1. Music in the Middle Ages
by Elliott Jones of Santa Ana College
for Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative
shared under a Creative Commons Attribution License

2. Medieval Music Difficulties
Least surviving material
Longest period of music history
476-1475 Middle Ages
1475-1600 Renaissance
1600-1750 Baroque
1750-1820 Classical
1825-1900 Romantic
1900-2000 Modern

3. Sacred Music

4. Music in the Monastery
Sacred music preserved in much greater
quantities than secular
The Church was the only real source of
education/literacy
Monastic life a rigorous combination of
work and prayer (sung – Gregorian Chant)
Music notation develops in monasteries

5. Neumes
Early chant notation
Small symbols written above text
Did not originally indicate a specific pitch
Evolved into system of square notes

6. Early Neumatic Notation

7. Square Neumes on 4-Line Staff
Visit http://www.netaxs.com/~rmk/Chant/ for help reading neumatic notation

8. Gregorian Chant
Named for Pope Gregory the Great (540-604)
Also known as Plainsong or Plainchant
Single line melody (monophonic)
Free of accent or meter
Conjunct movement
 Avoids leaps
 Gentle contour

9. Modes
Modes were the scale patterns of Western
European music through the Renaissance
Music composed using modes is called
“modal” (as opposed to “tonal”)
Modes sound less familiar to our ears than
major/minor tonal scales

10. The Medieval Modes:
This is for your information & will not be on a test
 Dorian
 Hypodorian
 Phrygian
 Hypophrygian
 Lydian
 Hypolydian
 Mixolydian
 Hypomixolydian
For more extensive information
on modes click here

11. Text Settings
Syllabic
 One note per text syllable
Neumatic
 Two – four notes per text syllable
Melismatic
 Long groups of notes per text syllable

12. Example of Melismas

13. Listening Example
Title: Gradual Viderunt Omnes
Composer: Anonymous (5th century)
Genre: Gregorian Chant

14. Notes on Gradual Viderunt
Omnes
Monophonic texture
Alternation of soloist and choir (male)
Mixture of text settings
 Mostly neumatic with some long melismas
Very smooth melodic contour (conjunct)
Note the free rhythm and lack of meter
A gradual from the proper of the Mass

15. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
10th child of noble parents, raised in convent
Founded her own convent in 1150
Experienced and recorded visions
Scivias is the 1st book of her writings
Wrote religious poetry and music

16. Listening Example
Title: O Rubor Sanguinis
Composer: Hildegard of Bingen
Genre: Gregorian Chant

17. Notes on O Rubor Sanguinis
Monophonic texture
Sung by women
Predominantly neumatic text setting
Very smooth melodic contour (conjunct)
Note the lack of a regular beat
Text is not from the Mass
 Hildegard wrote the text

18. Music in the Cathedral
Monasteries focused on traditional chant
Urban cathedrals were centers of musical
innovation
Composers began to make greater use of
polyphony

19. Polyphony Defined
Polyphony literally means “many voices”
Two or more melodic lines sung at once

20. Polyphony
Extremely important development in
Western Music
Meter, notation, and composer’s role are all
affected by this development
Early polyphony generally consisted of
parallel lines
This early polyphony was called organum

21. Organum
Begins as improvised, parallel 4ths & 5ths
Second line of basically follows the chant –
no new, independent musical lines
Gradually musicians begin to compose
brand new melodies to accompany the chant
Composers at the Cathedral of Notre Dame
in Paris perfect this new style of organum

22. Notre Dame Style Organum
Notes of original chant tune “stretched” or
held out
 Tenor comes from Latin word meaning hold
 The line that contained the elongated chant was
called the tenor
Newly composed material sung above chant
Use of rhythmic modes (eg. long-short-long)
Leoninus and Perotinus

23. Leoninus and Perotinus
Composers at Cathedral of Notre Dame
Leoninus (fl. 1169-1201)
 First polyphonic composer known by name
 Two-voice organum
 Magnus liber organi
Perotinus (fl. 1198-1236)
 Successor to Leoninus
 Wrote up to four-voice organum

24. Listening Example
Title: Viderunt Omnes
Composer: Perotinus
Genre: Organum

25. Notes on Viderunt Omnes
 Three active upper voices over sustained lower
voice
 The upper voices feature LONG melismas
 Listen for the held notes of the original chant
 Notice the rhythmic mode in the upper voice
 Repeated long-short pattern resembles triple meter
 Open, hollow-sounding cadences
 Cadences are the endings of musical phrases

26. The Medieval Motet
Evolved out of 13th century organum
French word for “word:” “mot”
New texts added to upper organum voices
Polytextual: texts could be different
 Different words
 Different languages
 Sacred or secular

27. Medieval Motet Structure
Chant tune provides structural foundation
 Chant tune held, but not as long as in organum
 Tenor – Latin for “to hold” is “tenere”
 Triple meter representing Trinity
 Tenor can be sung or played

