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Page 45
Before his time, all "recognized" music was a more or less
melodious succession of tones, generally of the same length,
one syllable being sometimes used for many notes. He discovered
that a melody might be sung by several singers, each commencing
at a different pitch instead of all singing the same notes at
the same time. He also laid down rules as to how this was to
be done to produce the best effect. We remember why he chose
the fourth, fifth, and octave in preference to the third and
sixth. He called his system an "organum" or "diaphony," and
to sing according to his rules was called to "organize" or
"organate." We must remember that at that time fourths and
fifths were not always indicated in the written music; only
the melody, which was called the principal or subject. By
studying the rules prescribed for the organum, the singers
could add the proper intervals to the melody. We must keep
in mind, however, that later fourths were preferred to fifths
(being considered less harsh), and that the musical scale of
the period compelled the different voices to vary slightly,
that is to say, two voices could not sing exactly the same
melody at the interval of a fourth without the use of sharps
or flats; therefore one voice continued on the same note until
the awkward place was passed, and then proceeded in fourths
again with the other voice as before:
[G: {e' a'} {d' g'} {d' f+'} {d' e'}]
On account of the augmented fourth that would occur by a strict
adherence to the melodic structure of the subject, the following
would have been impossible: [G: {e' a'} {d' g'} ({c' f+'})]
Thus we find the first instance of the use of thirds, and also
of oblique motion as opposed to the earlier inevitable parallel
motion of the voices. This necessary freedom in singing the
organum or diaphony led to the attempt to sing two _different_
melodies, one against the other--"note against note," or
"point counter point,"[10] point or _punct_ being the name
for the written note. There being now two distinct melodies,
both had to be _noted_ instead of leaving it to the singers
to add their parts extemporaneously, according to the rules of
the organum, as they had done previously. Already earlier than
this (in 1100), owing to the tendency to discard consecutive
fourths and fifths, the intermovement of the voices, from
being parallel and oblique, became _contrary_, thus avoiding
the parallel succession of intervals. The name "organum" was
dropped and the new system became known as tenor and descant,
the tenor being the principal or foundation melody, and the
descant or descants (for there could be as many as there
were parts or voices to the music) taking the place of the
organum. The difference between _discantus_ and _diaphony_
was that the latter consisted of several parts or voices,
which, however, were more or less exact reproductions, at
different pitch, of the principal or given melody, while the
former was composed of entirely different melodic and rhythmic
material. This gave rise to the science of counterpoint, which,
as I have said, consists of the trick of making a number
of voices sing different melodies at the same time without
violating certain given rules. The given melody or "principal"
soon acquired the name of _cantus firmus_, and the other parts
were each called _contrapunctus_,[11] as before they had been
called tenor and descant. These names were first used by Gerson,
Chancellor of Notre Dame, Paris, about 1400.
In the meantime (about 1300-1375), the occasional use of thirds
and sixths in the diaphonies previously explained led to an
entirely different kind of singing, called _falso bordone_
or _faux bourdon_ (_bordonizare_, "to drone," comes from a
kind of pedal in organum that first brought the third into
use). This system, contrary to the old organum, consisted of
using only thirds and sixths together, excluding the fourth
and fifth entirely, except in the first and last bars. This
innovation has been ascribed to the Flemish singers attached
to the Papal Choir (about 1377), when Pope Gregory XI returned
from Avignon to Rome. In the British Museum, however, there
are manuscripts dating from the previous century, showing
that the _faux bourdon_ had already commenced to make its way
against the old systems of Hucbald and Guido. The combination
of the _faux bourdon_ and the remnant of the organum gives us
the foundation for our modern tone system. The old rules,
making plagal motion of the different voices preferable to
parallel motion, and contrary motion preferable to either,
still hold good in our works on theory; so also in regard to
the rules forbidding consecutive fifths and octaves, leaving
the question of the fourth in doubt.
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