2 - The Christian Church in the First Millenium Flashcards
What was the Edict of Milan and when was it given?
an edict by Constantine in 313 AD legalizing Christianity and allowing the church to own property
What emperor made Christianity the state religion? (392 AD)
Emperor Theodosius
What is a psalm?
a poem of praise
What is cantillation?
chanting sacred texts
What Jewish musical tradition carried over to Christian worship services?
singing psalms assigned to a particular day or festival
What was the advantage of chanting scripture over speaking it?
sung words carried better in big spaces
What principle of Plato’s regarding music did the “church fathers” adhere to?
beautiful things exist to remind us of divine beauty (rather than simply for enjoyment)
Why did most church fathers condemn instrumental music?
they believed that music without words was unable to open the mind to Christian teachings
Christianity split into what two churches in 1054?
the Roman Catholic Church and the Byzantine Church
What is a rite?
the set of practices that defines a particular Christian tradition, including a church calendar, a liturgy, and a reparatory of chant
What is liturgy?
a body of texts and ritual actions assigned to each service
What is plainchant or chant?
unison song with melodies for prescribed texts
What are chant dialects?
different regional repertoires
What are echoi?
eight modes associated with Byzantine chant
What is centonization?
a process used in Byzantine chant of composing a new melody by combining standard motives and formulas
What was the most important center for the western church outside Rome?
Milan
What were the songs of the Milanese rite known as?
Ambrosian chant
Why did the church standardize what was said and sung in services?
to consolidate centralized control
What was the Schola Cantorum?
the choir that sang when the pope officiated at observances
According to legend, how did Gregory I receive chants?
they were dictated by the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove
Without notation and with hundreds of chants, how do some scholars suggest melodies were passed down?
that chants were actually improvised within strict conventions
Why was the church interested in developing notation?
so melodies would be standard throughout the church, without individual or regional variation
What Latin word does ‘neume’ come from?
‘neuma’, or ‘gesture’
Where were neumes placed in the score?
above the words
What did neumes indicate?
the number of notes for each syllable and whether the melody ascended, descended or repeated a pitch
Why did chants notated with neumes still have to be learned by ear?
neumes did not specify actual pitches or intervals, they only served as a reminder of the general shape of the melody
What are heightened or diastematic neumes?
neumes placed at varying heights above the text to indicate relative size of intervals, as well as direction
When a line began being used to indicate a specific pitch for the others to orient around, why did they often choose C or F?
because of their position just above semitones
What did C lines and F lines evolve into?
our modern clef signs
Who suggested an arrangement of lines and spaces?
Guido de Arezzo (ca. 991 - after 1033)
What did Guido de Arezzo’s notation look like?
a red ink line for F and yellow ink line for C with letters in the margin identifying each line
Who was Boethius? (ca. 480 - ca. 524)
the most revered authority on music in the Middle Ages
Boethius divided music into what three categories?
musica mundana, musica humana, musica instrumentalis
What is musical mundana?
“music of the universe,” or numerical relationships governing the movement of stars, planets and seasons
What is musical humana?
“human music,” or the “music” that harmonizes the human body, soul and their parts
What is musical instrumentalis?
“instrumental music,” or audible music produced by voices or instruments
What were modes, as established by the church by the eleventh century?
eight scales distinguished by their particular arrangement of tones and semitones
What is a final?
the main note in the mode and usually the last note in the melody
What is an authentic mode?
a mode in which the range normally extends from a step below the final to an octave above it
What is a plagal mode?
a mode in which the range normally extends from a fourth or fifth below the final to fifth or sixth above it
What was the only chromatic alteration normally allowed?
B-flat in chants that gave prominence to F
What is the tenor, or reciting, tone?
the most frequent or prominent note in a chant, or around which each phrase is oriented
Where was the tenor note normally found in an authentic mode?
a fifth above the final
Where was the tenor note normally found in a plagal mode?
a third below the tenor of the corresponding authentic mode
What is solmization?
a method of assigning syllables to steps in a scale
Where did the word “solmization” come from?
from the syllables “so-mi”
What hymn did Guido de Arezzo take his solmization syllables from?
Ut queant laxis
What is a hexachord?
the six notes represented by “ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la” which could be transposed to three positions (beginning on C, G or F)
What is mutation?
in solmization, the process of changing from one hexachord to another, necessitated by a melody that uses more notes than one hexachord contains
What is the Guidonian Hand?
a mnemonic device for locating the pitches of the system of hexachords by pointing to the joints of the left hand
What is chanting sacred texts called?
cantillation
What was the Byzantine method of composing a new melody by combining standard motives and formulas?
centonization
What choir sang when the pope officiated at observances?
Schola Cantorum
When did Christianity split into the Roman Catholic Church and the Byzantine Church?
1054 AD
Approximately when did Guido de Arezzo live?
ca. 991 - after 1033
