Mass Settings: Sitting Through Church

Album: Guillaume de Machaut: Motets & Music from the Ivrea Codex
Track: "Gloria: Et verus homo" (Track #2)
Composer: Anonymous
Instruments: 3 voices
Musical Form: Mass movement
Year: ~1350-1370

I don't usually enjoy the music in church services. In my youth, I remember spending many Sunday mornings squirming in the pews as the church organ bleated out some droning melody that did more to test my faith than reinforce it. The simplistic and monotonous arrangements seemed little meant for human ears, although the pews were sufficiently moved that they would rattle and creak at the rise of each note. At the outset of my Hopeless Journey, I had hoped that the great composers of medieval polyphony would help to elucidate the original beauty and appeal of sacred music. Sadly, with the possible exception of Pérotin, these composers have, despite fairly complex arrangements, succeeded at capturing the monotony of my early childhood church experiences. The most tedious of all are the mass movements, like "Gloria: Et Versus Homo," referenced above. These polyphonic compositions are written to accompany individual sections of the Catholic Mass and necessarily incorporate a standard religious text as lyrics.

Up to this point, I have primarily discussed motets, which incorporate a traditional gregorian chant but are generally played as an addendum to the standard mass rituals. Individual mass movements did not begin to appear until the middle of the 14th century and some of the earliest are found in the Ivrea Codex. In that manuscript, the mass movements -- Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei -- are written separately and by different composers, but they could have been used to accompany an entire mass. The Gloria referenced above is a typical example of how polyphony was used to express standard religious texts. Unlike motets and secular compositions, these mass movements emphasize the words over the music; the vocal parts move primarily in parallel motion to ensure that the text comes through clearly. This effect is most pronounced in Gloria and Credo mass movements, in which significant portions of text must be recited.

Although it helps a little to see a translation of the texts in these movements (it can be found on wikipedia), I wouldn't recommend spending a lot of time on individual medieval mass movements. However, as the medieval period progressed, the mass evolved and composers began constructing entire masses as individual works of art. Stay tuned for this, the mass will soon become more interesting.

Isorhythm: The Hidden Patterns

One of the defining characteristics of the late medieval period (and the ars nova, in particular) was the use of isorhythm. In short, isorhythm is the repetition of an arbitrary pattern of note durations in all or part of a musical composition. This repetition may occur in more than one voice, but each voice need not carry the same rhythm. In contrast to the rhythmic modes, isorhtyhm allows the vocal parts of a composition more freedom by, 1) allowing for a rhythm of arbitrary duration and structure and, 2) allowing for overlap between the rhythmic units of different voices. Isorhythm is essentially nonexistent in modern music, but it is instructive to consider a similar musical technique, the round.

Most of us are familiar with the campfire song, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," in which one person starts singing the melody and then, after one or more measures are complete, another person begins singing the same melody. After each singer completes main melody line, they return to the beginning and repeat. This song structure could be considered a special kind of isorhythm because each singer repeats a rhythmic structure (that of the melody line) and the rhythms overlap -- that is, the singers finish the melody at different times. In medieval motets, a similar technique was used, but each singer would be singing a different melody and using a different rhythm. To generalize the previous example, imagine instead that, after the first singer completes a measure of the song, another singer jumps in singing only, "Row, row, row." This second singer repeats these three words over and over again, using a different set of pitches each time but speaking the words at the same rate. This three-word sequence can serve as the basic unit of isorhythm and is perhaps a closer approximation to how medieval composers would craft the lower voices of a motet.

Despite this basic understanding of isorhythm, the technique has so far eluded me in the pieces I've listened to. Unlike "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," medieval motets are highly complex and isorhythm was generally only used in some of the voices and for only part of a piece. Two of the most prominent practitioners of isorhythm were Philippe de Vitry and Guillaume de Machaut, but their pieces were composed to blend into a graceful whole, hiding the underlying structure. It's likely that the "undulating" feeling I get from Machaut's compositions is in part due to his use of isorhythm, but seldom can I pinpoint its origin. For the casual listener, I would recommend against trying too hard to find it -- their motets are better experienced as a unified whole.

