Perotinus (Magnus)

PEROTINUS (Magnus). - Choirmaster of the cathedral of Paris, successor of Leoninus and, with him, one of the principal exponents of the Ars antiqua (v.), whose activity unfolded between 1183 and 1236.

He expanded the repertoire written by his predecessor (Magnus Liber Organi), increasing the number of parts from 2 to 3 and 4 (organa tripla and quadrupla), adding to it many clausulae, short compositions in 2 parts; he also conferred upon it a well-defined rhythmic movement which, according to the schemes of strict modal meter, is framed within a more precise mensuralism. Indeed, this is precisely the peculiar characteristic that distinguishes the age of P. from the preceding one: the rhythmic freedom derived by Leoninus from the school of St. Martial is succeeded by the rigid modal metric of P., giving rise also to noticeable semiographic differences, which take concrete form in two kinds of notation: the notation of duplum (for the Leoninian period) and modal notation (for the Perotinian one).

Among the works of P., the Anonymous IV (Coussemaker, I, p. 342) records two organa quadrupla: "Viderunt" and "Sederunt" (for the latter, see the modern transcription by R. Ficker: Vienna 1930), two organa tripla: Alleluia, Posui adjutorium and Alleluia Nativitas gloriose (see the transcription in Y. Rokseth, Polyphonies du XIIIe siècle, II, Paris 1921, pp. 16-23, 31-37); among the triplices conductus: Salvatoris hodie; among the duplices: Dum sigillum summi Patris and among the simplices: Beata viscera and Justitia.

Luisa Cervelli