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?

​ 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

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

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

Some of them are low voices, high voices and medium voices. An element to this music that is unique, is because it sounds like Gregorian Chant. The tempo of the music is a medium voice guiding the song all the way through. One voice that stands out in the music is the high voice. It stands out so well because it is lowered and then high, which grabs your attention.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

From 1400 to 1600 A.D., the Renaissance was a period of a rediscovery of Greek ideals for musicians to explore possibilities of their art. It was during this time that ideas were able to better circulate, because individualism began to increase, and the printing of music helped to preserve and distribute musical ideas (History). Also, as opposed to the medieval period, the Renaissance began to expand upon the type of sound that was created by adding the voices of women in choirs, as well as expanding instrumental music. The texture of music also began to change, with homophonic and polyphonic compositions. Sacred vocal polyphony was used rather than monophony in the form of masses and motets, while secular pieces also included madrigals and songs. Instrumental pieces usually were short during this time, and were for dancing (History).

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

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?