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Concise History of Western Music FIFTH EDITION

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PART ONE

The Ancient and Medieval Worlds PART CONTENTS 1. Music in Ancient Greece and Early Christian Rome 15 2. Chant and Secular Song in the Middle Ages 27 I

3. Polyphony through the Thirteenth Century 49 4. French and Italian Music in the Fourteenth Century 66

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rom the beginning of human existence, singing has been a natural outlet for the expression of feelings. Probably even before the development of language, the utterances of the human voice gave vent to basic emotions - the wails of lament, the howls of pain, the giggles of joy, the quavering of fear. Once combined with language. singing became a powerful means of communicating not only generalized feelings, but also the most personal and subtle sentiments. By heightening and coloring the words, the singing voice can render their meaning with a force greater than they have when merely spoken. In fact, vocal music dominates the first two parts of our history- antiquity through the Renaissance - but not because that is all there was. Rather, it constitutes most of what survives in written form. And that music. in turn. is almost exclusively a product of the elite and literate classes of society and only a tiny fraction of all the music that was made through these centuries. Nevertheless, since the advent of recorded history, attitudes toward singing have reflected the cultural and intellectual concerns peculiar to a given time and place. For example, the ancient Greeks stressed vocal music over instrumental music

Troubadour from a thirteenth-century manuscript. (G,a nn , Dagli Ori i/ The Ar1 Archive at Art Resource. NY.)

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,1nd \t t'd1nal \Xorld ,-

The Ancient and Medieval Worlds ca . 500 c~. Boeth,us, D

,nsrirutione mu. .ca

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lll1 1111 11 1,11t· d Ill I

,I Hi bl I IJtl

M usH·tJn , ... ,th L. uha1.,

582

8.C.E .

Famous mus,..:festival compehllon at Pythion games

Pl.11,1

9 th ce nt Ea rliest notateJ manuscript of Gregorian chant

800 I.C.E. 800

B. C. E.

Rise of Gree~ c ity-states

ca. JJ C.f.

590

Crucifixion of Jesus

Gregory I ("the Grear ) elected pope

753 B.C.f.

70

Rome founded

Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem

660

B.C .E.

Byzantium founded

392

co. 500

Christian ity becomes official Romon religion

B.C.E.

Romon Republic begins

400 ca. 380

B. C. E.

l

Ir

Founding of Islam by Muhammad

800 Charlemagne crowned emperor by pope

Saint Augustine, Confessions

800-821 Rule of Saint Benedicr

ca. 530

introduced in Frankish lands

Plato, Republic co. 330 11.C.E. Aristotle, Politics

ca. 610-622

(Monastic) Rule of Saint

Benedict

because they expected a dist111ctivt> cha racter (ethos) from the ir arts that 0111.1 words could impart ro music. A ll ancient Christian music was vocal. but rluriugd,~ 111 M id we-,r. MI fr 01 Bnt,11n Ill thr nvnh ll' £t_!.Y JJf Ill th e ..,,urh (see r ~g ure J. 2 ) Th(> tn ll ',J(.,;ri;..hc,r.

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du ,. hr,,ugh, ~tth ih" m ""'j h:i~ 11•:ilh tha t o f the C N'f rn11--h· .in,1 mu~,c-JI cr.i:-. \c, e . Th i> papacy grndually gained sec ular autho ri ty: monas tic comrr.ur. ties . mos tly followi ngthe Rule of Sa Int Benedict. preserved class ical lea r ru ng. or~ mi ssiona ries, se nt to convert German ic and other tribes. s pread Laun civdwt, ~ far and wide , including wbat became the firs t lite rate repe rto ry of wo rld a c ontlllU . ·r d civtl1zatJO Th B . ~ d the promise of a uni ie ll three empires . e yzantin ei; PreEast. an ich to a d l M European culture owes ce architecture , an cu tu_re . o~t Writings ek and Roman sc1en , . ly because Byzantine scribes copied se n 'e d Gre. . Greece exist on . that survive from ancient eek hilosophy and science , fostered trade and them . Th e Arabs extended Gr dp · ne chemistry. technology. and mathe. b ted to me ici ' h· d h industrv, and contn u f l'terature , arc itecture , an ot e r arts . patrons o I f 8 H . matics. Arab rulers were k ' h kingdom and , a ter oo, oly Roman I f the Fran is . H . Charlemagne. as ru er o . d artistic achievement. e improved ted learning an . d h emperor. also promo . h ls in monasteries an cat edral towns . . g pnrnary sc oo education . encouragin . cholarship and the arts , Charlemagne h. l By sponsoring s throughout 1s rea m . . ( 8 1 _ ) made their courts into centers for d h. L ·s I the Pious r. 4 43 an is son ou1 l 1·£ setting a pattern for Western rul e rs that intellectual and cultura 1 e. endured for a thousand years.

