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Artist
Léonin
12+ albums
medievalearly musicfrenchClassical12th century
about
Léonin (also Leoninus, Leonius, Leo) (fl. 1150s — d. ? 1201) is the first known significant composer of polyphonic organum. He was probably French, and he probably lived and worked in Paris at the Notre Dame Cathedral, and was the earliest member of the Notre Dame school of polyphony who is known by name. The name Léonin is derived from "Leoninus," which is the Latin diminutive of the name Leo, thus it is likely that Léonin's given French name was Léo. All that is known about him comes from the writings of a later student at the cathedral known as Anonymous IV, an Englishman who left a treatise on theory and who mentions Léonin as the composer of the Magnus Liber, the "great book" of organum. Much of the Magnus Liber is devoted to clausulae—melismatic portions of Gregorian chant which were extracted into separate pieces, with the original note values greatly slowed down, and provided with a fast-moving upper part. Léonin was also probably the first composer to use the rhythmic modes, and possibly also to invent a notation for them (according to W.G. Waite, writing in 1954: "It was Léonin's incomparable achievement to introduce a rational system of rhythm into polyphonic music for the first time, and, equally important, to create a method of notation expressive of this rhythm."). The Magnus Liber was intended for liturgical use. According to Anonymous IV, "Magister Leoninus (Léonin) was the finest composer of organum; he wrote the great book (Magnus Liber) for the gradual an
top songs
1
Viderunt omnes... (2-part organum)
9,0332Viderunt omnes No. 2: ...Dominus...
3,9943Léonin / Pérotin: Magnus Liber / Easter: Cristus resurgens - Dicant nunc (à 3) (Processional Antiphon)
3,8064Viderunt omnes No. 1: Notum fecit... (2-part organum)
3,0635Viderunt omnes No. 2: Notum fecit... (2-part organum)
3,0166Viderunt omnes No. 1: ...Dominus...
2,9757Viderunt omnes No. 1: ...salutare suum ante conspectum gentium revelavit...
2,3578Viderunt omnes No. 1: ...fines terre salutare dei nostri jubilate deo omnis terra (plainchant)
2,2479Viderunt omnes No. 2: ...salutare suum ante conspectum gentium revelavit...
2,23110Viderunt omnes No. 2: ...fines terre salutare dei nostri jubilate deo omnis terra (plainchant)
1,881albums
The School of Notre Dame
LEONIN / PEROTIN: Sacred Music from Notre-Dame Cathedral
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The History Of Classical Music - Part 1 - From Gregorian Chant To C.P.E. Bach
Music of the Gothic Era
Mystery Of Notre Dame
Discover Early Music
Léonin: Magister Leoninus, Vol. 1 – Sacred Music from 12th-Century Paris
Léonin: Magister Leoninus, Vol. 2 – Sacred Music from 12th-Century Paris
Music of the Gothic Era (2 CDs)
Monastic Chant - 12th & 13th Century European Sacred Music
Perotin and the Ars Antiqua
Musique sacrée de la Cathédrale Notre-Dame