Early Medieval Music and Art
Romanesque Period
500-1100
Influences
• Rise of Christianity
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Church was sole patron of the arts
Medieval Christianity emphasized salvation while life was full of suffering
Poverty and labor were virtues—reduced temptation for pleasurable pursuits
Monasteries were centers of scholarly activity
Greek culture was condemned because it was pagan; works of Plato and
Aristotle were banned
• Feudalism
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Provided protection and economic stability for lower classes
Enabled nobility to exploit lower class for economic and military purposes
Feudal lords were often bishops or archbishops
Nobles provided wealth while monks directed construction and decoration of
churches
– Church and feudalism together were a fortress of economic and political
power based on agrarian and spiritual control
– Church became the supreme power in Medieval Europe
Medieval Castle
Romanesque Architecture
Characteristics of
Romanesque Architecture
• Stone arches
– Adapted from Romans
– Solid and strong; capable of bearing tremendous weight
• Dark vast spaces
– Massive walls
– Little light
• Not concerned with proportion or balance
– Arches often in threes to reflect trinity
– Lack of precision
• Functional
– Intended for large group meetings
– Quiet, dark spaces to contemplate God
Cloisters
Structure of Churches
1. Nave-Large central area
2. Aisle-Space on either side of nave
3. Crossing-Area where Transept
meets Nave
4. Choir-Area for choir to sit
5. Transept-Perpendicular to Nave,
separates congregation from altar
6. Chancel-Area for altar and rituals
7. Apse-semicircular part of church,
often capped with a dome
8. Ambulatory-Passageway around
Apse
9. Radiating Chapel-Areas where
relics were stored
Manuscripts
• Covers Gilded (decorated with gold)
• Books were either in rotulus (scroll) or codex
(stacked and bound pages)
• Parchment was thick and vellum was softer
and thinner; both made of calf skin
• Until the invention of the printing press, all
books were called manuscripts
Illuminations
“Christ in Majesty” from
Stavelot Bible (Belgium)
Winchester Bible
(England)
From Pope Gregory’s
“Moralia on Job” (France)
Manuscript illustrations
featured biblical figures, used saturated colors
Rules for Art
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“The substance of religious scenes is not left to the initiative of the artists; it
derives from the principles laid down by the Catholic Church and religious
tradition…His art alone belongs to the painter, its organization and arrangement
belong to the clergy”
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Second council of Nicaea, 787
Jesus on the cross must be shown with his mother on his right and St. John on the
left
Only Jesus’ halo contains a cross; saints have halos without crosses
Only God, Jesus, angels, and apostles can be shown with bare feet; Mary and the
saints must have their feet covered
Other patterns emerged as conventions
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St Peter depicted with a short beard
St Paul bald with a long beard
Early Medieval Sacred Music
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Plainchant
– Single, simple melodic line
– Sacred text
– Notation used neumes
– Hildegard Von Bingen
• Antiphons (poetic text set to chant)
• Ordo Virtutum
– Allegorical morality play
– Portrays struggle for the human soul (Anima) between the Devil and the Virtues
– Virtues include Humility, Chastity, Hope, Innocence, Modesty, Mercy, Patience, Obedience, Faith,
Knowledge of God, Fear of God
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLpgj0s8o8s
Gregorian Chant
– Single melodic line
– Sacred text
– Pope Gregory often credited with the development of Gregorian chant, but this is debated by scholars
– Used church modes
– Improvisation was common
– Performed by monks and nuns
– Example—Adoro Te Devote by Thomas Aquinas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjNhyHsgU7Y
– Example—Da Pacem, Anonymous https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mWBF3W-ORU
Guido of Arezzo
• Benedictine Monk from Arezzo, Italy
• Music theorist, credited with inventing
modern musical notation
• Devised the Guidonian Hand to assist with the
teaching of music reading
• Developed system of solmization (use of
syllables as mnemonic device) to teach singing
Guidonian Hand
Developed in the 11th century, the
Guidonian Hand is a mnemonic
system in which musical “steps”
are arranged in a spiral across
twenty joints on the left hand. Like
the alphabet, it was a basis for
understanding relationships
between different characters – in
this case, musical notes (ut, re, mi,
fa, sol, and la). It’s not certain
whether medieval singers used the
Hand during performance, but we
can be sure their musical thinking
was informed by it.
