Enjoyment of Music

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Norton Media Library
Enjoyment of Music Essential Listening
Edition Chapter 13 Medieval Music
by Kristine Forney Joseph Machlis
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13. Medieval Music

• Sacred Music in the Middle Ages
• Liturgy set order of services and structure of
  each service in the church  
• Characteristics of Gregorian chant (plainchant)
• Monophonic texture
• Nonmetric  
• Latin text
• Chant is classified by the way the notes are set
  to the text
• Syllabic one note per syllable of text
• Melismatic many notes per syllable of text
• Early chants were handed down orally  
• Early chant notation used neumes
• Neumes suggested contours of the melody but not
  rhythm
• Scale patterns used are the church modes

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13. Medieval Music (contd)

• The Mass
• One of two categories of services in the Roman
  Catholic Church, the other being the Offices
• The prayers that make up the Mass fall into two
  categories
• Proper texts change according to the day
• Ordinary texts are the same for every Mass
• Life in the Medieval Cloister
• Cloister a place for religious seclusion
• Monastery men
• Convent women
• Cloisters were places of prayer, scholarship,
  preaching, charity, healing

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13. Medieval Music (contd)

• The Music of Hildegard of Bingen
• Hildegard of Bingen (10981179)
• 1150 founded convent in Rupertsberg, Germany  
• Known for miracles and prophecies  
• Recorded collections of visions and prophecies in
  manuscript  
• Composed religious poetry with music
• Characteristics of Hildegards poetry
• Brilliant imagery
• Visionary language
• Collected in volume Symphony of the Harmony of
  Celestial
• Revelations, for liturgical church year

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13. Medieval Music (contd)

• Hildegard of Bingen Alleluia, O virga mediatrix
  (Listening Guide 2)
• From the Mass Proper
• For feasts of the Virgin Mary
• Ternary form (A-B-A)  
• Responsorial form (soloist alternates with
  chorus)
• Monophonic texture  
• Conjunct melody with few leaps  
• Free, nonmetric rhythm  
• Text setting falls between syllabic and
  melismatic (neumatic)

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13. Medieval Music (contd)

• The Rise of Polyphony
• Polyphony evolved toward the end of the
  Romanesque period (c. 8501150)
• Organum earliest polyphonic music  
• Second melody added above or below the older
  Gregorian melody  
• Evolved at Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris  
• Polyphony necessitated the use of notated rhythm
  and pitch
• Rhythm was chosen from a group of patterns called
  rhythmic modes
• A new genre emerged near the end of the
  thirteenth century
• Composers wrote texts to second melody in organum
   

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13. Medieval Music (contd)

• The Rise of Polyphony (contd)
• New genre called motet (mot is French for word)
• Sometimes the languages were mixed in one piece
• French and Latin
• Motets can be sacred or secular  
• A Gregorian chant is the basis for a motet

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13. Medieval Music (contd)

• Secular Music in the Middle Ages
• Secular music grew in a separate tradition from
  sacred polyphony
• Different classes of secular musicians emerged
• Troubadours were southern French high-class
  musicians
• Trouvères were northern French high-class
  musicians
• The poems of the troubadours and trouvères had
  diverse subjects
• Poetry of secular song often focused on idealized
  love and chivalry
• Secular songs sung monophonically, with
  improvised accompaniment

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13. Medieval Music (contd)

• The French Ars nova and Guillaume de Machaut
• Ars nova (new art) movement beginning in
  14th-century France
• Greater refinement than music of the Ars antiqua
  (old art)  
• New developments in rhythm, meter, harmony, and
  counterpoint
• Guillaume de Machaut (c. 13001377) was the
  foremost composer
• French poet and composer
• Double career as cleric and courtier  
• Composed motets, chansons (French for songs),
  and a polyphonic Mass Ordinary  
• Favored fixed text forms rondeau, ballade,
  virelai

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13. Medieval Music (contd)

• Machaut chanson Puis quen oubli (Listening
  Guide 3)
• Three-voice French chanson  
• Text rondeau form  
• Music reflects pain of unrequited love
• Low melodic range (depths of despair)
• Early Instrumental Music
• Instruments played a supporting role in vocal
  music sometimes doubling
• Instrumental music mostly improvised (not
  notated) for dance
• Performed by ensembles of soft (bas) or loud
  (haut) instruments
• Soft instruments include recorder
• Loud instruments include sackbut (early trombone)
  and shawm (medieval oboe)
• Instruments were categorized by their use (indoor
  or outdoor)

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Exploration 3 Chant as Music for Worship

• Ritual music is evidenced in most cultures
• Western Christian sacred songs take various forms
• Sung or recited to text
• Early Christian music had several influences
• Singing in Judaism
• Music of the Church of Byzantium
• In Islam the Koran is chanted
• Call to prayer is chanted

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Exploration 4 Opening Doors to the East

• Religious wars and exploration opened doors to
  the east
• Five organized Crusades (10961221)
• An attempt to take the Holy Land of Palestine
  from the Muslims  
• Crusading knights learned military skills and
  weaponry from Turkish and Moorish warriors  
• Advanced medical and scientific knowledge of Arab
  world imported to Europe

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• This concludes the Norton Media Library Slide
  Set for Chapter 13
• Enjoyment of Music
• Essential Listening Edition
• by
• Kristine Forney
• Joseph Machlis