n Early
Middle Ages
n 400
to 1000 A.D.
n Later
Middle Ages
n 1000
to 1400 A.D.
n Countries
as we know them did not exist.
n Early
Middle Ages
n Class
system based on feudalism
n Kings,
queens, nobles, and servants
n Later
Middle Ages
n Villages
formed with more centralized economic system
n Trade
and commerce
n Later
Middle Ages
n Middle
class
n Bankers,
traders, merchants, shippers
n Helped
break down the feudal system
n Most
people lived in poverty and spent their lives working in miserable conditions.
n The
spread of Christianity increased the availability of learning.
n Monks
kept literature and scholarship alive.
n Education
became more widespread.
n Universities
sprang up.
n Towns
were centers of cultural exchange.
n The
arts (music, painting, poetry, sculpture, and architecture) flourished.
n Most
artistic endeavors were sponsored by the Catholic Church.
n Center
of artistic endeavor was the cathedral, a large Catholic Church with a
bishop.
n Earliest
written examples of music of this period are from the 8th or 9th century.
n The
Catholic Church dominated Medieval Music.
n Much
of the music was liturgical music—music used in church services.
n Ceremonial
music (for processions and coronations) was also composed.
n Other
kinds of music were folk songs, work songs, dances, and instrumental pieces.
n I:
Plainchant
n Vocal
music for church services.
n Thousands
of chants were composed from 400 to 1000 A.D.
n Pope
Gregory I (540–604 A.D.) catalogued this music.
n I:
Plainchant
n Monophonic
n Only
one line of music is sung at a time.
n Several
people may sing in unison.
n Text
settings range from simple to complex.
n Syllabic
n One
note per syllable
n Neumatic
n Several
notes per syllable
n Melismatic
n Many
notes per syllable
n In
the later Middle Ages, two new innovations emerged.
n Secular
(non-religious) song
n Topics
such as love and political loyalty were prevalent.
n Polyphony
n Music
with more than one melody line or part sounding at the same time
n II:
Secular Song and Polyphony
n Rise
of secular song is dated to the 12th century.
n Troubadours
were active.
n Poet-musicians
who composed songs for performance in small aristocratic courts of Southern
France
n Subjects
they favored were love, duty, friendship, ceremony, and poetry.
n In
Northern France, these were called trouvères.
n Late
medieval polyphonic song
n By
the 1300's, secular song and polyphony came together.
n France
and Italy were the centers of the art of polyphonic song.
n Master
French composer was Guillaume de Machaut.
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