he Development of Polyphony

Polyphony in the ninth and tenth centuries Artistic style of Carolingian/imperial period — addition of mass Addition of weight to chant – magadizing (parallel singing) – troping Only textbook musical examples survive

Textbook descriptions of early organum Musica enchiriadis, Scolica enchiriadis (ca. 900) – Frankish Vox principalis doubled at fifth or fourth below by vox organalis – note-against-note style (punctus contra punctum) – both may be doubled in octaves, producing both fifths and fourths Oblique (and contrary) motion – provides sense of opening and closing – allows temporary dissonance and resolution

Guido of Arezzo, Micrologus (ca. 1025) — principles for organum Allows voice crossing More variety of intervals — sometimes from drone effect in vox organalis Contrary-motion cadences become the norm

Music in the Romanesque period Social stability leads to time and interest for composition — period of troubadours Sacred and secular societies developed skill and time for rehearsal of complicated music

Winchester Troper (early eleventh century) — examples of organum Principal voice generally above, but some voice crossing Mostly note-against-note texture Organal voice has wider range Considerable use of dissonance, often seems empirical or even haphazard Mixed motion — preference for 3–1 contrary- motion cadences

Ad organum faciendum (French, ca. 1100) — how to improvise organum Principal voice lower (sometimes crosses) Mostly note-against-note texture For soloists in responsorial chants — organal part has wider range More conservative harmony than Winchester style (melodic style suffers) Fourths and fifths most common, also uses unison and octave and even thirds and sixths Contrary-motion cadences

The Abbey of St. Martial — Limoges

Aquitainian polyphony — St. Martial organum New polyphonic style – principal voices not always based on standard liturgical music – principal voice lower, but occasionally voices cross Distinction of types – organum (later organum purum) — melismatic or florid – discant — more or less note-against-note passages, actually neume against neume Versus style — rhymed, metrical poetry Rhythm in all types roughly indicated by alignment

Codex Calixtinus (ca. 1170) From Santiago de Compostela – major pilgrimage site via several monasteries in southern France, including St. Martial – important Romanesque cathedral Manuscript named for Pope Calixtus (or Calixtine) II (r. 1119–1124) Mostly liturgical monophony — twenty polyphonic examples appended – style comparable to Aquitainian repertoire – organal style mostly for responsorial chants – discant style for versus and other ensemble music

Organum from Codex Calixtinus

Gothic architectural aesthetics Not just elaboration but order High and layered Intricate decoration Ex., Notre Dame de Paris

University of Paris Gathering of teachers – order applied to learning Charter — 1200 (name “universitas” 1215) Discipline faculties – arts – medicine – law – philosophy – theology

A student’s day at the University of Paris — an ordered schedule 5:00–6:00 — arts lectures Mass 8:00–10:00 — lectures 11:00–12:00 — disputations or debates 1:00–3:00 — repetitions with tutors on morning lectures 3:00–5:00 — special-topic lectures 7:00–9:00 — study, repetitions with tutors

Scholasticism — order applied to knowledge Method – lecture based on reading of authoritative text – orderly treatment of pros and cons – disputation Leaders – Peter Abélard (1079–1142), Sic et non — applied reason to theological issues – Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), Summa theologica — covered all of theology

Early composers of Gothic polyphony — identified by Anonymous IV Léonin (Magister Leoninus, fl. ca. 1175) — university background – Magnus liber organi — solo parts of responsorial chants of Office and Mass for liturgical year Pérotin (Magister Perotinus, fl. ca. 1200) — major contributions identified by Anonymous IV – revised and replaced parts of Léonin’s work – organum triplum, organum quadruplum – “optimus discantor” — wrote many clausulae

Types of Notre Dame polyphony Organum purum – lower voice ultra mensuram (called tenor) – more likely when tenor is more syllabic Discant – both voices measured — requires rhythmic notation – more likely when tenor is melismatic Clausula – discant segment – new compositions may have substituted for preexisting discant clausulae

Léonin, Organum “Viderunt omnes”

Pérotin, Organum “Alleluia Na[tivitas]”

Rhythmic modes in Notre Dame polyphony — ordering the parts 1 (trochaic)long-short (   ) 2 (iambic)short-long (   ) 3 (dactylic)long-short-short ( .   ) 4 (anapestic)short-short-long (   .) 5 (spondaic)long-long ( . .) 6 (tribrachic)short-short-short (    )

Ordering rhythm in the discant clausula Patterning of tenor rhythm – repetition of an ordo (pl. ordines) Paired with rhythm in different mode in duplum Early tendency for tenor and duplum ordines to match; later more common to overlap

Polyphonic conductus in Notre Dame style — nonliturgical polyphony Texts – could be for religious use and on religious topics – often secular — expresses cultural concerns outside church lament civic events – Johannes de Grocheio (ca. 1320): “sung at parties of the wealthy and educated” Music – two to four voices – newly composed tenor – generally syllabic, familiar style – often has melismatic caudae

Motet Begins with addition of words (mots) to untexted upper voice(s) of independent discant clausulae Polytextual — named by all three texts (triplum, motetus, tenor)

Stages in the content of motet texts Early — gloss on text of tenor Later — free secular, vernacular – may still be distant gloss on tenor text – closely related to trouvère song — even borrowing melodies (motet enté –“grafted”)

Stages in style development in motets As with discant, rhythmic ordines lend unity – more sophistication in staggering phrasing among lines Texting – two-part composition — second text in motetus – three-part composition — same text in motetus and triplum – three-part composition — different texts in motetus and triplum Distinctions in style among lines — layered rhythm Tenor treatment – repetition to increase length – freely composed — called “tenor” or “neuma”

Social position of 13th-century motets Originally developed in sacred context Came to be used as secular genre for elite class – Johannes de Grocheio (ca. 1320) — motets in modern style only for the educated, who could understand their subtlety – Jacques de Liège (ca. 1320) — aimed at educated lay society

Motet in late 13th century Franco of Cologne (fl. 1250–1280) — theorist and composer Problem of how to indicate rhythm in syllabic music — motets (conductus) Solution – note shapes — long, breve, double long, semibreve (L, B, DL, SB) – dots to mark perfections practical result — choirbook notation to save space — use of parts rather than score

Motet in choirbook notation Petrus de Cruce, S'amours eust point de poer / Au renouveler / Ecce

New problems for the motet Petrus de Cruce (fl. 1270–1300) — composer and theorist Free rhythm and even shorter note values in upper parts — many SBs in the space of a B (rhythmic inflation)

Questions for discussion How was the development and spread of polyphonic music in the eleventh and twelfth centuries a product of political and social conditions and events? How did different cultural, political, and ecclesiastical institutions in Paris around 1200 contribute to the growth of a Gothic polyphonic style? What aspects of contemporary cultural and aesthetic tendencies did the thirteenth-century motet express?