History of Western Music 01

The three terms 10.10.2018

With the name of the class we encounter three terms that need discussing, first being history. It is
the least complicated of the three terms, and it means a chronicle discussion of facts and
development thereof.

What is western? It is not a political term, but a cultural term/development with a basis in ancient
Greece and Christianity. “Western” music might also signify polyphonic music, as Western culture is
in fact the only type of culture that developed polyphony, while all other classical music is mostly
homophonic.

The most complex of the three terms is music. Some say it’s sounding air (which is correct from a
physical point of view). Eduard Hanslick, a very important musical journalist and a big supporter of
Johannes Brahms, said it’s a “sounding arabesque without any actual intellectuality”. Friedrich
Nietzsche said that it’s “the only relation traceable back to the beginning of everything”. Or it could
just simply be “the language of the heart that doesn’t have to pass the filter of the brain”.

The term “music”

Ancient Greeks referred to music as “mousike techne” or technical skill. To them, whichever
technical skill inspired by music was considered art. Even though Greeks appreciated music and art in
general very much, they didn’t invent it, so a common questions arises; where does art/music begin?

On a very primitive level, music is organisation of time through silence and sound (and sound is all
around us and it occurred even before we did, so music is probably just as old as we are). The term
“sound” doesn’t mean just music and sounds of the many instruments we know today. John Cage
considered everyday sounds of traffic and people around him to be music too. Objectively speaking,
it’s not always music, but what if it’s inspired by something? When that appears to be the case, we
can trace this type of music straight back to mousike. It’s not necessary for something to sound
“tonal”, but if it’s inspired or it has some deeper meaning to it, then it could be considered art. (It
begins as soon as it has a meaning!) Ancient Greek artists were majorly inspired by their muses.
Muses in Greek mythology were a source of inspiration of technique, and each muse was responsible
for a separate field (movement, music, love, etc.).

In reality, mousike is the starting point of both music and literature history and is combined of three
fields. When you combine all three respective fields, they create perfect art.

Poetry

Dance Melos (type of melodical

declamation)
Poetry

The creations of the Ancient Greek poets represent the basis of western poetry. They knew epic, lyric
and dramatic poetry, which developed chronologically in that order. Epic poetry was always told
from the point of view of a third (very distanced) person, who is emotionally uninvolved and not
affected by any of the story/plot. Lyric poetry shifts the perspective from “them” to “I”. It’s always
inspired by a heavy intimate emotion or feeling. Dramatic poetry is telling the story or the situation in
relation to an “I” and another person, paving the way for ancient drama to unfold and develop.

All three types of ancient poetry developed from the 8 th century BC to the 4th century BC. Through
the four centuries of development, we can observe three different stages of human consciousness,
from talking about someone or oneself in third person to the awareness of I and exploration of my
own will to the exploration of relationships between an “I” and other people. (It’s very interesting to
observe the same behaviour in small children!)

The majority of epic poetry is based upon mythology. Whichever mythology we’re discussing, each
and every one of them is a collective memory of mankind. It contains descriptions of the same event
that were transformed into different versions and passed on from generation to generation. An
example of the same event which appears in the majority of mythologies is the story of Noah’s Ark.
Each mythology has its own version of the details, but the basis remains the same; a man knew the
waters were rising and humanity was going to be doomed, so he built a boat and on it he saved two
of each animal species and they survived the floods and lived on to tell the tale. We can presume
that most of these stories (or most versions of the same story) originated at the end of the last ice
age, which was 2000 years BC. At the end of the ice age, the ice was melting, consequentially causing
the ice to melt and a lot of floods all around the world.

To the modern society, mythology is a source of information, because mythologists had to elaborate
on a story that has a small core, providing the listener/reader with more information about
something. A case of that would be the myth of Orpheus, a very important story in musical history, as
it has very many versions of the ending (the various endings elaborate on why the hero turned
around before leaving Hades, resulting in his wife’s second death in the same day).

On another side, mythology used to be religion for the people of a specific land. Books of religion are
full of mythology and people believed it and lived by it. (Every holy text is a mythological book to
someone.)

When discussing ancient Greek poetry, we are usually discussing oral tradition. All the poetry was
sung/told to a communion of people for the purposes of entertainment. Different versions exist
solely out of the circumstances in which the piece was performed (if the atmosphere was gloomy the
poet would usually give a more cheerful performance/information in order to lift the spirits). This
tradition of adopting a cheerful ending to make a communion feel better is still visible today in media
(ie. the news).

The tradition of canned laughter also originates in ancient Greece, as it was usually written into the
text of a dramatic poem or a comedy/tragedy.
Homer: the Iliad and the Odyssey

The Illiad and the Odyssey are both ancient Greek epic poems discussing the war of Troy and
Odysseus’s return trip home, which lasts for ten years. Both are two of the oldest pieces of Western
literature. (A long trip home is also a reoccurring theme in various mythologies/traditions.)

When discussing with both works, we usually have to discuss the Homeric Question; it concerns the
doubts and consequent debate regarding the creation of both poems, Homer’s existence and the
historical accuracy of the poems. We are to this day unsure of whether Homer actually existed;
usually, ancient Greeks kept a lot of information about its poets, mainly their place of birth, the
location of the tomb and perhaps some other information, none of which is true in the case of
Homer. We don’t know where he was born or buried, but we do know that he was blind. Even the
information regarding his “blindness” is debatable; even though many do think that he might have
actually been a blind bard, it can also refer to a type of trance that he might have experienced, in
which the gods might have spoken through him.

Both the Iliad and the Odyssey have their own rhythm to them, which is referred to as the
hexameter in literature theory (waltz rhythm). It was usually sung as a priest would sing it at a
congregation; it’s very rhythmic, but it does have a few notes in between. Singers should have been
able to improvise on the rhythm of the poetry. Every character appearing in the poems has a
separate tone and rhythm and if it talks about dancing, it is the perfect unity of all three art forms-
mousike.

The Illiad and the Odyssey were “sung” with the accompaniment of music, then it means that people
were beginning to tell stories with music. That is a trait we can still detect centuries later in blues, a
genre of music, developed in New Orleans, USA in the 1920’s. The tradition of telling stories through
music was brought to America in the 15 th and 16th century by the slaves from the south of Africa.
Even though they were not educated, they just knew and understood the music tradition of ancient
Greece.

Both blues, ancient Greek epic potery and musical tradition of the African civilisation are very
formal, structured and intended to put you in a trance, due to repetitions of certain motives.

Lyricism 17.10.2018

The beginnings of lyricism can be traced back to the Greek island of Lesbos in the 6th century BC. Back
then, it was considered to be one of the main Greek islands, but it was also the home of Sappho, one
of the greatest poets of Ancient Greece. Her poetry was mostly written in order to be sung with the
accompaniment of the lyre; nowadays, it is considered to be one of the main symbols of female
homoeroticism, which was highly appreciated in ancient Greece, even more than the love between a
man and a woman. The name of the dialect in which she wrote and the island on which she resided
provided the origin of the word “lesbian”.

Her style of writing was a very big inspiration to the great roman poet Catullus, who uses the same
approach to their subjects as Sappho. She was one of the first poets to even adopt the lyric “I” and
speak very openly about her emotions towards another woman. She usually describes everything in a
triangle; she talks to God about the emotions she has towards a third person, be it jealousy, rage or
infatuation.
As opposed to modern poetry, antic poetry doesn’t really have rhymes, but it follows a certain
rhythm or metre. The poets put this pattern to words, meaning that he has to specifically choose
words that will fit and follow the pattern, which can be quite difficult, but it also proves that there is
a virtuosity in writing poetry.

