Music: An Appreciation, Brief, 8th edition | Roger Kamien
PART II: THE MIDDLE AGES
AND RENAISSANCE
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time line
Middle Ages (450 – 1450)
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Rome sacked by Vandals
Beowulf
First Crusade
Black Death
Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales
Joan of Arc executed by English
455
c. 700
1066
1346 – 72
1387 – 1400
1431
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time line
Renaissance (1450 – 1600)
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Gutenberg Bible
Columbus reaches America
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa
Michelangelo, David
Raphael, School of Athens
Martin Luther’s 95 theses
Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
1456
1492
c. 1503
1504
1505
1517
1596
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the Middle Ages
A thousand years of European history
• Early – a time of migrations, upheavals, and wars
• Later – a period of cultural growth
• Romanesque churches & monasteries; Gothic cathedrals;
Crusades to recover the Holy City from the Muslims
Class distinctions
• Nobility sheltered in fortified castles; knights in armor;
amused themselves with hunting, feasting, & tournaments
• Peasants: vast majority of population; lived miserably; subject
to feudal overlords
• Clergy: Roman Catholic church exerted power; monks held a
virtual monopoly on learning
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the Renaissance
Rebirth of human creativity
• Time of exploration & adventure
voyages of Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and Ferdinand Magellan
• Age of curiosity and individualism
Leonardo da Vinci
• Intellectual movement—Humanism
captivated by ancient Greek & Roman cultures
• Visual arts depicted realism with linear perspective and
illusion of space & depth
• Catholic Church was far less powerful
• Education was a status symbol for the aristocracy & upper
middle class
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music in the Middle Ages
Church was the center of musical life
• Important musicians were priests
• Women were not allowed to sing in church, but did make
music in convents
• Only sacred music was notated
Music was primarily vocal and sacred
• Instruments were not used in church
• Few medieval instruments have survived
• Music manuscripts did not indicate tempo, dynamics, or
rhythm
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Gregorian chant
• Official music of the Roman Catholic church
– No longer common since 2nd Vatican Council (1962 – 1965)
– Represents the voice of the church rather than an individual
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Monophonic melody set to Latin text
Melodies tend to move by steps in a narrow range
Flexible rhythm: without meter and sense of beat
Named for Pope Gregory I (r. 590 – 604)
Later the melodies were notated
Notation developed over several centuries
The Church Modes
Basic scales, consisting of seven tones, comprised of unique
whole and half-step patterns
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Listen, then follow the vocal music guide to
this selection in CONNECT MUSIC
Note:
• Gregorian chant
• Monophonic texture
• Ternary form: A B A
LISTENING
Alleluia: Vidimus stellam (We Have Seen His Star)
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Note:
• Gregorian chant
• Originally written without
accompaniment (this recording includes
a drone)
• Extended range of melody
LISTENING
O successores (You successors)
Hildegard of Bingen
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secular music in the Middle Ages
• Composed by French nobles who were poetmusicians
troubadours (southern France)
trouvères (northern France)
• Performed by jongleurs (traveling minstrels)
• Song topics:
love
Crusades
dancing
spinning songs
• Instrumental dances
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Note:
• Medieval dance music
• Strong beat (for dancing)
• Single melody line is notated
• Performers improvised instrumental
accompaniment
LISTENING
Estampie
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the development of polyphony:
organum
• Between 700 and 900, a 2nd melody line was added to chant
– Additional part initially improvised, not written
– Paralleled chant line at a different pitch
• 900 to 1200, the added line grew more independent
– Developed its own melodic curve (no longer parallel)
– c. 1100 note-against-note motion abandoned
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2 lines with individual rhythmic and melodic content
New part, in top voice, moved faster than the chant line
School of Notre Dame (Paris): Measured Rhythm
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Leonin & Perotin developed notation of precise rhythms
Chant notation had only indicated pitch
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Medieval theorists considered interval of 3rd as dissonant
Modern triads, built from 3rds, are considered consonant
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Fourteenth-century music:
the “new art” in Italy & France
• Secular music more important than sacred
• Changes in musical style, known as new art
(ars nova, Latin)
• New music notation system evolved
– Beats could be subdivided into 2 as well as 3
– Syncopation became important rhythmic
practice
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this selection in CONNECT MUSIC
Note:
• Vocal melody accompanied by two lower
parts
• Syncopation
LISTENING
Puis qu’en oubli sui de vous (Since I am forgotten by you)
(around 1363)
Guillaume de Machaut
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Note:
• Polyphonic
• Triple meter
• Syncopation
• Ternary form: A B A
(form results from text)
LISTENING
Agnus Dei from Notre Dame Mass
Guillaume de Machaut
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music in the Renaissance
• Invention of printing widened the circulation of
music
• Musicians worked in churches, courts, and towns
• Church remained an important patron of music
― Growth in size of church choirs (all male)
• Musical activity shifted to the courts
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Town musicians played for civic processions, weddings
Musicians enjoyed higher status and pay
Composers sought credit for their work
Italy became leading music center
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characteristics of Renaissance music
Words and Music
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Vocal music was more important than instrumental
Word painting
Wide range of emotion without extreme contrasts
Texture
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Polyphonic
Imitation among the voices
Sounds fuller; expanded pitch range; consonant chords are favored with
use of triads
Rhythm and Melody
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Rhythm was a gentle flow rather than sharply defined beat
Melodic line has greater rhythmic independence
Melody usually moves along a scale with few large leaps
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sacred music in the Renaissance
Motet – Josquin Desprez
• Short polyphonic choral work
• Latin text usually overlaid with vernacular text
Mass – Giocanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
• Polyphonic choral composition of the Catholic
church
• Made up of 5 sections:
Kyrie
Gloria
Credo
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
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Note:
• Four voice motet
• Polyphonic imitation
• Overlapping voice parts
LISTENING
Ave Maria…virgo serena
Josquin Desprez
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Note:
• Rich polyphonic texture (6 voices)
• Vocal imitation
• Spirit of Gregorian chant
• Palestrina’s work because the model for
mass composers
LISTENING
Kyrie from Pope Marcellus Mass
Palestrina (1525 – 1594)
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secular music in the Renaissance
VOCAL MUSIC
• Music was an important leisure activity
• Particular arrangement of note lengths
Madrigal
• For several solo voices set to a short poem, usually about love
• Combined homophonic and polyphonic textures
• Word painting and unusual harmonies
Renaissance Lute Song
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Song for solo voice and lute (plucked string instrument)
Popular instrument in the Renaissance home
Homophonic texture
Lute accompanies the vocal melody
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Note:
• Madrigal
• Pitches rise on “ascending”
• Pitches fall on “descending,” “running
down,” “two by two,” “three by three,”
“all alone”
LISTENING
As Vesta was Descending (1601)
Thomas Weelkes
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Note:
• Very popular lute song
• Recorded by Sting (rock star)
• Expression of melancholy—descending
four-note pattern
• Three brief musical sections: A B C
LISTENING
Flow My Tears (about 1600)
John Dowland (1563 – 1626)
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INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
• Still subordinate to vocal music
• Instrumentalists accompanied voices
harpsichord, organ, or lute
• More music written specifically for instruments
• Instrumental music intended for dancing
– Pavane or passamezzo in duple meter
– Galliard in triple meter
• Distinguished between loud and soft instruments
– Outdoor (loud): trumpet, shawm
– Indoor (soft): lute, recorder
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