Perotin, Alleluia nativitas (organum, 13th c.)

This piece was interesting to me because although it was a chant, it seemed to portray a happy feeling that was missing from first piece. It starts with a polyphonic sound but switches between polyphony and monophony. A single melody seemed to lay on top of a more steady set of long sustained notes but at times, more layers were created. This gave the song a continuous feeling until the first break with a brief pause. A monophonic melody followed, perhaps signifying the significance of those specific lyrics. This monophonic melody was much stronger and sounded deeper than the other melodies, further supporting the significance of the lyrics. The constant switching between monophonic and polyphonic or homophonic help to distinguish certain parts of the song and make the monophonic lyrics stand out.

Although there are pauses and cadences, it doesn’t seem like there is much build up of tension or release. The song also ends on a sustained note that doesn’t really relieve the piece and in terms of volume, the entire piece seems consistent and once again there isn’t much build up or release. Generally, the harmonies created were seemed to be major and the pitches seemed to fit well with each other to create consonance. Although various pitches were sang, and there were separate melodies, all the voices had the same timbre, thus making the song still feel chant-like. It was also interesting how the meter was created by the melody itself rather than an accompaniment whereas we usually think of melodies as more free flowing and the accompaniment or percussion usually creates a sustained beat or rhythm; however, any sense of meter or a beat is lost when the melody became monophonic. Overall, this piece maintained certain elements of a plainchant but at the same time seemed to explore the use of multiple voices to make it seem like a bridge between plainchants and more complex polyphonic and even homophonic music.

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