Middle Ages

1. Middle Ages Music

2. Sacred Music

3. Sacred Music (Overview) • Just as the cathedral dominated medieval landscape, so was it the center of musical life • Many of the most prominent musicians were priests or monks • Women were not allowed to sing in church services. • They did make music in the all female convents • One of the most famous composers of sacred music was, in fact, a women named Hildegard (The abbess of Rupertsberg)

4. The majority of medieval sacred music was purely vocal. From this practice we derive the term a cappella which means “of the chapel or church” • Initially, the church frowned upon the use of instruments in the church because of the previous role in pagan rituals • However, in some places and for certain occasions instruments would be used • For example, outdoor services, festive processionals, etc.

5. After about 1100, instruments began to be used more prominently • Of these, the organ was most prominent • The early medieval organ was not the precise instruments it is today. It was so loud it could be heard for miles and was operated by heavy blows of the fist.

6. Throughout the middle ages many of the clergy about how the noisy instruments were a distraction to worshipers

7. Sacred Music Gregorian Chant

8. Gregorian Chant • Named after Pope Gregory I who reigned from 590-604 • He sought to unify the structure of the Catholic services • This way Catholic services all over the world were conducted in the same way. They use the same texts, prayers, chants, etc. • Legend has it that Pope Gregory was given the chants through divine intervention • We know that they evolved over centuries and stretch back even to the singing of hymns in the synagogues of the early Jews in the time of Christ.

9. Gregorian Chant • Most of the several thousand melodies that we know today were composed between the years 600 – 1300 • Most of the composers of early Gregorian chant – like the sculptors of the early medieval church – remain anonymous

10. Gregorian Chant • The official music of the Roman Catholic church for over 1,000 years during the middle ages and into the Renaissance • Consists of a monophonic melody set to sacred Latin texts and sung without accompaniment (a cappella) • Monophonic = a single melodic line • These chants were meant to enhance certain portions of the religious service

11. Gregorian Chant • The chants were notated with a system of notation known as “neumes” • The exact rhythmic values of the notes in chant were uncertain because they were not notated

12. Gregorian Chant Medieval Notation “Neumes” Modern Notation

13. Alleluia: VidimusStellam • “We have seen his star” • An elaborate and jubilant example of Gregorian Chant • Many notes are sung to each syllable of text • The monophonic texture is varied by alternating between a soloist and a choir • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnDtRBsad9c

14. Ave Maria Virgo Serena • This chant uses the “drone” underneath the chant to add a little interest to the monophonic chant • Drone = a single sustained pitch • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmUWbLNrlrY

15. Sacred Music The Church Modes

16. Church Modes • The “otherworldly” sounds of chant partially results from the unfamiliar scales used. • These scales are called “modes” • Like our modern scales these consist of seven different tones then the octave. However, the patterns of steps are different • These modes were the basis of music composition all through the middle ages and most of the Renaissance

17. Church Modes The sea chantey “what shall we do with a drunken sailor” is in the Dorian Mode Many American folk songs are still based on these “ancient” modes. The Civil War song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” is in the Aeolian Mode

18. Sacred Music Hildegard von Bingen

19. Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) • The abbess of the convent in Rupertsberg, Germany • Abbess is the female equivalent to the Abbott = the head of a monastery or convent • She had one of the most creative and multi-faceted minds of the middle ages • She was a visionary and a mystic, active in religion and diplomacy, wrote poetry and music, and was well versed in theology, science, and medicine.

20. Hildegard von Bingen • She was the 1st woman composer from whom a large number of works have survived • She wrote what is considered the first musical drama OrdoVirtutumor “Play of the Virtues”

21. Hildegard of Bingen • “O successores” • A late, highly expressive form of chant • Most chants only span ½ - 1 octave • This has a wide range of 1.5 octaves • This makes it more dramatic and expressive • This, and many of Hildegard’s chants have wider ranges and larger intervals • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfCmHuz5oTk

22. OrdoVirtutum • An early form of musical drama know as the Morality Play • Told the story of a human soul tempted by the devil then saved by the “Virtues” • Composed around 1151 • It is the earliest recorded morality play by more than a century

