Music History

Medieval Music

1066 - 1500

A Medieval overview…

During the Medieval era, the church dominated the lives of the people. From birth to death, whether you were a peasant, a

servant, a noble, a lord or a King.

Civilization progressed slowly; science was looked upon with distrust.

Communication between and within countries was tedious and primarily sent word-of-mouth.

Historical Context Battles/War

Battle of Hastings (1066) Hundred Years War (ended 1453)

Black Death (1347-1351) A plague that killed a large number of people - over 1/3 of

the population; attacked young and old, rich and poor.

Historical context cont’d…

Focus on life of the Christian Church Main reason – people worried about life after death:

“The problem with life is that it is short and we don’t know what came before life or what will happen after we die.”

Believed that the Church was giving the correct answers.

Period of Change Population growth, then huge decline with the plague,

sometimes at a rate of 200 people a day. Woods were cut and fields ploughed to have crops to feed

the population; change in environment.

General Musical Context

Sacred – music dedicated to deity or to some religious purpose.

Secular – music that is not regarded as religious, spiritual or sacred.

Notation: no bar lines, small strokes between notes

General trend was moving toward more complex pieces through the use of harmony and rhythm

General Music Context cont’d...

Primarily music was sung (or played) without any other accompaniment. The term for this was monophonic

The next step was to add accompaniment – or homophonic

Then composers began to create music with two or more independent melodic parts sounding together – or Polyphonic.

Instruments used: Pipe organs, lute (bowed), harps, recorders, kettledrums, flutes, ivory horns, guitars, bagpipes, trumpets, drums and cymbals.

Musical Context: Sacred Music

Music and religion were a shaky pair during the medieval times. The church did not want to promote something that was seen as a ‘sinful’

act, but people enjoyed it so much that several musical styles came about that praised God in the ‘proper way’.

One of the earliest forms of music is known today as Plainchant.

Plainchant – unaccompanied, single line of melody sung in unison. Catholic church by the monks. Used in religious service.

Descants – counterpoint to the tenor This a wordless melody that accompanies the main plainchant

Guido d’Arezzo, an Italian composer and monk who invented a 4 line staff.

Neumes – short hand to show the direction of the pitch. These symbols above the words tell the singer which

direction the notes should go.

Composers:Gregorian Monks… Gregorian monks were the primary creators of sacred music during this era.

They had 9 services a day and performed music for these services.

Monks divided their day into Hours, which they also called Offices - specific music that was sung every day. Lauds Matins Prime Terce Sext Nones Vespers Compline

Any work was immediately ceased at these times of daily prayer. The nuns and monks were required to stop what they were doing and attend the services.

Listening: Office of the Second Vespers, Nativity

Composer:Hildegard de Bingen (1098 – 1179)

A German composer and nun

Sacred music – 77 chants and the first musical drama

Visionary – she had visions of sacred events and God

One of her works, the Ordo Virtutum, is quite possibly the first staged liturgical drama, and may be considered a distant precursor to opera.

This morality play portrays 16 female virtues like Humility, Love, Obedience, and Faith; a Happy Soul, an Unhappy Soul, and the Devil.

Listening: In principio omnes (from Ordo Virtutum)

Musical Context: Secular Music

Much of this music was lost because it was not notated

Often composers of secular music wrote pieces for the service of ladies and about the poet’s pleasure and love. They used French texts of courtly love, rather than Latin liturgy.

Ars Nova (“New Art”) = a new, more detailed rhythmic notation.

Isorhythms – periodic repetition or recurrence of rhythmic patterns.

Musical Context: The Musicians

Troubadours: singing and traveling musicians. Sang to make money and food.

Goliards: wandering scholars; made up songs about drinking and love, also wrote parodies of religious songs. Traveled in search of education.

Guilds: unions in the 13th century, because of the amount of wandering musicians.

Danse Macabrebased on the Black Death

Folk dances were very important during this era: Round dances Caroles Stamping dances

One example of this is the Danse Macabre - this particular dance was create to represent how the plague attacked people from all walks of life.

The people are typically shown as skeletons or corpses in a procession, usually dancing.

The theme of the Danse Macabre has been used since the 15th century in paintings, theatre, music, literature, and later in film.

Formes Fixes French poetic forms of the 14th century, translated into

musical forms.

Ballades: a one movement musical piece with lyrical and dramatic narrative qualities form is aaB - B being the shorter line

Rondeau: a form of French poetry with 15 lines written on two rhymes. Music-wise it consists (usually) of 13 lines of 8 syllables plus 2

refrains using 3 rhymes. form AAaAabAB capital letters refer to the refrain text, and lower case

means new text was used

Virelai: similar to a rondeau. Each stanza has 2 rhymes, the end rhyme recurring as the 1st rhyme of the next stanza. Musical structure (usually) looks like AbbaA, with the first and last

sections having the same lyrics.

Composer:Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377)

French poet and composer who wrote mostly of courtly love

Large number of motets and songs ~ Wrote both sacred and secular music

He would use the same established forms as everyone else, but made subtle changes to add personal touches and a more dramatic emphasis.

Considered ‘avant guarde’

Pieces were very lyrical in spirit.

Rose, liz, printemps, verdure

Rose, liz, printemps, verdureFleur, baume et tres douce odourBelle, passes en doucourEt tous les biens de Nature Avez, dont je vous aourRose, liz, printemps, verdureFleur, baume et tres douce odour; Et quant toute creature Seurmonte vostre valourBien puis dire et par honnour: Rose, liz, printemps, verdureFleur, baume et tres douce odourBelle, passes en doucour

Rose, lily, spring, greenery

Flower, balm and sweetest perfumeBeauty, you surpass them in sweetness.And all the gifts of natureYou have, for which I adore you.Rose, lily, spring, greenery.Flower, balm and sweetest perfumeAnd since all creaturesYou surpass in worthI must say in all honor:Rose, lily, spring, greenery.Flower, balm and sweetest perfumeBeauty, you surpass them in sweetness

• Listening: Rondeau: Rose, Liz, Printemps, VerdurePiece for 4 voices – 2 men, 2 women