The 12th century is the time of the construction of Notre-Dame de Paris. This site was the epicentre of a remarkable development in the capital’s musical activity, thanks to the emergence of a polyphonic composition school: the Notre-Dame School. To enhance the solemnity of feast days, Mass and Office chants were arranged for two voices, compiled in the Magnus liber organi. Two inseparable masters were at work: Léonin and Pérotin. The first, Master Léonin, authored numerous two-voice organum in a melismatic, "florid" style. Imagine two voices intertwining in resonance: one, the organal voice, weaves sumptuous, ornamented melodies, while the other, the Gregorian plainchant, provides long, stable drones. This is the combinatorial art of polyphony. Immerse yourself in Léonin's music with the responsory Iudea et Ierusalem, a liturgical chant where the choir answers the soloist. It was sung at Notre-Dame during the First Vespers of Christmas.
Remember, Léonin was accompanied by another great master of polyphony: Pérotin. Pérotin reworked and revised many of Léonin’s compositions, introducing rhythmically innovative sections. He also developed a new technique called discantus, allowing him to expand his polyphonic writing to three or even four voices. This innovation gave rise to Viderunt omnes, a grand four-voice organum, or organum quadruplum, performed during the Christmas Day Mass or the Christmas season. Listen to the solemn, sustained plainchant tones resounding, with three additional voices layered above, engaging in intricate melodic and polyphonic interplay. The ornamentations of the organum echo the Gothic vaults of Notre-Dame, as the sound architecture unfolds within the cathedral's vast space.
Times were harsh. The Hundred Years’ War raged, the Black Death decimated populations, and the Church was in turmoil. The papacy had split between Rome and Avignon, creating a chaotic clash of beliefs. Amidst this noise, artists raised their voices. Among the most notable were Guillaume de Machaut and Philippe de Vitry, who spoke of Justice, Hope, and Satire. They elevated the science of song and the art of polyphony, weaving symbolic and audible messages to denounce the vices of the powerful. The Romance of Fauvel portrayed corrupt leaders through the character Fauvel, a donkey-turned-king driven by greed and vice. His name is an acronym for Flattery, Avarice, Villainy, Variability, Envy, and Cowardice. Philippe de Vitry contributed to The Romance of Fauvel, notably with his three-voice motet Adesto, sanctas trinitas. Each voice delivers a different text, conveying a message of faith and peace: “Hold steadfast to faith,” “Be with us, O Holy Trinity,” and “Alleluia.” This multiplicity qualifies the motet as pluritextual. It can also be performed instrumentally.
The bells are ringing out! On 16 December 1431, 10-year-old Henry VI of England was crowned King of France. Having been crowned King of England the year before at Westminster Abbey, he now came to Notre-Dame, amidst civil war and the Hundred Years’ War, months after Joan of Arc’s death in Rouen. Inside the cathedral, we hear the organ playing Walter Frye’s Ave Regina Coelorum. Originally composed for three voices, it praises the Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven. Here played on the organ, the polyphony remains clear thanks to the instrument’s pipes, which offer diverse sonic possibilities. This piece survives thanks to the Buxheim Codex, a manuscript containing several organ works. Much of Frye’s music was lost during the pillaging of English monasteries in the following century.
`A contemporary of Josquin des Prés, Antoine Brumel was referenced by Rabelais in the preface to Pantagruel, an unmistakable mark of renown. Born in Chartres, where he served as a cathedral cantor, Brumel later taught music to the choirboys of Notre-Dame. Brumel inherited a tradition dating back to 22 April 1486, when the Notre-Dame chapter mandated that choirboys kneel before the main altar after Matins on the first feast of each month and sing the verse Ave Maria, gratia Dei plena per secula… in honour of the Virgin Mary. Brumel created the first polyphonic version of this chant, a three-voice “motet-paraphrase” where the Gregorian theme resonates throughout. Listen to how the boys’ voices before the altar seem to embody Mary’s purity and joy.
Do you hear those voices rising in supplication? They plead for the Lord’s mercy in the Kyrie of Mathieu Sohier’s Missa Vidi speciosam, a parody mass. The term “parody” here refers to a composition based on a pre-existing work, sacred or secular, a common Renaissance practice. This mass draws on two sources, including Johannes Lupi’s polyphonic motet set to Latin words from a responsory sung at the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. The responsory begins with “Vidi speciosam”, “I have seen her, beautiful as a dove, ascending above the waters.”
