History of Music

By hugolopezortiz
  • Period: 400 to 1400

    Secular vocal music

    Italy:The madrigal
    England:Songs
    France:Chanson
    Spain:
    Romance
    Villancico
    Ensalada
  • Period: 400 to 1400

    Cancioneros

    Cancionero de Palacio:
    With more than 400 pieces.
    Cancionero de Upsala:
    Printed in Venice.
  • Period: 400 to 1400

    Instrumentals forms

    Compositions based on vocal music:
    Tiento
    Compositions with an improvisational feel:
    Toccata
    Variations:
    Diferencias
  • Period: 600 to 800

    Gregorian Chant

    The Roman Catholic Church compiled its liturgical plainsongs.
    We call Gregorian chant in honour of Pope Gregory the Great.
    (504-604)
    Characteristics:
    -Monophonic texture,without instrumental accompaiment.
    -Modal scales and free time.
    -Text in Latin with a religious theme.
    -Performed by male voices and alternates between a soloist and the choir,or between two choirs.
    Classified:
    -Syllabic:One note per syllable
    -Neumatic:A small group of notes per syllable
    -Melismatic:A lot of notes per syllable
  • 800

    Gregorian chant

    To make sure that Gregorian chant was performed in a similar way,it was necessary to write it down.
    This is how the first rules of musical notation were established.
    First symbols were called neumes and they were written on top of the words to show the changes of pitch.
    Neumatic notational system was used ,on a four-line stave.
  • 800

    Liturgical Polyphony

    Mensural notation:
    This included the first symbols related to metre and assigned different note values depending on the duration of the note.
    Forms:
    -Organum: It's the earliest form.The main voice was a Gregorian melody and a second,parallel voice was added.
    -Discantus: A new voice was added to the Gregorian melody that moved in a contrary motion.
    -Conductus: New composition for two to four voices,same text,same rhythm and syllabic style.
  • 800

    Secular Vocal Music

    Characteristics:
    -It has a monophonic texture with instrumental accompaniment.
    -Modal scales and rhythmic modes.
    -Designed for fun or entertaiment.
    -Written in the local language.
    -It's performed by male and female voices.
    Musicians who played secular music were called minstrels.
    -Some minstrels performed in village and city squares and entertained the common people with their art.
    -Court minstrels were part of the court in palaces.
    Goliards who were wandering clerics or mendicants students.
  • 800

    Secular Vocal Music

    The songs of the minstrels were written in songbooks.One of the most common in the Cantigas de Santa María from the reign of King Alfonso X the Wise.
  • 800

    Instrumental Music

    The Catholic Church only allowed the organ in liturgy and no other instruments.Most instruments were only used in secular music.
    So we don't have a faithful record of what they were like.
  • Period: 992 to 1050

    Guido d'Arezzo

    Was a teacher in the cathedral school in Arezzo,Italy.As well as inventing the Guidonian hand,he created the four-line stave and gave the notes the names that w still use today .
    To do this ,he used a hymn dedicated to Saint John the Baptist called Ut Queant Laxis.However,he didn't take into account the note SI,because in those times people thought that this note belonged to the devil.He gave the name 'Ut' to the note that we now call DO (the name changed in the 18th century)
  • Period: 1483 to 1546

    Martin Luther

    Was a German theologian and monk ,known for starting the Protestant Reformation.
    He created a repertoire of simple melodies in the vernacular.