from A History of Music in Western Culture, 4th ed. Mark Evan Bonds

1. CHAPTER 2:
POLYPHONY TO 1300
A History of Music in Western Culture, 4th edition, Mark Evan Bonds

2. Organum
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• Polyphonic work consisting of an original
plainchant melody in ONE voice, plus at
least one additional voice above or below
~850 AD
• Additional voice runs parallel to the
plainchant melody at a constant interval
Parallel organum
• The simultaneous combination of
independent musical lines
Counterpoint

3. Notre Dame Organum
Léonin
◦ ~1163 – Léonin wrote large quantities of
organa for responsorial chants
◦ Responsorial – soloist or small group in unison
sings a phrase; the chorus responds - THESE
were monophonic
◦ The soloist portions were lengthy, 2-voice
organa
Perotin
◦ Younger contemporary of Léonin - added a 3rd
voice (triplum) and on rare occasion a 4th voice
(quadruplum)
◦ Rhythmically intricate – demanded a higher level
of singing than most monks could provide
◦ Rhythm provided an energy that drove the
music constantly forward

4. Clausula and Motet
◦ Clausulae – brief polyphonic sections of
measured organum that could be substituted at
will into a larger piece
◦ A clausula is NOT an independent composition
◦ Very much like tropes, but inserted into a
composition, not a plainchant
◦ Impetus comes from the desire to write new
music by adding layers of musical
“commentary” above the plainchant
◦ No text included!
◦ Motet – added SECULAR TEXT
◦ ~1185-1250: new text added to an existing
clausula to be performed outside the church
◦ Sung in the vernacular, not liturgical Latin
◦ Texted duplum = motet because it had words
(Fr. mot = word)
◦ Polytextual motet = different voices sing
different text simultaneously (<1250 AD)
◦ Multiple repetition of rhythmic and melodic
ideas – isorhythm

5. Conductus
◦ Probably to be performed while a priest and his attendants entered and left
the church
◦ Not based on borrowed material of any kind – completely new musical
material
◦ Texts are freely-composed poems written in metered verse, strongly
syllabic and strongly metrical
◦ All voices move in roughly the same rhythm

6. MENSURAL NOTATION
◦ Mensural = metered, measured, divided into units
◦ ~1260-1280 AD notational system of writing the tune (or the mode) began to also reflect the rhythm.
◦ Old style ligature groupings could not indicate the new complex rhythms – a change was needed
◦ Franco of Cologne codified a system retaining note shapes BUT
◦ …he assigned specific rhythmic meanings to each of the various note shapes!
◦ Significance of this innovation completely changed Western music: it provided composers with a system
capable of greater flexibility, and is basically still in place today (with modification)