Transcript Organum: The Beginnings of Polyphony: 1000 - 1250 Organum       Organum = earliest form of polyphony Polyphony = the simultaneous singing of two or more melodies. Probably originated in.

Organum:
The Beginnings of
Polyphony:
1000 - 1250
Organum
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Organum = earliest form of
polyphony
Polyphony = the simultaneous
singing of two or more melodies.
Probably originated in secular
heterophony (melody sung at
octave then in thirds)
The chants and organum were
sometime accompanied by
instruments such as flutes, early
violins and organs
The Gregorian Chant (tenor) was
doubled at an interval of a fourth
below (a second singer sung a
melody parallel but four notes below
the original singer).
Geographic centre = Paris and
Northern France
Source: History of Western Music, Miller and Cockrell
Rose Window, Chartres Cathedral
The Eleventh Century
 The beginning of modern cities;
 Norman conquest of England
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(1066);
Developments in recovery of
Spain from North African
Muslims;
First Crusade;
First translations of Greek and
Arabic into N. European
languages;
Origins of first universities;
Romanesque architecture;
Growth of Vernacular literature
Source: Grout, 69
Parallel Organum
 Syllabic
 Most common interval = 4th
 Voices could be doubled at
the octave to create three or
four part music
 See how the two melodies
below are parallel to each
other and that there is a
constant spacing of four
notes between the upper
and lower voice)
Notre Dame 1163- 1250
Modified Parallel Organum
Modified organum = voices start in unison,
them move to 4th, then back to unison
http://www.groenewald.nl/chartres/schola%20cantorum2.htm
Free Organum
 11th Century
Contrary motion added to parts
Melodic independence
Chant line called ‘tenor’ from
Latin tenere, to hold
Parts moved in note-against-note
style (‘counterpoint’)
http://www.groenewald.nl/chartres/schola%20cantorum2.htm
Organum: Alleluia Justus ut Palma, c.1100
 The melodic independence
required more accurate
notation
The stave was gradually
introduced;
The neumes were replaced
with squares more like are
modern notes
Melismatic Organum
Tenor part (Gregorian
chant) sung in long
sustained notes, possibly
played on an instrument
Higher voice sings in
faster-moving note values
Rhythmic independence
of voices
North Transept Rose
Window Notre
Dame Cathedral
Leonin, Organum duplum, c.1180