I have long been wondering if the portative organ might not have been used more often for accompanying secular as well as sacred polyphony in the middle ages - perhaps even as early as the 13th century (second half?): it blends VERY well with voices. The problem that occurs when vocalizing untexted lower voices in medieval polyphony is that there are these constant and rather obtrusive vowel sounds which are rather disturbing for listening to the upper voices. When using such a "vocal" instrument as a portative organ, this disturbance disappears, and for someone who has read the texts in advance, the upper voice(s) even often become quite understandable. I have not yet checked if anyone has done more intensive research on the question how (often) portative organs were (probably) used for playing untexted voices in polyphony - can anyone recommend an article?
Thanks!
Chistoph Dohrmann
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