In Marin Mersenne’s personal copy of Harmonie Universelle, an organ piece attributed to Charles Racquet was discovered: a prayer to the Virgin Mary, Regina cæli, which Racquet set to music. This piece, titled Fantaisie, serves as an example of what could be done on the organ. The Regina cæli theme is first introduced and then varied through the addition of new voices. This work, probably the first organ composition in France, showcases Racquet’s mastery of the instrument, its mechanics, and its possibilities. It illustrates the musical richness of polyphony, the art of arranging multiple melodic voices. Racquet also contributed to the evolution of Notre-Dame’s organ. Starting in 1618, he added new stops to the medieval organ, transforming it into Paris’ first three-manual instrument: a Positif with 14 separate stops, a Boucquin with 7 stops, and the Grand Orgue. In his Fantaisie, Racquet alternates between these manuals, offering a glimpse of their musical potential. His work exemplifies the fusion of craftsmanship and artistry, as both an instrument maker and a virtuoso composer.
Another composer celebrated in Marin Mersenne’s Harmonie Universelle of 1636 is Henri Frémart. Known for two psalms composed to mark the birth of Louis XIV in 1638 (now lost), Frémart was originally from Picardy and served in Rouen and Amiens before becoming Master of Music for the choirboys of Notre-Dame in 1625, a post he held until 1640. Between 1642 and 1645, eight of Frémart’s masses were published by Parisian editor Ballard. Among them was the five-voice Missa Eripe me, Domine, released in 1643. Its title, from Psalm 139 (“Deliver me, Lord, from my enemies”), references a Gregorian motif that remains unidentified. The Credo, the third piece of the mass, contains the full text of the corresponding prayer. Notably, Frémart assigns the Crucifixus (“He was crucified”) to the three upper voices, cantus, altus, and tenor, who enter in imitation from lowest to highest pitch. The five voices reunite for the triumphant final affirmation: “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” concluding with a vocalized Amen.
On 5 May 1789, the Estates General convened at the Hôtel des Menus Plaisirs in Versailles. The previous day, a grand procession accompanied Louis XVI’s arrival. The hall had been expanded to accommodate the 1,200 deputies from the Third Estate, nobility, clergy, and the royal family. On 17 June, a deputy wrote, “The decisive blow has been struck; we finally exist, and we are the National Assembly.” Three days later, the king closed the hall. “Those who arrived early found it guarded by soldiers who barred entry,” wrote another deputy. On 15 July, the day after the storming of the Bastille, news reached Versailles. Reports described “the storming of the Bastille, the treachery of the government, and the massacre of armed citizens.” In the years that followed, the monarchy’s divine-right authority crumbled. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was proclaimed on 26 August 1789. By 1792, after the storming of the Tuileries and the king’s failed escape attempt, the citizens sang Gossec’s Hymne à la Liberté to defend their newfound freedoms. Gossec, the “official musician of the Revolution,” composed many patriotic works, including a Te Deum performed with 4,000 singers, 300 wind players, and 300 drummers at the Champ de Mars on 14 July 1790.
We are in 1804! The 2nd of December! Pope Pius VII will be present. For now, the procession has just departed from the Tuileries Palace; it is on its way to Notre-Dame, where we expect it to arrive at 10:30 am. What a ceremony this will be, magnificent! For the occasion, some of our most illustrious composers have been honoured with the task of writing music for this event. To begin this historic moment, Jean-François Lesueur has composed his Coronation March. Oh, I heard them rehearsing just a few days ago, it is truly grand! Trumpets, piccolos, timpani, and the organ, all resounding in unison, keeping rhythm with the march as the grand assembly enters Notre-Dame! Jean-François Lesueur has gone all out! This year, he was appointed Master of the Chapel at the Tuileries by Bonaparte, succeeding Paisiello, who wished to return to Italy. Lesueur’s musical output is extensive, including numerous lyrical tragedies (a genre of French opera), oratorios (vocal works on religious themes, typically without staging), songs, and masses for choir and large orchestra. For the ceremony, the painter Jacques-Louis David has been invited to immortalise the coronation of the imperial couple. Look, once the procession and assembly are in place, Pope Pius VII will sit here at the altar to crown and bless the new Emperor Napoleon and Empress Josephine. Or perhaps it will be Bonaparte himself, as Napoleon, who crowns his wife? Some even say he will crown himself by placing the crown on his own head. Who knows?
Do you recognise the characteristic chimes of Westminster Palace? Big Ben has rung out these four notes in varying combinations every quarter hour since 1886. Louis Vierne, Notre-Dame’s organist from 1900 to 1937, was inspired by a melody sent to him by a London clockmaker. This became the basis of his Carillon de Westminster, part of his Twenty-four Pieces of Fantasy (1925–26). Premiered at Notre-Dame on 29 November 1927, the piece was met with public and critical acclaim. Vierne continued to perform it regularly, including during the 1932 inauguration of Notre-Dame’s restored organ. Listen as the organ’s rich harmonies unfold beneath the cathedral’s vaulted ceilings. The symphonic organ of the era, a Cavaillé-Coll, was revolutionary, offering new tonal colours and textures to composers like Vierne. From its modest opening, the carillon theme grows to a grand climax, guiding the listener like a beacon throughout the piece.