Pérotin
It is assumed that Perotinus was French and named Pérotin, a diminutive of Peter, but attempts to match him with persons in contemporary documents remain speculative.
[1] The closest thing to a contemporary account of his life comes from two much later reporters: a brief mention attributed to the music theorist Johannes de Garlandia[n 2] (fl. c.
[15][16] Pérotin is considered to be the most important member of the Notre Dame school of polyphony, a group of composers working at or near the cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250, creators of the ars antiqua style.
[22] The title, employed also by Johannes de Garlandia, means that Perotinus, like Léonin, earned the degree magister artium, almost certainly in Paris, and that he was licensed to teach.
However "Petrus" was one of the most common names in the Ile de France during the High Middle Ages, making further identification difficult.
[1] The reign of Louis VII (1137–1180) witnessed a period of cultural innovation, in which appeared the Notre Dame school of musical composition, and the contributions of Léonin, who prepared two-part choral settings (organa) for all the major liturgical festivals.
[25] The innovative nature of the Notre Dame style stands in contrast to its predecessor, that of the Abbey of St Martial, Limoges, replacing the monodic (monophonic) Gregorian chant with polyphony (more than one voice singing at a time).
[26] This school also marked a transition from music that was essentially performance to a less ephemeral entity that was committed to parchment, preserved and transmitted to history.
[27] The tenor is based on an existing plainsong melody from the liturgical repertoire (such as the Alleluia, Verse or Gradual, from the Mass, or a Responsory or Benedicamus from the Office).
Pérotin's works are preserved in this compilation of early polyphonic church music, which was in the collection of the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.
[30] The surviving sources all commence with a four-voice organal setting of the Christmas Gradual, Viderunt omnes fines terrae (lit.
[31] However, the manuscripts and fragments that survive[n 8] date well into the thirteenth century, meaning that they are preserved in a form notated by musicians working several generations following Léonin and Pérotin.
[33][34] This collection of music constitutes the earliest known record of polyphony to have the stability and circulation achieved earlier by monophonic Gregorian chant.
[16] Louis VII was succeeded by his son Philip II in 1179 and his reign was marked by integration and revision of the cultural shifts that had transpired under his father.
'Princes sat and plotted against me') Graduals for Christmas[n 9] and the feast of St Stephen's Day (26 December) respectively[38][39] are among only a few organa quadrupla known, early polyphony having been restricted to two-part compositions.
[15] Léonin's added duplum required skill, and had to be sung fast with up to 40 notes to one of the underlying chant, as a result of which the actual text progressed very slowly.
[43] Anonymous IV described Léonin as optimus organista (the best composer of organa) but Pérotin, who revised the former's Magnus liber organi (Great Organum Book), as optimus discantor referring to his discant composition.,[12] In the original discant organum duplum, the second voice follows the cantus firmus, note on note but at an interval, usually a fourth above.
[45] Johannes de Garlandia states that the Magnus Liber commences with Perotin's four-part organa, and makes specific reference to the notation in the three-part Alleluya, Posui adiutorium.
[n 10][5] Other works are attributed to him by later scholars, such as Heinrich Husmann, on stylistic grounds,[46] all in the organum style, as well as the two-voice Dum sigillum summi Patris and the monophonic Beata viscera (lit.
[16] Pérotin's dates of activity have been approximated from some late 12th century edicts (Statuta et donationes piae)[49] of the Bishop of Paris, Odo (Eudes de Sully) (1196–1208), in 1198 and 1199.
[50] His preference was for elaborate music in its stead,[37][51] calling for performance in organa triplo vel quadruplo for the Responsory and Benedicamus and other settings.
[15] Between the accounts of Anonymous IV, the episcopal edicts and the arrangements in the Magnus liber, the key compositions appear to be corroborated and assigned to this period.
[55] Philip, also a canon there, held that title at the cathedral from 1218 till his death in 1236,[56] suggesting a possible later date for Pérotin's setting of the former's Beata viscera (ca.
[n 14][37] Philip appears to have written a number of poems with the intention of them being set to music by Pérotin,[n 15] and with him is given credit for the development of the motet.
Pérotin has been described as the first modern composer in the Western tradition, radically transforming the work of his predecessors from a largely improvisatory technique to a distinct musical architecture.
