GMUS 373 - Unit 1

Medieval Era (c476 A.D. – c1420 AD)

476: Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Chant/Gregorian chant/Plainchant – Monophonic Music of the Medieval Christian Church
● “Pope Gregory I” (reigned 590-604)
● Legend: While Pope Gregory did not first create Gregorian chant, he was reading biblical
text, a dove (the Holy Spirit) sang melodies to him, and he sings them aloud and the tunes
are transcribed. Thus, Gregorian chant is credited to Pope Gregory

Square Notation
Neume: in early musical notation, a symbol representing one or more notes

C clef (can be on any line) ß

F clef (can be on any line) ß

Ligature – a neume representing a sequence of two or more pitches (Look up images later) (Not
chords)
Study music of this time because:
-Uses completely different kind of music theory (easy methods)
-major/minor keys conceived in 1722
Modes
To determine a chant’s mode, look for:
1: Range of chant
2: Final (note)
3: Reciting tone
-​ ​Authentic or Plagal?
o​ ​Authentic: Chant’s range dips no more than one pitch below the final (ends on one
of the lower notes of the piece)
o​ ​Plagal: the chant’s range rises well above and falls well below the final (add ​hypo
before mode name such as ​hypodorian

All chants only end on D, E, F or G (finals)

Every mode has a name (aka, D Authentic), a number, and another name
- Numbers 1-8. Bracket notes indicate final (xx)
- Odd numbered notes are authentic, even numbers are plagal (follow western modal system [D
authentic is #1 or dorian])
Modes
● We think of pieces having one tonal center; medieval pieces normally have 2

Pay attention in reading to:

- Hildegard of Bingen and the ​Ordo virtutum
- Medieval instruments
- Minnesinger / Walther von der Vogelweide
- the Mass (pp. 47-50)
- Review modes - make sure you can identify the mode of a printed chant

When listening to a piece:

1. Just listen and don’t think
2. Listen with score
3. Listen again comfortably if possible
Guido d’Arezzo (c. 991 - after 1033)
● Solmization syllables: ​ut - re - mi - fa - sol - la
Hexachords
● Hexachord is the six note scale
● The gamut - combines three different hexachords to form a bigger scale
● Lowest note in gamut is low G (in bass clef)
● First hexachord is on G, second on C, then F (which requires a B flat), G again, etc.

●
“Guidonian Hand”
● Goes in a spiral starting at tip of thumb, across palm, to tip of pinky, to first knuckle of
middle finger, and then tip

●
Definitions
● Liturgy - a collection of specific rituals associated with a particular religion
● Divine Office - a daily sequence of eight religious services, each of which includes the
singing of psalms
○ Matins - 2 or 3 am
○ Lauds - dawn
○ Prime - 6 am
○ Terce - 9 am
○ Sext - noon
○ None - 3 pm
○ Vespers - sunset
○ Compline - just before bedtime
● Mass - the central service of the traditional Christian liturgy
○ Ordinary - parts with texts that are the same for every Mass
○ Proper - parts with texts that change depending on the day of the year
○ (chart in pg. 49 - pay attention to blue parts - memorize blue Ordinary)
● Texts of the Mass Ordinary:
○ Kyrie
○ Gloria
○ Credo
○ Sanctus
○ Agnus Dei
Secular Medieval Music
● Most secular music was lost; religious music was preserved in churches and monasteries
● Troubadours - Southern France; texts in Occitan
● Trouveres - Northern France; texts in Medieval French (Beatriz de Dia - ​A chantar)​
● More well known for poetry; but many were nobility but also servants
● Servants rise in rank after learning music from noble people and become Troubadours
and Trouveres
● This kind of music had to be interpreted by the performer
● Minnesinger - “Minnelieder” (Walther von der Vogelweide)
Medieval Instruments
● Rebec - very early medieval bowed instrument from Western Europe
● Rebab - Middle Eastern instrument that influenced the Rebec

