Transcript Middle Ages - Forest Hills High School

Music of the Middle Ages
450AD - 1450AD
• Also called the Dark Ages
• Bridges the gap between:
Roman Empire
(Ancient Greece)
&
the Renaissance
Music of the Middle Ages
Pope Gregory I
• Founded the Schola Cantorum
A school that taught the priests to sing chants
• Gregorian Chant (a type of *Plainsong)
6th Century-codified music of Christian
worship services
project the text clearly so that it could be
understood by the people
Possessed clarity and melodic beauty
Free, unmeasured Monophonic melody
Text in Latin
A little bird whispered all the chants in Pope
Gregory’s ear. Thus, all the music and how it is
to be performed came from God.
Listening: Alleluia Vidimus Stellam
Dies iræ! Dies illa
Solvet sæclum in favilla:
Teste David cum Sibylla!
Dies Irae
The day of wrath, that day
Will dissolve the world in ashes
As foretold by David and the sibyl!
Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando iudex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus!
How much tremor there will be,
when the judge will come,
investigating everything strictly!
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulchra regionum,
Coget omnes ante thronum.
The trumpet, scattering a wondrous
sound through the sepulchres of the
regions, will summon all before the
throne.
Mors stupebit, et natura,
Cum resurget creatura,
Iudicanti responsura.
Death and nature will marvel,
when the creature arises,
to respond to the Judge.
Liber scriptus proferetur,
In quo totum continetur,
Unde mundus iudicetur.
The written book will be brought
forth, in which all is contained,
from which the world shall be judged.
Iudex ergo cum sedebit,
Quidquid latet, apparebit:
Nil inultum remanebit.
When therefore the judge will sit,
whatever hides will appear:
nothing will remain unpunished.
Music of the Middle Ages
Plainsong and Monophonic style
• Monophonic – single line of melody
Might be enriched by the use of drones
Percussion used in secular music
Rhythm was often not notated. We assume that
it was tied to text in vocal music and to dance in
instrumental music
Listening: Kyrie Eleison
• Plainsong
Melodies are often long and flowing
Slow and Relaxed
Use modal scales (as the ancient Greek did)
Anonymous composer
Music of the Middle Ages
Charlemagne
• Charles the Great (Charles le Magne), Charles I
Crowned Holy Roman Emperor 800AD
Alignment with Roman Catholic Church
Everything in the name of God
Helped spread Christianity throughout Europe
Even if he had to kill everyone to do it
• Spread of Christianity – Spread of Sacred Music
Priest & Clergy were the:
only educated people of the time
only people who could read and write
lived in monasteries, and in silence
printed Bibles and celebrated Mass:
Most Importantly a Reenactment of the Last Supper of Jesus
Music was used to help celebrate Mass
Music of the Middle Ages
Guido d’Arezzo (990-1050)
• Worked at Schola Cantorum
Taught Gregorian Chants to priests
Frustrated with how long it takes to learn all
the music
Developed a system for teaching Singing & Reading
Music
• “Ut queant laxis” (a hymn to John the Baptist)
Was a hymn that everyone knew
Had six stanzas
Each stanza began on a pitch one step higher than
the previous
Used first syllable of each stanza to help priests
remember what each note sound like
Music of the Middle Ages
Guido d’Arezzo (990-1050) cont.
• “Ut queant laxis” (a hymn to John the Baptist) cont.
Listening: Ut queant laxis
Invention of early *Solfege System
Sound of Music – Do, a deer a female deer…
Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol (So), La, Ti (Si), Do
Listening: Flashmob Do, Re, Mi
• Guido’s System was called Solmization:
Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, SI *(Sancte Io-annes)
Music of the Middle Ages
Guido d’Arezzo (990-1050) cont.
