Medieval Music (400 ACE- 1400 ACE) Music is sacred (tied with religion) Melodies vary in complexity Gregorian chant: Christian chants; started by Pope Gregory Liturgy: texts & rituals throughout the service Manner of Performancea) Responsorial: soloist alternates with the choir or congregationb) Antiphonal: two halves of the choir alternate singingc) Direct: no alternation Text-Settinga) Syllabic: every syllable has a noteb) Neumatic: a few syllables have notesc) Melismatic: long syllabic passages with notes The Proper vs. the Ordinarya) Ordinary: the parts dont changei) The melodies may change depending on the churchb) Proper: changes daily Genres and Forms of Chanta) Recitation Formulas: simple formulas for declaiming prayers and Bible passagesi) Most words are chanted on a single pitch (usually A or C)(1) Motives mark the ends of phrases and sentences Psalms: Liturgical Songsa) Strophe: a verseb) Strophic: form of music with verses Trope: Expansion on existing chant in order to increase solemnitya) Adding new words and music before the chant or in between the phrasesb) Add melody by extending a melisma or creating new onesc) Adding text (prosula) to existing melismas Liturgical Drama: Plays that were linked to liturgy Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)a) Women were excluded from religious music-making, making everywhere but in conventsb) Women could perform all duties of their convent except officiating at Massc) Nuns had access to intellectual pursuits, including reading Latin and composing musicd) One of the first prominent female composers e) Most recorded female chant composer of all timei) Hildegards Music(1) Wide ranges, exceeding octaves by fourth or fifth(2) Set her poems to music(3) Best known composer of sacred monophony(a) Known for Using:(i) Rising fifths followed by a stepwise descent(ii) Circling around a cadential note(iii) Successive leaps spanning an octave or more Presence of Chanta) Polyphonic music based on chantsb) Chant was reformed twice- in late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries (also in early twentieth century)

Medieval Music (Song and Dance) (800 ACE- 1300 ACE) European Society: 3 heirs to Roman Empire Byzantine: preserved Greek/Roman science Arabic: extended Greek philosophy/science, fostered trade and industry Charlemagne: artistic achievement, improved education 3 Class Society1. Guilds formed middle class Vernacular Song: songs composed in French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, etc. Vernacular: common-informal Few songs preserved- quoted in other polyphonic music1. Chanston de Geste Epic, long heroic narrative Northern France Song of Roland Professional Traveling Musicians Bards Minstrels Jongleurs Troubadours/Trouveres: 1. Poet-composers in France Troubadours = South; Trouveres = North Exist in other countries, such as England, Germany, Spain, and Italy with different names Adam De La Halle : most famous composer/troubadour2. Troubadour Song: Most are strophic, some contain a refrain (chorus) Somewhat modal Notation does not indicate rhythm except in later years Disagreement among scholars about performance Dance songs most likely metrical; love songs most likely free Unspecified rhythm Unrequited love-overstated and dramatic Ornamentism/Embellishment Medieval Instruments: Vielle Hurdy-Gurdy Psaltery Bagpipe Bells Transverse Flute Shawm Pipe and Tabor Dance Music Instrumental 1. Mostly monophonic, some polyphony accompanied by keyboard2. Steady beat, clear meter, repeated sections, predictable phrasing Rondo Form: ABACABA: comes back to the same point Societal Movement: Intellectual movement of Scholasticism:1. Reconcile classical Greek philosophy with Christianity Music leading into the 1400s: Polyphony1. People who sang polyphony valued it as a concept central to medieval art: an improvisation2. Decorated and heightened the grandeur of the chant and liturgy3. More possible to more complex things with development of Polyphonic music How Polyphony Changed Music: The rise of written polyphony is of particular interest because it inaugurated four precepts that have distinguished Western music ever since:1. Counterpoint, the combination of independent lines;2. Harmony, the regulation of simultaneous sounds;3. The centrality of notation; and4. The idea of composition as distinct from performance. Organum: Origins in performance:1. Drone Singing or playing a melody against a sustained pitch2. Doubling parallel consonant intervals was probably common before it was explained in anonymous ninth century treatises3. Other kinds of motion: Parallel voices move together Oblique- one voice stays the same, other one moves Contrary- both voices move in opposite directions Similar- similar to contrary, less of a space

Free Organum: Duplum Triplum Quadruplum Discant Organum vs Florid Organum: Discant:1. Both parts move at same rate Florid:1. Lower voice moves slower than upper voice2. Lower voice is called Tenor Notre Dame Leonin:1. More basic, but still Florid Organum Perotin1. Began to add Triplum and Quadruplum Motet: Polyphonic work with one or more texted voice added to a pre existing tenor, which is set in a modal rhythm1. Basically, multiple texts.2. Later motet texts were written in French on secular topics: Latin -> Vernacular Franconian Music Made it possible to signify more rhythms1. Noteshapes signified relative duration Double long, long, breve, semibreve2. Layout of the parts could be separated English Polyphony: Sung in the English language1. Imperfect consonances were more prominentFrench and Italian Music in the 1300s

Conditions were more difficult for Europeans in the 13th century The Black Death Ars Nova: the final words of a treatise development based on Franconian notation Both duple and triple subdivision of note values Syncopation was now possible Isorhythm: a series of given rhythms The tenor is laid out in segments of identical rhythm Guillaume de Machaut: Leading composer of Ars Nova He enjoyed happy, sweet, and pleasing music Earliest setting of polyphonic setting of Mass Ordinary Italian Trecento Music: somewhat similar to French Ars Nova- pushing boundaries of rhythm, harmony, and polyphony Francesco Landini: somewhat similar to French Machaut Blind from boyhood Played many instruments, virtuoso on organetto 14th Century Music in Performance: There was no uniform way to perform polyphonic music Instruments Haut (high) were loud, for outdoor entertainment and dancing Trumpets, Shawms Bas (low) were soft in volume Harps, lutes, vielles Keyboard instruments Portative and positive organs were common in secular music Large organs began to be installed in German churches Instrumental Music Instrumental played vocal music Instrumental dance music was likely memorized or improvised Musica Ficta: Chromatic Alterations : Raising or lowering a note by a half step to avoid a tritone Pitches could also be altered to make a smoother melodic line The resulting pitches lay outside the gamut, and were thus false, or Ficta Often use at cadences Singers were trained to recognize situations which a pitch needed alteration, so the accidentals were rarely notated (modern editions put these accidentals above the staff)