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Music in the Middle Ages

Music in the Middle Ages. Part 2, Section 1 - 9/26/17. General World History. Spanned from 450 - 1450 Began at the fall of the Roman Empire Later years had Gothic Cathedrals, towns grew, & universities founded Social classes Nobility : Castles, knights, hunting, feasting, & tournaments

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Music in the Middle Ages

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  1. Music in the Middle Ages Part 2, Section 1 - 9/26/17

  2. General World History • Spanned from 450 - 1450 • Began at the fall of the Roman Empire • Later years had Gothic Cathedrals, towns grew, & universities founded • Social classes • Nobility: Castles, knights, hunting, feasting, & tournaments • Peasantry: One-room huts, bound to soil & overlords • Clergy (Monks): Catholic church, monopoly on learning • Hundred Year War, Black Death, River Popes, Crusades Turn to p. 72 in book

  3. Music in Middle Ages • Cathedrals dominated landscape & mind - center of musical life! • Centuries of only sacred music • Important musicians = Priests OR worked for the church • Women not allowed to sing in church, but nuns in convents were • Hildegard of Bingen - Abbess, first woman composer • Most music was vocal since the church frowned on instruments due to their earlier role in pagan rites • Few medieval instruments have survived • Organs & bells became common • Music manuscripts do not indicate tempo, dynamics or names of instruments to be used • Pictures all we have to go on

  4. Gregorian Chant Part 2, Section 2

  5. What is it? • Melody set to sacred Latin texts & sung without accompaniment • Offical music of the Roman Catholic church for over 1,000 years! • Represents the voice of the church, rather than that of any individual • Used to enhance specific parts of religious services • Free-flowing rhythm, moves by step within a narrow range of pitches • Conveys a calm, otherworldly quality; floating, almost improvisational • Composers who wrote chant are almost completely unknown • More modern composers have based original compositions on chant melodies

  6. History & It’s Use • Named after Pope Gregory I (the Great), reorganized the Catholic liturgy • Some of it’s practices came from Jewish synagogues (first Christians) of the first centuries after Christ • Singing psalms - basis of chant • Passed along by oral tradition, but notated as the number of chants grew to make sure they were sung uniformly • Medieval monks spent several hours of each day singing in two types of services… • The Office (no, not the TV show): 8 services • The Mass: Ritual reenactment of the Last Supper • Some texts are same day to day, other texts only for special occasions

  7. Church Modes • Unfamiliar scales that are used in chant help create the “otherworldly” sound • Church Modes = modes • Like other scales, consist of seven different tones & an eighth tone that duplicates the first tone an octave higher • Their patterns of whole & half steps are different 1) Ioanian 4) Lydian 7) Locrian 2) Dorian 5) Mixolydian 3) Phyrgian 6) Aeolian

  8. Listenings Title - Alleluia: Vidimus stellam (We Have Seen His Star)Form - ? Title - O successores (You successors)Composer - Hildegard of Bingen

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