The most common rhythms:

Rhythm Guide:
Iambic U __ __ : stressed
Trochaic __ U U : unstressed
Dactylic __ U U

Anapestic U U __

Spondaic __ __

Pyrrich UU

Sappho wrote most commonly in an eleven-metre syllable, which became known as the Sapphian
syllable, following the pattern of __ U __ U __ U U __ U __ U.

In later Roman poetry, Catullus paid homage to Sappho in the naming of his muse/object of love (her
name was Lesbia) and the rhythm and style of writing. In the end, she betrays him and he is left
heart-broken and he describes his heartbreak in two Sapphian Syllables. His heartbreak was later put
to music by Carl Orff in a sequel to Carmina Burana named Catulli Carmina. The trilogy including
Carmina Burana, Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite is a perfect example of mousike, as dance,
music and poetry/speech are complexly intertwined (a big part in this is also stage design and
production!).

Almost all lyric poetry from ancient Greece was sung with the accompaniment of the lyre, however,
we do not have any clue as to what the melodies sounded like; all we are left with are the lyrics.

Ancient Greek drama

Ancient drama and poetry both had their respective patron saints; Zeus, the god of everything, was
also the protector of lyric and epic poetry. Poetry was considered to be pure, bright and perfect. The
protector of drama was Dionysus. In Greek mythology, he was a consequence of inbreeding and
incest and is Zeus’s son. He is the god of wine and, by extent, also the patron saint of drama.

One of the points of drama is extasis, which means stepping out of oneself in Greek. What do actors
do when acting? They step out of themselves and become someone else and do things you usually
wouldn’t do. Funnily enough, you do the same thing as actors do when you drink too much wine.

Ancient Greek drama/the worship of Dionysus was a very big inspiration for Christianity. The literal
translation of Dionysus means “the being born twice, the one who beat death”. According to a
myth, Zeus had to reveal himself to Dionysus’s mother, resulting in her death with the baby still in
the womb. However, Zeus saved the baby and Dionysus was born twice and beat death. Jesus
experiences a somewhat similar (but not really similar) story as Dionysus. However, Jesus’s cult of
worship took many more things from the Greek mythology than just drinking wine from a chalice.

The worship of Dionysus or how Christianity stole ceremonies from the Greek

The worship of Dionysus usually consisted dancing and singing a tragedy (the literal translation of
tragedy means a sacrifice of a lamb and singing a sad song about it). They usually sang the tragedy
with a choir, split into two halves. First, one half sings one strophe (aka. first statement), then the
second half gives the second strophe (aka. second statement or antistrophe), then they both sing the
conclusion to the tragedy (aka. katastrophe – the origin of catastrophe). The tragedy was performed
in a circle, and the two halves came in separately. (Same thing happens in Christian ceremonies.)

The place of worship for the cult of Dionysus later became the setting for ancient Greek drama and to
this day, opera houses all over the world have an identical setting/construction to the one of Greek
theatres, and so do football stadiums. (The Roman Colosseum also took some inspiration from the
architecture of the Greek!)

It consisted of a circle/half circle, which

was usually used for dance. Behind it stood
a stage with the scene and three doors
(one for each actor, just because it could
also be seen from distance, as these
theatres were usually able to sit more than
ten thousand viewers). The half circle used
to be called orchestra, and that helped a
Orchestra lot with the placing of the orchestra in
opera houses.

Roman theatres are also very similar, with the only difference being in the orchestra; that became a
lot smaller in order to draw the stage and the sitting space closer together. The theatre was then
later able to have a roof in order to perform the works in any weather condition.

The three door setup was then stolen by the Orthodox Church. Their altars have the same setup of
three doors for the three different stages of worship.

The development of Greek drama

Greek drama went through a lot of modification, all thanks to various dramatists.

Thespis was the first who took a soloist out of the choir, thus resulting in the birth of an actor. Still,
the works performed in his time were more poems than actual dramatic works, but it set the stage
for later writers. Aeschylus (Aischylos) was the one who invented the second actor and used the
choir more for additional commentary and explanation. As he added a second actor, it meant that
the plot grew more complex. In the time of Thespis, one soloist can only do so much, whereas two
people can love each other or hate each other or be friends, resulting in a more interesting dynamic.
Aeschylus’s type of drama was also the ideal for Richard Wagner’s opera opus. Sophocles finalized
the form of classical Greek drama with the invention of the third actor. Here, there are even more
possibilities for drama and storytelling (for example, plotting against one another). (This also provides
a basis for all western dramatic forms!)

Usually, the plots of the classical Greek drama was very intricate, which shows the genius of the
poets themselves.

The most popular type of Greek drama was the tragedy. It was the tool to reach catharsis, a
purification of the soul. They saw what would happen if x or y happened, they learnt something new
and perhaps decided to change the way they live their lives.

Sounds familiar? At Sunday Mass you perhaps don’t see what would happen if x or y happened, but
you do hear a lot about it. Many see Sunday Mass as purification of the soul and as a consequence,
people do change the ways they live their lives.

The structure

The typical structure of a Greek drama consists of five parts.

1) Parados (entrance)

2) Exposition (presentation of the characters and the setup of the story)

3) Angelos (angels/messengers give the audience some information to start the action)

4) Peripetic (a turn in the story where the pace picks up)

5) Catastrophe/Deus ex machina (either a lesson or a conclusion or an interference of the divine

forces)

Deus ex machina is an appearance of the gods in the earlier forms and a higher force (perhaps a king
or justice officials) in the modern dramatic forms. It usually occurs straight before the end of the play
and most of the time, it delivers a happy ending.

Divine interference is not an uncommon theme in Greek drama; even in epic poetry, the gods tell
the characters what to do, even when it comes to the most mundane things (as in “save yourself
from drowning, please”). Perhaps the most inexplicable interference is set in the story of Elektra. It is
one of the short episodes appearing in the Iliad, but it has been a source of inspiration to many poets
(Euripides, Aeschylus and Sophocles), composers (Richard Strauss and W. A. Mozart) and playwrights
(Jean Paul Sartre) across many centuries.

When Agamemnon returns from the Trojan War with his war prize, a young woman and his new-
born sons, he is murdered by his wife (he also sacrificed one of his daughters to the gods so that the
war would end in his favour). Elektra and her brother Orestes were ordered by the gods to kill the
murderer of their father, meaning their mother. They fulfil their task, but nobody knows what they
do next, which is a question that three generations of Greek playwrights have dealt with. (Facing the
death of your father and then facing the order of the gods to kill your mother surely cannot result in
a happy ending!)

Euripides said that it is a problem neither people nor gods cannot solve; in his version of Elektra, she
and her brother are left feeling guilty and ashamed. In Orestes, a sequel to Elektra, they plan on
killing King Menelaus and his wife Helen (both of them were seen as the guilty party for the start of
the Trojan War, and Menelaus betrayed Orestes over an agreement that they had). As they mean to
kill Helen’s daughter, the god Apollo appears deus ex machina, who resolves the situation and orders
Orestes to marry Hermione (Helen’s daughter) and Elektra to marry Orestes’ friend Plyades. This
ending, along with the use of deus ex machina, makes absolutely no sense. The rhythm of the words
changes from a tragic one to a comic one, and in some interpretations, a big buffet and a brass band
appears on stage. The ending serves as a basis for absurdism in theatre!

