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

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 financially. 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, collected together all church hymns and prescribed for the performance of each of them specific day church calendar. The melodies collected by the pope were called Gregorian chants, and the singing tradition based on them is called Gregorian chant.

In a melodic sense, Gregorian chant is oriented toward the octoiche, a system of eight modes. It was the mode that often remained the only indication of how the chorale should be performed. All modes constituted an octave and were a modification of the ancient trichord system. The frets had only numbering, the concepts of “Dorian”, “Lydian” and so on. were excluded. Each fret represented the connection of two tetrachords.

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

Gregorian chant became a symbol of a huge era, which reflected in it its understanding of life and the world. The meaning and content of chorales reflected medieval man's idea of the essence of existence. In this sense, the Middle Ages are often called "youth European culture"When, after the fall ancient Rome in 476, tribes of barbarians, Gauls and Germans invaded Europe and began to rebuild their lives. Their belief in Christian saints was characterized by artlessness, simplicity, and the melodies of Gregorian chants were based on the same principle of naturalness. A certain monotony of the chorales reflects the medieval man’s idea of space, which is limited by his field of vision. Also, the idea of time was associated with the idea of repetition and immutability.

Gregorian chant as mainstream musical style, by the 9th century it was finally established throughout Europe. At the same time, the greatest discovery occurred in the art of music, which influenced its entire further history: scholar-monk, Italian musician Guido of Arezzo (Aretina) invented the musical notation that we still use today. From now on, the Gregorian chant could be sung from the 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 the singers wanted to decorate them, but changing church singing was not allowed. A solution was found: above the chorale melody, at an equal distance from all its sounds, a second voice was added, which exactly repeated the melodic pattern of the chorale. The melody seemed thickened, doubled. These 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, added voice was called vox organalis (additional voice). The sound of the organums evoked associations with the acoustics of the temple: it was booming and deep. Further, during the 11th-13th centuries, two-voice grew to three-voice (triptum) and four-voice.

The rhythmic forms of organums are an example of modal rhythm. There are six of them: iambic (l ¡), trocheus (trochee) (¡ l), dactyl (¡ . l¡), anapest (l¡¡ . ), spondee (¡ . ¡ . ), tritrachium (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 and performed theatrical performances on different topics: about angels and the Blessed Virgin Mary or about devils and hellish torment. This new secular art was not to the taste of the ascetic ministers of the church, who found the machinations of the devil in frivolous songs and performances.

The flourishing of medieval cities and feudal castles, an interest in secular art that embraced 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), and northern French ones were called trouvères. As authors of poetry, troubadour poets acted simultaneously as composers and singers.

The music of the troubadours' songs grew out of poetry and imitated it with its simplicity, playfulness, and carelessness. The content of such songs discussed all life topics: love and separation, the onset of spring and its joys, the cheerful life of wandering school students, the pranks of Fortune and her capricious disposition, etc. Rhythm, clear division into musical phrases, emphasis, periodicity - all this was typical troubadour songs.

Gregorian chant and troubadour lyrics are two independent trends in medieval music, however, with all their contrast, one can also note common features: internal affinity with the word, a tendency to smooth, florid voice delivery.

The pinnacle of early polyphony (polyphony) was the Notre Dame school. The musicians who belonged to it worked in Paris at 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 church. The Notre Dame school was headed by professional composers: 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 works of troubadours and masters of the Notre Dame school). For example, the rules of composition found by Leonin are unique because, starting with deep research musical material, created before him, the composer was subsequently able to combine the traditions of strict Gregorian chant with the free norms of the troubadour art.

Already in the organums of Perotin, a method of extending musical form. Thus, the musical fabric was divided into short motifs built on the principle of similarity (they all represent fairly close versions of each other). Perotin transfers these motives from one voice to another, creating something like a motivic chain. Using such combinations and permutations, Perotin allowed the organums to grow in scale. The sounds of the 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. This is how it arose new genre– MOTET; As a rule, this is a three-voice composition that became widespread in the 13th century. The beauty of the new genre lay in the simultaneous combination of different melodic lines, although they, in fact, were a variant, a duplication, a reflection of the main tune - cantus firmus. Such motets were called "ordered".

