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HOWM Chapter 5
History of Western Music Glossary Items
41
Music
Graduate
01/11/2019
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Term
polyphony
 Definition
Music or musical TEXTURE consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent MELODY. See also COUNTERPOINT.
Term
organum
 Definition
(Latin; pronounced OR-guh-num) (1) One of several styles of early POLYPHONY from the ninth through thirteenth centuries, involving the addition of one or more voices to an existing CHANT. (2) A piece, whether IMPROVISED or written, in one of those styles, in which one voice is drawn from a CHANT. The plural is organa.
Term
conductus
 Definition
A serious medieval song, MONOPHONIC or POLYPHONIC, setting a rhymed, rhythmic Latin poem.
Term
motet
 Definition
(from French mot, 'word') POLYPHONIC vocal COMPOSITION; the specific meaning changes over time. The earliest motets add a text to an existing DISCANT CLAUSULA. Thirteenth-century motets feature one or more voices, each with its own sacred or secular text in Latin or French, above a TENOR drawn from CHANT or other MELODY. Most fourteenth- and some fifteenth-century motets feature ISORHYTHM and may include a CONTRATENOR. From the fifteenth century on, any polyphonic setting of a Latin text (other than a MASS) could be called a motet; from the sixteenth century on, the term was also applied to sacred compositions in other languages.
Term
counterpoint
 Definition
The combination of two or more simultaneous MELODIC lines according to a set of rules.
Term
harmony
 Definition
Aspect of music that pertains to simultaneous combinations of NOTES, the INTERVALS and CHORDS that result, and the correct succession of chords.
Term
notation
 Definition
A system for writing down musical sounds, or the process of writing down music. The principal notation systems of European music use a staff of lines and signs that define the pitch, duration, and other qualities of sound.
Term
composition
 Definition
The act or process of creating new pieces of music, or a piece that results from this process and is substantially similar each time it is performed; usually distinguished from IMPROVISATION and performance.
Term
drone
 Definition
NOTE or notes sustained throughout an entire piece or section.
Term
organum
 Definition
(Latin; pronounced OR-guh-num) (1) One of several styles of early POLYPHONY from the ninth through thirteenth centuries, involving the addition of one or more voices to an existing CHANT. (2) A piece, whether IMPROVISED or written, in one of those styles, in which one voice is drawn from a CHANT. The plural is organa.
Term
parallel organum
 Definition
Type of POLYPHONY in which an added voice moves in exact parallel to a CHANT, normally a perfect fifth below it. Either voice may be doubled at the octave.
Term
principal voice
 Definition
(Latin, vox principalis) In an ORGANUM, the original CHANT MELODY.
Term
organal voice
 Definition
(Latin, vox organalis) In an ORGANUM, the voice that is added above or below the original CHANT MELODY.
Term
mixed parallel and oblique organum
 Definition
Early form of ORGANUM that combines parallel motion with oblique motion (in which the ORGANAL VOICE remains on the same NOTE while the PRINCIPAL VOICE moves) in order to avoid tritones.
Term
free organum
 Definition
Style of ORGANUM in which the ORGANAL voice moves in a free mixture of contrary, oblique, parallel, and similar motion against the CHANT (and usually above it).
Term
Aquitanian polyphony
 Definition
Style of POLYPHONY from the twelfth century, encompassing both DISCANT and FLORID ORGANUM.
Term
Discant
 Definition
(Latin, "singing apart") (1) Twelfth-century style of POLYPHONY in which the upper voice or voices have about one to three NOTES for each note of the lower voice. (2) TREBLE part.
Term
florid organum
 Definition
Twelfth-century style of two-voice POLYPHONY in which the lower voice sustains relatively long NOTES while the upper voice sings note-groups of varying length above each note of the lower voice.
Term
tenor
 Definition
(from Latin tenere, 'to hold') (1) In a MODE or CHANT, the RECITING TONE. (2) In POLYPHONY of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the voice part that has the chant or other borrowed MELODY, often in long-held NOTES. (3) Male voice of a relatively high range.
Term
score notation
 Definition
A type of NOTATION in which the different voices or parts are aligned vertically to show how they are coordinated with each other.
