O Mitissima: The Hypnotic Modes

Album: Music of the Gothic Era
Track: "O mitissima" (Track #15 on disk 1)
Composer: Anonymous
Instruments: 3 voices, 1 shawm, 1 tabor
Year: ~1200

One of the defining characteristics of the ars antiqua period was the strict adherence to the set of rhythmic modes laid out by the Notre Dame School of Polyphony (see Sederunt Principes and Rhythmic Modes for a full description). Since there were six modes -- only three of which were commonly used -- and the modes were only two or three strikes in length, these early pieces tended to be repetitive in nature, with fairly simple dynamics. Furthermore, the preponderance of octaves, fifths, and fourths in the harmonic structure (anything else was viewed as a dissonance) made ars antiqua compositions sound very rigid.

Although this rigidity was often a bad thing (see Honking Geese), a clever composer could use it to give their music a hypnotic feel. Nowhere is this more apparent than in "O mitissima", one of the many Gregorian chants converted to polyphony by an anonymous ars antiqua composer. Interestingly, the composer here chooses to overlay the stanzas from the original chant, giving one to each voice and making it seem as if the singers are all part of a larger, ongoing conversation with God. In the modern era, rhythmic repetition is often used in dance music to put the listeners (or dancers) into a trance-like state, perhaps not so unlike that of a devout monk praying to God.