Music culture
Middle Ages
(400-1400)
During the Middle Ages, there were three classes of people. The first class was the
nobility: kings, princes, and wealthy landowners. They owned land and from these
people came our legends of knights in shining armour. The second class consisted of
the clergy: priests who worked in the church and monks who lived in monasteries. The
rest of the people, poor farmers and peasants, made up the third class. The average
peasant lived to be 30 years of age and ate little more than black bread and turnips. The
first great centres of music were in the churches.
During the Middle Ages, until 1100, the vast majority of music was monophonic,
meaning a single line without accompaniment. As life became better and more civilized
in the Middle Ages people began to focus more on themselves and less on God and
religion. Toward the end of the Middle Ages, polyphony began to be used in music. This
was the use of more than one melodic line at the same time.
Two of the greatest composers of the new polyphonic music were Leonin and Perotin
at the Notre-Dame in Paris. Later important composers included Guillaume de Machaut.
Secular Music
A secular musical tradition, simpler than the organum used by the church, existed
outside the church. This was the monophonic music of itinerant musicians, the minstrels.
Minstrels were also known as jongleurs and their successors, the troubadours and
trouvères in France, and minnesingers in Germany.
The minstrels travelled from castle to castle singing songs, telling stories and
performing tricks. Like plainsong, secular songs
were simple and only had one melody. They were
usually faster than sacred songs and used the
common language instead of Latin. Minstrels
gradually formed guilds and became more respected
members of the growing middle class.
Stringed or percussion instruments often
accompanied the minstrels' songs. Both sacred and
secular music used a wide variety of instruments,
including such string devices as the lyre and psaltery
and the medieval fiddle, or vielle. Keyboard
instruments included the organ. Percussion
instruments included small drums and small bells.
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Music culture
Sacred Music
Sacred music was called plainsong, and it consisted
of a single unaccompanied melody with words in the
Latin language. The melody of plainsong was simple
so the words would be easily understood by others.
The words were usually part of the Roman Catholic
mass.
The majority of the music of the time is now known
as Gregorian Chant, named after Pope Gregory I
(590-604), who organized the plainsong chants into
a specific order and had them published and
communicated to churches throughout Europe and
the Roman Empire.
Music Printing
Since the printing press had not yet been
invented, if a piece of music was to be retained ,
it would have to be copied out by monks,
diligently writing out music for church services.
Sometimes the music was written out in a very
ornamented fashion.
Around 1025, Guido d'Arezzo developed a
system of pitch notation using lines and spaces.
Until this time, only two lines had been used.
Guido expanded this system to four lines, and
initiated the idea of ledger lines by adding lines
above or below these lines as needed. He used
square notes called neumes. This system
eliminated any uncertainty of pitch, which had
existed until this time. Guido also developed a
system of clefs, which became the basis for our
clef system: bass clef, treble clef, and so on.
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Music culture
Middle Ages Quiz
1. What is the name of the style of music that is only one
melody and easy to understand?
o polyphony
o plainsong
o secular
2. Machaut, besides being a great composer, was also a
great...
o poet
o artist
o architect
3. Who wrote music out by hand?
o peasants
o princes
o monks
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