Medieval Period

Dates: divided into two sections

● 500AD-1100AD: Romanesque (of the Romans)
● 1100AD-1400AD: Gothic
● Medieval Period = Middle Ages

Background
● Two social characteristics: feudal system and the church
● A small number of noble families controlled much of the land and the rest of the
population worked in servitude.
● Feudal system: The serfs were allegiant to the landowners, the landowners to the local
lords, and the lords to the king.
● Later one, the rise of the middle class helped to break down the feudal system.
● For most people, the middle ages were not pleasant. Serfs were slaves and spent their
lives working in bad conditions and were forced to take part in wars.
 Medieval Period
● People called the Middle Ages the “Dark Ages”, but that wasn’t completely true. The
spread of Christianity brought with it the spread of learning.
○ Literature and scholarship were kept alive by monks in their monasteries all over
Europe
○ Education became more widespread
○ Universities were established in towns
○ Arts flourished: music, painting, poetry, sculpture, and architecture
○ Most artistic things were inspired, encouraged, and paid for by the church.
○ In each town, the place where all medieval arts were concentrated was the
cathedral.
■ Cathedrals were marvels of architecture
■ Doorways and walls had tons of sculptures, paintings, and tapestries
■ Always filled with music
 Medieval Architecture
Romanesque:
● “Of the Romans”
● Lots of arches
○ All of them are rounded
● Buildings were not as high; they didn’t have the technique yet to building high buildings

