Seneca (NY) - Iroquois Confederation (1142)

[Ki-on-twog-ky, or Corn Plant(er), a Seneca Chief, lithograph from The History of the Indian Tribes of North America by Thomas L. McKenney and James Hall, 1836–44]

The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They are the westernmost nation within the Six Nations or Iroquois League. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in Canada, near Brantford, Ontario, and in the United States, on and off reservations around Buffalo and in Oklahoma.

The Seneca nation's own name is Onödowága', meaning "People of the Mountains," and is identical to the endonym used by the Onondagas. With the formation of the Haudenosaunee ("People of the Longhouse") or the Iroquois Confederation in 1142, the Seneca became known as the "Keepers of the Western Door" because they settled and lived the farthest west of all the nations within the Haudenosaunee. Their name "Seneca" was designated by other nations, after the Seneca nation's principle village of Osininka. However, since "Osininka" sounds like the Anishinaabe word Asinikaa(n), meaning "[Those at the Place] Full of Stones," this gave rise to the confusion to non-Haudenosaunee nations in the Seneca nation's name with that of the Oneida nation's endonym Onyota'a:ka, meaning "People of the Standing Stone."



The Seneca traditionally lived in what is now New York between the Genesee River and Canandaigua Lake, with some recent archaeological evidence indicating that they lived all the way down to the Allegheny River into what is now northwestern Pennsylvania. The Senecas were by far the most populous of the Haudenosaunee Nations, with the ability to raise over ten thousand warriors by the 1600's.



Seneca - Alligator Dance



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The American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is one of the two living species of Alligator, a genus within the family Alligatoridae. The American Alligator is native only to the southeastern United States, where it inhabits wetlands that frequently overlap with human-populated areas. It is larger than the other Alligator species, the Chinese Alligator.

The American Alligator has a large, slightly rounded body, with thick limbs, a broad head, and a very powerful tail. Adult male alligators are typically 13 to 14.7 feet long (3.96 to 4.48 meters), while adult females average 9.8 feet (2.99 meters).

The average weight of male alligators is 182 kg (400 lb) and 72 kg (160 lbs) for females.

Mature males can reach 14 feet (4.24 meters) long and weigh 1000 lbs (454.5 kg).

One American Alligator allegedly reached a length of 19 feet, 2 inches (5.8 meters), which would make it the largest recorded. The tail, which accounts for half of the alligator's total length, is primarily used for aquatic propulsion. The tail can also be used as a weapon of defense when an alligator feels threatened. Alligators travel very quickly in water, are generally slow-moving on land and can lunge short distances very quickly. They have five toes in front and four in back.

Alligators are presently found throughout the southeastern United States, from Merchants Millpond State Park in North Carolina to Texas and south to southeastern Oklahoma.

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[8157 Richard Coeur-de-Lion / 8142 Seneca]

Guiraut de Bornelh (1140-1220) - Troubadours

Troubadour - Albado - morning love song

Reis Glorios (Glorious King, Be Faithful to Him, My Companion), page 1


page 2

Denis Stevens - History of European Music



Florilegium Musicum - Music at the Time of the Crusades





Giraut de Bornelh (c. 1138 – 1215), also known as Guiraut de Borneil[l], was a troubadour, born to a lower class family in the Limousin, probably in Bourney, near Excideuil. Connected with the castle of the Viscount of Limoges, his skill earned him the nickname of "Master of the Troubadours."

He is credited with the formalization, if not the invention, of the "light" style, or trobar leu.

About ninety of his poems and four of his melodies survive. One of his best pieces is a planh (lament) on the death of Raimbaut of Orange. In a tenso with king Alfons II of Aragon Giraut contributes to the poetical debate as to whether a lady is dishonored by taking a lover who is richer than herself. This debate was begun by Guilhem de Saint-Leidier, taken up by Azalais de Porcairagues and Raimbaut of Orange, and continued in a partimen between Dalfi d'Alvernha and Perdigon.

There is the possibility that he accompanied Richard I of England and Aimar V of Limoges on the Third Crusade and stayed a while with the "good prince of Antioch", Bohemond III. He certainly made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but perhaps before the Crusade.

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A troubadour was a composer and performer of Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). The troubadour school or tradition began in the eleventh century in Occitania, but it subsequently spread into Italy, Spain, and even Greece. Under the influence of the troubadours, related movements sprang up throughout Europe: the Minnesang in Germany, trovadorismo in Galicia and Portugal, and that of the trouvères in northern France. Dante Alighieri in his De vulgari eloquentia defined the troubadour lyric as fictio rethorica musicaque poita: rhetorical, musical, and poetical fiction. After a "classical" period around the turn of the thirteenth century and a mid-century resurgence, the art of the troubadours declined in the fourteenth century and eventually died out around the time of the Black Death (1348).

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Occitania refers to the lands where Occitan is the traditional language in use, though more recently viewed as a minority language. Most of Occitania is in Southern France, other parts are in Italy (Occitan Valleys in Piedmont and Liguria), Spain (Aran Valley in Catalonia) and include Monaco; so the main languages in Occitania are nowadays French, Italian, Catalan and Spanish. In Aran Valley, Occitan is a local official language besides Spanish and Catalan.

Under Roman rule (355), most of Occitania was known as Aquitania while the northern provinces of what is now France were called Gallia (Gaul). The names Occitania and Occitan language themselves appeared in Latin texts from 1290 and during the following years of the early 14th century (Patria Linguae Occitanae, Occitana lingua). They derive from the name Lenga d'òc that was used in Italian (Lingua d'òc) by Dante in the late 13th century. Occitan and Lenga d'òc both refer to the centuries-old set of Romance dialects that use òc for "yes."

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The texts of troubadour songs deal mainly with themes of chivalry and courtly love. Most were metaphysical, intellectual, and formulaic. Many were humorous or vulgar satires. Works can be grouped into three styles: the trobar leu (light), trobar ric (rich), and trobar clus (closed). Likewise there were many genres, the most popular being the canso, but sirventes and tensos were especially popular in the post-classical period, in Italy, and among the female troubadours, the trobairitz.

The English word "troubadour" comes by way of Old French from the Occitan word trobador, the oblique case of the nominative trobaire, a substantive of the verb trobar, which is derived from the hypothetical Late Latin *tropāre, in turn from tropus, meaning a trope, from Greek τρόπος (tropos), meaning "turn, manner."

Another possible Latin root is turbare, to upset or (over)turn. Trobar is cognative with the modern French word trouver, meaning "to find". Whereas French trouver became trouvère, the nominative form, instead of the oblique trouveor or trouveur, the French language adopted the Occitan oblique case and from there it entered English.

The general sense of "trobar" in Occitan is "invent" or "compose" and this is how it is commonly translated. A troubadour thus composed his own work, whereas a joglar performed only that of others. This etymology is supported by the French dictionaries Académie Française, Larousse, and Petit Robert.

Not surprisingly, the Greek → Latin → Occitan → French → English hypothesis has been widely supported by those who find the origins of troubadour poetry in classical Latin forms or in medieval Latin liturgies, such as Peter Dronke and Reto Bezzola.

There is a second, less traditional and less popular, theory as to the etymology of the word trobar. It has the support of some, such as María Rosa Menocal, in the camp which seeks the troubadours' origins in Arabic Andalusian musical practices. According to them, the Arabic word tarrab, "to sing", is the root of trobar.

