Medieval Music and the Art of Memory

Conclusion

Conclusion Throughout this book I have tried to determine how the oral and written transmission of music interacts with the art of memory; or, to put it differently, what effect mnemotechnics had on medieval performers, composers, and the music they produced. The single most important result of this study is that it allows us to see how oral and written transmission complement each other throughout the Middle Ages. This is particularly apparent in three areas: First, we have seen that writing does not make memorization redundant; instead, it allows for new ways of committing musical material to memory. Throughout their lives, singers built up memorial archives consisting of chant, elementary music theory, and interval progressions. All of the memorized material, whether it was chant or counterpoint progressions, was organized in a systematic way according to abstract musical principles that helped in the process of memorization and retrieval. Thus, a singer who wanted to sing polyphony would take a chant melody from his mental inventory , organize it rhythmically, and then place a second or third part against it. This would be easy because he had all possible progressions of consonances at the tip of his tongue. Alternatively, he could choose to preserve his composition in writing. Second, we have observed that a repertory preserved in writing tells us very little about its origin and transmission. The pieces transmitted in the Magnus liber organi, for example, long considered the first worked-out written compositions, were very likely transmitted orally and put together from memorized formulas in ever new ways. There is no such thing as one final correct version of these pieces; rather, the singers probably altered them whenever they sang them. While these pieces were written down, it seems that notation was not necessary to create and transmit them. They were sung by heart and most likely written down so that the whole repertory might be preserved, 253 rather than to make it available for performance. Such a transmission goes hand in hand with an ambiguous notational system, which often allows for different rhythmic interpretations. On the other hand, isorhythmic motets, which came into existence only about one hundred years later, could not have come about without writing. Their creation coincides with the development of Ars nova notation, which provided composers with a notational system that was more or less unambiguous and substantially increased the rhythmic possibilities. We now observe a distinct difference between composers and performers. Thus, it is not surprising that at this time pieces begin to be attributed to composers with increasing frequency. The composer takes pride in his creations, which need to be transmitted intact in order to make sense. A performer cannot suddenly decide to change pitches or note values or add a melisma without jeopardizing the intended structure. Very soon composers began to take delight in making use of rhythmic and melodic manipulations that would have been impossible without writing, such as diminution and retrograde motion. And yet, these pieces were conceived in the mind and sung by heart. The art of memory played an important role in the transmission and composition of early polyphony and allows us to explain stylistic characteristics of the repertory. Notre Dame polyphony is written in modal notation, characterized by repetitive rhythmic patterns. A comparison with didactic poetry of the period shows that meters were regularly used to help memorize difficult material. Since music theorists draw a parallel between the rhythmic modes and poetic meters, it is likely that rhythmic modes helped singers to memorize the music. In fact, repetitive rhythmic patterns might have been used in the first place because they were memorable. Similarly, the art of memory allows us to explain how composers could work out complicated three- and four-part structures like the isorhythmic motet in the mind and how singers could memorize these pieces. Orators and authors used architectural structures similar to those encountered in isorhythmic motets to work out entire speeches and books in the mind. Indeed , music theorists regularly draw a comparison between foundations of houses and tenors of motets. They also argue that isorhythm is useful to organize and plan compositions in the mind. There are numerous references to visualization. Thus, I suggest that composers of isorhythmic motets chose to organize their pieces in tightly organized structures because it allowed them to work out the pieces in their mind and make them memorable to performers. Ars nova notation allowed them to see the entire musical structure on an opening, an important condition...