Find information about the name of a medieval composer. Musical art of the Middle Ages

From the 12th century in art, the antithesis characteristic of the aesthetics of the Middle Ages is reflected, when sacred music - the “new song” is opposed to “old”, that is, pagan music. At the same time, instrumental music, both in the Western and Eastern Christian traditions, was considered a less worthy phenomenon than singing.

"Maastricht Book of Hours", the Maastricht rite. First quarter of the 14th century. Netherlands, Liege. British Library. Stowe MS 17, f.160r / Detail of a miniature from the Maastricht Hours, Netherlands (Liège), 1st quarter of the 14th century, Stowe MS 17, f.160r.

Music is inseparable from holidays. Traveling actors, professional entertainers and entertainers, are associated with holidays in medieval society. The people of this craft, who won popular love, were called differently in written monuments. Church authors traditionally used classical ancient Roman names: mime / mimus, pantomim / pantomimus, histrion / histrio. The Latin term joculator was generally accepted - a joker, a joker, a joker. Representatives of the class of entertainers were called dancers / saltator; jesters /balatro, scurra; musicians /musicus. Musicians were distinguished by the types of instruments: citharista, cymbalista, etc. French name"juggler" / jongleur; in Spain, the word "huglar" / junglar corresponded to it; in Germany - "spielman" / Spielmann, in Rus' - "buffoon". All these names are practically synonyms.

About medieval musicians and music - briefly and fragmentarily.


2.

Maastricht Book of Hours, BL Stowe MS 17, f.269v

Illustrations - from the Dutch manuscript of the first quarter of the XIV century - "Maastricht Book of Hours" of the British Library. Images of marginal borders make it possible to judge the structure of musical instruments and the place of music in life.

Since the 13th century, wandering musicians have been increasingly striving for castles and cities. Together with the knights and representatives of the clergy, the court minstrels surround their crowned patrons. Musicians and singers are indispensable participants in the entertainment of the inhabitants of knightly castles, companions of gentlemen and ladies in love.

3.

f.192v

There trumpets and trombones rumbled like thunder,
And the flutes and pipes rang with silver,
The sound of harps and violins accompanied singing,
And the singers received many new dresses for zeal.

[Kudruna, 13th-century German epic poem]

4.

f.61v

Theoretical and practical music was part of the training program for the ideal knight, she was revered as a noble, refined fun. They especially loved the melodious viola with its delicate chords and the melodic harp. The vocal solo was accompanied by playing the viol and harp not only by professional jugglers, but also by famous poets and singers:

“Tristram was a very capable student and soon mastered the seven major arts and many languages. Then he studied the seven kinds of music and became famous as a famous musician who had no equal.

[“The Saga of Tristram and Ysonda”, 1226]

5.


f.173v

Tristan and Isolde in all literary fixations of the legend are skillful harpists:

When he sang, she played
Then she changed...
And if one sang - the other
He struck the harp with his hand.
And singing, full of longing,
And the sounds of strings from under the hand
Converged in the air and there
We flew up to the sky together.

[Gottfried of Strasbourg. Tristan. First quarter of the thirteenth century]

6.


f.134r

From the "biographies" of Provencal troubadours it is known that some of them improvised on instruments and were then called "violar".

7.


f.46r

Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation Frederick II Staufen (1194-1250) "played various instruments and was taught to sing"

8.

f.103r

The harps, violas and other instruments were also played by women, as a rule - juggleresses, occasionally - girls from noble families and even higher persons.

So, the French court poet of the XII century. sang the vielist queen: “The queen sings sweetly, her song merges with the instrument. The songs are good, the hands are beautiful, the voice is gentle, the sounds are quiet.

9.


f.169v

Musical instruments were varied and gradually improved. Related instruments of the same family formed many varieties. There was no strict unification: their shapes and sizes largely depended on the desire of the master maker. In written sources, identical instruments often had different names or, conversely, different types were hidden under the same names.

Images of musical instruments are not connected with the text - I am not an expert in this matter.

10.


f.178v

The group of stringed instruments was subdivided into families of bowed, lute and harp. The strings were made from twisted mutton intestines, horse hair or silk threads. From the 13th century they were increasingly made of copper, steel, and even silver.

Bowed string instruments, which had the advantage of a sliding sound with all semitones, were best suited to accompany the voice.

The Parisian master of music of the 13th century, John de Groheo / Grokejo, put the viola in first place among the strings: it “transmits all musical forms more subtly”, including dance ones.

11.

f.172r

Depicting the court festivity in the epic Wilhelm von Wenden (1290), the German poet Ulrich von Eschenbach highlighted the viela:

Of all the things I've heard so far,
Worthy viela only praise;
It's good for everyone to listen to it.
When your heart is wounded
Then this torment will be healed
From the gentle sweetness of the sound.

Music Encyclopedia [M.: Soviet encyclopedia, Soviet composer. Ed. Yu. V. Keldysh. 1973-1982] reports that viela is one of the common names for medieval bowed stringed instruments. And what Ulrich von Eschenbach meant - I don’t know.

12.

f.219v. By clicking on the picture - the tool is larger

14.

f.216v

In the representations of the people of the Middle Ages, instrumental music was ambiguous, possessed polar qualities and evoked directly opposite emotions.

“She moves some to empty gaiety, others to pure tender joy, and often to holy tears” [Petrarch].

15.

f.211v

It was believed that well-behaved and restrained music, softening morals, introduces souls to divine harmony, facilitates the comprehension of the mysteries of faith.

16.


f.236v

On the contrary, exciting orgiastic melodies serve to corrupt the human race, lead to the violation of Christ's commandments and final condemnation. Through unbridled music many vices enter the heart.

17.


f.144v

Church hierarchs followed the teachings of Plato and Boethius, who clearly separated the ideal, sublime "harmony of heaven" and vulgar, obscene music.

18.


f.58r

The monstrous musicians that abound in the fields of Gothic manuscripts, including the Maastricht Book of Hours, are the embodiment of the sinful craft of the histrions, who were simultaneously musicians, dancers, singers, animal trainers, storytellers, etc. The Histrions were declared "servants of Satan".

19.


f.116r

Grotesque creatures play real or ridiculous instruments. The irrational world of enthusiastically musical hybrids is frightening and ridiculous at the same time. "Surrealistic" evil spirits, taking countless guises, captivate and fool with deceitful music.

20.


f.208v

At the beginning of the XI century. Notker Gubasty, following Aristotle and Boethius, pointed to three qualities of a person: a rational being, a mortal, who knows how to laugh. Notker considered a person both capable of laughter and causing laughter.

