ABSTRACT
Modal rhythm is characteristically triple and embraced several basic modes which fitted into an overall scheme. ‘Modal notation’ is a much more restricted concept than modal rhythm. It refers to a method whereby a rhythmic mode is indicated by the grouping of ligatures. The earliest Parisian composer of whom know the name is one Albertus, a cantor of Notre-Dame who appears in the cathedral records between 1147 and 1173; he is perhaps to be equated with Magister Albertus Parisiensis, the composer of a short and undistinguished conductus in the Compostela manuscript. Organum in two parts is evidently the medium in which Leoninus mainly worked, and it is the medium adopted for by far the greater number of surviving Mass and Office responds, and for most settings of ‘Benedicamus Domino’. As in the St Martial organa, melismatic chant is set in note-against-note style, known as discantus, and syllabic chant is set melismatically.
