A brief history of music of the Middle Ages.

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Music of the Middle Ages
by Pang Chin Huey

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4. MIDDLE AGES (450-1450)
 Also known as “dark ages”. It’s a time of
migrations, upheavals (strong and violent
change in society) and wars (during 450)
 Later Middle Ages (until about 1450), a period
of culture growth
 Three main social classes: Nobility, peasantry
and clergy (paderi Kritian)
 Most important musicians were priests and
worked for the church
 Boys received music education in schools
associated with churches and cathedrals
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5. MIDDLE AGES (450-1450)
 Women were not allowed to sing in
church but did make music in convent.
 Nuns learned to sing, and some – like
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), wrote
music for their choirs.
 Most medieval music was vocal
 Not indicate specific instrument, but
organ was most prominent
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7. CHAPTER II: GREGORIAN
CHANT
 Gregorian chant is the central tradition of
Western plainchant, a form of monophonic
liturgical chant in Western Christianity that
accompanied the celebration of Mass and other
ritual services.
 It is named for Pope Gregory I, who ruled as
pope 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.
 Gregorian chant consists of melody set to sacred
Latin text and sung without accompaniment.
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8. CHAPTER II: GREGORIAN
CHANT
 It is for specific prayers and ritual actions
 The chant is monophonic in texture
 Gregorian chant conveys a calm,
otherworldly quality.
 It represents the voice of church, rather
than of any single individual.
 In general, the chants were learned by
the viva voce method, that is by
following the given example orally, which
took many years of experience in the
Schola Cantorum.
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9. CHAPTER II: GREGORIAN
CHANT
Rhythm:
 flexible, without meter, little sense of beat:
free-flowing rhythm, gives Gregorian chant a
floating and almost improvisational character
Melody:
 tend to move by step within a narrow range
of pitches.
 Some are simple and some are elaborate
 Some more than recitations
 Some have melodic curves
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10. THE CHURCH MODES
1. Church modes were the basic scales
of Western music during the Middle
Ages and Renaissance.
2. Used in sacred and secular music.
3. Consist of seven (7) different tones
and an eight tone that duplicates the
first an octave higher.
4. Church modes:
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11. THE CHURCH MODES
Ionian
C - C
Dorian
D - D
Phrygian
E - E
Lydian
F - F
Mixolydian
G - G
Aeolian
A - A
Locrian
B -B
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12. PART 2 CHAPTER 3:
SECULAR MUSIC
 Despite the domination of Gregorian Chant,
there was much music outside the church too.
 The first large body of secular songs that
survives in decipherable notation was
composed during the 12th and 13th centuries by
French noble called troubadours and trouveres.
 Among the best known poet-musicians:
troubadour Guillaume IX, duke of Aquitaine,
from southern France.
 And trouvere Chastelain de Couci, from
northern France.
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13. PART 2 CHAPTER 3:
SECULAR MUSIC
 Many of the love songs have been preserved
because nobles had clerics write them down.
 Mostly about love, but there are also songs
about the Crusades, dance songs and spinning
songs.
 In southern France, there were women
troubadours such as Beatriz De Dia, who
address their songs to men.
 Some 1,650 troubadour and touvere melodies
have been preserved.
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14. PART 2 CHAPTER 3:
SECULAR MUSIC
 Does not indicate rhythm, but likely that many had
a regular meter with clearly defined beat.
 Wondering Minstrels (or jongleurs) performed
music and acrobatics in castles, taverns
(inn/pub/bar), and town squares.
 Important source of information as there were no
newspapers.
 They usually sang songs written by others and
played instrumental dances on harps, fiddles
(ancestors of the violin), and lutes (plucked string
instruments).
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15. ESTAMPIE
1. The estampie, a medieval dance – earliest
surviving forms of instrumental music.
2. A single melodic line is notated and no
instrument is specified.
3. In the recording: melody played on rebec
(bowed string instrument) and a pipe (wind
instrument).
4. The estampie is in triple meter and has a
strong, fast beat.
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16. REBEC
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17. ORGANUM & SCHOOL OF
NOTRE DAME
 Organum – Medieval music that consists of
Gregorian chant and one or more melodic
additional melodic line.
 Between 900 to 1200, organum became truly
polyphonic
 School of Notre Dame : Measured rhythm, begun
in 1163
 Two successive choirmaster: Leonin and Perotin
 Used measured rhythm with definite time values
and a clearly define meter
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18. SCHOOL OF NOTRE DAME
 For the 1st time, notation indicated precise
rhythms as well as pitches
 Much fine polyphonic music was composed
during the late 12th and 13th centuries
 Medieval polyphony was hollow and thin
 Middle Ages polyphony music was fuller and
richer because triads and thirds were used
more often.
 A chant that is used as the basis for polyphony
is known as a cantus firmus (fixed melody).
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19. CHAPTER 5
 14th century: an age of disintegration. Europe
suffered through the Hundred Years’ War
(1337-1453) and the black death- or bubonic
plague (around1350) – destroyed one- fourth
of Europe’s population.
 Changes in musical style in the 14th centuries
were so profound that music theorists referred
to French and Italian music as the “New Art”
(Ars nova, in Latin)
 Measured rhythm and syncopation were used
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20. MASS ORDINARY
Mass Ordinary:
 Kyrie
 Gloria
 Credo
 Sanctus
 Agnes Dei
These 5 texts have often been set to polyphonic music
and have inspired some of the greatest choral work
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