Late Medieval Art and Music
Gothic Period
Influences
• Year 1000 passed without the end of the world; people began worrying
less about salvation and pursued a more pleasurable life
• Scholasticism
– Product of Medieval universities
– Argued that while religious dogma was infallible, it could be explained and
clarified by logic and reason
– Curriculum included quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music
under the heading “Mathematics”) and trivium (rhetoric, grammar, and logic)
• Weakening of Church
– Corruption was well-known
– High positions were obtained by trade and barter
– Popes were ex-communicating each other
• Crusades
– Cultural influences from the East spread around Europe
– Crusaders returned more intellectually and economically independent
– Development of towns and systems of roads
Gothic Cathedrals
• Built as expressions of faith, as well as
magnificent structures to compete with
neighboring towns
• Located in public squares surrounded by the
homes of its builders, paid for by public
subscription
• Functioned as church, art gallery, concert hall,
theatre, library, and school
Symbolism
• St. Matthew (man), St. Mark (lion), St. Luke
(ox), St. John (eagle)
• Numerical references: 1=God, 2=dual nature
of Christ, 3=Holy Trinity, 4=Gospels, 5=wounds
of Christ, 6=days of creation, 7=deadly sins
• Light symbolized Jesus as the “light of the
world”
• http://catholicresources.org/Photos/Assisi.htm
Architecture
• Pointed arch
• Flying buttresses—half arches that transferred
outward thrust to piers outside the walls
• More light than Romanesque architecture
• Attention to vertical space
• Stained glass—often in the form of rose windows
• Gargoyles—diverted water and symbolized
protection
Rose Windows
Flying Buttress
Cathedral of St. John the Divine
West Entrance Detail
Gargoyle
Giotto
• Most well-known painter of the period
• Famous for his fresco, Life of Christ
• Fresco is a technique of painting on wet
plaster
Organum
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Characteristics
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Leonin(1150-1201)
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A plainchant melody with at least one added voice
Organum duplum—2 voices, Organum triplum—3 voices, Organum quadruplum—4 voices
Added voices may include a supporting bass line or may follow the melody in parallel motion
Originally, the second voice was improvised; later composers began writing down more complex parts,
creating polyphony
Often incorporates melismatic melodies—many notes contained in a single syllable
First known composer of organum
French
Works preserved in Magnus Liber—book of organum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq5B3M4jRtQ
Perotin(1200-?)
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Also French, known for organum
Works preserved in Magnus Liber
Known for taking a well-known melody and stretching it out so that it becomes a drone, over which more
rhythmically complex parts are woven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba5LXi760D8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhqWgfGK1Xw
Rhythmic Modes
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Based on poetic rhythmic patterns
Long-short (trochee)
Short-long (iamb)
Long-short-short (dactyl)
Short-short-long (anapaest)
Long-long (spondee)
Short-short-short (tribrach or choree)
Rhythmic Modes
Clausula
• A clausula is a self-contained bit of organum
ending with a cadence.
• It contained a polyphonic section for two or
more voices sung in discant style (note against
note) over a “cantus firmus” (chant melody)
• Composers composed many "substitute"
clausulae that were designed to fit within the
organum as a subsitute for the original.
Secular Music
• Troubadors/Trouveres
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Composers/performers of lyric poetry
Themes of chivalry and courtly love
Many humorous or vulgar satires
Bernart de Ventadorn
Beatriz de Dia http://youtu.be/4NACeUqS2D4
Wizlau von Rugen
• Musical Plays
– Adam de la Halle—Jeu de Robin et de Marion
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCIx07t14jw
Motet
• Eventually words were added to the clausulae and the
first motets were born
• Rhythm strayed from earlier rhythmic modes and
instead was driven by the text
• Sacred and secular motets were written
• Some motets incorporated more than one language
• Phillipe de Vitry and Gulliame Machaut were two
significant composers of Medieval motets
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlIWlcJGKsQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJh9x7veOXc
Instruments
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Lute
Pipe and Tabor
Sacbut
Bladder Pipe
Organetto
Rebec
Hurdy-Gurdy