• Guidonian Hand
Each Solfege syllable is assigned to
a part of the hand
Point-and-Sing
• Music Notation
First systemized 4-line staff
Marked “F” Line – Bass Cleff
Music of the Middle Ages
New Developments
• Organum
Consists of Gregorian chant and one or more additional melodic lines
First attempt at harmony and Polyphony
The same melody transposed by a consonant interval, usually a
perfect fifth or fourth, creating “Parallel” melodies – Parallel Organum
Originally improvised, later written
• Cantus Firmus
“Fixed Song” – the pre-existing melody (a Gregorian Chant) that forms the basis
of a polyphonic song
Typically put in the bottom voice
May be slowed down while other voices were composed over it
Different from Organum – not note against note, but one vs. few or many
Music of the Middle Ages
New Developments cont.
• Liturgical Dramas
Stories told at the beginning of high Holy church days
Christmas, Easter, etc.
New Music, words, costumes and sets are used in the
pageant
All Liturgical Dramas are based on Bible Stories
• Morality Plays
Play not based on a Bible story but a premise of
Good vs. Evil
All the characters are fictitious
New music is used (Not based on a chant)
Listening: Ordo Virtutum – “Play of the Virtues”
A soul gets tempted by both the angels and the devil
Music is used to represent both characters
Music of the Middle Ages
New Developments cont.
• Troubadours – France (1100)
First poet/composers
Traveled across Europe in the 12th & 13th century
Unlike Sacred Music, instruments were used for
accompaniment.
Sing about love, wars & Heroes
Music starts to adapt the rhythm from poetry
and is no longer free flowing
Notes start to have length Listening: Micrologus
• Estampie
Instrument dance of the Middle Ages.
Listening: Robin Hood and Maid Marian
Listening: Sancte Sator
Suggested Listening: Mediaeval Baebes
Music of the Middle Ages
Ars Antiqua 1170-1310
• Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
A mystical nun who, among many other
things, composed music for:
Liturgical Dramas & Morality Plays (e.g. Play of
the Virtues)
• University of Paris (1150)
First university of the Middle Ages
Organized program of study: liberal arts
and languages
Not Just the Bible
• Notre Dame Cathedral
Construction begins in 1164
Completed 200 years later
Music of the Middle Ages
Ars Antiqua cont.
• Leonin (1135-1201)
• Perotin (1180-1238)
Worked and taught at the Notre Dame School
Taught Music Composition
Experimented with chants and composed
Polyphonic Organums
Listening: Perotin – Alleluia Nativitas
• Adam de la Halle (1237-1288)
Most famous troubadour ever
First Musical Theatre piece:
Le Jeu de Robin et Marion (Listening)
Invented Motet
Music of the Middle Ages
Ars Nova 1300
Ars Nova Notandi (1322) - a treatise on music by Philippe de Vitry of France
• Literary works became more about
sensuality than virtue
• Secular music more important than sacred
• New system of Music Notation evolved
Stems were added to the neumes, creating
our modern system of notation
Composers could specify rhythm pattern
Syncopation appears
Polyphony NOT based on chant
There were so many changes and innovations in
musical style that this era was named the time of
“New Art”
Music of the Middle Ages
Guillaume de Machaut (1304-1377)
Single most important figure in French Ars Nova
• Worked as Court Musician and cleric for
royal families
• A Poet & Musician
The last great poet who was also a composer
• Wrote both Sacred and Secular music
Created many of the musical forms of today:
Rondos, Ballades, etc.
• First complete “Ordinary (Order) or Mass”
After the completion of Notre Dame Cathedral,
Guillaume de Machaut was commissioned to
compose a Mass for its opening:
Messe de Notre Dame (Mass of Our Lady)
Music of the Middle Ages
Messe de Notre Dame (Mass of Our Lady)
• First Polyphonic Mass Ordinary (Order)
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
Kyrie eleison (“Lord, have mercy”)
Gloria (“Glory to God in the highest”)
Credo (“I believe in one God”)
Sanctus (“Holy, Holy, Holy”)
Agnus Dei (“Lamb of God”)
• Written for four voices
Some parts performed/doubled on instruments
• Arguably the most complex and most
significant musical work of the Middle Ages
• Sacred music became increasing complex as
church began to use more polyphonic and
instrumental music
Listening: Excerpts from Messe de Notre Dame