What is parallel organum in music?

Parallel organum. In parallel organum, an added voice (organal voice) appears below a chant melody (principal voice), moving in parallel fifths or fourths and making adjustments to avoid the tritone. Either or both voices may be doubled at the octave.

What are the two types of organum?

#1 – Strict Simple Organum #2 – Strict Composite Organum #3 – Modified Parallel Organum #4 – Free Organum These examples come from the CD set of the Stolba Music History textbook.

Is parallel organum polyphonic?

As you may have noticed, a parallel organum is a polyphonic vocal piece made up of two melodic lines, called vox principalis and vox organalis. Both melodies are applied to the same text, written in latin, and use the same rhythmic values.

What is Discant organum?

“Discant organum” refers to the two voices falling into a rhythmic mode — a 6/8 or 9/8 feel — singing more or less at the same rate for a passage. In the 11th and 12th centuries, octaves, fourths, and fifths were considered consonant; but not thirds yet.

What were the two parts of the parallel organum?

For parallel singing, the original chant would be the upper voice, vox principalis; the vox organalis was at a parallel perfect interval below, usually a fourth. Thus the melody would be heard as the principal voice, the vox organalis as an accompaniment or harmonic reinforcement.

What is organum and what are the types of organum?

Organum is a genre of Medieval polyphonic music (music with two or more simultaneous, different voice parts) that reached the peak of its sophistication during the late 1100s-early 1200s in France. In organum, new music would be composed and sometimes improvised on top of the “fixed” music of older Gregorian chant.

How is organum different from monophonic form?

is that plainsong is (music) a form of monophonic chant, sung in unison using the gregorian scale and sung in various christian churches while organum is (music) a type of medieval polyphony which builds upon an existing plainsong.

What is discant style?

1a : a melody or counterpoint sung above the plainsong of the tenor. b : the art of composing or improvising contrapuntal part music also : the music so composed or improvised.

What is melismatic organum?

Melismatic Organum (11th and 12th Centuries): Added voice has melismas sung over held notes in the lower voice (which still presents the chant).

What are the parts of organum?

900; “Musical Handbook”), organum consisted of two melodic lines moving simultaneously note against note. Sometimes a second, or organal, voice doubled the chant, or principal voice, a fourth or a fifth below (as G or F below c, etc.). In other instances, the two voices started in unison, then moved to wider intervals.

What is the meaning of organum?

Definition of organum 1 : early polyphony of the late Middle Ages that consists of one or more voice parts accompanying the cantus firmus often in parallel motion at a fourth, fifth, or octave above or below also : a composition in this style. 2 : organon.

Is organum polyphonic or homophonic?

Organum was originally improvised; while one singer performed a notated melody (the vox principalis), another singer—singing “by ear”—provided the unnotated second melody (the vox organalis). Over time, composers began to write added parts that were not just simple transpositions, thus creating true polyphony.

What is discant in music history?

Discant, which is a Latin word for singing part, generally refers to a treble part, but more specifically for Medieval music refers to the improvised or written polyphony in which voices move at the same speed.

What does discant Clausula mean?

The clausula (Latin for “little close” or “little conclusion”; plural clausulae) was a newly composed section of discant (“note against note”) inserted into a pre-existing setting of organum. Clausulae flourished in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries and were associated with the Notre Dame school.

What is florid organum?

Florid Organum refers to a twelfth century polyphonic composition technique where human voices are accumulated over time, each new voice moving faster or slower than the original to create an evolving harmonic and rhythmic structure.

How many voices are in an organum?

two musical
In its earliest stages, organum involved two musical voices: a Gregorian chant melody, and the same melody transposed by a consonant interval, usually a perfect fifth or fourth.

What is Gregorian chant and organum?

Multi-voice elaborations of Gregorian chant, known as organum, were an early stage in the development of Western polyphony. Gregorian chant was traditionally sung by choirs of men and boys in churches, or by men and women of religious orders in their chapels.

What is the difference between polyphony and organum?

is that organum is (music) a type of medieval polyphony which builds upon an existing plainsong while polyphony is (music) musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony).

Why do sopranos always sing melody?

Sopranos Carry the Melody It, many times, is the part that really catches you and gets stuck in your head. This part is most often sung by a soprano voicing, mainly because sopranos are the highest voicing, and that naturally lends to volume and dominance.

What is Discant style?

Who wrote Factum Est salutare Dominus?

The original chant lyric dominus, which means “lord,” was expounded by the motetus lyric, factum est salutare conspectu notum gentium, which means “salvation was made known in the sight of the people.” The poetic relationship between the two lyrics is an allusion to the original Gregorian chant.

How many types of organum are there?

Organum purum is one of three styles of organum, which is used in section where the chant is syllabic thus where the tenor can not be modal. As soon as the chant uses ligatures, the tenor becomes modal and it will have become discant, which is the second form. The third form is copula (Lat.

Why is it called organum?

organum, plural Organa, originally, any musical instrument (later in particular an organ); the term attained its lasting sense, however, during the Middle Ages in reference to a polyphonic (many-voiced) setting, in certain specific styles, of Gregorian chant.

What is the highest soprano voice called?

Soprano tessitura: The tessitura of the soprano voice lies higher than all the other voices except the sopranino. In particular, the coloratura soprano has the highest tessitura of all the soprano subtypes.

What is parallel organum?

This kind of organum is now usually called parallel organum, although terms such as sinfonia or diaphonia were used in early treatises. The history of organum would not be complete without two of its greatest innovators, Léonin and Pérotin.

Definition of organum 1 : early polyphony of the late Middle Ages that consists of one or more voice parts accompanying the cantus firmus often in parallel motion at a fourth, fifth, or octave above or below also : a composition in this style 2 : organon

What are the two forms of organum technique?

In Léonin’s organa de gradali et antiphonario two forms of organum technique are evident, organum purum and “discantus”. “Benedicamus Domino” is a perfect example of the principles used.

What is organum purum in music?

Organum purum is one of three styles of organum, which is used in section where the chant is syllabic thus where the tenor can not be modal. As soon as the chant uses ligatures, the tenor becomes modal and it will have become discant, which is the second form.