Transcript Document
Music in the Middle Ages (4501450)
“Dark Ages”
Social classes
Nobility
Peasantry
Clergy
Influence of Roman Catholic Church
Learning centered in monasteries
Music in the Middle Ages (4501450)
Center of musical life – cathedrals
Musicians in the church
priests
monks
boys in church-associated schools
nuns
Primarily vocal music used
Instruments
used for accompaniment
considered inappropriate for church
after ca. 1100 – increased use in church
Gregorian Chant
Official music of Roman Catholic Church
in the Middle Ages
melody set to sacred Latin texts
unaccompanied
monophonic
calm, otherworldly quality
voice of the church
flexible rhythm, without meter, little sense of
beat
Gregorian Chant
Named after Pope Gregory I (the Great)
reigned A.D. 590-604
Composed over many centuries
A.D. 600-1300 – several thousand melodies known
today
originally passed along by oral tradition
notated as number of chants grew
most composers completely unknown
church modes
Listening Examples
Kyrie from Mass IX (“Orbis Factor”)
notated in the Liber Usualis
monophonic
ternary form
Listening Examples
O Successores
Hildegard of Bingen
1098-1179
Abbess of Rupertsburg
drone
foreshadows word painting
Secular Music in the Middle Ages
12th and 13th century French nobles
troubadours – South
trouvères – North
composed songs of love, Crusades, dance, spinning
melodies notated w/o rhythm
performed with a regular meter
Listening Example
Estampie – unknown composer
triple meter with fast, strong beat
Instrumentation: rebec, pipe, psaltery
The Development of Polyphony
Organum
chant with one or more additional melodic
lines
ca. 700-900 – improvised at strict intervals
of fifth or fourth; not notated
ca. 900-1200 – organum becomes
polyphonic
not in strict parallel motion
ca. 1100 – rhythmic differences begin to occur
low voice – chant in very long notes
upper voice – organum line in shorter notes
The Development of Polyphony
School of Notre Dame
Composers: Leonin, Perotin, & followers
centered in Cathedral of Notre Dame
developed measured rhythm
definite time values / clearly defined meter
limited rhythms (subdivided in three)
Listening example
Alleluya. Pascha nostrum immolatus est – Leonin
cantus firmus
examples of measured and unmeasured rhythm
14th Century Music in Italy & France
Historical background
Hundred Years War (1337-1453)
Bubonic plague (ca. 1350) kills ¼ of Europe
Weakening feudal system / Rivaling popes
Secular music takes precedence
Ars nova (“new art”)
new system of rhythmic notation (almost any
rhythm) / use of syncopation
polyphonic music not based on chant being
composed
Ars Nova Composers
Francesco Landini (?-1397, Italy)
Background
blind from childhood
organist, poet, scholar, invented new string
instument
exclusively secular subjects for his music
Ecco la primavera
ballata written for two voices
instrumental accompaniment added (sackbut,
shawm, drum)
Form: Intro (AB) – ABBAA [ternary]
Ars Nova Composers
Guillaume de Machaut (ca. 1300-1377,
France)
Background
court official for various royal families
at age 60, fell in love with 19-year-old
exchanged letters & poems
age difference ended relationship
writes narrative poem to immortalize their love
Le Livre Dou Voir Dit (The Book of the True
Poem)
Listening Examples - Machaut
Puis qu’en oubli sui de vous (Since I am forgotten
by you, ca. 1363)
also contained in Voir Dit
“farewell to joy”
vocal melody with two accompanying parts with
exceptionally low range (performed by two solo
voices)
Notre Dame Mass
first complete polyphonic treatment of mass
ordinary
Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei
ternary form, triple meter, based on chant