Medieval Music

Neumes

- Types of Music

- Types of Instruments

- Composers

- Overview of “Dark Ages” Music

- Early Music

- Overview of Music (simplified)

- Glossary

Types of Music

Gregorian Chant
Religious Music -Used in churches to worship God/ Songs made up of monotone chants/ No harmony/ No instrumentation/ Song topics about religious happenings such as the nativity
Secular Music -Songs had melody /Songs had instrumentation /Song topics include protest, love, holidays, and everyday life/ Used as an art rather than a tradition/Not church music.

Types of Instruments

Bagpipe
Dulcian
Harp
Kortholt
Organetto
Rackett
Sacbut
Shofar
Bladder Pipe
Dulcimer
Harpsichord
Lizard
Percussion
Rauschpfeif
Schalmei
Transverse Flute
Cornamuse
Gamba
Hirtenschalmei
Lute
Pipe and Tabor
Rebec
Serpent
Viol
Crumhorn
Gemshorn
Hurdy-Gurdy
Mute Cornett
Psaltery
Recorder
Shawn
Zinc

link to about these instruments and a picture of them:

http://www.s-hamilton.k12.ia.us/antiqua/instrumt.html

Composers

Johannes Ciconia
Alphonso x
Guillaume Dufay
Hildegard von Bingen
Francesco Landini
Guillaume de Machaut
Johannes Ockeghem
Pérotin Magister
Philippe de Vitry
Oswald von Wolkenstein
Philippe de Vitry

Overview of “Dark Ages” Music

When historians talk about "The Dark Ages," they refer to the period between the fall of Rome and the written preservation of culture the 12th century by Charlemagne and the monastic scribes. The term is not fair to the people who lived then, as they found much to enjoy and celebrate in their lives, but one thing is true: There is little surviving information, so the early medieval period was "dark" in that sense. The meditative tranquility of chant is a contrast and a refuge from the harshness and violence of the times. Yet although the chant seems peaceful to the modern ear, those living then felt many of the chants to be exciting & animated. Most surviving music is religious, as that is what the monks were concerned with preserving. Music for dance and courtly love songs have also survived.

Early Music

The term "early music" sometimes causes confusion. As a very casual indication, music from the 1400s is early music in the sense which we use here, whereas music from the 1940s is not. The context is European classical music, which had its best-known pieces written in the 1700s & 1800s, and so the "early" in early music means earlier than that. In this way, early music usually designates the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods of Western music. Early Music is a standard term, used in trade magazines, journals, record store classical sections, etc.

Overview of Music (simplified)

From A.D. 800 onwards (Plainchant)
Evidence of polyphonic music (Before Winchester Troper)
Winchester Troper and related sources
The second stage of Western polyphonic music - Aquitanian sources and the Codex Calixtinus
The link between Aquitanian and "Notre Dame" polyphony
The third stage of Western polyphonic music - Magnus Liber Organi
Clausulae, Conductus, and Motet
English polyphonic music from St. Andrew music book
Secular monophonies in different regions - Martin Codex, Chansonnier du Roi, Jenaer Liederhandschrift, etc.
The fourth stage of Western polyphonic music - Codex de Montpellier, Bamberg Codex, Codex de Las Huelgas, etc.
Polyphonic and monophonic music from La Roman de Fauval
The emergence of cyclic mass - Codices Apt and Ivrea
English music in the fourteenth century - the Worcester fragments and related sources
Instrumental music in the middle ages - British Library, MS Harley 978, British Library, MS Egerton 29987, Codex Faenza, etc.
Music in Italy in the fourteenth century - The Squarcialupi Codex, The Rossi Codex, The Lucca Codex, British Library, MS Egerton 29987, etc.
French music in the late middle ages - The Codex T. III. 2. Turin (The Boverio Codex), The Franco Cypriot Codex, The Chantilly Manuscript, etc.
English music since the Worcester Fragments - The Old Hall Manuscript, Trent Codices, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Canconic 213, and related sources

Glossary

Medieval terms glossary: http://netserf.cua.edu/glossary/home.htm

Medieval Music terms: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/~cyrus/ORB/orbgloss.htm

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