Medieval and Renaissance Music History

Medieval Music

Instruments and Origins

  • Aulos: Associated with warship, wine, and Dionysus.
  • Lyre: Associated with Apollo.
  • Kithara: Associated with Helios.

Gregorian Chant

  • Texture: Monophonic
  • Syllabic: One syllable per note.
  • Neumatic: Two to four notes per syllable.
  • Melismatic: Five or more notes per syllable.
  • Characteristics:
    • Religious text written in Latin.
    • Monophonic texture.
    • No regular metric accent.
    • Vocal music without instruments.
    • Anonymous composers.

Secular Music (11th-13th Century)

  • Troubadours: Composer-poets from the South of France (12th century), speaking in Occitan language.
  • Trouvères: From the North of France.
  • Meistersingers: From Germany.
  • One of the most important troubadours: Bernart of Ventadorn.

Troubadour and Trouvère Song Characteristics

  • Vernacular languages.
  • Monophonic texture with instrumental accompaniment.
  • Marked rhythm.
  • Courtly love: Epic love poems.

Spanish Medieval Music

  • Cantiga: Composition about miracles of the Virgin Mary.
  • Typical instruments:
    • String: Lute, Harp, Viela.
    • Wind: Recorder, Chirimía, Bagpipe, Trumpet.
    • Percussion: Drums.

The Birth of Polyphony

  • Polyphony appeared in Western music in the late 9th century.
  • Stages of Polyphony:
    • Primitive polyphony (9th-12th centuries)
    • Ars Antiqua (12th-13th centuries)
    • Ars Nova (14th century)

Primitive Polyphony (9th-12th Centuries)

  • Organum: A technique consisting of adding a parallel voice below the Gregorian chant.
  • Gregorian chant (melody): Vox principalis.
  • Parallel voice (accompaniment): Vox organalis.

Ars Antiqua (12th-13th Centuries)

  • Evolution of musical notation: Duration of sounds was defined.
  • Most important musical center: Notre Dame School.
  • Composers: Leonin and Perotin.
  • Motet: A musical form with several voices moving in different rhythms, singing different texts.

Ars Nova (14th Century)

  • Polyphony also appeared in secular music.
  • Secular music became very important.
  • Polyphonic forms of songs: Canon, Ballad, and Chanson.
  • Important composers: Philippe de Vitry, Guillaume de Machaut, and Francesco Landini.

Renaissance Music (15th and 16th Centuries)

  • Artistic manifestation of the 15th and 16th centuries.
  • Recovered ideals of beauty and proportion from ancient Greek and Roman classic arts.

Religious Vocal Music

Protestant Reformation (Martin Luther)

Characteristics:

  • Simple composition based on popular melodies.
  • Written for four voices in German.
  • Homophonic texture.

Catholic Counter-Reformation

  • Gregorian chant was the official singing of the Church.
  • Role of music: To help the devoted heighten their souls towards God.
  • Main musical forms:
    • Motet (4 voices, a cappella)
    • Mass (all the pieces of the liturgy): Kyrie Eleison, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei.
  • Most famous composers: Palestrina and Tomás Luis de Victoria.

Secular Vocal Music

Musical forms varied depending on the country:

  • Italy: Madrigal
  • France: Chanson
  • Characteristics of Madrigal and Chanson:
    • Relationship between text and music.
  • Spain: Romance, Villancico, Ensalada.

Instrumental Music

  • Instruments and their techniques were improved.
  • The use of instruments continued outside of liturgy.
  • Tablature appeared.
  • Authors started to compose music specifically for instruments: Luis de Narváez, Antonio de Cabezón.
  • Instruments: Vihuela, Lute, Harpsichord, Viola da gamba.
  • Instruments contributed to the development of instrumental music through popular, nobility, social, and courtly dances.
  • Most important dances: Pavane and Galliard.