Some proponents of this theory argue, on cultural grounds, that both etymologies may well be correct, and that there may have been a conscious poetic exploitation of the phonological coincidence between trobar and the triliteral Arabic root TRB when sacred Sufi Islamic musical forms with a love theme were first exported from Al-Andalus to southern France. It has also been pointed out that the concepts of "finding", "music", "love", and "ardour"—the precise semantic field attached to the word troubadour—are allied in Arabic under a single root (WJD) that plays a major role in Sufic discussions of music, and that the word troubadour may in part reflect this.

The earliest troubadour whose work survives is Guilhem de Peitieus (1071–1127). Peter Dronke, author of The Medieval Lyric, however, believes that "[his] songs represent not the beginnings of a tradition but summits of achievement in that tradition."

His name has been preserved because he was the Duke of Aquitaine, but his work plays with already established structures; Eble II of Ventadorn is often credited as a predecessor, though none of his work survives. Orderic Vitalis referred to Guilhem composing songs about his experiences on his return from the Crusade of 1101 (c. 1102). This may be the earliest reference to troubadour lyrics.

Orderic also provides us what may be the first description of a troubadour performance: an eyewitness account of William of Aquitaine in 1135.

Then the Poitevin duke ... the miseries of his captivity ... before kings, magnates, and Christian assemblies many times related with rhythmic verses and witty measures.

The first half of the twelfth century saw relatively few recorded troubadours. Only in the last decades of the century did troubadour activity explode. Almost half of all troubadour works survive from the period 1180–1220.

The troubadour tradition seems to have begun in western Aquitaine (Poitou and Saintonge) and Gascony, from there spreading over into eastern Aquitaine (Limousin and Auvergne) and Provence. At its height it had become popular in Languedoc and the regions of Rouergue, Toulouse, and Quercy (c. 1200). Finally, in the early thirteenth century it began to spread into first Italy and then Catalonia, whence to the rest of Spain. This development has been called the rayonnement des troubadours.

The classical period of troubadour activity lasted from about 1170 until about 1220. The most famous names among the ranks of troubadours belong to this period. During this period the lyric art of the troubadours reached the height of its popularity and the number of surviving poems is greatest from this period. During this period the canso, or love song, became distinguishable as a genre. The master of the canso and the troubadour who epitomises the classical period is Bernart de Ventadorn. He was highly regarded by his contemporaries, as were Giraut de Bornelh, reputed by his biographer to be the greatest composer of melodies to ever live, and Bertran de Born, the master of the sirventes, or political song, which became increasingly popular in this period.

The classical period came to be seen by later generations, especially in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and outside of Occitania, as representing the high point of lyric poetry and models to be emulated. The language of the classic poets, its grammar and vocabularly, their style and themes, were the ideal to which poets of the troubadour revival in Toulouse and their Catalan and Castilian contemporaries aspired. During the classical period the "rules" of poetic composition had first become standardised and written down, first by Raimon Vidal and then by Uc Faidit.

The Occitan words trobador and trobaire are relatively rare compared with the verb trobar (compose, invent), which was usually applied to the writing of poetry. It signified that a poem was original to an author (trobador) and was not merely sung or played by one. The term was used mostly for poetry only and in more careful works, like the vidas, is not generally applied to the composition of music or to singing, though the troubadour's poetry itself is not so careful. Sometime in the middle of the twelfth century, however, a distinction was definitely being made between an inventor of original verse and the performers of others'. These last were called joglars, from the Latin ioculatores, giving rise also to the French jongleur, Castilian juglar, and English juggler, which has come to refer to a more specific breed of performer. The medieval jongleur/joglar is really a minstrel.

At the height of troubadour poetry (the "classical period"), troubadours are often found attacking jongleurs and at least two small genres arose around the theme: the ensenhamen joglaresc and the sirventes joglaresc. These terms are debated, however, since the adjective joglaresc would seem to imply "in the manner of the jongleurs". Inevitably, however, pieces of said genres are verbal attacks at jongleurs, in general and in specific, with named individuals being called out. It is clear, for example from the poetry of Bertran de Born, that jongleurs were performers who did not usually compose and that they often performed the troubadour's songs: singing, playing instruments, dancing, and even doing acrobatics.

In the late thirteenth century Guiraut Riquier bemoaned the inexactness of his contemporaries and wrote a letter to Alfonso X of Castile, a noted patron of literature and learning of all kinds, for clarification on the proper reference of the terms trobador and joglar. According to Riquier, every vocation deserved a name of its own and the sloppy usage of joglar assured that it covered a multitude of activities, some which, no doubt, Riquier did not wish to be associated. In the end Riquier argued—and Alfonso X seems to agree, though his "response" was probably penned by Riquier—that a joglar was a courtly entertainer (as opposed to popular or low-class one) and a troubadour was a poet and composer.

Troubadours, at least after their style became established, usually followed some set of "rules", like those of the Leys d'amors (compiled between 1328 and 1337). Initially all troubadour verses were called simply vers, yet this soon came to be reserved for only love songs and was later replaced by canso, though the term lived on as an antique expression for the troubadours' early works and was even employed with a more technically meaning by the last generation of troubadours (mid-fourteenth century), when it was thought to derive from the Latin word verus (truth) and was thus used to describe moralising or didactic pieces. The early troubadours developed many genres and these only proliferated as rules of composition came to be put in writing. The known genres are:

Alba (morning song)— the song of a lover as dawn approaches, often with a watchman warning of the approch of a lady's jealous husband

Canso, originally vers, also chanso or canço— the love song, usually consisting of five or six stanzas with an envoi

Cobla esparsa— a stand-alone stanza

Comiat— a song renouncing a lover

Crusade song (canso de crozada)— a song about the Crusades, usually encouraging them

Dansa or balada— a lively dance song with a refrain

Descort— a song heavily discordant in verse form and/or feeling

Desdansa— a dance designed for sad occasions

Ensenhamen— a long didactic poem, usually not divided into stanzas, teaching a moral or practical lesson

Enuig— a poem expressing indignation or feelings of insult

Escondig— a lover's apology

Estampida— a late thirteenth-century dance song

Gap— a boasting song, often presented as a challenge, often similar to modern sports chants

Maldit— a song complaining about a lady's behaviour and character

Partimen— a poetical exchange between two or more poets in which one is presented with a dilemma by another and responds

Pastorela— the tale of the love request of a knight to a shepherdess

Planh— a lament, especially on the death of some important figure

Plazer— a poem expressing pleasure

Salut d'amor— a love letter addressed to another, not always one's lover

Sestina— highly-structure verse form

Sirventes— a political poem or satire, originally put in the mouth of a paid soldier (sirvens)

Sonnet— an Italian genre imported into Occitan verse in the thirteenth century

Tenso, also tenson, later tenço— a poetical debate which was usually an exchange between two poets, but could be fictional

Torneyamen— a poetical debate between three or more persons, often with a judge (like a tournament)

Viadeyra— a traveller's complaint

All these genres were highly fluid.

Most "Crusading songs" are classified either as cansos or sirventes but sometimes separately.

Some styles became popular in other languages and in other literary or musical traditions. In French, the alba became the aubade, the pastorela the pastourelle, and the partimen the jeu parti. The sestina became popular in Italian literature. The troubadours were not averse to borrowing either. The planh developed out of the Latin planctus and the sonnet was stolen from the Sicilian School. Interestingly, the basse danse (bassa dansa) was first mentioned in the troubadour tradition (c. 1324), but only as being performed by jongleurs.

A complementary role to that of the troubadour was filled at the same period by performers known as joglares in Occitan, jongleurs in French (minstrels in English). Jongleurs are often addressed in troubadour lyrics. Their profession was that of popular entertainer; as such jongleurs sometimes performed troubadour compositions but more often other genres, notably chansons de geste (epic narratives).

