The Middle Ages (476-1450) pt. 2

Chanson (“song”)

A secular song with French text, which in the 12th and 13th centuries was monophonic and often performed with improvised accompaniment, and from the 14th century onward was polyphonic.

Jongleurs

Travelling musicians who earned a living as entertainers, (such as performing tricks, telling stories, and making music), and who carried news and gossip, but who did not perform original music, functioning only as transmitters of music composed by others.

Trouvére (“finder” or “inventor”)

Aristocratic poet-musicians who composed and performed original poems and songs, often on the subject of courtly love, and who lived and worked in northern France.

Troubadour

Aristocratic poet-musicians who composed and performed original poems and songs, often on the subject of courtly love, and who lived and worked in southern France.

Strophic form

A song structure where the same music is performed for each verse of the poem, allowing for little connection between the words and music.

Chanson (origins)

(Origins) Secular monophonic songs which flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries, composed primarily by trouvères (who used langue d’oïl) and troubadours (who used langue d’oc). These songs were recorded in songbooks called chansonniers.

Chanson (features)

The features of this genre are that it has:

• A monophonic texture

• Modal melodies

• Often in strophic form

• Improvised instrumental accompaniment

• Texts expressed the conventions of the courtly love tradition that is associated with the age of chivalry.

Ce fut en mai

A lilting and jolly-sounding monophonic chanson of the mid-13th century, with touching and poignant text written in old French by, as well as musically composed by, Moniot d’Arras (a trouvère).

It contains 5 verses in strophic form, with 12 short lines to each verse, following an interval verse structure of AABB (with open then closed endings), a rhyme scheme of AAB AAB CCB CCB, and which reaches the melodic range of a 9th.

Moniot d’Arras (ca 1213-1239)

A monk who lived and worked at the Abbey of St. Vaast in France, who is among the last composers of the trouvère tradition, writing both sacred and secular music. His monophonic secular songs used modal melodies, and would likely have been performed with an improvised accompaniment.

Chansonnier du Roy (“Songbook of the King”)

An anonymous 13th-century French manuscript containing some of the earliest examples of notated music, including troubadour and trouvère songs as well as eight monophonic dances (including Royal Estampie No. 4).

bas (low)

A Medieval designation for indoor instruments of a low/soft level of volume, including the dulcimer, lute, psaltery, rebec, recorder, and vielle.

haut (high)

A Medieval designation for outdoor instruments of a high/loud level of volume, including the cornetto, crumhorn, sackbut, and shawm.

Estampie (estamper, “to stomp the feet”)

One of the earliest Medieval dances, a dance with a stately character, danced by couples and involving elaborate body movements.

Heterophony

Simultaneous variation involving two or more voices/instruments playing the same same melody in more than one way at the same time, where one part plays the original melody and the added voice(s) is (are) improvised.

Sackbut (haut)

A brass instrument with a slide, the ancestor of the trombone.

Shawm (haut)

A reed instrument with a piercing tone, the ancestor of the oboe.

Dulcimer (bas)

A stringed instrument with a wooden sound box, where the strings are struck with small hammers producing a delicate sound.

Lute (bas)

A plucked string instrument of Middle Eastern origin, having a rounded body and frets, whose delicate sound served as an ideal accompaniment to the voice.

Psaltery (bas)

An ancient stringed instrument with a trapezoidal wooden sound box, whose strings are plucked with the fingers or plectrum.

Vielle (bas)

A bowed stringed instrument with a figure eight-shaped body, the ancestor of the violin.

Dance Music (origins)

Instrumental music based on a tradition of improvisation, which served as functional music, instrumentalists originally providing music for social dances, until stylized dances were created for listening only. The earliest notated examples come from the 13th century.

Note: notating music was time consuming, costly, and unnecessary for an illiterate society.

Dance Music (features)

The features of this genre are that:

• The earliest examples were monophonic in texture and based on modal melodies.

• Accompaniments were often improvised rather than notated.