21.


f.241r

At the holidays, spectators and listeners, among others, were entertained by musical eccentrics who parodied and thus set off the “serious” numbers.

In the hands of comic understudies in the “world inside out”, where habitual relationships are turned upside down, the most seemingly unsuitable objects for music began to “sound” as instruments.

22.


f.92v. From under the clothes of a musician playing on a rooster, the torso of a dragon peeps out

The use of objects in a role unusual for them is one of the methods of buffoon comedy.

23.


f.145v

Fantastic music-making corresponded to the worldview of the square festivities, when the usual boundaries between objects were erased, everything became unstable, relative.

24.

f.105v

In the views of intellectuals from the XII-XIII centuries. there was a certain harmony between the incorporeal sacred spirit and unfettering cheerfulness. Serene, enlightened "spiritual joy", the commandment of unceasing "rejoicing in Christ" are characteristic of the followers of Francis of Assisi. Francis believed that constant sadness is not pleasing to the Lord, but to the devil. In old Provencal poetry, joy is one of the highest courtly virtues. Her cult is born of the life-affirming worldview of the troubadours. “In a multi-toned culture, even serious tones sound differently: reflexes of laughter tones fall on them, they lose their exclusivity and uniqueness, they are supplemented by a laughter aspect.”

25.

f.124v

The need to legalize laughter and jokes did not exclude the struggle against them. The adherents of the faith stigmatized jugglers as "members of the devil's community." At the same time, they recognized that although juggling is a sad trade, but since everyone needs to live, and it will do, provided that decency is observed.

26.

f.220r

“Music has great power and influence on the passions of soul and body; in accordance with this, tunes or musical modes are distinguished. Indeed, some of them are such that, by their measuredness, they induce those who listen to an honest, blameless, humble and pious life.

[Nikolai Orem. Treatise on the configuration of qualities. XIV century]

27.


f.249v

"Timpans, lutes, harps and citharas
They were hot, and couples intertwined
In a sinful dance.
All night long game
Eating and drinking until morning.
So they amused mammon in the form of a pig
And they rode in the temple of Satan.

[Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales]

28.


f.245v

Secular melodies, which, "tickling the ear and deceiving the mind, take us away from good" [John Chrysostom], regarded as a product of sinful corporality, an ingenious creation of the devil. Their corrupting influence must be fought with severe restrictions and prohibitions. The chaotic chaotic music of the infernal elements is part of the world's "liturgy inside out", "idol worship".

29.


f.209r

The vitality of such views is evidenced by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin (1878-1939), recalling the cathedral archpriest of Khlynovsk, small town Saratov province.

“For us, graduates, he made an excursion into the field of art, in particular into music: - But she will play, - and the demons will stir under your feet ... And if you start singing songs, then demonic tails will come out of your throats and climb and climb."

30.


f.129r

And on the other pole. The exciting music of a high ideal coming from the Holy Spirit, the music of the spheres, was conceived as the embodiment of the unearthly harmony of the universe created by the Creator - hence the eight tones of the Gregorian chant, and as an image of harmony in the Christian church. A reasonable and proportionate combination of various sounds testified to the unity of the well-organized city of God. The harmonious harmony of consonances symbolized the well-coordinated correlations of elements, seasons, etc.

The right melody delights and improves the spirit, it is "a call to an exalted way of life, instructing those who are devoted to virtue not to allow anything unmusical, discordant, inconsistent in their manners" [Gregory of Nyssa, IV century]

Footnotes / Literature:
Kudruna / Ed. prepared R. V. Frenkel. M., 1983. S. 12.
The Legend of Tristan and Isolde / Ed. prepared A. D. MIKHAILOV M., 1976. S. 223; S.197, 217.
The Song of the Nibelungs / Per. Yu. B. Korneeva. L., 1972. S. 212. The "sweet tunes" of the minstrels sounded in the gardens and castle halls.
Musical aesthetics of the Western European Middle Ages and Renaissance / Comp. texts by V.P. Shestakov. M., 1966. S. 242
Struve B. A. The process of formation of viols and violins. M., 1959, p. 48.
CulkeP. Monche, Burger, Minnesänger. Leipzig, 1975. S. 131
Darkevich V.P. folk culture Middle Ages: secular festive life in the art of the 9th-16th centuries. - M.: Nauka, 1988. S. 217; 218; 223.
Aesthetics of the Renaissance / Comp. V. P. Shestakov. M., 1981. T. 1. S. 28.
Gurevich A. Ya. Problems of medieval folk culture. S. 281.
Bakhtin M. Aesthetics of verbal creativity. M., 1979. S. 339.
Petrov-Vodkin K. S. Khlynovsk. Euclid space. Samarkand. L., 1970. S. 41.
Averintsev S. S. Poetics of Early Byzantine Literature. M., 1977. S. 24, 25.

Sources for text:
Darkevich Vladislav Petrovich. Secular festive life of the Middle Ages IX-XVI centuries. Second edition, enlarged; M.: Publishing house "Indrik", 2006.
Darkevich Vladislav Petrovich. Folk culture of the Middle Ages: secular festive life in the art of the 9th-16th centuries. - M.: Nauka, 1988.
V. P. Darkevich. Parody musicians in miniatures of Gothic manuscripts // " Artistic language Middle Ages”, M., “Nauka”, 1982.
Boethius. Instructions for music (excerpts) // "Musical aesthetics of the Western European Middle Ages and Renaissance" M .: "Music", 1966
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P.S. Marginalia - drawings in the margins. It would probably be more accurate to call some illustrations a miniature of a part of the page.

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Petrozavodsk State Conservatory (Academy) A.K. Glazunov

Essay

On the topic: "Music of the Middle Ages"

Completed by: student Ilyina Julia

Teacher: A.I. Tokunov

Introduction

Music of the Middle Ages is a period of development of musical culture, covering a period of time from about the 5th to the 14th centuries AD.

The Middle Ages is a great era of human history, the time of the domination of the feudal system.

Periodization of culture:

Early Middle Ages - V - X centuries.

Mature Middle Ages - XI - XIV centuries.

In 395, the Roman Empire split into two parts: Western and Eastern. In the western part on the ruins of Rome in the 5th-9th centuries there were barbarian states: Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, etc. In the 9th century, as a result of the collapse of the empire of Charlemagne, three states were formed here: France, Germany, Italy. The capital of the Eastern part was Constantinople, founded by Emperor Constantine on the site of the Greek colony of Byzantium - hence the name of the state.