The Greek Olympic Games were not just intended for sports, but also for writing. Ancient Greeks
already knew tetralogies, which consisted of three tragedies and a comedy at the end, to brighten
the mood. Sophocles and Aeschylus were both Olympic champions in writing tragedies. (The plays
written for the Olympic Games represent the bulk of the fully preserved Greek dramas, allowing us a
very good insight into the work of these poets.)

Mathematics and music 24.10.2018

Pythagoras was an ancient Greek scholar who didn’t just have a profound influence on mathematics,
but also music. He mindfully connected music to numbers and with his theoretical knowledge, he laid
a basis for musicology. Surprisingly, we don’t have any text of his own original making. Much like
Buddha and Socrates, our only source of their philosophy are the “notes” of his disciples, and here we
encounter a problem. Much like with university lectures, everything we write down is an
interpretation of the original. Maybe some things were not noted, and are the noted thoughts really
what they said?

To Pythagoras, numbers were of the utmost importance. He “created” the monochord, an

instrument with one tightened string. He divided this one string in relations of 1:2, 2:3, 3:4 and so on.
(He used a similar technique as string players use to play overtones!) With it, he got the natural
sequence of overtones/harmonics. This technique proved just as effective on a more tense string!

According to his philosophy, the tones should be determined by rations, meaning:

1:2 create an octave Later on, he put these rations into numbers, and called it tetractus!

2:3 create a fifth 6 8 9 12

3:4 create a fourth

(Octave, fifth and fourth were considered to be consonant for a really long time in history solely
because they were mathematically perfect! Thirds and sixths are not!)

All of these numbers between one another form the above stated rations. This technique was also
applied to get other tones, the most imperfect one of them being a major third. Mathematically, a
64 1
major third is a ration of , as it’s too high to be perfectly resolved into the perfect fourth.
81 81
Consequentially, harmonic principles were considered mathematical principles with very small
numbers for a very long time. (Plato: “Beautiful is someone symmetrical and harmonic.”)

According to Greek philosophers, everything in this world can be explained in numbers, down to the
smallest things, for example atoms. Matter is made of atoms, and modern physics considers atoms to
consist of a core and a matter around it. They even went as far as to decide that both consist of
practically nothing. But we do know that they exist, because they radiate waves. It is of no matter
how the waves materialize, but we know that they exist, because we either see it, hear it or feel it.
The matter itself is sort of non-existent, because atoms consist of practically nothing, but it’s there.

Waves themselves can be explained in numbers and rations, and they have a profound effect on a
human being. They are capable of changing a state of mind. But how and why exactly are questions
that ethics deal with (study of emotions within human beings). Ethics date back to ancient Greece
and amongst other things, they believed that if you play a certain melody for someone, it will do
something to their emotions.

Pythagoras claimed, that the Dorian mode/scale will make the listener feel strong and courageous,
and the Phrygian will induce sadness and emotion in general. His claims only prove the power of
music over people, and philosophers like Plato were very aware of it. Plato said that rhythm and
harmony emerge into the soul and become an emotion, making a person easily influenced by music.
Because of that, he was a very big advocate for musical censorship. To him, courageous music was
acceptable and emotional music was not. That is also very commonly seen in totalitarian regimes of
the more recent history.

Aristotle also agreed with Plato over the influence of music, but he said that musical education could
protect someone from its influence. Music is therefore a theoretical must in his ideal state, but it was
almost exclusively played by slaves and servants. (That way of thinking is still somewhat visible to this
day: music schools and universities are an independent entity, whereas musicology is taught on
proper universities. It implies that the theoretical knowledge of music is equivalent to the theoretical
knowledge of other sciences. It implies that, in the modern sense, musicologists are the scholars and
musicians the slaves.)

The idea of different modes/scale having a particular influence over people’s emotion has made its
mark on music. Every key of the quint-cycle has an attributed emotion/meaning and composers
throughout history have abided by it, because it simply makes sense. We know that these attributed
emotions work because we feel it, even though we cannot really explain it. (Maybe Pythagoras would
have been able?)

F major is the key of nature; it encompasses the feeling of time before dawn (Beethoven: Symphony
no. 6 “Pastoral”).

C major is the key of sunlight or blinding light (Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra / Mozart: Symphony
no. 41 “Jupiter”).

D major is the key of late morning, enabling sensuality and love (Mozart: Marriage of Figaro, D major
is also the key of Figaro as a character!).

A major represents heat and something exotic (Beethoven: Symphony no. 7).

E flat major is the heroic key (Beethoven: Symphony no.3 “Eroica”, Tchaikovsky: Overture 1812).

C minor is the key of tragedy (Beethoven: Symphony no. 5).

We will also never perfectly understand how the influence of different modes was interpreted in
ancient Greece, as we have no sources to tell us how it sounded (meaning we cannot experience it
for ourselves). The closest we shall ever get to understanding ancient Greek music is Indian music.

Classical Indian music is all based on different types of raga. Raga is a melodical line consisting of
different notes, upon which musicians need to improvise. They can be divided into more feminine
and male sounding ragas, and evening and morning ragas. There are ragas for different occasions, for
example, the main raga will supposedly make it rain. This also refers back to the theory that certain
wavelengths can influence actions of matter (be it weather or people!).

Ancient Indian culture interpreted music in a different way to ancient Greek culture. They have taken
a lot of things from the Greek, for example architecture and the depiction of the Buddha, but they
disagree about teaching music. Raga tradition survived solely because of an intimate student-teacher
relation. Students usually derived from a very wealthy family, however, they were seen as equals
with the teacher. The student was treated as a family member and was provided food and shelter. To
them, the knowledge of music was seen as sacred and they allowed themselves to be influenced by
music at all times of the day.

Middle Ages = Dark Ages 31.10.2018

In the first millennia BC we can observe a very distinct contrast in cultural activity. Greek culture (and
consequentially Roman culture) was the leading culture of antiquity. Roman culture had some of its
own achievements, but the majority of their culture has Greek roots. The world of ancient Rome was
a highly globalised world, which had very developed arts and science. Matters of state and ranking
system was also very refined. In this developed order, Christianity also found its place in society. It
had been developing through the rise and fall of Greek states and the Roman Empire, and the
darkest times of the latter proved to be an excellent stepping stone for a newly found religion.

The Roman territory had spread across the majority of Europe, reaching to the African continent on
the south and to Scotland on the north. Inevitably, as the state began to crumble, different tribes
(Goths, Vandals, Huns, etc.) had started intruding onto their territories. It was a time of great
bloodshed and war. It was very common for some to assimilate themselves into the new
environment, make their way up in the empire and use their position and the power it provided to
commit inner treason. By the time Attila and the Huns came to the west, it was no big task to
undermine the whole state, as it was already completely ruined by inner political problems that had
been going on for more than 200 years.

(Main problems of the Empire were all to blame on its size; it had become impossible to run from
one place, the army wasn’t as effective, the economy was suffering, the general health of the
population wasn’t great, there had been religious changes on the territory, emperors weren’t
competent enough to run the state, future candidates fought between each other to obtain power,
etc.)

