Medieval Period (500-1450)
Secular Music
Music played an important role in medieval society, not only to create a spiritual setting for the church (sacred music), but also—and as importantly—as social entertainment in the court (secular music) and common folk.
Composer: Anonymous
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"Quem Quaeritis"
Composer: Berenguier de Palou
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"Domna, pos vos ay chausida"
Because so little medieval secular music survives, it is difficult to say with certainty how much influence the Roman Catholic Church had on it. The practice of notating secular or instrumental music did not become common until the 15th and 16th centuries. Secular music, with its strong, dance-like rhythms performed by a combination of instruments and voices, often took the form of songs or dances for particular events.
The earliest surviving pieces of secular music are Goliard songs from the late 10th through the 13th centuries. These songs are named after the Goliards, scholars who wandered from one town to another before great universities were established. The subject matter of these songs is not unlike that of today's popular music: wine, women, love, and broken hearts. Carl Orff (1895-1982), a 20th-century German composer, used texts from the Goliards for his cantata Listening Guide Carmina Burana.
Composer: Carl Orff
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"Carmina Burana: Carmina Burana: O Fortuna"
Secular songs in the Middle Ages were usually performed in a particular kind of monophony called monody, which consists of a single melody and minimal supporting accompaniment. The rhythm of these songs is usually set in a dance-like triple meter. From historical writings (if not actual musical examples), we know that jongleurs or minstrels performed secular music in the Middle Ages. Although initially “respectable” society disapproved, these groups of young musicians traveled from city to city and court to court, presenting entertaining shows, eventually forming guilds for training and protection.
Troubadours, Trouvères, and Minnesingers
As secular music became more acceptable in the 12th and 13th centuries, aristocratic poet/composers emerged in different regions: troubadours in southern France, trouvères in northern France, and the Minnesingers and Meistersingers in Germany. Each group used its own particular regional language in its songs. The poems and songs of these groups provide a catalog of early European secular song. Later, their activities extended into southern Spain and Italy.
As secular music became more acceptable in the 12th and 13th centuries, aristocratic poet/composers emerged in different regions.
Bernart de Ventadorn was one of the most famous troubadours—a pop star of his day, if you will. Though his origins remain hazy, an imaginative biography (called a vida, meaning "life") was written about him. Within those pages, it was claimed that his father was a baker or a foot soldier in the castle of Ventadorn, hence the origin of Bernart's name. He was influenced by the traditional courtly customs of troubadour poetry. It is known that he later worked in the service of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who married Henry II of England. Ventadorn is said to have entered a monastery in Dordogne, southern France, where he died in the last decade of the century.
Composer: Bernart de Ventadorn
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"Quan vei la lauzeta mover"
Composer: Bernart de Ventadorn
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"Quan vei la lauzeta mover" [ 00:19-00:45 ]00:26
Composer: Bernart de Ventadorn
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"Quan vei la lauzeta mover" [ 00:45-01:12 ]00:26
de joi sas alas contra'l rai,
que s'oblid'e's laissa chazer
per la doussor c'al aor li vai,
ai tan grans enveya m'en ve
de cui qu'eu veya jauzion,
meravilhas ai, car desse
lo cor de dezirer no'm fon.
for joy his wings in the sun,
and disappear and swoop
for the delight that comes to his heart,
great envy comes upon me
at one so joyful,
and I wonder that in an instant
my heart does not faint for desire.
d'amor e tan petit en sai!
car eu d'amar no'm posc tener
celeis don ja pro non aurai.
Tout m'a mo cor, e tout m'a me,
e se mezeis'e tot lo mon;
e can se'm tolc, no'm laisset re
mas dezirer e cor volo.
of love and I know so little!
For I cannot forbear to love her
from whom I shall have nothing.
She has stolen my heart and my being,
and for herself the whole world;
and when I am parted from her,
there is nothing other than desire
and my yearning here.
A large number of troubadour poems survive, as well as a fairly substantial body of monodic music featuring a single melodic line that follows the rhythm and pattern of the verses. Although scholars disagree regarding the precise number of works in Ventadorn's output, the general consensus is that around 45 poems survive, with music to accompany 18 of them.
Generally speaking, during the 12th and 13th centuries, troubadours weren't the wandering minstrels of the 19th-century imagination. Rather, they were often individuals of high social position: kings, princes, and lords, however limited in their domains. There were also those of lower social status; for example, sons of shopkeepers and tradesmen. Regardless of status, troubadours were influenced by the traditions and conventions of the court, but above all, by courtly notions of idealized love, with all its joys and sorrows. This is not to suggest that idyllic love was the only subject in their repertoire, however. Troubadour songs also featured subjects from the political to the satirical, from the apologetic to the bawdy.
Troubadours were particularly active between 1140 and 1220. It appears that the devastating Albigensian Crusade of 1209, targeted against heretics in southern France, may be to blame for the decline and eventual disappearance of their art. The last known troubadour was Guiraut Riquier (c. 1230-1284).
Regardless of status, troubadours were influenced by the traditions and conventions of the court, but above all, bycourtly notions of idealized love, with all its joys and sorrows.
Dance Music
No matter what instruments were used, almost all instrumental music in the Middle Ages was used for dance purposes. Just as Boccaccio raised the vernacular and popular stories of the day to the level of art, so too did the great composers and performers of the period shape the dances and songs of the lower classes into lasting works of art. The titles of some dances suggests that this was the first time in history that programmatic titles were used. Consider, for example, "Bellicha" (The War-Like Woman), a piece that comes from a northern Italian collection of the early manuscripts of such art dance-music, presently housed in the British Library in London.
Guillaume de Machaut's "Bel Fiore Dança" is another example of the instrumental dances of the time. One of the most popular dances was the Saltarello No. 1, a lively dance of Italian origin with a catchy and simple structure.
Composer: Anonymous
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"Bellicha"
Composer: Guillaume de Machaut
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"Bel Fiore Dança"
Composer: Anonymous
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"Saltarello No. 1"