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Music 315
Public School Music
Dr. Peter LaRue

Early Music
(There follows some basic information which you might find interesting or helpful regarding this particular musical era. It is my hope that you may glean from this materials, two types of learnings; a) an understanding of this primary era of music, and b) ways to incorporate music from this era in your classroom)

The Ancients and the Middle Ages

Music before the Middle Ages, music was dominated by writings of the ancient Greeks: music came in two basic types:

Greek Educational System:

Music: for the soul [poetry, prose included]
Gymnastics: for the body

Dionysian; lively sounds, revels, emotional outbursts
Apollonian; calm reflection, intellectual control

Dionysus: god of wine, fertility and celebration
Apollo: god of music and poetry

The Doctrine of Ethos [Plato, Aristotle, etc.]

.....the moral qualities and effects of music.....right modes, etc.

     some modes were inappropriate for young - war, passion, etc.
     first recorded version of censoring of the arts/not unlike today

Roman Usage - Military and Pageantry

Ceremonial - Brass & Percussion

Begin Discussion of the Middle Ages:

Middle Ages: 450-1450 [approximate]

Middle Ages divided into: [approximate]

Early Period [450-850]
Romanesque [850-1150]
Gothic Era [1150-1450]

Middle Ages in Western European history
from fall of the Roman Empire into the middle of the fifteenth century.

A time of darkness and despair, the Plague, little or no unification except for the Church and a few feudal municipalities, education almost a non issue, music and the arts were for the church or a few wealthy in the ruling class

Unifying Institutions

Feudal System - basic economic system.....[kings rule/peasants work]
Christian Church: the Holy Roman Catholic Empire [remains]

cathedral schools and monasteries were foundations of great universities

Liberal Arts
[the seven primary branches of learning]

Gregorian Chant

.....Pope Gregory I [590-614]-believed in centralized church authority
.....re-organized schola cantorum for training of musicians
.....established standardized music for the mass
.....Gregorian Chants [plainsong or plainchant]

Traits: monophonic, sacred, Latin text, unaccompanied, male singers

The Mass [principal service for the Holy Catholic Church]

.....refers primarily to the Eucharist or communion [symbolism]
.....Mass divided into two parts: Proper and the Ordinary
.....Proper: about a dozen texts and they vary, feast days, high holy days
.....Ordinary: 5 parts and they never change

The Five Parts of the Ordinary are:

Kyrie Eleison 
[Lord have mercy upon us]

Gloria 
[Glory to God in the highest]

Credo 
[I believe in one God]

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
[Holy, Holy, Holy]

Agnus Dei
 [Lamb of God]....ends with: Dona Nobis Pacem

Monophony was the primary form of music

Chants were: sung, in Latin, by male, monophonic
.....middle of the ninth century, monks started to write out music
.....previously hymn books contained only words [American tradition]
.....new notes were called neumes
.....middle of 11th century Guido-staff [4 line]

sacred - of the Church
secular - not of the Church - ordinary - daily

Secular Music

.....troubadours, trouveres, minstrels, goliards
.....un-schooled [German version; Minnesingers/Meistersingers]

Sacred versus Secular

Secular music in the courts of the royal and wealthy

.....Primary performers: Troubadours, Trouveres, [French]
.....Minnesingers, Meistersingers [German]
.....Jongleurs, Minstrels
.....Goliards [real rogues, lecherous]

songs were/tended to be monophonic: subject were wine, women, sarcasm

troubadours/trouveres-French, educated, aristocrats
minnesingers/Meistersingers-German version of same
jongleurs/minstrels-professional entertainers, gossips
goliards-low budget, low morals, low life [but popular]

Performance of the "Estampie"

Move towards Polyphony

until about the 9th C the surviving music [sacred or secular]
was monophonic. The first change in occurred with the arrival
of organum. [parallel or florid] Also the use of the drone: [ex.]
Prime composers Leonin and Perotin worked at Notre Dame

Change comes
.....Bubonic Plague, multiple popes, 100 years war [Br/Fr]
.....Ars Nova.....the New Art/Ars Antigua.....the Old Art
.....The Motet: most important form of polyphonic music

Instruments of the time on the rise with secular music:
.....krummhorn, sackbutt, shawms, recorder, viols, etc.

