=Influence of Art on Music=.—All of the fine arts, with the exception
of Music had, by the year 1100, reached a fairly high stage of
development due, no doubt, to the fact that they are to a great
extent composed of concrete materials. Music, owing to its lack of
the concrete and the inability of men literally to place their hands
upon its material, had lagged behind, so that in 1100 we find only a
small amount of material, and that in a most chaotic condition. This
material was, however, sufficient to produce definite musical forms
if united into a homogeneous whole; such a state, however, could
be produced only as the result of some great influence which would
galvanize the component parts into action. Fortunately, there was
just such an influence, one which had passed through an evolution
similar to that needed in music, though because of its more concrete
form and its necessity to man, this evolution had occurred at a
proportionately earlier date. This influence was an art form, a phase
of architecture known as the Gothic. Gothic architecture was a form
built up by the unifying of the principal styles of architecture into
one uniform whole, and composed of a _multiplicity_ of _details_, but
of such evident _relation to each other_ as to make a distinct art
form. This form was first used in Paris about the year 1000 A. D.
Music was, approximately, in the same condition as Architecture before
the birth of the Gothic principle, and needed a stimulus, a comrade
art undergoing much the same evolution, to start it on its path of
polyphonic development. In the year 1100 musical chaos became united
into one uniform art by means of Measured Music or Proportion, thus
allowing the systematizing of the mass of then existing material,
and the construction of definite art forms. Since Architecture had
undergone just such a change one century before, it is more than
probable that the effect of this change was the starting of a similar
one in Music, though the result was not to show until one hundred years
after its occurrence in the kindred art.
=Paris the Centre of Europe=.—It was natural that these two great
changes should take place in Paris, at that time the centre of wealth
and learning for all Europe. Paris, in addition to its many other
advantages, had long possessed a great university which had produced
many scholars and theologians. The influence of the Church in all art
was then paramount, for all art was employed in the service of the
Church; Architecture gave to the Church its Gothic cathedrals; Painting
and Frescoing its marvelous interior decorations; while Music made
possible the richer forms of the service or liturgy. In that sense the
Church, in its centre of theological study, would undoubtedly react on
the practice of music and produce more beautiful forms for the service.
In this period it is worthy of note that all the _famous musicians_,
as before, were _monks_, or men employed in the Church, and the reason
for this condition is plain: there was no art of music outside of the
Church.
=Measured Music=.—Just as the use of many voices produced singing
in parts, so did it produce Measured Music. To make it possible to
use more than two parts at the same time it was necessary to have
some definite agreement as to the value of the notes, in order to
have certain uniform times for beginning, ending and performing the
different portions of a composition agreeably; and so Measured Music
was born. It may be said here that the different metrical divisions
were not shown by means of bar lines as we now use them, but by
different groupings of the notes, the time value of each depending on
its relative position to the others. Perhaps of all forms produced by
this system, the _Organum Purum_ was the earliest and most peculiar.
It consisted of a _Cantus Firmus_ set to words, and metrical in form;
a second voice freely extemporized a higher part, evidently the only
rule being that the two finish together. At a late date, strict Discant
sometimes alternated with the old Organum, making it much less free in
character.
=The Important Forms=.—In reality, the important forms produced were
entirely in strict metrical divisions. Of these, the most important
were the so-called strict Organum, the Conductus, the Roundel and the
Motet. Of the strict Organum very little is known, excepting that it
was a strictly metrical form, differing, in that sense only, from
the Organum Purum; it had also words for all parts and not only for
the Cantus Firmus, as had the older forms. The Conductus, from the
Latin _conducere_, to conduct, was important, and was a secular form
having as its basis a popular melody or a newly invented one, secular
words and much freer intervals than church compositions. Each part
was expected to be melodious; and it varied from two to four in the
number of voices used. It was sung during a march, a funeral cortège or
procession.
[Music]
Conductus for three voices showing that each part is a distinct melody.
Oxford History of Music, Vol. I.
=The Roundel=, from an historical view-point, was the most important
form, for in it much use was made of Imitation. It can best be
explained in the words of Walter Odington, a theorist of the time:
“Let a melody, with or without a text, in one of the regular modes
of rhythm, and as beautiful as possible, be devised, and let each
voice sing this in turn. And at the same time let other melodies be
devised to accompany it in the second and (if there be three voices)
in the third voice; let them proceed in consonances, and so that when
one voice ascends another descends, and let the third not follow too
closely the movement of either of the others, except perhaps for the
sake of greater beauty. And let all of these melodies be sung by each
voice in turn.” While the use of Imitation is important in that it
recognizes the _repetition_ of a set phrase as an _aid_ to _Unity_, its
importance is detracted from, at least at this period, because it was
not used in any of the other forms then in vogue.
