Saturday, August 6, 2011

Music at the Sorbonne while Notre Dame cathedral was built

You will fairly soon be traveling to Paris, where you will undoubtedly revisit Notre Dame.  In order to put you in the mood, you may want to listen to this piece of music which was composed there by Pérotin  almost 1000 years ago. The manuscript on the left is also by him, in contemporary notation.
Pérotin was a French composer,  who was active in the 2nd half of the 12th century, just after Notre Dame cathedral started to be built. Presumably teaching at the Sorbonne, he composed the very earliest polyphonic music; the selection which you can play by clicking below, constitutes the earliest 4-part harmony ever composed in the world!



And, if you want to hum along, here is a modern transcription:

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