Gothic:
● Pointed arches
● Banded columns
● Lacy windows
● Flying buttresses: allowed the architects to build higher, supported the walls
● Gargoyles: kept water away from the limestone so that the foundation didn’t erode
 Medieval Period
Cathedral of the Romanesque time: Avignon Cathedral in France
Medieval Period
Cathedral of the Gothic time: Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France
Medieval Period
Cathedral of the Gothic time: Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France
Medieval Music Characteristics
Characteristics of Medieval Music:
● Earliest written examples come from the 8th-9th century
● Earlier examples exist, but they have been passed from generation to generation by
means of oral tradition. Very little music has survived in notation.
● One of the main influences of music from this time is the Church
○ Most of the surviving music from the medieval period is designed for use in the
Roman Catholic liturgy. This is called liturgical music.
○ Music was composed for processions and coronations
○ Most of the music is vocal music, instruments were banned by the Church in the
early Middle Ages, and only slowly started to be accepted
○ Very singable: small range, moved mostly by steps, centered around one note
○ There was singing at every service
● In the monasteries, bells summoned the monks 8 times a day to sing and pray the Hours
of the Divine Office
○ Matins (midnight), Lauds (dawn), Prime (sunrise), Terce (mid-morning), Sext (noon),
None (mid-afternoon), Vespers (sunset), Compline (bedtime)
○ Vespers was the most musically elaborate
Medieval Music Characteristics
● The heart of the Church was Mass
○ Derived from the Last Supper, when Christ offered his body and blood in the form of
bread and wine
○ Originally, Mass was only celebrated on Sundays and special days.
○ Later, a High Mass, with many parts of it sung, occurred every night day of the
week.
○ Mass contained 2 kinds of texts:
■ Ordinary: every day mass
■ Proper: reserved for holy days or special occasions (Christmas, Easter, etc.)
 Music of the Mass
1. Introit: Proper
2. Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy) Ordinary
3. Gloria in excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the Highest) Ordinary
4. Gradual: Proper
5. Alleluia: Proper
6. Credo (I believe in one God) Ordinary
7. Offertory Proper
8. Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts)/Benedictus (Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord) Ordinary
9. Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) Ordinary
10. Communion: Proper
 Theory and Notation
● Chants were notated in symbols called neumes, a Greed word meaning “sign”.
○ Early neumes were little marks that show the relative height of pitches and were
written without any staff immediately above the words
○ Eventually, a four-line staff was adopted with a clef placed at the beginning to show
the position of the note C or F
 Plainchant
Early Middle Ages
● Vocal music for church services is known as plainchant
○ Also more commonly called Gregorian Chant (named after Pope Gregory I)
● During the middle ages, thousands of chants were composed.
● Plainchant is monophonic (only has one line of music sounding at a time)
○ There may be several people singing, but they are all singing the same line
● Text setting
○ Syllabic- one note for every syllable of the text
○ Melismatic- large number of notes sung to a single syllable
○ Pneumatic- small number of notes per syllable
● Most well-known songs today are syllabic.
● Plainchant is written using a system of modes.
○ D, E, F, and G
○ Modes are very important. They are the basis on which the music of this time is
built.
Plainchant
 Listening Example #1
Title: Kyrie eleison
Composer: Unknown
Dates: unknown
● Gregorian Chant from a medieval Roman Catholic Mass
● All the parts to a mass are in Latin, but the Kyrie is in Greek.
● There are 3 statements in the text:
○ Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy,
Lord have mercy)
○ 3 was the magic number: represented the Trinity (Father, son, and holy spirit)
 Medieval Music
Characteristics of Medieval Music:
● Besides religious vocal music, there were also folk songs, work songs, dances, and
instrumental pieces.
○ We know this from visual evidence illustrated in manuscripts and from poems and
books written during the time period.
● Later medieval period two innovations started to emerge. Both of these innovations had a
huge impact on the entire later history of music:
○ Secular song (non-religious)
○ Rise of polyphony
● The idea that composers could devote their attention to topics outside religion (love,
political loyalty, or dancing) broadened the scope of music greatly
● Polyphony gave rise to harmony.
 Secular Song
Characteristics of secular song
● The word secular means non-religious
● The rise of secular music can be dated to the 12th century.
● Troubadours were active during this time. They were poet-musicians who composed
songs for performances in southern France. In northern France, these musicians were
known as trouveres.
● Troubadours and Trouveres wrote their own poetry and music on subjects ike love, duty,
friendship, ceremony, and poetry, but the main topic was love.
● Usually the poems were about a woman who is unattainable and the lover pines away
(most troubadours were men). This topic is called “courtly love”.
● Courtly love had a huge influence on the whole history of Western love poetry.
● Troubadour songs were written in the southern vernacular tongue called langue d’oc.
● Trouvere songs were written in the langue d’oil, a dialect of northern France.
● Over 1700 melodies have been passed down to us from the trouveres.
Performance of Medieval Music
● Very little is known about how to perform secular music from this time period.
● The original manuscripts of the music provide the words and the notes, but that is all.
● Some scholars think that there was no accompaniment at all and others suggest that
performers must have improvised instrumental accompaniments.
● Songs were written down as unaccompanied, monophonic melodies, but they may have
been sung with a harp, lute, or some other Medieval instrument.
● Treble meter and many in church modes.
 Le Chastelain De Couci
● One of the most gifted of the trouveres was Le Castelain de Couci (1165-`1203), a
nobleman.
● More than a dozen of his songs have survived.
● His song “Li noviaus tens” is a great example of a trouvere song that concerns love,
springtime, and nature.
● The song was write as a single, modal, melodic line with text and without accompaniment:
Monophonic
● The song is sung by a countertenor (a really high voice that could be confused with a
female)
● A simple, improvised accompaniment was added to the voice, in a style and by
instruments that would have been used in this time: Homophonic
○ Alto recorder, lute, bass rebec (bowed string instrument), and a harp
● Flowing triple meter
● Strophic: same melody is sung with each verse
 Listening Example #2
Title: Li Noviaus Tens
Composer: Le Chastelain de Couci
Dates: sometime between 1165-1203
 Beatriz de Dia
● Most of the troubadours of the Middle Ages were men, but a few women troubadours are
known.
● Contrary to popular belief, women in the early Middle Ages enjoyed considerable freedom
and political equality. Many of them were involved in music as patrons, composers, or as
performers.
● Beatriz de Dia lived in the late 12th century.
○ Only a small number of her poems survived and only this one has music.
● Song: A Chantar
○ Like almost all songs of the middle ages, this one is strophic. The same music is
repeated for all of the stanzas of the poem.
○ In the song she addresses her lover, who has scorned her, and then expresses her
pain at him treating her so badly.
○ Singer is accompanied by a vielle ( a medieval bowed instrument), a wooden flute,
a lute, and a drum.
 Listening Example #3
Title: A Chantar
Composer: Beatriz de Dia
Dates: c. 1175
 Growth of Polyphony
● The earliest polyphony in church music was created by adding a second voice part to
chant.
● The earliest form of polyphony was called organum. It dates back to the 9th century. A
second voice duplicated the plainchant melody in a harmony.
● Organum reached its peak of development in the late 12th century.
● Leonin was the choirmaster at Notre Dame. His music was called the Magnus liber
organi (Large Book of Organum) is made up of two voiced songs for many Masses.
● Two different styles of two-part polyphony:
○ Organum Purum: The original chant would be sung on one note in the lower voice.
The second voice would sing over top of the lower voice.
○ Organum Discantus: both voices would sing at the same time in harmony
○ Usually start off with purum style, then go to the discantus style, then go back to the
purum style.
 Listening Example #4
Title: Viderunt Omnes
Composer: Leonin
Dates: late 12th century

