Piece of the Week (Pérotin)

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October 21, 2017

2:47 pm

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Piece of the Week (Music)

Pérotin (c. 1200), aka Pérotin the Great or Pérotin the Master, was the successor to Léonin at the Notre Dame school of polyphony.

Pérotin, as well as Léonin, were written about by a source known only as Anonymous IV, and If it weren’t for him we wouldn’t be able to attribute either of these men to the works that they composed.

These two composers really are the very beginnings of the history of western music.

Check out his Monophony: Beata viscera and his Polyphony: Viderunt omnes and Sederunt principes

Piece of the Week (Art)

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October 14, 2017

2:24 pm

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Piece of the Week (Art)

This week I look at Cimabue’s Santa Trinita Maestá c.1290-1300.

Painted for the church of Santa Trinita in Florence.

Cimabue is considered by many to be the start of, or a precursor to, the Renaissance or what’s known as the Proto-Renaissance.

Although his art is heavily influenced by the Byzantine style, his more lifelike proportions and shading mark an advance over his predecessors and bring us out of the medieval period and into the Renaissance.

Some of his other works:

The Madonna Enthroned with St. Francis in the Basilica of St. Francis

and his Crucifix at Santa Croce

Piece of the Week (Léonin)

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October 14, 2017

2:01 pm

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Piece of the Week (Music)

Léonin was the first known composer of polyphonic organum and was the leading liturgical composer of his generation who flourished in the 12th century and is associated with the Notre Dame or Parisian school of composition.

It is with Léonin that we begin our journey through the history of western music with its origins located firmly in the medieval period.

The Magnus Liber Organi (Great Book of Organum c.1170) is attributed to him by a source known as Anonymous IV. .

The piece I’m focusing on this week is his Messe du jour de Noël (Christmas Day Mass).

Enjoy!