and others.
    3. Large church buildings were erected.
      1. Romanesque style in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries
        1. Round arches in the style of the Roman basilica
        2. Frescoes and sculptures decorated the buildings.
      2. Gothic style from the mid-twelfth century onward
        1. Tall, spacious buildings with soaring vaults
        2. Slender columns
        3. Large stained-glass windows
    4. Scholasticism sought to reconcile classical (Greek) philosophy with Christian doctrine.
      1. St. Anselm
      2. St. Thomas Aquinas
    5. Polyphony, in which voices sing together in independent parts, flourished.
      1. At first, polyphony merely decorated chant in performance, much as medieval art decorated manuscripts and cathedrals.
      2. Polyphonic pieces added extra grandeur to chants.
      3. Its function as commentary on a chant resembled the process of troping.
      4. Advances in theory and notation made more elaborate genres possible.
      5. Precepts of later Western music were established with medieval polyphony.
        1. Counterpoint, the combination of multiple independent lines
        2. Harmony, the regulation of simultaneous sounds
        3. Notation
        4. Composition, distinct from performance
  2. Early Organum
    1. Origins in performance
      1. Drone
        1. Singing or playing a melody against a sustained pitch
        2. The drone pitch may have been the modal final, and sometimes the fifth above as well, as they have been in European folk traditions.
      2. Doubling in parallel consonant intervals was probably common before it was explained in anonymous ninth-century treatises.
    2. Ninth-century organum
      1. Described in Musica enchiriadis and Scolica enchiriadis
      2. Two or more voices singing different notes in agreeable combinations
      3. Used for several styles of polyphony from the ninth through the thirteenth centuries
      4. Parallel organum (see NAWM Example 5.1 and NAWM 14a)
        1. Duplication of a chant melody (principal voice)
        2. An organal voice duplicates the chant melody in parallel motion a fifth below.
        3. In medieval thought, fifths were considered perfect and beautiful consonances.
        4. Either voice could be doubled at the octave (see NAWM 14b).
      5. Mixed parallel and oblique organum
        1. Adjustments were necessary to avoid tritones.
        2. When the chant includes e, the organal voice may not move below c.
        3. When the chant includes b, the organal voice may not move below g.
        4. The organal voice instead remains on one note while the chant voice moves (oblique motion).
        5. HWM Example 5.2, NAWM 14c, and HWM Figure 5.1 combine oblique and parallel motion.
        6. Cadences converge on the unison.
        7. These adjustments to parallelism opened the door for more independent polyphony.
    3. Eleventh-century polyphony
      1. Guido of Arezzo described a range of choices in his Micrologus (ca. 1025-28), some of which could be written down instead of improvised.
      2. The Winchester Troper (early eleventh century)
        1. A manuscript from Winchester Cathedral in England
        2. Wulfstan of Winchester (fl. 992-996), cantor at the cathedral, was the likely composer.
        3. 174 organal voices for chant, composed rather than improvised
    4. Free organum (late eleventh century), HWM Example 5.3, NAWM 15
      1. Ad organum faciendum (On Making Organum, ca. 1100) is a set of instructions with examples.
      2. Organal voice is now usually above the chant rather than below.
      3. Motion is note-against-note (one organal note for each chant note).
      4. Parallel, oblique, and contrary motion are allowed.
      5. Consonances remain the unison, fourth, fifth, and octave.
      6. Cadences on the unison or octave, sometimes preceded by a third or sixth.
      7. Sung by soloists in solo portions of the Mass and Office
      8. Also sung in troped sections of the Mass Ordinary
  3. Aquitainian Polyphony: The Early Twelfth Century
    1. The main sources
      1. Three manuscripts once held in the Abbey of St. Martial in Limoges, in Aquitaine, and copied in Aquitainian notation
      2. The Codex Calixtinus, prepared in central France and brought to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain in 1173 (see HWM Figure 5.2)
    2. The repertory
      1. Settings of chant, including sequences, Benedicamus Domino melodies, and solo portions of responsorial chant
      2. Most of the works are versus (see HWM Chapter 4).
    3. Two styles coexisted (e.g., NAWM 16 and HWM Example 5.4).
      1. Discant
        1. Both parts move at about the same rate.
        2. One to three notes in the upper part for each note in the lower voice
      2. Florid organum
        1. The lower voice moves more slowly than the upper voice.
        2. For each note in the lower voice the upper voice sings note groups of varying lengths.
        3. The lower voice is now called tenor (from the Latin tenere, "to hold") because it "holds" the principal melody.
      3. Both styles could be used in the same work.
        1. HWM Example 5.4 Verse 2 is in florid organum, with melismas of three to fifteen notes in the upper part.
        2. HWM Example 5.4 Verse 4 is in discant.
    4. Notation
      1. In score notation (HWM Figure 5.2)
      2. Both voices are written above the text.
      3. Alignment of the voices suggests both voices sang the words.
      4. Durations are not indicated, leaving many possibilities open.
        1. The tenor proceeds at a steady pace, with the upper voice speeding up or slowing down depending on the number of notes in the organal style.
