1. Early Medieval Music and Art
Romanesque Period
Bayeax tapestry, France, 1088

2. Influences Rise of Christianity Feudalism
Church was sole patron of the arts
Medieval Christianity emphasized salvation while life was full of suffering
Poverty and labor were virtues—reduced temptation for pleasurable pursuits
Monasteries were centers of scholarly activity
Greek culture was condemned because it was pagan; works of Plato and Aristotle were banned
Feudalism
Provided protection and economic stability for lower classes
Enabled nobility to exploit lower class for economic and military purposes
Feudal lords were often bishops or archbishops
Nobles provided wealth while monks directed construction and decoration of churches
Church and feudalism together were a fortress of economic and political power based on agrarian and spiritual control
Church became the supreme power in Medieval Europe

3. Medieval Castle

4. Romanesque Architecture

5. Characteristics of Romanesque Architecture
Stone arches
Adapted from Romans
Solid and strong; capable of bearing tremendous weight
Dark vast spaces
Massive walls
Little light
Not concerned with proportion or balance
Arches often in threes to reflect trinity
Lack of precision
Functional
Intended for large group meetings
Quiet, dark spaces to contemplate God

6. Cloisters
Cloisters

7. Structure of Churches Nave-Large central area
Aisle-Space on either side of nave
Crossing-Area where Transept meets Nave
Choir-Area for choir to sit
Transept-Perpendicular to Nave, separates congregation from altar
Chancel-Area for altar and rituals
Apse-semicircular part of church, often capped with a dome
Ambulatory-Passageway around Apse
Radiating Chapel-Areas where relics were stored

8. Manuscripts Covers Gilded (decorated with gold)
Books were either in rotulus (scroll) or codex (stacked and bound pages)
Parchment was thick and vellum was softer and thinner; both made of calf skin
Until the invention of the printing press, all books were called manuscripts

10. Illuminations Manuscript illustrations
From Pope Gregory’s
“Moralia on Job” (France)
“Christ in Majesty” from
Stavelot Bible (Belgium)
Winchester Bible (England)
Manuscript illustrations
featured biblical figures, used saturated colors

11. Rules for Art
“The substance of religious scenes is not left to the initiative of the artists; it derives from the principles laid down by the Catholic Church and religious tradition…His art alone belongs to the painter, its organization and arrangement belong to the clergy”
Second council of Nicaea, 787
Jesus on the cross must be shown with his mother on his right and St. John on the left
Only Jesus’ halo contains a cross; saints have halos without crosses
Only God, Jesus, angels, and apostles can be shown with bare feet; Mary and the saints must have their feet covered
Other patterns emerged as conventions
St Peter depicted with a short beard
St Paul bald with a long beard

13. Early Medieval Sacred Music
Plainchant
Single, simple melodic line
Sacred text
Notation used neumes
Hildegard Von Bingen
Antiphons (poetic text set to chant)
Ordo Virtutum
Allegorical morality play
Portrays struggle for the human soul (Anima) between the Devil and the Virtues
Virtues include Humility, Chastity, Hope, Innocence, Modesty, Mercy, Patience, Obedience, Faith, Knowledge of God, Fear of God
Gregorian Chant
Single melodic line
Pope Gregory often credited with the development of Gregorian chant, but this is debated by scholars
Used church modes
Improvisation was common
Performed by monks and nuns
Example—Adoro Te Devote by Thomas Aquinas:
Example—Da Pacem, Anonymous

14. Guido of Arezzo Benedictine Monk from Arezzo, Italy
Music theorist, credited with inventing modern musical notation
Devised the Guidonian Hand to assist with the teaching of music reading
Developed system of solmization (use of syllables as mnemonic device) to teach singing

15. Guidonian Hand
Developed in the 11th century, the Guidonian Hand is a mnemonic system in which musical “steps” are arranged in a spiral across twenty joints on the left hand. Like the alphabet, it was a basis for understanding relationships between different characters – in this case, musical notes (ut, re, mi, fa, sol, and la). It’s not certain whether medieval singers used the Hand during performance, but we can be sure their musical thinking was informed by it.

