Slide 1- Middle Ages & Renaissance – Middle Ages Music

In this lecture, we will be learning about the music of the Middle Ages.
Slide 2 – Plainchant or Gregorian Chant
Early Church music is an outpouring of the spiritual nature of the
Middle Ages. Liturgy refers to the set order of church services and to
the structure of each service. The collection of the melodies found in
the liturgy is often credited to Pope Gregory the great (590–604). These
melodies were organized into volumes and became known as Gregorian
chant (also plainsong or plainchant). These chants consist of a single-
line melody that normally have a narrow range and move stepwise. The
chants are also monophonic in texture (meaning that it lacks harmony
and counterpoint), are nonmetric with a flexible rhythm and are set to a
sacred Latin text. The “other-worldly” sound of the chants come from
the church modes.
Slide 3 – Plainchant or Gregorian Chant, cont.
More than 3,000 chant melodies survive. Chants were originally
handed down by oral tradition until the number increased to the point
where singers needed help remembering the shapes of the melodies.
Pope Gregory the Great was erroneously credited with codifying the
chant melodies, after having the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove sing
them to him, according to legend. In reality, the task of assembling the
chant melodies took several generations, but because of the legend this
music is known as Gregorian chant. The Gregorian melodies form an
immense body of music (over 3,000 chants) and were mostly
anonymous.
The first system of notation consisted of neumes which were little
ascending and descending symbols written above the words to suggest
the contour of the melody. Neumes eventually evolved into a system of
musical notation consisting of square notes on a four-line staff.

Slide 4 – Classes of Chant

Chant melodies fall into three main classes according to the ratio of
syllables to notes.
A syllabic setting consists of one note per syllable of text; a neumatic
setting will have up to five or six notes sung to a syllable of text; and a
melismatic setting has many notes per syllable of text. In the music on
this slide, the first 4 notes sung on “Al” along with the 2 notes sung on
“le” are examples of neumatic settings vs the many notes on “lu” which
is an example of a melismatic setting.

Slide 5 – Musical Portions of the Mass

To understand the music of the church it is important to understand the
liturgy, or structure and order of services. The services of the Roman
Catholic Church can be divided into two categories: the daily Offices,
which are a series of services celebrated at various hours of the day in
monasteries and convents, and the Mass, which is a reenactment of the
sacrifice of Christ. The Mass is the most solemn ritual of the Catholic
church, and the one attended most often by the public.
The collection of prayers that make up the Mass falls into two
categories: the Proper, with texts that vary from day to day, and the
Ordinary, with texts that remain the same in every mass. The texts of
the Mass are in Latin with the exception of the Kyrie, which is a Greek
text.
Slide 6 – Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) was the 10th child of a noble couple
who promised her to the service of the church as a tithe. She was raised
by a religious recluse and took her vows at the age of 14. From
childhood, she experienced visions and was reportedly able to tell the
future. She founded a new convent in Rupertsburg, Germany, in 1150.
Her major works include poetry collections and visions, a volume of
religious poetry, a sung morality play, scientific and medical writing,
and a liturgical cycle for the different feasts throughout the church year.
An example of Gregorian chant is O Successores. Some of her music
resembles that of Gregorian chant but contains many expressive leaps
and melismatic settings that convey the meaning of the words. The 2nd
group of listening examples here are both parts of the Mass. The Kyrie
is part of the ordinary and Alleluia is part of the proper. Both works
feature alternation between the choir and a leader, which is called
responsorial.
Slide 7 – 700-850 AD
From 700-850 AD, there were many innovations in church music. The
first of which is the beginning of the 2 nd melodic line. This 2nd line was
improvised and duplicated the chant at a different pitch normally using
parallel motion. Organum is the name for the change plus 1 line. In
organum, the original chant line becomes known as the cantus firmus.

