Critical and Historical Essays: Lectures delivered at Columbia UniversityMacDowell, Edward
History
Critical and Historical Essays: Lectures delivered at Columbia University
MacDowell, Edward
Music -- History and criticism
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
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