Music & Society

1. Music & Society In Medieval Tuscany

2. Music in the Church • Cathedrals helped indoctrinate the public & reinforced the structure of power. • Cruciform shape • Open, ethereal spaces w/ high windows • Altar faced East, towards Jerusalem • Visual art was stylized and didactic • Processions & spectacle highlighted meaning • Music helped get the message out

3. People “heard” Mass • Rood screen made a clear view impossible • Public only took communion a few times a year (Easter, Christmas, etc.) • Public did not participate in the Mass through responses • Public clearly separated from clergy • Public did not understand Latin

4. Parts of the Cathedral • Ambulatory: walkway around the apse • Apse: Semicircle east of the sanctuary • Sanctuary: Contained the high altar • Presbytery: Assisting priests sat here • Choir: Where the choir/clergy assembled • Transept: Horizontal part of the cross • Nave: Where the public stood

6. Music happens in the Choir (duh) • The Choir (architecture) is the place where the choir (singers) sat. • Divided into 2 sides, decani & cantoris, which faced each other • Rood screen separated the clergy & public • Rood screen often wooden or stone, and highly decorated

9. So what did they sing? • Gregorian Chant was the official music of the Catholic Church. • Supposedly dictated by God to the Holy Spirit, who (in the form of a dove) sang it to Pope Gregory, who sang it to a scribe, who wrote it down. • Much like a game of telephone • Good story, bad history

10. Musical Style • Smooth conjunct melodies • Stepwise motion & small leaps • Nonmetric (no strong rhythm or beat) • Melodies governed by 8 “modes” or scales • Mode: Pattern of whole & half steps • No sudden or climactic cadences • All this is aesthetically intentional!

11. For example… • Chant from the Mass Ordinary • Sanctus, Sanctus Sanctus • Dominus Deus Sabaoth • Pleni sunt caeli et tua gloria • Hosanna in excelsis • Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domine • Hosanna in excelsis

12. Writing it down • Bodleian Library, MS add. 30850, f. 105v • 11th century • Written in neumatic notation

13. Notation evolves • By the 14th century, square notation had replaced the older styles • Note the use of a musical staff, a forerunner of our modern one

14. But what is the Mass Ordinary? • The texts of the Mass are divided into two main parts: • Ordinary texts stay the same every day • Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei • Proper texts change every day • Alleluia, Gradual, Offertory, Communion, etc. • As time wears on, composers begin to focus on the Ordinary texts for polyphonic music.

15. Polyphony • Polyphony probably existed in Italian medieval churches, but none survives. • In the late 14th century, there is a surge of polyphonic sacred music in Italy • Johannes Ciconia (1370-1412) • Son of a priest • From France, but worked in Rome • Style heavily influence by French music

16. Ciconia, Gloria (polyphonic) • Gloria in excelsis Deo. Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. Laudamus te. Benedicimus te. Adoramus te. Glorificamus te. Gratia agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam. Domine Deus, Rex caelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris. Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis….

17. Music in the City • Secular music in medieval Tuscany took several forms: • Madrigal • Caccia • Ballata • Lauda • Dance music

18. Madrigal • Usually written for 2 voices • Subjects often idyllic or pastoral • Love was a popular theme • Sometimes satirical • Several 3-line stanzas and a closing couplet • Closing couplet called ritornello • All stanzas had the same music • Eg. Jacopo da Bologna, Vestisse la cornachia

19. Caccia • Flourished c. 1345-1370 • Written for 2-3 equal voices, usually canonic, w the lowest voice set freely • Means “hunt” or “chase” • Irregular poetic forms, often w/ ritornello • Descriptive vocal effects mimic the hunt • Bird songs, horn calls, echos, etc. • Eg. Francesco Landini, De! Dinmi tu

20. Ballata • Flourished later than the madrigal & caccia • Originally a song to accompany dancing • Usually for 2-3 voices • Similar to the French ballade in structure • Francesco Landini (1325-1397) • Leading composer of ballate • Blinded as a child by smallpox • Eg. Landini, Non so qual I’ mia volglia

21. Lauda • Monophonic, vernacular songs • Sung by lay confraternities and penitents in processions • 13th c. Italy saw a penitential craze, laudesi companies increased, like Orsanmichele in Florence • Quasi-sacred: religious texts, but not in Latin and not liturgical • Eg. Laudate la surrectione

22. Other monophonic song • Trovatori: like the French Troubadours • Literally “finders of song” • Often aristocratic, singer-songwriters • Example of Troubadour song • Beatriz, Countess of Dia- A chantar me’r • Courtly love a popular theme

23. Dance Music • Istampita • Saltarello • Ballata (instrumental performance)

24. In conclusion • Sacred music • Gregorian Chant • Some sacred polyphony • Laude are quasi-sacred • Secular Music • Madrigal • Caccia • Ballata • Dance music

25. To what purpose? • Each type of music served a different function in society • Chant was reserved for the liturgy itself, and was vital in meditation and indoctrination • Laude provided devotional music • Madrigals, Caccie, Ballate all sung by the nobility as entertainment.