Today we begin the adventure with some works from ~1200 – 1350, France. With pieces from three composers, Léonin, Pérotin & Guillaume de Machaut and their personal take on Gregorian Chant.

Léonin (~1150 – 1201) was a French musician who lived in Paris and worked at the Notre Dame cathedral. His personal life is largely mystery, all that is known about him is from the English musical scholar Anonymous IV (not sure who the previous Anonymous were). There is a theory that he is also the innovative poet Leonius, inventor of “Leonine verse” which is apparently quite influential in poetry. His musical style is known as ars antiqua, which was quite innovative at the time because he invented polyphony music, that is two or more lines of melody, which is now the vast majority of all music. In Léonin’s music each line is Gregorian Chant at different pitches though always keeping in harmony. He is the author of the Magnus Liber, “the great book of organum”, which contained all his works.

The second composer was Pérotin the Great or Pérotin the Master (active at ~1200). Pérotin was the direct successor of Léonin and inherited the Magnus Liber in which he expanded and built upon. Just like Léonin the only things known about his life were from Anonymous IV, he held Pérotin in the highest regard. His largest contribution to music was the invention of the tenor which is the voice that holds the melody. Together with Léonin they form the basis of the Notre Dame school of music.

The final composer is Guillaume de Machaut (1300 – 1377), who was a French composer and poet that lived in Reims and served as secretary to King John I of Bohemia, who was a very interesting character himself. Later in life he became a priest, and King John I gave him control of many counties to rule as the priest. His musical style is known as ars nova, meaning “new technique”, often used in reference to ars antiqua style produced from Notre Dame. His style of music builds upon ars antiqua though adds a secular elements, predominately love, interwoven with the sacred liturgical music, to me this seems quite Renaissance-esque despite pre-dating the Renaissance by about 100 years. His music was quite controversial at the time particularly at the Vatican, with Pope John XXII being strongly against it whilst his successor’s successor Pope Clement VI embraced this fresh take on music.

Feast of St. Stephen is taken from the Magnus Liber and composed by Léonin & Pérotin. This piece is largely about the harmony between the different melodies, which was fundamental in all musical produced after this. Written for The Feast of St. Stephen which is modern day Boxing Day this would’ve been sung on that day for communion. The first thing I realised as I was listening was that there are no instruments at all, instead it is all multiple lines of Gregorian Chant which form all the melodies. I found myself enjoying it much more than I anticipated, the multiple lines of Gregorian Chant sounded as if they were echoing, together and apart all at the same time which was very divine. In “Sederunt principes – Adiuva me, Domine” (below) I found myself enjoying the rhythm of the music with each voice seeming to build upon the others. In “Alleluya – Video celos apertos” I noticed the effect of the tenor which worked as a reference point for the other line which oscillated in pitch & pace but always came back into harmony with the tenor. In general I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would, though it did get quite repetitive and probably wasn’t helped by the fact that I don’t understand Latin.

Dreams in the Pleasure Garden is the bizarrely titled work by Machaut. I noticed that it was very similar in how it sounded to The Feast of St. Stephen, however I did hear the secular themes despite not understanding Latin & French. The reason I could identify the differences was that the words used didn’t sound sacred, I think they may have been French as opposed to Latin. I found the main line to have a bit more freedom and it didn’t have to ‘re-sync’ to the tenor as often as was in The Feast of St. Stephen. In general I found it to be far more human in construction and performance likely due to the non-secular themes present and less restrictive writing.

I can see why both of these works were very influential in shaping the future of music. With Léonin & Pérotin introducing polyphony design and the use of a tenor to hold the melody and Machaut introduced the more human elements which opened the passage for future music to explore more complex and emotional themes as opposed to the strictly divine. I did get quite bored listening to near an hour of very similar and repetitive music, though I didn’t hate it like I thought I would. Anyway I leave you with a great quote, lookout for future posts.

When you hear the soft harmonies of the various singers, some taking high and others low parts, some singing in advance, some following in the rear, others with pauses and interludes, you would think yourself listening to a concert of sirens rather than men, and wonder at the powers of voices … whatever is most tuneful among birds, could not equal. Such is the facility of running up and down the scale; so wonderful the shortening or multiplying of notes, the repetition of the phrases, or their emphatic utterance: the treble and shrill notes are so mingled with tenor and bass, that the ears lost their power of judging. When this goes to excess it is more fitted to excite lust than devotion; but if it is kept in the limits of moderation, it drives away care from the soul and the solicitudes of life, confers joy and peace and exultation in God, and transports the soul to the society of angels. – John of Salisbury