art in the medieval era: a speedrun

timeline

• first phase

  • earliest surviving manuscript of music

  • gregorian chant becomes mandatory in western Christian churches

  • charlemagne crowned emperor - 800

• second phase

  • gothic cathedrals built

  • universities founded

  • notre dame polyphony

• third phase

  • papal schism

  • black death kills almost half of europe

  • hundred years' war

  • ars nova - new age, flowering of the arts

intro

• vocal music constitutes most of what survives in written form and is only a tiny fraction of all music in history

  • product of elite, literate classes

  • medieval church music survived so it's mainly what we study - many aspects of western music originate from church music

• vocal music reflects its specific time and culture

• scholars believe early music was similar to ours today (music for weddings, funerals, dance music, etc)

• ancient greeks used music to cure illnesses and restore order to society

• greek music and culture were brought to ancient rome

overview of the early middle ages

• early middle ages to early renaissance saw the spread of Christianity and the advancement of new western ideas and institutions

• ancient greece

  • boethius connected greek musical thought and theory

  • ancient greeks thought that music and astronomy were connected

• disintegration of roman empire

  • spread of Christianity, unifying force in medieval europe

  • latin civilization was spread far and wide (including gregorian chant)

  • slow growth of western european civilization

• the Christian church

  • church and king alliance

    • charlemagne crowned emperor by the pope - no separation of church and state

    • initiated the holy roman empire

    • caused the spread of gregorian chant by missionaries - superimposed on the Christian liturgy throughout frankish lands (frankish lands - anything controlled by charlemagne) - everyone sang the same things because if culture was unified the emperor would be unified and charlemagne would be stronger

  • church music

    • composers, theorists trained by the church

    • ninth century church musicians invented notation

  • history of medieval music was tied to the Christian church

three empires:

• byzantine - most direct, preserved greek/roman science, architecture and culture

• arab - strongest and most vibrant, extended greek science, philosophy, arts, trade

• western europe - weakest and most fragmented

political change and economic development

european kings:

• king louis's death divided the empire and caused the modern european nations to begin to emerge - western part became france, eastern part (holy roman empire) became germany (lots of musical development here), england emerged, italy and spain remained fragemented

economic progress:

• twelfth century - growth of markets, towns, cities

• technological expansion caused growth in progress

• increasing food supply raised standard of living and caused populations growth

classes of society:

• feudal agricultural society (nobility, religious, peasants)

• trade promoted growth

• music was enjoyed at all levels of society

learning and the arts, 1050-1300

• church prospered

  • new sense of security throughout europe

  • resources for learning and the arts

  • churches and cathedrals started to appear more, first in romanesque style and later gothic

  • polyphony complemented gothic architecture

  • early thirteenth century - notre dame cathedral in paris, notre dame polyphony

education:

• cathedral schools - western and central europe

• universities taught liberal arts, theology, law and medicine

  • aristotle became popular but his teachings on natural science were forbidden in paris

  • lectures began to be given about his works to defend them, causing university education to take hold

  • scholasticism - curriculum attempted to reconcile the various authorities of Christian teaching (church fathers) with classical philosophers

courtly love:

• new literature of knighthood, chivalry

• literature in which love worked like a feudal relationship - one person is subject to the other's will

• usually between a knight and a lady who was already married to a lord - scandalous so they were kind of written in code (ex. to mary)

• highly idealized image of love

• mostly sung, repertory of medieval song

overview of the 14th century

• famine, war, plague, church scandals/power struggles

• western europe's economy and population declined

  • hundred years' war between england and france

  • famine, 1 in 10 perish

  • plague kills one third of europe

• papal crisis

  • corrupt french pope

  • the church lived in luxury and corruption, dispensing liberal patronage to musicians, artists and scholars

  • papal schism (1378) - two popes claimed legitimacy and forced europe to take sides