The Mass

Medieval
Music Theory
 The Mass

Principal Liturgy of the Catholic Church

(Burkholder)

Dramatic re-enactment of “Last Supper”

(Handel)
 The Last Supper
• Matthew 26:17-30New International Version (NIV)

• The Last Supper

• On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make
preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

• He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to
celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the
Passover.

• When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you,
one of you will betray me.”

• They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”

• Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man will go just as it is
written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

• Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?”

• Jesus answered, “You have said so.”

• While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”

• Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of
the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from
now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

• When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Leonardo da Vinci
1490s
 Mass Sub-Sections

• Introduction - Entrance Rites

• Bible Readings

• Eucharist

• Preparation and Administration

of Bread and Wine
Mass Ordinary
Texts Do Not Change

Kyrie
Gloria
Credo
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
Machaut
c. 1360s

Poulenc
1961
 Mozart
1781-82
 Britten
1962

William Byrd
c. 1590s
 Mass Proper

Texts Do Change - Thematic

Introit for Christmas

“A Child is born and a Son is given to us.”

Introit for Easter

“I have risen and even now am with thee.”

Introit for Requiem Mass

“Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine on them.”
 11th C. Liturgy
(Burkholder 51)
 Main Sung Portions of Mass
Proper Ordinary
Introit
ENTRANCE RIGHTS Kyrie
Gloria
Gradual
Alleluia LESSONS

Sequence
END OF PART 1 - CATECHUMENS DISMISSED Credo
Offertory
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
Communion EUCHARIST (COMMUNION)
MODALITY
 Church Modes
• Formulated by 1000

• Guido of Arezzo (Micrologus) and others…

• Defining Features

• Final

• Reciting Tone (dominant)

• Range
 reciting note = a
Psalm Tone mode = hypo-lydian

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,

final = f

She maketh me to lie

down in green pastures,
She leadeth me be- side still wa- ters.
Modes vs. Major/Minor
minor
^
+6

minor
^
-2

major
^
+4

major
^
-7
 Musica Ficta
• “The pitch b would produce an awkward tritone from f, while
the substitution of b-flat would result in a tritone from e. The
pitch was in fact adjusted in performance according to
its context, but as a result seems to have been regarded as
unsuitable for a dominant” (Seaton 41).

• “The term musica ficta is now often used loosely to describe

intended accidentals left unwritten in the original
manuscripts or prints of music from before about 1600 but
added in performance or editing. In modern editions, added
accidentals are often placed above the staff. Sometimes they
are placed on the staff but are printed in a different typeface
from that of accidentals found in the sources” (Harvard).
 Hildegard of Bingen
ficta
ficta

B-flat notated in manuscript

B-flat notated in manuscript

 C clef

B-flat

Riesencodex

musica ficta
liquescent
1985 Edition
 Final (e)

Range
b Reciting Note
(a)

c
From Liber Usualis

mode

hypo-phrygian
 Range
c

d
reciting note (a)

co-final (a)
mode

Dorian Mode
reciting note (d)

Final (g)

Range
a

g
 mode

Mixolydian
 Modal Scales as New
Musical Resources

• Example 1 - Beethoven String Quartet Op. 132

(1825)

• Example 2 - Fauré Lydia (1871)

• Example 3 - Bobby McFerrin 23rd Psalm (1990)

Example 1
1825
 1871
Example
2

lydian
inflection
^
b-natural = +4
Example 1990
3

mixolydian
inflection
^
e-flat = -7
 Guido of Arezzo
(c. 991- c.1033) 11TH C

• Music theorist. His fame as a pedagogue was legendary in the Middle

Ages and he is remembered today for his development of a system of
precise pitch notation through lines and spaces and for propagating a
method of sight-singing which relied upon the syllables ut, re, mi, fa,
sol, la. His Micrologus is the earliest comprehensive treatise on musical
practice that includes a discussion of both polyphonic music and
plainchant. It was used throughout the Middle Ages in monasteries,
and from the 13th century also in the universities. Next to the treatise
of Boethius it was the most copied and read instruction book on
music in the Middle Ages; its text is preserved in at least 70
manuscripts from the 11th century through to the 15th.

• Claude V. Palisca and Dolores Pesce. "Guido of Arezzo." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press.
Web. 15 Sep. 2016. <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/11968>.
 Accomplishments
• Refined music notation

• Refined understanding of Church Modes

• Advised on craft of composition

• Advised on organum

• (early improvised polyphony)

• Invented Solemnization system

• precursor to Solfège
 Solmization

Soft Hexachord: F - G - A - B flat - C - D

Hard Hexachord: G - A - B natural - C - D - E
Natural Hexachord: C - D - E - F - G - A

mutation

mutation
mutation
mutation
attributed to:
Guidonian Hand