Journey Highlights: April and May 2009

For all you lazy brutes out there who don't want to follow my regular blog entries, I present my journey highlights. In these posts (framed in red), I pick my favorite composers and tracks from the last month of the Journey, along with an explanation for why their awesomeness wowed my senses. Since I have two months of posts already, I will pick two from each category. First, my composers of the month:

April: Pérotin
May: Anonymous

The Notre Dame School of Polyphony pretty much got things started for music worth listening to on the European continent. Without a doubt, the best of the Notre Dame composers was Pérotin, who flourished around 1200. I reviewed two of his songs (Beata Viscera and Sederunt Principes) and read much about his influence on later composers. His simple approach to composition remains accessible to this day and was a major influence on the modern minimalist movement.

The fallout from the musical blast that was the Notre Dame School spread throughout Europe. Many of the techniques pioneered by this school (most notably the rhythmic modes) were used by composers of both sacred and secular music. Unfortunately, the vast majority of compositions from this period were written anonymously and may have been copied many times before finally appearing in collections like the Montpelier Codex. The identities of these lost masters may have been erased from historical records, but they will live on through their music.

The compositions of the month are:

April: Sederunt Principes (Pérotin)
May: Hoquetus I - II (Anonymous)

My favorite of Pérotin's compositions, Sederunt Principes impresses me more each time I listen to it. This four-voice motet demonstrates all of the major musical advances of the early medieval period, including the rhythmic modes and parallel and contrary vocal motion. Similarly, Hoquetus I - II is an excellent demonstration of early medieval techniques, including the hocket and the rare second rhythmic mode. This piece has garnered a lot of attention from the people I've spoken to about my journey, so I suggest giving it a listen.

Zelus Familie: Perfect Simplicity

Album: Music of the Gothic Era
Track: "Zelus Familie" (Track #7 on disk 2)
Composer: Anonymous
Instruments: 3 voices
Musical Form: Motet
Year: ~1300

The compositions of the ars antiqua period could only have been categorized as such in retrospect -- it is only in view of the musical advances of the following century that these pieces seem antiquated. In music, however, even the strictest and most simplistic rubric allows for beauty and we should not dismiss "primitive" work simply because of these limitations. In a modern context, perhaps punk music or blues are simplistic in comparison to progressive rock, but does that mean that they are inferior? Perhaps as music, but not as art.

It is with that mindset that I approach "Zelus Familie", an anonymously-composed motet from the early 14th century. Although technically classified as ars nova (more on this artistic movement soon), "Zelus Familie" has most of the elements of a 13th century composition. It keeps primarily within the third rhythmic mode and the voices remain tightly coupled throughout the piece. The only progressive element is its increased dynamic range, but I'm not sure if this was notated in the original manuscript or chosen by the performers. Either way, the results are beautiful in their simplicity -- a composition that might otherwise be hypnotic becomes emollient with the increased dynamic motion.

As far as medieval polyphony is concerned, the road gets rockier from here on. Although the most revered works from the medieval period were produced after 1300, the increased musical freedom that composers were allowed can be something of a burden to the untrained listener trying to cull the wheat from the chaff... bear with me, I'm sure there will be many gaps in my explorations.

S'on Me Regarde: Pop Sensibilities

Album: Music of the Gothic Era
Track: "S'on me regarde" (Track #3)
Composer: Anonymous
Instruments: 2 voices, fiddle, mandora, harp, psaltery
Year: ~1250

Another piece included in the Montpellier Codex, "S'on me regarde" is a French love song in motet form. Of what I've heard during my journey thus far, this song comes closest to what I think of as a "traditional" song; that is, the sort of thing I might have sung in summer camp or high school french class. The tune is catchy and, interestingly, either of the two vocal parts could be argued to carry the melody. One can imagine that the composers of this time would have had only the crudest notion of how to write effective accompaniment -- perhaps here they chose to simply write another melody line to accompany the first, we can only guess. Either way, the result is impressive and I'm not aware of any equivalent in modern music.

