Music of the Middle Ages

From Gregorian Chant to the Renaissance

Intro to Music HistoryIntro to Music History

6 Periods of Music History6 Periods of Music History

(Ancient) – Doesn’t really count(Ancient) – Doesn’t really countMedievalMedievalRenaissanceRenaissanceBaroqueBaroqueClassicalClassicalRomanticRomanticModernModern

Ancient PeriodAncient Period

This term refers to the music of the This term refers to the music of the Ancient civilizations (Greece, Rome, Ancient civilizations (Greece, Rome, Babylon, Mesopotamia, et cetera.Babylon, Mesopotamia, et cetera.

Very little is known about the music of Very little is known about the music of these civilizations, but it is certain that these civilizations, but it is certain that music played a part in their lives. music played a part in their lives.

How can historians know anything about How can historians know anything about music from these cultures?music from these cultures?

Medieval PeriodMedieval Period

800 – 1300 C.E.800 – 1300 C.E.Music was very simple.Music was very simple.Gregorian ChantGregorian ChantMonophony vs. PolyphonyMonophony vs. PolyphonyBeginnings of Notation – all handwrittenBeginnings of Notation – all handwritten

Medieval NotationMedieval Notation

Middle Ages spanned almost Middle Ages spanned almost 1000 years1000 years

Early ChristianEarly Christian RomanesqueRomanesque GothicGothic Ars NovaArs Nova There were two schools of music

during the Middle Ages

Ars Antiqua - 1100-1300 (Old Art) & Ars Nova - 1300 – 1450 (New Art)

There were two schools of music

during the Middle Ages

Ars Antiqua - 1100-1300&

Ars Nova - 1300 - 1450

Ars Antiqua began in Paris at the Cathedral de Notre Dame

Representative Ars Antiqua Composers

• Leonin (1163-1190)• Perotin (early 13th century)• Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)• Anonymous (?)

What is Ars Antiqua?

• Literally means “old art”• Stemmed directly from Gregorian Chant• This style of music can be characterized as adding

hollow sounding harmonies(perfect 4ths & 5ths) to existing chants.

• This type of music is called organum. • Originally, one voice would be added above the

existing chant. The chant would be sung very slowly - it was called the cantus firmus.

Early Polyphony• Polyphony means more than one pitch

played at the same time - what we typically call harmony.

• The first type of polyphony was called parallel organum. Here the cantus firmus and the higher harmony mirrored each other.

• Eventually composers like Leonin and his student Perotin began adding a third and fourth part above the cantus firmus, and moved away from the eerie sounding parallel organum.

ParallelOrganum

Meanwhile, in Germany…

• Hildegard von Bingen, who herself was a nun with reported mystical powers, began composing music different from the Notre Dame school.

• Von Bingen wrote music that sounded wildly different than plainchant, which some attributed to her lack of musical training. Her melodies, even today, seem contemporary.

What kind of music was happening outside of the

church?

• Secular music, or popular music, has existed throughout history, especially during the Middle Ages.

• Secular music of the Middle Ages was the first to be written down on paper and preserved. Today, performances of secular music is possible using these surviving pieces of music.

Troubadours

• Troubadours were French musicians who traveled across Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries.

• They sang mostly love songs.• They accompanied their love songs

with instruments, unlike the church.

Adam de la Halle (1237-1286)

• The most famous troubadour ever• Wrote the first ever musical theater piece

Le Jeu de Robin et Marion• Inventor of the Motet• Motet - a piece of music where two or

more different verses are fit together simultaneously, without regard to harmony

Medieval Instruments• Instruments in early secular music were

used to accompany songs.• Musicians usually improvised the simple

accompaniments.• While the accompaniments were

melodically simple, they were rhythmically lively.

• Let’s take a look at the many different instruments used in these accompaniments…

Harp

Krumhorn

Lute

Muted Cornett

Psaltery

Sacbut

Serpent

Shawm

Hurdy-Gurdy

Drum or Tambor

Recorder

Viol

Ars Nova

• 14th & 15th century France• The invention of modern notation• The creation of the Ordinary of the

Catholic Mass• The popularity of the motet

Representative Ars Nova Composers

• Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377)• Francesco Landini (1325-1397)• Anonymous (?)

Guillaume de Machaut

• A poet & a musician• Created the first Ordinary for the

Catholic Mass• Created many of the musical forms

of today (rondos and ballades)• Master of counterpoint

Examples of Ars Nova Music

Music from this period was the first to add stems to the nuemes, thereby creating our modern system of notation.

This piece is called “Sumer is icumen in” and is the oldest surviving round.

Conclusions

1. Most Medieval composers wrote mainly for the church and remained anonymous.

2. Compositions are more as a function or duty.

3.Music was held in high regard but those who made it were not.

4.Church believed that music should make the listener or participant receptive to hilt thoughts and feelings.

5. Purely instrumental music was prohibited.

6.Plainchant became a symbol—a means of ensuring intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic solidarity with in the Christian domain.