The Middle Ages saw an awakening and birth of many new
things from the building of the cathedral, introduction to spices and some
medicines from eastern trade, to the expansion and travel of music through out
the various empires. Music was popular in many households and held various significances
in medieval life, as well as the belief system of medieval man.
Popular instruments included the lute, flute, harp, hurdy gurdy, viola (Seen below in one of the scenes from the Starz "The White Queen" were both popular instruments), bagpipes,
and other instruments. Gregorian Chants were and
are perhaps most popular in describing early medieval music. This form of music was primarily, “monophony,” which in its
simplest definition is of textures, consisting of melody without accompanying harmony. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_music)
Gregorian Chants were highly used and popular in liturgical services and in the
church. But this does not mean that
the peasants at home or nobles at court did not have some form of music, it
just was not as elaborate as what was being developed in the church during mass
and liturgical services.
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| A drum and viola as seen in "The White Queen" |
After 1150, Europe saw the birth of the Troubadour, who held
his importance and began in the courts of France, telling his tales of chivalry
and love with song, in the courts of Aquitaine, with Marie de France and other
noble French families. The Troubadour is
discussed below, but its popularity took music and song away from the church
liturgy and developed a whole secular side of the art form. Music at this time
and until the Renaissance became, “polyphony”
which is a texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent
melody, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony)
or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony).
(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphony)
The introduction of polyphony perhaps
is what launched the music of the Middle Ages to what we know today. It perhaps
is one of the largest advances of medieval music itself. Along with this, the
discovery and development of pitches, understanding tones and arrangement also help
grow the art form. Notably, Notre Dame in 1150-1250 became a center for
developing the western idea of rhythmic notation in music notation. From
the creative and talented minds at Notre Dame came the motet. The motet, which
was developed by Léonin and Pérotin who taught at the school,
is a highly varied form of choral musical composition. The motet was one of the
pre-eminent forms of later Renaissance music.
There were others who also used this and composed many of this important
musical art:
- Adam de la Halle (1237?–1288? or after 1306)
- Johannes Ciconia (c. 1370–1412)
- John Dunstaple (c. 1390–1453)
- Franco of Cologne (fl. mid-13th century)
- Jacopo da Bologna (fl. 1340–1385)
- Marchetto da Padova (fl. 1305–1319)
- Petrus de Cruce (fl. second half of the 13th century)
- Willelmus de Winchecumbe (fl. 1270s)
As time went by, medieval music
progressed and grew. By the 14th and
15th centuries, motets became isorhythmic meaning they employed repeated
rhythmic patterns in all voices.
Notably, Philippe de Vitry was one of the earliest composers to use this
technique, and his work influenced Guillaume de Machaut, who one of the most
famous named composers of late medieval motets. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motet)
In addition to composition and development of medieval music,
an important part of the secular music world in the Middle Ages was the “Troubadour,”
the traveling court musicians of the 13th century. It is interesting though to know that this
musician was not always named this as well. The earliest mention we hear of the
so-called traveling musician is in the tenth century and through the thirteenth
century, where musicians called “goliards” or poet-musicians. Their backgrounds
mainly came from being scholars or even ecclesiastical, in which many sung
their songs in Latin. May of their songs survived with subjects of religious
nature, and in contrast some telling tales of debachaury, and other moral
disregard.
These musicians or trouvères were well versed in a
vernacular and secular song. Most of their music compositions were accompanied
by instruments, yet also sung by a professional who was a skilled poet who also
was skilled in singing. The Troubadours also had their own language called
Occitan, which is the Old French of the trovres. The high of their popularity
saw a flowering or booming in cultural life in Provence France, which spread
through out the continent. Subjects of their songs included war, chivalry, and
courtly love. After the Albigensian Crusade,
which was brought on by Pope Innocent III, the movement died down. Remaining Troubadours traveled to Portugal, Spain
and northern Italy or northern France. There their skills remained and their
popularity lived on. Their contributions added developments to secular music
and culture in those places. The music that the trouvères introduced seemed to
not be as effected by the crusade and also continued to flourish in secular
life.
