Four Quarter Round
Simon Petepiece
Espace Maurice

Whoever sings, is said to pray twice.

The French-born composer, likely known as Léo prior to ordinance, was the architect of sacred polyphony in the high Medieval era. Magister Léonin (fl. ~1135-1201) wrote polyphony into the sacred sphere, producing codices with nearly 500 extant liturgical settings in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris throughout the years of 1163-1190. Its style was of the aptly-named organ (organum, organi; pl. organa). Léonin’s organ was two-voiced, but the gradual development of Gothic polyphonic technique by the innovations of his ambitious begotten pupil Pérotin resulted in three- and four-voice dominance, parallel with the architectural traction of tre- and quatrefoil rosettes in this organ’s “body.” Indeed, the Trinitarian doctrine itself sees its origins in these Gothic proportions: by the 13th century the numerological trinity and quaternity would be housed within triple nave basilicas.

Naturally, the mutual relationship between a structure’s anatomical form and its resultant acoustic characteristics has identified itself: both are inherent in the material and spiritual fold of religious ritual.
Micro-ornamentation on the macro-scale is imminent through windows, steeples and spires which diffracted the voices reading similarly-adorned stacks of vellum manuscripts. Within the Gothic period of high Medievalism, spaces of worship thus served as a clerical body complete with organ —resonant pipes of metal and those of flesh—which fulfilled the transport of sacred oration in desired exitus-reditus through musical organa.

There is a psychic structure within proportional and geometric operations which mathematicians call the “ordinal,” sharing its name with the prescribed liturgical book for rites and prayers of ordination and consecration to the Holy Orders. In Medieval liturgies, ordinals supplied instruction on how to use the other various books necessary to celebrate the liturgy and added rubrical direction to the recitation of the Mass. In these halls, it was necessary to create an atmosphere of exaggerated solemnity and even a certain fear of the Creator’s greatness in reverence. Visual arrangements of frequency and rhythm—articulated through bas-reliefs, windows and pillars/buttresse —fulfilled sacred, social, aesthetic and sonically-functional organization.

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A high Gothic cathedral’s towers, belfries, steeples and spires point upwards. There are multi-colored reflections of stained glass telling the story of the Gospel. Its intricate architecture is the frozen music. It is characterized by vertical proportions, windows of tre- or quatre-foiled make, pointed arches and external support through buttressing.

Through these ornate windows, the execution of the Divine Office begins at 3 a.m. with a Matins office of the quotidian Mass Ordinary. At a cantor or cantrix’s signal, the very first words of the monastic day are orated from one side of the oratory as versicle:

Domine labia mea aperies
Oh Lord, open thou my lips

Once the phrase’s diffractions have sufficiently sprung across the intricate Gothic architecture, a response emits from the cathedral’s opposite side:

et os meum adnuntiabit laudem tuam
and my mouth shall show forth thy praise

After, the cloister resigns to respective chambers for study. Memorization is practiced in a rosary-like fashion of mnemonic arithmetic. Lectio divina or “sacred reading” ensues with the recitation and repetition of each verse, to facilitate contemplation of various interpretations. It is a form of prayer that has often been compared to a cow chewing its cud in ritual rumination.

As the crepuscular hour closes at around 5 a.m., the cloister returns to the oratory to sing the office of Lauds. Their focus remains on the cantor or cantrix as they chant the invitatory lines of the office, a verse from Psalm 69:

Deus in adiutorium meum intende
O God, make speed to save me

Domine ad adjuvandum me festina
O Lord, make haste to help me