However, motets were more popular among the public, which, in contrast to motets on cantus firmus, exaggerated the principles of discordance: some of them were even composed on texts in different languages.

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 one. Composed for carnivals and holidays dance music, the songs of the troubadours were also accompanied by playing instruments. Unique instrumental fantasies, similar to motets, were also popular.

The 14th century in Western European art is called the “autumn” of the Middle Ages. A new era has already arrived in Italy - the Renaissance; Dante, Petrarch, Giotto - the great masters of the early Renaissance - had already created. The rest of Europe was summing up the results of the Middle Ages and felt the birth of a new theme in art - the theme of individuality.

The entry of medieval music into new era was marked by the appearance of Philippe de Vitry’s treatise “Ars Nova” - “New Art”. In it, the scientist and musician tried to outline a new image of the musically beautiful. The name 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 and charm of sound: instead of empty, cold harmonies of Ars antiqua, it was prescribed to use full and melodious harmonies.

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 outline: longer sounds are not shaded, shorter ones are depicted in black.

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

Abstract on the subject “Music”, grade 7

During the Middle Ages, a new type of musical culture emerged 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 houses of the nobility, among warriors, etc. (bards, skalds, etc.). Over time, amateur and semi-professional forms of music-making of chivalry developed: in France - the art of troubadours and trouvères (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 kinds of genres, genres and forms of songs are cultivated (epic, “dawn”, rondo, ballads, etc.).

New musical instruments are coming into everyday life, including those that came from the East (viol, lute, etc.), and ensembles (of unstable composition) are emerging. Folklore flourishes among peasants. There are also “folk professionals”: storytellers, traveling artists (jugglers, mimes, minstrels, shpilmans, buffoons). Music performs mainly applied and spiritual-practical functions. Creativity appears in unity with performance (usually in one person) and with perception. Collectivity dominates both in the content of music and in its form; the individual principle is subordinate to the general one, without standing out from it (a master musician is the best representative of the community). Strict tradition and canonicity reign in everything. The consolidation, preservation and spread of traditions and standards (but also their gradual updating) was facilitated by the transition from neumas, which only approximately indicated the nature of the melodic movement, to linear notation (Guido d'Arezzo, XI century), which made it possible to accurately record the pitch of tones, and then their duration.

Gradually, although 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 one-voice (monodic) church music based on diatonic modes (Gregorian chant) was emerging, combining recitation (psalmody) and singing (hymns). At the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia, polyphony began to emerge. New vocal (choral) and vocal-instrumental (choir and organ) genres are being formed: organum, motet, conduction, then mass. In France in the 12th century, the first composer (creative) school was formed at the Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris(Leonin, Perotin). At the turn of the Renaissance (ars nova style in France and Italy, XIV century) in professional music, monophony is replaced by polyphony, music begins to gradually free itself from purely practical functions (service of church rites), the importance of secular genres, including songs, increases in it (Guillaume de Masho). Many musicologists (including Pierre Aubry) devoted their works to medieval music in Europe.

The professional musical culture of the Middle Ages in Europe was associated primarily with the church, that is, with the area of cult music. Full of religiosity, art is canonical and dogmatic, but, nevertheless, it is not frozen; it is turned from worldly vanity to the detached world of serving the Lord. However, along with such “higher” music, there was folklore, the work of wandering musicians, as well as a noble knightly culture.

Sacred musical culture of the early Middle Ages

In the era early Middle Ages professional music sounded only in cathedrals and the singing schools that were attached to them. The center of the musical culture of the Middle Ages in Western Europe was the capital of Italy - Rome - the very city where the “supreme church authorities” were located.

In 590-604, Pope Gregory I carried out a reform of religious singing. He organized and collected various chants in the collection “Gregorian Antiphonary”. Thanks to Gregory I, a direction called Gregorian chant was formed in Western European sacred music.

Chorale- This is, as a rule, a one-voice chant, which reflects the centuries-old traditions of European and Middle Eastern peoples. It was this smooth monophonic melody that was intended to guide parishioners to comprehend the foundations of Catholicism and accept a single will. The chorale was mainly performed by a choir, and only some parts by soloists.