This was also the time that began the 4 voice parts that we are familiar
with in choral settings. A voice was added that held a long note known
as tenere or tenor. Two voices were added above known as superius, or
soprano, & contratenor alto, or alto. A voice was also added below that
was called the contratenor bassus or bass.
Slide 8 – Rise of Polyphony
Polyphony is the combination of two or more simultaneous melodic
lines. It is an important development in the history of Western music,
occurring at the end of the Romanesque era (850–1150). Notated
polyphony began ca. 850, and the added voices became truly
independent ca. 900.
In the forefront of the polyphonic revolution were the composers at the
Cathedral of Notre Dame in the twelfth to thirteenth centuries.
Polyphony helped bring about the development of a more precise
method of rhythmic notation for the first time. Measured rhythm
indicated definite time values and a clear, defined meter. It used fixed
rhythm modes or patterns that could only be subdivided in threes, the
symbol of the Trinity.
In Notre Dame polyphony, Gregorian chant was used as a foundation,
atop which were added decorative upper voices. The chant moved along
in long, sustained notes, and was no longer recognizable as a melody.

Leonin, a choirmaster at the Cathedral, is credited with compiling the

Magnus liber organi (Great book of organum). This book contained
music for the entire church year, in the new polyphonic style using 2
voices. His successor, Perotin, expanded the number of voice parts for
organum to three and then four.

Listen to the polyphonic work from the Notre Dame School listed here.
Slide 9 – Middle Ages Secular Music
Outside of the cathedral there was an ever-growing repertory of songs
and dances that reflected all aspects of medieval life.
Minstrels were a class of musicians who wandered among courts and
towns, playing instruments, dancing, singing, juggling, presenting tricks
and animal acts, and performing plays. They lived on the fringes of
society.
On a different level were the poet-musicians often of noble birth from
the various courts of Europe. The troubadours were from southern
France, the trouvères from northern France, and the Minnesingers from
Germany.
The poetry praised the virtues of the age of chivalry: valor, honor,
nobility of character, and quest for perfect love. These songs were sung
monophonically with improvised accompaniment.
Wandering minstrels called jongleurs were also important during the
middle ages. They performed music and acrobatic tricks in castles,
taverns, and town squares. They were an important source of
information at this time singing songs that others had written and
playing instrumental dances on harps, fiddles, and lutes.
Slide 10 – Sumer is icumen in
Sumer is icumen in (Summer is come) is one of the earliest examples of
polyphony from England. Composed in 1250, it is set as a round,
meaning that each voice enters in succession with the same melody.
The text is written in Middle English, celebrating the coming of summer
and the renewal of all living things. There is also a sacred Latin text as
well, since the manuscript was copied at a religious institution. The
sacred text, Perspice Christicola, is a reflection on the Crucifixion.
The round can be sung by up to six singers. Two lower voices sing an
ostinato—a short repeated idea.
Listen in the upper voices for a lilting melody with a long-short-long-
short rhythmic pattern throughout. The harmony sounds modern,
employing thirds and sixths. The text is to be sung three times over,
with the two insistent repeated bass parts.
Slide 11 – Ars Nova (New Art)
Ars nova was a musical style that appeared at the beginning of the 14th
century in France and Italy. It reflected changes in rhythm, meter,
harmony and counterpoint from its predecessor: Ars antigua which
came to describe the Notre Dame school polyphony.

Slide 12 – Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377)

Guillaume de Machaut was a leading French composer of both sacred
and secular music. Machaut was a priest but most of his life was spent as
a court official for royal families such as John, king of Bohemia, and the
royal family of France. He returned to work for the church in his later
years.

Machaut’s best known composition is his Notre Dame Mass. This mass is
the first polyphonic treatment of the mass ordinary by a known
composer. Listen to Machaut’s “Agnus Dei” from Notre Dame Mass.

Machaut is also well known for his secular works such as the chanson.
Chansons are music set to French courtly love poems. A large number
of Machaut’s works have survived because he presented decorated
copies of his music to noble patrons as he traveled. Listen to the two
examples of Machaut chansons provided on this slide.
Slide 13 – Early Instrumental Music
While the central role in music was reserved for vocal music,
Instrumental music grew in importance in the 14th century.
Instrumental arrangements of vocal works became popular.
Most instrumental music was improvised. The instruments themselves
were divided into two categories: soft (bas) or indoor and loud (haut)
or outdoor according to their use.
One of the earliest surviving forms of instrumental music is the
medieval dance Estampie. Do a search and listen to a middle ages
estampie.

Once finished with this presentation, proceed to the Renaissance

Background and Characteristics presentation.