The Roles Of Vocal Music In The Middle Ages

21.  Composers began to write polyphonic songs that were not always based on chant, what were they based on instead?

The Opera is described as the relationship between words and music. Opera is dramatic staged secular vocal work with orchestral accompaniment .Consisting of alternating recitatives, arias, and chorus numbers. Soloists, solo ensembles, choruses, dancing, dramatic action, costumes, staging are all components of opera. It was important because it added interest in dramas and music and it created interest is homophonic texture. Cantata was another important Baroque style. Cantata extended solo or choral work. It was created for Lutheran worship service. Cantatas include harmonized chorales, polyphonic choruses, arias, recitatives, solo ensembles, and instrumental accompaniment. Oratorio is dramatic work for chorus, solo voices, and orchestra. It is similar to cantata except it is longer and to a larger scale. Most were based on biblical texts to teach and entertain. Chamber music works for solo instruments performing together in small ensembles. Trio Sonatas were important chamber music pieces during the Baroque Period. Church sonatas would be performed in church. Chamber sonatas were meant for concert performance. Finally, orchestra varied in size and instrumentation. This style was favored by royalty and wealthy families. Most court orchestra were made up only bowed stringed instruments although woodwinds and others were gradually

Medieval music was an era of Western music, including liturgical music used for the church, and secular music, non-religious music. This includes solely vocal music, such as Gregorian chant sung by monks during Catholic Mass and choral music—music for a group

​ 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).

During the middle Ages, the Catholic Church was the sole contributor to musical development. The music of the early church was monophonic, and had nonmetric melodies set in one of the church modes, or scales. The rise or development of polyphony came about during the Renaissance period; the Council of Trent wanted polyphonic church music to be created and Palestrina composed the Pope

Throughout the ages, music has been very important to religion. Ever since the middle ages, the religious music told a story of a biblical event. The current day Christian music tells a story about life and how Jesus Christ can fix the problem because he is all powerful. Oratorio is one example of older religion music. The current type of religious music is called Contemporary Christian music. There are a lot of different genres between these two. Oratorio and Contemporary music differ greatly; however, they both speak about the perfect Jesus Christ.

During the Medieval era, the Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church were the economic, political, and social authority in western Europe. The church’s strong political influence also greatly dictated artistic expression including visual arts and music. The church employed all scribers, artists, musicians and commissioned for their artwork to be sublime and sacred. The musical texture during this time was monophonic meaning, there was a single vocal. An example of a monophonic musical sound during this period were Gregorian chants, named after Pope Gregory I.

Medieval music is characterized by its heavy use of monophonic texture. An example of a form of music that made extensive use of monophonic texture during the medieval age is Plainchant. Plainchant consists of just the human voice singing simple melodies with no musical accompaniment. Medieval music was not entirely relegated to just monophonic textures. Polyphony also saw great usage in both secular and sacred music.

The oratorio and cantata of the eighteenth century were both linked, unlike opera, to religious themes. Although intended for very different uses and circumstances of performance, all three genres contained musical commalities. Not surprisingly, the three genres would

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.

In a Catholic church, they believed that singing music it was best to be unaccompanied so it can be sung from the heart to the ear of God without any interference. So there would be no musical instruments playing

1. I believe that the secular music didn't survive from that time as well as sacred music, because it wasn't heavily influenced by the church. Sacred music however was dedicated to religious purpose.

Gregorian chant, synonymous to plainchant, was considered the official music of the Catholic Church for centuries. It is believed that Gregorian chant was not composed by the human mind but yet, a higher being as it they are supposed to be melodies that come directly from the Holy Spirit. Gregorian chant derives from Pope Gregory the Great, whom received these melodies and shared this with those of the Catholic faith. Gregorian chant is simply a form of prayer, written in Latin and considered to be the melodies of “true prayer.” Gregorian chant was not recorded; they were transmitted orally. These chants were composed to be performed during liturgy; a church service. Gregorian chant

By the 1500s, the number of organs in churches was two and the most popular instrument was the lute. Consorts (groups of instruments from same family that played together) and broken consorts (instruments of different families that played together) were used in performances. The prelude also made its’ debut, which was a preliminary piece that comes immediately before and introduces the main musical event. The 1500s was the middle of the Renaissance era. The most popular genres of vocal music were: chanson (songs), madrigals (secular, vocal compositions), Masses, and motets. In the late 1500s, Queen Elizabeth

Euphony, on the other hand, throws up the question: “if the words aren’t clear how can the music relate to it’s function?” This shows that evidently the words rather than the music were important to the Catholic church, but does this mean that the musical side was then almost dispensable? What role does the music play in the Catholic church?