Isorhythmic tenor from the first part of the Kyrie of Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame (c. Kýrie is from the Greek word κύριε (kyrie the Vocative case of κύριος (kyrios meaning O Lord. Guillaume de Machaut, sometimes spelled Machault (c 1300 – April 1377 was an important Medieval French Poet and Composer. Messe de Nostre Dame (Mass of Our Lady is a polyphonic mass composed before 1365 by the French Poet, Composer and 1360). A color of 28 notes is arranged with a four-note talea pattern which repeats seven times.

Isorhythm (from the Greek for "the same rhythm") is a musical technique that arranges a fixed pattern of pitches with a repeating rhythmic pattern. Pitch represents the perceived Fundamental frequency of a sound Rhythm (from Greek ῥυθμός - rhythmos, "any measured flow or movement symmetry" is the variation of the length and accentuation of It consists of an order of durations or rhythms, called a talea ("cutting", plural taleae), which is repeated within a tenor melody whose pitch content or series, called the color (repetition), varied in the number of members from the talea. The tenor is the highest male voice within the Modal register, just above the Baritone voice In Music, a melody (from Greek μελῳδία - melōidía, "singing chanting" also tune, voice, or The term was coined in 1904 by Friedrich Ludwig to describe this practice in 14th and 15th century polyphonic motets but is also used in motets of the middle ages, the music of India, and by modern composers such as Alban Berg, Olivier Messiaen, and John Cage. In Music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent Melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice ( Monophony In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions The term medieval music encompasses European music written during the Middle Ages. The music of India' includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, and classical music. Alban Maria Johannes Berg (February 9 1885 &ndash December 24 1935 was an Austrian Composer. Olivier Messiaen ( December 10 1908 &ndash April 27 1992 was a French Composer, organist and ornithologist. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> John Milton Cage Jr It may be used in all voices or only a few voices. In Music, a register is the relative "height" or range of a Note, set of pitches or Pitch classes Melody In motets, it began in the tenor voice but was then extended to higher ones. The tenor is the highest male voice within the Modal register, just above the Baritone voice

In modern usage, the term "isorhythm" is often associated with the practice of repeating two sets of parameters (such as duration and pitch) at different rates so that the values of one parameter are associated with different values of the other parameter at each repetition.

Ars nova composer Philippe de Vitry has been credited with the invention of the technique, but it "was neither an invention of Philippe de Vitry nor his exclusive property in the early fourteenth century. Ars nova was a stylistic period in Music of the Late Middle Ages, centered in France, which encompassed the period roughly from the preparation Philippe de Vitry ( October 31, 1291 &ndash June 9, 1361) was a French Composer, music theorist and Poet " The isorhythmic construction was often varied through the use of strict or free rhythmic diminution in the repetition of the color. (Hoppin 1978, p. 363)

Isorhythmic techniques were also used by Guillaume Dufay, but his work also marks the extensive use of the more fluid polyphonic styles of the early renaissance. Guillaume Dufay ( Du Fay, Du Fayt) ( August 5, 1397 ? &ndash November 27, 1474) was a Franco-Flemish composer

The talea was often a rhythmic mode. In Medieval music, the rhythmic modes were patterns of long and short Durations (or Rhythms imposed on written notes which otherwise appeared The color of isorhythm may be compared with the tone row of the twelve-tone technique's fixed order of pitches and varied durations. In Music, a tone row or note row ( German: Reihe or Tonreihe) also series and set, refers to a non-repetitive Twelve-tone technique (also dodecaphony, especially in British usage twelve-note composition) is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold The modern musical innovation of integral serialism in the classes of Olivier Messiaen sprang from a study of the 12 tone compositions of Anton Webern and the isothythmic organization within motets of Guillaume de Machaut. In Music, serialism is a technique for composition that uses sets to describe musical elements, and allows the manipulation of those Olivier Messiaen ( December 10 1908 &ndash April 27 1992 was a French Composer, organist and ornithologist. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Anton Webern (December 3 1883 &ndash September 15 1945 was an Austrian Composer Guillaume de Machaut, sometimes spelled Machault (c 1300 – April 1377 was an important Medieval French Poet and Composer.

Coloration also refers to otherwise perfect notes colored red or with an open notehead to indicate the loss of 1/3 their duration, making them imperfect.

Source

• Hoppin, Richard H. (1978). Medieval Music. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-09090-6.

External links

• Here Of A Sunday Morning WBAI 99.5 FM: Isorhythm