Melodic Mode in Notre Dame Organum Duplum

Abstract

One of the three principal genres to flourish at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris during the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries was organum. Two-part organum, termed organum duplum, was preponderant. In its main texture, organum purum, the tenor elongates the notes of a plainchant melody, while the other voice, the duplum, sings a newly composed line predominantly above the tenor. The central question of this thesis is: are the duplum melodies in passages of organum purum structured according to the melodic modes?
Chapter 1 surveys the Notre Dame treatises for passages connecting polyphony with mode or with plainchant, for which modal theory was developed. Mixed attitudes are revealed, highlighting the need for analysis, for which working definitions and parameters of mode are needed.
Contrary to the standard method of modal determination by reference to a final, Chapter 2 argues, based on close readings of medieval modal treatises, that mode was heard throughout each chant, that many chants modulate, and that perceptual modal determination relied on pervasive, abstract structures, most of which remain unidentified. Rereading modal treatises through the lens of music perception, Chapter 3 argues that the treatises suggest that mode-dependent pitch class hierarchies constituted by mode degrees are cognitively in competition with or blended with mode-independent pitch affinities. From these observations, the analytical methodology of the subsequent chapters is derived: three computer-assisted statistical analyses: Mode Profiles (pitch class frequencies), Tendency (probabilities of successive pitch classes), and Leaps and Melodic Outlines.
Because the form of modal results is unknown, Chapter 4 applies the analyses to two chant repertories (responsorial chants and twelfth-century Parisian sequences) to create modal reference points. The styles of organum and of the chant repertories are first compared. Beyond the creation of reference points, the analyses’ results suggest that final-dependent pitch class hierarchies exist, but with few well-defined levels, some of which are shared by multiple pitch classes. Additionally, in one sub-analysis, the results are secondarily determined by a unique coordination of sets of pitch class and mode degree outlines.
Chapter 5 analyzes organum, but with two sampling methods: organa by final and organum phrases by tenor pitch class, the latter based on the concepts of dronality and the continuous perception of mode. The results are compared to Chapter 4’s results and analyzed to ascertain whether pitch classes or mode degrees were the primary determinant of musical material, and if the latter, whether mode or consonance best explains the results. It is argued that the results show that mode was the primary determinant of melodic material, except for one analysis whose results are explained primarily by consonance. Additionally, the same coordination of pitch class and mode degree outlines found in Chapter 4 is observed in organum. These findings answer the central question of modality while also supporting a dronal hearing of organum purum. Faults and limitations to the analyses as well as avenues for future research are also discussed.

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