The Middle Ages:
The traditions of Western music can be traced back to the social and religious developments that took place in Europe during the Middle Ages, the years roughly spanning from about 500 to 1400 A.D. Because of the domination of the early Christian Church during this period, sacred music was the most prevalent. Beginning with Gregorian Chant, church music slowly developed into a polyphonic music called organum performed at Notre Dame in Paris by the twelfth century. Secular music flourished, too, in the hands of the French trouvères and troubadours, until the period culminated with the sacred and secular compositions of the first true genius of Western music, Guillaume de Machaut.
Music had been a part of the world's civilizations for hundreds of years before the Middle Ages. Primitive cave drawings, stories from the Bible, and Egyptian heiroglyphs all attest to the fact that people had created instruments and had been making music for centuries.
The word music derives from the ancient Greek muses, the nine goddesses of art and science. The first study of music as an art form dates from around 500 B.C., when Pythagoras experimented with acoustics and the mathematical relationships of tones. In so doing, Pythagoras and others established the Greek modes: scales comprised of whole tones and half steps ...
Wind Instrument Ensembles in Italy from 1450 to162:
By the Beauteous Brenda Flynn;
A neat fact of music history trivia is that one of the first composers (though not the very first) to specify both specific wind instruments to specific musical lines in ensemble compositions and dynamics is Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612). I have always been curious, however, why more attention wasn't payed to the instruments thus honored! These wind and string musicians, however, did not only exists in Gabrieli's home cathedral of San Marco (St. Marks) during this period; they were a phenomenon across Europe! Not only did churches, like St. Marks, have resident wind ensembles, but any court or municipality worth its salt had one too. Even the Kiwanas Clubs of the day, the Venetian Scuole, or confraternities, had ensembles. (Gabrieli moonlighted as organist for the Scuole de San Rocco!) These ensembles go by many names, one of them appearing to be pifarri. Another common name is alta or alta capella. (Although pifarri is more specifically Italian.) I am studying these ensembles, and their relatives. While both 'pifarri' and 'alta' may be unspecific or poorly defined, what I am studying (specifically) are some ensembles in Italy, specifically between 1450-1620, which include winds ...
The Middle Ages:
The traditions of Western music can be traced back to the social and religious developments that took place in Europe during the Middle Ages, the years roughly spanning from about 500 to 1400 A.D. Because of the domination of the early Christian Church during this period, sacred music was the most prevalent. Beginning with Gregorian Chant, church music slowly developed into a polyphonic music called organum performed at Notre Dame in Paris by the twelfth century. Secular music flourished, too, in the hands of the French trouvères and troubadours, until the period culminated with the sacred and secular compositions of the first true genius of Western music, Guillaume de Machaut.
Music had been a part of the world's civilizations for hundreds of years before the Middle Ages. Primitive cave drawings, stories from the Bible, and Egyptian heiroglyphs all attest to the fact that people had created instruments and had been making music for centuries.
The word music derives from the ancient Greek muses, the nine goddesses of art and science. The first study of music as an art form dates from around 500 B.C., when Pythagoras experimented with acoustics and the mathematical relationships of tones. In so doing, Pythagoras and others established the Greek modes: scales comprised of whole tones and half steps ...
Medieval Music, Wikipedia,
The term Medieval music encompasses European music written during the Middle Ages. This era begins with the fall of the Roman Empire (476 AD) and ends in approximately the middle of the fifteenth century. Establishing the end of the Medieval era and the beginning of the Renaissance is admittedly arbitrary; 1400 is used here ...
Middle Ages: 450-1450: Introduction to the Medieval Era from Essentials of Music linked to details on historical themes, musical context, style, and composer biographies.
The Power of Music in Medieval Literature: An Honors Thesis presented by Brenda Jean Johnstone to the Medieval Studies Department in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Honors in the Major Field. New London, Connecticut. May 2000.
This work discusses the power of music in medieval literature. It begins with The Life of Saint Guthlac, an 8th century saint's life, and the way in which Guthlac uses the psalms as a weapon against demonic forces. The next section is about the role of trumpets in medieval warrior society, as well as linking the discussion to Biblical precedents. The chapter discusses the critical role the olifant plays in The Song of Roland, both as a communication device within the framework of the poem, and as an object capable of changing the outcome of the story, as well as the olifant's role as a relic. Continuing the topic of the medieval trumpet is the scene of the Joy of the Court in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec and Enide. I discuss the trumpet as it relates to warrior society, and the degree to which it complements and displaces valor. The final chapter revolves around two medieval tellings of the Orpheus story: the first the anonymous romance Sir Orfeo, and the second Robert Henryson's Orpheus and Eurydice. I use these texts to show how music can empower the musician ...