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Ensemble Organum

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Ensemble Organum is a French early-music ensemble founded in 1982 by Marcel Pérès. Its make-up has varied over the years. Its singers have included Josep Cabré, Josep Benet, Gérard Lesne, Antoine Sicot and Malcolm Bothwell. The group often worked with the Greek singer Lycourgos Angelopoulos. The ensemble was first based at the abbey of Sénanque and later at Royaumont. Since 2001 it has shared a site on the grounds of the abbey of Moissac with a centre for research into early music.

Music and breakthrough

Organum focuses mainly on music from the Middle Ages: Beneventan, Old Roman, Gallican, Carolingian and Mozarabic chant. Renaissance polyphony and more recent works are also heard. The influence of Orthodox chant is audible. The group also works with musicologists and historians on research into this repertoire.

Influence

The discography begins in 1984 with Polyphonie aquitaine du XIIe siècle: Saint Martial de Limoges. Among the releases that followed were École Notre-Dame: Messe du Jour de Noël, Chants de l'église milanaise, Carmina Burana in 1990, Codex Faenza from fifteenth-century Italy and Chant Cistercien in 1992. The ensemble showed how broad medieval church music was and that it sounds less familiar than the well-known Gregorian chants.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a recording by Organum of medieval chant and notice the long, sustained notes and how different voices slowly build up a sound together.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists