Listening Journal: Sederunt Principes by Perotin the Great

For this assignment, I chose to focus on an 11 minute piece by Perotin, and due to its length I analyzed the first 3 minutes and 44 seconds only. I realize that this is a listening journal and that having the sheet music along with the audio violates the rules of listening journals, so I did not look at the sheet music during my analysis.

Instrumentation:

• 4 male voices
•  one definitively tenor
• additional 3 most likely duplum, triplum, and quadruplum

Meter:

• No definitive meter, although it has a compound duple feel, particularly when there are groups of three notes sung like triplets.
• Tempo most likely a quicker moderato if felt in groupings of 2.

Texture:

• The piece begins with the duplum, triplum, and quadruplum singing the exact same rhythms, creating harmony. During this section it seems to be homorhythmic and most likely organum. 
• Eventually the parts split into different rhythms, creating a 3-part polyphony. 
• Near 3:04, the parts cadence and combine to form one monophonic line. 

Melody:

• The melodies seem to be fairly conjunct, moving majorly stepwise with only a few jumps present. 
• All three "-plum" voices seem to be near the top of their ranges at points, but due to the small number of jumps, each voice's overall range is not very large. Duplum's range is most likely the largest as it contains the majority of the leaps. 

Tonality:

• Seems to be diatonic, although I cannot pick up on which mode it fits exactly. 

Structure:

• This piece definitely does not contain rounds or repitition, from what I can pick up on it seems to be through-composed, although rhythms similar to those at the beginning do return after what could be called a B section. (If considered strophic, it would be ABAC, C being the monophonic plainchant)
• It is entirely melismatic, as single syllables are held throughout entire sections.

Context:

• This piece is (almost entirely without doubt) sacred, as it appears to be in Latin, features a section of plainchant, and was composed by Perotin, who is known for his polyphonic church music. In addition, Sederunt Principes translates to "leaders sat" in English, so this might be referring to Catholic priests or even to saints and holy figures themselves.