Turning Points In Medieval Music

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

The high and low pitches were unique for the style of music. The style

The trio sonata leaves on an incomplete cadence which causes the expectancy of more, it is later completed in the other movements. The piece seems to cut off the melody and start back over from the beginning.

Music. Entrancing both by its various individual styles and the unavoidable combination of diverse kinds which thusly have made other totally new and novel styles of music. Traditional music is a flawless sample. The soonest types of traditional music were made in the eighteenth and mid nineteenth hundreds of years and showed an exceptionally confused and modern type of composing joining an extensive variety of instruments and utilized the guideline of multi instrumentation which accomplished a full symphonic sound which thusly prompted the making of uniquely planned lobbies to encourage the sound. The sources of the music were additionally differing, numerous organizations having been composed for the stage, writers.

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.

“Medieval motets tended to be isorhythmic; that is, they employed repeated rhythmic patterns in all voices—not only the cantus firmus—which did not necessarily coincide with repeating melodic patterns.”2 This new isorhythmic principle, brought on mostly by the composer Machaut, was used not only in the tenor voice but also rather with much more freedom in the upper voice parts. The application of discant over a cantus firmus marked the beginnings of this new revolutionary style, the motet, in Western music. The key motet composers in the medieval period were few in number; Phillip de Vitry and Machaut were one of the earliest composers to institute the isorhythmic technique, which set the style for other medieval composers like Willelmus de Winchecumbe. Guillaume de Machaut was a more famous named late-medieval composer to institute the discant which caught on in other music styles and only helped to evolve the motet into its later stylings. These composers helped carry the motet to the new Flemish motet style.

The Classical time period, which spanned a length of seventy years, from 1750 to 1820, was very different in nature from its predecessor, the Baroque time period. The Baroque era featured works that were ornamentally elaborate, where the artists and composers centered their works on a big, bold style that was dramatic in its composition. Artists and composers transferred strong feelings of tension and emotion into their works and it was common for there to be some type of action or movement happening within the work. Those who lived in the Classical time period, valued simplicity and wanted to return to the ideals of the Greeks. Therefore, the Classical time period is characterized by clear structural clarity, simplicity, smoothness, and symmetry. However, though the works took a step back from the grand movement of the Baroque era, the composers and artists of the Classical time period did lay out a tuneful and elegant style in their music and art. Out of the Classical era came many renowned artists and composers, two of those whom are artist Sir Thomas Lawrence and composer Ludwig van Beethoven (“NYU”).

The final decades of the fourteenth century witnessed one of the strangest developments on the entire history of music. Characterized primarily by extremes of notational and

Western musical styles have developed into the music what we listen to today in the twentieth century. Throughout time composers have created new ways to enhance music by adding harmonies, phrases, dynamics, and much more. At the start of music, composers kept a simple melody using the same frame of pitches in simple tunes. As we became more educated, so did our music and we are now able to create songs with texture and countermelodies all within a plethora of genres. The use of notation has changed our music we have allowed music to obtain variety, depth, and be shared amongst people for thousands of years. Without notation, music would have no way to thrive and expand on what composers discovered and experimented with. We can see how western music developed throughout the musical notation of the eras. Starting in the Middle Ages, we can see the basics of Western music and where it all began.

Music history is often seen as a boring, pedantic, obscure subject - but is it? Since the Renaissance, music has changed drastically, and thank goodness it has. When you turn on the radio, do you hear Gregorian Chants? Of course not! Thankfully, composers within the past four hundred years took chances, and ventured into the unknown, evolving music into what it is today.

Music has been categorized over time in different periods, each of which have their own characteristics, composers and music style. Two of those important periods were baroque and romantic, which had left an important musical legacy though history. The baroque was the period from about 1600 to 1750. It was called one of the best periods of the music history, because there was a huge change from the style of composition from antique and renaissance music which achieved great expectations about this music. Furthermore, Baroque music was written by great composers such as Bach, Handel, Rameau and Vivaldi who were the most representative composers of the period. In addition, Baroque music was characterized

The animation of classical music began to increase; the transition was a natural growth of what comes before. Never before in history had it been possible to move from one kind of tempo, to another so naturally, with such grace. The kind of rhythmic transition is the touch stone of classical style (Rosen 60). For the classical composer, the Perpetuum Mobile1, where adding it, creates another challenge the composer has to overcome to achieve the added desire to break up the rhythmic texture of the piece and to create the tension required to add a dramatic force.

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).

Music from all over the world presents a range of musical theories. Some of these are documented in writing whilst others are transmitted orally. Discuss and give examples with reference to both Western and non-Western music.

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