Notre Dame’s Acoustics Taken Up with Enoch
The polyphonic music of the time
When lords and ladies and archbishops ruled,
Rose made of notes and lines that as they climb
Evaporate. The melodies were cooled,
It seems, to nothingness at last, though lower notes
Would linger underneath the soaring vaults.
Now countertenors’ gilded vellum floats
Above the bass and baritone and halts
When angels fold it in gold wings, translate
It like Elijah up to heaven’s height,
And funnel it to Jahweh’s ear, the weight
Of perfect sound, in Cherubim-stunned rite.
These notes, though, transubstantiate when Christ
Receives them. They sing soft while sacrificed.
~ Phillip Whidden