Elements of Music (continued)

Musical “Style”

Musical “Style”

Characteristic way of using melody, rhythm, tone, color, dynamics, harmony, texture, and form in music

The distinctive or unique sound of– One composer– A group of composers– A country– A period in history

Historical Musical Style Periods

Middle Ages (450-1450) Renaissance (1450-1600) Baroque (1600-1750) Classical (1750-1820) Romantic (1820-1900) 20th century

Music of the Middle Ages

Medieval Music (450-1450)

Feudal Society

Three main social classes

1. Nobles (Kings, Queens, Knights, etc.)

2. Peasants (Serfs)

3. Clergy (Church People - priests, monks & nuns)

Knights/Nobility

Clergy

Peasants

Medieval Sacred Music (religious)

Most music in churches Churches centers of learning, culture,

and power Most important musicians were priests

Gregorian Chant

Prayer music for voices performed in churches; melodies set to sacred Latin texts, sung without accompaniment

Gregorian Chant (continued)

Gregorian Chant was the official music of the Roman Catholic church - “the” church of Medieval Europe

Named for Pope Gregory (590-604) who was reputed to have assembled and standardized all basic chants required for church services of the time

ANONYMOUS - Alleluia: Vidimus Stellam

(We have seen the star) Latin text Music has “otherworldly” quality

– Not in minor or major, but a “church mode”– No beat

Music has “eternal” quality– No “catchy” tune; motives don’t seem to

repeat as expected; seems like it will go on forever and forever

Monophony Uses melismas

Melisma* (not in textbook glossary)

Many notes sung to one syllable of text

7 1 3 4 4 3 4 2 2 1 3 4 5 4 71 3 2 3

Al - le- lu- ia

Melismas

ANONYMOUS - Alleluia: Vidimus Stellam

(We have seen the star)

Beginning - Solo, then Choir– Alleluia

Middle (verse) - Choir– We have seen his star in the east and are

come with gifts to worship the Lord End - Choir sings beginning phrase

– Alleluia

HILDEGARD OF BINGEN - O successores

(You successors) Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

– Abbess of Rupertsberg in Germany– Amazingly talented and influential

woman• Religious mystic and philosopher• Diplomat• Wrote poetry, music,

and musical drama• Scientist and healer

HILDEGARD OF BINGEN - O successores

(You successors) Latin text Music has “otherworldly” quality

– Not in minor or major, but a “church mode”– No beat

Music has “eternal” quality– No “catchy” tune; motives don’t seem to repeat as

expected; seems like it will go on forever and forever

Monophony, performed with a drone Uses melismas, but less-long that Alleluia

chant Larger pitch range than older Alleluia chant

Drone

Long, sustained note or notes accompanying a melody

HILDEGARD OF BINGEN - O successores

(You successors) “You successors of the mightiest lion

between the temple and the altar- You the masters in his household- As the the angles sound forth praises and are here to help the nations, you are among those who accomplish this, forever showing your care in the service of the lamb.”

Medieval Secular Music (Non-religious)

Heard outside church in castles, taverns, and town squares– JONGLEURS

• travelling minstrels who performed music and acrobatics for popular entertainment

ANONYMOUS - Estampie

Strong, regular BEAT (dance music) Fast triple meter 3 instruments

– Rebec (bowed string)– Pipe (wind)– Psaltery (plucked string)

Monophony (rebec & pipe) with drone (psaltery)

Repetitive sounding; “catchy”

Important Musical Development in Middle Ages around 900 A.D.

Birth of Polyphony

Organum (pl. Organa)

Medieval polyphony that consists of Gregorian Chant and one or more additional melodic lines

Architectural Layers = Layers of Chant orOrganum

Birth of Polyphony700-900 900-1300 1300-1450

simple organum

"School" of Notre Dame (Leonin, Perotin); simple

rhythmic notation invented

ARS NOVA

new system of notating

rhythm

monks add a 2nd melody above chant

chant stretched out and more lines of

organum added above chant

used for complex

rhythms and syncopation

Notre Dame Cathedral

Paris, France

GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT -

(1377-1377)

French composer Educated as priest Mostly worked as court official Wrote sacred and secular music

GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT - Agnus Dei from Notre Dame Mass

Agnus Dei part of MASS– MASS - sacred choral composition made

up of five sections• Kyrie (Lord have mercy)• Gloria (Glory to God in the highest)• Credo (I believe in one God)• Sanctus (Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Hosts)• Agnus Dei (Lamb of God)

GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT - Agnus Dei from Notre Dame Mass

Written for 4 voices NON-IMITATIVE POLYPHONY 3 sections = 3 lines of text each closed by cadences

– “Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi: miserere nobis” (Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us)

– “Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi: miserere nobis” (Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us

– “Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi: dona nobis pacem” (Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, grant us peace)

Chant stretched out in tenor voice Upper voices have faster melodies with syncopation Regular BEAT Harmony has dissonant parts

Musical Style

Elements

Early and Mid - Middle Ages

(Chant)

Late Middle Ages

(Machaut)

Rhythm no regular beat, free-flowing, creates "floating," "otherworldly" sound

has regular beat, more complex, has syncopations

Melody uses melismas, very smooth (legato)

uses melismas, more "jumpy" and less smooth

Form sounds non-repetitive sounds non-repetitive

Dynamics no changes, all one level

no changes, all one level

Texture monophonic polyphonic (non-imitative); produces heavy, dense, thick sound

Harmony none mixture of consonance and dissonance; produces serious sound

BENART DA VENTADORN - La douza votz (The sweet voice)

Troubadour song Monophony (voice) with improvised drone

accompaniment (plucked string) “I have heard the sweet voice of the

woodland nightingale and my heart springs up so that all the cares and the grievous betrayals love has given me are softened and sweetened; and I would thus be rewarded, in my ordeal, by the joys of others…”

BENART DA VENTADORN - La douza votz (The sweet voice)

“In truth, every man leads a base life who does not dwell in the land of joy…”

“One who is false, deceitful, of low breeding, a traitress has betrayed me, and betrayed herself…”