Transcript Polyphonic

Music of the Dark Ages
 Medieval music was both sacred and secular. During
the earlier medieval period, the liturgical genre,
predominantly Gregorian chant, was Monophonic.
 Polyphonic genres started to develop during the late
medieval era, becoming prevalent by the later 13th
and early 14th century. The development of such
forms is often associated with the Ars nova.
Words to know
 Monophonic: Single line of music (no harmony)
 Polyphonic: Multiple lines of music
 Ars Nova: polyphonic music of the 14th century
“the new music”
 Cantus firmus: ("fixed song") is a pre-existing
melody forming the basis of a polyphonic
composition.
Gregorian Chant / aka “plain chant”
 The central tradition of Western plainchant, a form
of monophonic liturgical music within Western
Christianity that accompanied the celebration of
Mass and other ritual services.
 It is named after Pope Gregory I, Bishop of Rome
from 590 to 604, who is traditionally credited for
having ordered the simplification and cataloging of
music assigned to specific celebrations in the church
calendar.
Ars Nova
Organum
 Organum : is a plainchant melody with at least one added
voice to enhance the harmony, developed in the Middle
Ages. Depending on the mode and form of the chant, a
supporting bourdon may be sung on the same text, or the
melody is followed in parallel motion (parallel organum)
or a combination thereof.
 Organum was originally improvised; while one singer
performed a notated, another singer—singing "by ear"—
provided the unnotated second melody. Over time,
composers began to write added parts that were not just
simple transpositions, thus creating true polyphony.
 The music of the troubadours and trouvères was a
vernacular tradition of monophonic secular song,
probably accompanied by instruments, sung by
professional, occasionally itinerant, musicians who were
as skilled as poets as they were singers and
instrumentalists.
 Motet: a piece of music in several parts with words
 From these first motets arose a medieval tradition of
secular motets. These were two or three part
compositions in which several different texts, sometimes
in different vernacular languages, were sung
simultaneously over a Latin cantus firmus
Listening examples:
 Bernat del Ventadorn: a prominent troubador of
the classical age of troubadour poetry.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWfuhcJ0VVA&f
eature=related
 Hildegard von bingen: (1098 – 17 September 1179), a
german nun, Hildegard was raised in a family of free
nobles. She was the 10th child, sickly from birth. In
her Vita, Hildegard explains that from a very young
age she had experienced visions.
 Perhaps due to Hildegard's visions, or as a method of
political positioning, Hildegard's parents, Hildebert
and Mechthilde, offered her as a tithe to the church.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hilde
gard+von+bingen&aq=1
NOTATION