French Polyphony of the Thirteenth Century

Abstract

Abstract Up to the stage at which the discant clausula was provided with a Latin text in the duplum, the development of polyphony at Notre Dame in Paris could be traced in relative isolation from other music of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Chapter XII describes the features that set Notre-Dame organa style apart-consistent use of a cantus firmus from the Gregorian repertory of the archetype, very extended melismatic writing for two, three, or four voices, modal rhythm, and eventually overlapping phrases between tenor and upper parts. All of that development seemed to have a logic and momentum of its own, and the kind of music it produced in the organa and independent clausulas in Perotin's style were distinctly different from any other music we know of that time. Then, with the Latin texting of the clausula duplum, more similarities with other kinds of music appear; and from then on, in fact, the Notre-Dame style merged with other music, eventually losing its individuality.