Dates: Music:450-1000 Earliest notated Gregorian Chant

Manuscripts (c. 900)1000-1300 Troubadours and trouveres

(c. 1100-1300)Hildegard of Bingen,

O successores (c. 1150)School of Notre Dame

(began c. 1170)

Dates Historical and Cultural Events450-1000 Sack of Rome by Vandals (455)

Reign of Pope Gregory I (590- 604)

Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman emperor (800)

1000-1300 Norman Conquest (1066)First Crusade (1096-1099)Magna Carta signed (1215)

Dates: Arts and Letters450-1000 Beowolf ( c. 700)

Book of Kells (c. 800)1000-1300 Beginning of the Notre

Dame Cathedral in Paris (1163)Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica ( 1273)

Dates Music1300- 1450 Guillaume de Machuat

Notre Dame Mass (c. 1350)Historical and Cultural EventsHundred Years’ War (1337-1453)Black Death (1347-1352)Joan of Arc executed by the

English (1431)

Dates Arts and Letters1300-1450 Dante, The Divine Comedy

( 1321)Boccaccio, Decameron (1351)Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (1387-1400)

Page from Peterborough Psalter

During the Middle Ages, the church grew in prominence and social importance. Especially during the Dark Ages, the church became the center of education and music.

Children could receive music education in schools associated with churches and cathedrals.

Most of the music from the Middle Ages was vocal, but a variety of musical instruments were used as accompaniment.

However, very few manuscripts specify which instruments to use.

The organ was the prominent instrument used in churches.

At first, it was very primitive and the keys were operated by heavy blows of the fist. It was so loud that it could be heard for miles.

Gregorian chant consists of melody set to sacred Latin texts and sung without accompaniment.

The chant is monophonic in texture. This means that there is only one musical line to

listen to.

Gregorian chant is calm and has an otherworldy quality. It represents the voice of the church.

It is very free in rhythm and has very little sense of the beat. Also, the notes are all close together.

Gregorian chant is named after Pope Gregory I (The Great), who reorganized the Catholic liturgy during his time as Pope.

Most of the melodies that we recognize as Gregorian chant were created between 600 and 1300.

Alleluia: Vidimus StellamA

Solo, opening - Alleluia Halleljah

Choir many tones- ia jah.on ia.

Alleluia: Vidimus Stellam B Choir: Vidimus stellam ejus in Oriente

et venimus cum muneribus adorareDominun.

English: We have seen His star in the east and are come with gifts to worship the Lord.

Alleluia: Vidimus StellamAChoir opening Alleluia.

HallelujahPhrase withmany toneson ia.

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

Known as the first femalecomposer.

-She wrote both the text and music of her songs.

A drone consisits of one or more long, sustained tones accompanying a melody.

Hildegard of Bingen: O successoresLow Register O successores fortissimi leonis

inter templum et altare-dominantes in ministratione eius

English: You successors of the mightest lion between the temple and the altar- you the masters of his household-

Hildegard of Bingen: O successoresMelody rise sicut angeli sonant in laudimusand falls et sicut adsunt populis in

adiutorio,vos estis inter illos,qui haec faciunt,semper curam habentes

English: as the angels sound forth praises and are here to help the nations, you are among those who accomplish this forever showing your care

Hildegard of Bingen: O successoresClimax on in officio agni.Officio, long descent on agni.

English: in the service of the lamb.

Secular Music in the Middle Ages Despite the prominence of Gregorian chant, there

was music written outside the church. The first large body of songs notated was

composed during the 12th and 13th centuries by French nobles called troubadours and trouveres.

However, this notation has no indication of rhythm of meter.

It is very likely that many had a regular meter and clearly defined beat, which is completely different from the free, nonmetrical rhythm of Gregorian chant.

Estampie (13th century) – a medieval dance, is one of the earliest surviving forms of instrumental music.

In this recording, the melody is played on a rebec ( a bowed string instrument) and a pipe

( a tubular wind instrument). Since the minstrals probably improvised modest

accompaniments to dance tunes, the performers have added a drone- two repeated notes on a fifth interval, played on a psaltery (a plucked or struck string instrument).

Since the minstrals probably improvised modest accompaniments to dance tunes, the performers have added a drone- two repeated notes on a fifth interval, played on a psaltery (a plucked or struck string instrument).

The Development of Polyphony Polyphony- performance of two or more melodic

lines of equal interest. Organum- Medieval music that consists of

Gregorian chant and one or more additional melodic lines.

School of Notre Dame: Measured RhythmAfter 1150, Paris- the intellectual and artistic capital

of Europe- became the center of polyphonic music.

The Notre Dame Cathedral became the place for music. The two most successful choirmasters of Notre Dame were Leonin and Petrotin.

Guillaume de Machuat (1300-1377)- a French composer, musician and a poet. He studied theology and spent much of his life in the service of various royal families. Notre Dame Mass is one of the best known compositions of the fourteenth century.

Machuat’s Notre Dame Mass, one of the finest compositions known from the Middle Ages.

Also, this is of great historical importance because it is the first polyphonic treatment of the mass ordinary by a known composer.

The mass ordinary consists of texts that remain the same from day to day throughout the day.

The five sung prayers of the ordinary are the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.

Since the 14th century, these five texts have been set to polyphonic music and have been the text for some of the finest choral works in all of history.

The mass ordinary consists of texts that remain the same from day to day throughout the day.

The five sung prayers of the ordinary are the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.

Since the 14th century, these five texts have been set to polyphonic music and have been the text for some of the finest choral works in all of history.

Machaut, Agnus Dei from Notre Dame MassA Agnus Dei peccata mundi :

miserere nobis. B Agnus Dei peccata mundi :

miserere nobis.A Agnus Dei peccata mundi:

dona nobis pacem.

Machaut, Agnus Dei from Notre Dame MassA Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of

the world have mercy on us.B Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of

the world have mercy on us.A Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of

the world, grant us peace.