When the Roman Empire collapsed, it left a highly developed civilisation in shambles. The collapse
affected its people the environment to the point that it required over 300 years to recover from it
and continue developing forward. Historians do not have any paintings, buildings, sculptures or
pieces of literature between the 5th and 7th century BC. The entire society had returned to a
primitive state of being; all of the sudden, mythology had become a leading force of life (instead of
politics/rulers) for practically everyone. (This was also the time of the rise of medieval German epic
stories which were written down many centuries later.)

Fortunately and unfortunately, the majority of antique knowledge was preserved by Christian monks
in monasteries. Fortunately is because we do still have a lot of knowledge left, but unfortunately,
they perhaps destroyed the most important parts of that knowledge. For example, Roman medicine
had developed far beyond Ancient Greek standards and the monks destroyed all writing on that,
because it was against God’s will. (“God makes you ill and then, if he wants, he will make you healthy
again!”) The only source of medical knowledge were the Druids, who were known to be illiterate and
didn’t write their knowledge down and most commonly treated illnesses with herbs and brews.

Christianity was the official religion of the Roman Empire for only one century, thanks to Emperor
Constantine and it was all based upon hearsay/fake news. Historical accuracy of the Bible in itself is
very questionable, and the story of Jesus was told by his apostles, which again, brings up the
question of authenticity; it all might as well be an interpretation of the truth and not the whole truth.
The reason as to why Christianity became the official religion is attributed to Constantine’s mother,
who attributed some powers to the sign of the cross before a battle and her son won the battle and
consequentially became the Emperor. All the places where certain things from the Bible happened
were determined by Constantine’s mother, without any actual evidence to back it up. She
determined all the major locations on a complete whim, and it’s still valid to this day.

During the early middle ages, there were many tribes across Europe that opposed no serious threat
to anyone and had a very primitive ranking system. Charlemagne/Charles the Great/Karl der Größe
was born into the Franc tribe, which had been Christianised centuries before his birth. He is the first
recognised emperor since the classical era of the Roman Empire, as he united the majority of tribes
across over Western Europe. (His empire is called the Carolingian Empire!) He deemed himself the
protector of the Papacy and was under the protection of the Pope. As a result, he forced Christianity
upon the inhabitants of his Empire, and any rebellion would be punishable by death.

As a tool of Christianisation, monks used “fake news” in order to convert the uneducated. One such
tool might be a stone from a church where supposedly Jesus had been, but it gets even more
complex than that. Monks were ordered to write “biographies” about certain notable members of
the Papacy, one of them being Pope Gregor. The actual historical information that we have on Pope
Gregor is very sparse, but the monks of the Carolingian Empire did not hold back.

According to them, the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and sat on his shoulders. It dictated him
the Gregorian chants, which still remain the basis of the Church’s classical music. In the church, the
biggest sin is to defy the Holy Spirit, and even to say that it doesn’t exist is one of the greatest sins.
Supposedly out of fear, people believed this and converted their religion.

Music of the church

The origins of the Gregorian chants may still be unclear, but the fact is that they exist and have been
a basis for church music throughout history and to this day. We can categorise chants into different
categories, but some traits always remain the same; it is monophonic, sung by men, plain in melody
and in Latin.

Accentus: type of chant that uses one note per syllable. Usually, the priest reads the evangelisms and
a choir finishes with him.

Concentus: a coloratura-type of chant. The most well-known of the type would be the hallelujah.

Antiphon: a chant sung by two groups of monks. First, one group sings something, then the second
and then both together. (Similar to the worship of the Dionysian cult!)

Responsorium: a chant sung by a soloist priest among the monks.

Another question that appears quite often is the use of the chant; where is it allowed? The first
possibility is Officium. It is the duty of the monk living in a monastery. They are summoned every
three hours for prayer and song (they sing psalms from the Old Testament), and in the meantime,
they do whatever chores they have around the monastery. The Officium consists of Prim, Terz, Sext,
Non, Vesper, Complet and Matins. The names correspond with the hour of the meeting, which they
took over from the Roman culture. In Ancient Rome, Prim was the first hour of the day, which is 6 AM
by our current standards, so the monks gathered every three hours between 6 AM and midnight.

The second situation where the use of the Gregorian chant is allowed is the mass/missa. It, too,
consists of three parts; prayers (which was the priests’ obligation), Ordinarium and Proprium.

Ordinarium is the part of the mass whose text remains the same every day of the year. It consists of
five parts.

1) Kyrie eleison

It’s the only part sung in Greek. There are many words in Catholicism which are not Latin and used
practically every time during worship, for example, Kyrie, Hallelujah and Amen (the latter two being
of Hebrew origin). They were never translated, even though that was always a possibility. Perhaps
they decided to keep it because it sounds better in its original language. Another possibility is that
Kyrie eleison wasn’t translated purely because of symmetrical reasons. There are three verses (and
the first and last are exactly the same). Agnus Dei also has three verses. Due to the number of verses,
the first and last part of the Ordinarium are considered a pair.

2) Gloria

It’s a prayer for mercy and considered a themed pair with Sanctus + Benedictus, as that part rejoices
for mercy.

3) Credo

It is considered to be the core of Christianity and the essence of Christian belief, as it catalogues all
things a Christian believes in. It is embedded between two groups of text; one tells you what you
should believe and the other who to worship.

4) Sanctus + Benedictus

5) Agnus Dei

The Ordinarium is created in perfect symmetry; it subconsciously influences people’s feelings and
behaviour.

Proprium is a part of the mass, where some parts remain the same, but other change and are
different for every day. From a business point of view, composers composed masses with an
Ordinarium far more often than a Proprium, because it could have been used every single day,
whereas a Proprium could be used only on specific days. It has four parts: Introitus, Graduale
(Hallelujah), Offertoriem and Communion.

A chant was also referred to as cantus firmus, a firm song of god. It could have been extended in
order for it to sound more creative. We know three forms of an extended cantus firmus.

1) Tropus: it was the first creative enhancement. There was one note per syllable, meaning there was
new text under a melismatic Gregorian chant.

2) Sequenz: a tropus on a hallelujah melisma. There were many sequences but during the inquisition
and anti-reformation period in the 16th and 17th century, all but five sequences have been abolished.
The five remaining have laid basis for many works in the later historical periods. Dies Irae is the death
sequence and there is not a requiem that does not quote it. Stabat Mater is the suffering sequence,
which explains the suffering of Mary, made well known by Dvorak, Pergolesi, Poulenc, etc. Victimae
Pascali Laudes is the Easter sequence and the two remaining are Veni Sancte Spiritus and Lauda
Sion.

3) Hymns: works of Greek origin, which were originally written in order to praise Olympic winners.
These are one of the first composition, where we know the name of both the composer and the
poet. Its form is strophic, meaning the melody stays the same and the text changes.

Uprising of polyphony (or vertical dimensions of western music) 14.11.2018

The beginning of polyphony is a very mysterious time in musical history, for a multitude of reasons.
Classical music of the great cultures (Chinese/Indian) has always been linear and never vertical; it was
all about one melodic line and never about a relationship between multiple melodies.

Arguably, it is the worst thing that has ever happened to music. On one side, we have lost the feeling
of microtonality, making it very hard for us to sing quarter/third tones. On another side, we have lost
the natural overtone series. As we know, the end of the overtone series does not add up to make a
perfect octave, so sound had to be changed in order to make works by Bach and Mahler work,
because naturally given notes are “wrong”. That was the price of polyphony, and that’s why western
music is the only culture to have developed it this far; some cultures still maintain the tradition of the
natural overtone series.

