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Questions and Answers
Which liturgical book contains the texts specifically for the Mass?
What is the characteristic feature of plainchant melodies?
Which style of delivery involves a soloist alternating with a choral response?
What is a psalm tone designed for?
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Which characteristic is NOT true of plainchant melodies?
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What significant contribution is Guido d'Arezzo credited with?
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Which musical work is considered the first 'morality play' composed by Hildegard of Bingen?
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What characteristic is notable about Hildegard’s musical style compared to other plainchant melodies?
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What does the term 'parallel organum' refer to in medieval music?
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Hildegard of Bingen was educated by which influential figure?
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What is a characteristic feature of 'melismatic organum' as it developed in the early twelfth century?
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When did square notation primarily come into use?
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What role did Hildegard play in the religious community at St Rupertsburg?
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Which of the following best describes 'oblique organum'?
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What type of notation did Guido d’Arezzo help to develop, aiding in quick learning for singers?
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Study Notes
Liturgical Books
- Missal: Text for the mass
- Gradual: Chants for the mass
- Breviary: Text for the Office
- Antiphoner: Music for the Office
- These were handwritten during the Middle Ages and later printed under Church authority
Plainchant
- Monophonic melodies to which the words of Christian rituals were sung
- Derived from Jewish practice of chanting psalms and scriptural readings
- Codified during medieval times in monasteries of Western Europe
- Remained in use in the Roman Catholic church until the second Vatican Council (1962)
- Still used for the Tridentine rite in European monasteries and some local churches
Plainchant Melody
- Monophonic
- Relatively narrow melodic range
- Mainly stepwise movement
- Non-metrical: follows the rhythm of the words
- In one of the 8 church modes
Styles of Delivery
- Responsorial: Soloist alternating with choral response
- Antiphonal: Alternating groups of singers
- Direct: No alternation
Psalm Tone
- Melodic formulas for singing psalms in prayer services
- Designed so that they can be adapted to fit any psalm
- There is one psalm tone for each of the eight modes
Solfa System
- Developed by Guido d’Arezzo (ca. 991 – after 1033) who was a Benedictine monk and Italian music theorist
- System enabled singers to learn quantities of music quickly
- Guidonian hand
Square Notation
- In use from the end of the twelfth century to the middle of the thirteenth century
- Note types used singly or in groups called ligatures
- Modern plainchant notation retains the features of square notation
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
- German Benedictine nun, philosopher, poet, mystic, artist, composer, and theologian
- 10th child in family - tithed to the Church
- Received education from Jutta, Abbess of Spanheim
- Abbess of convent at St Rupertsburg, near Bingen
- Wrote Scivias - a written record of her visions
Hildegard - Biography
- 1140s - Hildegard’s fame spread - more women joined the order
- 1147–1150 Founded a nunnery at Rupertsburg - initially forbidden but Hildegard became ill
- 1160–1170 Undertook extended missions throughout Germany
- 1165 Founded a second convent at Eibingen
- 1179 Died and canonisation process begun
Hildegard’s Compositions
- Some liturgical music - some commissions for parts of the Mass
- Several Office pieces (her community was permitted to participate in the singing of Office)
- Composed many sequences
- Set many texts addressed to the Virgin Mary, St Ursula, etc
- Liturgical drama Ordo virtutum (c. 1151) - the first ‘morality play’
Hildegard - Ordo Virtutum
- Meaning ‘The Play of the Virtues’
- Dates from 1150s
- Morality play in dramatic verse
- Unique in history of medieval drama
- Earliest morality play by more than a century
- Presents battle for the soul (Anima) between sixteen virtues and the Devil
- Contains 82 melodies and parts for 17 female soloists and one male soloist
Hildegard’s Musical Style
- Wide vocal ranges (up to two octaves)
- Use of extremes of register
- Large leaps (intervals of 4th and 5th rather than 2nd or 3rd)
- Melodies more angular than other contemporary plainchant melodies
- Text and music intimately related
- Use of melismatic or decorative passages, often for dramatic effect
Elaborations of Plainchant
-
Horizontal elaboration of chant
- Related to literary ‘glossing’ of manuscripts
- Tropes: New text and new melody interpolated in existing chant
- Sequences: Words put to melisma of Alleluia - became a separate composition
- Liturgical dramas: Elaborate tropes with dialogue, performed at Christmas and Easter
-
Vertical elaboration of chant
- Parallel organum
- Oblique organum
- Free organum
- Florid (melismatic) organum over tenor
- Sections (clausulae) in ‘discant’ (note-against-note) style (Notre Dame)
- Rhythm applied to discant sections
- Motet: Entire pieces in measured style with new words
Parallel Organum
- The doubling of a line of chant at the 4th or 5th below
- First described in treatise Musica Enchiriadis (c. 900)
Oblique Organum
- Result of avoidance of augmented fourths (or tritones)
- Added voice remains on one note until they can proceed in parallel fourths without sounding a tritone
Melismatic Organum
- Early in twelfth century - new more ornate type of polyphony
- Codex Calixtenus
- Prepared in central France - brought to Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
- Exhibit love of decoration - greater variety and shape
Notre Dame Polyphony
- Even more ornate style of polyphony
- Developed in late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries
- Associated with Cathedral de Notre Dame in Paris
- Repertoire spread across Europe
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Description
Explore the rich history and elements of liturgical books and plainchant in this quiz. Learn about the different texts used during mass and the characteristics of monophonic melodies utilized in Christian rituals. Test your knowledge on styles of delivery and psalm tones as they were practiced in the Middle Ages and beyond.
