More than Music

Lucy Walker

Column I: Renovations

Time period: 12th - 13th Century

Culture in focus: Music and Architecture

Music in focus: Viderunt Omnes, three ways

Playlist: ‘Renovations’

Île de la Cité, Paris, 1160:  The foundations of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, now a globally renowned landmark, were laid by Bishop Maurice de Sully, on the site of two ruined basilicas, previously dedicated to St. Étienne. A masterpiece of unprecedented architectural grandeur, Notre-Dame displays innovative structural feats, such as flying buttresses, and decorative opulence both interior and exterior. The quire was completed in 1180, and the first mass sung just three years later, long before Notre-Dame’s completion in 1250, an early indicator of the central role that singing would play in the life of the cathedral.

At the time, Paris nurtured a thriving social and educational culture, a sort of renaissance, revolving around Notre-Dame. Musically, this heralded a shift from oral transmission and simple transcription to composition as we know it today – a written, thought process. As a key discipline of the educational hub which surrounded Notre-Dame, music gained a respected and elevated place in culture, especially when linked to worship. 

Photograph: Pedro Szekely

The primary genre of sacred music-making during this period was Gregorian Chant: liturgical texts set to monophonic vocal melodies. At Notre-Dame, chant flourished. A key musical development of this period is the elaboration of previously existing chants, perhaps comparable to building Notre-Dame on the site of an existing church - an evolution rather than a replacement.

Though the identities of many musicians and scholars of this period have been lost to history, one surviving treatise (known as Anonymous IV) refers to two esteemed musical ‘Masters’, Léonin and Pérotin, working in this period. They are accredited with composing the first chants for more than one independent voice, a technique known as ‘organum’. Léonin’s surviving organum is for two voices; one voice (the tenor) holds the chant, while the other moves independently above. Pérotin’s organum features numerous rhythmically active interlocking voices. This distinction is audible in the two masters’ versions of ‘Viderunt Omnes’, especially when compared to the monophonic Gregorian Chant.

In their day, these masters and their contemporaries were composing the longest and most elaborate settings of chant ever created, with an artistry certainly comparable to the unparalleled architecture of Notre-Dame with its robust foundational arches and intricately-carved stonework. In both cases, impressive feats of increased size and scope emerged from established tradition, with widespread impact across Europe; indeed, Notre-Dame repertoire was sung for over a century.

For a congregation, overwhelming the senses with awe, aurally, spiritually and visually - by listening to such sumptuous resonating music, weaved around liturgical text, in an imposing space - could emulate the Catholic ideal of experiencing a foretaste of heaven, and move worshippers to deeper devotion.

Further musical-architectural connections at Notre-Dame include a visual and conceptual parallel between the intersecting arches of the cathedral’s interior which evoke melismatic melodic shapes. A syntax of melodic and rhythmic gestures act as metaphorical building blocks for chant composition, and also serve as memory-aids for performers, perhaps a psychological grounding-device comparable to the flying buttress which provides stability for the cathedral’s structure.

This period defines a cultural turning point. Music and architecture prospered both technically and artistically, laying the foundations for future generations without losing sight of tradition.

Listen here! -

To the Gregorian Chant

To Léonin

To Pérotin

Photograph: Harmonia Amanda

GLOSSARY

Flying buttress – a frame which forms an arch against a heavy wall to provide support.

Melismatic – when several different notes are sung smoothly to one syllable of text.

Monophonic – a single musical line, without harmony.

Organum – a genre of early music, where chant is accompanied by an independent melody line.

Quire – the area of a church or cathedral where the clergy and choir are seated, between the nave and the sanctuary.

Tenor – in this case, the tenor refers to the voice-part which sings or ‘holds’ the chant (literally from the Latin tenor, ‘he who holds’).

Viderunt Omnes - a chant based on Psalm 98 and typically sung at Christmas.