Motet: trop sovent/brunete/in seculum Notre Dame Organum HAM 32d

Three Part Organum in the style associated with Perotinus (Perotin) at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.
trop sovent
brunete
in seculum

Performed here on organ.

Performed and recorded by Dr. Stephen Duncan

Pérotin composed organa, the earliest type of polyphonic music; previous European music, such as Gregorian and other types of chant, had been monophonic. Prior to Perotin, organum generally consisted of two voices: organum duplum. He pioneered the styles of organum triplum and organum quadruplum (three and four-part polyphony); in fact his Sederunt principes and Viderunt Omnes are among only a few organa quadrupla known.

A prominent feature of his compositional style was the tenor. The tenor is based on an existing melody from the liturgical repertoire. In the various forms of organum that were developed in Paris, the tenor holds the melody (from the Latin tenere, meaning “to hold”) of the Gregorian chant. This part will be sung in long, held-out syllables, laying an organ-point or harmonic basis for the additional lines which will have many notes to each note of the tenor.

Organa exist for two to four voices. That for two voices, organum duplum, has the most freedom in performance, as it will invariably have many sections of organum purum, where the upper voice is rhapsodic and not bound by strict modal rhythm. In three- or four-part organa all the upper voices need to be organized rhythmically, even over a long static tenor.

Видео Motet: trop sovent/brunete/in seculum Notre Dame Organum HAM 32d канала Stephen Duncan