Medieval Music Music and the Human Experience with Professor Kattari Almost all music during the Medieval era was religious The music before 1000 was all orally transmitted After 1000 was the beginning of standardized chants notational system and liturgy The music that was notated before the 13thcentury was all sacred Specifically it was dominated by the influence of the Catholic Church This Church was the central institution that provided stability and order throughout Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire Clergymen made the music and it was all in Latin which was reflective of the Bible Before about 1100 the main genre of sacred music is called plainchant Plainchant s characteristics monophonic either one person or all in unison has no harmony because there is only one melodic line it is in Latin it only features voices no instruments it is based on the notes in a particular Medieval mode and thus is tonal it is in free rhythm no meter or repeating rhythm it can have a mixture of syllabic neumatic and melismatic text settings Hildegard von Bingen a nun wrote an example of this genre Nunc aperuit nobis The drone serves as the tonic because it is the pitch that starts and ends the piece and feels like home to us Then organum was born when what texture began to be used in sacred compositions in the 1100s by composers Leonin and Perotin in the cathedral of Notre Dame It was polyphonic It was both syllabic neumatic to melismatic Musical notation was invented around 1000 Throughout the medieval era the clergy and rich wrote down music because it was expensive Secular music are unrelated to the church Secular music has always been around but it began to show up in manuscripts around what 12th century because courts began to have troubadours and estampies with the development of mensural notation Secular music was usually in the vernacular which means it was in the local language The first musicians composers and vocalists were not paid because they were clergy But due to the rise in secular music s popularity we began to see professional musicians by the Late Middle Ages 1100s 1300s like troubadours who wrote songs about courtly love Written in Provencal free rhythm Courtly love was about love for a desirable woman that could not be fulfilled except in imagination Listen to Puis qu en oubli Written by Guillame de Machaut It was about courtly love It was neumatic and a rondeau Acapella and it did have a rhythm and meter Estampie instrumental couple dance music in fast triple meter 12th 14th centuries They may have used flutes shawms bagpipes dulcimers and drums to play this dance music in the courts The power of the church and the state became integrated when Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor the secular counterpart to the Pope because he conquered and reunited most of Europe He was crowned around 800 He attempted to standardize music Medieval Era was from 476 to 1450 There was both sacred and secular music in Medieval era Sacred music was notated first Secular music was for dancing or court enjoyment Sacred was for worship