C. Perotin
1. Basic formal structure of organum: alternation of unison chant with polyphonic
sections remained unchanged by Perotin.
2. Within polyphonic sections, however, Perotin's continuing tendency is towards
greater rhythmic precision.
3. Older 'rhapsodic' portions of the florid organa were often replaced with
discant clausulae. Older clausulae were replaced with substitue clausulae:
movements in definite and stylized patterns.
4. Tenor was characteristically laid out in a series of reiterated rhtymic
motives (often corresponding to the 3rd or 5th rhtymic mode).
a. Tenors typically consist of shorter note values than tenors in Leonin
b. As a result, Perotin's tenor must often repeat itself in order to complete
a section.
c. Repetition of motive and melody become part of the structure of the 13th
century motet and foreshadow the development of the 14th c. isorhythmic
motet.
5. Important innovation made by Perotin and his contemporaries was the expansion
of 2 voices to 3 and 4 voices (triplum and quadruplum respectively).
a. 3-voice organum becomes standard in Perotin period.
b. Two basic styles of organum triplum
1. Long-held notes in tenor over which upper voices move in measured
phrases together (discant in the upper voices)
2. Johannes de Garlandia who wrote a treatise on Notre Dame rhythm,
De mensurabili musica, recognized this style as a distinct genre
called copula: a genre resembling discant organized in modal
rhythm in the upper parts but with organum purum style in the low
part. Music also tends to be organized into antecedent/consequent
phrases.
V. Polyphonic Conductus
A. Characteristics of the Conductus
1. 13th century sacred and secular genre.
2. Developed from quasi-liturgical sources such as the hymn and sequence.
3. Texts were like those of the 11-12th c. monophonic conductus and the St.
Martial versus: metrical Latin poems, rarely liturgical, though often on sacred
themes, if they were secular, they dealt seriously with moral or historical
issues.
4. Polyphonic conductus was written for 2,3,4 voices as in organum. Voice exchange
frequent.
5. Voices are largely homorhythmic, less rhythmic variety than in organum
a. This manner is often referred to as conductus style
6. Text was set syllabically
a. Exception: some conductus introduce lengthy textless passaged called caudae
at the beginning and the end.
7. Tenor was often a newly composed melody serving as a cantus firmus.
8. Conductus stands as the first expression of newly composed polyphonic music.
a. Independent of borrowed material.
b. Versus is textual equivalent.
9. In manuscripts conductus are notated in score arrangement.
10. Some scholars maintain that only bottom voice was sung, upper voices played by
instruments.
11. Genre along w/organum dropped out of favor after 1250, motet becomes the most
important genre in second half of the 13th c.
VI. Motet
A. Origins and General Features
1. Antecedents: Leonin had introduced into his organa distinct sections (clausulae)
in discant style.
a. This development fascinated composers in the suceeding generation
b. Perotin and his contemporaries composed hundreds of discant clausulae
c. Many of these clausulae were written as 'substitutes' for those of Leonin
d. Substitute clausulae were interchangeable, choirmaster could select
according to the occasion.
2. Newly composed stand-alone substitute clausula with words were called motets
a. Term was first applied to french texts added to the duplum of a clausula.
b. Motetus typically designates second voice (duplum) of a motet.
3. Thousands of motets written in 13th c., genre spread from Paris throughout
France and Western Europe.
4. 13th Century Motet Sources
a. Montpellier Codex: 336 Polyphonic compositions, chiefly motets, majority
of which date from mid-century.
b. Bamberg Codex: 108 3-voice motets from late 13th c., also includes a
conductus and 7 clausulae.
c. Las Huelgas Codex: Spanish document from 14th c., but contains among
its 141 polyphonic compositions many 13th c. motets.
5. Earliest motet based on substitute clausula with Latin texts for the upper
voices was soon modified in the following ways:
a. Original upper voices were discarded, tenor was kept and new melodies were
added.
b. Allowed composers to choose new texts for the upper voices.
c. Motets were also came to be sung outside church services, in secular
settings. In such cases, the upper voices were given secular texts,
usually in the vernacular. Motets w/French words in the upper voices still
used plainsong melody as cantus firmus, but there was no liturgical function.
The tenors in these pieces were likely played by musical instruments.
d. Customary to use texts w/different words for upper voices but related in
meaning. Polytextuality became standard feature in second half of 13th c.
and sometimes carried over in the 14th c. ballade and virelai.
e. From 1200-1250, motet tenors were almost exclusive based on clausula tenors
from the Magnus liber. Since these clausulae had originally been written
over melismatic portions of chant, their texts consisted at most of a few
words, sometimes only a part of a word or a syllable. Incipit was usually
all that was given under tenor part.
f. After 1250 motet tenors were taken from other sources: Kyries, hymns and
antiphons were used. Tenors were also taken from contemporary secular
chansons and from instrumental estampies.
g. Accompanying these changes was a relaxing of the rhythmic modal formulas
and increasing rhythmic flexibility.
B. Motet Texts
1. Seldom any connection between upper voices and Gregorian tenor.
2. French texts were almost always love songs.
a. Triplum usually merry and the motetus (duplum) complaining.
b. Both poems usually in the style of trouvere songs.
3. A considerable number of French motets incorporate in one or more of the upper
voices, usually at the end of the stanza, a refrain.
4. Unity of voice parts manifested by musical and textual correspondence:
simultaneous consonances, echoing of vowel sounds and symbolic relations
of ideas.
C. Franconian Motet
1. This style developed from the desire to further distinguish the upper two
motet parts.
2. Franco of Cologne: composer and theorist active from 1250-1280.
Source:web.archive.org
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