Viderunt omnes by magister leo

Magister Leoninus Viderunt Omnes When George Gershwin wrote I Got Rhythm, he knew that, for generations to come, listeners and performers alike would pay a in effect(p) idea of what he meant. After all, there would be recordings and gentle rolls of his actual performances of the gash. Not to mention a standardized no(prenominal) of hand system to guide future performers. Alas, no such(prenominal) medicinal drugal preservatives were available to Magister Leoninus in the net half of the twelfth century, presuming he would contain wanted them even if they had existed. What were his transonic intentions? Well plough al about of the possibilities using deuce really varied recordings of his variant of the Gradual, from the mound Proper, Viderunt Omnes. One interpretation, by the EMCL (C. 1975), utilizes a instant(a) metrical regular recurrenceic structure, while the other example, by the supporting players Organum (C. 1990), features a a great deal forg or rhythmic approach. These bequeath be referred to as metric and forego respectively. The metric adaptation has a Western feel that would bet to a greater extent correct to ears of European leaning (or learning). Much as we tend to view the past through the prism of today, those who last set these ancient chants in standardized notation saw them through an equally tainted gaze. The Benedictine monks left just about embellishment out of their chant settings (C. 1900) beca use they viewed it as an 18th deoxycytidine monophosphate tradition.1 This bias, along with a need to have an easily learnable set up of music, tended to simplify, rather than embellish, the standardized arrangement. True, it could be argued that the text has a trustworthy rhythmic lilt (conspectum gentium . . . ); however, only one writer from the period, virtually 1300, noted any parallel between the rhythmic modes and poetical meter.2 Hardly a case for common dedicate. To my ears, t his metric variance sounds stilted and stoi! c. Almost as if it has been stuffed into ill-fitting clothes by a nearsighted tailor. I think the addition of a bell, reinforcing indisputable calibratebeats, insipid at best. For people who had yet to be enslaved by the clock, this is too squ be. The thaw version sounds much more etymon to me; flowing and cascading like a winding river. Could this be more in line with what Leonin intended? Composers of early polyphony were alter off using a horizontal (additive) method in which severally line was its own entity. This would not impart stark rhythm as the later vertical (simultaneous) method of the metempsychosis would. disregardless of the composers original intentions, he must have cognize that this event piece would be performed with varying gusto and worry passim the year depending on the occasion. Yes, it could be argued that the discant sections use the very Western concept of sequences; however, I turn over it is the eastern practice of centonizati on at play here. Keeping that in mind, the more Eastern practice of melodic mordents, trills, and frills is not as conducive to strict rhythmic performance as a stark line of business melody would be. Marcel Peres confides a lot of these chants were performed using ornamentation that is still living in Byzantine, Syriac, or Coptic pieces.3 preceding(prenominal) all, this piece beneficial sounds more ghostly to me. Immediately the atm struck me as more church-like. lulu rhythm is for dancing, and no one was dancing to this chant. I think. Im convert that music adoptd gibe to the surroundings in which it existed. As music became used for more secular purposes, it moved out of the sonic sanctuary of the mediaeval churches and into the light. Without the stoney layers of natural reverb to meld entrances and changes in tilt into a launder of sound, I belive composers and musicians became more aware of precision and the need for it in new surroundings that were not so forgiving of sloppiness. This situation piece re! mains rooted in the sloppy age. throbbing notation was an emerging craft as was polyphonic composition.

In lieu of this, I would not yield singers in the thirteenth Century to be consistently sure-handed at their execution. Personally, I think the original intention of Leonin was someplace between the two versions weve dicussed. Once again, Im assuming Leonin had a proper(postnominal) intention. Like a few 20th Century composers, he might have been merely creating a loose framework, wise to(p) the piece would evolve and change with each performance. Back to my piddle - I believe the melismatic organum se ctions were to be performed in an ad-lib free manner. Then, as the discant clausulae appear, the rhythm becomes more important and pulse-like. The next section, the copula, would then table service as a instruction to unfurl that rhythm into the nebulous organum of the beginning. Leonin was, after all, starting down this path of polyphony without a map. By pickings taking the old and adding to it (troping), he could realise about new textures without abandoning the old. He was playing with polyphony and discovering the rhythmic sportsman it offered. Melodic variation of the time (tuning, 1/4 or 1/3 tones) would require another makeup to discuss. In conclusion, I believe that trying to pinpoint a definitive rendering of this piece, or any others from that time period, is not only impossible, but unwarranted. take down today, one can find examples of fairly new tunes that are contend variously in different places on different occasions. Thelonious Monks Round Midni ght, within a tenner of its release, was already bei! ng played with East Coast changes or West Coast changes. Things would have been much more versatile before mass communication. However, if I were to pick between the free or metric renditions, I would pick the free version. It just sounds more authentic to my red-brick ears. Besides, an internet search tells the ca-ca: Peres 12, Morrow 0. If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

If you want to get a full essay, visit our page: write my paper