MHUSIC

OF THE

MEDIEVAL
PERIOD
(700-1400)
 LESSON 1 LESSON 2

Historical and Vocal and

Cultural background Instrumental Music
Composers
 1

LESSON 1
Historical and Cultural background
Watch the video…

What have you noticed

from the video clip?
ACTIVITY…
Name the following pictures
by unscrambling the word/s

1. R C H C H U
 ACTIVITY…
Name the following pictures
by unscrambling the word/s

2. T I C S L I P O
ACTIVITY…
Name the following pictures
by unscrambling the word/s.

3. E O P P
 ACTIVITY…
Name the following pictures
by unscrambling the word/s.

4. D D M I L E S E G A
 1

MEDIEVAL PERIOD
Historical and Cultural background
 MEDIEVAL PERIOD (700-1400)
Historical and Cultural Background

❑ Also known as the Middle Ages or

Dark Ages.

❑ It started with the fall of the Roman

Empire.

❑ During this time, the Christian Church

influenced Europe’s culture and
political affairs.
MEDIEVAL PERIOD (700-1400)
Historical and Cultural Background

❑ During the Middle Ages, classical civilization

was transformed by contact with three
cultures: Germanic invaders, Christianity, and
Islam.

❑ The Western values of individualism,

consensual government, and a recognition of
religious differences began to emerge during
the Middle Ages.
 MEDIEVAL PERIOD (700-1400)
Historical and Cultural Background

❑ People in the Renaissance named the period the Middle Ages

because it was considered a culturally empty time that
separated the Renaissance from the Classical past, which it
admired.

❑ The Middle Ages is mistakenly thought of as a culturally

homogeneous period, but this period contains many different
kinds of people of many different cultures.
MEDIEVAL PERIOD (700-1400)
Historical and Cultural Background

❑ As the Middle Ages developed, the Catholic

Church gradually extended its spiritual and
institutional authority across most of Europe.

❑ Although the period is often described as an

“age of faith,” the commitment to Catholic
Christianity was neither uniform nor lacking
in an understanding of its complexities and
contradictions.
 MEDIEVAL PERIOD (700-1400)
Historical and Cultural Background

❑ The period is also described as an

“age of chivalry.”

❑ The code of chivalry stressed

gentility, generosity, concern for the
powerless, and a capacity for
experiencing selfless and passionate
romantic love.
 Other Arts form
MEDIEVAL PERIOD

❑ Medieval Arts were represented by the Byzantine, Romanesque and

Gothic Era. Byzantine art made to glorify the Christian Religion and to
express its mystery.

❑ It was filled with spiritual symbolism and illustrated a love of splendour.

❑ It was a combination of Eastern (decorative art forms) and Classical

Western Art (naturalistic art).
 Other Arts form
MEDIEVAL PERIOD

❑ Romanesque art was characterized by its very

vigorous style in painting and sculpture, lavishly
decorated manuscripts and retained many basic
features of Roman Architectural styles.

❑ It was greatly influenced by Byzantine Art with a

highly innovative and coherent style.

❑ Gothic Art reinforced symbolic meaning.

VIDEO PRESENTATION
REFLECTION

Direction: In 3-5 sentences, answer the passage below.

“Music is timeless. Melodies from the past can be still heard

today. Tunes may be played differently in the techno-world,
but one thing never changes, Music will always be part of
man’s everyday life.”
LESSON 2
 Vocal
and
Instrumental Music of
Medieval Period
PRELIMINARY ACTIVITY
Listen to the sample music from the
Medieval and then identify the mood
of the song or how you feel about
each of the songs. Give as many
adjectives as possible to describe the
song or music.
FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS
1. Which music were you familiar
with? Where did you hear it
before?

2. How were you able to come up

with the words that describe the
song just by listening to it?
 VOCAL MUSIC
OF THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD
❑ Medieval music consists of songs,
instrumental pieces, and liturgical
music from about 500 A.D. to 1400.

❑ Medieval music was an era of

Western music, including liturgical
music (also known as sacred) used for
the church, and secular music, non-
religious music.
❑ The Medieval music is classified into two
types.

❑ The Sacred or religious music and the

secular or non-religious music.

❑ Sacred music was written specifically

for use in religious services

❑ Secular music was composed for

purposes other than religious.
SACRED MUSIC
 GREGORIAN
CHANT
❑ Gregorian chant is a form of monophonic
religious music in Western Christianity
that accompanied the celebration of mass
and other ritual services.

