Long before the great names of the Renaissance make their appearance, polyphony takes shape beneath the vaults of Notre-Dame in Paris. What begins around 1200 as a modest ornamentation of Gregorian chant grows into a play of melodic lines that multiply and separate, cross, fan out, and come together again. Composers such as Leoninus and Perotinus lay the foundations of a new way of thinking about music that continues to be relevant to this day. In this series, you follow that trail closely.
Dionysos Now! and Ensemble Correspondances present the soundtrack of Notre-Dame in the Renaissance and Baroque eras, while Huelgas Ensemble, Ordo Virtutum, and Per-Sonat return to the early roots of Parisian polyphony. Vincent Dubois, organist of Notre-Dame in Paris, demonstrates the cathedral's rich organ tradition, from the Middle Ages to the present day. As a grand finale: a reprise of Steve Reich's Proverb, inspired by Perotinus, which had its European premiere thirty years ago at the Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht.
