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Secular Song and Instrumental Music to 1300
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Latin songs Conductus — serious topics — eleventh to thirteenth centuries Planctus — lament in praise of dead friend or patron Goliard songs — informal — eleventh to twelfth centuries Goliards — dropouts from clerical studies name from “patron” Golias (Goliath) song topics — praise of wine, women, song; political satire Carmina Burana — collection from Benediktbeuern (in Bavaria) in thirteenth century
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Minstrels, or jongleurs — from tenth century
Performers, not necessarily composers — variety of activities acrobatics and juggling singing and playing songs and dances chansons de geste — epic, historical tales in vernacular ex. Chanson de Roland — late eleventh century, tells events of ninth century Depended on court or (less successfully) public donations Gathered in scolae in Netherlands at Lent to learn new repertoire
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Feudalism and chivalry — development to eleventh century
Feudal hierarchy — from warrior lords to serfs Chivalry — formalization of feudalism as courtly culture tournaments — ritualized combat, held in conjunction with festivals crusades — supported by church, removed warlike force from Europe spiritualization of knighthood — Christian ideals of love, sacrifice, self-denial; cult of the Virgin Mary service to women as idealized model of protecting the weak — courtoisie Courtly love (fin’ amors) — Andreas Capellanus, Tractatus de amore (ca. 1180) — courts of love
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Troubadours In southern France or Aquitaine — vernacular Occitan (langue d’oc) or Provençal – ca to 1250 Aquitainian secular song arises from chivalry Troubadours — from trobar (to find) or trope (?) Trobairitz — women composers Individuals known from vidas in song manuscripts
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Texts in troubadour songs
Numerous types based on different literary themes Canso — dealt with courtly love (fin’ amors) Alba — song by friend and lovers’ lookout, refrain characteristic Tenso, partimen, joc parti — discussion or debate about courtly love Planh — comparable to planctus, but in vernacular Sirventes — political or moral subjects Dansa — popular style dance song (for carole), characterized by refrain Pastorela — popular knight and shepherdess story
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Style in troubadour songs
Scoring — voice, probably with instruments Rhythm — text-based — probably more measured than chant Melody — simple lines, became steadily less dependent on modal construction wider ambitus than chant repetitious figures general freedom — some approach major-minor forms strophic — various simple patterns of stanzas, sometimes with refrains open and closed cadences to create continuity and finality
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Trouvères In France (langue d’oïl) and England — ca. 1150 to ca. 1300
Rise of power of north over south in France
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Texts in trouvère songs
Types adapted from troubadours chanson d’amour (from canso) aube (from alba) jeu-parti (from joc-parti) pastourelle (from pastorela) Poetry often characterized by religious imagery, references to Virgin Mary, crusades more organized than troubadour lyrics
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Style of trouvère songs
Rhythm — more likely to be measured than in troubadour songs Melody — short, clear phrasing Form — more carefully patterned than troubadour songs strophic, with envoi at end common outline for each stanza: frons cauda pes pes volta A A B a b a b c d b(?) more patterned forms begin
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Minnesinger Courtly composers in Germany — from ca. 1170
From Minne, courtly love — modeled on troubadours
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Texts of Minnelieder Middle High German Types Lied (from canso)
Tagelied (from alba) Leich (from lai) — multiple stanzas of text but through-composed Wechsel (dialogue of man and woman) Tanzlied (dance song) Kreuzlied (crusade song) Spruch (based on sirventes) — moral adage, political statement in single stanza More sober than troubadours, often religious Often praise of nature (especially winter, summer)
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Style in Minnelied Rhythm — German based on stress rather than duration Melody — less clearly major-minor oriented Form — mostly strophic structure of each stanza — Bar Stollen (A) Stollen (A) | Abgesang (B) || Abgesang often rhymes musically with Stollen (i.e., balanced binary form)
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Medieval songs in Spain
Occitan influence in northern Spain until ca (Moors in south) Cantigas de gesta modeled on French chansons de geste Troubadours in courts — canciones de amor modeled on troubadour canso
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Alfonso X (el Sabio) Cantigas de Santa María
Praise miracles of Virgin Mary Form — villancico estribillo estrofa estribillo estrofa . . . A b b a A b b a chorus solo chorus solo
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Medieval secular songs in Italy
Lauda — used by lay fraternities (“laudesi”) in the Franciscan movement, penitents and pilgrims Influence of traveling (crusading) troubadours Popular secular dance music — ballata form ripresa piede piede volta ripresa A b b a A
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loudness as the main classification
Medieval instruments haut and bas — loudness as the main classification
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Organs Church organ — built in place
Positive organ — placed on table, required assistant for bellows Portative organ — held on lap, single player
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Trumpets Straight design For heraldic use
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Strings Use favored for nobility — classical tradition of ethos
accompaniment for singing — troubadours and trouvères Types bowed vielle (Fiedel, viuola) — gut or silk strings rebec — high range hurdy-gurdy (organistrum) — crank and keys plucked lute — played with plectrum (stiff or flexible) Psaltery harp — played with finger and thumb
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Wind instruments Horns oliphant — military, royal, status symbol
cow or deer horn Reeds shawm (bombarde) — loud, outdoors bagpipe – capped reed, softer than shawm or modern bagpipe Flute family cross-blown recorder and notched flute pipe and tabor
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Percussion Indefinite pitch Pitched
miscellaneous drums, including tabor nakers — small drums in a pair tambourine Pitched bells dulcimer
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Uses of instruments to 1300 Instruments in the church
Use limited – documentary evidence generally in context of condemnation Depictions in art often symbolic rather than realistic Organ accepted
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Instruments and vocal music
Use with singers — string instruments favored (vielle; also lute and harp) doubling (heterophonic ornamentation) drone, accompanying rhythmic figuration prelude, interlude, postlude Instruments could substitute for vocalists
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Instruments in dance music
Social position — participatory rather than staged for an audience aristocracy peasants ecclesiastical disapproval — related to paganism, sensual Types of dances line dances — related to procession circle dances — carole couples dances — seem to be later
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Forms and genres in dance music
Forms — like Sequence paired puncta often open and closed endings Types of dance music ductia group dance quick tempo few, equal-length sections stantipes (estampie) couples dance? several sections of different lengths
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Scoring for dance music
Indoors rebec bagpipe — could be carried in processional dance Outdoors pipe and tabor — useful in processions shawm(s)
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Questions for discussion
Why did it become necessary to create a new word (troubadour or trouvère) to distinguish a composer from other types of musicians at a particular point in the history of Western music? How can musicians who want to play medieval music in historically appropriate scorings attempt to discover what was done, since the written music does not specify instrumentation?
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