A New Hero!
Church music = “learned,” art music
Polyphony
Possibly the single most important development in Western Music!
Really?! HOW?!
It led to the practice of more precise notation, including rhythm
It led to the use of regular meters
Only so much you can do with monophony!
Progression from oral tradition and improvisation to being an art of “composing” where one has to carefully plan, preserve and recreate
No more anonymous creations, as “composers” began to be recognized
—Learned musicians took the time to master the art of writing extended musical works
Organum
But music was everywhere:
A popular repertory of songs and dances that reflected every aspect of medieval life grew alongside
The Earliest Polyphonic Music
Began as improvised practice, a way to "magnify," or "amplify" the chant
- Singing second line above or below chant at interval of fourth or fifth
- Additional resonance provided by doubling the chant
- Then, the organum at octave—either below or above (Total of 4 lines, 2 of which same)
Eventually developed into formal practice called "ORGANUM"
First written organum from c. 1025
Tenor ("tenere" = “to hold”):
Rhythmic mode: a fixed pattern of long and short notes that is repeated or varied, sung over...
a fixed melody (Gregorian chant) in extremely long notes (augmentation)
First treatises on organum from c. 850
Guido d’Arezzo: treatise c. 1030 best known
Limitations:
- Has to be fairly simple
- Only one person per part
- No rhythmic notation
Notre Dame School
Important composers:
True polyphony created at Notre Dame in Paris (12th & 13th C.)
Notated rythm and pitch
Léonin:
First known composer of polyphony
Pérotin:
Léonin's successor
- Increased number of voices in polyphonic works to three, then four
- Known primarily as poet
- Compiled "Magnus liber organi" (Great Book of Organum)
- Responsible for rhythmicizing chant lines
- Assigned certain combinations of notes certain rhythmic patterns (called "rhythmic modes""
- Based on Latin poetry
Motet
Derived from French word for “word” - “mot”
Started by putting different words (new text) to top voices of three-voice organum
- Troubadours/trovairitz (Provence)
- Trouvéres (northern France)
- Minnesingers (Germany)
—Different social class from minstrels:
- Nobles of minor rank, usually, sometimes even royalty
Sometimes top two voices have different texts:
- French
- Latin
- or one of each
* Chant retains original words
Wandering minstrels = jongleurs/jongleuresses
Actor-singers on the fringe of society
—“Finders,” “inventors” = composers
- Musicians who served at courts
- Wrote poetry, sang, played instrument, provided witty conversation
- Part of courtly culture, from meals to ceremonies
- Traveled from court to court
- Mostly monophonic
- Perhaps accompanied by improvised instrumental accompaniment
Songs on variety of topics:
- Sacred/devotional
- Drinking, gambling, politics, sex, wars, etc.
- Idealized love for unattainable person
- Usually strophic: number of verses, no refrain
Typical representative of the courtly troubadour
Valor
Honor
Humble origin as the son of a “poor knight” from Provence (southern France)
Courtship through secret gifts, poems, songs
Joins his patron in Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, writes a famous epic describing it, and probably killed there
Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (c.1155-1207)
Nobility of character
Court musicians:
Troubadours/trobaritzes - Provence
- Southern France
- Different language, culture from North
- Trouvères - N. France
- Minnesingers - Germany
Late-13th-century estampie (troubadour dance song)
- Set to a strophic poem
- Instrumental portion performed on rebec, pipe, guitar, nakers, hand drum
- Middle Eastern influence evident in the work
- Improvisation
- Instruments
Usually unattainable, unrequited, and (especially!) unconsummated :-(
Devotion to an ideal
Knighted for saving the life of his patron in battle
Enters the service of the marquis of Montferrat (northern Italy)
Affection for "perfect woman/man"
New developments in rhythm, meter, harmony, and counterpoint
Ars antiqua (old art)
Ars nova (new art)
Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377)
Movement beginning in 14th-century France
This means:
One of the outstanding composers of Western music!
Chanson - “song,” in French
One or both lower voices for instruments?
Form: rondeau
AB a A ab AB
refrain 1st 1/2 of verse 1st 1/2 of refrain verse refrain
Born near Rheims, in Champagne
- Not just a musician
- A courtier, a diplomat, and a cleric: One of the significant persons in all of Europe
- Motets, chansons, polyphonic Mass Ordinary: Displaying near perfection of technique and form
- Fixed text forms: rondeau, ballade, virelai
Common types of instrumental music
Keyboard instruments
"Loud" instruments
"Soft" instruments
Central role in sacred/art music reserved for vocal music
Instrumental music mostly improvised
Categorized by their use (indoor or outdoor)
Organs: several types
Large ones with a team of people to pump bellows, and more group of people to operate the sliders that open and close pipes
Portative and Positive: smaller organs with keyboards and a few ranks of pipes
Shawm: an ancestor of oboe with a loud, nasal tone
Slide Trumpet: developed into the early trombone called sackbut
Tabor: large cylindrical drum
Nakers: small drums played in pairs
Families of instruments as now: strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and keyboard
In addition, SOFT (bas) or indoor, and LOUD (haut) or outdoor
http://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/instrumt.html
Recorder: end-blown instrument with a breathy tone
Lute: plucked string instrument with a rounded back (Middle Eastern origin)
Harp and Psaltery: from biblical times
Rebec (also Middle Eastern) and Vielle: bowed string instruments like violin family
Saltarello: a lively, Italian “jumping” dance
Estampie: stately French dance
Basic, simple dance tunes were improvised and embellished with melodic decorations
Accompanied by percussions, and possibly with a drone, a sustained single note
Still more importance given to vocal music, but scope and importance growing in 14th century
Supporting role in vocal music, but instrumental arrangements became popular
True importance in dance music, where rhythm is so important
Rarely written down, since it was considered less important