Abstract
From the end of the Roman Empire to the beginnings of Baroque music, the Middle Ages and Renaissance—periods closely associated with each other—produced a wealth of music for unaccompanied voices, choruses, and instruments of various kinds. In a chapter devoted to both Medieval and early modern performance practices, Benjamin Bagby examines the origins of “bardic” music, often associated with the so-called “Dark Ages.” William P. Mahrt examines the formation of medieval chant practices and explains that Gregorian chat is alive and well today. Emma Kirkby and Julian Bream explain other developments, including the lute song and vocal practices during the earliest years of opera. Judith Malafronte also discusses early opera as well as the early music movement and its concern with performances practices, while Kirkby also discusses Renaissance and early Baroque dance.
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Approximately 300–1400 C.E. Unless otherwise indicated, all subsequent dates are “Common Era” dates.
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Defined by historians as c. 1400–1789 , the year of the French Revolution.
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The basso continuo consists of a harmony -providing instrument, such as a harpsichord , guitar, or lute; and an instrument that plays a bass line, such as a viola da gamba , ’cello , or bassoon .
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Born Durante degli Alighieri and best known simply as “Dante.”
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The legendary Greek poet Homer may have lived c. 800 B.C.E. The surviving poems attributed to him, the Iliad and Odyssey, were performed in antiquity by bards who sang or chanted then, possibly with instrumental accompaniment.
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The age of Charlemagne (742–814), who became King of the Franks in 768 and Holy Roman Emperor in 800.
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Pythagoras (570–495 B.C.E), the near-legendary Greek philosopher, is credited with working out the mathematical intervals of the overtone series.
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Neumes are musical symbols identifying one or more notes sung to a single syllable of text. Early neumes were placed directly above words in the text rather than on a four- or five-line staff.
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Revered as a hero and god in ancient Greece and Rome , Hercules (in Greek, Heracles) was born to Jupiter (Zeus), king of the gods, and the moral woman Alcmene; he was celebrated for his physical strength and numerous adventures.
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The Plantagenet dynasty ruled England from 1154, with the accession of Henry II , until 1485, when Richard III died.
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Beowulf is an epic poem written in Old English , the language spoken in Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest in 1066.
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An original or unedited version of any work.
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In this context, a chorale is a harmonized melody in which all voices (usually four) move at the same time. The term “chorale” is also used for early Lutheran hymns, originally sung without accompaniment.
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In this context, part of certain systems of notating pitch. Especially associated with medieval music.
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Organum refers to early multi-part (polyphonic) music based on chat. In parallel organum, all parts move in the same direction at the same time, although not on the same pitch.
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The Ordinary of the Mass includes those sung parts that do not change and appear in every Mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei), while the Propers of the Mass constitute those chants that vary from service to service (Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, Communion). The Gloria is omitted during Advent and Lent, as is the Alleluia during Lent.
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Petrarch , born Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374), was one of the foremost Italian humanist poets . Composers in the sixteenth century frequently set his words to music.
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Born to the Muse Kalliope and the Thracian king Oeagrus, Orpheus was a legendary musician, so skilled he was able to persuade the king of Hell to release Eurydice, his dead wife.
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For this and many other books mentioned below, see “For additional investigation” at the end of the present volume.
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A slow dance in duple meter, actually little more than a stroll with a partner of the opposite sex.
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Invented in Italy , the masque was a form of “masked” amateur dramatic entertainment, popular especially with English aristocrats during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
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Louis XIV of France [1638–1715], a monarch who encouraged music and dancing among members of his court.
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“Peter Warlock” was the pen name of Philip Arnold Heseltine. Heseltine published music as Warlock and wrote music criticism under his birth name.
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A large plucked string instrument popular in the late 1500s and early 1600s.
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A plucked string instrument from the Renaissance with a flat back, in contrast to the curved back of a lute.
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A broken consort consists of different kinds of instruments—perhaps several recorders , string instruments , and a keyboard instrument. A whole or closed consort consists exclusively of the same kind of instrument—perhaps string instruments only.
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Shawms and crumhorns are early double-reed instruments, the theorbo a type of large lute, the sackbut a predecessor of the modern trombone , and the cornetto an instrument with finger holes and a brass mouthpiece.
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Cadenzas are improvised or quasi-improvised ornamental interludes that show off individual performers’ artistic and technical ingenuity.
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Tibbetts, J.C., Saffle, M. (2018). Medieval and Early Modern Music. In: Tibbetts, J., Saffle, M., Everett, W. (eds) Performing Music History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92471-7_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92471-7_2
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