23. OrdoVirtutum Plot Roles • OrdoVirtutum is about the struggle for a human soul, or Anima, between the Virtues and the Devil. The piece can be divided as follows: • Part I: Prologue in which the Virtues are introduced to the Patriarchs and Prophets who marvel at the Virtues. • Part II: We hear the complaints of souls that are imprisoned in bodies. The (for now) happy Soul enters and her voice contrasts with the unhappy souls. However, the Soul is too eager to skip life and go straight to Heaven. When the Virtues tell her that she has to live first, the Devil seduces her away to worldly things. • Part III: The Virtues take turns identifying and describing themselves while the Devil occasionally interrupts and expresses opposing views and insults. • Part IV: The Soul returns, repentant. Once the Virtues have accepted her back, they turn on the Devil, whom they bind, and then God is praised. • Part V: A procession of all the characters. • The Virtues (sung by 17 solo female voices): Humility (Queen of the Virtues), Hope, Chastity, Innocence, Contempt of the World, Celestial Love, Discipline, Modesty, Mercy, Victory, Discretion, Patience, Knowledge of God, Charity, Fear of God, Obedience, and Faith • Chorus of the Prophets and Patriarchs (sung by a male chorus) • Chorus of Souls (sung by a women’s chorus) • The Devil (a male voice) • The Devil does not sing, he only yells or grunts because according to Hildegard, he cannot produce divine harmony. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7uszPndGys

24. The Development of Polyphony Organum

25. Organum • For centuries westen music was basically monophonic (one melodic line) • Sometime between 700-900, steps were taken that would forever transform western music. • Monks in monastery choirs began adding a second melodic line to chants • At first it was improvised and not written down • The new line duplicated the original at a different pitch • Therefor the two lines ran parallel at the interval of the 4th or 5th

26. Oblique Organum • The original chant placed over a sustained note or “drone”

27. Parallel Organum

28. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0p-oZD5M40&list=PLwa9DxemaB5oMuhlkTO9TOQKVy76U6Uk9http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0p-oZD5M40&list=PLwa9DxemaB5oMuhlkTO9TOQKVy76U6Uk9 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM09LaypL_Q&list=PLwa9DxemaB5oMuhlkTO9TOQKVy76U6Uk9

29. Free Organum • Still a 1:1 ratio of added notes to the original chant notes • But the added notes are more free form unlike oblique and parallel organum http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjCN9lhCQWo&list=PLwa9DxemaB5oMuhlkTO9TOQKVy76U6Uk9

30. Florid or MelismaticOrganum • The original chant melody would be in the lower voice and a very elaborate line would be added on top • The original chant melody became known as the “cantus firmus” or “fixed voice/melody” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glbYiXAwOWk&list=PLwa9DxemaB5oMuhlkTO9TOQKVy76U6Uk9

31. Organum • The additions to the original chants became so elaborate and inventive that intent of the simple Gregorian chant was often lost. • This was a cause for concern amongst many members of the clergy • Composers want more freedom for creativity and the church often wants more strict adherence to tradition • The notion of the “Cantus Firmus” is a defining trait of sacred music that lasts for centuries after the middle ages!

32. The School of Notre Dame Measured Rhythm

33. The School of Notre Dame • After 1150, Paris – the intellectual and artistic capital of the Europe - became the center for polyphonic music • The University of Paris attracted leading scholars in architecture, medicine, literature, etc. • The Cathedral of Notre Dame was the supreme monument of Gothic Architecture.

36. The School of Notre Dame • 2 successive choirmasters of Notre Dame, Leonin and Perotin, are among the first notable composers known by name. • They and their followers are referred to as the School of Notre Dame

37. Major Contribution • The major contribution offered by the School of Notre Dame was in the realm of rhythm • Earlier polyphonic music was performed in the free, unmeasured rhythms of Gregorian Chant • The music of Leonin and Perotin had a measured rhythm, with definite time values per note.

38. For the first time in history, notation indicated both rhythm and pitch! • This notation was limited to certain rhythm patterns • The pulse had to be subdivided into 3 (representative of the Holy Trinity) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bganS0KBsEY

39. The majority of Leonin and Perotin’s works were written for 3-4 part polyphony • The lowest voice was called the Tenor, which means “to hold.” This voice held the slow moving Cantus Firmus or original chant • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aySwfcRaOZM