FOR READING:
● The Rhythmic Modes (understand concept not memorizations)
● Conductus
● Magnus liber organi​ and “Anonymous IV”
Musica enchiriadis​ (“Musical Handbook”)
● 9th century; first written polyphony
● Organum - a polyphonic work consisting of a preexisting chant in one voice and at least
one additional voice above or below
Six Developments in Organum
c. 850-890
1. Parallel Organum
● principal voice (vox principalis) + organal voice (vox organalis)
● organal 5th below principal
2. Four-Part parallel Organum
● principal and organal voices doubles
● 5th and octave doublings
● Problem with this: 5ths will eventually become tritones
3. Mixed Parallel and Oblique Organum
● Different intervals; notation not necessarily required
c. 1100
4. Note-Against-Note Organum (or “Free” Organum)
● Any interval; notation needed
5. Florid Organum (popular in Aquitanian Polyphony)
● Top voice sings many notes per note in the bottom voice (somewhat of a drone)
● Longer note lengths is the actual chant
● Around Spain, France
- 1163: Notre Dame begins construction
6. Notre Dame Organum
● Leonin (1150s - c. 1201) - Perotin (late 12 and early 13th centuries)
● Leonin taught Perotin
● “tenor” and “duplum” are the new terms for the voices
● Tenor sings the chant (lower part)
● Later more voices were added: “triplum” and “quadruplum”
● Perotin was the one who added the two new voices (also 3 and 2 voice)
● Two styles of music:
○ Florid Organum - upper voice sings varying note lengths above each note of the
lower voice
○ Discant - one to three notes in upper part for each lower note
● Clausula - a section of an organum in discant style; highlights important text
Rhythmic Modes
● ligatures - combinations of note groups
● longs - long notes
● breves - short notes
Six Rhythmic Modes
1. L B
2. B L
3. L B B
4. B B L
5. L L
6. B B B
● tempus (plural is tempora) - basic time unit; usually an eighth note
● Longs in modes 3, 4, and 5 are lengthened to 3 tempora
● Breves in modes 3 and 4 are doubled
● Modes 1 and 5 are the oldest
● Most mode 1 melodies had repetitions with phrases ending with rests
Magnus Liber Organi
● Anonymous IV wrote a treatise in 1285 designating Leoninus and Perotinus as the
creators of Notre Dame polyphony
● Anonymous IV credits Leoninus with compiling a ​Magnus liber organi​ (“great book of
polyphony”), but probably not alone
○ Contained two-voice chants for the major feasts of the church year
● Chant melody appears in the tenor as drones; expansive melismas sung by the ​duplum
(the upper voice)
Substitute Clausulae
● clausula - phrase or clause in a sentence; in organum, set word or syllable from chant and
closed with cadence
● substitute clausulae - new clausulae that replaced the original setting of chants (usually
different in rhythm)
Perotinus organum
● Perotinus used two, three, or four voices (organum duplum/triplum/quadruplum)
● Voices above tenor were named duplum, triplum, and quadruplum in ascending order;
and they ​all used rhythmic modes​ to allow for coordination
Polyphonic conductus
● conductus - settings for two to four voices of the same type of rhymed, rhythmical Latin
poems about a sacred or serious topic
● Tenor is drawn from existing monophonic conductus
● All voices sing the text together in essentially the same rhythm
● The words are set syllabically
● Most conductus features melismatic passages called ​caudae​ at the beginning and end and
before important cadences
Motet
● motet - new Latin words written for upper voices of discant clausulae (one to three note
phrases for each lower note)
● Motets changed in 4 ways
○ changing the text of the duplum
○ adding third or fourth voices
○ giving additional voices ​new and different​ texts; ​Double motets ​with two above
the tenor and ​Triple motets​ with three above the tenor
○ deleting the original duplum and writing new voices with new texts
■ the voice above the tenor is then called a Motetus (replacing duplum)
● People started using secular texts (mainly French)
● Tenor became known as the ​cantus firmus​ around 1270
● Franconian notation​ - 1280 by Franco of Cologne; note shapes indicated length
○ tempus was now normally a quarter note
○ Three tempora makes a perfection (measure of three beats)
● Petrus de Cruce​ extended the Franconian motet further through its rhythmic variety
● People could write voice parts that had no relation to a chant, but they are still called
motets
English Polyphony
● Voice exchange between parts (taken from the Notre Dame style)
● rondellus - two or three phrases are first heard simultaneously and then rotate in turn
● rota - perpetual canon or round

IN READING​:
● What is the ​Roman de Fauvel?
● Review Rhythmic Notation (pp. 116-117)
● Machaut (p. 120)
● Landini (p. 134)
● “Voices or instruments” (p. 137)
● Musica ficta

Franconian Note Lengths

● Double Long, Long, Breve, Semibreve
● 3 Longs in a Double Long and 3 Breves in a Long
● Ars cantus mensurabilis​ (“The Art of measurable Song” c. 1280)
Ars nova​ (“The New Art”)
● Phillipe de Vitry (1291-1361) - wrote the ​Ars nova
● Ars nova ​vs. ​Ars antiqua​ - popular debate trying to suppress ​Ars nova
 ● New aspects of ​Ars nova​:
○ Possibility of subdividing notes into two ​equal​ note values (i.e. duple
subdivisions)
■ Duple was called imperfect
○ Minims (shorter note values than semibreves)
○ Hocket - a passage featuring rapid rhythmic exchanges and/or syncopations
between two or more voices
Mensuration signs of the Ars nova
● Predecessor of time signatures
● Full circle is for triple (perfect), half circle is for duple (imperfect)
● Presence of dot signifies prolation - whether a semibreve is equal to two minims (minor)
or equal to three minims (major)

******These note values and notations were only present in ​Ars nova

Isorhythmic Motet - can happen between any two or more voices

● Talea​ (rhythmic repetitions)
● Color​ (melodic repetitions)
Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377)
● One of the most important composers of the ​Ars nova
● He was so organized and wrote so much that we have record of all his music
● Messe de Nostre Dame​ (c. 1364) - first “Mass Cycle”
○ Mass Cycle - complete setting of the mass ordinary written by one composer
intended to be performed together
■ contratenor - second supporting voice
○ Isorhythmic mass cycle - repeated rhythms
● Chanson - generic name for a French secular “song” of the late medieval era
○ Formes fixes​ (fixed forms):
■ ballade
■ virelai
■ rondeau
Caserta (c. 1370s)
● wrote ballades
● Music became more exclusive and difficult to sing
Ars subtilior ​(Late 14th century - “the subtle/sophisticated/clever art”)
● Music was a challenge
● Main genre for this era is still a chanson
● Baude Cordier (French ​Ars subtilior​ composer, late 14th / early 15th century)
Tout par compas
 ● It was common for composers to write in unconventional manners (such as in a circle)
Trecento​ (Italian music of the 1300s)
● Francesco Landini (c. 1325-1397)
● Jacopo da Bologna (fl. 1340-1386)
● 3 Popular Forms for Secular works of the Trecento:
○ ballata
○ madrigal
○ caccia
● Landini - sweet harmonies
○ Landini cadence​ - tenor descends by step, upper voice descends to lower
neighbor then skips up a third
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● Musica ficta - chromatic alterations (raised or lowered) to avoid tritone, augmented 4ths
or diminished 5ths, or sweeter harmonies
● double leading-tone cadence - both upper notes resolve upwards by a half step
● Phrygian cadences - lower voice descends by a semitone; upper voice rises a whole tone