Term
ligature
 Definition
NEUME-like noteshape used to indicate a short RHYTHMIC pattern in twelfth- to sixteenth-century NOTATION.
Term
long
 Definition
In medieval and RENAISSANCE systems of RHYTHMIC NOTATION, a NOTE equal to two or three BREVES.
Term
breve
 Definition
(from Latin brevis, 'short') In medieval and RENAISSANCE systems of RHYTHMIC NOTATION, a NOTE that is normally equal to half or a third of a LONG.
Term
rhythmic modes
 Definition
System of six durational patterns (for example, mode 1, long-short) used in POLYPHONY of the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, used as the basis of the rhythmic NOTATION of the Notre Dame composers.
Term
tempus
 Definition
(Latin, 'time'; pl. tempora) In medieval systems of NOTATION, the basic time unit. See also MODE, TIME, AND PROLATION.
Term
clausula
 Definition
(Latin, 'clause,' pl. clausulae) In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, a self-contained section of an ORGANUM that closes with a CADENCE.
Term
substitute clausula
 Definition
In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, a new CLAUSULA (usually in DISCANT style) designed to replace the original polyphonic setting of a particular segment of a CHANT.
Term
organum duplum
 Definition
In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, an ORGANUM in two voices.
Term
triplum
 Definition
(from Latin triplus, 'triple') (1) In POLYPHONY of the late twelfth through fourteenth centuries, third voice from the bottom in a three- or four-voice TEXTURE, added to a TENOR and DUPLUM. (2) In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, an ORGANUM in three voices.
Term
quadruplum
 Definition
(Latin, 'quadruple') (1) In POLYPHONY of the late twelfth through fourteenth centuries, fourth voice from the bottom in a four-voice TEXTURE, added to a TENOR, DUPLUM, and TRIPLUM. (2) In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, an ORGANUM in four voices.
Term
duplum
 Definition
(from Latin duplus, 'double') In POLYPHONY of the late twelfth through fourteenth centuries, second voice from the bottom in a four-voice TEXTURE, above the TENOR.
Term
triplum
 Definition
(from Latin triplus, 'triple') (1) In POLYPHONY of the late twelfth through fourteenth centuries, third voice from the bottom in a three- or four-voice TEXTURE, added to a TENOR and DUPLUM. (2) In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, an ORGANUM in three voices.
Term
cauda
 Definition
(Latin, 'tail'; pl. caudae) MELISMATIC passage in a POLYPHONIC CONDUCTUS.
Term
motet
 Definition
(from French mot, 'word') POLYPHONIC vocal COMPOSITION; the specific meaning changes over time. The earliest motets add a text to an existing DISCANT CLAUSULA. Thirteenth-century motets feature one or more voices, each with its own sacred or secular text in Latin or French, above a TENOR drawn from CHANT or other MELODY. Most fourteenth- and some fifteenth-century motets feature ISORHYTHM and may include a CONTRATENOR. From the fifteenth century on, any polyphonic setting of a Latin text (other than a MASS) could be called a motet; from the sixteenth century on, the term was also applied to sacred compositions in other languages.
Term
double motet
 Definition
Thirteenth-century MOTET in three voices, with different texts in the DUPLUM and TRIPLUM.
Term
triple motet
 Definition
Thirteenth-century MOTET in four voices, with a different text in each voice above the TENOR.
Term
cantus firmus
 Definition
(Latin, 'fixed melody') An existing MELODY, often taken from a GREGORIAN CHANT, on which a new POLYPHONIC work is based; used especially for MELODIES presented in long NOTES.
Term
Franconian notation
 Definition
System of NOTATION described by Franco of Cologne around 1280, using noteshapes to indicate durations.
Term
perfection
 Definition
(1) What we all strive for. (2) In medieval systems of NOTATION, a unit of duration equal to three TEMPORA, akin to a MEASURE of three beats.
Term
rondellus
 Definition
Technique in medieval English POLYPHONY in which two or three PHRASES of music, first heard simultaneously in different voices, are each sung in turn by each of the voices.
Term
rota
 Definition
FORM of medieval English POLYPHONY in which two or more voices sing the same MELODY, entering at different times and repeating the melody until all stop together. See CANON.
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