© McGraw-Hill Higher Education Music: An Appreciation 9th Edition by Roger Kamien Part II The Middle Ages

Time-Line Middle Ages ( ) Rome sacked by Vandals—455 Beowolf—c. 700 First Crusade—1066 Black Death— 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 2 nd Vatican Council Monophonic melody set to Latin text Flexible rhythm without meter and beat Named for Pope Gregory I (r ) 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 Basic Set, CD 1:63 Brief Set, CD 1:47 Early Gregorian Chant Monophonic Ternary form: A B A

Listening O successores (You successors) Hildegard of Bingen Vocal Music Guide: p. 88 Basic Set, CD 1:66 Brief Set, CD 1:50 Chant Originally written without accompaniment This recording includes a drone—long, sustained notes Note extended range of melody Written 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 a 2 nd line added to chant Additional part initially improvised, not written Paralleled chant line at a different pitch added line grew more independent Contrary motion, then separate melodic curve c 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 3 rd dissonant Modern chords built of 3 rd s, 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 14 th Century composer ( ) Best known for his Notre Dame Mass

Listening Agnus Dei from Notre Dame Mass by Guillaume de Machaut Vocal Music Guide: p. 99 Basic Set, CD 1:71 Brief Set, CD 1:53 14 th Century, part of mass ordinary Polyphonic—4 voices (parts) Ternary form: A B A (form results from the text) Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: miserere nobis Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: dona nobis pacem