If Time Permits: 3 medieval dances-instrumental dances and 
further discussion of Polyphony and Organum 

Renaissance 1450-1600
New ideas, New Music, New Art
means rebirth, a time of renewal

Ars Nova - The New Art

Ars Antigua - The Old Art

.....Fall of Constantinople - 1453 - capital of the Byzantine Empire [split of the church]
.....Humanism

Started with the literary and philosophical idea that people and their capabilities were as worthy of study as the traditional concept of the middle ages that matters of import lay solely with God and matters divine.

.....Schism of the Church/ Eastern Orthodox-Roman Catholic
.....Rise of the power of Italy, Spain, Germany and England
.....Printing with movable type.....dissemination of knowledge [sacred/secular]
.....Education, Literacy and information no longer sole domain of monks
.....Introduction of gun powder from China
.....Navigational Aids: sea quadrant and magnetic compass 
.....Explorers: Columbus, Magellan, etc. to voyage, etc.
.....Artists.....Leonardo da Vinci - Michelangelo - Botticelli

Political Strong-Holds/Powerful City-States

Germany-Hapsburgs
Italy-Medici
Spain-Ferdinand and Isabella
England - Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I

The Music of the Renaissance

Continued rise of secular music. Building on the organum, motet [most important form of polyphonic music through late middle ages and the renaissance. remember about motets:

a. primarily religious, though some secular
b. primarily vocal, but some instrumental [often both]
c. primarily in the vernacular, but often stacked on Latin chant

Rise of the Chanson/Ballade
.....polyphonic vocal form
.....French
.....secular text
.....three-part [melody over 2 part accompaniment]
.....two famous composers of chanson; Dufay, Binchois

Ballade
.....very popular 
.....vocal form
.....first two lines of text is repeated/ then final
.....AABA [like ballads of today]

Centuries of unrest, and general rise of humanism led to great animosity between church and the people. Consolidated nations, power of the merchant class, and rise of a so-called middle class increased tensions until action was taken.

Martin Luther [Professor of Theology/University of Wittenberg] tacked his 95 thesis on the church at Wittenberg [1517] Many points, however, those germane to music were:

service in the vernacular
congregational singing

Others of the Reformation
.....John Calvin-Presbyterian
.....Henry VIII- Church of England

The Roman Catholic Church stages the Counter Reformation

More on the Motet
It must be remembered that the motet was the most important and well-known form of vocal music both in the middle ages and the renaissance. Traits of the renaissance motet include: vocal, four or more musical lines, single sacred text [usually in Latin], non-mass

Musical Heroes of the Day

Josquin Des Prez [French]
At a time of many great composers, Josquin is at the top of the heap - mid-15th century, worked in Milan and then moved to Rome. later back to northern France from whence he came. Martin Luther called him the "Master of Notes" wrote primarily motets, but all forms including masses.

Palestrina [Italian]
Composer of the Counter Reformation - staunch Catholic - wrote primarily masses. Educated and worked in Rome - called the "Prince of Music".

Victoria [Spanish]
Wrote solely sacred music, well-known for O Magnum Mysterium - worked for Phillip II of Spain, very forceful short forms and great religious fervor.

Other great composers of the Renaissance:

Giovanni/Andrea Gabrielli-Venice [Italy]
The flowering of Venice/St. Marks. Polyphonic Brass Music - 15th C. Flower of Venice
free trade/travel with west, Byzantine influence,

William Byrd-England [late renaissance]
Elizabethan Music-QE I [1558-1603]-Oriana.....renaissance got to England later as the movement started in northern Italy and then moved north up through the continent.

In addition to the chanson and ballade - two important types of music:
.....lute song; soloist w/lute, simple, strophic, syllabic [SSS]
.....madrigal; polyphonic textures, playfulness, descriptive

Printing of music by Petrucci 
[61 volumes] movable music type like-Guttenberg

Instruments of the Renaissance
.....Stringed; Viols-six strings, fretted, three sizes [violin]
.....Woodwinds; recorder, shawm, crumhorns [flutes, clarinets, oboe]
.....Brass; cornetto, sackbut [trumpet, trombone]
.....Keyboard; organs (smaller) harpsichord [no pianos yet]
.....Percussion; drums, triangles, tambourines, tuned bells [like today