c. 476-1450

Key Points in History

Fall of the Roman Empire (476 C.E.) Charlemange crowned first Holy

Roman Emperor (800) Kublai Khan (1214-1294), emperor of

China Last Crusade to the Holy Land (1270) Marco Polo to China (1271) Dante wrote the Divine Comedy (1307) Black Death begins (1347)

Key Points in History

Geoffrey Chaucer gave us the Canterbury Tales (1386)

Joan of Arc is executed (1431)

Culture in the Middle Ages Early Christian Church and the state

were centers of power. Much of the surviving music from this

Era is religious because of the patronage of the church.

The later Middle Ages saw the rise of cities, cathedrals, and great works of both art and literature.

The ideals of knighthood and the devotion to the Virgin Mary helped raise the status of women.

Liturgical Music

The early music of the Christian Church was shaped in part by Greek, Hebrew, and Syrian influences.

Eventually it became necessary to assemble the ever-growing body of music into an organized liturgy.

The task took several generations, although tradition credits Pope Gregory the Great with codifying these melodies, known today as Gregorian Chant.

Liturgical Music-Chant

More than 3,000 melodies have survived, most of which are anonymous.

Its freely flowing vocal line follows the inflections of the Latin text and is generally free from regular accent.

It avoids wide leaps, allowing its gentle contours to create a kind of musical speech.

It’s free from regular phrase structure and maintains a continuous, smooth vocal line.

Liturgical Music-Chant

Chant is classified by the way the notes are set to the text:

Syllabic- one note per syllable of text.

Neumatic-2-3 notes sung to a syllable of text.

Melismatic- many notes per syllable of text.

Liturgical Music-Chant

Early chants were passed down orally.

Early chant notation used neumes. These neumes suggested the

contours of the melody but not the rhythm.

The various scale patterns used are called the church modes.

The Mass

Services in the Roman Catholic Church can be divided into two categories: the daily offices, and the Mass.

The prayers that make up the Mass fall into two categories:

Proper-text changes according to the day.

Ordinary-texts are the same for every Mass.

The Mass: Kyrie

The Kyrie is the first item of the Ordinary. The text is a Greek prayer for mercy in a

three-part (ternary) form, consisting of nine invocations to God.

Three of “Kyrie eleison” (Lord, have mercy).

Three of “Christe eleison” (Christ, have mercy).

Three of “Kyrie eleison” (Lord, have mercy).

The Mass:Kyrie

The melody has three different musical phrases (A B C) sung to the repeated text as follows: A-A-A-B-B-B-C-C-C’

The structure of the text and music is symbolic: the number three evokes the Trinity- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is performed as a responsorial.

This is the only part of the Mass sung in Greek (Pope Gregory), the rest is in Latin.

Medieval Cloister

Cloister is a place for religious seclusion.

Cloisters were places of prayer, scholarship, preaching, charity and healing.

Cloisters allowed people to withdraw from a secular society.

There were monasteries for men. Convents for women.

Hildegard of Bingen 1098-1179 1150 founded convent in

Rupertsberg, Germany. Known for miracles and prophecies. Recorded three collections of visions

and prophecies in manuscript. Composed religious poetry with

music.

Hildegard of Bingen

Characteristics of Hildegard’s poetry: Brilliant imagery Visionary language She composed and collected in a

volume: Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations, for the liturgical church year.

Hildegard of Bingen

The Play of Virtues (Ordo virtutum) was Hildegard’s best known morality play.

A Morality play is a drama meant to teach virtues.

The Rise of Polyphony

Early polyphony emerged at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

Polyphony evolved toward the end of the Romanesque period (c. 850-1150).

Leonin was the earliest known composer of the Notre Dame School.

Perotin was Leonin’s successor, added two and three melodies to chant.

The Rise of Polyphony

Polyphony necessitated the use of notated rhythm and pitch.

Rhythm was chosen from a group of patterns called rhythmic modes.

The Rise of Polyphony-Organum Earliest polyphonic music. Second melody added above or below the

older Gregorian melody. The second melody is added at an interval

of a 4th or a 5th above or below pre-existing melody.

The melodies would move in parallel, oblique, or contrary motion.

Oblique motion occurs when one part is stationary (drone) while the other part moves.

The Early Medieval Motet

A new genre emerged near the end of the thirteenth century (motet).

Composers wrote texts to the second melody in organum.

Many three-voice motets have different texts (polytextual).

Sometimes the languages were mixed in one piece. Most commonly French and Latin.

The Early Medieval Motet

Motets can either be Sacred or Secular. Motets can have an instrumental

accompaniment. A Gregorian chant is often the basis for

a motet. The other voices are composed around

the chant. Composers built the motet from the

bottom voice (tenor), up. The tenor held the pre-existing tune.

Transition into Secular Music Secular music grew in a separate

tradition from sacred polyphony. The earliest secular songs that have

been preserved were set to Latin texts, which suggests that they originated in university towns rather than in small villages.

Secular song texts focused on idealized love and the values of chivalry (code of behavior).

The religious wars (crusades) and medieval explorations enabled the exchange of musical instruments as well as theoretical ideas about music with Middle Eastern and Far Eastern cultures.

Medieval Minstrels

Different classes of secular musicians emerged.

Wandering actor-singers lived on the fringe of society (jongleurs).

Southern French high class musicians, sometimes members of the royal family (troubadours).

Northern French high class musicians (trouveres).

German courtly musicians (minnesingers).

Medieval Minstrels

The poems of the troubadours and trouveres had diverse subjects.

Poetry of secular songs often focused on idealized love and chivalry.

Secular songs were sung monophonically with improvised instrumental accompaniment.

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (c. 1155-1207)and the Troubadour Tradition

Southern French secular composer. Musician at the court of the Marquis

of Montferrat (northwest Italy). Knighted for his bravery in battle. Joined the fourth Crusade to the Holy

Land. Most likely died in battle alongside

his patron.

The French Ars Nova

The Ars Nova (new art) movement began in 14th century France and soon thereafter in Italy.

The music of the French Ars Nova is more refined and complex than music of the Ars Antiqua (old art) which it displaced.

With this came new developments in rhythm, meter, harmony, and counterpoint.

Guillaume de Machaut(c. 1300-1377) Machaut was a poet and composer of

the French Ars Nova. Double career as cleric and courtier. Composed motets, chansons, and a

polyphonic Mass: Ordinary. Favored fixed text forms: rondeau,

ballade, virelai.

Early Instrumental Music

The central role in art music was still reserved for vocal music.

Instruments played a supporting role in vocal literature, doubling the vocal line or accompanying the vocal line (improvisation).

Instrumental music was performed by ensembles divided by bas (soft) or haut (loud) instruments.

Instruments were also categorized by their use (indoor or outdoor).

Medieval Organs

Large organs required another person to physically pump the bellows.

Smaller organs (portative, positive) were portable and easy to travel with.

Some modern recordings today use period instruments for authenticity of sound.