[Music]
Roundel for three voices showing Imitation. There are six distinct
melodic phrases, and by numbering these wherever they appear, the
Imitation can readily be observed.
=Imitation a Means of Securing Unity=.—An art form must submit to
the laws of the human mind, which demand that a work of art shall
show three principles: Unity, Variety or Contrast and Proportion or
Symmetry. The problem set before the old composers was to produce
musical works which should exhibit obedience to the canons of art
as determined in the sister arts which had already reached great
perfection. Unity in a musical work means that it is a development of
one central thought, in elaborate works, of several leading ideas. The
germ of a musical composition is in the Theme. The composer’s problem
is to elaborate a piece of some length from this Theme, in that way to
secure Unity of idea. If he were limited to writing in one part, he
would be compelled to _repeat_ the Theme a number of times, either on
the _same_ or on a _different_ degree. When he must write for three
or more voices the problem becomes more complicated. Let us imagine
a composer of the 12th-century at his work. He has a theme to use,
like the one in the example at the end of the preceding paragraph,
which he is to use in three parts. From the composers of the preceding
centuries he received the principle of _transposing_ the theme a fourth
or fifth or octave higher or lower, thus singing the same melody
_simultaneously_ at different pitches; but this he rejects as crude; he
has passed that stage and wishes to use a newer, more advanced method.
Obviously his recourse will be to let each of the other two voices sing
the opening theme _successively_ at the same pitch. To stop with this
change would result only in three successive repetitions of the opening
theme; so he makes the second and third voices sing the phrases used by
the first voice after the first theme has been given, which serve as
an accompaniment to the second and third entries of the first theme;
thus all the voices sing the various phrases, at different times and
in different successions, as shown by the numbering of the phrases.
In later times the principal phrases were sung _successively and
transposed_ at the same time. This principle of Imitation is the very
foundation of the later complicated polyphonic system.
=The Motet=.—In the form of the Motet we note many peculiarities. Each
voice had different words, though the Tenor or foundation of the
composition used but _one_ single word throughout; also, the Tenor
was composed of a certain metrical and melodic figure closely adhered
to and built up out of some popular song. The words and the form were
sacred in that they were used in worship.
=The Men of the Time=.—There are many men who wrote in these forms
but it is only necessary to examine those of importance. =Franco of
Cologne= (1150-1220), (dates disputed), an organist, was probably
the pioneer in the adoption of Measured Music. He first advocated
the use of triple meter and classified the dissonances of major and
minor thirds and sixths. He used his influence _against_ the use of
_consecutive fourths_ and _fifths_, and _for_ the use of _contrary
motion_. The result is in many ways shown in the following example:
[Music]
=Leonin= (about 1140) and =Perotin= (his pupil) were organists at
Notre Dame in Paris. The former was noteworthy in the reform of
notation, while the latter is known principally for his use of crude
Imitation, and a tendency not to use consecutive fourths and fifths,
though he never entirely succeeded in eradicating them. =Franco of
Paris= (1150———), often confused with his namesake of Cologne, was
a theoretician, improved notation, and wrote a treatise on Mensural
Music. =Jean de Garlande= (1170-125—) not only wrote a very valuable
treatise on Mensural Music, but was also a composer of note; his
writings contained specimens of Double Counterpoint, though probably
used without the intention of producing them. =Jerome de Moravie=
(1260) wrote a scholarly treatise on Discant, and such was his ability
that he illustrated it with his own compositions, making it one of the
most valuable reference works in existence. It is worthy of mention
that all of these men were churchmen in the sense that their work was
all done in, or with the approval of, the Church, and was therefore
influenced by the peculiar beliefs and customs then obtaining in that
institution. This point must ever be kept in mind, for any prolonged
contact with Folk-music must have changed the entire development of the
art; therefore we must regard the Church as the dominant influence of
early music.
=Summary=.—The work of this period can hardly be over-estimated.
First we see the influence of the Gothic in architecture, producing
a corresponding unity in music; a unity which was concomitant with
Measured or Mensural Music. We next see the attempt to combine metrical
with unmetrical forms in the Organum Purum, and the final result in
the strict form of Organum. Then we note the freedom shown in the
Conductus, Roundel and Motet, as well as freedom in the use of more
pleasing intervals, with the tendency to eradicate consecutive fourths
and fifths; the use of contrary motion instead of parallel, and the
consequent melodic freedom of the voices, and finally the use of
Imitation, though perhaps unintentionally, except in the Roundel. This
period then marks the acquisition not only of new intervals, new forms,
new styles of melodic writing, imitation, measured music and simple
counterpoint of note against note, but also forms the foundation for a
rapid development by bequeathing to the Gallo-Belgic School a wealth of
material, bound up with rules and only half-suspected as to its value,
it is true, but broad and firm enough to sustain a mighty structure of
true Polyphonic Music.