Part II The Middle Ages
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Transcript of Part II The Middle Ages
Part II
The Middle Ages
Time-Line
• Middle Ages (450-1450)• Rome sacked by Vandals—455• Beowolf—c. 700• First Crusade—1066• Black Death—1347-52• Joan of Arc executed by English—1431
The Middle Ages• Period of wars and mass migration
• Strong class distinctions• Nobility: castles, knights in armor, feasting• Peasantry: lived in huts, serfs—part of land• Clergy: ruled everyone, only monks literate
• Architecture• Early: Romanesque
• Visual Arts• Stressed iconic/symbolic, not realism
• Late Middle Ages saw technological progress
• Late: Gothic
Ch. 1: Music in the Middle Ages
• Church dominates musical activity• Most musicians were priests
• Music primarily vocal and sacred• Instruments not used in church
• Women did not sing in mixed church settings
Ch. 2: Gregorian Chant
• Was official music of Roman Catholic Church• No longer common since 2nd Vatican Council
• Monophonic melody set to Latin text• Flexible rhythm without meter and beat• Named for Pope Gregory I (r. 590-604)• Originally no music notation system
• Notation developed over several centuries (see p. 66)
The Church Modes• Different ½ and whole steps than modern scales
Listening
Alleluia: Vidimus stellam(We Have Seen His Star)Vocal Music Guide: p. 86
Early Gregorian Chant
Monophonic
Ternary form: A B A
ListeningO successores (You successors)
Hildegard of BingenVocal Music Guide: p. 88Basic Set, CD 1:66 Brief Set, CD 1:50
ChantOriginally written without accompanimentThis recording includes a drone—long, sustained notes
Note extended range of melodyWritten for nuns by a nun (to be sung in convent)
Ch. 3: Secular Music in the Middle Ages
Troubadours (southern France) and Trouveres (northern France) Nobles wrote poems/songs for court use Performed by jongleurs (minstrels)
Topics: courtly love, Crusades, dancing
Estampie
Medieval dance music Strong beat (for dancing) Notated as chant: only a single melody line Performers probably improvised accompaniment
• Listening example—Basic Set, CD 1:67
Brief Set, CD 1:51
Ch. 4: The Development of Polyphony: Organum• Between 700-900 a 2nd line added to chant
• Additional part initially improvised, not written
• Paralleled chant line at a different pitch • 900-1200 added line grew more independent
• Contrary motion, then separate melodic curve • c. 1100 note-against-note motion abandoned
• 2 lines w/ individual rhythmic and melodic content• New part, in top voice, moved faster than the chant line
School of Notre Dame: Measured Rhythm • Parisian composers developed a rhythmic notation
• Chant notation had only indicated pitch, not rhythm• Notre Dame’s choirmasters Leonin & Perotin were leaders
• Medieval thought was that interval of 3rd dissonant• Modern chords built of 3rds, considered consonant
• Composers wrote music not based on chant• Borrowed secular melodies to put in sacred music
Ch. 5: Fourteenth-Century Music: The “New Art” In Italy and France
• New music notation system had developed
Guillaume de Machaut
• Also famous as a poet• Though a priest, spent most of life working at court
• Wrote both sacred and secular music
• New system allowed for better rhythmic notation• Syncopation, now possible, became common
• The new type of music was called ars nova
• Mid- to late 14th Century composer (1300-1377)
• Best known for his Notre Dame Mass
ListeningAgnus Dei from Notre Dame Mass
by Guillaume de MachautVocal Music Guide: p. 99Basic Set, CD 1:71 Brief Set, CD 1:53
14th Century, part of mass ordinaryPolyphonic—4 voices (parts)Ternary form: A B A (form results from the text)
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: miserere nobisAgnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: miserere nobisAgnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: dona nobis pacem