Class January 16th: The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages:

·       Early Middle Ages

·       400 to 1000 A.D.

·       Later Middle Ages

·       1000 to 1400 A.D.

·       Early Middle Ages -- Countries as we know them did not exist; Class system based on feudalism; Kings, queens, nobles, and servants

·       Later Middle Ages -- Villages formed with more centralized economic system; Trade and commerce

·       Middle class emerged

• Bankers, traders, merchants, shippers
• Helped break down the feudal system
• Most people lived in poverty and spent their lives working in miserable conditions.
• The spread of Christianity increased the availability of learning.
• Monks kept literature and scholarship alive.
• Education became more widespread.
• Universities sprang up.

• Towns were centers of cultural exchange.
• The arts (music, painting, poetry, sculpture, and architecture) flourished.
• Most artistic endeavors were sponsored by the Catholic Church.
• Center of artistic endeavor was the cathedral, a large Catholic Church with a bishop.

• Earliest written examples of music of this period are from the 8th or 9th century.
• The Catholic Church dominated Medieval Music.
• Much of the music was liturgical music—music used in church services.
• Ceremonial music (for processions and coronations) was also composed.
• Other kinds of music were folk songs, work songs, dances, and instrumental pieces.

• I: Plainchant
• Vocal music for church services.
• Thousands of chants were composed from 400 to 1000 A.D.
• Pope Gregory I (540–604 A.D.) catalogued this music.

Monophonic

• Only one line of music is sung at a time.
• Several people may sing in unison.
• Text settings range from simple to complex.

Syllabic

• One note per syllable
• Neumatic
• Several notes per syllable

Melismatic

• Many notes per syllable

                                                     

·       In the later Middle Ages, two new innovations emerged.

o   Secular (non-religious) song

§  Topics such as love and political loyalty were prevalent.

o   Polyphony

§  Music with more than one melody line or part sounding at the same time

·       II: Secular Song and Polyphony

·       Rise of secular song is dated to the 12th century.

·       Troubadours were active.

·       Poet-musicians who composed songs for performance in small aristocratic courts of Southern France

·       Subjects they favored were love, duty, friendship, ceremony, and poetry.

·       In Northern France, these were called trouvères.

·       Late medieval polyphonic song

o   By the 1300's, secular song and polyphony came together.

o   France and Italy were the centers of the art of polyphonic song.

o   Master French composer was Guillaume de Machaut.