Complete Middle Ages and Renaissance Music Study Guide
This version combines your written notes with the clues from your crossword worksheet. I’ve organized the material by topic and included a crossword answer key so you can study both the concepts and the vocabulary.
Part 1: Historical periods
Period
Dates
Main ideas
Middle Ages
450–1450
Church influence, Gregorian chant, monasteries, feudalism
Ars Nova
Around 1300s
New musical notation and rhythmic developments
Renaissance
1450–1600
Rebirth of ancient ideas, humanism, polyphony, instrumental music
Middle Ages society
Feudalism: Land exchanged for service.
Nobility: Wealthy, powerful social class; nobles often lived in castles.
Peasantry: The largest and generally lowest social class.
Clergy: Religious leaders, including priests and monks.
Monasteries: Places where monks lived, studied, copied books, and preserved writings.
Liturgy: The official rituals and services used in religious worship.
Rote: Learning by repetition or copying.
Part 2: Medieval music
Gregorian chant
Religious singing in Latin.
Traditionally associated with Pope Gregory I.
Monophonic: One melodic line.
A cappella: Without instrumental accompaniment.
Non-metrical rhythm: No regular beat; the rhythm flows freely.
Usually has a narrow pitch range and moves mainly by steps.
Creates a calm, reverent, otherworldly atmosphere.
Used in church worship.
The Catholic Mass
The Mass has two main sections:
Proper: Changes with the church calendar.
Ordinary: Stays the same throughout the church year.
Prayer
Meaning
Kyrie
Lord, have mercy
Gloria
Glory to God on high
Credo
We believe in one God
Sanctus
Holy, holy, holy
Agnus Dei
Lamb of God
Requiem Mass: A funeral Mass.
Dies irae: A text about the Day of Wrath; associated with judgment and death.
The traditional Requiem omits the Gloria and Credo.
Other medieval music terms
Secular music: Nonreligious music.
Organum: Medieval music that adds another melodic line to chant.
Polyphony: Two or more independent melodic lines.
Drone: A long, sustained note beneath a melody.
Church modes: Scales used in medieval sacred music, such as Dorian.
Dissonance: Sounds that create tension or instability.
Cantus firmus: A pre-existing melody used as the basis for a composition.
Motet: A polyphonic vocal work, often with a sacred text.
Purest voice: A treble voice before puberty.
Part 3: Important composers and musicians
Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179): German mystic, healer, poet, and female composer. Wrote Ordo Virtutum, an early morality play.
Léonin and Pérotin: Composers associated with the Notre Dame School; helped develop organum and rhythmic notation.
Guillaume IX: Early troubadour from southern France.
Beatriz de Dia: Female troubadour who wrote songs addressing men.
Guillaume de Machaut: Medieval French poet and composer; wrote the Messe de Nostre Dame.
Francesco Landini: Blind Italian medieval composer.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Renaissance composer whose sacred music became an important model of Catholic church music.
Thomas Weelkes: English Renaissance composer who wrote As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending.
John Dowland: English Renaissance composer known for lute songs, including Flow My Tears.
Leonardo da Vinci: Renaissance artist and example of a Renaissance man.
Part 4: Secular music and medieval composers
Term
Definition
Chanson
French song, often about courtly love
Troubadour
Poet-musician from southern France
Trouvère
Poet-musician from northern France
Minnesinger
German courtly love poet-musician
Jongleur
Traveling entertainer who could sing, juggle, and perform
Estampie
Medieval dance
Courtly love
Idealized romantic love expressed in songs and poetry
Notre Dame School
Center of early polyphonic music in Paris
Ars Nova
“New art”; musical developments around the 1300s
Part 5: Renaissance music
Renaissance: Means “rebirth,” with renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.
Humanism: Focus on human potential, learning, and achievement.
Gutenberg's movable type: Helped books and knowledge spread.
Renaissance man: Someone skilled in many areas, such as Leonardo da Vinci.
Polyphonic texture: Multiple independent melodic lines.
Word painting / text painting: Music illustrates the meaning of the words being sung.
Vernacular: The everyday or native language of a region.
Palestrina: Famous for Renaissance sacred music.
Renaissance Mass: Often set the Ordinary to music and used multiple vocal parts.
Renaissance dances
Pavane: A solemn dance in duple meter, or groups of two beats.
Galliard: A lively dance in triple meter, or groups of three beats.
