Music of medieval, renaissance, baroque periods

• Medieval period ( 700 - 1400)

  • Aka as dark ages, fall of the Roman empire
  • Christian church influenced Europe
  • Monophonic ( singular melodic line) named after pope Gregory 1.
  • Monophonic approved music of the Catholic affairs
• Characteristics of the Gregorian chants

  • Monophonic
  • Free meter
  • Modal
  • Based on latin liturgy
  • Use of neume notation
• Secular music - music that is not associated with religion, such as classical music, jazz, and pop music
• Latter part of the medieval period secular music emerged and became more popular. Played by groups of musician across Europe called troubadours
• Troubadour music

  • Monophonic
  • With improvised accompaniment
  • Originated in France
  • Written in french
• Medieval composer and singer

  • Heligard von Bingen - HVB
  • Adam de la halle - ADLH
  • Guillaume de machaut - GDM
  • Tyleman susato -TS
• Polyphonic music - multiple voices or parts sung simultaneously multiple melodic line
• Music of renaissance period ( 1400 - 1600 )

  • Renaissance / renaitre which means rebirth, revival, rediscovery
  • Secular music become more prominent
  • Aka golden age of Acapella choral music
• Characteristics of renaissance music

  • Polyphonic
  • Imitation among the voices
  • Use of word painting
  • Melodic line move in a flowing manner
  • Melodies move along a scale with few large leaps
• Vocal music of renaissance period

  • Mass - sacred musical composition that sets text of the eucharistic liturgy into music

  Characteristics :

  • polyphonic
  • Sung with Acapella or with orchestral accompaniment
  • Syllabic ( one note set) neumatic (few notes) melismatic ( many notes)
• Five main sections of mass

  • Kyrie ( lord have mercy) k
  • Gloria ( glory to god in the highest) g
  • Credo ( i believe in god) c
  • Sanctus & Benedictus ( holy, holy and blessed is he) s b
  • Agnus dei ( lamb of god) a d
• Vocal music of renaissance period

  • Madrigal
  • Mass
• Madrigal - secular vocal polyphonic music, originated from Italy expressed in poetic text most important secular form

  Characteristics:

  • Polyphonic
  • Sung Acapella
  • Through - composed
  • Frequently in 3 to 6 voices
• Composers during renaissance period

  • Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina GPDP - greatest master of roman Catholic church music sacred music
  • Thomas Marley TM - most famous composer of secular music.

  His works

  • Fire, fire, my heart
  • Sing and chant it
  • Fantastic
  • April is in my mistress face
  • It was a lover and his lass
• Baroque period ( 1685 - 1750)

  • Baroque / barroco - pearl of irregular shappel

  Characteristics

  • Melodies elaborate and ornamental
  • Not easy to sing
  • Contrapuntal textures with some homophony
  • Alteration between loud and soft
  • Consist of strings and contunuo
  • Harpsichord and organ commonly used
• Music genres of baroque period

  • Concerto c
  • Concerto grosso c
  • Chorale c
  • Fugue f
  • Oratorio o
• Concerto - solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra
• Concerto grosso - small group of solo instrument concertino whole orchestra tutti
• Fugue - contrapuntal piece, imitative counterpoint

  Written in 3 to 4 parts theme called subject

  Single brief tune of strong character
• Oratorio - large scale of musical composition narratives of religious themes performed without costume example:

  • Hendels - messiah, samson, israel, egypt
  • Bachs - Christmas oratorio
  • Haydyns - the creation
• Chorale - harmonized version of hymnal tunes of the protestant church
• Composers of baroque period

  • Johann Sebastian Bach JSB - beautiful soprano singing helped him to be accepted at Luneburg, violin and harpsichord
  • Antonio Lucio Vivaldi ALV - aka Prete Rosso ( the red priest) because of his red hair, Italian baroque composer, one of the greatest baroque composer
  • George Friedrich Handel GFH - organist of halle cathedral, studied counterpoint cannon and fugue
• Melody - the main musical idea of a piece of music, usually sung or played by a solo instrument (tone)
• Harmony - chords that are in the same key, but different notes are used.
• Homophonic - a piece with one melody line and one or more accompaniment lines.
• Homophony - a piece with two or more melodic lines, each played by a single instrument
• Monophonic - a single melody line, with no accompaniment.