Music in the Middle Ages (450-1450)

1. Music in the Middle Ages (450-1450) • “Dark Ages” • Social classes • Nobility • Peasantry • Clergy • Influence of Roman Catholic Church • Learning centered in monasteries

2. Music in the Middle Ages (450-1450) • Center of musical life – cathedrals • Musicians in the church • priests • monks • boys in church-associated schools • nuns • Primarily vocal music used • Instruments • used for accompaniment • considered inappropriate for church • after ca. 1100 – increased use in church

3. Gregorian Chant • Official music of Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages • melody set to sacred Latin texts • unaccompanied • monophonic • calm, otherworldly quality • voice of the church • flexible rhythm, without meter, little sense of beat

4. Gregorian Chant • Named after Pope Gregory I (the Great) • reigned A.D. 590-604 • Composed over many centuries • A.D. 600-1300 – several thousand melodies known today • originally passed along by oral tradition • notated as number of chants grew • most composers completely unknown • church modes

5. Listening Examples • Kyrie from Mass IX (“Orbis Factor”) • notated in the Liber Usualis • monophonic • ternary form

6. Listening Examples • O Successores • Hildegard of Bingen • 1098-1179 • Abbess of Rupertsburg • drone • foreshadows word painting

7. Secular Music in the Middle Ages • 12th and 13th century French nobles • troubadours – South • trouvères – North • composed songs of love, Crusades, dance, spinning • melodies notated w/o rhythm • performed with a regular meter • Listening Example • Estampie – unknown composer • triple meter with fast, strong beat • Instrumentation: rebec, pipe, psaltery

8. The Development of Polyphony • Organum • chant with one or more additional melodic lines • ca. 700-900 – improvised at strict intervals of fifth or fourth; not notated • ca. 900-1200 – organum becomes polyphonic • not in strict parallel motion • ca. 1100 – rhythmic differences begin to occur • low voice – chant in very long notes • upper voice – organum line in shorter notes

9. The Development of Polyphony • School of Notre Dame • Composers: Leonin, Perotin, & followers • centered in Cathedral of Notre Dame • developed measured rhythm • definite time values / clearly defined meter • limited rhythms (subdivided in three) • Listening example • Alleluya. Pascha nostrum immolatus est – Leonin • cantus firmus • examples of measured and unmeasured rhythm

10. 14th Century Music in Italy & France • Historical background • Hundred Years War (1337-1453) • Bubonic plague (ca. 1350) kills ¼ of Europe • Weakening feudal system / Rivaling popes • Secular music takes precedence • Ars nova (“new art”) • new system of rhythmic notation (almost any rhythm) / use of syncopation • polyphonic music not based on chant being composed

11. Ars Nova Composers • Francesco Landini (?-1397, Italy) • Background • blind from childhood • organist, poet, scholar, invented new string instument • exclusively secular subjects for his music • Ecco la primavera • ballata written for two voices • instrumental accompaniment added (sackbut, shawm, drum) • Form: Intro (AB) – ABBAA [ternary]

12. Ars Nova Composers • Guillaume de Machaut (ca. 1300-1377, France) • Background • court official for various royal families • at age 60, fell in love with 19-year-old • exchanged letters & poems • age difference ended relationship • writes narrative poem to immortalize their love • Le Livre Dou Voir Dit (The Book of the True Poem)

13. Listening Examples - Machaut • Puis qu’en oubli sui de vous (Since I am forgotten by you, ca. 1363) • also contained in Voir Dit • “farewell to joy” • vocal melody with two accompanying parts with exceptionally low range (performed by two solo voices) • Notre Dame Mass • first complete polyphonic treatment of mass ordinary • Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei • Agnus Dei • ternary form, triple meter, based on chant