Download History of Music

History of Music
Middle Ages
and
Renaissance
The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages
includes about
1000 years of
time beginning
with the fall of
the Roman
Empire to the
time of
Columbus


Society was
conservative,
authoritarian, and
oriented toward
God
The Christian
Church played a
large role in the
early history of
western music.
Church Music

Composers of the time were in holy orders

Musicians received training as church choirboys

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Church music was singing or chanting sacred words in services,
and the music was past down from monasteries and cathedrals.
Plainchant (plainsong, or Gregorian Chant) was the music of the
Catholic church in the Middle Ages and beyond.
• The word “plain” because it was unaccompanied,
monophonic, and without fixed rhythm or meter.
• The term “Gregorian” was used to refer to Pope Gregory I
(c. 540-604).
Plainchant

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There were many styles of plainchant, but all were:
• Non-metrical (free rhythm)
• based around one of the medieval modes (not our
current major/minor system).
• D-Dorian
• E-Phrygian
• F-Lydian
• G-Mixolydian
Listen:
• Viri Galilaei -- Gregorian Introit
or
• Columba aspexit by Hildegard von Bingen-Plainchant sequence
Music at Court
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Kings gained political power and artistic leadership and became
major supporters of music in the late Middle Ages.
There are some court songs preserved from the 12th and 13th
centuries.
The poets, composers, and performers in the courts were called:
• troubadours--South France (troubadour society allowed
women)
• trouvères--North France
• Minnesingers--Germany
Listen: La dousa votz by Bernart De Ventadorn (c. 1135-1194)-Troubadour Song
Types of Compositions

Organum--earliest polyphony (simultaneous combination of two
or more melodies) that used traditional plainchant with an added
melody (or counterpoint) sung simultaneously to the same
words.
• Listen: Alleluia. Diffusa est gratia by Pèrotin (c. 1200)-Organum

Motet--polyphony in which the upper lines had their own words.
First, sacred poetry was used for motets, and later love poems
and political satire were used for motets.
• Listen: Quant en moy by Guillaume de Machaut--Motet
Composers

Léonin--12th century polyphonic works
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Pérotin--late 12th century polyphonic works
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Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361)--poet, theorist, and
composer who spent most of his life near Paris. He
codified new aspects of rhythm and notation.
Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377)--poet and
French composer of the 14th century.
Medieval Instruments

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Organs
•
Small positive organ: used during the tenth through the seventeenth century; early
church organs. One person worked the keyboard and one worked the bellows.
•
Portative organ: two octave range and equipped with one or two drones. It was worn
with a strap around the shoulder and the right hand played the keys and the left hand
worked the bellows.
Strings
•
Organistrum (hurdy-gurdy): It was 5-6 feet long with a fiddle shaped body and three
strings that sounded when vibrated by a hand cranked wheel. It was used in Medieval
churches.
•
Vielle, fidel, and fiddle: Any Medieval stringed instrument that was bowed and had a
pegdisc.
•
Lyre: Roman instrument that was used in most of Europe by 1000
•
Lute: Instrument brought to Spain by Islamic Arabs and used in France by c. 1270.
Winds and Percussion
•
Transverse Flute
•
Shawm: double reed instrument used from the twelfth through the 17th century
•
Musa (bag pipe)
•
Horns: wood or metal used by Europeans for military purposes
•
Drums: introduced from Asia, struck with sticks to beat time for dancing and singing
The Renaissance



Means “rebirth”
In music history it
is considered from
c. 1450-1600
The age of
Columbus,
Magellan,
Leonardo da Vinci,
Copernicus, and
Shakespeare.

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Era of exploration and
discovery, innovation and
invention.
Period of humanism, a
high value of the
individual.
Authors, artists, and
many others had a great
interest in the classicism
of ancient Greece and
Rome.
Overall, a great sense of
optimism prevailed.
Transition to
Renaissance

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
15th Century was the beginning of
composed harmony (early homophony)
Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400-1474): famous
composer in Europe respected for
musical talents and his intelligence
Listen: Ave Maris Stella by Dufay-harmonized hymn
The Mass

Around 1450 composers settled on the
following for their polyphonic settings for
mass:
• Kyrie
• Gloria
• Credo
• Sanctus
• Agnus Dei
High Renaissance
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A new style for Masses, motets, and chansons; careful
blend of imitative counterpoint and homophony.
a cappella performance became the ideal tone color
Tempo and dynamics change little throughout a piece.
Rhythm is fluid, meter is obscured, and the melodies are
never very high or very low in any one voice and are
carefully balanced.
Composer--Josquin Desprez (c. 1450-1521) major
composer of secular music of his time and acknowledged
for his Masses and motets.
• Listen: Panga Lingua Mass (c. 1510) by Josquin
Desprez
Main Composition
Concerns

Composers believed that music had the
power to express human feelings and
illustrate words, therefore composers
wanted:
• the words of their compositions to be
clearly heard and understood
• to match their music to the meaning of
the words (word or text painting)
Madrigal

Madrigal: significant type of Italian secular
song. Short composition set to a onestanza poem with a quick changes of ideas
and images. Phrases often overlap, and
imitative counterpoint was used in
madrigals.
• Listen: As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill
Descending (1601) by Thomas Weelkes
(c. 1575-1623)--English Madrigal
More Composers
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Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594):
spent his life associated with the Roman Catholic
Church and it is reflected in his music.
Orlande de Lassus (Orlando di Lasso) (c. 15321594): great composer of sacred music, but also
wrote secular compositions. He wrote more than
2,000 compositions in a variety of genres.
Tomás Luis de Victoria (c. 1548-1611): great
Spanish composer who wrote church music.
William Byrd (1543-1623):composed Latin church
music and Anglican church music in the 16th
century.
Instrumental Music
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Foundation for the significance of instrumental music in the Baroque era
was laid in the Renaissance.
1500: hardly any music was written for just instruments. Instead,
instrumentalist would play along with singers, or play vocal genres
without words.
An instrumental genre that was very popular at this time was dance.
These dances include: pavane (paván), galliard, the Italian saltarello, the
English Jig, and the French branle.
• Listen:
• Daphne -- Galliard
or
• Kemp’s Jig -- Jig
Instruments were built in families with varying sizes and were
categorized as loud or soft instruments for ensemble purposes.
Instrumental Music
(continued)
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Wind
•
•
•
•
Instruments:
Recorder
Cromorne-J shaped woodwind, double reed is enclosed in a cap
Shawm-exposed double reed, loud instrument
Cornetto-wooden instruments with cup-shaped mouthpiece of ivory or bone; typically used in an
ensemble with organ and trombone
•
Straight trumpet-used since antiquity
•
Trumpet with looped tubing appeared c. 1400
•
Trombone appeared mid-15th century
Stringed instruments
•
Viol-bowed stringed instrument with fretted finger board
•
Violin, Viola, and Violoncello-appeared in the second half of the 16th century
•
Lute-perfected and most popular instrument
Keyboard instruments
•
Clavier
•
Harpsichord c. 1400
•
Portative Organ used until 16th century
•
Positive Organ used until 17th century
•
Church Organs.
Percussion
•
•
An increasing variety that includes: bells, chimes, side drums, small cymbals, tambourine,s kettle
drums, xylophones, and even anvils and hammers.
Used for religious ceremonies, military purposes, dancing, and civic processions.
References
Kerman, Joseph, and Gary
Tomlinson. Listen. 4th ed.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
2000.
Stolba, K. Marie. The
Development of Western Music.
3rd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill,
1998.