In the era of the Middle Ages in Europe, a musical culture of a new type was formed - feudal, combining professional art, amateur music-making and folklore. Since the church dominates in all areas of spiritual life, the basis of professional musical art is the activity of musicians in churches and monasteries. Secular professional art was initially represented only by singers who created and performed epic tales at court, in the homes of the nobility, among warriors, etc. (bards, skalds, etc.). Over time, amateur and semi-professional forms of chivalry music-making developed: in France - the art of troubadours and trouveurs (Adam de la Halle, XIII century), in Germany - minnesingers (Wolfram von Eschenbach, Walter von der Vogelweide, XII-XIII centuries), and also urban artisans. In feudal castles and cities, all sorts of genres, genres and forms of songs are cultivated (epic, "dawn", rondo, le, virele, ballads, canzones, laudas, etc.).

New musical instruments come into everyday life, including those that came from the East (viola, lute, etc.), ensembles (of unstable compositions) arise. Folklore flourishes among the peasantry. There are also "folk professionals": storytellers, itinerant synthetic artists (jugglers, mimes, minstrels, shpilmans, buffoons). Music again performs mainly applied and spiritual-practical functions. Creativity acts in unity with performance (usually in one person).

Gradually, albeit slowly, the content of music, its genres, forms, and means of expression are enriched. In Western Europe from the VI-VII centuries. a strictly regulated system of monophonic (monodic) church music is being formed on the basis of diatonic modes (Gregorian chant), which combines recitation (psalmody) and singing (hymns). At the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennium, polyphony is born. New vocal (choir) and vocal-instrumental (choir and organ) genres are being formed: organum, motet, conduct, then mass. In France, in the 12th century, the first composer (creative) school was formed at the Notre Dame Cathedral (Leonin, Perotin). At the turn of the Renaissance (ars nova style in France and Italy, XIV century), in professional music, monophony was replaced by polyphony, music began to gradually free itself from purely practical functions (serving church rites), the importance of secular genres, including song genres (Guillaume de Masho).

The material basis of the Middle Ages was feudal relations. Medieval culture is formed in the conditions of a rural estate. In the future, the urban environment - the burghers - becomes the social basis of culture. With the formation of states, the main estates are formed: the clergy, the nobility, the people.

The art of the Middle Ages is closely connected with the church. Christian doctrine is the basis of philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, the entire spiritual life of this time. Filled with religious symbolism, art aspires from the earthly, transient to the spiritual, eternal.

Along with the official church culture (high) there was a secular culture (grassroots) - folklore (lower social strata) and chivalry (courtly).

The main centers of professional music early medieval- cathedrals, singing schools attached to them, monasteries - the only centers of education of that time. They studied Greek language and Latin, arithmetic and music.

The main center of church music in Western Europe in the Middle Ages was Rome. At the end of VI - beginning of VII century. the main variety of Western European church music is being formed - the Gregorian chant, named after Pope Gregory I, who carried out the reform of church singing, bringing together and streamlining various church hymns. The Gregorian chant is a monophonic Catholic chant, in which the centuries-old singing traditions of various Middle Eastern and European peoples (Syrians, Jews, Greeks, Romans, etc.) have merged. It was the smooth monophonic unfolding of a single melody that was intended to personify a single will, the focus of attention of the parishioners in accordance with the tenets of Catholicism. The nature of music is strict, impersonal. The chorale was performed by the choir (hence the name), some sections by the soloist. Stepwise movement based on diatonic modes prevails. Gregorian singing allowed many gradations, ranging from the sternly slow choral psalmody to the anniversaries (melismatic chanting of the syllable), requiring virtuoso vocal skill for their performance.

Gregorian singing alienates the listener from reality, causes humility, leads to contemplation, mystical detachment. The text in Latin, which is incomprehensible to the majority of parishioners, also contributes to this effect. The rhythm of singing was determined by the text. It is vague, indefinite, due to the nature of the accents of the recitation of the text.

The diverse types of Gregorian chant were brought together in the main worship service of the Catholic Church - the Mass, in which five stable parts were established:

Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy)

Gloria (glory)

Credo (I believe)

Sanctus (holy)

Agnus Dei (Lamb of God).

Over time, elements of folk music begin to seep into Gregorian chant through hymns, sequences and tropes. If the psalmody was performed by a professional choir of singers and clergy, then the hymns at first were performed by parishioners. They were inserts into official worship (they had features of folk music). But soon the hymn parts of the mass began to supplant the psalmodic ones, which led to the emergence of a polyphonic mass.

The first sequences were a subtext to the melody of the anniversary so that one sound of the melody would have a separate syllable. The sequence becomes a widespread genre (the most popular are Veni, sancte spiritus, Dies irae, Stabat mater). "Dies irae" was used by Berlioz, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov (very often as a symbol of death).

The first samples of polyphony come from monasteries - organum (movement in parallel fifths or fourths), gimel, foburdon (parallel sixth chords), conduct. Composers: Leonin and Perotin (12-13 centuries - cathedral Notre Dame of Paris).

The bearers of secular folk music in the Middle Ages were mimes, jugglers, minstrels in France, spiermans in the countries of German culture, hoglars in Spain, buffoons in Rus'. These itinerant artists were universal masters: they combined singing, dancing, playing the various tools with magic, circus art, puppet theatre.

The other side of secular culture was knightly (courtly) culture (the culture of secular feudal lords). Almost all noble people were knights - from poor warriors to kings. A special knightly code is being formed, according to which a knight, along with courage and valor, had to have refined manners, be educated, generous, magnanimous, faithfully serve the Beautiful Lady. All aspects of knightly life are reflected in the musical and poetic art of the troubadours (Provence - southern France), trouvers (northern France), minnesingers (Germany). The art of troubadours is associated mainly with love lyrics. The most popular genre of love lyrics was the canzone (among the Minnesingers - "Morning Songs" - albs).

Trouvers, widely using the experience of troubadours, created their own original genres: "weaving songs", "May songs". An important area of ​​the musical genres of troubadours, trouvers and minnesingers was song and dance genres: rondo, ballad, virele (refrain forms), as well as heroic epic (French epic "Song of Roland", German - "Song of the Nibelungs"). Crusader songs were common among the minnesingers.

Characteristic features of the art of troubadours, trouvers and minnesingers:

Monophony - is a consequence of the inseparable connection between the melody and the poetic text, which follows from the very essence of musical and poetic art. The monophony also corresponded to the attitude towards the individualized expression of one's own experiences, to a personal assessment of the content of the statement (often the expression of personal experiences was framed by the depiction of pictures of nature).

