Pérotin (active ca. 1185-1205), of the Notre Dame school in Paris, was the central figure in polyphonic art music during his time and the century thereafter. He was the first to write three-and four-part compositions and invented numerous musical techniques.

Of the life of Pérotin or Perotinus, absolutely nothing is known. For some time it was believed that a number of documents, dating from 1208 to 1238, referred to the composer, but this has recently been shown not to be the case. All we know is his name, the titles of some of his works, and his achievements, which are mentioned in two treatises: one by an eminent philosopher and music theorist, John of Garland, an Englishman who taught at the University of Paris during the second quarter of the 13th century; and the other by an anonymous English student, actually his voluminous class notes taken...