II\

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Political Change and Economic Development European kings

After Louis's death, his empire was divided. Over the next few centuries the modern European nations began to emerge, although their boundaries changed fre quently (see Figure l.4). The western part of the empire became France. Until about 1~00. the French king was relatively weak, directly ruling only the area around Paris, while other regions were governed by nobles who owed nominal allegiance to the king but often acted independently. Their courts provided opportunities for poets and musicians, nurturing the troubadours and trouveres (see Chapter~). In the eastern part of the empire, German kings claimed the title of emperor as Ch~rlemagne's successors. Their realm, eventually known as the Holy Roman Empire, rncluded non-German lands as well, from the Netherlands to ~orthern Italy. !he regi_o nal nobility in the empire competed for prestige by h1nng the best srngers, mstrumentali'sts a d h. h fueled the . . , n composers, w 1c . development of ~us1c until the nineteenth century. Outside the former Frankish lands, a centralized kingdom emerged · E d . . h tury and . m ng1an m the late mnt cen contmued after the Norman Conque t O f' E . · d fra occur r e d 1n th e lu u rlt'1·n t h ct· ntnr y f ro n l n u s in ll v he ·r . . . ing ai the Chdieau de .\forr;a,r. Chm-0n. in March 1428. She 1s dressed tn knight's armor ana ts being gree1ed by Kmg Charles VII. (£ rich Lt!~1n1, Art l\cscn:n·c ,

The Ancient and Medieval Worlds . e and nature also spurrt'll adva11(·t·s 11, M and contro Id rseas . . ( '' cir e eoriesofli crhtand v1s 1un thf' d1 1d ~r·,"·f 1 ,,r and t ee h no Iogy. T,1 n . . . ·t . of k11owle d ge) were highl y ref11wd . a nd I 111-1 t h e acqu 1s1 1011 . . , • . . ,,. 11., . . lore d at the u nive rs1t 1es. o .f Pans and .Ox ford • ,r,, o f motion. exp . 1 v1.d e d t h e conre ptual framework for C,a ltleu s t-'Xper 111 w m ·s 111, • • hundred yea rs late r. . . . An increasing inte rest in the n atu ral world . the ind1v1dual, and human nature led to a style in art and lite rature that was lrut-rtrJ life. During an outbreak of plagu e in Florence.' Cio~·a 11n, Boccd, cw wrote his Decameron.. based on the premise o l ten t rai elc,,.5 escaping to the countryside who amuse each other by tell ing Muries. The pilgrims so imaginatively brought to life by Cf'off n-i Chauce r in his masterpiece . Canterbury Tales. engage in the same pastime on their way to the s hrine of Saint Thomas Becktt . the marty red archbishop of Canterbury. who was assassinat ed in the cathedral the re in 1170. Italian artists . like the sculptor Cir, Figure /. 9 Giotto. The Nativity. detail. van ni Pisano and the painter C iotro. anticipated the Rena15 • ca. 1305. sance in their works by incorporating class ica l e lements of (Came r apboto Art e ,A rt Resou r ce . NY.) symmetry and balance and d e picti n g the human form 1, 11 h greater realism (Figures l.1 and I.9). The elite music of the late Middle Ages reflecrs many of these trends. A preArt and literature occupation with s tructure and pleasure in ce rtain ge nres s urfaced for the first time, pe rhaps partly as a respon se to t h e diso rder in socie ty (C hapte r 4). Compose rs in France and Italy ex tended the vf'rnaeular r ep e- rto ry o f courtly love I_H irs to the poly phonic realm, and the lalrnrate tex turt's and rhy thmic cumplira Music t ions characteristic of the rc p s uf the cou rt at Av ignon (see Figure I. 10). Pulyphonir c hurch mus ic flouri s h e d . a nd nut only 111 the cathedrals . a s princes and pat ron, in every country s upp o rt f-'d m11s1cia 11 s tu write: and pe rform music fo r thei r private chape ls. Loth to adorn tht' liturgy and tu fustt'r a se nse u f their own importance.

