Page 30 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

28 IN CONTEXT

TO SING FOCUS

The rise of vocal harmony

BEFORE
IS TO PRAY c.1000 More than 160 organa,
probably written by Wulfstan,
the Cantor of Winchester
Cathedral, are collected in
the Winchester Troper.
TWICE c.1140 The Codex Calixtinus

mentions a certain Magister
Albertus Parisiensis as

work for three voices.
MAGNUS LIBER ORGANI (c.1170), composer of the first notated
AFTER
LÉONIN c.1200 Pérotin improves and
expands on Léonin’s work in
the Magnus liber organi.

he development of
polyphony (richly layered
T music for multiple voices)
in the mid-12th century is closely
linked to Notre Dame in Paris,
the lavish new cathedral built by
Maurice de Sully when be became
Bishop of Paris in 1160. Around
this time, a French composer
called Léonin was creating fresh
embellishments for two voices, in
order to enhance the traditional
plainchant. Under the patronage of
the cathedral, Léonin and a number
of other innovative composers
formed what later became known
as the Notre Dame School.

Composing organa
There are no records of Léonin
until nearly a century after he
was active, when an Englishman
studying in Paris (known to
musicology as “Anonymous IV”)
wrote about Master Léoninus.

US_028-031_Leonin.indd 28 26/03/18 1:00 PM