Final Exam

Question 1

What was polyphony based/derived from

Answer 1

chant

Question 2

Guido wrote four treatises, what were they on?

Answer 2

modes, scale systems, organum (polyphony)

Question 3

What are the names and functions of the two voices in organum?

Answer 3

Vox principalis is the original chant voice, and the vox organalis which is the added voice above or below the chant voice

Question 4

What are the three types of movement in organum?

Answer 4

parallel motion, contrary motion, and oblique motion which is one voice repeating one pitch while the other line moves

Question 5

What are hexachords?

Answer 5

hexachords are a stepwise series of six notes with a whole tone between each pitch except for mi and fa which have a semitone between them. They were basically just teaching tools

Question 6

What are the perfect consonances in medieval music?

Answer 6

1, 5, and 8, and later, the fourth as well

Question 7

What are the imperfect consonances in medieval music?

Answer 7

3 and 6 which are imperfect but slightly less so than imperfect dissonances

Question 8

What are the imperfect dissonances in medieval music?

Answer 8

2 and 7, and they were used less frequently because of this

Question 9

What interval is ALWAYS not allowed?

Answer 9

Tritones, as they are the devil’s interval and everything was about perfection in this era

Question 10

What is melismatic organum?

Answer 10

Melismatic organum is where a single note in one voice was counter imposed with a number of notes in the other, long notes were always in the vox principalis and melismas were in the vox organalis

Question 11

What are the rhythmic modes and how are they used?

Answer 11

rhythmic modes were a system using the relationship between long and short notes, most of which used a triple meter because three was perfection (holy trinity). The shorts were always and eighth but the long could be a quarter or a dotted quarter. It was used basically as an ornamentation and to embelish certain words and syllables in the chant, they can change throughout the piece but only at logical points like a new syllable

Question 12

What is mensuration?

Answer 12

Mensuration is the division into two parts: tempus, which is the time, and prolation, which is basically how many eighths are in each group, and are then combined to create new rhythms

Question 13

What is perfect time, perfect prolation?

Answer 13

equivalent to 9/8, 3 groups with 3 eighths

Question 14

What is perfect time, imperfect prolation?

Answer 14

equivalent to 3/4, 3 groups of 2 eighths

Question 15

What is imperfect time, perfect prolation?

Answer 15

equivalent to 6/8, 2 groups of 3 eighths

Question 16

What is imperfect time, imperfect prolation?

Answer 16

equivalent to 2/4, 2 groups of 2 eighths

Question 17

What is isorhythm?

Answer 17

Isorhythm is where a chant is divided into two parts, the color, or the melody, and the talea, or the rhythm, which repeat throughout the whole piece. The color and the talea are of different lengths so that they overlap with the different notes of the melody having a different duration/rhythm after every repetition

Question 18

Who is Boethius and why is he important?

Answer 18

Boethius is a theorist and philosopher, he is the first to ever write a treatise on music theory, and he solidified the links between math and science and music, which made music equally important and forged the way for virtually all future theorists

Question 19

When did the Byzantine Empire/Eastern empire fall and why is this time important?

Answer 19

Fell in 1453, it is important as it marks the general shift from the middle ages to the renaissance

Question 20

Who is Charlemagne and why is he important?

Answer 20

He was the Frankish king, and he protected Spain from Islamic invasion, preserving Christianity. He also was the ruler during the rise of religious houses and he was the first “Holy Roman Emperor” meaning he was the first emperor of the roman emperor sanctioned by the Pope

Question 21

What is the Edict of Milan?

Answer 21

It is a proclamation by Constantine in 313 essentially legalizing christianity, which he came to decide as he was preparing for battle and saw a flag with the cross bearing the motto “by this sign thou shall conquer” (and he won so there’s that…)

Question 22

What is the Battle of Agincourt and why is it important?

Answer 22

A battle where King Henry V took over France while remaining the King of England, thus introducing the English intervals of 3rds and 5ths to the more strict 5ths of the Notre Dame Polyphony

Question 23

Who is Gregory the Great and why is he important?

Answer 23

He was the Pope who declared the codification and preservation/notation of chant, which also led to less segragation because of the codification. It was a sacred duty to preserve the chant after him

Question 24

What are the three Liturgical Books?

Answer 24

The antiphonal, which brought together all of the words and chants of the office, the gradual, which brought together the words and chants of the mass, and much later, the liber usualis which essentially combined the antiphonal and the gradual

Question 25

What are the three rules to determine the reciting tone of the church modes?

Answer 25

If the mode is authentic, the reciting tone is a fifth up from the final. If it is a plagal mode, the reciting tone is a third down from the corresponding authentic reciting tone. If the above rules lead to a reciting tone on B, raise it to a C to avoid the tritone

Question 26

What is the divine office?

Answer 26

It is the division of the day into hours, dictated by the singing of certain chants/rituals

Question 27

What are the 8 hours of the day?

Answer 27

Matins at roughly 2 am, Lauds at daybreak, Prime around 6 am, Terce at about 9 am, Sext at about noon, None at about 3 pm, Vespers in the early evening and Compline before bed

Question 28

Which four hours were considered the “little hours?”

Answer 28

Prime, Terce, Sect, and None, determined by the sundial and seperated by three hour intervals

Question 29

What is the central part of the mass?

Answer 29

Communion

Question 30

What is the central/key belief in catholicism?

Answer 30

Transubsantiation