Questions tagged [medieval]
For questions about the era of Western music from about 500 A.D. to 1400, just before the Renaissance. Medieval music includes liturgical music (like Gregorian chant or choral music) as well as secular music.
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Why is C the tenor of phrygian?
After teaching some students about medieval church modes, I took a question as to precisely why the tenor/confinalis of phrygian/mode III was C rather than B. I answered according to what I had been ...
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What are 'modal rhythm' and 'mensural rhythm'?
The following is from Harvard Dictionary of Music 2nd Edit.
From the definition of 'Discant' (bold added):
[...] The ideal of contrary motion was mentioned in the 13th-century "Tractatus de ...
user88063
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In Medieval music theory was the symmetry of dorian mode considered a kind of tonal fundamental?
This existing answer and comment (https://music.stackexchange.com/a/17818/23919) sort of addresses my question.
I don't know anything beyond mode I was dorian, lots of music was dorian, and Fux starts ...
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Was there a conscious decision of medieval composers to compose within a harmonic framework?
How much were medieval composers (such as Hildegard von Bingen) aware of modal approach when they composed and "engineered" their pieces?
Now, this question is almost stupid. They didn't compose ...
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Fivefold division of the whole tone - What does it mean?
I am recently reading this article: Jan W. Herlinger. Journal of the American Musicological Society. Vol. 34, No. 2 (Summer, 1981), pp. 193-216 (Title: Marchetto's Division of the Whole Tone). In the ...
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Relationship of Hurdy-Gurdy and Organ?
Just wondering why this is entitled "Hurdy-Gurdy With Organ". Is it just a Hurdy-Gurdy alone? If so why would it say "With Organ"? It sounds like a riff on G natural minor. I think there's a drone on ...
user34288
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Tetrachords in medieval music
Are tetrachords used in medieval/renaissance music the same way as modern chords are used in modern music (as a base for the melody)? And if so... how are the applied?
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What do 'dominant' and 'plagal' mean in medieval music?
In classical style brief definitions would be...
Dominant: a major chord, built on the tone a perfect fifth above the tonic, used to form authentic, half, and deceptive cadences.
Plagal: a cadence ...
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How could the medieval chants be classified before any notation was available?
We all have in mind the image of a medieval mode as a scale with a pattern of tones and semitones with a finalis, a specific range, etc.
However, it seems that medieval chants were classified ...
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Why is a bourdon tone added to this Von Bingen antiphone?
Consider the antiphone Spiritus sanctus vivificans vita of Hildegard Von Bingen [sound, score]
In the recording, in addition to the notated voice, one note is held throughout the antiphone. Why is ...
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Different approaches to Latin pronunciation in Early Music
I know there are several different ways to pronounce Latin. I think no one sings classical music using Classical Latin pronunciation in which, for instance, "c" is pronounced as /k/. I believe the ...
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Is there a school of Medieval-Russian music?
I'm researching music for the SCA, and I'm supposed to be looking for specific music from the Russian (as a culture) area. I have plenty of information on Medieval music as a whole, but I can't find ...
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Whats the difference between Organum, Motet, and Clausula?
Organa, Motets, and clausulae were all common in the 13th century, written and composed by the then-leading School of Notre Dame (Leonin and Perotin). However, I've found it really hard to understand ...
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Who were Anonymous I-III? Was there an Anonymous V?
An important treatise on medieval music theory was written in the 13th century. His or her name was lost to history, and a 19th-century French historian later dubbed him/her "Anonymous IV". This ...
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What is the difference between Gregorian chant and Gothic chant?
I understand both belong to the plainchant class of music from the pre-Renaissance period. However, I am not sure if they differ in any identifiable way. I have also heard the term Roman chant being ...
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Analysis of Greensleeves
I had a go at chording out GreenSleeves today:
(EDIT: Revised image, thanks ℵ₀)
This is very exciting, as it is completely off my map. Here be dragons!
The central section (m9-12) looks like a IV ->...
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Analysis of Scarborough Fair
I'm attempting to figure out what is going on in terms of harmony with this song.
This is the best I have managed so far (supposing a tonal center of A):
Chords are:
Am Em G ...
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Are there any documentaries on the subject of Medieval and/or Renaissance western music and its practice?
I am looking mostly for the essential information on polypohony, gregorian chant, techniques of the time and their development etc, in order to get a grasp of the subject, names and times so I can ...
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How to read accidentals in medieval music "modern" notation?
I am writing an instrumental orchestration of De Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame, Kyrie. I found scores in IMSLP here and here.
These scores show accidentals above notes, sometimes in parenthesis. I ...
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Is this pseudoCode for composing a medieval song accurate/adequate?
I've created some pseudocode for some software that is supposed to compose music independently, given a specific musical time period. This particular algorithm is supposed to create a medieval song, ...
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Which were the most popular key signatures in the Medieval era? [closed]
I am writing a piece of composition software and need information regarding different musical eras in order to make the algorithms work for different time periods. Therefore it would help to know if ...
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What's the earliest known piece of polyphonic music?
Do we know what is the earliest known piece of polyphonic music?
I know that there are some 12-th century composers like Léonin and Pérotin that did this kind of thing, but did they compose the ...
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Is there a name for this: text syncopates otherwise unsyncopated vocal music?
There's an interesting musical phenomenon in "O Virgo Splendens" (14th century, in the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat) as it is consistently interpreted across all editions I have ever encountered.
The ...
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