page_title: Pérotin
section_title: Life, and problems of identification
hierarchical_section_title: Pérotin / Life, and problems of identification
context_page_description: Perotinus Magnus, was a composer from around the late 12th century, associated with the Notre Dame school of polyphony in Paris and the ars antiqua musical style. The title Magister Perotinus means that he was licensed to teach. The only information on his life with any degree of certainty comes from an anonymous English student at Notre Dame known as Anonymous IV. It is assumed that he was French and named Pérotin, a diminutive of Peter, but attempts to match him with persons in other documents remain speculative.
context_section_description: Pérotin, about whom little is known, most likely lived around the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th century and is presumed to have been French. The only definitive information on his life comes from a brief mention attributed to the musical theorist Johannes de Garlandia (fl.c.1270–1320) in his De Mensurabili Musica, and four references in the works of an English student, known today as Anonymous IV, including this, most commonly cited paragraph;
  These rules were used in many older books; this was so during and after the time of Perotinus the Great. Nevertheless, they did not know how to distinguish these notes from those which will be presented shortly. This was so even since the time of Leo, because two ligated notes were put for the durational value of a brevis longa, and in a similar manner, three ligated notes were quite often used for a longa brevis, longa. People say Maître Leonin was the best composer of Organum (optimus organista), he composed the Great Organum Book for the gradual and antiphonary in order to prolong the divine service. This book remained in use until the time of the great Perotin who abridged it and composed clausules and sections that were many in number and better because he was the best composer of descant (optimus discantor). This Magister Perotinus made the best quadrupla, such as Viderunt and Sederunt, with an abundance of striking musical embellishments [colores armonicae artis]; likewise, the noblest tripla, such as Alleluia, Posui adiutorium and [Alleluia], Nativitas etc. He also made three-voice conductus, such as Salvatoris hodie, and two-voice conductus, such as Dum sigillum summi Patris, and also, among many others, monophonic conductus, such as Beata viscera etc. The book, that is, the books of Magister Perotinus, were in use in the choir of the Paris cathedral of the Blessed Virgin up to the time of Magister Robertus de Sabilone, and from his time up to the present day.
  There have been many speculative attempts to identify Pérotin with members of the Notre Dame administration, but these have not generally been accepted. Of the several people with that name (Petrus) that have been suggested, the commonest are Petrus Cantor (died 1197), who was a theologian, and another Petrus who was Succentor at Notre Dame ca. 1207–1238. Of these two, Petrus Succentor has been suggested as more probable, in part on chronological grounds, and partly because of the succentor's role in overseeing the celebration of the liturgy in the cathedral (whose choir was dedicated 1182), but this is purely speculative, resting on an assumption that the composer held some important rank in the cathedral hierarchy.
  Pérotin is considered to be the most important member of the Notre Dame school of polyphony, a group of composers working at or near the cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250, creators of the ars antiqua style. The dates of Pérotin's life and works have long been a subject of debate, but are generally thought to be from about 1155/60 (or earlier) to around 1200/05 (or later), based on the evolution of French choral writing during this time (see Works), in particular, his apparent absence from the flowering of the French motet that occurred after 1210.
  Pérotin was one of very few composers of his day whose name has been preserved, and can be reliably attached to individual compositions, most of which have been transcribed. Anonymous IV called him Magister Perotinus (Pérotinus the Master). The title, employed also by Johannes de Garlandia, means that Perotinus, like Léonin, earned the degree magister artium, almost certainly in Paris, and that he was licensed to teach. However, only Anonymous IV employed the superlative Perotinus Magnus (Perotinus the Great). The name Perotinus, the Latin diminutive of Petrus, is assumed to be derived from the French name Pérotin, diminutive of Pierre. However "Petrus" was one of the most common names in the Ile de France during the High Middle Ages, making further identification difficult. The diminutive was presumably a mark of respect bestowed by his co
caption: Mediaeval choir, Paris
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