Troubadour songs were usually monophonic. Fewer than 300 melodies out of an estimated 2500 survive. Most were composed by the troubadours themselves. Other troubadours set their poems to pre-existing pieces music. Raimbaut de Vaqueyras wrote his Kalenda maya (The Calends of May) to music composed by jongleurs at Montferrat. Troubadours sing tales of bravery and stories about life and death. The most common kinds of songs they sang were: morning songs; political poems; dirges; and disputes. Their favorite kinds of songs were about courtly love, war, and nature.

Some 2,600 poems or fragments of poems have survived from around 450 identifiable troubadours. They are largely preserved in songbooks called chansonniers made for wealthy patrons.

[8142 Seneca / 8140 Guiraut de Bornelh / 8133 Leonin]

Leonin (c. 1133-1190) - Notre Dame School

Leonin - Organum

Hec Dies (This Is the Day)








The held style ("tenor" - "to hold" - Islamic drones!) came to first fruition at the



Paris Cathedral of Notre Dame with Leonin's elaborate organa, such as Hec Dies (This Is the Day) (1175). The high voices would likely have been boys or falsetto (even castrati! -- well, perhaps not yet) tenors, as women were forbidden to sing with men, contemporary recordings notwithstanding. The parts are notated individually, rather than a vertical score -- some scholars even think that such notation was not even actually performed! But as a mass proper chant, this would have been suitably splendid music for a special service on Easter Sunday (the downside was that it would only be performed once a year, so composers eventually shifted their attention to work-a-day mass ordinary settings, so they would get mass attention! Moveable drone tenor style is set against faster Holy-Trinity rhythms in both voices, known as conductus-style settings, or clausulae, and sections of pure monophonic chant.

Viderunt Omnes (1175)



Léonin (also Leoninus, Leonius, Leo) (fl. 1150s — d. ? 1201) is the first known significant composer of polyphonic organum. He was probably French, lived and worked in Paris at the Notre Dame Cathedral, and was the earliest member of the Notre Dame school of polyphony who is known by name. The name Léonin is derived from "Leoninus," which is the Latin diminutive of the name Leo.

All that is known about him comes from the writings of a later student at the cathedral known as Anonymous IV, an Englishman who left a treatise on theory and who mentions Léonin as the composer of the Magnus Liber, the "great book" of organum. Much of the Magnus Liber is devoted to clausulae -- melismatic portions of Gregorian chant which were extracted into separate pieces, with the original note values greatly slowed down, and provided with a fast-moving upper part. Léonin was also probably the first composer to use the rhythmic modes, and possibly also to invent a notation for them (according to W.G. Waite, writing in 1954: "It was Léonin's incomparable achievement to introduce a rational system of rhythm into polyphonic music for the first time, and, equally important, to create a method of notation expressive of this rhythm.").

The Magnus Liber was intended for liturgical use. According to Anonymous IV, "Magister Leoninus (Léonin) was the finest composer of organum; he wrote the great book (Magnus Liber) for the gradual and antiphoner for the sacred service." All of the Magnus Liber is for two voices, although little is known about actual performance practice: the two voices were not necessarily soloists.

According to Anonymous IV, Léonin's work was greatly improved and expanded by the later composer Pérotin.

The musicologist Craig Wright believes that Léonin may have been the same person as a contemporaneous Parisian poet, Leonius, after whom Leonine verse may have been named. This would make Léonin's use of meter even more significant.

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Anonymous IV is the designation given to the writer of an important treatise of medieval music theory.

He was probably an English student working at Notre Dame in Paris, most likely in the 1270's or 1280's. Nothing is known about his life, not even his name. His writings survive in two partial copies from Bury St Edmunds; one from the 13th century, and one from the 14th.
Along with Johannes de Garlandia and Franco of Cologne, whose work precedes his, Anonymous IV's writings are the main source for understanding the Notre Dame school of polyphony. He is mainly famous for having written about Léonin and Pérotin, thereby assigning names to two of the composers of the music of the Notre Dame school who otherwise would have been anonymous; Léonin and Pérotin are among the earliest European composers whose names are actually known. Although they probably died at least fifty years before he was writing, he describes them as though they were still famous by name and part of a living tradition at the time.

Anonymous IV mentions Léonin and Pérotin as the best composers of organum and discant respectively. He also mentions specific compositions as being by Pérotin (or Perotinus), including the four-part organa quadrupla Viderunt and Sederunt. Anonymous IV also mentions the work of the theorist Franco of Cologne, and gives descriptions of organum, discantus, rhythmic modes, rules for use of consonance and dissonance, notation, and genres of composition.

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Notre Dame de Paris, known simply as Notre Dame in English, is a Gothic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in Paris, France, with its main entrance to the west. It is still used as a Roman Catholic cathedral and is the seat of the Archbishop of Paris. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. It was restored and saved from destruction by Viollet-le-Duc, one of France's most famous architects. The name Notre Dame means "Our Lady" in French. Notre Dame de Paris was one of the first Gothic cathedrals, and its construction spanned the Gothic period. Its sculptures and stained glass show the heavy influence of naturalism, giving them a more secular look that was lacking from earlier Romanesque architecture.

Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress. The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave. After the construction began and the thinner walls (popularized in the Gothic style) grew ever higher, stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued as such.

The cathedral suffered desecration during the radical phase of the French Revolution in the 1790's, when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. During the 19th century, an extensive restoration project was completed, returning the cathedral to its previous state.

In 1160, because the church in Paris had become the "parish church of the kings of Europe," Bishop Maurice de Sully deemed the current Parisian cathedral unworthy of its lofty role, and had it demolished shortly after he assumed the title of Bishop of Paris. According to legend, de Sully had a vision of a glorious new cathedral for Paris, and sketched it in the dirt outside of the original church. To begin the construction, the bishop had several houses demolished and had a new road built in order to transport materials for the rest of the cathedral.

Construction began in 1163, during the reign of Louis VII, and opinion differs as to whether Maurice de Sully or Pope Alexander III laid the foundation stone of the cathedral. However, both were at the ceremony in question. Bishop de Sully went on to devote most of his life and wealth to the cathedral's construction.

Construction of the west front, with its distinctive two towers, began circa 1200, before the nave had been completed, contrary to normal construction practice. Over the construction period, numerous architects worked on the site, as is evidenced by the differing styles at different heights of the west front and towers. Between 1210 and 1220, the fourth architect oversaw the construction of the level with the rose window and the great halls beneath the towers. The towers were completed around 1245, and the cathedral was completed around 1345.


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Cultural and intellectual life flourished in Paris during the 12th century with the University of the Sorbonne having become a reputed institution that attracted many students, not all of them French. The construction of Notre Dame Cathedral on the Île de la Cité took place between 1163 and 1238 and this period coincides with the birth of the Paris Organum.

Magister Cantus of Notre Dame, Leonin compiled the Magnus Liber Organi de Gradali et Antiphonario. The French master wrote organa dupla based on existing chants like the Alleluia and the Gradual of the Mass and Responsory and Benedicamus Domino of Vespers for the major liturgical ceremonies in the yearly cycle. In hindsight, this proved to have been a major event. This was the first large-scale project attributable to a single composer. Not only is the Magnus Liber a compilation for practical use during Mass and Office compassing the ecclesiastic year, the first of its kind; it also introduces the use of the rhythmic modes as a creative principle. Thus, when in a discussion of organum of the Paris School the word "modal" or "mode'" is used, in this usage referring to the rhythmic modes, rather than the pitches. In Leonin's organa dupla a Gregorian chant is allotted to the tenor in the lower voice.