When and where did people start thinking about music vertically? One of the many beginnings can
be in mathematics. According to Pythagoras, mathematical rations are intervals, which can be
3
written as 3:4 or , and the latter version already signifies the vertical way of thinking. Same also
4
appears in performing. We can admit that when a person sings one line or a group of priests sings a
chant, that is monophonic singing. When a man and a woman sing unison in octaves, is that
considered polyphony or monophony? The beginning of polyphony is a complex question, which we
cannot really pin down to one specific date. (What came first, the chicken or the egg?)

Did we invent polyphony by mistake or on purpose? That is also difficult to say. If we observe old
chants that priests used to sing, they used to be monophonic, but later also heterophonic, meaning
that the melody was mostly the same with some small differences (it sounds as if someone hasn’t
studied their part!). All in all, polyphony began when it became intentional and purposeful.

(In the treatise “A musical handbook”, an anonymous writer wrote about very primitive polyphony;
he drew an early form of purposeful harmonies and emphasised the fact that it was very much
intended to sound polyphonic. A basis for his examples were the Gregorian chants; as they were
given from God, they were forbidden to be changed, but the music to it is allowed to change.)

As soon as we started writing polyphony on purpose, the first polyphonic forms were created. This
consequentially created the basis and beginning for all musical forms in modern history. Organum is
the first form of polyphonic music; the name might sound very familiar, and it’s a subject to a big
debate. Is it called an organum because it sounds like an organ or is an organ called that because it
sounds like an organum?

The instrument made its way to Europe during the time of the Carolingian Empire; Pipin the Great
was sent on a peace quest to Constantinople on behalf of his brother and the Papacy. As the mission
was a success, he was given an organ as a gift. He saw it as a gift of god and brought it back to
Charles the Great, and because the peace treaty was a success, an organ was placed inside every
single church in the empire. You never see an organ in Orthodox Church, because it was seen as a
sinful instrument (it was very commonly found in brothels, even in ancient Greece, where it was
invented in the 3rd century BC).

The basis for an organum is a Gregorian chant, and new organised voices (2 or 3) are composed to it.
As the organ is an instrument with registers, it can play an organum without any major difficulties.
(Chicken or egg?) We also know the form of a free organum; it consists of one voice full of long
notes, and other voices, which move freely in melismas. First organums were very primitive; they
were played on the organ with fists and elbows, because of the bad mechanics of the instruments of
the day.

In order to write polyphony, we needed a notation system. Guido d’Arezzo was a monk, who lived
around the year 1000. He lived in Pomposa, where he was born and it was where he lived in a
monastery. He invented the names for tones and a linear system for writing down music.

The way he invented the names of tones is quite unusual; he composed the music to a psalm and
every verse began on a different note on different lines/spaces in the linear system. The first syllable
of the verse served as the name for the tone on which it began, which is still present today, especially
in French nomenclature (ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la). His notation system consists of four lines, and he
developed the F clef, which also still exist today. We refer to this as the Guidonian system. He also
developed the Guidonian hand; it was a way of using the fingers and the palm of the hand to
show/determine pitch. This way, he could tell his students a lot quicker on which tone the music
began.

All of his achievements made him subject to the jealousy of his fellow monks. With Guido’s system,
you had to read the music and if you could read, you didn’t have to remember everything, which was
seen as “bad for the brain” (or perhaps they didn’t want people to be able to read). This got him
banished from Pomposa to Arrezo, where he resided for a while. (The pope heard of his
achievements, loved them, made him an abbot and sent him back to Pomposa on his orders!)

In the 12th century, we see a huge development in architecture (Notre Dame in Paris – gothic
architecture) which also influenced the composition of music. Gothic architecture is very detailed
and full of broken lines, which are two of the main traits that music of the time picked up. This era is
also the climax and the very end of the development of the organum, and for that we can thank
Leonin and Perotin. They were the first proper composers of polyphony, and both of them were
chapel masters at the Notre Dame. Leonin wrote the simpler forms of the organum, whereas Perotin,
his student, wrote huge three-part organums.

Notre Dame was a very influential building of the time. It was one of the biggest buildings of the
time, and certainly one of the most beautiful. It certainly influenced art, but most of all, its biggest
influence was on the small people. It was big, beautiful and clean, and it used those traits to its
advantage; it intimidated small people into complicity. Around them were frescoes of heaven and
hell, warning them what will happen if they don’t abide by the rules of the church, and it was also
audible in the music of the time.

The church was a tool of intimidation of the highest level. (Even its size speaks to that; we were
made to believe that bell towers of the church are so tall to be closer to heaven, but that is false. The
power of the jurisdiction of the church is determined by how far the church bells are heard, so the
bigger the tower, the bigger the power.) It took another century until the power of the church began
collapsing; in the 13th and 14th century, the human conscience begins a renaissance of independent
thinking, resulting in a catastrophic loss of power of the Catholic Church, which would never again be
the same.

Rhythmic notation 21.11.2018

Before rhythmic notation was invented, the rhythm of all music was mostly in the ternary system (at
the time, religion played a really important role still!). A bar consisted of a long note and a short one.
This is a trait still carried on from the tradition in ancient Greek singing.

In the 13th and 14th century, we can explore two new “schools” in music history, namely ars antiqua
and ars nova. The terms were, of course, introduced in later periods by music theorists. Phillipe de
Vitry wrote a treatise entitled Ars nova in 1320, and Johannes de Muris, who also wrote a treatise
called Ars nova was the only one who referred to ars antiqua as we do. Ars could be literary
translated in the same way as the Greek techne; in a way, it means science/technique, meaning that
both ars antiqua and ars nova were sciences, inspired by art.

The 13th and 14th centuries are also known was the scholastic period. In this time, the first
universities/institutions outside of the church were established, where one could pursue further
studies. The first universities were founded in Bologna, Padua, Sorbonne and Prague. The general
approach to knowledge was restricted by the Church for a long time beforehand, but that circle was
broken by the Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. In fact, Muslim culture was far more
progressive than any western culture at the time, as they preserved a big portion of Greek
knowledge, thanks to the Eastern Roman Empire and its scholars. As they invaded Spain, a very big
exchange of information took place between Muslims and locals. (Islam didn’t feel the need to
destroy science and its achievements for the purpose of spreading religion!)

The basis for studies outside of the church were the seven free arts, which were divided into two
programmes.

Tritium (“bachelor”)

1) Grammar (learning the rules and nature of the language, which was Latin)

2) Rhetoric (learning how to speak and present your ideas)

3) Dialectics (discuss your ideas with other people, supported by arguments)

Quadridium (“master”) According to Pythagoras, music was a mathematical

1) Arithmetic science, and that belief was again introduced by the
Muslims. However, the studies of music were purely
2) Geometry theoretical and it was still played by servants.
3) Astronomy Musicology had been an academic science sice the
13th century, whereas the first academic degree in
4) Music playing music was awarded in 1972. Perhaps
because of that, musical universities are still a
separate entity to musicology, which is usually
studied at the main university.
During this time, someone invented mensural notation for music, due to the fact that music was seen
as a mathematical science!

