Organum
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Main Period: Middle Ages
Kind: Vocal

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The angels Concert (1470) by Piero della Francesca, National Gallery, London
Organum
The simplest form of polyphony, in which singing voices are paralleled to a tune, sung in fixed intervals. Based on the gregorian chant, the organum appeared in the 10th century, and the principle was doubling cantus firmus (the melodic line) at a fixed interval, a fourth or a fifth. Organum was later improved into Discant, where accompanying voices became freer in intervals and rhythm. Melodic flow in Discant is similar, but not identical, to the original, as in the traditional organum'Nightingale canon' - Mozart.






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"Nightingale canon" by Mozart




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