Medieval Religious Music: From Gregorian Chant to Polyphony

Religious Music of the Middle Ages

Religious music of the Middle Ages began to take shape when Emperor Constantine granted freedom of worship for Christians in 313.

Pope Gregory the Great and Gregorian Chant

Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) was considered the creator of the Gregorian chant, but he was not really the creator. He leveraged his entire organization as a way to strengthen a sense of Christian unity.

Characteristics of Gregorian Chant

Gregorian chant is:

• Music destined to serve the liturgy.
• Uses Latin as a language.
• Monodic in texture.
• Free musical rhythm, according to the melody.
• Text notation differentiates between three styles of chant: syllabic, neumatic, and melismatic.

Troubadours and Minstrels

Troubadours: Poets and musicians, usually of noble birth.

Minstrels: Itinerant musicians who traveled to castles and villages entertaining the public with songs, acrobatic performances, and games.

Characteristics of Troubadour Music

• Songs written in the vernacular languages of each zone.
• Vocal music with instrumental accompaniment.
• Monodic texture.
• Uses Gregorian modal scales but has a more distinct rhythm.
• Songs were compiled in luxuriously decorated songbooks.

The Birth of Polyphony

Polyphonic music appeared in the West at the end of the 9th century.

Primitive Polyphony

Constructed in an improvised manner on the basis of Gregorian chant. The main forms are:

• Organum
• Melismatic Organum
• Discantus

Organum

It is the oldest and most rudimentary form. It appeared in the late 9th century and consists of adding a parallel voice at a distance of a 4th or 5th below the Gregorian chant.

Melismatic Organum

The Gregorian melody develops long values over which the vox organalis sings long melismas.

Discantus

Emerged in the 11th century, it features contrary motion between the voices of the organum.

Ars Antiqua

The evolution of technique and musical notation facilitated the development of more complex polyphonic forms.

The most important music center was the School of Notre Dame de Paris, and its major composers were Leonin and Perotin.

Conductus

Features newly composed melodies.

Motet

From the French word mot, meaning "word". It involves adding a text to the long vocalizations of a melismatic organum.

Ars Nova

The polyphony of Gregorian chant was released to seek music closer to man, typical of a time experiencing the birth of urban society and moving away from medieval theocentrism.