        2. The upper voice proceeds at a steady pace, with the tenor sustaining its pitches in drone-like fashion.
        3. The upper voice uses a type of metered rhythm that was never notated or discussed in a treatise, and has therefore been lost to history.
  4. Notre Dame Polyphony: Late Twelfth and Early Thirteenth Centuries
    1. Musicians associated with the Notre Dame ("Our Lady," the Virgin Mary) Cathedral of Paris (see HWM Figure 5.3) developed a more ornate style of organum in the late twelfth century.
      1. The cathedral is one of the grandest cathedrals in the Gothic style and took almost a century to complete.
        1. Foundations for the cathedral were laid in 1160.
        2. The first Mass was celebrated in 1183.
        3. The façade was completed in 1250.
      2. The new repertory's decoration of the authorized chant paralleled the intricate decoration of the cathedral.
    2. The new repertory was the first to be primarily composed and read from notation rather than improvised.
    3. The rhythmic modes
      1. Notation in notegroups indicates patterns of long and short notes.
      2. A thirteenth-century treatise attributed to Johannes de Garlandia describes the notation, though it was devised in the twelfth century.
      3. The six modes use only longs (long notes) and breves (short notes) in repeating patterns.
        1. The basic time unit (tempus, pl. tempora) is grouped in threes.
        2. Longs could equal two or three breves.
        3. Mode 1: LB
        4. Mode 2: BL
        5. Mode 3: L (three breves) B L
        6. Mode 4: B B (two breves) L (three breves)
        7. Mode 5: all three-breve longas
        8. Mode 6: all breves
      4. Ligatures, notegroups based on chant neumes, indicated which mode by the pattern of groupings (see HWM Example 5.5).
        1. A three-note ligature followed by a series of two-note ligatures signaled Mode 1.
        2. In modern transcriptions, ligatures are indicated by horizontal brackets over the notes.
      5. A piece could change modes, preventing monotony.
    4. The Magnus liber organi
      1. A treatise from about 1285 known as Anony­mous IV names two musicians associated with creating polyphony for Notre Dame (see HWM Source Reading, page 95).
      2. Leoninus (1150-ca. 1201)
        1. He was a canon at Notre Dame and was affiliated with a nearby monastery (St. Victor).
        2. He wrote poetic paraphrases of several books of the Bible.
      3. Perotinus (late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries)
        1. He must have held an important position at the cathedral.
        2. He may have held a master of arts degree at the school that would become the University of Paris.
      4. Anonymous IV's treatise credits Leoninus with compiling a great book of polyphony (Magnus liber organi) for use at the Notre Dame Cathedral.
        1. The original "great book" no longer exists.
        2. The contents survive in several later manuscripts.
        3. Other composers added to the repertory in the great book.
        4. For some chants, several polyphonic settings survive.
      5. Organum in the style of Leoninus (NAWM 17)
        1. Sung in two voices
        2. Features two types of polyphony: organum and discant
        3. Only the portions of the chant performed by soloists were sung polyphonically.
        4. The choir sang the remaining portions in unison.
      6. Organum style (also called organum purum, e.g., HWM Example 5.6)
        1. The tenor sustains a chant melody in long notes, like a series of drones.
        2. The upper voice, called the duplum, sings expansive melismas, moving mostly stepwise.
        3. Cadences arrive on an octave, fifth, or unison, and are followed by a rest.
        4. Dissonances sometimes occur and are even prolonged by the organal voice.
        5. The notation doesn't suggest any mode, but some performers and scholars have tried to apply the rhythmic modes to this style.