Figure I. 10

Scmes of Earthly Life.

d etail from a fresco by Andrea Bonaiuti da Firenze . The uppe r figures include a vit:lla playe r. a fal con e r, a woman holding a mon key. and a m e rchant: below the m is a gruup uf dancers accompanied by a bag pipe r. The context s uggests they represent vice or over· iridulgence in worldly pa s timt>s and pl easures. ( Pho ro cour1 r •y o f the

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Music in Ancient Greece and Early Christian Ron1e PRELUDE

T

he history of Western music - that is . the art mu sic of Europe and th e Americas . as opposed to the musics of many Ea s te rn and othe r cultures - begins with the ancient civilizations of the Near East and Mediterranean regions , particularly ancient Greece and Rome . Like many ele ments of European and American culture such as philosophy. literature. visual arts . and government. Western music has tangible connections to these early civilizations. links that go back more than three thousand years . We acknowledge these connections when we design our Supreme Court and other civic buildings to look like ancient Greek temples . when we talk about platonic love , and when we build bridges supported by Roman arches . Unlike the surviving statues and architectural ruins of antiquity. however. the musical works themselves have vanished , except for about fort yfo·e Greek songs and hymns (praise songs). But knowledge of Greco - Roman musical heritage was transmitted to modern civilization through written descriptions and through images that survived in painting or sculpture , on vases. buildings. tombs . and other artifacts from the ancient world . This evidence suggests that ancient Greek music has much in common with Western music . Then. as now, music was used in religious ceremonies, as popular entertainment. and as accompaniment to drama . Greek music theory-especially its ideas concerning pitch-was passed on to the Romans and became the basis for Western music theory. During the first and second centuries. when the Roman Empire was in its heyday, cultivated people were supposed to be educated in music. just as they were expected to know Greek and Latin. Many of the emperors were patrons of music. and one - Nero-even aspired to personal fame as a musician. With the decline of the Roman Empire, the intellectual musical heritage of ancient Greece and Rome was transmitted to the West , if incompletely and imperfectly. through the early Christian Church, specifically in the writings of the Church Fathers and other scholars who studied and preserved this enormous body of information about music and other subjects. As the public rituals and musical practices of the early Church spread from Jerusalem to Asia Minor and westward into Africa and Europe , they picked up musical elements from different areas of the Mediterranean region. At first there was little s tandard it.at ion but as the pres tige of the Roman emperor declined , the importance of the

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Prelude ,5 Mu s ic in Anc ie nt Greek Life a nd Thou ght ,6 Roman Music. 200 B. C. 1:.- 500 C. E.

20

The Early Chris tian Church: Mu s ical Thought 2 0 The Early Christia n Church: Musical Practice 22

Postlude

2 .5

CHAPTER REPERTORY

Epitaph of Seikilos (first century C.E.)

16

MusH: .n ..!\nn~nt Gref-'cc Jnti t.irly Cbnin1 an Rome . ) incre1tsed . and Ch n s11ans bega n 10 ackn0 ...., 1 Th · R nauersoffallhanddocrnne. 1s orrundom 1 1 tdl'N' tht- authontv ofR orof" in · f h C ~.1 II ·, " t O tt1e re,, ul auon and stankilos. proba bly fi rst cer11ury·Cf. Set> the tmnscnpuon in .\ ,Unt I ( '-4t tooa l Mu:;nim .

Coprnh~g~ u. DepHl m.-nt of (: 1. .. ,"~! ~nd ..;r., us1,ru Auuqu .\lCo, fn H·nt or~ ~ o " l ll- ie~ :; r n 1 \,·c , n • 1 ~ r,! e,,. le co rrect pro nu nciat ion of the ancie '

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