Intro to Music in History 1

3 Unit tests (20% each)

Recording Review (15%)
Attendance/Preparation (20%)
Research skills/Information Literacy (5%)

Reading and listening on syllabus is to be done BEFORE the date listed

5 Random quizzes/in-class assignments

Antiquity & The Early Church

BIG PICTURE

Greek Music
o An abstract science
o A force on ethos and behaviour
o An art to be understood & practiced by amateurs
Greek views influenced Western music
As the church became more fixed, so did the music

Disintegration of the Roman empire caused by Barbarian Kings allowed the church
to take control (Both Sacredly and Secularly)
Monasteries protected most of the knowledge
Secular clergy handled external affairs (politics)
The church turned to Greek philosophical and theoretical views for music
Philosophical:
Plato & Aristotle
Music linked with Religion
Music affected man & state
Doctrine of imitation
o Music that imitated a certain ethos aroused that same ethos in the
listener
Theoretical

Pythagoras
Music of the Spheres
Organization
Tetrachords
o Three tetrachords: Diatonic, Chromatic, Enharmonic
Genera; Species
o Eight modes: Dorian, Hypodorian, Phrygian, Hypophrygian, Lydian,
Hypolydian, Mixolydian, Hypomixolydian
Greater Perfect/Lesser Perfect systems

Knowldege of music was transferred from Greek to Latin by people such as:

Boethius
Capellanus
Enchiriadis
Guido dArezzo

Early Christian Services

Split in two halves:

Synaxis
Becomes Fore-mass
Generally Educational
Open to all

Eucharist
Commemoration of The Last Supper
Closed to Unbaptised

Synaxis parallels role of Synagogue

Eucharist parallels temple sacrifice
Cantillation used to chant scriptural texts
Psalm singing

Church Singing serves as a tool to memorise, as well as to project the voice

Music was traditionally passed through aural tradition

Plainchant & Liturgy

Main Ideas:

Mass & Divine office become the two main services in medieval
western church
Mass grew from simple, flexible early Christian services into an
elaborate, formulaic, & complex ritual
For sung text, musical & textual forms/genres developed, each with
their own convention

Gregorian Chant
Gregorian Chant has:

A Narrow Range
o Usually around an octave or a ninth
Conjunct Melodies
o Mainly step-wise motion
No major climatic points

Church Modes
Final: Main pitch, usually final note of the chant
Range: How high and low the melody goes in relation to the final
Tenor (Reciting note): Important, Dominant pitch

Solmnization & Hexachord system

Based on hymn Ut Queant Laxis

6 note system led Guidos followers to adapt hexachord system
o Six note system evolved into solfege
3 positions of hexachords
o Rip off of Greek Tetrachords
Mutation: Changing hexachord when a shared note is sung to expand range

Music & Lyrics

Psalmody:

Responsorial: Soloist and choir, back and forth

Antiphonal: two choirs, back and forth
Direct: Singing in unison
Text:

Syllabic: one syllable, one note

Neumatic: one syllable, 2-6 notes
Melismatic: one syllable, many notes

Formulae
Recesitation Formulas

Simple formulas for chanting texts

Almost entirely syllabic & pre-modal

Psalm Tones

Intonation: rising motive to tenor; first verse only

Mediant: cadence for middle of each verse
Termination: final cadence for each verse

Services affected by day and time (Based on liturgical year & day)
Proper Texts (changes daily)
Introit
Gradual
Alleluia (Tracet)
Sequence
Offertory
Communion

Ordinary Texts (Same each day)

Kyrie
Gloria
Credo
Sanctus
Angus Dei
Ite, missa est

Psalm form: Antiphon; Psalm verse; Antiphon; Psalm verse; Doxology; Antiphon

Tropes
Tropes are used mostly on feast day services

New text to existing music

o E.g. Prosula
New music to existing text
o E.g.Added melismas
New music & New text
o E.g. Sequences

Building Blocks of the Office

Antiphons
Psalms
Canticles
Responsories
Hymns
Prayers, lessons, readings, sermons

Liturgical Books

Missal
o Text for mass
Gradual
o Music for mass
Breviary
o Text for office
Antiphonal
o Music and words for office

Gregorian Chant

Chant Dialects

Old Roman (Urban Rome, 8th Century & Earlier)

Roman (Standard)
Gallican (Gaul)
Ambrosian (Milan)
Mozarabic (Iberian Peninsula)
Beneventen (Southern Italy)
Byzantine (Byzantium)

Charlemagne wanted to standardize the liturgy, and learn the same hymns as the
Romans. He asked the Romans to send some priests to Gaul to teach the French
priests. The difference of musical styles caused conflict and confusion, and so
Gregorian chant was written, combinding both the Old Roman and Gallican styles.
Chants Derived from psalms are earlier than the rest
Integral texts are earlier than adapted ones

Gregorian chant got its name from English monks who first referred to it as
Gregorys Music
The name moved to France through English intellectual monks brought to
Charlemagne.