        6. Most settings are in organum style.
      7. Discant style (e.g., HWM Example 5.7)
        1. Both voices move in modal rhythm.
        2. Discant style is generally applied to the long melismas of the chant.
        3. Cadences end on a unison, fifth, or octave, and most longs are perfect consonances.
      8. Memorization of complex polyphony was aided by the use of formulas and repeating patterns of the rhythmic modes.
    5. Substitute clausulae
      1. Perotinus edited the Magnus liber and "made many better clausulae."
        1. Clausulae is from the Latin word for a clause or phrase in a sentence.
        2. It was a self-contained section of an organum that closed with a cadence.
        3. Substitute clausulae replaced original polyphonic settings of a segment of chant.
        4. Most are in discant style.
      2. Musical coherence (see HWM Example 5.8 and NAWM 18)
        1. The tenor repeats a rhythmic motive based on a rhythmic mode.
        2. The tenor sometimes also repeats the melody over a much longer span of time.
        3. The repetition of rhythm and melody in the tenor would become significant in later motets.
    6. Perotinus organum
      1. Perotinus and his contemporaries created organa for three or even four voices.
        1. Organum duplum: two-voice organum
        2. Organum triplum: three-voice organum
        3. Organum quadruplum: four-voice organum
        4. Voice names in ascending order from the tenor: duplum, triplum, quadruplum
      2. Upper voices
        1. All use rhythmic modes, enabling exact coordination among them.
        2. They move in similar ranges, crossing repeatedly.
    7. Viderunt omnes (ca. 1198, see HWM Figure 5.4, Example 5.9, and NAWM 19)
      1. Anonymous IV attributes this work to Perotinus.
      2. Based on a Gradual, the same chant elaborated in NAWM 17
      3. Begins with organum style
        1. The tenor sustains very long notes.
        2. The upper voices move in modal rhythm.
      4. Passages in discant style alternate with sections of organal style.
      5. Compositional devices give sections in organum style coherence and variety.
        1. Repeated phrases
        2. Restated phrases at different pitch levels
        3. Complementary phrases
        4. Voice exchange (voices trading phrases)
        5. Striking dissonances that precede consonances
        6. Each section uses distinct techniques.
      6. The upper voices were sung by soloists, with about five singers on the tenor part.
  5. Polyphonic Conductus (e.g., Ave virgo virginum, NAWM 20 and HWM Example 5.10)
    1. Two- to four-voice settings of the Latin poetry
      1. Same type of text as the monophonic conductus and Aquitainian versus
      2. Rhymed, rhythmic, strophic Latin poems
      3. Usually sacred or serious topics
    2. Tenor was newly composed, not from chant.
    3. All voices sing in essentially the same rhythm, called the "conductus style" when used in other genres.
    4. Syllabic text-setting
      1. Simple style
      2. Strophic form
    5. Melismatic passages, called caudae (singular cauda, Latin for "tail"), in some conductus
      1. At the beginning and end
      2. Before important cadences
      3. Most conductus with caudae are through-composed.
      4. Sometimes caudae feature phrase repetitions and voice exchange.
  6. Motet
    1. Motets are polyphonic works with one or more texted voice added to a pre-existing tenor, which is set in a modal rhythm.
