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Music of the Middle Ages

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1347-1352- Black Death. 1387-1400- Chaucer writes The Canterbury Tales ... Vocal music was dominant, though instruments were used for accompaniment ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Music of the Middle Ages


1
Music of the Middle Ages
  • 450-1450

2
Timeline of the Middle Ages
  • 455- Rome sacked by Vandals
  • 476-Last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus,
    overthrown by Odoacer, ending the Roman Empire.
  • 590-604- Reign of Pope Gregory
  • 800- Charlemagne Crowned Holy Roman Emperor
  • 1066- Norman conquest of England
  • 1096-1099- First Crusade
  • 1147-1149-Second Crusade
  • 1187-1182- Third Crusade
  • 1202-1204- Fourth Crusade
  • 1273- Thomas Aquinas writes Summa Theologica
  • 1321- Dante writes The Divine Comedy
  • 1337-1453- Hundred Years War France and England
    vie for control of France
  • 1347-1352- Black Death
  • 1387-1400- Chaucer writes The Canterbury Tales
  • 1431- Joan of Arc executed

3
Music of the Middle Ages in a Nutshell
  • The Catholic Church was the major force in music
    during this time
  • Vocal music was dominant, though instruments were
    used for accompaniment
  • Women did create music in convents, but did not
    sing in church
  • Secular music was popular, though rarely written
    down
  • Polyphony developed during this time

4
Middle Ages Basics The Modes
  • Modes were the scales used in music at the time.
  • There were six modes used, with a seventh
    theoretical mode. Each modes starts and ends on a
    step of our major scale
  • Ionian starts on Do (Same as a major scale)
  • Dorian Starts on Re
  • Phrygian starts on Mi
  • Lydian starts on Fa
  • Mixolydian starts on So
  • Aeolian starts on La (Same as a natural Minor
    Scale)
  • Locrian starts on Ti- Not used because of a
    tritone between it and the fifth step of the
    scale

5
Middle Ages Basics The Modes
  • Modes do not have a distinct pitch, but rather,
    its a pattern of intervals
  • The tonic note was called the final
  • Each mode had a second important note called the
    tenor. It is usually a fifth above the final.
  • The only accidental used in notating modal sings
    was a flat, and only with the note B.

6
Middle Ages Basics The Roman Catholic Mass
7
Middle Ages Basics The Roman Catholic Mass
  • Mass was said in Latin
  • Highly ritualized- Not just songs and chants, but
    gestures, postures, etc.
  • Congregation did not participate
  • Ordered by Charlemagne to be used throughout the
    Holy Roman Empire near the end of the Eighth
    Century

8
Gregorian Chant
  • Monophonic vocal music Single melody line set to
    Latin sacred texts
  • Used during Mass
  • Named after Pope Gregory I, who made chant a
    central part of the Liturgy
  • Passed along via oral tradition, but eventually
    notated due to sheer number of chants

9
Gregorian Chant
  • Syllabic singing- One note per syllable
  • Melismatic Singing- multiple notes per syllable
  • Antiphonal- Singing alternates between groups
  • Responsorial- Soloist alternating with the choir.

10
Anatomy of a Chant Alleluia, Vidamus Stellam
  • Small range of notes
  • Free flowing rhythm, sounds improvisational
  • Uses both melismatic and syllabic sections
  • ABA form
  • Lots of step-wise motion

11
Anatomy of a Chant O Successores by Hildegard of
Bingen
  • First female composer from whom a large number of
    works survived
  • Founder and Abbess at the Convent in Rupertsburg,
    Germany
  • Famous for her prophecies and revelations
  • Notated as a single line, but has a drone
    accompaniment
  • Not as melismatic as Alleluia
  • Greater pitch range, wider leaps

12
Secular Music
  • Largest surviving body of works comes from the
    French nobles called troubadours in Southern
    France and trouvères in Northern France
  • Usually performed by court minstrels
  • Mostly about love, but some were about the
    Crusades, others were dance songs.
  • Notation does not indicate a rhythm, but most had
    a regular rhythm, unlike Chant.
  • Wandering minstrels, called jongleurs performed
    music and acrobatics. While they had very low
    social status, they were important in spreading
    information.

13
A Secular Dance Estampie
  • Strong triple meter feel
  • Melody is played on a rebec and a pipe
  • Accompaniment played on a psaltery
  • Totally instrumental
  • Accompaniment is usually improvised

14
The Rise Of Polyphony Organum and The Notre Dame
school
  • Organum is any medieval music that adds a second
    melodic line to Gregorian Chant
  • Between 700 and 900, monks added a second line,
    moving in parallel at the fourth or fifth, to the
    melody.
  • Eventually, the second line became more and more
    independent.
  • Originally, rhythmic values were not notated.
  • Two types of Organum Florid and Discant
  • This changed with two choirmasters at Notre Dame.
    Their names were.

15
Leonin and Perotin
  • Founders of the School of Notre Dame.
  • Leonin was the first major composer from this
    school.
  • He wrote the Magnus Liber Organi, the Great Book
    of Organum
  • Perotin later improved on Leonins work
  • The new notation was limited to certain patterns,
    and the best was divided into three parts,
    symbolizing the Holy Trinity

16
Notre Dame Organum
  • Leonin Alleluia Pascha Nostrum
  • Perotin Sederunt
  • How is this different from Gregorian Chant?
  • Do you notice different sections?
  • How many different parts are there?
  • Youll hear organum written in two different
    styles. How are they different?
  • How is this different from Alleluia Pascha
    Nostrum?
  • Are there still sections?
  • How many parts do you hear

17
Music in the 14th Century The Ars Nova
  • This was the age of the Hundred Years War
    (1337-1453), the Black Death, and the weakening
    of the Church and of the feudal system.
  • Secular music became much more important
  • Composers wrote music not based on Gregorian
    Chant
  • A new notation allowed composers to use nearly
    any rhythmic pattern, including syncopations
  • Scholars call this revolutionary new style, the
    Ars Nova- or the New Art

18
Gulliame de Machuat
  • Born in Champagne
  • Served as the secretary and Chaplain to the King
    of Bohemia
  • Later served as a Church official in Reims
  • He wrote mainly courtly love songs, but some
    sacred music

19
Two Machaut Pieces
  • Puis quen Oubli Sui de vous
  • The Notre Dame Mass Agnus Dei
  • Secular piece
  • Dedicated to a young noblewoman he fell in love
    with
  • Melody with two very low accompaniment parts
  • Rondeau- 8 lines, ending in either mis or mant.
  • AB form, with lines 1-2 returning as lines 7-8.
    Line one also appears as line four.
  • Sacred piece
  • First polyphonic treatment of the Mass Ordinary.
  • Based on a chant, which is placed in one of the
    two lower parts. This is called the cantus firmus
  • Written in three sections, in ABA form

20
What do you need to know?
  • Gregorian Chant- Can you identify a piece of
    chant without having heard it before? Who was an
    important composer of chant?
  • Organum and Notre Dame School- Who founded the
    Notre Dame school? What is Organum? How is it
    different from Chant?
  • What is the Ars Nova?
  • Who is Gulliame de Machaut? What two pieces did
    he write? Can you recognize those pieces?
  • The different modes
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