Download Secular music - Dr. Michael P. Flynn

Lecture 5: MA Secular and Instrumental Music
History of Western Music
SECULAR AND INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Secular music: vocal music
The illiterate general public did not write down music, so little is known of popular music
of the time -- which does not mean that it did not exist! We know from paintings and
sculpture that music played an integral part in the daily lives of people of all social classes.
The earliest written popular songs are called Goliard songs, from the eleventh and
twelfth century. Goliards, named after a probably mythical patron, Bishop Golias, were
students wandering from school to school in the times before there were big universities. Their main interest was in wine, woman and satire (making fun of people in power,
they could be monarchs or clergy, or of people in general). Many of these songs are written neumatically (showing only the contour), which makes it difficult to transcribe them
accurately.
Conductus was a serious type of song in Latin with a metrical text (based on a repeated
rhythmic pattern!), dealing with any sacred or secular subject and, importantly, with a
newly composed melody (not derived form chant!).
Chansons de geste were epic songs (long) recited to simple melodic formulas that told
stories of national heroes. For a long time, they were not written down but transmitted
orally. The most famous example is the Song of Roland.
Roland pledges his loyalty to Charlemagne (in an
illustration taken from a manuscript).
[[[[[[Medieval performers were called Jongleurs (in France) and Minstrels (in Enlgand). They traveled individually or in small groups from village to village and castle to
castle, earning a living by singing, playing and performing tricks and animal shows. They
were social outcasts, often denied protection by the laws (there were not many) or sacraments of the church (they were not allowed to participate in mass, which means that they
had no hope for entering heaven in the minds of ordinary people!). After about the eleventh century (1000 A.D.), when society became more organized and towns developed,
minstrels started to organize themselves into brotherhoods and later on into guilds
that offered musical training, (sort of like conservatories.) But still, people regarded
these performers with a mixture of fascination and revulsion. These minstrels were not
poets and did not perform their own compositions.]]]]]]]]
16
Lecture 5: MA Secular and Instrumental Music
History of Western Music
Troubadours and trouvères were poet-composers who flourished in France. They
were mostly aristocrats, even kings, but later on artists of lower birth might be accepted
into this higher social status depending on their talent. Their songs are collected in books
called Chansonniers. From the troubadours (South of modern France) about 2,600 poems and about 260 melodies have been preserved; while from the trouvères (Northern
France) about 2,130 poems are known and at least two thirds of their melodies. In structure these songs are varied, generally they talk about politics, morals and love -- more
precisely the medieval ideal of chivalric or courtly love, where the lover seems more to
be a worshipper and the lady is remote and unattainable. (see Grout, 6th edition, pg. 61).
LISTENING EXAMPLE:
 Bernart de Ventadorn (ca. 1150 – 1180): Can vei la lauzeta mover (second of eight
stanzas) [workbook chapter 9] CD 1 # 22
page 41 book
Alas! I thought I knew so much
Of love and I know so little
For I cannot help loving
A lady from whom I shall never obtain any favor.
She has taken away my heart and my self
And herself and the whole world;
And when she left me, I had nothing left
But desire and a yearning heart.
Troubadour playing his fiddle.
The Monge (monk) de Montaudon receiving a sparrow
hawk as a prize for his performance in a contest
There were also musical plays, often based on pastoral (shepherd’s) songs, the most famous of which is Jeu de Robin et Marion by the composer Adam de la Halle, called at
times the last of the trouvères.
17
Lecture 5: MA Secular and Instrumental Music
History of Western Music
LISTENING EXAMPLE:
Page 40 - book
 Robins m’aime (“Robin
loves me”, is a monophonic rondeau in the form of
A B a a b A B) (separate letters for each individual phrase, capital letters stand for
chorus and small-case letters for solo performance) [workbook chapter 8] CD 1 #21
[[[[[[In Germany there flourished the Minnesinger and Meistersinger. During the Renaissance, the art of the poet-musicians passed from the aristocratic class to the cultured
middle-class citizens. One of them was Hans Sachs, a shoemaker from the town of Nurmeberg, who composed thousands of songs. (Many years later Wagner made him the hero of is opera The Meistersingers of Nuremberg.)
 Hans Sachs, Nachdem David war redlich, in (modified) bar form aab (with a repetition of a at the end: aab(a). note that he still wrote monophonic song at a rather late time in history [workbook chapter 11] CD 1 #24]]]]]]]
Instrumental music and instruments
The estampie was a popular dance in both England and on the continent (the rest of Europe), accompanied by singing and instruments. It consisted of several sections that were
repeated (with different endings!).
