3. Definition
• Two or more independent melodic voices
• Harmonization of chant
• "poly" + "phonic" = "polyphonic"
"many" + "sounds" = "many sounds“
• A graphic representation of polyphony may
look like this:
4. History
• Europe's economy prospered due to land
reclamation
• Crusades united the ruling families of Christian
Europe
• Translations of Greek and Arabic books into Latin
ushered in a cultural revival
• The Christian Church split into eastern and
western factions
• Developments in musical notation freed
composers from a reliance on rote learning and
allowed more complex music
5. Musical Form
• Parallel Organum - Duplication of a plainsong a perfect fourth or fifth below
by an organal voice
• Oblique Organum - The organal voice remaining on the same pitch in order
to avoid tritones against the principal voice
• Free Organum - The two voice parts often cross
• Florid Organum –
1. Chant melody
a) Sung in long notes
b) Tenor: voice that sustains or holds the chant
2. Organal voice
a) Florid melody
b) Many notes for each note of the chant melody
3. Rhythm not indicated by notation
6. Composer
John Dunstaple (c. 1390 – 24 December 1453)
• Famous composer active in the early 15th century
• One of the first to compose masses using a single
melody
• Called “the greatest English composer of his day” by
medieval historian Richard Hoppin
7. Musical Analysis
‘Quam pulchra es’ by John Dunstaple
• Brought to the European continent what came
to be known as the "Contenance Angloise“
• “Quam pulchra es” is remarkable for its
extreme control of dissonance – Dunstable
allows only nine dissonant notes in the whole
piece
8.
9. References
• The Pelican History of Music 1 : Ancient Forms
to Polyphony by Alec Robertson
• Dante's Journey to Polyphony by Francesco
Ciabattoni
• http://francisbarnhart.com/projects/john-dunstable/
