Music History
Middle Ages (400-1500): between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance.
Crusades (1096-1291): European Christians recovered the city of Jerusalem from the
Muslims
100 Years War (1337-1453): end of England’s attempt to control the continent
Social Classes of the Middle Ages:
- God (Clergy: Priests, Monks, and Nuns)
- Royalty
- Aristocracy
- Knights
- Pheasants
Roman Catholic Church:
- held monopoly on education
- dominated life commercially, spiritually and musically
- involved singing
- music was not recorded in the middle ages, was taught orally (sing-repeat )
Chant:
- official song of the Roman Catholic Church during middle ages
-AKA Gregorian Chant (Pope Gregory 590-604)
Gregorian Chant:
-texture: monophonic
-rhythm & meter: free
-language: Latin
-content: sacred
-form: through composed (no repetition)
Chant Text:
1) Syllabic (one note per syllable)
2) Melismatic (many notes per syllable)
*ranges of chants were usually kept narrow*
*chant music usually sound improvised to most ears*
Hildegard Of Bingen: German Nun (1098-1179)
- visionary; poet, composer, naturalist, healer, theologian
- founder of 2 convents
-corresponded with/was consulted by secular and church leaders
- the monastic trouble shooter of the middle ages
- Hildegard’s chants were written specifically for women
Secular (Worldly) Medieval Music
The Age of Chivalry
-aristocratic music making in France
- Troubadours (south) vs Trouvires (north)
-rich young men composed their own music (Ballads)
-over 2500 preserved troubadour songs
-songs accompanied by harps, lutes, and fiddles
Main Focus: Minni or Courtly Love
: non-physical love- relationship amongst nobility
French T&T: and german counterparts, the minnesanger performed in castles, towers,
town squares, known as singing journalists.
Organum Music:
-new music type developed in the late middle ages
-second line is added to the chant melody
-identical text, tempo, direction (parallel motion)
-different pitches
-composers kept adding more parts to organum settings, some of which moved at
different speeds
-tenor is always the lowest part
-often split into 3 groups
-triple meter, everything is in 3
-usually used at mass
-mass: religious worship service celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church
1) Kyrie Eleison: Lord Have Mercy
2) Gloria in Excelsis: Glory to God
3) Credo (in unum deum): I believe (in one God)
4) Sanctus (S, S.): Holy (Holy, Holy)
5) Benedictus: Blessed is He
6) Angus Dei: Lamb of God
(Kermit Got Cranky, said Ben and Disappeared)
Leonin and Periotin: The School of Notre Dame
-Leonin and Periotin were choirmasters and composers at Notre Dame Cathedral in the
artistic and intellectual center of Europe; Paris.
-Notre Dame: school of composers, invented concept of measure and rhythm
-attached definite time values and pitches to chant notes
Results: music can now be repeated with great exactness and then repeated at will
Guillame De Machaut (1300-1377)
-set all words to text
-French, famous poet, priest, musician, composer, helped shape musical movements
-Ars Nova (New Art)
-Polyphonic- Latin and French sacred music
Ars Nova (New Art)
Ars Antiqua (Old Arts= Organum)
Machauts Claim to Fame:
-first one to set all texts of the mass ordinary to music, specifically as polyphonic music
The Renissance Period (1400-1600)
Rebirth- revival of culture and learning
Musical center: Italy, but with Flemish(North Belgian) composers contributing to the
evolution of musical style
General Characteristics of Ressinance music:
-no extreme contrasts of dynamics, tone colour, or rhythm
-texture: polyphonic (5-6 parts) with emphasis on bass (lowest part)
-rhythm: more independent than before
-harmony: very few dissonances
-use of word painting: musical representation of specific poetic images
-ex) ascending to heaven- ascending notes
Representative Composer
Josquin Desprez (1440-1421)
-born in Belgium, active in Italy
-output: masses, secular vocal pieces
-motets: sacred polyphonic choral works set to Latin sacred texts other than the mass
ordinary texts
-instead M. used texts from the bible, prayers etc.