The Classical Music Book

29

See also: Plainchant 22–23 ■ Micrologus 24–25 ■ Messe de Notre Dame 36–37 ■ Canticum Canticorum 46–51 ■

Monteverdi’s Vespers 64–69 ■ Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott 78–79

He described Léonin as the

optimus organista (best composer

of organa, or vocal harmonizations)

and the author of the Magnus liber

organi (Great Book of Organum), an

anthology of music used by the

cathedral to solemnify the liturgy.

Anonymous IV writes that

Léonin’s Great Book was used until

the time of Pérotin (c. 116 0 –12 0 5),

who was known as the best

composer of discants—an organum

with countermelodies on top of the

plainsong. Pérotin shortened and

improved Léonin’s organa, wrote

better clausulae (musical episodes

inserted in the chant), and also

composed organa for three and four

voices. According to Anonymous

IV, Pérotin’s music was still in use

at Notre Dame in his time (c.1280).

Early harmony

Before the time of Léonin,

vocal harmonies were far simpler.

Theorists took a certain interest

in the practice of singing in parts

from the latter half of the 9th

century, but the stages in the

development of harmony-singing

are unclear. The papal Schola

cantorum (choir) of the 7th century

maintained a total of seven singers,

including three scholae (scholars)

as well as an archiparaphonista

(the fourth-ranking singer) and

three paraphonistae, a Greek term

meaning “one who sings alongside

the chant.” Some musicologists

believe this may suggest the

presence of singers who specialized

in a harmonizing role.

The simplest harmonizing

technique was for a singer to hold

the finalis (principal note) of the

mode of the piece as a sustained

note underneath the chant. This

would be sung to an open vowel

sound, perhaps occasionally

EARLY MUSIC 1000–1400

The nave of Notre Dame de Paris

was completed shortly after the death

of Maurice de Sully in 1196. Léonin and

Pérotin created their music in or close

to the new cathedral.

Cistercian monks at Zwettl Abbey,

Austria, practice choral singing in this

miniature accompanying notation for

the Graduale Cisterciense (c.1268). A

graduale is a liturgical chant or hymn.

shifting the single note to an

adjacent pitch, to make a more

pleasant relationship with the

chant before moving back to the

finalis. Traditions involving a fixed

note accompaniment are still heard

today, in Sufi Muslim Qawwali

music from India and Pakistan,

and in bagpipe music.

A sinful sound

The move toward polyphony was

not universally welcomed. Some

within the church objected to the

new methods—notably the English

cardinal Robert of Courçon, who

criticized the writers of organum

on the grounds that this new music

was effeminate. In his Summa, he

wrote that “If a wanton prelate

gives benefices to such wanton ❯❯

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