Lesson 4 Flashcards
- Who united the western part of the old Roman Empire?
By 800, the western part of the old Roman empire was united under Charlemagne. After his death, this western empire was further divided. The eastern part became France
- Who claimed the title of Holy Roman Emperors?
In the western part, the German kings claimed the title of Holy Roman Emperors, as Charlemagne’s successors. Their realm, known as the Holy Roman Empire, included northern Italy and the Netherlands as well.
- How did Europe change between 800 and 1200?
A centralized kingdom also emerged in England in the ninth century, and continued after the Norman conquest in 1066. Italy remained fragmented among several rulers, including the Pope, and Spain was divided between the Christian kingdom in the north and the Muslim lands in the south.
From 800 to 1200, Europe experienced economic, educational and artistic growth along with an increase in population.
- What were the versus and conductus?
The versus and conductus were sacred songs, original musical settings of newly composed Latin texts; these were not based on chant. Many of these songs were notated in staffless neumes, so that they cannot be exactly transcribed.
- What were the goliard songs?
The goliard songs, were secular songs in Latin associated with wandering scholars and clerics known as goliards. They protested the growing contradictions within the Church through poetry and song. The goliard songs dealt with a range of subjects, from the religious and moral, to satires and celebration of love, spring, eating, drinking, and other earthly pleasures.
- What was the chanson de geste? Give an example.
One type of poem which did survive is the epic, a long narrative describing the deeds of a heroic character. The chanson de geste (“song of deeds”) is one type of epic narrative poem in the vernacular or local language, sung to simple melodic formulas. One of the rare examples where the music is preserved is the Song of Roland (ca. 1100) which concerns a battle of Charlemagne’s army against the Muslims in Spain.
- What is the difference between bards, jongleurs and minstrels?
There were professional musicians of various kinds, including bards (poet-singers in Celtic lands, who performed at feasts), jongleurs (lower class itinerant musicans who perfomed tricks, sang or played and instrument, and told stories), and minstrels, specialized musicans who might be employed at a court or city for at least part of a year. Minstrels may have been members of 12th century guilds, which offered them a certain amount of legal protection, governing contracts and rules for performance.
- Who were the trouvères? The troubadours? Trobairitz?
Most of the songs we have from the Middle ages were from the cultivated in courts and cities under aristocratic sponsorship, probably because the lower classes were nonliterate, and could not write down their music. In the south were the troubadours (feminine: trobairitz), poet-composers who wrote in the language of Occitan, also called the langue d’oc. Their counterparts in northern France were trouvères, who wrote in Old French, called the lange d’oil. Both types of musicians were supported by aristocrats at court and in cities.
- Who was Bernard de Ventadorn?
Among the most widely known of the troubadours was Bernart de Ventadorn (ca. 1130–ca. 1200).
- What was the Jeu de Robin et Marion?
Jeu de Robin et de Marion (ca. 1284), by the trouvère Adam de la Halle (ca. 1240–?1288), is the most famous musical play. Among the song forms he uses is the rondeau. (NAWM 10).
- Who were the Minnesänger? What language did they use?I
In the German-speaking lands, the Minnesinger were knightly poet-composers active from the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries.
- What was the lauda?
In Italy, Laude (nonliturgical sacred monophonic songs) were sung in processions;
- What was the cantiga?
in Spain, the Cantigas were monophonic songs in Spanish.
- Name six medieval instruments, and describe each of them.
Medieval instruments included bowed strings such as the vielle; a European bowed stringed instrument used in the Medieval period, similar to a modern violin but with a somewhat longer and deeper body https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPKhBkLgFLk; the hurdy-gurdy, a mechanical string instrument https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFvlW4gQfCk , the harp, and the psaltery, is a plucked stringed instrument of the zither family https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB-r4HihVac .;Medieval wind and percussion instruments included the transverse flute, shawm (reed instrument, predecessor of the modern oboe), and pipe and tabor (a perforated pipe, played with one hand, and a portable snare drum, played with the other). (for recordings of recorder, bagpipe, shawm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9tSe0MAd6o). Bagpipes (similar to the Scottish pipes seen today) were also played. In churches, there were bells and large organs in some monasteries and cathedrals and smaller organs (such as the portative organ and positive organ) for smaller spaces
- Give two examples of medieval dance music.
. A popular dance in France was the carole. Medieval instrumental dance music had a steady beat, clear meter, repeated sections, and predictable phrasing. The most common medieval French dance form was the estampie, in which each section was played twice, first with an open cadence and then with a closed one.