External Links: YouTube

The Rhythmic Modes and Sederunt Principes

Album: Leonin & Perotin: Sacred Music from the Notre Dame Cathedral
Track: "Sederunt Principes" (Track #31)
Composer: Pérotin
Instruments: 4 voices
Musical Form: Conductus
Year: ~1200

The Notre Dame School was renowned not just for polyphony, but also for its use of rhythm, which came in the form of one of six rhythmic modes. These modes can be thought of as groupings of notes with the same relative durations. For example, the first mode is simply a long note followed by a short note. If you skip to 1:45 in "Sederunt Principes", the second-to-last piece on L&P, you can hear the first rhythmic mode clearly in multiple voices, being repeated over the steady drone of the lowest voice. The full set of modes are as follows:

1) long - short
2) short - long
3) long - short - medium
4) short - medium - long
5) long - long
6) short - short - short

Pérotin utilizes a variety of modes in Sederunt Principes, most frequently the first, third, and fifth modes. Listen to the whole piece and see if you can identify modes as they pop up in the different voices, keeping in mind that voices aren't always in the same mode at the same time.

The piece is also worth a listen in its own right. The way it slowly shifts in rhythm and pitch structure, I am reminded of modern minimalist composers such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich; in fact, the latter acknowledges drawing inspiration from Pérotin. This fact alone reassures me that I haven't wasted my time revisiting the music of the ancient world.

External Links: YouTube

Parallel, Oblique, and Contrary Motion

Album: Leonin & Perotin: Sacred Music from the Notre Dame Cathedral
Track: "Viderunt Omnes" (Tracks #2 - 8)
Composer: Léonin
Instruments: 2 voices
Musical Form: Conductus
Year: ~1150

Following "Beata Viscera", the album Leonin & Perotin: Sacred Music from the Notre Dame Cathedral takes a purposeful step backwards and presents the first of five renditions of an ancient Christmas chant, Viderunt Omnes (meaning "all have seen"). Written by an unknown medieval composer, the first arrangement demonstrates polyphony in its simplest form. To begin the piece, we hear only a single voice performing a traditional Gregorian chant, a chant not unlike the ones reviewed in my second entry. After only a minute of this, however, we hear a another voice arise, moving in parallel motion above the first and adding texture that must have been thrilling to the medieval ear (listen to an example of parallel motion). Not impressed? Of course you're not, modern music is replete with harmonies much more complex than this one, but be patient.

Continuing to the next track, we hear the first contribution from Léonin and the beginning of the second rendition of Viderunt Omnes, this time split into five sections. Léonin preceded Pérotin by ~50 years and most of his compositions had only two voices, but his work helped lay the foundation for the more complex four-voice motets that would follow. In addition to experimenting with parallel, oblique, and contrary motion in the vocal parts, he also was among the first composers to use rhythmic modes, a set of very simple rhythms common to later medieval music. In this third track, he demonstrates a mastery of oblique motion; that is, the motion of one voice over the constant or slowly changing pitch of another (listen to an example).

Léonin works with a mix of parallel and oblique motion through the next few sections of the piece, until we reach "Dominus." Here, he begins to experiment with contrary motion in the voices, one moving up in pitch as the other moves down (listen to an example). This technique, which was developed by the Notre Dame School of Polyphony, would later be formalized into a system of "counterpoint" and would be mastered in the early 18th century by none other than Johann Sebastian Bach. At this point, however, we only hear a glimmer of the complexity exhibited in Bach's much later work. The lower voice in "Dominus" exhibits a slow, deliberate motion, while the upper voice moves with relative freedom through the musical space carved out by Léonin. The combined effect is worth more than the sum of its parts.

External Links: YouTube

1160 - 1250: The Notre Dame School of Polyphony, Introduction

Every once in a blue moon, an album comes along that completely changes your perspective on hackneyed opening sentences to music reviews. Performed by the vocal group, Tonus Peregrinus, Léonin & Pérotin: Sacred Music from Notre-Dame details the progression of polyphony in early medieval music, all the while offering something more than just a history lesson.

The collection features performances of pieces composed by Léonin and Pérotin, as well as by a number of anonymous (that is, unknown) composers, all products of the Notre Dame School of Music between the years 1160 and 1250. Named after the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, this collection of composers was renowned for its role in the development of early polyphony; that is, compositions using more than one independent voice. The pieces themselves were generally written around a traditional Gregorian Chant and would include variations in voicing, tempo, and rhythm. The most advanced compositions of the time, the motets, would include as many as four voices, often in contrary motion.

Since my experiences with this recording were both positive and educational, I will return to it in subsequent entries. If my blog encourages you to listen to anything, it should be this collection, not just because it is a pleasure to listen to, but also because it will enhance your appreciation of music in general.