This song was written for the

Cathedral of Notre Dame.
 Growth of Polyphony
● The earliest polyphony in church music was created by adding a second voice part to
chant.
● The earliest form of polyphony was called organum. It dates back to the 9th century. A
second voice duplicated the plainchant melody in a harmony.
● Organum reached its peak of development in the late 12th century.
● Leonin (Leonius) was the choirmaster at Notre Dame. His music was called the Magnus
liber organi (Great Book of Polyphony) is made up of two voiced songs for many
Masses.
● Two different styles of two-part polyphony:
○ Organum Purum: The original chant would be sung on one note in the lower voice.
The second voice would sing over top of the lower voice.
○ Organum Discantus: both voices would sing at the same time in harmony
○ Usually start off with purum style, then go to the discantus style, then go back to the
purum style.
 Growth of Polyphony
● Perotin was the student of Leonin.
○ He devoted much of his time to revising and shortening Leonin’s works.
○ Composed some of the earliest known 4 voice polyphony (which eventually resulted
in SATB music)
○ His works were included in the Magnus liber organi
 Listening Example #5
Title: Viderunt Omnes
Composer: Perotin
Dates: 1199

4 voice polyphony
 Medieval Instruments
● Rebec: a medieval stringed instrument played with a bow, typically having three strings.
● Lute: a plucked string instrument that was popular in Europe during the Middle Ages.
 Medieval Instruments
● Harp: small to medium-sized stringed instrument used in Europe during the Middle Ages.
● Recorder: woodwind instrument that was commonly used in Europe during the Middle Ages.
● Tambourine: A medieval tambourine is a percussion instrument consisting of a wooden or metal frame,
a stretched animal skin (or parchment) drumhead, and small metal jingles (called zills) set into the frame.
It was commonly used in medieval Europe in both secular and religious music, often accompanying
dancing, processions, and folk performances.
 Guillaume de Machaut
● By the 1300s, the two main developments of the later Middle Ages had become fused:
secular songs were set to polyphony
● France and Italy were the only two countries doing this at first.
● In France, the master composer of the time was Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377).
He was the most prolific composer of the 14th century.
○ Machaut was the first composer that we actually know biographical details about.
○ He went to school in Rheims, a town in northern France.
○ He held positions at the courts of some of the most prominent members of the
French ruling aristocracy, including Charles, Duke of Normandy, who later became
King Charles V of France.
○ A lot of his work survives. He wrote some sacred music, but most of his music is
polyphonic secular songs.
○ In 1365, Machaut wrote the first completely polyphonic setting of the Ordinary Mass.
 Listening Example #6
Title: Doulz Viaire Gracieus Accompaniment: lute and recorder
Composer: Guillaume de Machaut
Dates: mid-fourteenth century

Setting of a poem that has a two-line refrain.

The refrain comes in at the beginning and the
end and partially in the middle. This is called a
Rondeau

Sweet, gracious countenance

I have served you with a faithful heart.
Take pity on me
Sweet, gracious countenance
If I am a little shy
Do not forget me.
Sweet, gracious countenance,
I have served you with a faithful heart.
 Listening Example #7
Title: Douce Dame Joile Performed by: solo contralto
Composer: Machaut Rhythm: duple meter
Dates: mid-fourteenth century

Up until now, all music was in a

triple meter to represent the
Trinity: father, son, holy spirit.
Anything written in 2 was considered
“Imperfect”.

Machaut was a composer of the

time who incorporated duple
time into his compositions.
 Rhythms
● Ars Nova - New Art - refers to new and different characteristics of
style in music during the 14th century
○ Most notable characteristic change = rhythm

● Tempus Perfectum - Perfect Time - almost all music was in triple

meter until the late 13th century