In 1250, Franco von Köln wrote a treatise on mensural notation; everything was still in the ternary
system, due to religion, but the rhythm of the music was now easily notated. The longest of the
notes was the maxima ( ), which lasted an entire bar. A maxima was then divided into three longa
notes ( with necks). One longa was divided into three brevis notes, one brevis into three
semibrevis and one semibrevis into three minima. Maxima is a very long note, which was used solely
for writing organum, and in ars nova, the only values left in use were the brevis, semibrevis and
minima.

Ars antiqua was a scientifically and theoretically very important period, but it didn’t achieve much in
practice. Practical achievements mostly took place in the ars nova.

One of the most important forms of the time was a motet. It became very popular due to France’s
restricted use of Latin. They used a lot of old French and other old languages. The translation of
motet means “something is worded”; as a form, it’s a part of an organum, taken out of context and
put to words. The first motets written were very primitive and sometimes even bilingual. Motets
were commonly sung by the troubadours, minnesangers and trouvers in different European lands,
hence their different names. The most common subject was love. As a result of the crusade wars, the
poetry of knights was also developed, and although they have similarities and differences, it is very
difficult to say what came first.

A three part motet was a very common form; it consists of three different texts, which were probably
in three different languages, written on the same melody. It is unclear why would someone put three
different texts in three different language into one piece of music, but it was perhaps connected
through metaphors. (The basis for a motet, or its cantus firmus/tenor, is obviously a Gregorian chant.
An organum was composed to it and a motet takes a part of that organum and puts words to
it/elaborates on it.)

Commonly in today’s society, we listen to music because it appeals to us or it pleases us. In the time
of ars antiqua, you didn’t listen to music because it pleased you or made you feel certain emotions. It
was a mathematical art, which was either correct or incorrect. To ask whether you liked the music or
not was a wrong question. Music had no emotion; it was science, so it couldn’t be beautiful or “nice”.
It could be well constructed. It could have correct intervals, melodies or rhythm. For that reasons,
motets and their singers (troubadours, trouvers, and minnesangers) were a complete contradiction
to all scientific beliefs and a completely revolutionary invention.

Ars nova as a scholastic movement achieved the inauguration of the binary rhythmical system in
1320 (thanks to Philippe de Vitry). Although the ternary system is still tempus perfectum ( is the
sign!), we now have a name for the binary system, which is tempus imperfectum (C is the sign, which
is half of a circle!). He also invented the dot, which changes a binary system into a ternary! With his
achievements, you can write almost all and any rhythmical compositions ever.

Ars nova also brought an extended awareness of the human existence, and we can presume that it
has one of the many roots in Guillaume de Machaut’s Messe de Notre Dame. He was a priest in
Champagne, where he was relatively well off. He had a relationship with a younger woman, and he
even wrote a very explicit book about it. On one occasion, he told her to come to mass and he will
play a mass for her, which was Messe de Notre Dame. It can either be translated as the name of the
church where he worked or it could mean my woman. Musically, it is not a revolutionary work
whatsoever, but structurally, it’s the first five part mass written. When the mass was published, there
was a painting next to it, on which one could see him in front of the church and a woman on a horse
next to it and the title of the painting is “the Lover”. (He also wrote poetry about her, and it’s clear
that he was attempting to write something beautiful and not “well-structured”, which is a beginning
for aestheticism!) The book itself about his relationship with this woman was an act of defiance. He
got away with writing explicitly about someone which wasn’t related to religion. It shows that people
were becoming more self-aware, which could be interpreted as a sign of the end of the middle ages,
and an opening of the way towards renaissance.

Secular music 5.12.2018

Secular music is summarized by different terms from different lands in different languages, but they
all refer to the same type of music/poetry (even the same themes!). In France, we differentiate
Troubadours (south of France, spoke Provencal or Occitan) and Trouvers (north of France, spoke in
old French), in England Mistrals (old English) and in Germany Minnesängers (old German).

Minnesang is poetry of love (Minne is an old German term, which means love). Minnesängers, the
men who were the carriers of this art form were knights, who travelled across lands and sang to the
rich and wealthy people of the day (usually in castles on hilltops). This type of poetry made its way to
Europe from the Arab world by the way of invading Spain. There are three different types of
Minnesang.

1) High Minne: It’s the highest form of love poetry. It’s about the adoration of the unreachable;
perhaps a wife of a wealthy patron who gives you lots of money and you praise her for her beauty
and her grace. There is one offspring cult-form of High Minne, which praises the woman of high love,
Mother Mary, because if there is anyone out of reach, it’s her.

2) Equal Minne: It discusses the relationship between a man and a woman, which are almost always
secret and illegitimate. Both subjects are treated equally and neither is above the other. Usually, the
subjects look for fulfilment in love (as a result of arranged marriages or different social classes).

3) Low Minne: It’s the most impolite/inelegant description of love. It almost always has a sexual
connotation, and women are viewed as an object of desire and not a human being. This is the kind of
perception that started to change in the renaissance, but has nevertheless been present throughout
history. (One of the first troubadours of the more promiscuous nature was William, Duke of
Aquitaine. He wrote very explicit lyrics, which almost got him banned by the church, but he got away
with it by becoming a protector/patron of one monastery.)

The love for women was evidently a very big theme of the time, and poetry was not the only thing
that revolved around them. Judging from the pictures in various different manuscripts, men killed
themselves over women on tournaments, or duels to the death. Whether it’s factual or not is very
questionable.

The poetry had a very big influence on the way people (especially men) acted towards women. Both
the knightly behaviour (opening doors) and the objectification of women stem equally from that era
and it serves as a reflection of the era’s treatment of women. Relationships between men and
women were different based on the country of origin and are still changing at different rates today (if
we compare the western world, where a woman is equal and just as independent as a man can be to
the Arab world, where they’ve only last year obtained the right to drive a car).
There is a problem with secular music; there are actually very few fragments of music and melodies
preserved. We are only aware of its lyrics, which were usually written down years and years later.
The reason behind the lack of music is the singers’ illiteracy. Our current main source of lyrics is a
manuscript ordered/written by a member of the city council of Zürich, written about 150 years after
the peak of the Minnesängers. It is the biggest collection of medieval songs, which contains only the
lyrics and miniatures (pictures/paintings, named after a type of red colour paint that was used). The
main theme of the lyrics is praising women, and it’s a very good reflection of society.

Singers were usually accompanied by musicians. There is a very good picture of a singer on a throne
with musicians at his feet, which explains the situation/social standing of musicians very well. Music
was a part of the seven free arts, but only as a mathematical/scientific art. To play was not
something that belonged to higher society, which is why it was done by servants and that is exactly
what musicians were seen as. They had no civil protection, they were merely a thing that could be
ordered/disposed of at free will. (If you killed a musician, there was nothing that anyone could do to
punish you!) Because protection was not granted to them, musicians usually looked for
support/protection of the knights and attempted to become part of their entourage.

The most well-known singers of the era: Adam de la Halle (Trouver), Walther von der Vogelweide,
Ulrich von Lichtenstein (Minnesängers) and Richard Lionheart (Mistral). Singers of the time were not
only meant for entertainment, but also to carry news and gossip, which made them the
personification of Facebook of the era.

Secular music as a tool of power

The crusades are the one strong political issue of the 9th century. It’s a common term for a series of
wars/missions of armies of knights to liberate the holy sites in Jerusalem from the Muslim congress.
Jerusalem is holy to three different religions; Christianity (region of Jesus’ ministry), Islam (where
Mohammed visited heaven for one night) and Judaism (the site of the first and second temple).
There are sites all over the land which are holy to all three religions and everyone wants to claim it
for themselves, which is still a complicated subject today.