The way the text is set to music in the original chant defines how the pieces are organized. Where the Gregorian chant is syllabic (no ligatures and is therefore non-modal) the organum created is organum purum: the tenor sustains each single note of the chant over which the organal voice, the duplum, drapes a new florid line, written mostly in ligatures and compound neumes. Starting from a consonant (at the opening: mostly the octave) the duplum in a long, drawn-out line plays a variation of dissonances and consonances, building up to a change of harmony at the end of a melism where another syllable is produced at a different pitch. Where the Gregorian chant is no longer syllabic but uses ligatures both voices proceed in a rhythmic mode. This section of discantus is concluded, if on the last syllable of a word or phrase, by a copula, in which the tenor sustains the last pitch and the duplum switches back to unmetered rhapsodic cadential lines, to conclude on a consonance. Thus in Organum duplum of Leonin these three compositional idioms alternate throughout the complete polyphonic setting, which is concluded in monophonic chant for the last phrase. Again, the way the text is set in the plainchant determines how often there will a section of organum purum, whether this will continue into discantus or whether a cadence is made before going on to the next word or phrase. Thus, recapitulating, three different styles in the organaliter section are alternated and linked according to the text, leaving the last part of the text to be sung choraliter in monophonic chant. The verse of the chant is worked out according to the same principles.

The relevant authors that write about Organum of the Notre Dame School, Anonymous IV, Johannes de Garlandia, the St. Emmeram Anonymous and Franco of Cologne to name a few, are not always as clear as could be desired, nevertheless, a lot of information can be distilled from the comparative research of their writings. Organum purum is one of three styles of organum, which is used in section where the chant is syllabic thus where the tenor can not be modal. As soon as the chant uses ligatures, the tenor becomes modal and it will have become discant, which is the second form. The third form is copula (Lat. coming together) which in the words of Ioh. de Garlandia 'is between organum and discant' and according to Waite a bridge section between modal and non-modal sections. It seems that for most instances we can take Garlandia litterally where he says 'between' organum and discant. In organa dupla the copula is very similar to a short, cadential organum purum section but in organa tripla or conducti it is seen that irregular notation is used. Either the last notes of ligatures are affixed with a plica which divides the notes in smaller values, or a series of disjunct rests is used in jolting succession in both parts, creating what is also called hocket. These features also can be frequently found in two-part discantus on special cadences or a preparation of a cadence, where they are also referred to as 'copulae'. De Garlandia states simply: 'a copula is where are any number of lines are found' referring to the plicae or rest-signs. Thus organum duplum can be schematized as follows:

beginning of text set to organum: organaliter:
organum purum >> copula >>
discantus >> copula >>
organum purum >> copula >>
discantus >> copula >>
finis choraliter

Perotin "is the best composer of Discantus," according to Anonymous IV, an English student, writing ca.1275, who has provided at least a few morsels of factual information on Paris Organum and its composers. Perotin further developed discantus in three part Organum (Organum Triplum) where both organal voices are in discantus. Note that organum purum is not possible in three-part organa, the two upper voices need to both be organized according to the rhythmic modes. Perotin even went as far as composing two four-part organa (quadrupla), Viderunt omnes and Sederunt principes which were performed in Notre Dame in 1098 on New Year's Day and in 1099 on the feast of St. Stephen (a decree of Odon de Sully, Bishop of Paris, exists which stipulates the performance of 'organa tripla vel quadrupla') Apart from organa, Perotin extended the form of the Aquitanian Versus which was henceforth called conductus. Any conductus is a new composition on new texts and is always composed in the rhythmic modes. Perotin set several texts by Philippe le Chancelier, while some texts refer to contemporary events. Two-part conductus form the larger part, though conductus exist for one to four voices. Two, three and four part conductus are composed throughout in discantus style. As in organa tripla, handling three voices (or four) precludes the kind of rhythmic freedom found in dupla. In conductus the distinction is made between 'cum littera' and ' sine litera', texted sections and melismatic sections. The texted parts can sometimes go beyond the modal measure and then fall back in to regular mode in the melismatic discantus section, which is called cauda. Again according to Anonymous IV, Perotin wrote a number of replacement clausulae from organa dupla by Leonin. As the tenor in Leonin's organa dupla in discant sections proceeds always in the 5th mode (all longs in a rhythmic group ordine), Perotin, who was a generation removed from Leonin, saw fit to improve them by introducing different modes for the tenor and new melodic lines for the dupla, increasing the rhythmic organization and diversity of the section. However, in the largest compilation of Notre Dame repertoire (F) no less than 462 clausulae exist, many recurrences of the same clausulae in variant settings, according to Waite "written in a variety of styles and with varying competence." A further innovation was the motellus, in which the upper part of a discant section is supplied with a new text, so that when the lower voice utters a single syllable, the upper part will pronounce several. This would have been the first instance of two different texts being sung in harmony. In turn, the motellus gave birth to the motet which is a poly-textual piece in discant, which obviously sparked a lot a creativity as it soon became a prolific form of composition.

The Organa that were created in Paris were disseminated throughout Europe. The three main sources are W1, St. Andrews, Wolfenbuttel 677,olim Helmstadt 628; the large and illuminated copy made in Florence, owned by Piero de Medici, the Pluteo 29.1 of the Bibliotheca Mediceo-Laurenziana (F), which is by far the most extensive copy of the repertory. Finally W2, Wolfenbuttel 1206, olim Helmstadt 1099, which was compiled the latest (and contains the greatest amount of motets).

There are arguments that support a relative freedom of rhythm in Organa dupla but others refute this, saying that the interpretation of the music should always be according to modal or Franconian principles. Two researchers, Apel and Waite, insisted upon a rigorously modal interpretation. Though Waite in his dissertation, notably in chapter 4: The notation of organum duplum' acknowledged that in in organum duplum and monophonic conducts are relative freedom may have been taken, he transcribed a selection of the Magnus Liber Organi of Leonin into strict modal rhythm. Apel argued that the rhythms in the piece, due to the rules of consonance is clearly non-modal. To this day, as behoofs scientists, debates on interpretation proceed as usual. However, Waite published 54 years ago and his point of vieuw has been superseded by ongoing research. "..but his (Waite) view that the entire corpus (of the Magnus Liber Organi) should be transcribed according to the rhythmic modes is no longer accepted" (Peter Jeffery in the Notation Course Medieval Music 1100-1450 (music205), Princeton)
In the range of forms of compositions found in the later two manuscripts that contain the Notre Dame-repertory (F and W2) one class of distinction can be made: that which is (strictly) modal and that which is not. Organum duplum in its organum purum sections of syllabic setting, the cum littera sections in two-part conductus, copulae in general and monophonic conductus would be that part of the repertory which is not strictly modal. In monophonic song, be it chant or a conductus simplex by Perotin, there is no need to vary from the classical standards for declamation that were a rooted tradition at the time, going back to St. Augustine, De Musica. It has been firmly established by extensive research in chant traditions (Gregorian Semiology) that there is a fluency and varyancy in the rhythm of declamatory speech that should also govern chant performance. These principles extend to the not strictly modal sections or compositions, as a contrasting quality with musica mensurabilis.

As Parisian Organum is based on Gregorian chant, it is categorized under Ars Antiqua which is called thusly in contrast to the Ars Nova which embarked on new forms that were in every sense original and no longer based as often on Gregorian chant and as such consisted a breach with the musical practice of the ancients.