Instruments to recognize
Instrument
Key fact
Recorder
Woodwind instrument
Bladder pipe
Wind instrument similar to a bagpipe
Sackbut
Early trombone
Serpent
Low-pitched wind instrument
Lute
Plucked string instrument; early guitar-like instrument
Viola da gamba
Bowed string instrument similar in role to a cello
Organetto
Small portable organ
Organ
Keyboard instrument using pipes
Harpsichord
Keyboard instrument that plucks strings
Dulcimer
String instrument played by striking its strings
Crumhorn
Curved wind instrument with a buzzing tone
Hurdy-gurdy
String instrument played with a hand-cranked wheel
Lyre
Ancient string instrument
Cornett
Historical wind instrument
Fiddle
Bowed string instrument
Part 6: Ancient Greek and Roman music
Greeks: Used music in dramas and cultural events.
Romans: Used music in the military and public events.
Lyre: Ancient string instrument dating back thousands of years.
Animal gut: Historically used to make some instrument strings.
Part 7: Crossword answer key
These answers follow the Across and Down clues visible in your worksheet. A few answers depend on how the clue is worded, so I’ve included the most likely answer.
Across
No.
Answer
What to remember
2
Recorder
Common Renaissance instrument
6
Bladder pipe
Similar to a bagpipe
10
Polyphony
Texture of organum
12
Credo
“We believe in one God”
13
Léonin
Notre Dame composer
15
Jongleur
Traveling entertainer
16
Palestrina
Renaissance sacred composer
17
Motet
Polyphonic sacred choral work
19
Sackbut
Early trombone
22
Estampie
Medieval dance
23
English
Language of Weelkes's music
29
Polyphonic
Multiple vocal lines
32
Virtutum
Ordo Virtutum
33
Vernacular
Native language
34
Serpent
Bass wind instrument
39
Liturgy
Prescribed worship rites
41
Rhythmic notation
Represents musical rhythms
43
Drone
Steady, sustained sound
44
Vernacular
Native language
45
Monophonic
One melodic line
46
Viola da gamba
Bowed string instrument
48
Organum
Chant with an added melody
50
Thomas Weelkes
Composed As Vesta Was Descending
52
Francesco Landini
Blind Italian medieval composer
58
Leonardo da Vinci
Painted the Mona Lisa
59
Chant
Melody used as a cantus firmus
62
Proper
Mass section that changes
63
Renaissance
Means “rebirth”
65
Peasantry
Lowest major social class
66
Modes
Scales used in chants
67
John Dowland
Composer of Flow My Tears
69
Text painting
Music depicts the words
70
Review the crossing letters
The clue is unclear in the photo
72
Treble voice
Voice before puberty
73
Recorder
Early reed/woodwind instrument
74
Geometry
Study of shapes and measurements
75
Humanism
Focus on human life and achievement
Down
No.
Answer
What to remember
1
Music
Essential part of education
3
Lyre
Common ancient instrument
4
Mona Lisa
Famous Renaissance painting
5
Military
How Romans used music
7
Sistine
Michelangelo's chapel
8
Gregory I
Associated with Gregorian chant
9
Jousting
Armed competition in the Renaissance
11
Ordinary
Mass section that stays the same
14
Mass
Reenactment of the Last Supper
18
Galliard
Renaissance dance in triple meter
20
A cappella
Without accompaniment
21
Courtly love
Idealized love and manners
24
Harpsichord
Renaissance keyboard instrument
25
Lute
Early guitar-like instrument
26
Ars
“New art” in Ars Nova
27
Pavane
Solemn dance in duple meter
28
Gurdy
Hurdy-gurdy
30
Cathedral
Major church building
31
Sanctus
“Holy, Holy, Holy”
Part 8: What to memorize first
If you have limited study time, focus on these:
Dates: Middle Ages 450–1450; Renaissance 1450–1600; Ars Nova around the 1300s.
Textures: Monophonic = one melody; polyphonic = multiple independent melodies.
Gregorian chant: Latin, religious, monophonic, a cappella, free rhythm.
Mass prayers: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei.
Mass sections: Proper changes; Ordinary stays the same.
People: Hildegard, Léonin, Pérotin, Machaut, Landini, Palestrina, Weelkes, Dowland, Leonardo da Vinci.
Music terms: Organum, motet, drone, cantus firmus, word painting, vernacular.
Dances: Pavane = duple; galliard = triple.
Instruments: Recorder, sackbut, serpent, lute, viola da gamba, harpsichord, crumhorn, hurdy-gurdy.
History: Feudalism, monasteries, humanism, Gutenberg, and the Renaissance
4