28. The Mass
Central worship service of Catholic Church
Mass texts divided into two categories
 The Proper
 Texts that vary from day to day
 Viderunt omnes is a Gradual from the Proper
 The Ordinary
 Texts that are always the same
 See page 75 for chart of Proper vs. Ordinary

29. Guillaume de Machaut
Dates: ca. 1300-1377
Worked in both sacred and secular worlds
 Secretary to John I, King of Bohemia
 Served in court of Charles, Duke of Normandy
 Served as canon of cathedral at Rheims
Poet and composer
Admired by Geoffrey Chaucer

30. Guillaume de Machaut
Ca. 400 poems and 150 compositions
Composed both secular and sacred music
Best known for composing the first
complete setting of the Ordinary of the
Mass
 Messe de Nostre Dame

31. Listening Example
Title: Kyrie from Messe de Nostre Dame
Composer: Guillaume de Machaut
Genre: Mass

32. Notes on Kyrie
Built on preexisting chant, notes held out
 He then adds three new voices against the tenor
 Contratenor superius and altus are above the tenor
 Contratenor bassus is below the tenor
 Contratenor parts feature greater rhythmic variety
Polyphonic texture
Characteristic medieval dissonance
Male voices

33. Rise of Music at Court
Early middle ages: Church is primary patron
of music
Late middle ages: Nobles increasingly
sponsor music to enhance their prestige
Due to their education, clergy often
composed courtly poetry and music

34. Court Poet-Musicians
Troubadours – Southern France
 Troubadours (male, common or noble)
 Trobairitz (female, noble)
Both words mean “inventors” (composers)
Trouvères – Northern France
Minnesingers – Germany

35. Courtly Poetry
Range of subject matter
 Simple ballads/love songs
 War stories
 Moral tales
Chivalric values
 Honor
 Valor
 Idealized, or “courtly,” love

36. Courtly Love
Idealized love
Variety of relationships described
 Inspired to acts of chivalric valor
 Unattainable object of affection
 Unrequited, unconsummated relationship
 Illicit romance
All in the general context of chivalric code

37. Women at Court
Women not allowed to sing at church
Women regularly composed and performed
at court
Played the soft instruments
 Harp
 Lute
 Rebec
 Flute

38. Troubador Songs
Early songs usually monphonic
Sometimes with instrumental doubling
No clear rhythm or meter
Later medieval songs often polyphonic
This polyphony was quite simple as we hear
in A Chantar M'er

39. Beatriz, Countess of Dia
Trobairitz in S. France in mid-12th century
to early 13th century
A Chantar M'er is the only trobairitz song to
survive with music intact
Three other poems extant, music lost

40. Listening Example
Title: A Chantar M’er
Composer: Beatriz, Countess of Dia
Genre: Troubador song

41. Notes on I Must Sing
Song of unrequited love
Full first line:
 “I must sing of that which I’d rather not…”
Five strophes of seven lines each
Seven-line melodic form: ABABCDB
Vielle alternates with singer
Simple lute accompaniment

42. Medieval Chanson
Chanson is French for “song”
Chansons are always secular
They feature polyphonic texture
 2-4 voices
 Combinations of voices and instruments
Variety of subjects including courtly love
Chansons used fixed poetic forms

43. Fixed Forms
Poetic meters governed musical structure
Three most common forms:
 Rondeau
 Ballade
 Virelai
Rondeau features a repeated line of text
This corresponds with a repeated melody

44. Guillaume Dufay (c1397-1474)
Probably born near Brussels
Involved in church music from early age
Was ordained a priest by 1428
Held many ecclesiastical positions
Also maintained close ties to numerous
courts and nobles
Composed sacred and secular music

45. Listening Example
Title: Ce Moys de May
Composer: Guillaume Dufay
Genre: Chanson

46. Notes on Ce Moys de May
Rondeau form
Listen for the repeated refrain in the music
Voices doubled by instruments
Melismas at ends of phrases
Notice the irregular accents and dissonance
common to medieval polyphony

47. Instrumental Music
Most medieval instrumental music was for
courtly entertainment (secular)
Little written instrumental music survives
Much of it was improvised
Most instrumental music is dance music

48. Medieval Instruments
Instruments were much less standardized
than they are today
All were handmade and varied by location
The following slides list common kinds of
instruments and their modern descendants

49. Medieval Instruments
Shawm – double reed (oboe)
Slide trumpet – Sackbut (trombone)
Tabor (large drum)
Nakers (small drum)
Organs
 Very large organs existed in large churches
 Smaller portable organs could be outdoors

50. Soft Instruments
Recorder (wooden flute)
Lute (similar to guitar but more strings)
Harp/Psaltry
Rebec & Vielle (precusor to violin)