***


The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound when pressurized air (referred to as wind) is driven through a series of pipes. The admission of wind into the pipes is controlled by a keyboard. A pipe sounds when a key is depressed on the keyboard, allowing wind to pass through the pipe. Modern organs usually include one or more keyboards playable by the hands and one keyboard playable by the feet. Each keyboard controls a certain number of pipes. The smallest portable organs may have only a few dozen pipes and only one keyboard, while the largest organs may feature over 20,000 pipes and seven keyboards.

The organ's continuous supply of wind allows it to sustain sound for as long as a key is depressed. This is unlike other keyboard instruments such as the piano and harpsichord, whose sound begins to decay immediately after the key is struck.

The origins of the pipe organ can be traced back to Ancient Greece in the third century BC.

The wind supply was originally created with water pressure. Since the sixth or seventh century AD, bellows have been used.

A pipe organ contains one or more sets of pipes, a wind system, and one or more keyboards. The pipes produce sound when pressurized air produced by the wind system is driven through them. An action connects the keyboards to the pipes. Stops allow the organist to control which ranks of pipes sound at any given time. The organist operates the stops and the keyboards from the console.

Organ pipes are made from either wood or metal and produce sound when wind is directed through them. Because one pipe produces a single pitch, many pipes are necessary to allow the organ to sound a variety of pitches. The longer a pipe is, the lower its resulting pitch will be. The volume of the sound produced by the pipe depends on the pressure of the wind flowing to the pipe and how the pipe is voiced (adjusted by the builder to produce the desired tone and volume). Thus, the pipe's volume cannot be changed directly while playing.

Organ pipes are divided into flue pipes and reed pipes according to their design and timbre.

Flue pipes produce sound by forcing air through a fipple, like a recorder, whereas reed pipes produce sound via a beating reed, like a clarinet.

The pipes are arranged by timbre and pitch into rows called ranks and mounted vertically onto a windchest.

A mechanism called a stop admits wind to each rank. For a given pipe to sound, the stop governing the pipe's rank must be engaged, and the key corresponding to its pitch must be depressed. Ranks of pipes are organized into groups called divisions. Each division generally is played from its own keyboard and may contain one or more windchests.

An organ contains two systems of moving parts called actions. The key action admits wind into a pipe when a key is depressed, and the stop action allows the organist to control which ranks are engaged. An action may be either mechanical or electrical.

A key action which physically connects the keys and the windchests uses mechanical or tracker action. This connection is achieved through a series of rods called trackers. When the organist depresses a key, the corresponding tracker moves, allowing wind to enter the pipe.

n a mechanical stop action, each stop control is physically connected to a rank of pipes. When the organist activates the stop control, the action allows wind to flow into the selected rank.[7] This control is usually a stop knob, which the organist activates by pulling (or "drawing") towards himself. This is the origin of the idiom "to pull out all the stops."

An organ's wind system comprises the parts that produce, store, and deliver wind to the pipes. The pressure of the wind supply is measured by a manometer. In the United States and United Kingdom, wind pressure is described in "inches of water"; in other countries, the metric "millimetres of water" is often used instead. Although the phrase is scientifically incorrect, pipe organs are said to be "on x inches (of wind)."

The exact wind pressure depends on the design of the organ.

After the invention of the bellows, wind was produced by mechanical means. When signalled by the organist (often by a small bell), a person known as a calcant would operate a set of bellows, supplying them with air.

Therefore, playing the organ before electricity required at least one person to operate the bellows. Because calcants were expensive, organists would usually practice on smaller instruments that required no external energy source, such as the clavichord or harpsichord.

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, electric motors or blowers were used to fill the bellows with air. This made it possible for organists to practice regularly on the organ. Most organs, both new and historic, have electric blowers, though some organs' wind systems still can be operated manually.

The wind supplied is stored in one or more windchests to maintain a constant pressure until the action allows it to flow into the pipes.

Each stop usually controls one rank of pipes, although mixtures and undulating stops (such as the Voix céleste) control multiple ranks.

The name of the stop reflects not only the stop's timbre and construction, but also the style of the organ in which it resides. For example, the names on an organ built in the north German Baroque style generally will be derived from the German language, while the names of similar stops on an organ in the French Romantic style will usually be French. Most countries tend to use only their own languages for stop nomenclature.

English-speaking nations as well as Japan are more receptive to foreign nomenclature. Stop names are not standardized: two otherwise identical stops from different organs may have different names.

In order to facilitate a large range of tone colors, organ stops exist at different pitch levels. A stop that sounds at unison pitch when a key is depressed is referred to as being at 8′ (pronounced "eight-foot") pitch. This refers to the length of the lowest-sounding pipe in that rank, which is approximately eight feet. For the same reason, a stop that sounds an octave higher is at 4′ pitch, and one that sounds two octaves higher is at 2′ pitch. Likewise, a stop that sounds an octave lower than unison pitch is at 16′ pitch, and one that sounds two octaves lower is at 32′ pitch.

Stops of different pitch levels are designed to be played simultaneously. Rather than creating the impression of parallel octaves, the higher-pitched stops reinforce the partials of the unison- and lower-pitched stops, adding brilliance and clarity to the timbre.

The label on a stop knob or rocker tab indicates the stop’s name and its pitch level expressed in feet. In the case of stops that control multiple ranks, a Roman numeral indicating the number of ranks will be present and may preclude the pitch level indication. Thus, a stop labelled "Open flute 8′" is a single-rank flute stop sounding at 8′ pitch. A stop labelled "Mixture V" is a five-rank mixture.

When a rank of pipes is made available as part of more than one stop, the rank is said to be unified or borrowed. For example, an 8′ Diapason rank may also be made available as a 4′ Octave. When both of these stops are selected and a key (for example, c′)[22] is pressed, two pipes of the same rank will sound: the pipe normally corresponding to the key played (c′), and the pipe one octave above that (c′′). Because the 8′ rank does not have enough pipes to sound the top octave of the keyboard at 4′ pitch, it is common for an extra octave of pipes used only for the borrowed 4′ stop to be added. In this case, the full rank of pipes (now an extended rank) is one octave longer than the keyboard. An organ that includes many extended ranks is called an extension organ.

Some organs feature stops that do not employ pipes at all or use them in a way different from a traditional stop. The "Zimbelstern" (cymbal star), for example, is a revolving wheel of bells. The "Nightingale" admits wind into a pipe submerged in a small pool of water, creating the sound of a bird warbling. The "Effet d'orage" (thunder effect) is a device that sounds many of the large bass pipes simultaneously, creating the effect of thunder. Other stops imitate various percussion instruments, including the "Drum," "Chimes," "Celesta," and "Harp."

All the controls available to the organist, including the keyboards, couplers, expression pedals, stops, and registration aids, are accessed from the console. If the console is attached to the organ case (as in many mechanical-action organs), it may also be called the keydesk. If the console is separate from the organ case, it may be movable. Some organs have more than one console, allowing the organ to be played from different parts of the room.

Keyboards played by the hands are known as manuals (from the Latin manus, meaning "hand"). The keyboard played by the feet is a pedalboard. All organs have at least one manual (though most organs today have two or more manuals), and most also have a pedalboard. Each keyboard is named for a particular division of the organ (a group of ranks) and generally controls only the stops from that division. The range of the keyboards has varied widely across time and between countries. Most current specifications call for two or more manuals with sixty-one notes (five octaves, from C to c″″) and a pedalboard with thirty or thirty-two notes (two and a half octaves, from C to f′ or g′).