16. Late Medieval Art and Music Gothic Period

17. Influences
Year 1000 passed without the end of the world; people began worrying less about salvation and pursued a more pleasurable life
Scholasticism
Product of Medieval universities
Argued that while religious dogma was infallible, it could be explained and clarified by logic and reason
Curriculum included quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music under the heading “Mathematics”) and trivium (rhetoric, grammar, and logic)
Weakening of Church
Corruption was well-known
High positions were obtained by trade and barter
Popes were ex-communicating each other
Crusades
Cultural influences from the East spread around Europe
Crusaders returned more intellectually and economically independent
Development of towns and systems of roads

18. Gothic Cathedrals
Built as expressions of faith, as well as magnificent structures to compete with neighboring towns
Located in public squares surrounded by the homes of its builders, paid for by public subscription
Functioned as church, art gallery, concert hall, theatre, library, and school

19. Symbolism
St. Matthew (man), St. Mark (lion), St. Luke (ox), St. John (eagle)
Numerical references: 1=God, 2=dual nature of Christ, 3=Holy Trinity, 4=Gospels, 5=wounds of Christ, 6=days of creation, 7=deadly sins
Light symbolized Jesus as the “light of the world”

20. Architecture Pointed arch
Flying buttresses—half arches that transferred outward thrust to piers outside the walls
More light than Romanesque architecture
Attention to vertical space
Stained glass—often in the form of rose windows
Gargoyles—diverted water and symbolized protection

21. Rose Windows

22. Flying Buttress

23. Cathedral of St. John the Divine

24. West Entrance Detail

25. Gargoyle

26. Giotto Most well-known painter of the period
Famous for his fresco, Life of Christ
Fresco is a technique of painting on wet plaster

27. Organum Characteristics Leonin(1150-1201) Perotin(1200-?)
A plainchant melody with at least one added voice
Organum duplum—2 voices, Organum triplum—3 voices, Organum quadruplum—4 voices
Added voices may include a supporting bass line or may follow the melody in parallel motion
Originally, the second voice was improvised; later composers began writing down more complex parts, creating polyphony
Often incorporates melismatic melodies—many notes contained in a single syllable
Leonin( )
First known composer of organum
French
Works preserved in Magnus Liber—book of organum
Perotin(1200-?)
Also French, known for organum
Works preserved in Magnus Liber
Known for taking a well-known melody and stretching it out so that it becomes a drone, over which more rhythmically complex parts are woven

28. Rhythmic Modes Based on poetic rhythmic patterns Long-short (trochee)
Short-long (iamb)
Long-short-short (dactyl)
Short-short-long (anapaest)
Long-long (spondee)
Short-short-short (tribrach or choree)

29. Rhythmic Modes

30. Clausula
A clausula is a self-contained bit of organum ending with a cadence.
It contained a polyphonic section for two or more voices sung in discant style (note against note) over a “cantus firmus” (chant melody)
Composers composed many "substitute" clausulae that were designed to fit within the organum as a subsitute for the original.

31. Secular Music Troubadors/Trouveres Musical Plays
Composers/performers of lyric poetry
Themes of chivalry and courtly love
Many humorous or vulgar satires
Bernart de Ventadorn
Beatriz de Dia
Wizlau von Rugen
Musical Plays
Adam de la Halle—Jeu de Robin et de Marion

32. Motet
Eventually words were added to the clausulae and the first motets were born
Rhythm strayed from earlier rhythmic modes and instead was driven by the text
Sacred and secular motets were written
Some motets incorporated more than one language
Phillipe de Vitry and Gulliame Machaut were two significant composers of Medieval motets

33. Instruments Lute Pipe and Tabor Sacbut Bladder Pipe Organetto Rebec
Hurdy-Gurdy