Meaning of isorhythm | Babel Free

Definitions

A technique that arranges a fixed pattern of pitches with a repeating rhythmic pattern, used in some medieval motets and in more recent works.

countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“In his motets Machaut strove for all-over patterns of rhythmic unity through isorhythms, a system codifying a few set⟳ patterns of time value, the number⟳ of repetitions of a pattern within a composition depending upon the desired length […]”

“Even when such preconceived structural arrangements are not used, as in the Gloria of the Machaut Mass, the idea of isorhythm is present⟳ in the suggestion of recurring and balancing strophic plans.”

“Meaning simply "same rhythm," isorhythm refers to the practice of using the same rhythmic pattern, called in fourteenth-century treatises a talea ("cutting"), over and over in one or more part as the structural base⟳ for a motet or mass movement.”

CEFR level