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Key Points in History  Fall of the Roman Empire (476 C.E.)  Charlemange crowned first Holy Roman Emperor (800)  Kublai Khan ( ), emperor of China  Last Crusade to the Holy Land (1270)  Marco Polo to China (1271)  Dante wrote the Divine Comedy (1307)  Black Death begins (1347)

Key Points in History  Geoffrey Chaucer gave us the Canterbury Tales (1386)  Joan of Arc is executed (1431)

Culture in the Middle Ages  Early Christian Church and the state were centers of power.  Much of the surviving music from this Era is religious because of the patronage of the church.  The later Middle Ages saw the rise of cities, cathedrals, and great works of both art and literature.  The ideals of knighthood and the devotion to the Virgin Mary helped raise the status of women.

Liturgical Music  The early music of the Christian Church was shaped in part by Greek, Hebrew, and Syrian influences.  Eventually it became necessary to assemble the ever-growing body of music into an organized liturgy.  The task took several generations, although tradition credits Pope Gregory the Great with codifying these melodies, known today as Gregorian Chant.

Liturgical Music-Chant  More than 3,000 melodies have survived, most of which are anonymous.  Its freely flowing vocal line follows the inflections of the Latin text and is generally free from regular accent.  It avoids wide leaps, allowing its gentle contours to create a kind of musical speech.  It’s free from regular phrase structure and maintains a continuous, smooth vocal line.

Liturgical Music-Chant  Chant is classified by the way the notes are set to the text:  Syllabic- one note per syllable of text.  Neumatic-2-3 notes sung to a syllable of text.  Melismatic- many notes per syllable of text.

Liturgical Music-Chant  Early chants were passed down orally.  Early chant notation used neumes.  These neumes suggested the contours of the melody but not the rhythm.  The various scale patterns used are called the church modes.

The Mass  Services in the Roman Catholic Church can be divided into two categories: the daily offices, and the Mass.  The prayers that make up the Mass fall into two categories:  Proper-text changes according to the day.  Ordinary-texts are the same for every Mass.

The Mass: Kyrie  The Kyrie is the first item of the Ordinary.  The text is a Greek prayer for mercy in a three-part (ternary) form, consisting of nine invocations to God.  Three of “Kyrie eleison” (Lord, have mercy).  Three of “Christe eleison” (Christ, have mercy).  Three of “Kyrie eleison” (Lord, have mercy).

The Mass:Kyrie  The melody has three different musical phrases (A B C) sung to the repeated text as follows: A-A-A-B-B-B-C-C-C’  The structure of the text and music is symbolic: the number three evokes the Trinity- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is performed as a responsorial.  This is the only part of the Mass sung in Greek (Pope Gregory), the rest is in Latin.

Medieval Cloister  Cloister is a place for religious seclusion.  Cloisters were places of prayer, scholarship, preaching, charity and healing.  Cloisters allowed people to withdraw from a secular society.  There were monasteries for men.  Convents for women.

Hildegard of Bingen  1150 founded convent in Rupertsberg, Germany.  Known for miracles and prophecies.  Recorded three collections of visions and prophecies in manuscript.  Composed religious poetry with music.

Hildegard of Bingen  Characteristics of Hildegard’s poetry:  Brilliant imagery  Visionary language  She composed and collected in a volume: Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations, for the liturgical church year.

Hildegard of Bingen  The Play of Virtues (Ordo virtutum) was Hildegard’s best known morality play.  A Morality play is a drama meant to teach virtues.

The Rise of Polyphony  Early polyphony emerged at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.  Polyphony evolved toward the end of the Romanesque period (c ).  Leonin was the earliest known composer of the Notre Dame School.  Perotin was Leonin’s successor, added two and three melodies to chant.

The Rise of Polyphony  Polyphony necessitated the use of notated rhythm and pitch.  Rhythm was chosen from a group of patterns called rhythmic modes.

The Rise of Polyphony-Organum  Earliest polyphonic music.  Second melody added above or below the older Gregorian melody.  The second melody is added at an interval of a 4 th or a 5 th above or below pre-existing melody.  The melodies would move in parallel, oblique, or contrary motion.  Oblique motion occurs when one part is stationary (drone) while the other part moves.

The Early Medieval Motet  A new genre emerged near the end of the thirteenth century (motet).  Composers wrote texts to the second melody in organum.  Many three-voice motets have different texts (polytextual).  Sometimes the languages were mixed in one piece. Most commonly French and Latin.

The Early Medieval Motet  Motets can either be Sacred or Secular.  Motets can have an instrumental accompaniment.  A Gregorian chant is often the basis for a motet.  The other voices are composed around the chant.  Composers built the motet from the bottom voice (tenor), up. The tenor held the pre- existing tune.

Transition into Secular Music  Secular music grew in a separate tradition from sacred polyphony.  The earliest secular songs that have been preserved were set to Latin texts, which suggests that they originated in university towns rather than in small villages.  Secular song texts focused on idealized love and the values of chivalry (code of behavior).  The religious wars (crusades) and medieval explorations enabled the exchange of musical instruments as well as theoretical ideas about music with Middle Eastern and Far Eastern cultures.

Medieval Minstrels  Different classes of secular musicians emerged.  Wandering actor-singers lived on the fringe of society (jongleurs).  Southern French high class musicians, sometimes members of the royal family (troubadours).  Northern French high class musicians (trouveres).  German courtly musicians (minnesingers).

Medieval Minstrels  The poems of the troubadours and trouveres had diverse subjects.  Poetry of secular songs often focused on idealized love and chivalry.  Secular songs were sung monophonically with improvised instrumental accompaniment.

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (c ) and the Troubadour Tradition  Southern French secular composer.  Musician at the court of the Marquis of Montferrat (northwest Italy).  Knighted for his bravery in battle.  Joined the fourth Crusade to the Holy Land.  Most likely died in battle alongside his patron.

The French Ars Nova  The Ars Nova (new art) movement began in 14 th century France and soon thereafter in Italy.  The music of the French Ars Nova is more refined and complex than music of the Ars Antiqua (old art) which it displaced.  With this came new developments in rhythm, meter, harmony, and counterpoint.

Guillaume de Machaut (c )  Machaut was a poet and composer of the French Ars Nova.  Double career as cleric and courtier.  Composed motets, chansons, and a polyphonic Mass: Ordinary.  Favored fixed text forms: rondeau, ballade, virelai.

Early Instrumental Music  The central role in art music was still reserved for vocal music.  Instruments played a supporting role in vocal literature, doubling the vocal line or accompanying the vocal line (improvisation).  Instrumental music was performed by ensembles divided by bas (soft) or haut (loud) instruments.  Instruments were also categorized by their use (indoor or outdoor).

Medieval Organs  Large organs required another person to physically pump the bellows.  Smaller organs (portative, positive) were portable and easy to travel with.  Some modern recordings today use period instruments for authenticity of sound.