the early christian church and secular song

the early Christian church: musical thought

roman music:

• lyric poetry often song

• music part of most public ceremonies

• greek architecture, music, and philosophy imported into rome

roman empire decline:

• Christian church gained influence

• church fathers interpret bible, set down principles

  • similar to ancient greeks

  • beautiful things exist to remind us of divine and perfect beauty, not to inspire self-centered enjoyment or seduce our senses

• Christian church became the main and often only unifying force and channel of culture in europe

• church took over rome's mission of civilizing and unifying the peoples under its sway

• music was used to influence the people

transmission of greek music theory:

• martianus capella described the seven liberal arts - verbal arts (trivium), mathematical disciplines (quadrivium - included music because its mathematical relationships seemed to explain the universe)

• boethius was the most revered authority on music in the middle ages

• de institutione musica treats music as a science of numbers

• borrowed lots from greek sources

the early Christian church: musical practice

greek legacy:

• greek music was a heavy influence for the first two or three centuries but church leaders rejected their idea of cultivating music purely for enjoyment - wanted to wean converts away from anything associated with their pagan past

• early church leaders saw music as servant of religions

• Christian music became unaccompanied singing

Judaic heritage:

• some elements of Christian observances derive from Jewish traditions

  • chanting and singing of scripture and psalms

• both traditions relied on vocal music in worship services

• strophic devotional songs/hymns began to emerge as the early church spread

• strophic form - music repeats and melody stays the same with changing text

eastern and western churches:

• 395 ce - eastern and western empires split, followed by eastern and western churches

• western church - Catholic, ruled from rome

• eastern church - orthodox, byzantine, blend of cultures

• western churches in italy, france and germany developed chants; most local versions of chants disappeared or were absorbed into the single uniform practice under the authority of the roman Catholic church

  • constantinople

  • western church became increasingly romanized

• monks preserved chants by learning to sing and notate them - gregorian chants

key facts

• music consisted of a single melodic line

• vocal melody was intimately linked with the rhythm and meter of words

• musical performances were memorized or improvised

• philosophers believed music was both an orderly system interlocked with nature and a force in human thought and conduct

• a scientifically based acoustical theory was in the making

• scales were built up from tetrachords

• musical terminology was well developed

medieval song

goliard songs:

• oldest written secular songs, latin texts

• goliards - poets and composers who were students or clerics and exalted a libertine lifestyle

• celebrate wine, women, satire

• music does not survive in precise notation

• early manifestation of literacy

jongleurs:

• sung by jongleurs (minstrels)

  • traveled from village to village entertaining

  • social outtcasts, denide protection of the law

• troubadours and trobairitz were poet-composers who flourished in france

  • created and sang their own songs - mainly about love but covered other topics too

  • very well thought of, unlike jongleurs

  • most songs were about their social lives and complaint songs about their love lives

  • basically the influencers of the medieval era

  • composition was competitive, oral tradition

  • troubadours - southern france

  • trouveres - northern france

• variety and ingenuity

• refrain is a line or two of poetry that returns with its own music from one stanza to another, each stanza sung to the same melody

• narrow range

minnesinger:

• modeled after the troubadours

• sang about love in an abstract and religious way

• tunes were more tightly organized, used bar (aab) form

• songs about spring, dawn, crusade songs

• cantigas de santa maria - collection of songs honouring the Virgin Mary