Mostly vocal performance. The role of the instruments was not significant: it was reduced to the performance of introductions, interludes and postludes framing the vocal melody.

It is still impossible to speak of chivalrous art as professional, but for the first time in the conditions of secular music making, a powerful musical and poetic direction was created with a developed complex means of expression and relatively perfect musical writing.

One of important achievements the mature Middle Ages, starting from the X-XI centuries, was the development of cities (burgher culture). The main features of urban culture were anti-church, freedom-loving orientation, connection with folklore, its comical and carnival character. Gothic develops architectural style. New polyphonic genres are being formed: from the 13th-14th to the 16th centuries. - motet (from French - “word”. For a motet, the melodic dissimilarity of voices that intoned at the same time is typical different texts- often even different languages), madrigal (from Italian - “a song in the native language”, i.e. Italian. The texts are love-lyrical, pastoral), caccha (from Italian - “hunting” - a vocal play on a text depicting hunting).

Folk wandering musicians are moving from a nomadic lifestyle to a sedentary one, populating entire city blocks and forming a kind of "musician workshops". Beginning in the 12th century, folk musicians were joined by vagants and goliards - declassed people from different classes (school students, runaway monks, wandering clerics). Unlike illiterate jugglers - typical representatives of the art of oral tradition - vagantes and goliards were literate: they knew the Latin language and the rules of classical versification, composed music - songs (the range of images is associated with school science and student life) and even complex compositions such as conducts and motets .

Universities have become a significant center of musical culture. Music, more precisely - musical acoustics - together with astronomy, mathematics, physics was part of the quadrium, i.e. a cycle of four disciplines studied at universities.

Thus, in the medieval city there were centers of musical culture, different in character and social orientation: associations of folk musicians, court music, music of monasteries and cathedrals, university musical practice.

The musical theory of the Middle Ages was closely connected with theology. In the few musical-theoretical treatises that have come down to us, music was considered as a "servant of the church." Among the prominent treatises of the early Middle Ages, 6 books “On Music” by Augustine, 5 books by Boethius “On the Establishment of Music”, etc. stand out. A large place in these treatises was given to abstract scholastic issues, the doctrine of the cosmic role of music, etc.

The medieval fret system was developed by representatives of church professional musical art - therefore, the name “church modes” was assigned to the medieval frets. Ionian and Aeolian became established as the main modes.

The musical theory of the Middle Ages put forward the doctrine of hexachords. In each fret, 6 steps were used in practice (for example: do, re, mi, fa, salt, la). Xi was then avoided, because. formed, together with the F, a move to an enlarged quart, which was considered very dissonant and was figuratively called the "devil in music."

Non-mandatory notation was widely used. Guido Aretinsky improved the system of musical notation. The essence of his reform was as follows: the presence of four lines, a tertiary relationship between individual lines, a key sign (originally literal) or coloring of lines. He also introduced syllables for the first six steps of the mode: ut, re, mi, fa, salt, la.

A mensural notation was introduced, where a certain rhythmic measure was assigned to each note (Latin mensura - measure, measurement). Names of durations: maxim, longa, brevis, etc.

The 14th century is the transitional period between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The art of France and Italy of the XIV century was called "Ars nova" (from Latin - new art), and in Italy it had all the properties early renaissance. Main features: refusal to use exclusively church music genres and turning to secular vocal and instrumental chamber genres (ballad, kachcha, madrigal), rapprochement with everyday song, use of various musical instruments. Ars nova is the opposite of the so-called. ars antiqua (lat. ars antiqua - old art), implying the art of music before the beginning of the XIV century. The largest representatives of ars nova were Guillaume de Machaux (14th century, France) and Francesco Landino (14th century, Italy).

Thus, the musical culture of the Middle Ages, despite the relative limited means, represents a higher level in comparison with the music of the Ancient World and contains the prerequisites for the flourishing of musical art in the Renaissance.

music middle ages Gregorian troubadour

1. Basics

Troubadours(French troubadours, from Ox. trobar - compose poetry) or, as they are often called, minestrels, are poets and singers of the Middle Ages, whose work spans the period from the eleventh to the thirteenth century, and its heyday begins in the twelfth, and ends at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The art of troubadours originated in the southern part of France, its main center was the Provence region. The troubadours composed their poems in the ca-Roman dialect, which was common in France south of the Loire, as well as in the regions of Italy and Spain located next to France. The troubadours were active participants in the social, religious and political life of society. They were persecuted for criticizing the church. The Albigensian crusade in 1209-1229 put an end to their art. The art of the troubadours was related to the work of the trouveurs. Appearing in the southern regions of France under the same historical conditions as the music of the troubadours, the lyrical works of the trouvères had much in common with it. Moreover, the trouvères were directly and very strongly influenced by the poetry of the troubadours, which was due to an intense literary exchange.

Minnesingers- German lyrical poets-singers who sang of knightly love, love for the Lady, service to God and overlord, crusades. The lyrics of the Minnesingers have survived to the present day, for example in the Heidelberg Manuscript. The word "Minnezang" is used in several ways. In a broad sense, the concept of minnesang combines several genres: secular knightly lyrics, love (in Latin and German) poetry of vagants and spielmans, as well as the later “court (courtly) village poetry” (German höfische Dorfpoesie). In a narrow sense, minnesang is understood as a very specific style of German knightly lyrics - courtly literature that arose under the influence of the troubadours of Provence, France and Flanders.

folk music(or folklore, English folklore) - musical and poetic creativity of the people. It is an integral part of folklore and, at the same time, is included in the historical process of the formation and development of cult and secular, professional and mass musical culture. At the conference of the International Council of Folk Music (early 1950s), folk music was defined as a product of a musical tradition formed in the process of oral transmission by three factors - continuity (continuity), variance (variability) and selectivity (selection of the environment). and written musical traditions. Since the development of written musical traditions, there has been a constant mutual influence of cultures. Thus, folk music exists in a certain territory and at a specific historical time, that is, it is limited by space and time, which creates a system of musical and folklore dialects in every folk musical culture.

