Medieval Period Lecture Slides PDF

The medieval period Lecture 1 | Classical Music: A Cultural History (MUSC1506) Dr David Larkin 30 July 2024 2 Teaching staff Dr David Larkin...

The medieval period Lecture 1 | Classical Music: A Cultural History (MUSC1506) Dr David Larkin 30 July 2024 2 Teaching staff Dr David Larkin (Unit coordinator and lecturer) Rachel Campbell (Lecturer) Nicholas Kennedy (Tutor) The University of Sydney Page 2 3 Assessment items NB: Final exam is a hurdle task – if you fail this task, you will fail the Unit of Study The University of Sydney Page 3 4 Preparing for tutorials The University of Sydney https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/59614 Page 4 5 What is classical music? – To what do we refer when we use the term ‘classical music’? – Lawrence Kramer outlines two different usages of the term ‘classical music’: – the catchall commercial category that takes in some six centuries of very diverse practice, including opera[.] – a specific body of nontheatrical music produced since the eighteenth century with one aim in view: to be listened to. Lawrence Kramer, Why Classical Music still matters (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), 11 – Our definition is even more broad than than these, encompassing over a millennium of music – In academic circles, the term ‘Western Art Music’ is often preferred to refer to this long, extremely heterogenous body of music The University of Sydney Page 5 6 A millennium (and more) of notated music – Richard Taruskin (in his five-volume Oxford History of Western Music) notes one common feature across this entire body of music: – ‘all of the genres that are treated in this book, are literate genres. That is, they are genres that have been disseminated primarily through the medium of writing.’ Richard Taruskin, ‘Introduction’, The Oxford History of Western Music Vol. 1: Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2010), xiv – Although music is, first and foremost, a sounding medium, the invention of music notation (whose earliest stages we will cover today) has played a huge role in the development of the art: – It facilitated the separation of the act of creation from performance – It preserved music, or at least some trace of what it would have sounded like – It allowed music to be transmitted into new contexts – Notation created ‘artefacts’ that can be discussed and dissected more easily than the aural entity can The University of Sydney Page 6 7 What’s ‘classical’ about classical music? – Why ‘classical’? What assumptions are bundled up in this term? – Daniel Heartz has identified four different (but frequently interrelated) meanings and connotations of the word ‘classical’ 1. Formal discipline 2. Model of excellence 3. That which has to do with Greek or Latin antiquity 4. That which is opposed to “romantic” Daniel Heartz, rev. Bruce Alan Brown, ‘Classical’, Grove Music Online – Taruskin correctly notes that the types of music that were confided to notation were ‘elite genres’ – ‘until very recent times […] literacy and its fruits have been the possession […] of social elites: ecclesiastical, political, military, hereditary, meritocratic, professional, economic, educational, academic, fashionable, even criminal’ The University of Sydney Taruskin, ‘Introduction’, xvPage 7 8 What are we doing here? – What musical practices do we know about in a specific past era? – Theories: how was music thought to work, what underlying ‘rules’ were there? – Instruments: what instruments were actually used to make music? – Novelties: what was new, i.e. what changed compared with previous times? – Genres: what kinds/types of music were in use? – How does music relate to the society and culture of the era? – Politics: how does music respond to/impact on political structures? – Ideologies: how does music reflect underlying ideological beliefs (inc. religion)? – Society: what role did music play in the lives of different social groups? – How have these stories been told? – Evidence: What evidence has been found, and how has it been used? – Attitudes: How have later attitudes coloured the stories we tell? The University of Sydney Page 8 9 Divisions of music history (and our coverage) Classical (1740–1815) Modern (1900→) Antiquity Medieval Renaissance (→c.500) (500–1400) (1400–1600) 500 1000 1500 2000 Baroque (1600–1740) Romantic (1815–1900) The University of Sydney Page 9 10 Ancient Greece: birthplace of Western culture? – Archaic period (9th Cen – 6th Cen BC) Writers – Classical period (5th Cen – 4th Cen BC) – Hellenistic period (323 BC – 31BC) Homer Hesiod Historians Herodotus Thucydides Philosophers The University of Sydney Socrates Plato AristotlePage 10 11 How did we learn about ancient Greek music? – Images (e.g. musical scenes represented in pictures*) – Objects (e.g. bronze lyre found on Antikythera shipwreck**) – Descriptions (e.g. in Plato’s Republic, where the effects of the different musical modes are listed) – Theories (e.g. Pythagorean theories relating the harmonic series to the order of the universe) Amphora (460-50 BC) – Very little actual music Bronze Lyre (Helenistic) survives The University of Sydney Page 11 12 Greek influence on conceptions of music – A very important early medieval writer was Boethius (480–c.526) – His Fundamentals of Music largely derives from Greek writers (Nicomachus and Ptolemy) – He talks about three types of music – Musica mundana (music of the spheres) – Musica humana (human music) – Musica instrumentalis (instrumental music) – Only the third of these equates to what we would call ‘music today’ (i.e. vocal or instrumental music). The other two refer to a conception of the universe and of the human person where the numerical principles we can observe in music also are exemplified The University of Sydney Page 12 13 Greek influence on medieval music theory – In the 6C AD, Cassiodorus (490–583) wrote Institutiones saecularium litterarum [Fundamentals of Secular Learning] on the Seven Liberal Arts – The seven so-called ‘liberal’ arts were divided into two branches. All served as preparation for philosophical and theological study – The trivium consisted of grammar, logic, rhetoric – The quadrivium consisted of music, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy – This book continued to be studied for centuries afterwards, through handwritten copies (NB: printing had not yet been invented) – The next slides show excerpts from a 9C manuscript from the Monastery at St. Gallen in Switzerland which contains Cassiodorus’s text (with a few added illustrations) The University of Sydney Page 13 14 Passing on classical knowledge – ‘Musical science is the discipline which treats of numbers in their relation to those things which are found in sounds, such as duple, triple, quadruple, and other things said to be similar to these’ (Cassiodorus, trans. in Treitler/Strunk: 144) – ‘Music has three parts’: harmonics, rhythmics, metrics The University of Sydney http://e-codices.unifr.ch/en/csg/0855/305 Page 14 15 Classifications (continued) – There are three types of musical instrument – percussion instruments – instruments of tension (i.e. string instruments) – wind instruments – There are six consonances [‘symphoniae’] – Diatessaron = 4th (formed from the ratio 4:3, and includes four pitches) – Diapente = 5th (formed from the ‘emiola’ ratio 3:2 and includes five pitches) – Diapason = 8ve (formed from the ‘dupla’ ratio 2:1 and includes ‘all’ 8 pitches) – (The other three are just formed from adding an octave to each of these in turn) – All these consonances are based on simple mathematical ratios; these discoveries are attributed to Pythagoras (6C BC) http://e-codices.unifr.ch/en/csg/0855/306/0/Sequence-686 The University of Sydney Page 15 http://e-codices.unifr.ch/en/csg/0855/308/0/Sequence-686 16 The Medieval period/middle ages – These terms were coined after the period in question ended – Refer to the span of time between the end of the Ancient World, and the start of the Modern World – One possible starting point of the Middle Ages might be the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476AD – One possible ending point Middle Ages might be the start of the Renaissance c.1350/1400 – Thus the ‘Middle Ages’ covers the greater part of a millennium, and over that time there were huge changes in every aspect of society and culture – Some later commentators referred to the Medieval period as the ‘Dark Ages’; however, this does not accurately reflect the deep learning and culture of the period, and the term is usually seen today as an instance of bad historiography The University of Sydney Page 16 17 Dividing up the Medieval period Carolingian Period Late Middle Ages (c.750–950) (1200–1400) Antiquity (→c.400) 500 800 1100 1400 Early Middle Ages Central Middle Ages (c.400–750) (c.950–1200) The University of Sydney Divisions (and dates) from Margot Fassler, Music in the Medieval West, 2 Page 17 18 Changes in architectural style: From Byzantine… Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna (6C, Byzantine style) The