• Earliest types were estampie, ronde, and basse dance.

• Formal structure was often sectional, to allow for flexibility in the length.

Royal Estampie No. 4

A dance found in the Chansonnier du Roy consisting only of a single-line melody in notated form, but which likely would have had an improvised accompaniment, written in sectional form with open and closed cadences (to allow musicians to repeat or conclude sections, with repeats often embellished), with the suggestion of Dorian mode, and containing a relatively narrow melodic range.

Ars nova (1322)

A treatise written by the bishop of Meaux, Philippe de Vitry, in the 14th century, defining the musical language of the time, of the perfection of pitch notation and sophistication of rhythm notation (allowing music to be notated more clearly than ever before).

ars nova (new art) style

The French music of the 14th century, when music involved greater complexity in melody, harmony, and rhythm (including isorhythm, hocket, and musica ficta). The changes of this time reflected a shift from a church-centred life view to a more secular society, foreshadowing many changes to come in the Renaissance. These changes can be seen in the chansons of this time, which evolved into elegant, courtly songs, often deriving their shape/structure from the poetry itself.

Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361)

The French bishop of Meaux, the composer and poet who wrote the Ars nova, who deliberately struck out in new musical directions. His motets demonstrate innovations in rhythmic notation, such as the “imperfect” division of notes into 2 equal units (instead of the “perfect” 3), as well as new techniques and compositional devices, such as the use of isorhythm.

Mass Ordinary

The unchanging prayers of the Mass, consisting of the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.

musica ficta (false music)

A performance practice of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance where performers of modal music raised or lowered pitches by a half step (like modern-day accidentals) to avoid undesirable intervals (such as the diabolus in musica, the augmented 4th).

Isorhythm

A compositional technique, perfected in the Ars nova, where melodic patterns (color) and rhythmic segments/patterns (talea) of different lengths are combined, overlapping rather than coinciding.

ars antiqua

The term given to music preceding the more complex music of the 14th century.

Hocket (hoquet, “hiccup”)

A rhythmic and melodic technique frequently employed in the ars nova style where two voices combine to create a single melody, one resting while the other sings.

Kyrie, from Messe de Nostre Dame

The first movement of the Mass Ordinary of the Mass of Our Lady composed by Guillaume de Machaut around 1350 (the single composer allowing for a unified and cohesive, yet creative, musical design to be given to music that had formerly been seen as purely functional), among the longest extant works from the Middle Ages.

This is also the first work to introduce the contratenor, a voice overlapping the tenor and creating a counterpoint with it (and forever-after become a part of the standard 4 voices in sacred vocal music).

Mass (origins)

The earliest settings were purely-functional monophonic chants, but composers from across the eras expanded it to incorporate the stylistic currents of their times, therein creating a genre with its own history. In the 12th and 13th centuries, for example, many chants from the Mass Proper served as the basis for organum; and the first complete polyphonic setting of the Mass Ordinary, from the 14th century, of among the longest extant works from the Middle Ages.

Mass (features)

The features of this genre are that:

It is the most important service in the Liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, consisting of texts that are variable according to the Church calendar (Proper) and texts that remain the same (Ordinary). The earliest musical settings were monophonic and modal with unmeasured rhythm. However, with the development of polyphony, the Ordinary movements were set more frequently, wherein composers explored the musical devices and techniques of their times.

Guillaume de Machaut (ca. 1300-1377)

The most celebrated poet and most significant composer of the ars nova style, contributing to both sacred and secular music (working for princes, kings, and the Church). His musical style employs a greater variety of intervals as well as highly sophisticated contrapuntal techniques, and also demonstrates 14th-century rhythmic complexity through the use of syncopation, hockets, and isorhythm.

His works were often longer and more complex than those of the ars antiqua. His sacred music includes the first complete setting of the Mass Ordinary, and his secular works include monophonic and polyphonic chansons (the monophonic representing the continuation of the trouvère tradition), as well as his own poetry (which use the fixed poetic forms of rondeau, ballade, and virelai).