Middle Ages Music

A vast majority of music created during the Renaissance and Middle ages was used for sacred purposes: music intended to inspire thoughtful worship in the Catholic church. Despite the large push of Catholicism during this time, evidence shows a large amount of secular music was also used at this time for entertainment and personal expression. Although sacred music had shown dominance during these periods, secular music had many similarities, as well as differences.

Music is present in every culture’s past, present, and future. It has been around since 500 B.C. and was especially important in the Elizabethan Era. There were reinventions of music as it was widespread and popular. Without this essential time in history, modern music may have been completely different from what we have today. This era brought new uses for music, styles of compositions, new instruments, and the uprising of popular composers.

Music was a very important asset to the peoples’ society. According to historians, the medieval period was the beginning of the unbroken tradition of notated Western music. Music was the one thing that all classes could enjoy, royals, nobles, women, slaves, anyone could listen to music being played out on the streets. Music was used in cathedrals and abbeys, dances and was even part of poetry. Most of the poetry from the Medieval Period known today were sung in front of crowds during events and festivals. Vocal music was very important in churches and worshipping. Back in the medieval time, there weren’t any radios, so all of the music was played live. Festivals, celebrations and the holiday season were very popular times for music. During an important holiday, Mayday, the dancers danced to high

Music has evolved too many different forms that we recognize today. We trace this development throughout time. Beginning in the middle ages, we have seen advancement from the Gregorian chant all the way to the Jazz of the 20th century. The current events, politics, religion, technology and composers can shape musical eras during time. Here I will look at the middle ages, renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic and twentieth century periods. I hope that a better understanding can be reached to why, when, where and who are the reasons for musical evolution.

​ Life in the Middle Ages revolved around the Church, which was the Roman Catholic. So, we can imagine early music was pretty much from church. Every morning at 9 o’clock was Mass, a significant ceremony done to commemorate the Last Supper. At this church service, the music was the Gregorian Chant. The Gregorian chant is performed in the Latin language, unison voice and accompanied by no instruments which was believed that the text of the song which carried the divine message from God was more important. The music was just to help you get to a spiritual place (Wright, 4-1a).

The medieval period (476-1400) or the middle ages lasted about a thousand years. Medieval music consists of liturgical music, songs, and instrumental pieces. The Gregorian chant was mainly for sacred music. As the musical art progresses, plainchants transitioned into organum—the earliest polyphonic texture, but added an independent line of music to the chant. The Notre Dame School of Polyphony had two generations of composition within this school: The Ars Antigua (Old Art) and the Ars Nova (New Art). Guillaume de Machaut set ordinary mass in its entirety. He beautifully constructs and represents the most advanced compositional techniques of his time: includes four voices with more ornamentation contrary motion compares to the earlier three-voice works. The rise of humanism marks the Renaissance period. The Franco-Flemish School writes music in four voices. The composers of this era use a secular tune as

Music was held in great esteem during the medieval period. Music was not simply for frivolous purposes or revelry. It

Music played a huge role in the Renaissance. It was an essential part of the religious, political, and economic lifestyles in Europe. Several composers brought about original styles of music creating new genres. There was a vast development in musical instruments, which was used to accompany vocals in motets, chansons, and dance music. The music of the Renaissance greatly affected the Roman Catholic Church. During this era, the church seemed to have lost power because of the new humanistic ideas; however, they saw this as an opportunity to use secular music to change sacred music.

3. Medieval and Renaissance culture varied in many ways, aside from the differing music. In the Medieval age (the time between the 5th and 15th century), the church controlled many things, not only music. The church was in charge of education, the church also dominated politics. People very much feared God. Whereas in the Renaissance (15th and 17th century) the state ruled over the church. People in the Renaissance believed that God wasn’t some fearsome being, instead they believed more in logical and practical thinking.

Have you ever wished you could go back in time to see what music was like? Well, while writing this research paper, I did by learning what music was like back in the Elizabethan Era. In the Elizabethan Era, music played a crucial role. Music was very important because a lot of it was played, which fulfilled the lives of the people, and it influenced some people to make and sell music. Music also gave people joy, which entertained them and made them happy.

Between the ninth-century and the fifteenth-century, Church music significantly developed. Presumably, during seven centuries, music had undergone several developments, not only in Church music, but in secular music as well. However, many of these developments were adopted only to be forgotten decades or a century or two later, which indicates that such developments were not too significant to the overall development of music. Some developments, nevertheless, are significant and have lived on to influence modern western music. Such developments are relevant to assessing the growth of Church music in the Middle Ages. The primary developments are in the study of harmony in conjunction with rhythm, notation, and the use of musical instruments.

Subsequent to learning about medieval instruments in class, I was interested in learning about the origins of my own instrument, the cello. After perusing the library for an hour and reading through several different books discussing the topic of medieval and early instruments, I learned my topic is a far more controversial topic than I had previously considered. There is much debate about where the instrument originated from and to which family it belongs to. So without further ado I present this paper, a collection of works and the arguments they present regarding my beloved cello.

Organum[1] (/ˈɔːrɡənəm/) is, when all is said in done, a plainchant song with no less than one added voice to improve the concordance, created in the Middle Ages. Contingent upon the mode and type of the serenade, a supporting bass line (or bourdon) might be sung on the same content, the tune might be followed in parallel movement (parallel organum), or a blend of both of these systems might be utilized. As no genuine free second voice exists, this is a type of

Music and its impact on human culture has been considered an important field of study for many historians when investigating the evolution of human society. By looking at the changes in music over the years historians can gain a clear insight into the various aspects of the cultural values of the time the music was created in, allowing for a better overall appreciation and understanding of the culture being studied. The Medieval and Renaissance Eras are both great examples of this, as the music of these times and the way it progressed allows historians to gain a clear understanding of the religion, cultural values, and, in some cases, even political atmosphere of the society at that time.

Beginning at around 476 AD, the medieval era is mostly related to the church as most music from this era is sacred. The style of this era, the Gregorian chant is monophonic only comprising of the plainchant (or the single- line melodies of early church music) in texture only comprising of the plainchant (or the single- line melodies of early church music). It is not until the arrival of the French composers Léonin and Pèrotin in 1100 and 1200 respectively that polyphony would be incorporated into musical worship with the “decoration” of Gregorian chant with one or more simultaneous musical lines, thus transitioning from Gregorian chant to Organum. During this era, most of the music and roles for musicians belonged to the church except for the troubadours of southern France and the trouvères of northern France. The music was responsorial between the mass and the father during church and was