Medieval

Question 1

Greater Perfect System

Answer 1

composed of four stacked tetrachords called the (from bottom to top) Hypaton, Meson, Diezeugmenon and Hyperbolaion

Question 2

Gregorian Chant

Answer 2

the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries

Question 3

Mass Proper

Answer 3

includes the scriptural texts that change daily with the liturgical calendar

Question 4

Mass Ordinary

Answer 4

the set of texts of the Roman Rite Mass that are generally invariable

Question 5

Divine Office

Answer 5

the official set of prayers “marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer” It consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns, readings and other prayers and antiphons prayed at fixed prayer times.

Question 6

Church modes

Answer 6

the eight systems of pitch organization used in Gregorian chant: Dorian, Hypodorian, Phrygian, Hypophrygian, Lydian, Hypolydian, and Mixolydian, and Hypomixolydian,

Question 7

Antiphon

Answer 7

a short sentence sung or recited before or after a psalm or canticle

Question 8

Troubadour

Answer 8

a French medieval lyric poet composing and singing in Provençal in the 11th to 13th centuries, especially on the theme of courtly love.

Question 9

Trobairitz

Answer 9

Occitan female troubadours of the 12th and 13th centuries, active from around 1170 to approximately 1260.

Question 10

Minnesinger

Answer 10

a German lyric poet and singer of the 12th–14th centuries, who performed songs of courtly love

Question 11

Organum

Answer 11

a form of early polyphony based on an existing plainsong

Question 12

Magnus Liber Organi

Answer 12

(written in Latin) a repertory of medieval music known as organum

Question 13

Rhythmic Mode

Answer 13

set patterns of long and short durations. The value of each note is not determined by the form of the written note, but rather by its position within a group of notes written as a single figure called a “ligature”

Question 14

Ars Nova

Answer 14

a musical style which flourished in France and the Burgundian Low Countries in the late Middle Ages.

There was greater rhythmic independence, more polyphonic sophistication, and new techniques and forms such as isorhythm and the isorhythmic motet

Question 15

Ars Subtilior

Answer 15

a musical style characterized by rhythmic and notational complexity, centered on Paris, Avignon in southern France, and also in northern Spain at the end of the fourteenth century

Question 16

Formes Fixes

Answer 16

the three fourteenth- and fifteenth-centuries French poetic forms: the ballade, rondeau and virelai. All consisted of a complex pattern of repetition of verses and a refrain with musical content in two main parts

Question 17

Musica Ficta

Answer 17

the introduction by a performer of sharps, flats, or other accidentals to avoid unacceptable intervals

Question 18

Chanson

Answer 18

a lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular