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Questions and Answers
What is a lament in medieval music?
Which of the following instruments is classified as a bowed string instrument?
What is the primary characteristic of parallel organum?
Which dance is characterized by a fast triple meter and hopping movements?
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Which term refers to the original chant in the context of early polyphony?
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Which musical texture consists of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody?
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What term describes the music structure where all verses are sung to the same melody?
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Which of the following best defines Gregorian chant?
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Which aspect of musical composition relates to the tempo and rhythm?
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Which of the following is NOT a mass proper?
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What symbol in early chant notation indicates the pitch and syllable count?
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In music, which of the following contrasts is generally observed?
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Which historical period of music is defined as occurring from 500 to 1400?
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What was Magister Leonin's primary achievement?
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What characterizes the organal style in Leonin's work?
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Which of the following describes a clausula in the context of Leonin's compositions?
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What did Magister Perotin accomplish as a successor to Leonin?
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Which of the following statements is true about the motet?
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What distinguishes isorhythm in musical composition?
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What is significant about Phillippe de Vitry's contributions to music?
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In two- and three-part writing, how did cadences typically proceed?
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What is a defining characteristic of Gregorian chants?
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What is the structure of the typical Gregorian chant?
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Which musical style is characterized by one note per syllable?
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Hildegard of Bingen's musical compositions are noted for which feature?
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Which modes are associated with ending on the note G?
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What defines a responsorial performance?
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Which group is known for composing songs with simple monophonic melodies in the 12th and early 13th centuries?
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Who were the Goliards in medieval Europe?
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Study Notes
Eras of Music History
- Medieval: 500-1400
- Renaissance: 1400-1600
- Baroque: 1600-1750
Contrasting Poles in Music
- Popular vs. Classical
- Sacred vs. Secular
- Vocal vs. Instrumental
- Improvised vs. Composed
Aspects of a Musical Composition
- Style: The overall characteristic of a piece of music
-
Texture: The combination of different musical lines or voices.
- Monophonic: A single melodic line.
- Polyphonic: Two or more independent melodic lines.
- Homophonic: One melody played by multiple instruments at the same time.
- Form: The structure of a piece of music.
- Time: Tempo (speed) and rhythm (pattern of sounds).
- Expressive Meaning: The emotional impact of a piece of music.
Gregorian Chant
- Earliest music: Gregorian chant (plainchant) is considered to be the earliest type of Western music.
- Neumes: Ancient symbols that indicate the pitch and number of syllables in a chant.
- Melisma: A long series of notes sung under a single syllable.
Strophic and Rondo Forms
- Strophic Form: All verses or stanzas of a song are sung to the same melody.
- Rondo Form: A recurring theme is used throughout the song.
Early Christianity and Music
- Christian chants developed from Jewish temple chant traditions.
- Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 313 C.E. with the Edict of Milan.
- Pope Gregory I (590-604) played a significant role in the development of early Christian chant.
- Liturgy: A service or ritual.
- The Christian church year is organized around a series of feasts, each with a special occasion.
-
The Mass Proper: Readings, prayers, and chants that change based on the specific feast being celebrated.
- There are 8 main components of the Mass Proper:
- Introit
- Prayer
- Epistle
- Gospel
- Offertory
- Secret
- Communion
- Post-Communion
- There are 8 main components of the Mass Proper:
- Gregorian chant was considered the purest form of official Catholic music for centuries.
Chant Notation
- Neumes: Symbols above the words in early chant manuscripts indicate the general direction of the chant melody.
- Ligatures: Neumes that include several notes.
Characteristics of Gregorian Chants
- Formulaic: Tends to follow predictable patterns.
- Three Parts: Beginnings, central sections, and endings.
- Monophonic: A single melodic line.
- Melodic Range: Melodies are generally narrow, graceful, and move in small intervals.
- Recitation Tones: Repeated pitches used for simple melodies.
- Common Structure: Chants often follow an AAABBBAAA structure
-
Classifications: Chants can be classified in three ways:
- By their texts
- By their performance style
- By their musical style (syllabic or melismatic)
Modes of Gregorian Chant
-
Modes: There are eight modes (church scales).
- Modes 1 & 2 (Dorian/Hypodorian): End on D
- Modes 3 & 4 (Phrygian/Hypophrygian): End on E
- Modes 5 & 6: End on F
- Modes 7 & 8: End on G
Performance of Gregorian Chants
- A Cappella: Chants are commonly performed without instruments.
- Antiphonal: Chants are performed by alternating choirs.
- Responsorial: Chants are performed by a soloist and choir alternating.
Gregorian Sequence
- Gregorian Sequence: A text added to the closing melisma of an Alleluia chant, often used to memorize the music.
