Enjoyment of Music, Ess. Listening Ed. 4th Ed. Chapter 13

1. CHAPTER 13
Voice and Worship: Tradition
and Individuality in Medieval
Chant
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Life in the Medieval Monastery, Part 1
1. Life in the Medieval Monastery
A. Life devoted to Catholic Church
1. religious seclusion, available to men and women
2. preserved, transmitted ancient learnings
3. devoted to prayer, scholarship, preaching, charity, healing the sick
4. arduous discipline
5. daily Offices, singing of psalms; fostered development of worship
through music

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Life in the Medieval Monastery, Part 2

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Middle Ages: Music
Secular--music for ceremonies and entertainment in courts of
royalty/aristocracy
Scales--different from major and minor; different placement of
the half steps in the scale
Polyphony--multiple lines of equal importance performed
together; both sacred and secular music
Composers tried to make music express meaning of the texts,
both sacred and secular.

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Christianity
Had no standard musical practice for 1st 3 centuries
Borrowed from Judaism, reciting psalms, call & response
method
Adopted other practices upon expansion through Asia
Minor & Europe
Symbolism very important to medieval life-age of
miracles, mysticism, etc.

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6th Century-codified music of
worship services,
establishment of liturgy, body
of rites prescribed for worship
Function = to project the text
clearly so that it could be
understood by the people.
Possessed clarity and melodic
beauty; thus it was
inspirational.
Pope Gregory I

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The Concept of Style, Part 1
II. The Concept of Style
A. Pope Gregory the Great (r. 590–604)
1. codified church music; liturgy
a. liturgy: set order of church services
b. music at core of Christian prayer
2. more than three thousand Gregorian melodies
a. composed anonymously
b. belief in divine composition
c. Greek, Syrian, Hebrew influences

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The Concept of Style, Part 2
B. Plainchant, Gregorian chant
1. single-line melody: monophonic texture
2. follows inflections of Latin text; free-flowing, non-metric
3. avoids wide leaps; gentle contours
4. text settings: syllabic, neumatic, melismatic
5. modal: modes lack pull to tonic; antecedents of major and minor
scales

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The Church Modes
Unfamiliar scales, not like major & minor
Consist of seven different tones, an eighth tone
duplicating the first(octave)
Different pattern of half-steps & whole-steps
Were the basic scales of Western music during the
Middle Ages-Renaissance
Used in secular & sacred music
Many still used in Western folk music

10. Ionian (major)
Dorian
Phrygian
Modal (old system) vs. tonal (major/minor system used later)
Mixolydian
Lydian
Aolean (minor)
Locrian
Early Church Modes

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Setting words to music
Syllabic--one note per syllable
Melismatic--many notes per syllable
Melismas often used to emphasize words
Text Setting

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“Dies Irae”
Dies Irae

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Sadeness
Santo Domingo de Silos
Fastest selling classical record in
history
Sold more than 2 million copies
Number 5 on U.S. Pop Charts
Royalties helped needy in Third
World Countries & repairs to 12th
century monastery
CHANT

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Middle Ages: Notation
Earliest music wasn’t written down. Until 10th century, music
transmitted orally.
Earliest chant manuscripts merely showed whether the chant
went up or down, not specific pitches.
Most manuscripts created by monks in monasteries, by hand.
Parchment and ink were expensive.
Printing emerged--middle of 15th century.

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The Mass, Part 1
3. The Mass
A. Reenactment of Christ’s last supper
1. most solemn ritual of the Catholic Church
2. Mass liturgy:
a. Proper: variable portions
b. Ordinary: fixed portions
3. Gregorian melodies central to the Mass

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The Mass, Part 2
B. A Gregorian Melody: Kyrie
1. Kyrie: first in the Ordinary
a. Greek prayer for mercy; central-Mediterranean Christian tradition
b. symbolic three-part form: evokes the Trinity
2. Listening Guide 2: Gregorian Chant: Kyrie (10th century)
a. a cappella; sung antiphonally
b. 3 phrases, each sung 3 times
c. conjunct, wavelike
d. neumatic, then melismatic

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The Mass, Part 3

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The Mass, Part 4

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The Mass, Part 5
C. A Song for Worship by Hildegard
1. Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179)
a. renowned poet, prophet
b. daughter of a noble German couple
c. given to the church as a tithe
d. founded convent in Rupertsberg, Germany, 1150
e. famous throughout Europe; advice sought after
f. sainthood 2012, canonized by Pope Benedict XVI
g. serenely beautiful music, resembles Gregorian chant
h. expressive leaps, melismas: convey meaning of the words

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The Mass, Part 6

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The Mass, Part 7
D. Hildegard of Bingen, Alleluia, O virga mediatrix
1. praise to the Virgin Mary
2. text by Hildegard: not “Gregorian”
a. new praise song controversial
3. responsorial: group repetition of leader’s text-music phrase
a. roots in ancient Jewish practice

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The Mass, Part 8
E. Listening Guide 2: Hildegard of Bingen: Alleluia, O virga mediatrix (Alleluia,
O mediating branch) (late 12th century)
1. a cappella, alternating soloist and choir
2. three-part structure
a. “Alleluia”: solo intonation, choral response
b. verse: solo voice
i. expressive leap and melisma: “death”
ii. melismatic ending: “chastity”
c. “Alleluia”: chorus

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Kyrie
Kyrie

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Alleluia, o virga mediatrix
Alleluia, o virga mediatrix(Sequentia)
Alleluia, o virga mediatrix(Music for a Knight)

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The Mass, Part 9

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The Mass, Part 10

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Ordo Virtutum (Play of Virtues)
A morality play--dramatized allegory of Good vs. Evil struggling over the fate of a single soul
Written for dedication of convent church at Rupertsberg
Plot centers around disputes between Satan and 16 virtues (e.g., Charity, Obedience, Humility,
Chastity, Knowledge of God, Discipline, Compassion, Mercy, Victory, Discretion, Patience, Faith,
Hope, Innocence, World Rejection, Heavenly Love).
Each virtue = 1 female singer
Chorus of all virtues sings same melody monophonically (called unison singing).
Music was based on a florid style of liturgical plainchant.
Rhythm--mostly free rhythm reflecting the long and short accents of the words.
Performers--nuns in a convent--the Virtues were presumed to be female at that time.
The Devil was presumed to be male--probably performed by the priest who served the convent.

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The Soul Fights Against the Devil and Overcomes his Power
Ordo Virtutum (Play of Virtues)

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Credits
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Tradition and Individuality in Medieval Chant”
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