Learning Objectives

Be ready to...

Relate the social, cultural, and political background during the Medieval period (500-1450) to the function of music during this time.
Characterize the music of the early Christian church, i.e., Gregorian chant.
Describe the difference between the Proper and the Ordinary of the Mass.
Examine the influence of the Cathedral of Notre Dame as a center for organum in medieval music.
Describe the differences between troubadours and trouvères in medieval secular music.
Trace the rise of secular polyphonic chansons set to fixed text forms (rondeau, ballade, virelai) in the French Ars nova.
Define and classify the instrumental music of the medieval period.
Trace the four major developments that took place in Western music during the Middle Ages: the development of pitch and rhythmic notation; the transition from monophony to polyphony; the initial stages of regularly metered music; and the development of the motet and instrumental music.

Medieval Period (476–1450)

From Chant to Polyphony

Building on the Chant

Medieval composers found various ways of adding on to the main body of chant within the Catholic liturgy. In this example, "Quem quaeritis" (Whom do you seek?), a composer imagines the scene just before the standard Easter Introit Resurrexi ("I have risen"). The three Marys (Mary Magdalene and two others, whose identities are disputed) appear at the tomb and are told by the angel that Jesus is no longer there but has risen from the dead. During medieval times, such scene might even be staged as a liturgical drama.

Listen for the dialogue between the angel and the three Marys:

Composer: Anonymous

"Quem Quaeritis"

Guide

0:00—0:14

The angel asks the three Marys the question in the first line:
Quem quaeritis in sepulchro, O Christicole?
Whom seek ye in the sepulcher, O Christians?

0:15—0:27

They reply with the second line:
Jesum Nazerenum crucifixum, O caelicolae.
Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, O heavenly one.

0:28—0:51

The angel gives them news and a command in the last two lines:
Non est hic, surrexit sicut praedixerat.
Ite, nuntiate quia surrexit de sepulchro.
He is not here, he is risen as he foretold.
Go, announce that he has arisen from the grave.