A coupler allows the stops of one division to be played from the keyboard of another division. For example, a coupler labelled "Swell to Great" allows the stops drawn in the Swell division to be played on the Great manual. This coupler is a unison coupler, because it causes the pipes of the Swell division to sound at the same pitch as the keys played on the Great manual. Coupling allows stops from different divisions to be combined to create various tonal effects. It also allows all the stops of the organ to be played simultaneously from one manual.

Some organs feature octave couplers, which add the pipes an octave above ("super-octave") or below ("sub-octave") each note that is played. Octave couplers may operate on one division only (for example, the "Swell super octave," which adds the octave above what is being played on the Swell to itself), or they may act as a coupler to another keyboard (for example, the "Swell super-octave to Great," which adds to the Great manual the ranks of the Swell division an octave above what is being played on the Great manual).

In addition, some organs feature unison off couplers, which prevent the stops pulled in a particular division from sounding at their normal pitch. Unison off couplers can be used in combination with octave couplers to create innovative aural effects, and can also be used to effectively rearrange the order of the manuals to make specific pieces easier to play.

The term enclosure refers to a system that allows for the control of volume without requiring the addition or subtraction of stops. The pipes of an enclosed division are placed in a chamber generally called the swell box. At least one side of the box is constructed from horizontal palettes known as swell shades or louvres (much like Venetian blinds), which can be fully or partially opened or closed from the console. When the shades are open, more sound is heard than when they are closed. In a two-manual organ with Great and Swell divisions, the Swell will be enclosed.[26] In larger organs, often part or all of the Choir and Solo divisions will be enclosed as well.
The most common way of controlling the movement of the swell shades is the balanced expression pedal. This device is usually placed above the centre of the pedalboard and is configured to rotate away from the organist from a near-vertical position (in which the shades are closed) to a near-horizontal position (in which the shades are open).

An organ may also have a similar-looking crescendo pedal, found alongside any expression pedals. Pressing the crescendo pedal forward cumulatively activates all the stops of the organ, starting with the softest and ending with the loudest; pressing it backwards reverses this process.

The stops of an organ can be combined in many different ways, resulting in a great variety of sounds. A specific combination of stops is called a registration. A combination action can be used to switch instantly from one registration to another, much more quickly than the organist could change the stops by hand. The most common combination action features pistons, which are buttons that can be pressed by the organist. They are generally located beneath the keys of each manual ("thumb pistons") or above the pedalboard ("toe studs"). Combination actions allow the organist to program a registration (usually many registrations in different memory levels in modern organs) into each piston. Combination actions are based on computer memory chips, though simple mechanical combination actions combination actions were used before computer memory was introduced to organs in the 1960s.

The pipes, action, and wind system are contained in a case, the design of which may also incorporate the console. The case may be either freestanding or integrated with the building that houses the organ. It is often designed to complement the building's architectural style and it may contain ornamental carvings and other decorations. The visible, "front" portion of the case, called the façade, features decoratively arranged pipes. The façade pipes may be playable (in which case they are usually part of the 8′ principal-scale rank of the organ's primary division) or non-playable (in which case they are "dummy" pipes intended solely for decoration). The pipes may be plain, burnished, gilded, or painted.

Some organs feature a few ranks of pipes protruding horizontally from the case in the manner of a row of trumpets. These are referred to as pipes en chamade and are particularly common in organs of the Iberian peninsula and large modern instruments.

Many organs are contained in one or more rooms called organ chambers. Because sound does not project from a chamber into the room as clearly as from a freestanding organ case, enchambered organs may sound muffled and distant.

The organ is one of the oldest instruments still used in classical music. Its earliest predecessors were built in Ancient Greece in the third century BC.

The word organ is derived from the Latin organum, an instrument similar to a portative organ used in ancient Roman circus games. Organum is derived in turn from the Greek organon, a generic term for an instrument or a tool.

By 750, wind organs, originally from Byzantium, started to replace water organs in Europe, and, by 980, an organ with 400 pipes was finished at Winchester Monastery, England.

Large organs such as the one installed in 1361 in Halberstadt, Germany (the first documented permanent organ installation) likely prompted Guillaume de Machaut to describe the organ as "the king of instruments," a characterization still frequently applied.

The Halberstadt organ was the first instrument to use a chromatic key layout across its three manuals and pedalboard, although the keys were wider than on modern instruments.

It had 20 bellows operated by ten men, and the wind pressure was so high that the player had to use the full power of his arm to hold down a key.

[8140 Guiraut de Borneilh / 8133 Leonin / 8100 Hindustani Music]

Development of Hindustani Music (c. 1100)

Hindustani Music is North Indian style of Indian classical music. It is a tradition that has been evolving from the 12th century AD, in what is now northern India and Pakistan, and also Bangladesh, Nepal and Afghanistan, and is today, one of the two main parts of Indian classical music, with the other one being the Carnatic music, which represents the music of South India.

It is traditional for performers who have reached a distinguished level of achievement, to be awarded titles of respect; Hindus are usually referred to as Pandit and Muslims as Ustad. An interesting aspect of Hindustani music going back to sufi times, is the tradition of religious neutrality: Muslim ustads singing Hindu bhajans, or vice versa.

Around the 12th century, Hindustani classical music diverged from the principle which eventually came to be identified as Carnatic classical music. The central notions in both these systems is that of a melodic mode or raga, sung to a rhythmic cycle or tala. The tradition dates back to the ancient Samaveda, (lit. sāma=ritual chant), which deals with the norms for chanting of srutis or hymns such as the Rig Veda. These principles were refined in the Natyashastra by Bharata (2nd-3d c. CE) and the Dattilam (probably 3d-4th c. AD)

In medieval times, many of the melodic systems were fused with ideas from Persian music, particularly through the influence of sufi composers like Amir Khusro, and later in the Moghul courts. Noted composers such as Tansen flourished, along with religious groups like the Vaishnavites. After the 16th century, the singing styles diversified into different gharanas patronized in different princely courts. Around 1900, Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande consolidated the musical structures of Hindustani Classical music into a number of thaats. In the 20th century, Hindustani classical music has become popular across the world through the influence of artistes like Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan and many others.

Indian classical music has 7 basic notes Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni, with five interspersed half-notes, resulting in a 12-note scale. Unlike the 12-note scale in Western music, the base frequency of the scale is not fixed, and intertonal gaps (temper) may also vary; however with the gradual replacement of the sarangi by the harmonium, an equal tempered scale is increasingly used. The performance is set to a melodic pattern called a raga (also spelled as raag) characterized in part by specific ascent (Arohana) and descent (Avarohana) sequences, which may not be identical. Other characteristics include King (Vadi) and Queen (Samavadi) notes and a unique note phrase (Pakad). In addition each raga has its natural register (Ambit) and glissando (Meend) rules, as well as features specific to different styles and compositions within the raga structure. Performances are usually marked by considerable improvisation within these norms.

Narada's Sangita Makarandha treatise c 1100 is the earliest text where rules similar to the current Hindustani classical music can be found. Narada actually names and classifies the system in its earlier form before the advent of changes as a result of Persian influences. Jayadeva's Gita Govinda from the 12th century was perhaps the earliest musical composition presently known sung in the classical tradition called Ashtapadi music.

In the 13th century, Sharngadeva composed the Sangita Ratnakara, which has names such as the turushka todi (Turkish todi), revealing an influx of ideas from the Islamic influx. This text is the last to be mentioned by both the Carnatic and the Hindustani traditions, and is often thought to date the divergence between the two.

