Middle Ages and Renaissance Music Study Guide

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, composers, and concepts from Middle Ages and Renaissance music history.

Plainchant (Gregorian chant)

Monophonic, non-metric melody set in one of the church modes.

Neumes

Little ascending and descending symbols written above words to suggest the contour of a melody, used as the earliest chant notation.

Mass

The most important service of the day in the Church, divided into the Ordinary and the Proper.

Proper

The part of the Mass that changed from service to service.

Ordinary

The part of the Mass that stayed the same, consisting of five parts: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.

Hildegard von Bingen

Daughter of a German noble, renowned as a poet and prophet, founder of a monastery in Rupertsberg, and composer of expressive chants with leaps and melismas.

Pope Gregory

The Pope after whom Gregorian Chant is named.

Leonin

First known composer of polyphonic music (organum) who compiled the “Great Book of Organum”.

Perotin

Leonin’s successor who expanded organum to 3 and 4 voices.

Organum

Earliest kind of polyphonic music where a second and third voice moved above an existing, drawn-out plainchant.

Notre Dame School

The new “school of thought” surrounding the composition of polyphonic music (organum), centered on composers at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Sacred Genres (Middle Ages)

Plainchant/Gregorian Chant, organum, and the mass.

Secular Genres (Middle Ages)

Poet-musician songs from Troubadors, Trouveres, and Trobairitz, and chansons.

Renaissance

Literally meaning “rebirth”, a period featuring advancements in polyphony, secular music, expressiveness, and instrumental music.

Martin Luther's Musical Reform Ideas

Believed church music should be in the vernacular, congregational, simple, and monophonic, though he also incorporated polyphony.

Council of Trent Music Recommendations

Recommended a pure vocal style, respecting the integrity of sacred text, avoiding virtuosity, and encouraging piety from church musicians.

Bas

Categorization of soft instruments during the Renaissance.

Haut

Categorization of loud instruments during the Renaissance.

Giovanni Perluigi Palestrina

Italian organist, composer, and choirmaster at St. Peter’s in Rome who composed mostly sacred music and favored a cappella polyphony.

John Farmer

English composer, organist, and choirmaster active in Dublin who composed madrigals.

Fixed Poetic Forms (Renaissance)

Rondeau, ballade, and virelai.

Renaissance Dance Forms

Pavane, Saltarello, and Ronde.

Claudio Monteverdi

Italian composer and choirmaster at the court of the Duke of Mantua and St. Mark’s cathedral in Venice, known for madrigals with a highly expressive and emotionally charged style.

Sacred Genres (Renaissance)

Motet and the mass.

Secular Genres (Renaissance)

French chanson, Italian madrigal, English madrigal, and dance music.

Guillaume de Machaut

Foremost composer from the Ars Nova; courtier, cleric, priest, and composer of sacred and secular music.

Josquin de Prez

French composer, court musician, and provost who wrote sacred and secular works, composed over 100 motets, and created music rich in feeling with serene melodies and expressive harmony.