1 Jan 1200 Jahr - Master Pérotin: 4 voiced organum “Viderunt omnes” (“All shall see”)

Beschreibung:

Pérotin’s most remarkable composition → first documented example of a work in four voices (organum quadruplum)

Tenor holds individual notes of original plainchant for extended periods → first syllable in tenor lasts 46 seconds, first word (Viderunt) lasts over two minutes

Three other voices have elaborate melismas on the same syllables

Small melodic formulas repeated, but grouped in different ways → freely combined in parts of different modes
Specificity of rhythmic modes enabled Pérotin to align his harmonies as he wished

High level of dissonance → accounted for by very individual voices added as separate layers
For first few minutes, rhythmic modes only govern upper three voices (tenor is held) → at the part where original plainchant is melismatic, notes in tenor are sped up to coordinate with the upper voices

Clausula = section where all voices governed by rhythmic modes
Returns to monophonic plainchant by the end of the section

Almost 12 minutes long (longer than any single plainchant)