- Rhymed Pairs: Sequences typically have rhymed pairs of lines: AA BB CC DD
Hildegard of Bingen
- Hildegard was a Catholic nun of the Middle Ages who served as prioress of a Benedictine convent (1136-1158).
Hildegard's Musical Style
- Wider interval range than standard chants.
- Includes both the upper and lower registers of the female voice.
- Highly melismatic.
- Ambitious in length.
Hildegard's Ordo Virtutum
- Ordo Virtutum is one of Hildegard's most famous works.
Minstrels and Jongluers
- Wandering entertainers.
- Their songs told stories of real and imagined historical events.
- Chanson de geste: A tale describing a hero's adventure.
Goliards
- Wandering students and clerical dropouts in medieval England, France, and Germany.
Troubadours
- Composers of the 12th and early 13th centuries from southern France.
Trouveres
- Composers of the 12th and early 13th centuries from northern France and England.
- Wrote poetry in Old French.
Troubadour and Trouvere Songs
- Simple monophonic melodies.
- Repeated verses.
Can vei la lauzeta
- Troubadour song: An example of a lament.
Lament
- A medieval genre in which a rejected lover is driven to despair.
Adam de La Halle
- One of the last and greatest of the Trouveres.
- Wrote a Pastourelle: A traditional medieval genre concerning a romantic episode from their life.
Minnesingers
- Post composers of the German nobility.
Meistersingers
- The successors to the Minnesingers.
Medieval Instruments
-
Percussion Instruments:
- Naker: Old, round drum.
- Tabor: Drum held with the performer's left arm.
-
Plucked String Instruments:
- Harp: A string instrument.
- Lute: A string instrument.
- Psaltery: A string instrument with a wooden box.
-
Bowed String Instruments:
- Rebec: Three-string instrument.
- Vielle: A string instrument that evolved into the modern violin.
- Dulcimer: A string instrument with strings that were hit with small hammers.
- Hurdy-Gurdy: A string instrument with a wheel and crank to set the strings vibrating.
-
Soft Wind Instruments:
- Pipe: A wind instrument.
- Recorder: A wind instrument.
- Transverse Flute: A wind instrument.
Medieval Dances
- Ronde: A circle dance popular in France.
- Saltarello: An Italian hopping dance with a fast triple meter.
- Estampie: A stamping dance.
Organum
- **Organum: ** The earliest genre of polyphonic music in Western Europe.
- Developed by adding one or more melodic lines above or below plainchant.
- Parallel Organum: An additional voice duplicates the original chant at a fifth or fourth above or below.
- Free Organum: The added voice gains some independence.
Terminology for Organum
- Cantus Firmus: The original chant.
- Tenor: The original chant.
- Vox Principalis: The original chant.
- Duplum: The added voice.
- Vox Organalis: The added voice.
Magister Leonin
- Producer of a collection of organal settings of solo portions of responsorial chants, including the Alleluia.
Notre Dame School of Organum
- By the 13th century, Paris became an important intellectual center.
- Magister Leonin is credited with producing a collection of organal settings of solo portions of responsorial chants.
Rhythmic Modes
- Similar to modern notation of compound time, with beats divided into three pulses.
- There are six rhythmic modes.
Organal Style
- Polyphonic settings by Leonin and his colleagues would substitute for the corresponding monophonic portions of the chant.
Discant Style
- Used for the melismatic portions of the original chant.
- Both the original melisma and the added voice are set in a rhythmic mode.
- Clausula: A portion of the organum set in discant style.
Magister Perotin
- The successor to Leonin as the leading composer of the Notre Dame school.
- His organum may have been composed for performance in Notre Dame Cathedral at the Feast of St. Stephen (1199).
The Motet
- A ceremonial or expressive vocal genre that originated from adding poetic text to the upper voices of a discant clausula.
- Polytextural Motet: Each upper voice has its own text.
- Leonin-style Motet: A two-voiced motet based on organum duplum.
Cadences in Organum
- In two-part writing, cadences often proceed from a 6th to an octave or a 3rd to a unison in contrary motion.
- In three- and four-part writing, phrases are often ended with a perfect consonance (octave or octave and 5th).
French and Italian Music
- Phillippe de Vitry: A 14th century poet, composer, and music theorist.
- Vitry's style involved a system of notation that recognized the duple division of larger note values.
Isorhythm
- Isorhythm: A compositional device in which a melody contains two essential elements that can be repeated several times.
Guillaume de Machaut
- A Catholic cleric and composer.
- Wrote over 400 poems and a significant amount of sacred musical compositions.
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Description
Explore the different eras of music history from the Medieval to the Baroque periods. Dive into essential contrasting styles and components that shape musical compositions. Learn about Gregorian chant and its significance in Western music history.
