Today’s voice…
What is a voice? A person who sings, an instrument that speaks, different voices coming together to form a single sound… A voice can take many forms. Inspired by the theme Giving Voice, each day in this festival newsletter we highlight a different use of the voice. We begin at the beginning: the human voice and polyphony.
Notre-Dame School
Parisian polyphony is considered one of the important sources of Western polyphonic singing. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Paris developed into an important European centre of art, science and music. Notre-Dame Cathedral played a major role in this. A groundbreaking form of polyphony developed in its music chapel, in which several voices sounded simultaneously.
The earliest forms of polyphony grew out of Gregorian chant. In the so-called organum, an existing Gregorian melody was supplemented by a second voice. Initially, the voices moved largely in parallel, for example in fourths, fifths or octaves. This gave rise to a simple form of polyphony.
Around 1200, this music underwent a major transformation. Composers such as Leoninus and Perotinus, associated with Notre-Dame, developed more complex forms of polyphony. In Leoninus’s music, the Gregorian melody was extended into long notes, above which a freely moving and ornamented voice sounded. Perotinus went even further, writing music for three and even four voices. The individual voices were also given clear rhythmic patterns. This led to musica mensurabilis: music in which rhythm was systematically notated.
These developments were important for the subsequent history of Western music. New forms of notation made it possible to accurately record and transmit complex rhythms and polyphony. Parisian polyphony later gave rise to new musical forms, such as the conductus and motet.
In our series on Notre-Dame de Paris, various ensembles and musicians demonstrate what this music may have sounded like. Today, the Huelgas Ensemble, conducted by Paul Van Nevel, opens the series with Paris 1200, a journey from the earliest polyphony to the complex music of Perotinus.
Later today, we immediately explore the extremes of polyphony with Alessandro Striggio’s monumental forty-part Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno (c. 1536–1592). Striggio was born in Mantua and worked from a young age at the court of the Medici in Florence. There, music was used to project power and prestige, giving composers the opportunity to embark on grand experiments.
Striggio’s forty-part music is an exceptional example of this. He travelled throughout Europe as a cultural ambassador for the Medici and had his music performed at, among others, the court of Emperor Maximilian II and that of the French King Charles IX.
The mass subsequently fell into obscurity for centuries. The manuscript was catalogued incorrectly and Striggio’s name became corrupted. It was not until the late twentieth century that the work was identified and performed again. After more than four centuries of silence, Striggio’s forty-part mass can now be heard once more.
