Early Polyphony In The Medieval Era

Early Polyphony in the Medieval Era

Young J. Kim

Music 386: History of the Medieval through the Baroque Eras

November 17, 2015

Music in the Medieval Ages was considered to be one of the longest periods in musical history, which consisted of almost of a thousand years of European musical development. From 500 to 1450 A.D., social and religious developments played an important role in the way music was composed and played. Music in the early medieval period was divided into two categories: sacred and secular music. Christianity was a pivotal role in medieval culture in which an entire musical style was developed to support the religion. Medieval hierarchy influenced in the development in secular music, which
carried a difference purpose compared to sacred music.
Sacred music was developed as an offering to God, while secular music was used solely for entertainment purposes. Troubadours, Trouvère and Minnesingers throughout Europe helped develop secular music and passed them down orally because of their lack of proper music training. Musicians of the church on the other hand, had the ability to write down their compositions through proper musical training either through a university or other formal musical education programs. Because of the domination of the early Christian church during this period, sacred music was the most prevalent. At the time, the Christian church was a very powerful social institution. Although writings about the Medieval Ages gave us little information about the history, the preservation of church music helped us understand the styles that were developed in the Medieval Ages like Polyphony. Polyphony is a texture in music, in which two or more lines of independent melodies are produced simultaneously. Compared to monophony, two
or more melodic lines have relatively equal importance when performed simultaneously. A lot of history went into the development of Polyphony prior to Medieval Ages. With the help of Emperor Constantine I in 313, Christianity was legalized in Rome. It was not until 392, when Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of Rome. Before, the Roman Catholic Church was Catholic and persecuted Christians. This was important because of how Christianity led to the development of Polyphony. Christianity was greatly influenced by Jewish roots. Christianity borrowed elements of Jewish religious traditions including chanting of scripture and singing of Psalms. Psalms were poems from the Book of Psalms that praised God in Hebrew. The practice of singing Psalms and hymns eventually became a standard in the medieval church. However, some of the early church leaders believed that music without words was considered secular. Ancient Greeks believed that music had the ability to alter a person ethos, the characteristics of ones spirit. Christian leaders condemned these Pagan thoughts and instrumental music was strictly forbidden in the church. In 395, the Roman Empire was split between the Western and Eastern Empire.
Although the Western Empire collapsed in 476, the Eastern Empire flourished for almost a millennium until the Turks invaded in 1453. Throughout the years, Christianity became diversified throughout the Byzantine Empire. Each region had a standardized calendar, rite and liturgy. Plainchants were body of chants that were used in the liturgies of a service. Plainchants were derived from existing Jewish and Byzantine chants. One of the most distinct features of a plainchant was that it was monophonic. It was made up of a single melody without any harmony, resulting in one musical part. This eventually developed into the Gregorian
Chant. The Gregorian Chant was a monophonic, a capella piece sung in a religious service. The Gregorian Chant was believed to be derived from Pope Gregory I. Historians believe that Pope Gregory I was responsible for bringing the chant to the Western Empire. In the early fifth and sixth century, plainchants were distinct from region to region. Early Gregorian Chants were written down through the introduction of notations. Because Gregorian Chants were passed down through oral tradition, some of the melodies were changed and became corrupt over time. The reason why notation was invented was to assure that the melody would be played exactly the same each time it was sung. One of the earliest forms of notation was called neumes. Latin for gesture