Unit III -- Middle Ages

From the Fall of Rome - 476

To the cultural flowering of the Renaissance - about 1450

Secular Musicians

Who were the secular musicians of the Middle Ages?

JongleursTroubadoursTrouveresMinnesingers

Discuss the oral tradition.

Church Influence

How did the church influence music in the middle ages?

Late middle ages - cities alsoEmerged as cultural centers.

Sacred music

Discus the first consciencious organization of sacred music in the Middle Ages.

Pope Gregory (590-604

Vocabulary

• Neumes

• Proper and Ordinary

• Responsorial Singing

• Melismatic Setting

• Organum

• Motet

Composers

• Leonin - late 12th c. - 2 voices - 1st known composer of polyphonic music

• Perotin - early 13th c. - 3-4 voices - polytextual motets

• Hildegard von Bingen - late 12th c. - did not draw on existing repertoire

• 1150-1450 - individual composers came to be recognized

Secular Musicians

Who were the secular musicians of the Middle Ages?

JongleursTroubadoursTrouveresMinnesingers

Discuss the oral tradition.

Guillaume de Machaut(c. 1300-1377)

• Admired as greatest musician of the time• Both religious and secular music• Chanson - courtly love poem set in one of

several fixed text forms– Rondeau, ballade, virelai

• Chanson: Puis qu’en oubli– Polyphonic chanson - 3 voices– Rondeau - A-B-a-A-a-b-A-B

Instrumental Music

• Name instruments of the Middle Ags.– Soft: lute, harp, psaltery, vielle– Loud: shawn, slide trumpet (sacbut), tabor– Organ

• How were instruments used?– Double or substitute– Monophonic dances

• How important were instruments?