The Middle Ages: Organum Vocabulary

Question 1

Organum

Answer 1

polyphony based on plainchant from the 9th to 13th centuries, a vocal music in which one or more new melodic lines are added to an exciting Gregorian chant (cantus firmus) with early styles featuring perfect intervals, often with parallel motion between the voices and later styles featuring more independent melodic parts and a greater variety of intervals

Question 2

Tenor

Answer 2

from Latin ‘tenere’ meaning “to hold”, in a polyphonic composition from the Middle Ages, it refers to the voice that contains the ‘cantus firmus’ (borrowed material)

Question 3

Cantus Firmus

Answer 3

Latin for “final song”, borrowed material, often from a Gregorian chant, serves as structured framework for a new polyphonic composition, found in the lowest voice in organum

Question 4

Rhythmic modes

Answer 4

an early step in the evolution of rhythmic notation, developed by Notre Dame composers in the late 12th to early 13th century. It has six basic rhythmic patterns, related to poetic meters used in Latin grammar, that were used to provide rhythmic structure. Served to keep two or more voices in rhythmic alignment when they were not moving note-against-note.

Question 5

Organal style

Answer 5

a style of free organum in which the notes from the original chant are sung by the lower voice in long note values, sometimes called “sustained note organum”, “organum puram”, or “florid organum”

Question 6

Discant style

Answer 6

a style of organum in which there is regular rhythmic movement of the cantus firmus, sometimes features “note against note” movement between the voices

Question 7

Clausula

Answer 7

self-contained discant style passage in organum, often based on a single word or syllable, set melismatically in the original chant, plural is clausulae