❑ It is named after Pope Gregory I .

❑ This vast collection of chants is one of

the oldest music known.
 GREGORIAN
CHANT
❑ In the beginning the chants were learnt
orally.

❑ Later, in the 10th century, the first written

repertoire appeared.

❑ The earliest notation used symbol called

neumes to indicate tone-movements and
relative duration within each syllable but
not specific pitches of individual notes.
 GREGORIAN
❑ By the 13thCHANT
century the neumes of
Gregorian chant were usually written in
square notation on a four-line staff with a
clef.

❑ Gregorian chant is written in Latin and was

normally sung in unison without
instruments (acapella) so its texture is
monophonic.

❑ There isn’t a beat or regular metric accent.

 EXAMPLE:

Gregorian chant –
Deum verum
SECULAR MUSIC
 TROUDBADOUR
MUSIC
❑ During the latter part of the Medieval
Period, Secular music which was not
bound by Catholic traditions emerged.

❑ Most of these songs were performed

across Europe by groups of wandering
poet musicians called Troubadours.
 TROUDBADOUR
❑ Troubadour MUSIC
is the generic term for
poets and minstrels who flourished in
Southern France and in Northern Italy
from the 11th through the 13th centuries.

❑ These artist converted storytelling into an

arts and often entertained huge crowds at
fairs, weddings and other medieval
celebrations.
 TROUDBADOUR
MUSIC
❑ It tells of chivalric values “Honor and
bravery of the knights or cavaliers and
one-sided love or unattainable object of
affection.

❑ Troubadour music uses French

language and sometimes performed with
instrumental accompaniment.
 EXAMPLE:

Medieval music -
Troubadour love song
MUSICAL ELEMENTS
GREGORIAN CHANT (Sacred Music) TROUBADOUR MUSIC (Sacred Music)

MONOPHONIC USUALLY, MONOPHONIC

FREE METER SOMETIMES WITH IMPROVISED

ACCOMPANIMENT
MODAL TELLS OF CHIVALRY AND COURTLY
LOVE
USUALLY BASED ON LATIN LITURGY ORIGINATED IN FRANCE

USE OF NEUME NOTATION WRITTEN IN FRENCH LANGUAGE

 INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
OF THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD
INTRODUCTION…
⮚ During the Middle Ages, most of the music was vocal and
unaccompanied.

⮚ The church wanted to keep music pure and solemn because it was less
distracting.

⮚ The oldest Medieval musical instrument was the human voice.

⮚ The spread of Christianity in the Dark Ages and the early Medieval
period led to the popularity of hymns and secular songs.
⮚ The lute was a popular instrument used by medieval musicians.
⮚ Percussion instruments, drums, cymbals, bells were important.
⮚ Organs were used in many churches.
⮚ There were also some wind
instruments, horns and flutes.

⮚ Some of these instruments are the:

✔ Hurdy-Gurdy
✔ Zither
✔ Recorder
✔ Babypipes
✔ Cornamuse
✔ Bladderpipe
✔ Doleimer
✔ Zink
✔ Serpent.
 FAMOUS COMPOSERS
OF THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD
⮚ Adam de la Halle

o Adam le Bossu (Adam the Hunchback).

o He was the son of a well – known

citizen of Arras, Henri de la Halle.

o He received his education at the

Cistercian Abbey of Vaucelles, near
Cambral. Adam was destined for the
church but he eventually married.
⮚ Adam de la Halle

o Adam was one of the oldest secular composers

whose literary and musical works include
chansons and poetic debates.

o He was a trouvére, poet and musician, whose

literary and musical works include chansons and
jeux- partis (poetic debates) in the style of the
trouveres, polyphonic rondel and motets in the
style of early liturgical polyphony.
⮚ Adam de la Halle

o His musical play, Jeu de Robin et

Marion‖ was considered the earliest
surviving secular French play with
music.
 ACTIVIT
Y:
In the next slides are videos of the
Philippine version of music used in the
Medieval period. Listen and answer the
questions that follow.

1. How do you describe a Gregorian Chant? Can

you name a song that can be sung in the same
manner?

2. What can you say about the music during the

Medieval period?
 ACTIVIT
Y:
Pinoy Gregorian
“Anak”

Pinoy Gregorian
“ Masdan ang
Kapaligiran”
 ESSA
Y:
1. Explain briefly the performance practice
of the Medieval, Periods?

2. What was the difference between Sacred

and Secular Music during the Medieval
period?