Gregorian chant(Latin cantus gregorianus; English Gregorian chant, French chant grégorien, German gregorianischer Gesang, Italian canto gregoriano), Gregorian chant [cantus planus is the traditional liturgical singing of the Roman Catholic Church. The term "Gregorian chant" comes from the name Gregory I the Great (Pope of Rome in 590-604), to whom the medieval tradition attributed the authorship of most of the chants of the Roman liturgy. In reality, the role of Gregory was apparently limited only to the compilation of the liturgical routine, perhaps the antiphonary. The word chorale in Russian is used ambiguously (often in the sense of a four-part arrangement of Lutheran church songs, also in musicological works - in the phrase “choral warehouse” [implying polyphony]), therefore, to designate the liturgical monody of Catholics, it is advisable to use the authentic medieval term cantus planus ( which can be translated in Russian as “smooth chant”, “even chant”, etc.).

According to the degree of chant of the (liturgical) text, chants are divided into syllabic (1 tone per syllable of the text), neumatic (2-3 tones per syllable) and melismatic (an unlimited number of tones per syllable). The first type includes recitative exclamations, psalms and most of the officium antiphons, the second - mainly introites, communio (communion antiphon) and some ordinary chants of the mass, the third - large responsories of officia and masses (i.e., graduals), tracts, hallelujah, etc.

Byzantine sacred music. The Apostle Paul testifies that the early Christians sang of God in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19). Thus, music has always been used in the Church. Church historian Eusebius writes that the psalms and hymns were created by believers "from the very beginning to glorify the Lord." Along with the ancient Greek language for composing hymns, Christian poets also used ancient Greek music, which was then widespread throughout the enlightened world. The Great Fathers of the first three centuries, such as St. Ignatius the God-bearer, St. Justin the Philosopher, St. Irenaeus, St. Gregory the Bishop of Neocaesarea, the miracle worker, showed a special interest in psalmody. A special place in the singing tradition is occupied by St. John of Damascus (676-756), who, in addition to writing beautiful chants, systematized church music. He divided music into eight tones: first, second, third, fourth, first plagal, second plagal, third plagal (or varis) and fourth plagal, and established a way to record music using special signs. St. John of Damascus restricted the unauthorized, worldly composition of music and defended simplicity and piety in it.

2. Musical instruments of medieval Europe

The shawl appeared in the 13th century; in terms of its structure, it is close to the krumhorn. For convenience, a special bend called a "pirouette" is made in the upper part of the barrel (the modern saxophone has something similar). Of the eight finger holes, one was closed with a valve, which also facilitated the playing process. Subsequently, valves began to be used in all woodwinds. The sound of the shawl is sharp and sonorous, and even low-register varieties of the instrument seem loud and piercing to the modern listener.

Longitudinal flutes of various registers were very popular. They are called longitudinal because, unlike modern transverse flutes, the performer holds them vertically, and not horizontally. Reeds are not used in flutes, so they sound quieter than other wind instruments, but their timbre is surprisingly gentle and rich in nuances. Bowed string instruments of the Middle Ages - rebec and fidel. They have from two to five strings, but the fidel has a more rounded body, vaguely resembling a pear, while the rebec (close in timbre) has a more oblong shape. From the 11th century the original instrument of the trumpet is known. The name comes from two German words: Trumme - "pipe" and Scheit - "log". The trumpet has a long, wedge-shaped body and one string. In the 17th century additional resonating strings were strung inside the case. They were not played with a bow, but when played on the main string they vibrated, and this introduced additional shades into the timbre of the sound. There was a special stand for the string, in which one leg was shorter than the other, and therefore the stand did not fit snugly against the body. During the game, under the influence of the vibration of the string, it hit the body, and thus an original effect of "percussive accompaniment" was created.

In addition to the bowed ones, the string group also included plucked ones - harp and zither. The medieval harp is similar in shape to the modern one, but much smaller in size. Zither is a bit like a harp, but it is more complex. On one side of the wooden case (rectangular box in shape) a small round protrusion was made. The fingerboard (from German Griff - "handle") - a wooden plate for stringing - is separated by special metal protrusions - frets. Thanks to them, the performer accurately hits the right note with his finger. The zither has from thirty to forty strings, of which four or five are metal, the rest are sinew. To play on metal strings use a thimble (put on a finger), and pinch the tendons with your fingers. (Zither appeared at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries, but became especially popular in the 15th-16th centuries.

3. Music in Ancient Rus'

Art of the Middle Ages for all its diversity, it had some common features that were determined by its place in life, in the system of forms of social consciousness, the specific practical purpose and nature of the ideological functions it performed. Art, like medieval science, morality, philosophy, was put at the service of religion and was supposed to help strengthen its authority and power over the minds of people, clarify and promote the tenets of the Christian dogma. Its role, therefore, turned out to be applied and subordinate, it was considered only as one of the components of that elaborate, magnificent ritual action, which is the worship of the Christian church. Outside the liturgical ritual, art was recognized as sinful and harmful to human souls.

Church singing was associated with the cult more closely than all other arts. Divine services could be performed without icons, outside the luxurious temple premises, in a simple and austere atmosphere. Priests could not put on magnificent, richly decorated vestments. But singing was an integral part of the prayer ritual already in the most ancient Christian communities, which rejected all luxury and embellishment.

The leading role in singing belonged to the text, the melody was only supposed to facilitate the perception of "divine words". This requirement determined the very nature of church singing. It was supposed to be performed in unison, in unison and without the accompaniment of instruments. The admission of musical instruments to participate in worship, as well as the development of choral polyphony in Catholic church music of the period late medieval , was a violation of the strict ascetic norms of Christian art, which was forced to adapt to the new demands of the time at the cost of certain concessions and compromises. It is known that the Catholic authorities later repeatedly raised the question of returning to the chaste simplicity of the Gregorian cantus planus. The Eastern Christian Church preserved the traditions of a cappella unison singing until the middle of the 17th century, and in some countries even longer, while the use of musical instruments remains forbidden in it to this day. It was supposed to perform church hymns simply and restrainedly, without excessive expression, since only such singing brings the worshiper closer to God.

The Church, which had a monopoly in the field of enlightenment and education in the Middle Ages, was the only owner of musical writing and the means of teaching music. Medieval military letters, a variety of which were Russian banners, were intended only for recording church hymns. Church singing, which developed within the framework of the monophonic tradition, remained in Russia until the second half of the 17th century the only type of written musical art based on developed theoretical premises and a certain amount of compositional and technical rules.

Art of the Middle Ages characterized by strong tradition. One of the consequences of this is the weak expression of the personal, individual principle. WITH outside this is manifested in the fact that the bulk of the works of art remained anonymous. The creators of these works, as a rule, did not put signatures under them or indicated their authorship in a hidden, encrypted way. The finished, finished text did not remain inviolable. During correspondence, it could be subject to changes, reductions, or, conversely, expansion through inserts borrowed from another source. The scribe was not a mechanical copyist, but to a certain extent a co-author, giving his own interpretation of what was written, making his own comments, freely connecting different pieces of the text. As a result, the work became essentially the product of collective creativity, and in order to reveal its original basis under the many later layers, often very great efforts are required.

