Unit III: The Middle Ages

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Unit III The Middle Ages

• Chapter 12
• Sacred Music in the Middle Ages

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Chant

• Gregorian chant (plainchant or plainsong) owes
  its roots to the single-line melodies of Greek
  and Hebrew music
• Named after Pope Gregory the Great (reigned
  590-604)
• While there is some controversy over the subject,
  chant is largely agreed to be nonmetric

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Characteristics of Chant

• monophonic
• free-flowing vocal line which reflects the
  inflections of the Latin text
• generally agreed to be nonmetric
• largely conjunct melodic motion
• approximates a sort of musical speech

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Notation of Chant

• For many generations, chant was handed down
  purely by oral tradition. As the number of
  chants vastly increased, the need for some sort
  of written reminder became clear
• The first notational devices used were neumes
  which served as the reminder of the contour of
  the melody. Staff lines were added later

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Example of a Fully Notated Gregorian Chant
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Text Setting

• syllabic - one note sung to each syllable of text
• neumatic - groups of 2 to 4 notes sung to each
  syllable
• melismatic - long groups of notes sung over
  single syllables (Eastern origin)

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Modes

• Modal scales, including the precursors to modern
  major and minor scales were the primary musical
  materials of chant
• With polyphony, harmonic systems evolved based on
  these scale patterns
• The term modal usually refers to the use of these
  ancient scales while tonal refers to the use of
  major or minor scales

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The Mass

• The term refers to the collection of prayers and
  readings which make up the primary service of the
  Catholic church
• The texts fall into two main categories
• Proper Those texts which change from day to day
  dependent on the time of year, the feast being
  celebrated or the saint being honored
• Ordinary Those texts that do not change from
  service to service

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Hildegard of Bingen Alleluia, o virga mediatrix
(Alleluia, O mediating branch)

• A Gregorian Chant for feasts of the Virgin Mary
• fifth item from the proper of the mass
• Sung in praise of the Virgin Mary
• Melismatic, then neumatic
• responsorial
• verses sung by soloist
• response sung by choir
• Monophonic
• See Listening Guide 2, p.73, (CD 1/1-3)

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The Rise of Polyphony

• A major breakthrough occurred at the end of the
  Romanesque period (c. 850-1150) with the
  emergence of polyphony
• At first chant melodies were decorated by
  ornamented versions of themselves (heterophony)
• Eventually the chants evolved into a polyphonic
  structure in which two independent voices created
  a polyphonic structure based on the chant itself.
  This is known as organum

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Organum

• Organum came about by the addition of a second
  voice which parallels the original chant melody
  at the interval of a 4th higher or 5th lower

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Notre Dame School

• During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the
  center of composers of organum was the Cathedral
  of Notre Dame in Paris. The composer whose name
  is earliest associated with this music is Léonin
• with the earliest composed organum, the Gregorian
  melody was sung by the lower voice
• the upper voice was a newly-composed, rapid
  melody employing fixed patterns of long and short
  note values, known as rhythmic modes

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The Early Medieval Motet

• Pérotin extended Notre Dame organum to include 3
  or even 4 voices
• The addition of texts to these upper voices late
  in his career resulted in the motet, the root of
  which means word in French
• At this time the text could be either all Latin
  or combinations of Latin and French, secular and
  sacred texts

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Notre Dame School Organum Gaude Maria virgo
(Rejoice Mary,virgin)

• See Listening Guide 3, p.75. CD1/4-5
• an anonymous three-voice organum from the
  thirteenth century in the style of Pérotin
• the bottom voice, the tenor (from the Latin
  tenere to hold) sounds the original chant notes
  of Gaude Maria
• instrumental or vocal
• rhythmic ostinato (long-long-short-long)

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Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)

• founded her own convent
• renowned prophet, composer, and healer
• music resembles Gregorian chant, but unlike most
  music of her day did not draw on existing
  repertory
• best known work is the earliest example of a
  morality play, The Play of Virtues (Ordo virtutum)