Organum - History - Florid Organum, Melismatic Organum

Florid Organum, Melismatic Organum

Organum as a musical genre reached its peak in the twelfth century with the development of florid organum and two very different schools composition. The first was what is called "Aquitainian polyphony," for it originated with the Saint Martial school, centred around the Abbey of Saint Martial in Limoges. The later twelfth-century development was the Notre Dame school at Paris, which developed the rhythmic mode. It hosted composers such as Léonin and Pérotin which provided many new composition techniques. The motet that became the main 'object' of compositional creativity in the fourteenth century is rooted in the lifetime of Perotin and his works.

The basic principle of florid organum is that there are anywhere from two to six notes in the organal voice sung over a single sustained note in the tenor. Saint Martial organum and Paris organum duplum follow from the same principle, but in a different form.

During the course of the twelfth century, the age of the Cathedrals, melismatic (or "florid") organum developed in Aquitania, and is linked to Saint Martial de Limoges. This form of organum is based on a plainchant melody that is sung in extended note-values in the lower voice, the length of which are determined by the length of the phrase in the organal part. The chant thus transforms into a succession of long held notes according to the original melody and comes to be called "tenor" from the Latin tenere meaning "to hold." There are at least six consonant intervals that can be used in Organum. The upper organal voice moves in extensive melisms on long protracted vowels. This newer style became known as "organum," "organum duplum," or "organum purum" and the older note-against-note style became known as discant (discant).

The Saint Martial organum is rhapsodic in character as rhythms are not yet organized according to the six rhythmic modes, for the introduction of which Leonin seems to deserve to be credited.