LESSON 1

PEASANTS,
PRINCES, AND
PALADINS:
MEDIEVAL MUSIC
The Middle Ages sometimes called the "Dark

INTRODUCTION:
Ages" or the "medieval period" is a period in
European history which encompasses nearly
a thousand years.

It was an age of anxiety, corruption, and

uncertainty. The Roman empire has just
collapsed, and invasions from Germanic
tribes, Magyars, Vikings, and Saracens were a
regular occurrence.

People turned to God and to the Church for

guidance and enlightenment.
Let us listen to sample music. {Track #17:
Dies Irae - 13th Century Latin Catholic
hymn}

A. Dies Irae "Day of Wrath" Lyrics

1 Dies irae illa

Solvet saeculum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla

2 Quantos tremor est futurus

Qunado Judex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discussurus

3 Tuba mirum spargens sonum

Per sepulchra regionum,
Coget omnes ante thronum
 Let us listen to sample music. {Track #17:
Dies Irae - 13th Century Latin Catholic
hymn}
A. Dies Irae "Day of Wrath" Lyrics
(Translation)
1 The day of wrath, that day
will dissolve the world in ashes,
David being witness along with the Sibyl

2 How great will be the quaking,

when the Judge is about to come,
strictly investigating all things

3 The trumpet, scattering a wondrous sound

through the sepulchres of the regions,
will summon all before the throne.
 MEDIEVAL MUSIC

The Christian Church shaped the early history of

Western music.

ABSTRACTION
Both composers and musicians got their training
from the church. However, there were also
secular musicians - called minstrels, jongleurs,
troubadors and trouves.
These were initinerant poet-musicans travelling
from place to place, composing and performing
their own songs about chivalry, crusaders' songs,
unrequited love, and laments for dead
heroes/heroines. They were the pop music idols
of their day.
 MEDIEVAL MUSIC

Basically, we have to remember that there were

two (2) sides of musical performance during this

ABSTRACTION
era: sacred and secular.
A troubador playing a lute. Troubadors, minstrels,
and trouveres played secular music
 PLAINCHANT

Gregorian chant or plainsong is the vast

collection of melodies desgined for religious
texts used by the Church for its services. It is
called "Gregorian" after Pope Gregory I. This
label is quite misleading, for he did not
compose a majority of these chants; he just
organized and standardized these.
 PLAINCHANT

Plainchant generally has two distinctive

features:
1. They have no established meter - the
rhythm is free.
2. It uses what we call church modes,
derived from ancient Greek music
 MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Some of our modern-day musical instruments

ABSTRACTION
may be traced from the Middle Ages, and they
share a lot in common in terms of form and
function. However, technological changes have
shaped these greatly over the centuries.

Some of stringed instruments during this period

were the lute, psaltery, vielle, harp, lyre, and
zither
 MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

ABSTRACTION
Lute Psaltery

There were flutes already during that time, but

instead of metal, were constructed out of wood.