Transcript MedievalMusic - Western Hills Choir

Medieval
Music
Music
 Mostly vocal music in sacred
(religious/holy) music
 Instruments were not allowed
in church
 Read pg. 261-262
 Instruments used in Secular
(of the world) music
Gregorian Chant
 Also called: Plainchant,
plainsong
 Folk music from Hebrew, Greek
 Came from Pope Gregory (Story)
 Qualities:
 Simple
 Monophonic: one sound
 Unmeasured rhythm
 Narrow pitch range
Gregorian Chant
cont…
Syllabic—each syllable
given a note
Melismatic—each syllable
spread over several notes
Sung in Latin
The Mass Ordinary
Kyrie
Gloria
Credo
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
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Hildegard von
Bingen
 1098-1179
 Women Writer
 First composer with biography
 Produced Musical plays
 10th Child of noble family
(tithe)
 Became Nun
 Play Sample
Early Polyphony:
Organum
 between 700 and 900 AD, a
second melodic line—
organum—was added to the
Gregorian Chant
 Later, sometime before
1200, melodies developed
into real polyphony, that is,
multiple layers of sound
Chansons de toile
 “songs of work” or “spinning
songs”
 Name came from the spinning of
yarn for weaving
 Tell of tragedy, romance, love
 Sometimes set to tunes of wellknown songs:
 Hildegard von Bingen
 Women Troubadours
 Songs in the vernacular
Secular Music
 Sumer is icumen in
 Earliest English Round
 Subject matter: mostly love
 Strophic—several stanzas sung to
the same melody
 Musical instruments—
 Lyre, harp, and a type of
violin/fiddle, various types of
woodwind instruments, and
bagpipes
 Organ also became more popular
Sound
Harmony
Melody
Rhythm
Growth