University of Sydney Page 18 19 … through Romanesque… Pisa Cathedral (11C, Romanesque style) The University of Sydney Page 19 20 … to Gothic Chartres Cathedral (early 13C, High Gothic style) The University of Sydney Page 20 21 Elite vs popular cultural practices – By and large, we know much more about the culture of elites than the culture of ordinary people – The further back in the past we go, the more true this is (e.g. very few people were literate in the medieval period, and so couldn’t leave written records of their practices) – Records tend to be made by those in power (e.g. courts, churches in the medieval period), and institutions tend to be more incentivized at preserving these records – Oral traditions are at greater risk of disappearing ‘Comic scene with travelling musicians’ (first century BC; Pompei) – This will be acutely the case for a sonic art like music: as we’ll see, virtually all the medieval music which survives was created within/for courts or churches The University of Sydney Page 21 22 Musical practices in late antiquity/early middle ages We know about some musical practices in this era, thanks to written accounts (many of them written by the church fathers) – St. Basil (c.330–379): ‘the singing of psalms brings love, the greatest of good things, contriving harmony like some bond of union and uniting the people in the symphony of a single choir. […] Although there are many musical instruments, the prophet made this book suited to the psaltery [alone]’ – St. John Chrysostom (c.345–407): [again about psalm singing] ‘here there is no need for the cithara, or for stretched strings, or for the plectrum and technique, or Two later medieval for any musical instrument…’ representations of the psaltery The University of Sydney Page 22 23 Chant in the early middle ages (up to c.800) Chant Dialects across Europe Map: Burkholder, 21 Celtic chant – Ireland/Britain Mozarabic chant – Spain Gallican chant – France Old Roman chant – Rome Ambrosian chant – Milan Beneventan chant – southern Italy The University of Sydney Byzantine chant – Constantinople Page 23 24 Gregorian chant: the first music to survive to today – Isidore of Seville (c.560–636) ‘Unless sounds are remembered by man, they perish, for they cannot be written down’ – The earliest body of music which has been transmitted to us via notation is a type of singing used in Roman Catholic services St. Gregory I – Known variously as ‘plainsong’, ‘plainchant’, or Pope 590–604 AD ‘Gregorian chant’ (after Pope Gregory I, who was by later tradition designated its inventor) – It was monophonic music (i.e. sung by a single singer, or by a group in unison) – Its purpose was to enable a more ceremonial delivery of Latin texts in liturgical settings The University of Sydney Page 24 25 Important terminology for sacred music – Liturgy: a set of rites for public worship, linked to a seasonal calendar (seasons include Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost) – Mass: the most important liturgy. Consisted of the ordinary (parts which did not change from week to week) and the proper (parts which changed depending on the week) – Ordinary: Kyrie (asking for mercy), the Gloria (praising God), the Credo (listing articles of belief), the Sanctus (praising God, before the central consecration), and the Agnus Dei (asking God to take away sins, before communion) – Office: a set of prayers and psalms throughout the day, which priests, monks, nuns etc. were required to recite – Main parts of the office: Matins (in the night, 2am), Lauds (dawn, 5am) … Vespers (evening, 6pm), Compline (before bed, 7pm) – Psalms: from the Old Testament, a series of 150 hymns attributed to David, and often set to music The University of Sydney Page 25 26 Enhancing liturgies ‘When trying to understand the ritual of which Gregorian chant is a part, it should be remembered that music is not its only non-verbal component. There are others: church architecture and stained-glass windows, images and church furniture, the dress of the performers and the objects they hold and use, the bells and the incense. It is fair to say that these things have a stronger cumulative impact than the Latin texts being recited.’ Hiley, Gregorian Chant: 4 The University of Sydney L: Cathedral Aix-la-Chapelle (8C); R: Sainte-Chapelle, Paris (13C) Page 26 27 Incense at Santiago di Compostela, Spain (11–13C AD) Basilica di San Vitale, Ravenna (6C AD) The University of Sydney Duomo diMaria Monreale, SantaChurch Palermo (12–13C in Trastevere, Rome AD) (4–12C Page 27 Cathedral Christ de Notre Cathedral, Dame, Dublin Paris AD) AD) (12–14C) (11C 28 Notating plainchant today Introit Antiphon ‘Spiritus Domini’ at the start of mass on the feast of Pentecost ‘The spirit of the Lord fills the world, alleluia, and that which contains all things, knows every language spoken by men, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.’ Typical notation using normal five-line stave (first two phrases only) Square notation standardized by the monks at Benedictine Abbey at Solemnes in the 19C, based on one form of medieval notation. Uses a four-line staff and square noteheads. Still in use today in the Roman Catholic Church. The University of Sydney Page 28 29 Political changes – In 752–4 Pope Stephen II visited Pippin the Short (King of Franks) – Pippin wished the Roman liturgy to be performed in his kingdom. – His son was Charlemagne, Charles the great (c.742–814), who greatly expanded the Frankish kingdom. – The Cathedral at Aix-la-chapelle (=Aachen) was erected during his reign – In 800 Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor, and his kingdom became known as the ‘Holy Roman Empire’ – Charlemagne continued to standardize chant practices in union with Rome. This was part of a push for greater centralized control from both spiritual (church) and temporal (secular) powers. The University of Sydney Page 29 30 Charlemagne’s Empire The University of Sydney Page 30 31 Two important medieval centres Laon (France), Cathedral Einsiedeln (Switzerland), Benedictine Abbey The University of Sydney Page 31 32 Notating plainchant in the 10th century (version 1) Neumes (early forms of music notation) Higher notes are written ‘higher’ on the page (but only approx.) Introit (=opening prayer at mass) on Pentecost/Whit Sunday) The spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world And that which contains all things knows his voice, Alleluia Date: after 930 Source: Laon Bibliothèque Municipale 239: 125 manuscrit.ville-laon.fr/_app/ms/OEB/Ms239/index.html The University of Sydney Page 32 33 Notating plainchant in the 10th century (version 2) Neumes (different to Laon MS) Elaborated illuminated capital Abbreviation: ‘alleluia’ represented by its key vowels Date: c.960–970 Source: Einsiedeln Stiftsbibliothek 121: 255 https://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/sbe/0121/255/0/Sequence-974 The University of Sydney Page 33 34 A modern edition (showing medieval sources) Laon MS (930) Einsiedeln MS (960-70) Date: 1979 Source: Graduale Triplex (Solesmes, 1979): 252 The University of Sydney Page 34 35 The first music we ‘know’ – but do we really know it? – So, chant has survived in various kinds of notation since the 9th century. But does this mean that we can be sure we’re hearing the same thing when chant is sung today as when it was sung in Charlemagne’s time? – The short answer is No – As David Hiley points out, ‘there is, alas, no unbroken line of performance practice between then and now.’ (Hiley, Gregorian Chant, 1) – Moreover, we who listen to medieval music today have knowledge of a vast range of later music. This changes our perceptions, and makes it difficult/impossible to recreate the ‘period ear’, i.e. how people heard music at the time. – ‘No matter how much we try to participate in another culture, we cannot become natives. We shall ever remain outside observers, never inside participants.’ (Burstyn, ‘In quest of the period ear’, 696) The University of Sydney Page 35 36 Developing notation – Here we see ‘Spiritus domini’ as found in a 13C gradual (=collection of musical settings of the mass), called the Codex Gisle – It was made by a nun, Gisela von Kerssenbrock (?–1300) for the convent of Marienbrunn in Rulle (north Germany) – Notice the use of a 5-line musical staff, with different pitches positioned on lines and spaces (just as is standard today). This recorded pitch more exactly than the earlier neumatic notation – We owe the existence of the staff to … (see next slide) The University of Sydney Page 36 37 Isn’t this similar to ‘Do- re-mi’ from The Sound Guido d’Arezzo of Music? – Guido (c.991–after 1033) was a monk based at the monastery of Arezzo from 1025, where he was responsible for teaching singing – He invented staff notation (i.e. indicating precise pitches through lines and spaces), and methods of teaching choristers to pitch music accurately – One trick was to use solomization syllables [a medieval version of ‘do, re mi’]. In fact, with the exception of the first, the names should be very familiar: ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la [corresponding to the first six notes of the major scale] – One chant setting (‘Ut queant laxis’) begins each phrase on successive notes of the hexachord The University of Sydney Page 37 38 Guidonian hand – Famously, Guido’s system of teaching pitches was represented on a left-hand diagram, where the six notes of the hexachord were laid out in overlapping patterns to cover all the notes used at the time [the details don’t concern us here] – The lowest note was known as Gamma (after the Greek letter G), and combined with the syllable ‘ut’, it gave us the word ‘Gamut’ (meaning the entire range of available possibilities) The University of Sydney Page 38 39 Hildegard von Bingen: a medieval mystic – One of the most remarkable figures in the medieval church was Hildegard (1098–1179), who founded her own convent in Rupertsberg, near Bingen in Germany (hence her soubriquet ‘Hildegard von Bingen’) – She had mystical visions, and claimed to be writing and composing under the direct inspiration of God ‘without being taught by anyone, since I had never studied neumes or any chant at all’ (Life of St. Hildegard) – Music was crucial for her: ‘both through the form and quality of the instruments, as well as through the meaning of the words which accompany them, those who hear might be taught […] about inward things’ (note the priority given to music, even over the sacred texts) – In her view, music ‘recall[s] to mind that divine melody of praise which Adam, in company with the angels, enjoyed in God before his fall.’ (Letter to the prelates at Mainz, 1178) The University of Sydney Page 39 40 Divinely inspired chant – ‘The architecture of Hildegard’s music breaks many of the rules of musical decorum and extravagant speech. […] the real innovation lies in the rhetorical use of musical structures to highlight the text and even to contribute to meaning in their own right.’ (Nathaniel M. Campbell et al., ‘The Symphonia and Ordo Virtutum of Hildegard von Bingen’ http://www.hildegard-society.org/p/music.html) – The chant ‘O vos angeli’ is taken from Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum (“Symphony of the Harmony of Heavenly Revelations”): listen to the extraordinary range it covers O vos angeli O angels, you who qui custoditis populos, guard the peoples in your care quorum forma fulget whose form reflects in a flash in facie vestra, upon your face; et o vos archangeli O archangels, you who qui suscipitis lend your aid animas iustorum, to righteous souls; The University of Sydney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8piailwbCY Page 40 41 The devil does NOT have all the best tunes – Hildegard also wrote the Ordo virtutum (c.1151), a morality play in which the devil and sixteen virtues engage in a struggle over a soul – This is an example of a sung verse play in Latin, which (according to Taruskin) was quite common in the 12C – It is the earliest extant musico-dramatic composition to have survived – Hildegard makes an important theological point by not giving the devil any singing: in her view, music belongs to God, so the devil had no music The University of Sydney Page 41 42 Ways of elaborating on chant – Chant was written down and gradually came to be standardized from the ninth century onward – However, in tandem with this, various ways of elaborating on chant were developed by singers (much of this was part of improvised practice, but some of it was written down) – Two main types of elaboration: troping and organum – Troping: Additions to an existing chant in the same voice 1. Adding a musical phrase (i.e. more notes, but no new words) 2. Adding words to an existing melisma (i.e. a section of the chant where multiple notes were originally sung to one syllable) 3. Adding new verses (text + music) The University of Sydney Page 42 43 A modern version of troping Sometimes when one hears the US national anthem at important occasions, the singer will add some personal ornamentation/lightly alter the original melody. This is pretty much the process involved in Troping (type 1) Blue: original melody ( version) Red: Beyoncé (2013 Presidential inauguration) Transcription: http://blogs.wfmt.com/offmic/2015/07/04/why-the-american-national-anthem-isnt-even-american/ The University of Sydney Page 43 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGDH18R7GfA 44 Elaborating on chant: tropes Trope [type 3: new words and music] inserted before the start of the Introit antiphon ‘Proceding from the father, one with the son and the