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

Sacred 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 after 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

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 or

Organum

Birth of Polyphony 700-900 900-1300 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

School of the Notre Dame

After 1150, Paris became the center of polyphonic

music

Paris was the intellectual artistic capital of the time

1170-1200 – new rhythmic innovations

Leonin and Perotin were composers that used

Measured rhythm – definite time values

New notation also allowed definite pitches.

Cantus Firmus – Fixed Preexisting melody

– A new melody would be sung with itto create polyphony.

Leonin and Perotin

Alleluia: Nativitas (1200)

– Perotin

Music Appreciation

Aim: Who was Guillame de Machaut

and how did he change sacred music?

Do Now: Write three characteristics

of music that was prevalent in the

medieval era.

14th Century Music

The “Ars Nova” movement (New Art) -

Italy and France (14th Century)

Music changed profoundly in style

during this time

Secular music became more prevalent

than sacred

GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT –

(d. - 1377)

French composer/poet

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 (music) - sacred choral

composition made up of five sections

– This is called the Order of Mass

• 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

Music Appreciation

Aim: How is secular music and sacred

music different?

Do now: Write the 5 sections that make

of Mass.

Francesco Landini (d. 1397)

Francesco Landini

Born in Florence, Italy

Famous Organist, Poet, Scholar and Inventor.

Composed secular music with subjects ranging

from nature, love, mortality and politics.

Musical Example

Ecco La Primavera

-Landini

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 - The texts of troubadour

songs deal mainly with themes of chivalry and

courtly love.

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…”