- Date: before 1200
- Composer:
Anonymous, Notre Dame School - Period: Medieval (1-1449)
Review
The four-part conductus Mundus vergens (The World Turns in Revolt) is only one of three known conducti composed in four parts. It is found in the largest extant manuscript containing music from the so-called "Notre Dame School" of polyphony, held in the Medici Library in Florence under the shelfmark of Mediceo-Laurenziana Pluteo 29.1; scholars commonly refer to this source as "F1."The fragmentary text of Mundus vergens seems to have been a social commentary on current political events in France in the 1180s or 1190s, as it has neither religious nor liturgical purpose. "The world which flourished in peace" the text tells us, "Now burns with the torch of war/and Gaul dies prematurely." A number of different hypotheses have been suggested as to what the historical event in question might have been; so far, no concordance between Mundus vergens and events in known history has been drawn with success. France had enjoyed a measure of peace from the end of the Second Crusade in 1149 to the beginning of the Third in 1189. Perhaps the piece was written after that, particularly around 1194 when Richard the Lion-Hearted was attacking France and King Phillip II was forced to flee.
Mundus vergens is widely attributed to Notre Dame School composer Pérotin, although the manuscript version is lacking in attribution and it is not identified as having been the work of Pérotin by scribe Anonymous 4, our only historic account of Pérotin's life and work. The opening line of the text begins, "The world turns in revolt/which proves its destruction as the result." ~ All Music Guide
Albums with Complete Performances of the Work
| Title | Date |
| Hilliard Live: The Collection [Box Set] | 2008 |
| Le chant des cathédrales (Notre Dame, ss. XII-XIV) | 2003 |
| Pérotin and the Ars Antiqua | 2007 |
| Vox naturalis: Medieval Vocal Music (Box Set) |