In the 9th century, Islam spread widely and took Jerusalem. In 1096, the first crusade was proclaimed
and knights marched to the Holy Land. The official reasoning for it was to conquer the holy sites from
the Muslim. The unofficial reasoning, however, is much worse. Due to the extensive move of the
wealthy into the cities, there were plenty of knights left redundant. Knights were used as a tool of
protection by the wealthy, meaning that the only thing they could really do was fight and cause
trouble. They were sent on crusades to die (because half of them wouldn’t make it there and many
would die during the fights or due to illnesses), but they were told that by fighting this war, they
would “go to heaven”. The holy quest was a means of getting rid of people that society didn’t need, it
guaranteed tranquillity at home and it was also a way of flexing. This was also a time of unification,
which was partially achieved by the Minnesängers.

In the songs, Jesus encourages people to attend the crusades, even though we know that he probably
wouldn’t do that, as it was a suicide mission. Because of that, the melodies and lyrics had to be very
convincing, well written and powerful. Because of that, we have even preserved an original melody
to one of the propaganda pieces. (The other melody that was preserved is by Richard Lionheart, who
wrote a piece about his imprisonment on Austrian soil and a ransom demand from his abductors.
This is the first recorded example of a ransom demand in history, and the money was used partially
to build Stephansdom in Vienna!)
The melodies were often improvised and adapted themselves to lyrics, meaning that they could
change constantly.

Carmina burana

During the time of the Minnesängers, there was a parallel art form occurring in monasteries,
churches and residencies of cardinals/bishops. The form itself was not particularly religious, but it is
considered very important, as its lyrics were immortalised by Carl Orff, based on a treatise called
“Carmina burana”.

CB is a collection of poems, written by clergymen, a.k.a. the vagantes (travelling students of theology
or priests without a fixed post, moving from city to city and playing the same type of music as
Minnesängers). The poems are written in many languages, but majorly in Latin, as the vagantes were
much more educated as the troubadours. It’s a collection of love songs, drinking songs, songs about
student life, etc.

It was probably written in an Augustinian monastery on the southern side of the Alps. Why
Augustinian monastery? We can presume that because some of the poems are very critical of all
monastic orders but the Augustinian, so it had to be someone who was very closely affiliated with
them and knew the inner workings of the order. Why on the southern side of the Alps? There are
three monasteries there which are referenced in the poems.

1) Neustift, southern Tyrol: there is a specific reference to frescoes in that church.

2) Maria Saal, Carinthia: the name of the place is mentioned a few times, alongside with their good
wine.

3) a winter residence of a bishop near Leibniz in Styria: there was a reference to their good wine.

On the first page of the book is a poem entitled “O fortuna”. There was also a sketch of a very
primitive melody written next to it (F F E E), which Orff used in his choral masterpiece. Carl Orff came
by this collection in a monastery near Munich. He didn’t use entire pieces of CB, but small fragments
of different types of poetry. The highlights would of course be the drinking song, but also the love
poetry, which is of the same quality as the poetry of Catullus. Orff captured the essence of the poetry
beautifully.

(Some translations of the CB avoid saying certain things, or don’t say what they literary mean
because of censorship.)

A parody mass is also a part of the CB. It takes the ordinary of the mass to a completely different
level; it’s very sarcastic and cynical, talks about drinking and gambling etc. (It’s probably based on
some gone-rogue monasteries of the time, where praying wasn’t on the to-do list. Those monasteries
were the reason for a monastic reform in the 12/13 th century!) When listened in comparison to an
actual part of the ordinary, the text sounds as if it belongs in a mass, but it’s actually pretty dirty and
shows how genius the poet(s) behind CB was/were.

Renaissance 9.1.2019

The renaissance era is considered to be the beginning of a New Age after the dark period of the
medieval times. The man-made border is set on 1492, the year when Christopher Columbus and his
fleet landed in America. The beginning of a new era was not consciously decided back then, but later
on in history, to help us understand the development of mankind. (1492 was just the convenient
date, because we see a significant jumpstart of discoveries in science, philosophy, art, etc.)

The term renaissance is often paired with the term “rebirth” or “rebirth of antiquity”, the latter being
completely false. That period in time is the rebirth of the human being in self-consciousness. For
centuries beforehand, life has been deemed as the playing field to live humbly, please God and pave
your way to heaven. People have thought of life as misery and work, and there would be rest and
eternal grace and serenity in heaven. However, in the 15 th and 16th century, people were more
interested in living in the moment. They grew more interested in how we operate, why are we here,
how do we look on the inside, etc. This sudden appearance of human consciousness leads to new
and crucial scientific discoveries. Explorers went on expeditions, because they were interested in
learning and seeing and getting to know the unknown. With the discovery of America, we have far
more information on nature, science and the universe (along with the discovery that Earth is not flat
and not the centre of the universe as the church thought!).

Antiquity was not reborn in the renaissance period; it was the ideal for art and science, which the
thinkers of the time improved. It reflects itself in philosophy and theology, especially in being self-
conscious. Medicine was finally taken out of God’s hands; if I have some remedies to make myself
feel better, then surely I don’t have to wait for God to make me better? This was, of course, a very
high dispute in the church. They forbade scientific and medical research and accused a lot of
scientists of being heretic, which is why it was mostly done in secret.

No matter how hard the church tried, there was an overwhelming wish to study and learn. Reading
antique texts and studying them made people think more critically, which was the opposite of what
the institution wanted. Latin and ancient Greek were revived and the great artists of antiquity
became the ideal for all art forms of the day, and the main objective was to idealise and perfect it.
The sculptures of Michelangelo, for example, are very heavily influenced by the sculptor Praxiteles
(both of their pieces are highly idealised and perfected sculptures of objectively beautiful men, which
would have gotten both of them killed a century before!).

The only art form where the renaissance spirit plays no role was music, simply because even today,
we know practically nothing about the music of antiquity. The revival of the Greek tragedy (which
was usually sung and accompanied with music) was very helpful in the development of the opera.
Because of our very limited knowledge about antique music, the music of the time was still majorly
church related (mass and motet), dominated by the Franco-flaminian school of music (it was
perfected polyphony).

Franco-flaminian composers

It was very odd encountering French composers in Italy. We know that there has always been a huge
cultural/informational exchange between the two countries, but it’s still bizarre that there were five
generations of French composers, who were the main musicians of the day and put Italian composers
out of business for almost 200 years. The reason for their immigration to Italy (mostly Florence, the
renaissance city) lies in the Church schism.

At one point, there were three popes of the church, all fighting between one another. One was also
based in Avignon, France. At the time, there had been an ongoing struggle/fight between England
and France, also called the 100-year war. It wasn’t necessary a constant war, more so a period of
occasional fights, but there was no peace. The first area that receives considerable budget cuts in
every war affair is art. Because of that, the Franco-flaminian composers didn’t find any
cultural/financial support in France and were forced to move.

The church’s power in Italy had been weakened by the constant struggle between popes, which lead
to the uprising of rich families in Italy. They ran certain cities under their own jurisdiction with their
own rules and laws (Medici in Florence, Visconti in Milan, Este in Ferrara). The house of Medici was a
very liberal and open-minded family, who had a lot of money and were great patrons of art. Florence
was prospering, peaceful and invested lots of money into art, therefore it was a perfect playground
for making art.