 Istampita Palamento notice the first and second endings, rhythmic modes. [workbook
chapter 12] CD 1 ##25-9
Instruments were classified according to their use: for indoors as soft (bas) and for
outdoors as loud (haut). String instruments used were the harp, the vielle (resembles
the violin) which came in many shapes and sizes, psaltery (a sort of harp over a wooden
box) and lute. Wind instruments were the recorder and traverse flute, the shawm (double reed instrument, resembles today’s oboe), trumpets and bagpipes. There were also all
kinds of percussion instruments, such as for example drums and bells. Organs existed
not only in church, there were used also the “portative” organs that could be carried and
the “positive” organs that had to be put down on a table or stand and needed an assistant
to pump the bellows. Some of these instruments came to Europe from Asia either by Byzantium or through the Arabs in Spain, others from the Greeks and Romans.
18
Lecture 5: MA Secular and Instrumental Music
History of Western Music
psaltery
trumpet
vielle
shawm
harp
19
Lecture 5: MA Secular and Instrumental Music
History of Western Music
organ
lute
LECTURE 6
EARLY POLYPHONY: ORGANUM 1
Historical Background: The years 1000-1100 witnessed a revival of economic life in
Europe. Towns developed and institutions that would later become universities sprang
up in Paris, Oxford and Bologna. While Spain was trying to liberate itself from Muslim
conquerors, Aristocratic families throughout Europe united to launch the first crusades.
The political crisis between the Eastern and Western churches reached a climax when in
1054 the pope excommunicated the patriarch of Constantinople (he banished him from
the church. This meant that he would end up in hell after he died, a very real and scary
thought for most people at the time!) and the patriarch reciprocated the discourtesy (by
excommunicating the pope). Europe enjoyed also a cultural revival. Important books
were translated from Greek and Arabic into Latin. Large Romanesque style churches
dominated the landscape (recognize them by the heavy setting and the rounded arches of
their stained glass windows).
Romanesque monastery in Southern France
1
Notice that there is a time overlap; we go back in time a little from last lecture, since both monophonic
chant and early polyphony were composed next to each other for quite some time.
20
Lecture 5: MA Secular and Instrumental Music
History of Western Music
By about 600 AD music of the Western church had adapted material from Antiquity
and the East, by about 1000 AD this material was codified (systemized for example by
modes) and disseminated throughout Europe. On this material the largely unknown composers of the late Middle Ages based their compositions, either by imitating and expanding on its style, or by using the melodies as a basis for adding more voices.
In the ninth century (800s) there is first mentioned the singing in more than one
voice, meaning not only a choir in unison or doubled-at-the-octave, but singing with
different melodies. However and still, at the same time many monophonic chants were
being composed as well - for another few centuries. The change to polyphony happened
gradually.
Early Examples of Polyphony (our sources):
In the treatise musica enchiriadis (music handbook, 9th century) the singing of two different voices together is described for the first time (among other things). These early
types of polyphonic compositions were called organum.
Around the early twelfth century (1100s), a composition style had developed that was
called florid organum, where the second voice places many notes against the simple
chant in the principal voice.
In this example for the teaching of florid organum there are actually relatively few notes placed
against the tenor, (you can find many more in some pieces!) but we find rhythmic variety from
one measure to the next.
Florid organum developed mostly at the School of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France, during the 12th and 13th century (1100 to 1300).
21
Lecture 5: MA Secular and Instrumental Music
History of Western Music
LISTENING EXAMPLE:
Page 51 book
 Aquitanian polyphony: Jubilemus, exultemus. Notice the florid upper voice over the
slower moving tenor. [Workbook chapter 14], CD1 #31.
LECTURE 7
NOTRE DAME SCHOOL, FLORID ORGANUM
Cultural and intellectual life flourished in Paris during the 12th century with the
University of the Sorbonne having become a reputed institution that attracted many
students, not all of them French. Around 1160, in order to strengthen the importance of
the French capital, the bishop of Paris declared its cathedral as the main church “for the
kings of Europe” and decided to build a new cathedral
the city of Paris had also one of the major schools of music of its time, where the most
modern and advanced fashion of polyphonic composition was taught, developed and
flourished: florid organum.
Notice the beginnings of Gothic architecture with pointed arches and buildings reaching higher
and higher towards the skies during the late Middle Ages. Much of Notre Dame Cathedral was
built during the time of Leonin and Perotin.
22
Lecture 5: MA Secular and Instrumental Music
History of Western Music
Leonin, head of Notre Dame School about 1160 to 1190, is the first significant composer of
polyphonic music whose name is known to us. His works are collected in the Magnus
Liber Organi a collection of organi (plural of organum) used in Notre Dame Cathedral.