father’ Phrase 1 of the Introit antiphon ‘Spiritus domini’ ‘The spirit of the Lord fills the whole world The University of Sydney Page 44 45 Elaborating on chant: organum Organum: Adding another part above or below an existing chant melody – The earliest collection of two-part organa is found in the Winchester Troper (1020s). However, a MS with a notated second voice added to an existing chant melody dating as early as c.900 AD was discovered in 2015 Original chant Added voice The University of Sydney https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/earliest-known-piece-of-polyphonic-music-discovered Page 45 46 Organum: the earliest known polyphony – This practice of singing/playing two or more parts together is known as polyphony (from the Greek for ‘many voices’). Organum is the earliest known type of polyphony 4ths – In this example, the parts frequently moved in parallel 4ths. This gives it a harsh sound to modern ears (although the 4th was considered a consonance by the Greeks, as we saw earlier) – In this early example of polyphony, there is mostly one note in the added part (bottom line) to go with one note in the original chant (top line) – In Latin, ‘note-against-note’ translates as ‘punctus contra-punctum’, from which we get the term counterpoint The University of Sydney Page 46 47 Terminology Number of voices in organum settings – Duplum: one voice is added to the chant (i.e. two parts) – Triplum: chant plus two added voices (i.e. three parts) – Quadruplum: chant plus three added voices (i.e. four parts) And some familiar names for different parts – Tenor: from Latin tenere, to hold; the part with the original chant – Countertenor: from Latin contratenor; a part set against the tenor – Alto: from Latin contratenor altus, the high part against the tenor – Bass: from Latin contratenor bassus, the low part against the tenor – Soprano: from Latin superius, the highest part The University of Sydney Page 47 48 A glance at the secular world One of the few genres of non-sacred music to survive from this era is that of the troubadours, courtly musician-poets – Troubadours hailed from South France (if female, trobairitz) – The equivalent North French musician- poets were known as trouvères – Their songs celebrate fin amors, a devotional love (generally for someone out of reach) – The songs might have been sung unaccompanied, or possibly with an instrument (maybe playing along, or providing a drone) The University of Sydney Page 48 49 Ventadorn, ‘Can vei la lauzeta’ – This well-known song (which was circulated orally long before being written down) is attributed to the troubadour Bernart de Ventadorn (c.1130–c.1200) – In this song, written in Occitan (language of Southern France) in the 1170s, the singer bewails his lovesick situation Can vei la lauzeta mover When I see the lark beating its wings de joi sas alsas contrai rai, joyfully against the sun’s rays que s’oblid’ e s laisse chaser which then swoons and swoops down per la doussor c’al cor li vai because of the joy in its heart, ai! Tan grans envey m’en ve oh! I feel such jealousy de cui qu’eu veya jauzion for all those who have the joy of love meravilhas ai, car desse that I am astonished lo cor de desirer no m fon. that my heart does not immediately melt with desire! The University of Sydney Page 49 50 Medieval instruments (selected) Hurdy gurdy Shawm Vielle/fiddle Pipe + tabor Portative organ Trumpet Dulcimer Psaltery La quarte Estampie royal, from Le manuscript du roi (late 13C) – Dulcimer, percussion, psaltery, vielle, zither The University of Sydney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXqgEnrgtSg Page 50 51 Later developments of organum/polyphony By the 13C, several different types of organum existed – In Aquitanian polyphony, two main styles were used, sometimes in alternation – Discant style: the added part (now above the chant) has one-to-three notes for every note in the original chant below – Florid organum: long melismas (i.e. passages of longer than 5–6 notes) are found in the added voice, while the lower voice holds on to a single note of the original melody. The name given to the lower voice is the tenor (from the Latin meaning ‘to hold’) – Still more important were the polyphonic styles used in the late 12/early 13C at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris – The big breakthrough here was the incorporation of information about rhythm, in addition to pitch – The two earliest composers known by name created polyphonic settings for Notre Dame: Léonin (active 