Transcript PART 2 SEVEN CENTURIES OF MUSIC

PART 2
SEVEN CENTURIES OF MUSIC
UNIT 4
The Middle Ages
What we think when we say "Let's
study Gregorian Chant!"
1
Chapter 9
Chant and Hildegard of Bingen
“The Overriding purpose of chant is to
connect the human with the divine.”
One of the top five hit albums of the 1990’s
was Chant, a recording of Gregorian Chant
by the Benedictine Monks of Santa
Domingo de Silos.
You can hear vocal melismas not only in
Gregorian Chant, but in today’s music by
artists such as Mariah Carey and Beyonce’.
2
Monasteries, Convents and Abbeys
• Central fact of life was “the afterlife”
• Orders followed a particular rule
• After the fall of the Roman Empire, the
Catholic Church became the dominant
institution in Europe
•
universal religion
•
repository of learning
•
only place where a young person
could receive an education
3
Monasteries, Convents and Abbeys
• Clergy social standing comparable to
that of nobility
• Both were well above peasant, artisan
or tradesman status
• Daily routine in monasteries
–
–
–
prayer eight times a day
Mass
Work
4
Monasteries, Convents and Abbeys
• Divine Office = Periods of daily prayer
occurred at regular intervals from sunrise
to after sunset
• St. Augustine - “To sing is to pray twice.”
• Work included copying books and music
• Scribes worked in a scriptorium and
monastery libraries have been our main
source of chant and medieval sacred music
5
Religion and Politics
• Christmas Day 800 – Pope Leo III
crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman
Emperor
• Holy Roman Empire lasted for a
millennium
• Bond between church and state
6
Chant
• Plainchant (chant) = music used in both
Mass and Divine Office
• Gregorian Chant = most widely used
chant in western Europe
• Pope Gregory did not write these, but
had the liturgy organized and the chants
notated
• Antiphon = chant with prose (not
poetic) text, sung with a psalm
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Hildegard of Bingen
• The most extraordinary woman of the
Middle Ages
• Promised to the church by her parents at
age eight, entered the abbey at age
fourteen, became the prioress (nun in
charge) then founded her own convent
around 1150
• Volumes on science, lives of the saints,
poetry, artwork, and songs
• Ecstatic visions, experienced since the
age of five
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Nunc aperuit nobis
• Dates: 1098 – 1179
• Most famous female composer of chants; a
gifted writer, musician, and artist
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1994 BBC Movie - “Hildegard”
• Multimedia class resource
• Presents Hildegard’s life as an “intellectual,
visionary, a poet, composer, naturalist,
healer and theologian.”
• Movie takes place during her time at St.
Disibod in Germany’s Rhineland, and ends
in 1150 as she sets out to Rupertsberg near
Bingen to found her own convent.
IMDb (Internet Movie Database) review
states that this movie “clearly portrays her
great compassion towards her fellow
human beings, her modesty and her ardent
faith.”
10
Melody in Chant
• Chant Melody is above a drone
• Drone = note continuously sounding
throughout the piece or large section of
the piece (like bagpipe sound)
• Melodic movement is mostly by step
• Spoken words cannot project the power
of Hildegard’s visions
• Symbolism – drone = earthly reality/
chant melody = Hildegard’s ecstatic
state during visions
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Text in Chant
• Syllabic = chant text setting having one
note per syllable
• Neumatic = generally has two to four
notes per syllable
• Melismatic = most elaborate form of
text setting with single syllable
sustained for many notes
12
Key, Scale and Mode
• In chant, sustained notes act as home
base for pitch
• Tonal – the other notes of the melody
are understood in terms of this
reference pitch
• Major and minor scales not yet
developed; Chants used Modal Scales
• Ionian and Aeolian developed into
modern Major and minor scales
13
Chant in the 21st Century
• Gregorian - Live on Tour 2011
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