MEDIEVAL PERIOD

The Medieval Millennium (450-1450)

What do you know about the Middle Ages?

The Medieval Period began with... ...the fall of the Roman Empire around

450AD.

Without Rome’s armies to protect them, Europe was invaded by...

... barbarian tribes from Eastern Europe, the Slavs and Huns from Asia, Islamic armies from the Middle East, and Vikings from the north.

In order to be safe, kings and nobles...

...lived in fortified castles and hired knights.

What do you know about the Middle Ages?

The two powerful groups were ... and ...

...the nobility ... the Catholic church.

Normal people were usually... ... serfs; They had to work for nobility for

food and shelter and couldn’t really own anything.

The Catholic church was... ...very powerful; It collected taxes to pay

for the large cathedrals it built; Anyone who disobeyed it risked excommunication.

Two Kinds of Medieval Music

SECULAR SACRED

Secular Medieval Music

Used instruments and singing.

Musicians worked for rich noblemen.

Used for dancing/entertainment and story-telling.

It wasn’t written down so not much survived.

http://youtu.be/Ca_y-cqV0r4 http://youtu.be/Pyy_FIYE7EE http://youtu.be/k1LoW3CB5hg

Sacred Medieval Music

Christian churches used liturgical chants for worshiping, an idea borrowed from the ancient Jews.

Pre-800: chants differed by region

Post-800: Emperor Charlemagne forced all churches to adopt Gregorian chants.

Church believed music had great power to inspire or corrupt people; Should be the “servant” of the Church.

Didn’t use instruments or beats because they were characteristic of “evil” secular music.

Monophonic (melody only), speech-like, words were always scripture or mass text, in Latin.

Music notation invented by Guido of Arezzo around 1000 AD, so chants were written down and survived until today.

Chant: a “musical prayer” sung by an individual, choir, or congregation.

Liturgy: The sacred texts set to music in chants.

Mode: The specific scale in which the chant is written.

Kinds of Chant

In Monasteries: Sext, Nones, Vespers. (chanting psalms and scripture passages, singing hymns and canticles.)

In Churches: Mass Kyrie (“Lord have mercy on us”) Gloria (“Glory to God in the Highest”) Credo (“I believe in one God...”) Sanctus (“Holy, holy, holy”) Agnus Dei (“Lamb of God”)

Funeral Service: Requiem Mass

Chant Examples

Chanted Gospel Readinghttp://youtu.be/7JO03vNYMgI

Gregorian Chanthttp://youtu.be/Dlr90NLDp-0

Ut Queant Laxishttp://youtu.be/nK0CE5dIxCc

Ut Queant Laxis (abt1000AD)