Compositional Process and the Transmission of Notre Dame Polyphony
Compositional Process and the Transmission of Notre Dame Polyphony
This chapter explores the possibility that the rhythmic modes of Notre Dame polyphony were used as a mnemonic device. It explains that the musical texts of the Notre Dame polyphony exhibit many features similar to those found in contemporary verbal texts, and it is increasingly clear that orality played a role in their composition and transmission. It suggests that the invention of modal rhythmic notation might be related to the contemporary passion for didactic quantitative Latin poetry, where difficult material was put into verse form so that it could be remembered better.
Keywords: Notre Dame polyphony, mnemonic device, rhythmic modes, verbal texts, orality, modal rhythmic notation, Latin poetry, verse form
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