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Chapter Five: Medieval Music, 476-1450

Chapter Five: Medieval Music, 476-1450. The Middle Ages (476-1450). The “ Middle Ages ” was the time between the fall of Rome and the Age of Discovery The Roman Catholic Church was the dominant spiritual and administrative force in Medieval Europe

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Chapter Five: Medieval Music, 476-1450

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  1. Chapter Five:Medieval Music, 476-1450

  2. The Middle Ages (476-1450) • The “Middle Ages” was the time between the fall of Rome and the Age of Discovery • The Roman Catholic Church was the dominant spiritual and administrative force in Medieval Europe • The Church and the court vied for political control • Profound spirituality

  3. Music in the Monastery • Religion was centered in rural monasteries (for monks) and convents (for nuns) • Mass: the most important service in the church cycle • A symbolic reenactment of the Last Supper • Gregorian chant was the music used • Gregorian Chant: A unique collection of thousands of religious songs that carry the theological message of the Church • Sung in Latin • Named for Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540-604) • Musical notation- Around 1000, musicians started putting notes on a grid of lines and spaces that were identified by note names

  4. Gregorian Chant • Unaccompanied vocal music • Also called Plainsong • Monophonic texture: All voices in unison • Free flowing style creates a timeless, otherworldly sound • Lack of meter or regular rhythm • Syllabic singing: only one or two notes for each syllable of text • Melismatic singing: many notes sung to just one syllable of text

  5. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) • A woman of extraordinary intellect and imagination • A playwright, poet, musician, naturalist, pharmacologist, and visionary • Advised popes and kings • Founded a convent • Had visions which she transformed into poetry and chant

  6. O rubor sanguinis (O Redness of Blood) • Composed circa 1150 • Example of Gregorian chant • Starkly vivid text honoring Saint Ursula • Syllabic and Melismatic singing

  7. Music in the Cathedral • 1150-1350: “The Age of Cathedrals” • Started in northern France • Large, urban cathedrals that served as houses of worship and municipal civic centers • Built in the Gothic style

  8. Music in the Cathedral: Polyphony • Polyphony - multiple independent musical voices • 13th-century Paris was the first home of the new Gothic Polyphony centered at the Cathedral of Notre Dame • Master Leoninus (fl. 1169-1201) and Master Perotinus (“the Great,” fl. 1198-1236) • Magnus liber organi – book of religious music written by Leonitus; revised and added to by Pertoninus • Created a new style of music: organum: one, two, or three voices are added on top of an existing chant • Creative spirit breaking free from ancient chant

  9. Perotinus: OrganumVideruntomnes(All the End of the Earth) • Four voice organum • Tenor: The sustaining line of the borrowed chant • From Latin tenore meaning “to hold” • Mensural notation: “Measured notation” to specify musical rhythm as well as pitch • Began in the 13th and 14th centuries

  10. Notre Dame of Reims • Rivaled Notre Dame in Paris in both music and architecture in the 14th century • 100 east of Paris • Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377): Most important composer of his day; also an esteemed poet • Over 150 works survive

  11. Musical Portions of the Mass

  12. Machaut: Messede Nostre Dame (Mass of Our Lady - c. 1360) • Best known work of medieval music • Kyrie • Alternation between chant and polyphony • Disaprity between rhythm and harmony • Interplay between dissonant and consonant chord

  13. Music at the Court • 1150-1400: The court emerged as center for patronage of the arts • Popular song and dance • Women were able to participate in court entertainment

  14. Troubadours and Trouvères • Poet-musicians of France • Name from French trouver – “to find” • “Finders” or inventors of the chanson • Chanson: “song;” new genre of vocal expression • Several thousand chansons were created • Mostly monophonic love songs • Ideals of faith and devotion • Countess of Dia (mid twelfth century)

  15. A Battle Carol for the English Court • Henry V (1386-1422): Most illustrious English king in the late Middle Ages • Hundred Years’ War: Took place between the French and the English on French soil • Battle of Agincourt (October 25, 1415): Henry’s greatest victory • Celebrated in song • Carol: a song in the local language; usually in strophic form

  16. Medieval Musical Instruments • Pipe organ: principal instrument of the monastery and cathedral • Was the only instrument admitted by church authorities • More variety of instruments at court • Haut: Loud instruments; often used for dance music • Sackbut, shawm, cornetto • Bas: Soft instruments • Flute (recorder), fiddle (vielle), harp, lute • Vielle: Distant ancestor of the modern violin

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