(Alongside supporting composers, the Medici family also gave money to various scientists and poets,
namely Dante and Petrarch. They founded the “high” Italian language as we know it today, based on
the Tuscany dialect, which was their language of choice for writing poetry. Dante also wrote the first
piece of high literature, The Divine Comedy, in which he takes a trip through hell and heaven, where
he meets god. He shows life as it was seen in Ancient Greece, led by the roman poet Virgil and
reflects on the ideas which occur in Christianity as well as the old religion.)

In 1436, the construction of the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral in Florence was completed,
financially supported by the Medici family. Guillaume du Fay, one of the many Franco-flaminian
composers was commissioned to write music for the opening of the church and he became the chapel
master of the cathedral. His activity in Florence attracted his students, and that led to a dominating
era of 5 generations over Italian composers.

Du Fay was very heavily influenced by the English composer John Dunstable. He often used faux
bourdon in his music, which was very revolutionary. Most of the polyphonic church music was
written in either perfect 4ths of 5ths, because they were deemed the perfect intervals, and the 3 rd and
the 6th were not (however, they are very human and emotional intervals). England was slightly
isolated from the very strict mathematical principles that Europe stuck by, and they allowed
themselves some liberties. Even though he was not allowed to physically write it because he was
catholic, he could write one melody and write “a faux bourdon” above it, which would mean that he
melody had to be sang in 3rd and 6th intervals. Du Fay brought this tradition to Italy, and incorporated
it into his music (at the end of the piece, he would use a 3 rd in between a perfect 5th, but quickly
resolved it, so if it was still audible, it was the fault of the acoustics!).

Mass + motet

The mass had undergone a few changes in the renaissance era. It still put the words of the ordinary
to music, but it felt more cyclical, thanks to the use of the same cantus firmus in every movement. A
cantus firmus could either be a traditional Gregorian chant, or a secular song (most often, a love
song!). Their use of love songs and secular songs as cantus firmus in general shows how open minded
they were becoming. If a mass used a secular song as the cantus firmus, then it was referred to as a
parody mass. At the time, a parody meant a change of something (e.g. lyrics), and it was not meant
to be funny. Parody mass became very popular with the people and because they were more
interested in hearing what song was used as the cantus firmus than praying, it was soon forbidden by
the church.

Du Fay invented the four part choir that we know today, in the form of soprano, alto, tenor and bas.
Tenor was, of course, the most important voice, because it carried the cantus firmus. The names for
the other voices originate in how the other counterpoint voices were referred to. (contratenor =
countervoice).
Contratenor sopranus (countervoice higher) --------------- soprano

Contratenor altus (countervoice high) ------------------- alto

Tenor

Contratenor basus (countervoice low) ------------------- bass

The masses and motets were usually performed without accompaniment, but any voice could easily
be replaced by an instrument. Acapella in Latin would mean without instruments, but in Italian, it
means to support the choir, so our definition today may or may not be correct, depending on which
language of origin you mean.

Most notable Franco-flaminian composers

Jan Ockeghem was the representative of the second generation, and he was a student of Du Fay. He
was the first to actually place the cantus firmus in every other voice alongside the tenor. He also
wrote the first requiem (mass for the dead) in history.

Josquin des Prez was the representative of the third generation. He is the inventor of all polyphonic
devices that have ever been used in music history. These are all the technicalities we study in
counterpoint class (inversion, mirroring, etc.). Some of his ideas are actually so complex that they are
not audible, and could only be observed via analysis. He was also one of the first composers to
compose a cantus firmus in relation to letters and numbers. He developed polyphony to the highest
level.

The representatives of the 4th and 5th generation of the Franco-flaminian composers are actually the
first Italian composers in more than 100 years. They took the tradition of the FF composers even
further and developed the Venetian and Roman schools.

Last generations of the Franco-flaminian composers 23.1.2019

The composers of the fourth generation of the FF composers are the representatives of the so-called
Venetian school; they introduced homophony, which helped the development of basso continuo and
opened the doors wide open to baroque.

The composers of the fifth generation are the representatives of the Roman school, which brought
an end to the tradition of high class polyphony. (Composers: Orlando di Lasso, Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina).

The main event that made a mark on the works of the fifth generation of the FF composers was the
Council of Trident in the 16th century. A council is an assembly of bishops and the highest
representatives of the church, which occurred very rarely, mainly due to the logistical problems. It
discussed the major problems within the institution. One of the main reasons for the gathering was
Martin Luther’s provocation of the church schism. It unintentionally (or not) exposed the corruption
in the Vatican (especially the construction of St. Peter’s Cathedral; someone could pay off their time
in the purgatory, as well as their families, if they paid a decent sum of money for it!). Under his
influence, half of Europe became protestant and it resulted in a catastrophic loss of power of the
Catholic Church, and this in turn set off the anti-reformation movement. The council discussed
Luther’s ideas in depth, for example, use of local languages in the church, as well as song in local
languages. It was not Luther’s idea to start a church schism and a completely new religion, but the
Vatican was stubborn and wanted to do things how they wanted.
Luther valued music just as much as preaching (he even said one time that he didn’t feel like
preaching, and that the organist should just play something beautiful!), which is the opposite of how
the Catholic church felt about music; but because polyphony was getting out of control (and the text
became practically impossible to understand), they wanted to return church music to the simple,
monophonic plain chant that it originally was. It was their plan to ban polyphony in church music.

Jacobus de Kerle composed special prayer music, which was homophonic but not plain chant, which
was understandable enough for the church to allow and accept it into worship. Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina was one of his students, who played an important role in the foundation of classical
church music. His principles and rules of writing are still the same as the ones we learn in
counterpoint and harmony class. He decided that longer texts like Credo and Gloria should use one
note per syllable, whereas texts like Kyrie Eleison, Sanctus + Benedictus and Agnus Dei (which are all
shorter, only three verses) can get away with polyphony. His work developed to such a high level of
perfection that it cannot possibly be developed further, better than that was not possible, which is
why Palestrina’s opus is also the end of renaissance music.

Instrumental music

The beginnings of instrumental music can be traced to the renaissance era. In the beginning,
instruments were usually used only to support the vocal parts, but then people realised that they
could be an independent form of music, which led to the development of the canzona, the first
instrumental form (“sung on an instrument”).

One of the forms that occurred was a sonata; it wasn’t the highly developed piece of music that it is
today, but it was the opposite of a cantata (cantare-sing, sonare-play). It was an instrumental
homophonic piece.

Usually, instrumental music was in a 4-part setting, much like the choir; it was either 4 viola da
gamba’s, trombones or recorders.

Because of instrumental music, binary and ternary metres became more separated and more
widely used. A binary metre would be more slow paced, and later, it became the usual metre for
“stepping dances” (Schrittänze), like the Pavane and Allemande. A ternary metre is usually faster,
which became the metre for “jumping dances” (Springtänze) like the Courrente or Galliarde. The
same musical material could be used in both metres and it would sound completely different
because of it. Pieces were usually written in more movements, first and third movement would be
binary and second and fourth would be ternary, which laid a foundation for cyclical forms of the
baroque era.

In secular music, there was a newly founded form, the madrigal. It’s a secular motet, which usually
speaks of love, sorrow or heartbreak of some form. One of the main composers of the madrigal was
Heinrich Isaac. The compositional style of a madrigal remains the same as the style of a motet.