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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What is the earliest use of the note F#?
I came across Richard Taruskin's transcription of Verbum Patris humanatur, a 12th century conductus in three parts, in The Oxford History of Western Music, Vol. I. In it, he uses a ficta # above some ...
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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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