The advent of Islamic rule under the Delhi Sultanate and later the Mughal Empire over northern India caused considerable cultural interchange. Increasingly, musicians received patronage in the courts of the new rulers, who in their turn, started taking increasing interest in local music forms. The initial generations may have been rooted in a cultural traditions outside India, gradually, they adopted many aspects from their kingdoms which retained the traditional Hindu culture. This helped spur the fusion of Hindu and Muslim ideas to bring forth new forms of musical synthesis like qawwali and khayal.

The most influential musician from the Delhi Sultanate period was Amir Khusrau (1253-1325), sometimes called the father of Hindustani classical music. A prolific composer in Persian, Turkish, Arabic, as well as Braj Bhasha, he is credited with systematizing many aspects of Hindustani music, and also introducing the ragas Zeelaf and Sarparda. He created the genre of the qawwali, which fuses Persian melody and beat on a dhrupad like structure. A number of instruments (such as the sitar) were also introduced in his time.

Amir Khusrau is sometimes credited with the origins of the khayal form, but the record of his compositions do not appear to support this. It is possible that the word khayal was a corruption of qawwali, but it is more likely that it has a separate etymology (the Arabic word khyal means mood or capriciousness). The compositions by the court musician Niyamat Khan (Sadarang) in the court of Muhammad Shah 'Rangiley' bear a closer affinity to the modern khyal, and suggests that 'Sadarang' may have been the father of modern day 'Khayal'.
Much of the musical forms innovated by these pioneers merged with the Hindu tradition, composed in the popular language of the people (as opposed to Sanskrit) in the work of composers like Kabir or Nanak. This can be seen as part of a larger Bhakti tradition, (strongly related to the Vaishnavite movement) which remained influential across several centuries; notable figures include Jayadeva (11th century), Vidyapati (1375 AD), Chandidas (14th-15th century), and Meerabai (1555-1603 AD).

As the Mughal Empire came into closer contact with Hindus, especially under Jalal ud-Din Akbar, music and dance also flourished. Particularly, the legendary musician Tansen is recognized as having introduced a number of innovations, ragas as well as particular compositions. Legend has it that upon his rendition of a night-time raga in the morning, the entire city fell under a hush and clouds gathered in the sky, or that he could light fires by singing raga Deepak, which is supposed to be composed of notes in high octaves.
At the royal house of Gwalior, Raja Mansingh Tomar (1486-1516 AD) also participated in the shift from Sanskrit to the local idiom (Hindi) as the language for classical songs. He himself penned several volumes of compositions on religious and secular themes, and was also responsible for the major compilation, the Mankutuhal (book of curiosity), which outlined the major forms of music prevalent at the time. In particular, the musical form known as dhrupad saw considerable development in his court and remained a strong point of the Gwalior gharana for many centuries.

After the dissolution of the Mughal empire, the patronage of music continued in smaller princely kingdoms like Lucknow, Patiala, Banaras, giving rise to the diversity of styles that is today known as gharanas. Many musician families obtained large grants of land which made them self sufficient, at least for a few generations (e.g. the Sham Chaurasia gharana). Meanwhile the Bhakti and Sufi traditions continued to develop, and interact with the different gharanas and groups.

The rhythmic organization is based on rhythmic patterns called Taal. The melodic foundations are "melodic modes", or "Parent Scales", known as Thaats, thaats are part of "musical personalities" called Ragas or Raags.

Thaats - and so Ragas - may consist of up to seven scale degrees, or swara. Hindustani musicians name these pitches using a system called Sargam, the equivalent of Western movable do solfege:

Sa = Do

Re = Re

Ga = Mi

Ma = Fa

Pa = Sol

Dha = La

Ni = Ti

Sa = Do

Both systems repeat at the octave. The difference between sargam and some forms of solfege is that re, ga, ma, dha, and ni can refer to either "Pure" (Shuddha) or altered "Flat" (Komal) or "Sharp" (Tivra) versions of their respective scale degrees. As with movable do solfege, the notes are heard relative to an arbitrary tonic that varies from performance to performance, rather than to fixed frequencies, as on a xylophone.

The fine intonational differences between different instances of the same swara are sometimes called śruti. The three primary registers of Indian classical music are Mandra, Madhya and Tara. Since the octave location is not fixed, it is also possible to use provenances in mid-register (such as Madra-Madhya or Madhya-Tara) for certain ragas. A typical rendition of Hindustani raga involves two stages:

Alap: a rhythmically free improvisation on the rules for the raag in order to give life to the raga and shape out its characteristics. The alap can be further divided into the alap, jod and jhala.

Bandish or Gat: a fixed, melodic composition set in a specific raga, performed with rhythmic accompaniment by a tabla or pakhavaj. There are different ways of systematizing the parts of a composition. For example:

Sthaayi: The initial, Rondo phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition.

Antara: The first body phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition.

Sanchaari: The third body phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition, seen more typically in
Dhrupad Bandishes

Aabhog: The fourth and concluding body phrase or line of a fixed, melodic composition, seen more typically in Dhrupad Bandishes.

There are three variations of Bandish, regarding tempo:

Vilambit Bandish: A slow and steady melodic composition, usually in Largo to Adagio speeds.

Madhyalaya Bandish: A medium tempo melodic competition, usually set in Andante to Allegretto speeds.

Drut Bandish: A fast tempo melodic composition, usually set to Allegretto speed, and onwards.

Hindustani classical music is primarily vocal-centric, insofar as the musical forms were designed primarily for vocal performance, and many instruments were designed and evaluated as to how well they emulate the human voice.

The major vocal forms-cum-styles associated with Hindustani classical music are Dhrupad, Khayal, and Thumri. Other forms include Dhamar, Tarana, Trivat, Chaiti, Kajari, Tappa, Tap-Khayal, Ashtapadis, Dadra, Ghazal and Bhajan. Of these, some forms fall within the crossover to folk or Semi-Classical or Classical ('Light' Classical) music, as they often do not adhere to the rigorous rules and regulations of 'pure' Classical Music.

Dhrupad is a yet older style of singing, traditionally performed by male singers. It is performed with a tanpura and a Pakhawaj as instrumental accompaniments. The lyrics, which sometimes were in Sanskrit centuries ago, are presently often sung in Brajbhasha, a medieval form of Hindi that was spoken in the Mathura area. The Rudra Veena, an ancient string instrument, is used in instrumental music in the style of Dhrupad.

Dhrupad was the main form of northern Indian classical music until two centuries ago, but has since then given way to the somewhat less austere, khyal, a more free-form style of singing. Since losing its main patrons among the royalty in Indian princely states, Dhrupad ran the risk of becoming extinct in the first half of the twentieth century. Fortunately, the efforts by a few proponents from the Dagar family have led to its revival and eventual popularization in India and in the West.

Khayal is a form of vocal music in Hindustani music, adopted from medieval Persian music and based on Dhrupad music. Khayal, literally meaning "Thought" in Hindi/Urdu originally from Arabic, Khyal, is special as it is based on improvising and expressing emotion. A Khayal is a 4 to 8 lined lyric set to tune. The lyric is of an emotional account possibly from poetic observation. Khayals are also more popularly depicting emotional significance between two lovers, a situation evoking intense feeling, or situations of ethological significance in Hinduism and Islam.

Th importance of the Khayal's content is for the singer to depict, through music in the set raga, the emotional significance of the Khayal. The singer improvises and finds inspiration within the raga to depict the Khayal.

The origination of Khayal is controversial, yet it is accepted that this style was based on Dhrupad gayaki and influenced by Persian music. Many argue that Amir Khusrau created the style in the late 16th Century. This form was popularized by Mughal Emperor Hussain Shah Sharqi, an art connoisseur, through his court musician, Mohammad Shah.