The medieval composer dealt with the established sum of melodic formulas, which he connected and combined, following certain compositional rules and regulations. A whole, complete melody could also become a formula. The so-called "singing on similar", especially widespread in the first centuries of Russian singing art, consisted in the fact that some of the tunes accepted in church life became models for singing various liturgical texts. The melodic formula, which serves as the main structural unit of the znamenny chant, was called the chants, and the very method of creating a melody based on the chaining and modified repetition of individual chants is usually defined as variant-chants.

Despite the strict rules that the medieval artist had to obey, and the need to strictly follow the canonized models, the possibility of the manifestation of personal creativity was not completely excluded. But it was expressed not in the denial of the prevailing traditions and the approval of new aesthetic principles, but in the mastery of fine, detailed nuances, freedom and flexibility in the application of general standard schemes. In music, such a rethinking of constant melodic formulas was achieved by means of intonational nuances. The replacement of some intervals by others, small changes in the bend of the melodic line, rearrangements and shifts of rhythmic accents changed the expressive structure of the melody without violating its basic structure. Some of these changes were fixed in practice and acquired a traditional character. Gradually accumulating, they led to the formation of local variants, schools and individual manners, which had their own special distinctive features.

4. Folk and professional andart

The Christian Church, both in the West and in the East, seeking to monopolize all means of influencing the human psyche and put them entirely at the service of its goals, was sharply hostile to traditional folk games, songs and dances, declaring them sinful, averting from true faith and piety. . Medieval religious sermons and teachings are full of harsh denunciations of those who indulge in these soul-destroying entertainments, and threaten them with damnation and eternal torment in the next world. One of the reasons for this intolerant attitude towards folk art was its connection with pagan beliefs and rituals that continued to live among the masses of the population long after the adoption of Christianity. In Russian religious and educational literature, singing songs, dancing and playing instruments are usually compared with "idolatry", "idol sacrifices" and prayers offered by the "cursed god" paganism .

But all these denunciations and prohibitions could not eradicate the people's love for their native art. traditional views folk art continued to live and develop, widely existing in various strata of society. Folklore in its diverse forms and manifestations captured a wider sphere of life, and its share in the artistic medieval culture was more significant than in the modern art system. Folklore filled the vacuum created by the absence of written forms of secular musical creativity. folk song, the art of folk "gamers" - performers on musical instruments - were distributed not only among the lower classes, but also in the upper strata of society up to the princely court.

Under the influence of the folk song, a characteristic intonational structure of Russian church singing was also formed, which over time moved away from the Byzantine samples, developing its own national-peculiar melodic forms. On the other hand, in the figurative, poetic and musical structure of the Russian folk song, traces of the influence of religious Christian views and the style of church art can be found, which has been repeatedly pointed out by folklore researchers.

Collectivity is one of the main features of folklore. As a rule, works of folk art are not associated with the personality of any one author and are considered the property, if not of the whole people, then of a certain social group, corporations (for example, a military retinue epic) or a territorial community. This does not exclude the participation of personal creativity in their creation and execution.

In music Ancient Rus' there were no figures to compare with Palestrina, Orlando Lasso or Schütz. They could not advance in the conditions of that time with the prevailing way of life and worldview. The meaning of Old Russian musical heritage is determined not by the bold daring of individual outstanding personalities, but by the general, holistic character, which imprinted the courageous, stern and restrained appearance of the people who created it. The masters of the Russian Middle Ages, without violating the strict norms and restrictions prescribed by the canon, achieved in their work a remarkable aesthetic perfection, richness and brightness of colors, combined with depth and power of expression. Many examples of this art, with its high and peculiar beauty, belong to the greatest manifestations of the national artistic genius.

Sources

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_Middle Ages

http://medmus.ru/

http://www.webkursovik.ru/kartgotrab.asp?id=-49105

http://arsl.ru/?page=27

http://www.letopis.info/themes/music/rannjaja_muziyka..

http://ivanikov.narod.ru/page/page7.html

http://www.medieval-age.ru/peacelife/art/myzykanarusi.html

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Essay on the subject "Music", Grade 7

In the Middle Ages, a new type of musical culture was formed in Europe - feudal, combining professional art, amateur music-making and folklore. Since the church dominates in all areas of spiritual life, the basis of professional musical art is the activity of musicians in churches and monasteries. Secular professional art was initially represented only by singers who created and performed epic tales at court, in the homes of the nobility, among warriors, etc. (bards, skalds, etc.). Over time, amateur and semi-professional forms of chivalry music-making developed: in France - the art of troubadours and trouveurs (Adam de la Halle, XIII century), in Germany - minnesingers (Wolfram von Eschenbach, Walter von der Vogelweide, XII-XIII centuries), as well as urban artisans. In feudal castles and cities, all sorts of genres, genres and forms of songs are cultivated (epic, "dawn", rondo, ballads, etc.).

New musical instruments come into everyday life, including those that came from the East (viola, lute, etc.), ensembles (of unstable compositions) arise. Folklore flourishes among the peasantry. There are also "folk professionals": storytellers, itinerant artists (jugglers, mimes, minstrels, shpilmans, buffoons). Music performs mainly applied and spiritual-practical functions. Creativity acts in unity with performance (as a rule - in one person) and with perception. Collectivity dominates both in the content of music and in its form; the individual beginning submits to the general, without standing out from it (the musician-master is the best representative of the community). Strict traditionalism and canonicity reign throughout. The consolidation, preservation and dissemination of traditions and standards (but also their gradual renewal) was facilitated by the transition from neumes, which only approximately indicated the nature of the melodic movement, to linear notation (Guido d'Arezzo, XI century), which made it possible to accurately fix the pitch of tones, and then their duration.

Gradually, albeit slowly, the content of music, its genres, forms, and means of expression are enriched. In Western Europe from the VI-VII centuries. a strictly regulated system of monophonic (monodic) church music is being formed on the basis of diatonic modes (Gregorian chant), which combines recitation (psalmody) and singing (hymns). At the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennium, polyphony is born. New vocal (choir) and vocal-instrumental (choir and organ) genres are being formed: organum, motet, conduct, then mass. In France, in the 12th century, the first composer (creative) school was formed at the Notre Dame Cathedral (Leonin, Perotin). At the turn of the Renaissance (ars nova style in France and Italy, XIV century), in professional music, monophony was replaced by polyphony, music began to gradually free itself from purely practical functions (serving church rites), the importance of secular genres, including song genres (Guillaume de Masho). Many musicologists (including Pierre Aubry) devoted their works to the medieval music of Europe.

