Oxford History of Music, Chapter 1 Flashcards
Learn major points of music history
What was the first Western repertory to be notated as a coherent body of work (8th - 9th centuries)?
Music set to the official Latin texts of Western Christian worship. Roman church chant.
What were characteristics of Roman church chant?
Vocal and monophonic (single-voiced).
How and why was Roman church chant preserved in notated form?
In the period of relative political stability following the creation of the Holy Roman Empire (when Charlemagne was crowned temporal leader on Christmas 800 CE), arts flourished.
Who was the central figure in standardizing administrative, legal and canonical practices in the early Holy Roman Empire?
Alcuin, or Albinus of York (ca. 735-804), an English scholar invited by Charlemagne around 781 to set up a cathedral school.
Which studies were known as the “trivium” among the seven “liberal arts” of the ancients?
Grammar, logic and rhetoric.
Which studies were known as the “quadrivium” among the seven “liberal arts” of the ancients?
Arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music
How was music considered within the “quadrivium”?
In entirely theoretical terms as an art of measurement: measurement of harmonic ratios (tunings and intervals) and of rhythmic quantities (classical poetic meters). It made absence of notation possible.
What is the significance of Charlemagne’s “Admonitio generalis” (‘General advisory”) of March 23, 789?
This order to the Frankish clergy sought to replace Gallican rites with Roman liturgical texts and tunes that had to be sung (for one does not “call upon God” in conventional manners of speaking).
According to legend, who was the composer of “Gregorian chant”?
Pope Gregory I, who reigned from 590 to 604. According to one account, he received inspiration from the Holy Spirit in the guise of a dove. (Depictions of St. Gregory typically show him with a dove near his mouth.) He is known as “Pope Gregory the Great” and is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students and teachers.
How did the legend of St. Gregory advance migration of Roman chant into northern Europe?
The legend was a propaganda ploy contrived to persuade the northern churches that the Roman chant was better than theirs.
What is an “antiphoner”?
A book containing the music for the liturgical calendar.
In addition to Pope Gregory I, which other pope was credited with composing Gregorian chant?
Pope Gregory II (reigned 715-731) was also credited with composing the chants. (No one person can be credited with composing all chant).
Where did Christian psalmody (and the earliest form of Gregorian chant) originate?
Not in the traditions of pre-Christian Jewish worship (whose temple rites came to an end with the Roman destruction of the temple in 70 CE). It started in the secluded vigils of Christian monks.
What is psalmody?
Psalmody is the use of the biblical psalms in worship, as distinguished from “hymnody,” the creation and use of extrabiblical poetic and musical compositions in worship.
What is hymnody?
The creation and use of extrabiblical poetic and musical compositions in worship. (Psalmody uses Biblical psalms.)
How did Christian psalmody emphasize monophony?
Christian psalmody emphasized metaphors of community and discipline (monastic ideals), symbolized by unaccompanied by singing in unison. It reflects not the primitive origins of music, but the actual rejection of earlier practices, both Judaic and pagan, that were far more elaborate and presumably polyphonic.
Who took some of the first steps toward organizing the ceaseless cyclic psalm-chanting of early monastic vigils into a liturgy?
St. Benedict of Nursia, writing in his famous Regula morachorum, the book of rules for the monastery Benedict founded in Monte Cassino in 529.
How was monastic psalmody practiced in vigils?
To help keep them awake and assist in meditation, monks would read and recite constantly, chiefly from the Bible, and particularly from the Psalter. Eventually, the practice was to recite the Psalter in an endless cycle.
What is a melisma?
Melisma, plural melismata, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note.
What is a responsory?
A responsory is any psalm, canticle or other sacred musical work sung responsorially, that is, with a cantor or small group singing verses while the whole choir or congregation respond with a refrain. A responsory has two parts: a respond (or refrain), and a verse.
