The Medieval period lasted from 500AD to the rise of the Ottoman Empire, and was also known as the Dark Ages due to constant warfare. Music during this time was primarily monophonic sacred music like Gregorian chants. Secular music also began to emerge in the 12th-13th centuries in the form of songs performed by minstrels, jongleurs, and poet musicians called troubadours, trouveres, and minnesingers who sang about courtly love and historical events. Notable Medieval musicians included Hildegard of Bingen, a German nun and composer of Gregorian chants, and Adam de la Halle, a French trouvere and innovator of early secular theater.

1. Music of the Medieval
Period

2. The Medieval period or the Middle Ages was a long period
in history which dates from 500AD. It covers the time from
the fall of the Roman Empire to the rise of the Ottaman
Empire. The period was also known as the “Dark Ages”
because they were by constant warfare, the absence of a
Holy Roman Emperor, and the virtual disappearance of
urban life.

3. Musical Styles of the Period
Syncopation – accents placed on the weak beats in a meter.
Consonance – notes blend or sound pleasing when heard simultaneously.
Dissonance – notes clash or sound unpleasant when heard together.
Monophonic – single melody is heard.
A. Sacred Music
The early Christian church derived its music from existing Jewish and
Byzantine religious chants. A famous example of these chants is the
“Gregorian Chant” also known as plain chant or plain song, consisted
of a single-melodic line.

4. B. Secular Music
Towards the end of the Middle Ages, about the 12th and 13th centuries,
music began to spread outside the church. Popular music, usually in the form of
secular songs, came to existence. The subjects of the majority of these songs
were love, joy and pain. The secular songs reflected every aspect of Medieval life
which rose in courts and castles and were performed by:
1. Minstrels(meaning mini servant) – they refer to lowly musicians who
wandered among the courts and towns. They regaled their audience with gossip
and news.
2. Jongleurs/Jongleuresses – these were versatile entertainers, who
played musical intrument, sang and danced, juggled and showed tricks with
animal acts.

5. 3. Troubadours (Southern France) and Trouveres(North of France) –
they were travelling poet musicians who flourished in the various courts of
Europe. They either sang their music and poetry themselves or entrusted its
performance to other musicians. They also play for royalty nobles. The themes
of the songs they sung dealt mainly with chivalry and courtly love-romantic
ballads. They also told stories of faraway lands and historical events. The
troubadours changed part of an elite society of royalty and nobles. The elite
troubadours originated as aristocratic poets and musicians of Provence, France.
4. Minnesingers (Germany) – they refer to singers of country love

6. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), also known as “Saint
Hidegard” and “Sybil of the Rhine”, was head of a monastery in a
small town in western Germany. She was the daughter of a noble
couple who promised her to the service of the church. One of her
great works is the O Successores ( You Successors), which was a
highly expressive example of a Gregorian chant.
Adam de la Halle (1240-1287), also known as Adam le
Bossu (Adam, the Hunchback), was a French-born trouvere, poet,
musician and innovator of the earliest French secular theater. He
was the “Last of the Trouveres,” bringing to a close the brilliant
early flowering of Old French lyric poetry and conventional countly
chansons.

7. Maraming Salamat
Adam de la Halle