In the conditions of the early Middle Ages, the entire musical culture is reduced to two main "terms". At one of its poles is professional liturgical music legalized by the church, which is in principle the same for all peoples who have adopted Christianity (the unity of the language is Latin, the unity of singing is the Gregorian chant). On the other side - folk music persecuted by the church in various local languages, connected with folk life, with the activities of wandering musicians.

Despite the absolute inequality of forces (in terms of support from the state, material conditions and so on), folk music developed intensively and even partially penetrated the church in the form of various inserts into the canonized Gregorian chant. Among them, for example, tropes and sequences created by gifted musicians.

trails - these are text and musical additions inserted into the middle of the chorale. A kind of trail is a sequence. Medievalsequences These are subtexts of complex vocalizations. One of the reasons that caused their occurrence was the significant difficulty in remembering long melodies sung in one vowel. Over time, the sequences began to be based on the melodies of the folk warehouse.

A monk is named among the authors of the first sequences.Notker nicknamed Zaika from the monastery of St. Gallen (in Switzerland, near Lake Constance). Notker (840-912) wascomposer, poet, musical theorist, historian, theologian. He taught at the monastery school and, despite his stutter, was known as an excellent teacher. For his sequences, Notker partially used famous tunes, partly composed by himself.

By decree of the Council of Trent (1545-63), almost all sequences were expelled from church service, with the exception of four. Among them, the most famous was the sequenceDies irae ("Day of Wrath"), telling about the day of judgment . Later, the fifth sequence was admitted into Catholic church use,Stabat mater ("There was a grieving mother").

The spirit of worldly art was brought into church life andhymns - spiritual chants, close to folk songs on a poetic text.

From the end XIcentury in musical life Western Europe includes new types of creativity and music-making associated with the knightly culture. Singers-knights, in essence, marked the beginning of secular music. Their art was in contact with the folk-everyday musical tradition (the use of folk-song intonations, the practice of cooperation with folk musicians). In a number of cases, the troubadours probably selected common folk melodies for their texts.

The greatest achievement of the musical culture of the Middle Ages was the birth of a professional Europeanpolyphony . Its beginning refers toIXcentury, when the unison performance of Gregorian chant was sometimes replaced by a two-voice one. The earliest type of two-voice was parallelorganum , in which the Gregorian chant was dubbed into an octave, quart or fifth. Then a non-parallel organum appeared with indirect (when only one voice moved) and opposite movement. Gradually, the voice accompanying the Gregorian chant became more and more independent. This style of double voice is calledtreble (in translation - “pe-nie apart”).

For the first time such organums began to be writtenLeonin , the first known composer-polyphonist (XIIcentury). He served as regent in the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, where a large polyphonic school developed.

Leonin's work was associated withars antiqua (ars antiqua, which means "old art"). This name was given to the cult polyphonyXII- XIIIcenturies, musicians of the early Renaissance, who opposed itars nova ("new art").

At first XIIIcenturies the tradition of Leonin continuedPerotin , according to the nickname Great. He no longer composed two-voice, but 3 x and 4 x - vocal organs. Perotin's upper voices sometimes form a contrasting two-voice, sometimes he skillfully uses imitation.

At the time of Perotin, a new type of polyphony was formed -conductor , the basis of which was no longer Gregorian chant, but a popular everyday or freely composed melody.

An even bolder polyphonic form wasmotet - a combination of melodies with different rhythms and different texts, often even in different languages. Motet was the first musical genre, equally common in the church and in court life.

The development of polyphony, the departure from the simultaneous pronunciation of each syllable of the text in all voices (in motets), required the improvement of notation, the exact designation of durations. Appearsmensural notation (from Latin mensura - measure; literally - measured notation), which made it possible to fix both the height and the relative duration of sounds.

In parallel with the development of polyphony, there was a process of formationmasses - a polyphonic cyclic work on the text of the main divine service of the Catholic Church. The ritual of the mass took shape over many centuries. It acquired its final form only toXIve-ku. As a holistic musical composition, the mass took shape even later, inXIVcentury, becoming the leading musical genre of the Renaissance.

The Middle Ages is the longest cultural epoch in the history of Western Europe. It spans nine centuries, from the 6th to the 14th century. It was the time of the dominance of the Catholic Church, which from the first steps was the patroness of the arts. The church word (prayer) in different countries of Europe and in various social strata was inextricably linked with music: psalms, hymns, chorales sounded - concentrated, detached melodies, far from everyday fuss.

Also, by order of the church, majestic temples were erected, decorated with sculptures and colorful stained-glass windows; thanks to the patronage of the church, architects and artists, sculptors and singers devoted themselves to their undividedly beloved art, that is, the Catholic Church supported them from the material side. Thus, the most significant part of art in general and music in particular was under the jurisdiction of the Catholic religion.

Church singing in all countries of Western Europe sounded in strict Latin, and in order to further strengthen the unity and community of the Catholic world, Pope Gregory I, who ascended the throne at the beginning of the 4th century, brought together all church hymns and prescribed for the performance of each of them certain day of the church calendar. The melodies collected by the pope were called Gregorian chants, and the singing tradition based on them is called Gregorian chant.

In the melodic sense, the Gregorian chant is oriented towards the octoich, a system of eight modes. It was the mode that often remained the only indication of how the chorale should be performed. All frets made up an octave and were a modification of the ancient trichord system. Frets had only numbering, the concepts of "Dorian", "Lydian", and so on. were excluded. Each fret represented a combination of two tetrachords.

Gregorian chants ideally corresponded to their prayer purpose: unhurried melodies were composed of motifs imperceptibly flowing into each other, the melodic line was limited in tessitura, the intervals between sounds were small, the rhythmic pattern was also smooth, chants were built on the basis of the diatonic scale. Gregorian chants were sung in one voice by a male choir and such singing was taught mainly in the oral tradition. Written sources of Gregorianism are an example of non-mental notation (special signs that stood above the Latin text), however, this type of musical notation indicated only the approximate pitch, the generalized direction of the melodic line and did not touch the rhythmic side at all and therefore was considered difficult to read. The singers who performed church hymns were not always educated and learned their craft orally.



