In music, a cantus firmus ("fixed song") is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition, often set apart by being played in long notes. Music is a form of art and entertainment or other human activity that involves organized and audible sounds and silence. ... Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... A musical composition is a piece of original music designed for repeated performance (as opposed to strictly improvisational music, in which each performance is unique). ...

The plural of this Latin term is cantus firmi, though one occasionally sees the incorrect form canti firmi. The Italian is often used instead: canto fermo (and the plural in Italian is canti fermi).

Composition using a cantus firmus was a common technique in Medieval music, forming the basis of organum as well as 13th- and 14th-century motets. In these works the cantus firmus was originally always taken from Gregorian Chant and was the fixed melodic material, moving in long notes, around which other more florid lines, instrumental and/or vocal, were composed. (This line was usually allocated to the tenor, from the Latin verb 'tenere', to hold). A musician plays the vielle in a 14th century medieval manuscript. ... Organum (pronounced , though the stress is now sometimes incorrectly put on the second syllable) is a technique of singing developed in the Middle Ages, and is an early form of polyphonic music. ... In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions. ... Gregorian chant is also known as plainchant or plainsong and is a form of monophonic, unaccompanied singing, which was developed in the Catholic Church, mainly during the period 800-1000. ... Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In music, a tenor is a male singer with a high vocal range. ...

In the early Renaissance composers experimented with other ways of using the cantus firmus, such as introducing it into each voice as a contrapuntal subject (theme), or using it with a variety of rhythms, or using secular tunes for cantus firmi, even in sacred compositions. In the thirteenth century, the tenor had the ancient chant melodies altered, fragmented, and hidden beneath secular tunes, obscuring the sacred texts as composers continued to play with this new invention called polyphony. The lyrics of love poems might be sung in the vernacular above sacred Latin texts in the form of a trope, or the sacred text might be placed within a familiar secular melody. Renaissance music is European classical music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 to 1600. ... In music, a trope is one of three things. ...

For centuries, this was starkly rejected by the Church. It was not merely the clash of notes that offended medieval ears, but the notion of secular music merging with the sacred and making its way into the liturgy. It gave church music more of a jocular performance quality, removing the solemn worship they were accustomed to. Monks, Bishops, and Popes all agreed that such musical practices should not be used in worship and wrote treatises against it. This musical practice gained the most ground while the popes were ruling from outside of Rome. The use of and attitude toward polyphony varied widely in the papal court at Avignon from the beginning to the end of its religious importance in the fourteenth century. Pope John XXII wrote against it in Docta Sanctorum Patrum1324, but Clement VI invited it into his chapel twenty years later with great enthusiasm. From the Greek word λειτουργία, which can be transliterated as leitourgia, meaning a public work, a liturgy comprises a prescribed religious ceremony, according to the traditions of a particular religion; it may refer to, or include, an elaborate formal ritual (such as the Catholic Mass), or a daily activity such as... Nickname: The Eternal City Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 8th century BC Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1,285 km²  (496. ...   City flag City coat of arms Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur Département Vaucluse (préfecture) Arrondissement Avignon Canton Chief town of 4 cantons Intercommunality Communauté dagglomération du Grand Avignon Mayor Marie-Josée Roig  (UMP... Pope John XXII, né Jacques dEuse (1249 - December 4, 1334), was elected to the papacy in 1316 and reigned until his death in 1334. ... Clement VI, né Pierre Roger (1291 - December 6, 1352), pope (1342-1352), the fourth of the France, and he further evinced his French sympathies by refusing a solemn invitation to return to Rome, and by purchasing the sovereignty of Avignon from Joanna, queen of Naples, for 80,000 crowns. ...

Probably the most widely set of the secular cantus firmus melodies was L'homme armé. Over 30 settings are known. Most early Renaissance masters each set at least one mass on this melody, and the practice lasted into the seventeenth century, with a late setting by Carissimi. Some have suggested that the "armed man" represents St Michael the Archangel, while others have suggested it merely represents the name of a popular tavern (Maison L'Homme Arme) near Dufay's rooms in Cambrai. Being that this music arose during the time of the crusades, it is possible that the text "the armed man should be feared" was used as propaganda supporting the Knights in the Middle East. Other secular examples include 'Fortuna Desperata', 'Mille regretz' and 'The western wynde'. Lhomme armé was a secular song from the time of the Renaissance. ... Giacomo Carissimi (baptized April 18, 1605 – January 12, 1674, Rome), was an Italian composer, one of the most celebrated masters of the early Baroque, or, more accurately, the Roman School of music. ... Dufay (left), with Gilles Binchois Guillaume Dufay (Du Fay, Du Fayt) (?August 5, 1397 – November 27, 1474) was a Franco-Flemish composer and music theorist of the early Renaissance. ... The Crusades were a series of military campaigns conducted in the name of Christendom[1] and usually sanctioned by the Pope. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Mille Regretz is a French chanson which in its 4 part setting is usually credited to Josquin. ... The Western Wynde is a 16th century song whose tune was used as the basis (cantus firmus) of masses by English composers John Taverner, Christopher Tye and John Sheppard. ...

Setting the cantus firmus was the essential pedagogical tool in Gradus ad Parnassum by Johann Joseph Fux and formed the basis of teaching his species counterpoint. Gradus, or Gradus ad Parnassum (a step to Parnassus), is a Latin (or Greek) dictionary, in which the quantities of the vowels of the words are marked. ... Johann Joseph Fux (1660 – February 13, 1741) was an Austrian composer, music theorist and pedagogue of the late Baroque era. ... Counterpoint is a broad organisational feature of much music, involving the simultaneous sounding of separate musical lines. ...

German composers in the Baroque period in Germany, notably Bach, used chorale melodies as cantus firmi. In the opening movement of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, the chorale "O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig" appears in long notes, sung by a separate choir of boys "in ripieno". Many of his chorale preludes include a chorale tune in the pedal part. Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 to 1750 (see Dates of classical music eras for a discussion of the problems inherent in defining the beginning and end points). ... Bach redirects here. ... A chorale was originally a hymn of the Lutheran church sung by the entire congregation. ... Bachs St. ... In music, a chorale prelude is a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale tune as its basis. ...

Reference

• Sparks, E. H. Cantus firmus in Mass and Motet, Berkeley, (1963)