      1. Musicians at Notre Dame created this new genre in the early thirteenth century.
      2. Motets originally consisted of newly written Latin words added to the upper voices of discant clausulae.
        1. The French word mot ("word") inspired the name for the genre.
        2. The earliest texts were often a textual trope of the clausula.
      3. Later motet texts were written in French on secular topics.
      4. Motets are identified by a compound title comprising the first words of each voice from highest to lowest.
      5. The motet became the leading polyphonic genre for both sacred and secular music.
    2. Early motets (to ca. 1250) (e.g., NAWM 21 and HWM Example 5.11)
      1. Based on the discant clausula in HWM Example 5.8a
      2. The text decorates or tropes the original chant text.
      3. Phrasing of the original clausula dictates phrasing of the added text.
      4. Sung during the Mass or as independent entertainment
      5. Existing motets were reworked.
        1. New texts for the duplum, in Latin or French
        2. New texts were no longer linked to the original liturgical context.
        3. Additional voices were added, with texts of their own.
        4. Double motet: a motet with two added texts above the tenor
        5. Triple motet: a motet with three added texts above the tenor
        6. The original duplum was discarded and another one (or more) composed.
      6. Motets composed from scratch
        1. A tenor from a clausula was set to a different rhythm.
        2. New voice(s) above the tenor were added.
      7. Fole acostumance/Dominus (see HWM Example 5.12 and NAWM 21b)
        1. Features the same tenor as HWM Example 5.11, but is repeated
        2. Newly composed duplum in a faster rhythm
        3. The text is in French, with a secular theme.
      8. Super te/Sed fulsit /Dominus (see HWM Example 5.13 and NAWM 21c)
        1. The tenor has a different rhythmic pattern from that of HWM Example 5.11.
        2. The top two voices set the first and second halves of one Latin poem.
        3. The topic is the birth of Christ, making it suitable for Christmas (the season of the original chant).
        4. The upper parts rarely rest together or with the tenor, propelling the motet forward.
        5. Two other versions have added voices.
          1. A version in the Montpellier Codex, a major source of motets, has a third texted voice (NAWM 21c).
          2. An English source has an untexted fourth voice (NAWM 21d).
      9. The upper voice(s) were sung, but it is unclear whether the tenor was sung or played on an instrument.
      10. Refined and discerning listeners were the intended audience.
    3. Motets in the later thirteenth century
      1. By about 1250, three-voice motets were the rule.
        1. The two texts were usually on similar topics.
        2. The texts could be in Latin or French.
        3. Some motets had upper voices in both Latin and French.
      2. The tenor became a cantus firmus after ca. 1270.
        1. The term designates any pre-existing melody.
        2. The existing melody continued to be a plainchant.
    4. Franconian notation made it possible to signify more rhythms.
      1. Described by Franco of Cologne in his Ars cantus mensurabilis (ca. 1280)
      2. Noteshapes signified relative durations.
      3. Durations consisted of double long, long, breve, and semibreve.
      4. The tempus was the basic unit.
        1. Three tempora constitute a perfection (like a measure).
        2. A long could last two or three tempora.
        3. A breve could last one or two tempora.
      5. The system included signs for rests in specific durations as well.
      6. Layout of the parts could be separated (see HWM Figure 5.5).
        1. Each part would be in the same book but no longer in score format.
        2. The tenor extended across the bottom, with the other voice(s) above.
      7. Franconian motets
        1. Motets written in Franconian notation, in a style made possible by that notation
        2. Each upper voice had a distinctive rhythm.
        3. Upper voices no longer needed to conform to the rhythmic modes.
      8. NAWM 22, HWM Example 5.14, and HWM Figure 5.6: Adam de la Halle's De ma dame vient/Dieus comment porroie/Omnes
        1. The triplum part concerns a man's point of view.
        2. The duplum part voices the woman's point of view.
        3. The tenor part repeats the "omnes" melisma from Viderunt omnes twelve times.
        4. The upper parts use a modified first mode rhythm, with many semibreves.
        5. The phrases are independent, with voices rarely cadencing together.
    5. Petrus de Cruce (Pierre de la Croix, fl. ca. 1270-1300)
      1. His motets take the Franconian motet one step further (e.g., HWM Example 5.15 Aucun ont trouvé/Lonctans/Annuntiantes).
      2. Each voice has its own pace.
        1. The tenor is very slow-moving.
        2. The duplum is slow-moving, but not as slow as the tenor.
        3. The triplum has as many as seven semibreves in a tempus.
      3. The tempo was probably even slower than in a Franconian motet.
    6. Harmonic vocabulary of motets allowed thirds and dissonances, but the perfect consonance was still expected at the beginning of each perfection.
      1. The perfect fourth was treated like a dissonance.
      2. Cadence patterns developed, as shown in HWM Example 5.16.
  7. English Polyphony
    1. English culture was tied to that of France after the Norman Conquest in 1066.
    2. Although they adopted French culture, English musicians created a distinct style.
      1. Imperfect consonances were more prominent.
        1. Improvised partsinging in close harmony was documented as early as 1200.
        2. NAWM 21c shows many harmonic thirds and triads, including the final sonority.
      2. Voice-exchange evolved into elaborate techniques.
      3. The rondellus, in which two or three phrases are heard simultaneously, with each voice singing each one in turn
        1. Triplum: a b c
        2. Duplum: c a b
        3. Tenor: b c a
      4. The rota: Sumer is icumen in (NAWM 23, HWM Example 5.17, and Figure 5.7)
        1. A rota is a perpetual canon or round at the unison.
        2. Sumer is icumen in is the most famous.
        3. Two voices sing a pes (Latin for "foot" or "ground").
        4. The canon produces alternating F-A-C-F and G-B-flat-D sonorities.
      5. English melodies are relatively simple, syllabic, and periodic.
  8. A Polyphonic Tradition
    1. By 1300, "composition" meant creating polyphony, not monophony.
    2. Writing down music of multiple parts in coordinating vertical sonorities to create a sense of direction would be a hallmark of Western tradition and set it apart from almost all other musical traditions.
    3. Medieval music rarely outlived its composers, but in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, composers drew on medieval music as an exotic element, making it seem more familiar to listeners.
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