1150s–1201) & Pérotin (active late 12–early 13C) The University of Sydney Page 51 52 Perotin, Sederunt principes (c.1199) Original chant Note 1 (D) 2 (F) 3 (A) 4 (G) 5 (A) Time 0’02 1’14 1’31 1’55 2’12 Chant (vastly elongated) in tenor Added upper parts: rhythmic cells (note the swung/triple-time feel of the beats), imitate ideas, swap roles, etc. The University of Sydney Page 52 53 The motet The most important genre which derived from the Notre Dame tradition was the motet (from the Latin motetus, ‘word’) – A motet involved two (later, also three or four) parts – The tenor still was notionally connected to a chant (although it could be much altered) – Above the tenor, the other parts moved freely, and were supplied with other texts, sometimes in vernacular languages (i.e. not Latin) – Motets were enjoyed by cultivated listeners, which encouraged experimentation among composers – Later developments in the motet include the so-called ‘Franconian motet’ (after Franco of Cologne, who codified rhythmic notation c.1280) The University of Sydney Page 53 54 El mois de mai / De se debent bigami / KYRIE Three voice motet, where the top voice uses a French pastoral, the middle voice a Latin sermon, and the bottom is based on the Kyrie ‘cum jubilo’ Top voice (triplum) El mois de mai Middle voice (motetus) De se debent bigami In the month of May when the thrush sings Bigamists should complain about themselves, when the gladiolus, not against the pope, and the rose and the lily bloom, for they despoil themselves the those in love should be joyful of the privilege of clergy, I will rejoice, for I am the faithful lover but now from their own deed of the most beautiful one in all these lands they can learn I have set my whole heart on loving her, and with Ovid confess this to be the truth: I will never cease as long as I live. Virtue is no less to guard possessions The great beauty of her shining face, than to seek them her pretty body made so wonderfully, make me always think about her. Bottom voice (tenor) KYRIE The University of Sydney Page 54 55 El mois de mai / De se debent bigami / KYRIE The University of Sydney Page 55 56 The fourteenth century: a time of turmoil – 1309–78 Papacy moved from Rome to Avignon – 1310–20 Famine – 1346–53 Black Death (killed an estimated third or half of the population of Europe) – 1337–1453 Hundred (sic) Years’ War between France and England – 1378–1417 Great schism: struggle between rival claimants to the papacy (some in Avignon, others in Rome) The University of Sydney Page 56 57 Ars nova – In the early 14C, there was a feeling that music had changed considerably – c.1320, Johannis de Muris wrote a treatise Ars novae musicae (=Art of the New Music) – In 1322, Philippe de Vitry wrote a treatise Ars nova (=New Art) – One of the big innovations of the Ars Nova (c.1310s–70s) was in the area of rhythm – Notation was now devised to divide longer notes in two, instead of three. Three had earlier been seen as ‘perfect’ (because of the Trinity) with two regarded as ‘imperfect’ – This can be related to a new interest in measuring time in society in general: people began recording their birth dates, mechanical clocks came into regular use, etc. – Not everyone liked the new style: Jacques [Jacobus] of Liège attacked Vitry and other ‘moderni cantores’ (=modern singers) for their focus on motets and chansons rather than organum – ‘Wherein does this lasciviousness in singing so greatly please, this excessive refinement, by which, as some think, the words are lost, the harmony of consonances is diminished, the value of notes is changed, perfection is brought low, imperfection is exalted, and measure is confused?’ (quoted in Fasler, Music in the medieval West, 211) The University of Sydney Page 57 58 Isorhythm From Greek, meaning ‘same rhythm’ Talea (repeating rhythmic pattern). Color (repeating melodic pattern) The University of Sydney Page 58 59 Guillaume de Machaut – Poet and composer, Guillaume de Machaut (c.1300–77) is the most famous composer of the 14C – He produced one mass, motets, ballades, rondeaux, virelais, lais, usually setting his own poetry – Machaut also collected his works, suggesting a new awareness of himself as a composer – The one mass he wrote is entitled Messe de Notre Dame (Mass of Our Lady, c. 1360s). It was written for Reims cathedral, and is one of the first polyphonic setting of the ordinary of the mass by an individual composer that has come down to us – It was performed for several decades after his death, thanks to an endowment he set up – Machaut uses a chant excerpt in the tenor of the Kyrie, set isorhythmically. The contratenor uses a quasi-isorhythm (compare bars 1-12 with 13-24), but not as strictly The University of Sydney Page 59 60 Isorhythmically treated chant (Kyrie cunctipotens genitor) Suggesting of ‘hocketing’ (quick alternations between parts) The University of Sydney Page 60 61 Ars subtilior – Towards the end of the 14C, composers at the Papal court of Avignon cultivated an ultra-refined, even mannerist style, known as the Ars subtilior (=‘more subtle manner’). This was a secular form of music- making – The complexity of the rhythms of some of these songs was enormous, and would only have been performed by professionals for a highly knowledgeable listenership (i.e. this wasn’t music for everyone) – The presentation of scores was also a work of art: fanciful designs were not uncommon (see Baude Cordier, ‘Tout par compass’, from the Chantilly codex). The red notation implied complex metric changes The University of Sydney Page 61 62 Cordier, Tout par compas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaeOWdXM4Pg The University of Sydney Page 62 63 ‘Belle, bonne, sage’: a hearfelt love song Belle, bonne, sage, plaisante et gente, A ce jour cy que l'an se renouvelle, Vous fais le don d'une chanson nouvelle Dedans mon cuer qui a vous se presente. De recevoir ce don ne soyés lente, Je vous suppli, ma doulce damoyselle; Belle, bonne, sage… Car tant vous aim qu'aillours n'ay mon entente, Et sy scay que vous estes seulle celle Qui fame avés que chascun vous appelle: Flour de beauté sur toutes excellente. Belle, bonne, sage… Lovely, good, wise, gentle and noble one, On this day that the year becomes new I make you a gift of a new song Within my heart, which presents itself to you. Do not be reluctant to accept this gift, I beg you, my sweet damsel; Lovely, good, wise… For I love you so well that I have no other purpose, And know well that you alone are she Who is famous for being called by all: Flower of beauty, excellent above all others. Lovely, good, wise… The University of Sydney Page 63 64 Deciphering the heart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNKiFrMMSlQ The University of Sydney Page 64 65 Medieval music today – Within the Roman Catholic tradition, Gregorian chant continues to be sung in liturgies to this day, sometimes a capella (=unaccompanied), sometimes with organ accompaniments – From time to time, chant recordings become surprise hits (e.g. 1994 CD Chant recordings made in 1973 and 1982 by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos [in Burgos, Spain] went double platinum) https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/08/arts/hits-1000- years-in-the-making.html The University of Sydney Page 65 66 Reusing chant/medieval music – Later composers have on occasion utilised aspects of medieval music. One tune that has proved popular is the 13C chant setting of the ‘Dies Irae’, used by Berlioz (1830), Saint- Saëns (1874) and Rachmaninoff (1934) Dies Irae chant, reused in Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, 5th movement ‘Dream of a Witch’s sabbath’ – A type of medieval harmonisation can be heard in the Agnus Dei from Jean Langlais Missa salve regina (1954) Jean Langlais (1907–1991), Missa salve Regina, ‘Agnus Dei’, bars 6-10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLyg3WB8qwo The University of Sydney Page 66 67 Bardcore 2020 has also seen the rise of a parody genre called ‘bardcore’, which consists of medieval-style cover versions of popular songs Astronomia, ‘Coffin Dance’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R16cVvg2OyY Dolly Parton, ‘Jolene’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugqQlB5fpuc The University of Sydney Page 67 68 Reminder: before your tutorials this week – Go to the canvas website for this unit (https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/59614) – Click on the ‘Weekly content and tutorial preparation’ tab – Click on ‘Week 1: The Medieval Period’ – Here you will find the five set works for this week 1. Haec dies quam fecit Dominus (Gregorian chant) 2. Beatriz de Dia, 'A chantar' (before 1212) 3. Léonin (style of), Haec dies quam fecit Dominus (12C) 4. Perotin, Sederunt Principes (13C) 5. Philippe de Vitry, 'Garrit gallus / In nova fert / Neuma' (c.1313) – Listen through to these: at the beginning of the tutorial, there will be a brief test to check that you can recognise them all – Prepare answers for the questions on these works The University of Sydney Page 68