 Alleluia Pascha nostrum, Leonin. Notice tenor voice with long held notes, monophonic
chor section and polyphonic solo sections [workbook chapter 15 cont.] NAWM CD1 #32-4
PLAY EXAMPLE LEONIN VIDIERUNT OMNES
In more complex polyphonic compositions the two voices had to be coordinated to keep
them moving together. Therefore, composers began to devise a system of rhythmic
movement called the rhythmic modes, which are rhythmic patterns that are repeated
(and slightly varied) throughout a composition. Such repeated patterns, the early forms
of rhythm and meter, had been in use for dance music, but it was new for sacred compositions. There were six rhythmic modes (however only the first three were generally
used), similar in type to the meters of Greek poetry and drama, identified simply by numbers. These modes were notated at the beginning of a piece/section and then applied
by the performer to the following notes (sort of improvised):
Rhythmic Modes (the three most common ones):
I.
long short
II.
Short long
III.
Long
short short
These meters were all based on triple subdivision (three shorter notes to each beat, like
what we call triplets or compound meter today) and therefore, all types of modes could be
combined with each other. This type of subdivision was called “perfectio” (perfection),
based on the idea of the “Holy Trinity” (the number 3 was considered holy, since the
Christian church teaches that God appears to men in three manifestations: the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit). The subdivision into two beats was called “imperfect” (today
called duple subdivision, with two eighth notes to a beat).
Perotin (about 1190 - 1225), student and later on successor of Leonin as head of Notre Dame
School, became discontented with adding only one melody to the cantus firmus and started writing for three and four different voices.
 Perotin:
Organum quadruplum: Sederunt. Notice the four voices, the rhythmic
modes, the long held tenor notes that resemble a drone, the simple plain-chant section for the
choir at the end. [workbook chapter 16] NAWM CD1 #42
23
Lecture 5: MA Secular and Instrumental Music
History of Western Music
Discant-style clausula: Perotin revised and expanded the Magnus Liber Organi. For
example, he revived a compositional style called discant when he added sections called
clausulae (finishing section) to the existing melodies, sections in which two or three
voices move at approximately the same speed and pattern, based on a rhythmic mode.
Notice that in this style the tenor also moves in rhythmic patterns, even though it is generally less lively than the upper voices. This new style was liked probably as a contrast to
the then fashionable florid organum in free rhythm, for variety and interest. (Notice that it
somewhat resembles the early note-against-note (discant) organum. However, now the
music moves in the lively patterns of rhythmic modes and is often composed for more
than two voices!)
Like other composers of his time, Perotin paid much more attention to the horizontal
elements than to the vertical aspects of his music and the individual voices would each
be composed against the cantus firmus, but with little attention to the interrelationship between the different added voices. Still, the predominant intervals used
between the cantus firmus in the tenor voice and the individual added parts above were
unisons, octaves, fourths and fifths.
Motet: At the end of Perotin’s life, composers started writing new texts for the previously
text-less upper voices in clausulae and called such compositions motet (from the French
“mot” = “word”). The medieval motet was a poly-textual composition (there were several different texts being sung simultaneously) at times they were even poly-lingual (individual voices sing in different languages!) and it could be using sacred or secular texts.
Resting points, or cadences, are based on fifths and octaves, intervals which make them
sound hollow to our ears. Motets could be performed with or without accompaniment.
 Gaudeat devotio fidelium, anonymus. Notice use of rhythmic modes, notice also how the
two-part composition is called a “clausula” when it is text-less, but a “motet” when it is using a
new text. [Workbook chapter 15 cont.] NAWM CD1 #35
 Motet:
Salve, salus hominum / O radians stella / Nostrum. Notice that the name
stems from the beginnings of the different texts, notice the rhythmic mode. NAWM CD1 #41
24
Lecture 5: MA Secular and Instrumental Music
History of Western Music
A page from Perotin’s Alleluia Navitas.
[(h)alleluia = praise the lord, navitas = nativity = Christmas]
For how many voices is it written? Hint: look for the clefs at the beginning of the lines and use
your knowledge regarding the notes in the lowest voice. What is the name of the lowest voice?
Rhtythmic notation: With time, composers felt a need to move away from the restrictiveness of the repetitive rhythmic modes. As they wished for more rhythmic independence,
the need for precise rhythmic notation arose. Around 1280 A.D., Franco of Cologne
devised rules for determining the relative length of notes depending on its shape. His system
was
still
based
on
a
ternary
grouping
of
notes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gregory_I__Antiphonary_of_Hartker_of_Sankt_Gallen.jpg
25