Music of the Middle Ages

450 - 1450

Musicians:

• Priests were the most known musicians of the Middle Ages

• Boys received music education / Girls could not

• Nuns were allowed to sing, but ONLY in their own convents or rooms ; NO PUBLIC PERFORMANCES

Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179)

• Was a choir leader• Most MA music was vocal; instruments

(besides the harpsichord and organ)were frowned upon and were considered “evil”

• Anyone that would sing in public were REQUIRED to sing perfectly (syllables, enunciation, pronunciation, etc.) or could be exiled or killed

• Was the “Sister Act” of her time; many references from the movie were taken directly from her life

• Hildegard was brought in to work with the choir from another area when the other lead musician became ill

• Hildegard would write music for her choirs, and would have them “practice” this music without the knowledge of the other church officials.

• Hildegard would write songs (which is forbidden) and have her choirs rehearse and sing them when they would not get caught

• She was able to produce hundreds of sacred works that were discovered much later, after she got caught

• Hildegard was a spokesperson for women’s rights and for the right of women to publicly sing during worship services

• Before Hildegard, all female vocals were done by castratos!

Roman Catholic Church

• For thousands of years, the official music for the Roman Catholic Church has been GREGORIAN CHANTS

• Gregorian Chants – Melody set to Latin texts and sung with no accompaniment– The chant is monophonic in texture

• Monophonic / Polyphonic Texture

More about Gregorian Chants

• Named after Pope Gregory I – his reign was from 590 to 604 – Had a major musical movement – organized ALL sacred music into categories utilized to enhance religious services (similar to what we use in many denominations today)– Some critics say Pope Gregory did not actually help

come up with gregorian chant, but that it evolved over sacred music over time, and did not get “categorized” as “chant” until Pope Gregory I

The Beginnings of Notation

Neumes = NotesRefer to p.77

Once Notation began to take effect, music students could learn to follow patterns

Practice, Practice, Practice

• Monks and priests spent several hours a day perfecting their music for performance outside the churches

• NUNS were required to spend 8 hours a day just learning repertoire, even though they were not allowed to perform in public, but only in their convents and church services

• There were 2 services that were performed each day = the OFFICE and the MASS

The Office and the Mass

• Spoken and sung in complete Latin• Eight total services– One at sunrise– “reflection every couple hours”– Last one at sunset

• The Mass was always a reinactment of the “Last Supper” and always remained the same

• The only changes to the Mass were those for Easter, Christmas, and Epiphany

Church Modes

• Church modes = where we get the word “Scales” that we use today – Consist of 7 tones with an 8th tone (an octave)

above the first– The scales we use today are a little different than

church modes– Our scales are “even” and “happy”– Church modes sound more like “Halloween” in

that they use many minor sounds between notes

Song Study “Alleluia: Vidimus Stallam” and ….“O Successors”

Alleluia: Vidimus Stallam - unknown author• Translation = “We Have Seen His Star”• From the Mass for Epiphany• Page 78 – book study (CD 1 – 47)O Successors – Hildegard de Bingen• First piece that was sung by her convent of

nuns that was eventually allowed to go public

NEXT STUDY

Secular Music in the Middle Ages

Development of Polyphony