The Gregorian chant has become a symbol of a vast era, which reflected in it its understanding of life and the world. The meaning and content of the chorales reflected the idea of ​​a medieval person about the essence of being. In this sense, the Middle Ages are often referred to as "the youth of European culture”, when, after the fall of ancient Rome in 476, the tribes of barbarians, Gauls and Germans invaded Europe and began to build their lives anew. Their faith in Christian saints was distinguished by artlessness, simplicity, and the melodies of Gregorian chants were based on the same principle of naturalness. Some monotony of the chorales reflects the idea of ​​a medieval person about the space, which is limited by the field of his vision. Also, the concept of time was associated with the idea of ​​repetition and immutability.

Gregorian chant like a lord musical style, by the 9th century it was finally established throughout Europe. At the same time, the greatest discovery took place in the art of music, which influenced its entire subsequent history: the scientist-monk, the Italian musician Guido from Arezzo (Aretinsky) invented musical notation, which we use to this day. From now on, the Gregorian chant could also be sung from notes, and it entered a new phase of its development.

From the 7th to the 9th centuries, the concepts of "music" and "Gregorian chant" existed inseparably. Studying the melody of chorales, medieval musicians and singers wanted to decorate them, but it was not allowed to change church singing. A way out was found: a second voice was built over the choral melody at an equal distance from all its sounds, which exactly repeated the melodic pattern of the chorale. The melody seemed thickened, doubled. Such first two-voice compositions were called organums, since the lower voice, in which the chorale sounded, was called vox principalis (main voice), and the upper, attached one, vox organalis (additional voice). The sound of the organums evoked associations with the acoustics of a temple: it was booming and deep. Further, during the XI-XIII centuries, the two-voice grew to three- (triptum) and four-voice.

Rhythmic forms of organums are an example of modus (modal) rhythm. There are six of them: iambic (l ¡), trocheus (trochee) (¡ l), dactyl (¡ . l ¡), anapaest (l ¡ ¡ . ), spondey (¡ . ¡ . ), tritrachy (l l l).

In addition to church art, with the development of European cities and economies, the Middle Ages saw the birth of a new art. Ordinary people (townspeople, peasants) often saw wandering actors and musicians in their settlements, who danced, played theatrical performances on various topics: about angels and the Blessed Virgin Mary or about devils and hellish torments. This new secular art was not to the taste of the ascetic ministers of the church, who found intrigues of the devil in frivolous songs and performances.

The heyday of medieval cities and feudal castles, the interest in secular art, which covered all classes, led to the emergence of the first professional school of secular poetry and music - the school of troubadours, which arose in the south of France in the 12th century. Similar German poets and musicians were called minnesingers (meistersingers), northern French - trouvers. Being the authors of poems, troubadour poets acted both as composers and as singer-performers.

The music of troubadour songs grew out of poetry and imitated it with its simplicity, playfulness, and carelessness. The content of such songs discussed everything life themes: love and separation, the onset of spring and its joy, fun life wandering school students, Fortuna's pranks and her capricious temper, etc. Rhythm, clear division into musical phrases, emphasis, periodicity - all this was characteristic of the songs of the troubadours.

Gregorian chant and the lyrics of troubadours are two independent trends in medieval music, however, for all their contrast, one can also note common features: internal relationship with the word, a tendency to smooth, ornate voice leading.

The pinnacle of early polyphony (polyphony) was the school of Notre Dame. The musicians who belonged to it worked in Paris in the Notre Dame Cathedral in the 12th-13th centuries. They managed to create such polyphonic structures, thanks to which the art of music became more independent, less dependent on the pronunciation of the Latin text. Music was no longer perceived as its support and decoration, it was now intended specifically for listening, although the organums of the masters of this school were still performed in the church. Professional composers were at the head of the Notre Dame school: in the second half of the 12th century - Leonin, at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries - his student Perotin.

The concept of "composer" in the Middle Ages existed in the background of musical cultures and the word itself came from "compose" - i.e. combine, create something new from known elements. The profession of a composer appeared only in the 12th century (in the work of troubadours and masters of the Notre Dame school). For example, the rules of composition found by Leonin are unique because, starting with a deep study of the musical material created before him, the composer subsequently managed to combine the traditions of strict Gregorian singing with the free norms of troubadour art.

Already in the organs of Perotin, a method was invented to extend musical form. Thus, the musical fabric was divided into short motifs built on the principle of similarity (all of them are fairly close variants of each other). Perotin transfers these motives from one voice to another, creating something like a motive chain. Using such combinations and permutations, Perotin allowed the organums to grow in scale. The sounds of Gregorian chant, placed in the voice of the cantus firmus, are located at a great distance from each other - and this also contributes to the expansion of the musical form. So arose new genre– MOTE; as a rule, this is a three-part composition, which became widespread in the 13th century. The beauty of the new genre lay in the simultaneous combination of different melodic lines, although, in fact, they were a variant, a duplication, a reflection of the main tune - cantus firmus. Such motets were called "ordered".

However, motets were more popular with the public, which, in contrast to motets on the cantus firmus, exaggerated the principles of dissonance: some of them were even composed in multilingual texts.

Medieval motets could have both spiritual and secular content: love, satire, etc.

Early polyphony existed not only as vocal art but also as an instrumental. Dance music was composed for carnivals and holidays, the songs of troubadours were also accompanied by playing instruments. Peculiar instrumental fantasies similar to motets were also popular.

The XIV century in Western European art is called the "autumn" of the Middle Ages. A new era has already come to Italy - the Renaissance; already worked Dante, Petrarch, Giotto - the great masters of the early Renaissance. The rest of Europe summed up the results of the Middle Ages and felt the birth new topic in art - themes of individuality.

Introduction medieval music in a new era was marked by the appearance of the treatise by Philippe de Vitry "Ars Nova" - "New Art". In it, the scientist and musician tried to outline a new image of the musically beautiful. The title of this treatise gave its name to the entire musical culture of the 14th century. From now on, music had to abandon simple and rough sounds and strive for softness, the charm of sound: instead of empty, cold consonances, Ars antiqua was prescribed to use full and melodious consonances.

It was recommended to leave the monotonous rhythm (modal) in the past and use the newly discovered mensural (measuring) notation, when short and long sounds relate to each other as 1:3 or 1:2. There are many such durations - maxima, longa, brevis, semibrevis; each of them has its own style: longer sounds are not shaded, shorter ones are shown in black.

The rhythm has become more flexible, varied, you can use syncopations. The restriction on the use of church modes other than diatonic has become less strict: alterations, rises, and falls of musical tones can be used.