Notre-Dame school

The Notre-Dame school refers to a group of composers who worked at or near the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250. They created beautiful music that was very important for the time. Their work helped shape how music was written and performed in Europe.

We know the names of two famous composers from this school: Léonin and Pérotin. An English student named Anonymous IV wrote about them hundreds of years later, calling them the best composers of a special kind of music called organum. They helped create a big book of music known as the Magnus Liber Organi.

During this time, a new style of music called the motet began. It grew from a part of the organum called the clausula. Even though we have many pieces of music from the Notre-Dame school, how the rhythms were performed is still a mystery. Three music experts wrote about the rhythms, but they lived long after the music was made, so we are not sure if they understood it correctly. The music often had lower voices singing long notes while higher voices sang fast, decorated lines using special rhythmic patterns. This was an important step in learning how to write down music with different note lengths.

Notre-Dame motets

The earliest known motets come from the Notre-Dame school and were created by composers like Léonin and Pérotin during the 13th century. These motets had different texts sung at the same time and used special rhythmic patterns. One example is Salve, salus hominum/O radians stella/nostrum by Pérotin, made between 1180 and 1238. However, there is still a lot we don't know about exactly when these early musical pieces were first written.

Contemporary accounts

With polyphony, musicians could create music that many people thought was beautiful, while others found it strange. John of Salisbury (1120–1180), a philosopher and Bishop of Chartres, taught at the University of Paris during the time of Léonin. He wrote about what he saw happening to music during the High Middle Ages. He described the music as very fancy and full of different voices, making some people feel happy and at peace, while others thought it was too showy.