Although Hindustani music clearly is focused on the vocal performance, instrumental forms have existed since ancient times. In fact, in recent decades, especially outside South Asia, instrumental Hindustani music is more popular than vocal music, perhaps because the lyrics in the latter are not comprehensible due to unfamiliarity with the language.

A number of musical instruments are associated with Hindustani classical music. The veena, a string instrument, was traditionally regarded as the most important, but few play it today in the north (it is the chief string instrument of the Carntic tradition) and it has largely been superseded by its cousins the sitar and the sarod, both of which owe their origin to Persian influences.



India - North - Ravi Shankar (Sitar)



Chatur Lal (Tabla)

Introduction to Indian Music



Maru Bihag (Sitar, Tambura, and Tabla)








Ali Akbar Khan (Sarod) / Chatur Lal

Introduction



Rag Sindu Bhairavi






Surbahar (Large Sitar)






Sarangi (Violin)





Other plucked/struck string instruments include the surbahar, sursringar, santoor, and various versions of the slide guitar. Among bowed instruments, the sarangi, esraj (or dilruba), and violin are popular. The bansuri (bamboo flute), shehnai, harmonium, and samvadini are important wind instruments. In the percussion ensemble, the tabla and the pakhavaj are the most popular. Various other instruments (including the Bulbul tarang and the piano) have also been used in varying degrees.



[8133 Leonin / 8100 Hindustani Music / 8098 Hildegard]

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)

O Successores (You Successors)



Hildegard of Bingen (German: Hildegard von Bingen; Latin: Hildegardis Bingensis; 1098 – September 17, 1179), also known as Blessed Hildegard and Saint Hildegard, was a German abbess, artist, author, counselor, linguist, naturalist, scientist, philosopher, physician, herbalist, poet, visionary, and composer. Elected a magistra in 1136, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165.

She is the first composer with an extant biography. One of her works, the Ordo Virtutum, has been called the first form, and possibly the origin, of opera.

She wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, poems, and the first surviving morality play, while supervising brilliant miniature illuminations.

Hildegard was born into a family of free nobles in the service of the counts of Sponheim, close relatives of the Hohenstaufen emperors. She was the tenth child, sickly from birth. From the time she was very young, Hildegard wrote, she experienced visions. In fact, the only surviving tale of Hildegard's childhood involves a conversation she had with her nurse. Hildegard described an unborn calf as "white... marked with different colored spots on its forehead, feet and back." The nurse, amazed with the detail of the young child's account, told Hildegard's mother, who later rewarded her daughter with the calf, whose appearance Hildegard had accurately predicted.

Perhaps due to Hildegard's visions, or as a method of political positioning, Hildegard's parents, Hildebert and Mechthilde, offered her as a tithe to the church at the age of eight. Hildegard was placed in the care of Jutta, the sister of Count Meinhard of Sponheim, just outside the Disibodenberg monastery in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of what is now Germany. Jutta was enormously popular and acquired many followers, such that a small nunnery sprang up around her.

Upon Jutta's death in 1136, Hildegard was unanimously elected as "magistra," or leader of her sister community. The election would lead to the significant move, executed in the midst of great opposition, of twenty members of her community to her newly-formed monastery, Saint Rupertsberg at Bingen on the Rhine in 1150, where Volmar served as provost.

Hildegard "became... reticent" regarding her visions, confiding only to Jutta, who in turn told Volmar, Hildegard's tutor and, later, secretary and scribe. Throughout her life, she continued to have many visions, and in 1141, Hildegard had what she believed to be an instruction from God, to "write down that which you see and hear." Hildegard, hesitant to record her visions, soon became physically ill. In her first theological text, 'Scivias, or "Know the Ways," Hildegard describes her struggle within:

"I didn’t immediately follow this command. Self-doubt made me hesitate. I analyzed others’ opinions of my decision and sifted through my own bad opinions of myself. Finally, one day I discovered I was so sick I couldn’t get out of bed. Through this illness, God taught me to listen better. Then, when my good friends Richardis and Volmar urged me to write, I did. I started writing this book and received the strength to finish it, somehow, in ten years. These visions weren’t fabricated by my own imagination, nor are they anyone else’s. I saw these when I was in the heavenly places. They are God’s mysteries. These are God’s secrets. I wrote them down because a heavenly voice kept saying to me, 'See and speak! Hear and write!'"

Hildegard's vivid description of the physical sensations which accompanied her visions have been diagnosed by neurologist (and popular author) Oliver Sacks as symptoms of migraine. He details his studies in his book Migraine.

Attention in recent decades to women of the medieval church has led to a great deal of popular interest in Hildegard, particularly of her music. Approximately eighty compositions have survived, which is one of the largest repertoires among medieval composers.

Among her better known works, Ordo Virtutum, or Play of the Virtues, is a morality play. It is an example of a rare and early "oratorio" for women's voices, with one male part, that of the Devil, who, because of his corrupted nature, cannot sing. The oratorio was created, like much of Hildegard's music, for religious ceremonial performance by the nuns of her abbeys.

Hildegard's music is described as monophonic; that is, consisting of exactly one melodic line, designed for limited instrumental accompaniment and characterized by soaring soprano vocalisations.

In addition to music, Hildegard also wrote medical, botanical, and geological treatises. She also invented an alternative alphabet. The text of her writing and compositions reveals Hildegard's use of this form of modified medieval Latin, encompassing many invented, conflated, and abridged words. Due to her inventions of words for her lyrics and a constructed script, many conlangers look upon her as a medieval precursor.

Accounts of Hildegard's visions were compiled into three books. The first, Scivias ("Know the Way") was completed in 1151. Liber vitae meritorum ("Book of Life's Merits"), and De operatione Dei ("Of God's Activities") also known as Liber divinorum operum ("Book of Divine Works") followed. In these volumes, works in progress until her death in 1179, she first describes each vision, then interprets them. The narrative of her visions was richly decorated under her direction, with transcription assistance was provided by the monk Volmar and nun Richardis. The book was celebrated in the Middle Ages and was later copied in Paris in 1513.

Hildegard's visionary writings maintain that virginity is the highest level of the spiritual life, however, she also wrote about the secular life, including motherhood. She is the first woman to record a treatise of feminine sexuality, providing scientific accounts of the female orgasm.

When a woman is making love with a man, a sense of heat in her brain, which brings with it sensual delight, communicates the taste of that delight during the act and summons forth the emission of the man's seed. And when the seed has fallen into its place, that vehement heat descending from her brain draws the seed to itself and holds it, and soon the woman's sexual organs contract, and all the parts that are ready to open up during the time of menstruation now close, in the same way as a strong man can hold something enclosed in his fist.

Hildegard communicated with popes such as Eugene III and Anastasius IV, statesmen such as Abbot Suger, German emperors such as Frederick I Barbarossa, and other notable figures such as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who advanced her work, at the behest of her abbot, Kuno, at the Synod of Trier in 1147 and 1148.

Many abbots and abbesses asked her for prayers and opinions on various matters. As depicted on the map displayed to the right, she traveled widely during her four preaching tours, the only woman to have done so during the Middle Ages.

Hildegard was one of the first souls for whom the canonization process was officially applied, but the process took so long that four attempts at canonization (the last was in 1244, under Pope Innocent IV) were not completed, and she remained at the level of her beatification. She has been referred to as a saint by some, nonetheless, particularly in contemporary Germany.

[8100 Hindustani Music / 8098 Hildegard / 8096 First Crusade]