The basis of the Gregorian chant was a progressive movement along the sounds of diatonic modes, but sometimes in the same chant there were also slow, severe psalmodies and melismatic chants of individual syllables.

The performance of such melodies was not trusted to just anyone, as it required professional vocal skills from the singers. Just like the music, the text of the chants, in a Latin language incomprehensible to many parishioners, evokes humility, detachment from reality, and contemplation. Often, the dependence on following the text also determined the rhythmic design of the music. Gregorian chant cannot be taken as perfect music, it is rather a chant of a prayer text.

Mass – main genre composer music of the Middle Ages

Catholic mass - the main worship service of the church. It combines such types of Gregorian chant as:

antiphonal (when two choirs sing alternately);
responsor (alternately singing soloists and choir).

The community took part only in the singing of common prayers.
Later, in the 12th century. hymns (psalms), sequences, and paths appeared in the mass. They were additional texts that had a rhyme (as opposed to the main chorale) and a special tune. These religious rhyming texts were much better remembered by parishioners. Singing along with the monks, they varied the melody, and folk elements began to seep into sacred music and served as an occasion for original creativity (Notker Zaika and Tokelon monk - St. Golen monastery). Later, these tunes completely replaced the psalmodic parts and significantly enriched the sound of Gregorian chant.

The first examples of polyphony came from the monasteries, such as organum - movement in parallel fourths or fifths, gimel, faubourdon - movement in sixth chords, conduction. Representatives of such music are composers Leonin and Perotin (Notre Dame Cathedral - XII-XIII centuries).

Secular musical culture of the Middle Ages

The secular side of the musical culture of the Middle Ages was represented by: in France - jugglers, mimes, minstrels , in Germany – stilettos, in Spain – hoglars, in Rus' - buffoons. All of them were traveling artists and combined in their creativity playing instruments, singing, dancing, magic, puppet theater, circus art.

Another component of secular music was knightly music, the so-called courtly culture . The formed special knightly code stated that each of the knights must have not only courage and bravery, but also refined manners, education and be devoted to the Beautiful Lady. All these aspects of the life of knights are reflected in the works troubadours (southern France– Provence), Trouvères(northern France), Minnesingers(Germany).

Their work is presented mainly in love lyrics, the most common genre of which was the canzona (albs - “Morning Songs” among the Minnesingers). Widely using the experience of troubadours, trouvères created their own genres: “May songs”, “weaving songs”.

The most important area of musical genres of representatives of courtly culture were song and dance genres, such as rondo, virele, ballad, heroic epic. The role of instruments was very insignificant; it was reduced to framing vocal melodies with an introduction, interlude, and postlude.

Mature Middle Ages XI-XIII centuries.

A characteristic feature of the mature Middle Ages is the development burgher culture . Its orientation was anti-churchism, free-thinking, and connection with humorous and carnival folklore. New genres of polyphony are appearing: the motet, which is characterized by melodic dissimilarity of voices; moreover, different texts are sung simultaneously in the motet and even different languages; madrigal - song native language(Italian), caccia is a vocal piece with text describing a hunt.

From the 12th century to folk art Vagantes and Goliards joined, who, unlike the others, were literate. Universities became carriers of the musical culture of the Middle Ages. Since the mode system of the Middle Ages was developed by representatives of sacred music, they began to be called church modes (Ionian mode, Aeolian mode).

The doctrine of hexachords was also put forward - only 6 steps were used in modes. Monk Guido Aretinsky made a more advanced system of recording notes, which consisted of the presence of 4 lines, between which there was a third ratio and key sign or line coloring. He also introduced a syllabic name for the steps, that is, the height of the steps began to be indicated by alphabetic signs.

Ars Nova XIII-XV centuries.

The transition period between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was the 14th century. This period in France and Italy was called Ars Nova, that is, “new art.” The time has come for new experiments in art. Composers began to compose works whose rhythm became much more complex than the previous ones (Philippe de Vitry).

Also, unlike sacred music, semitones were introduced here, as a result of which random increases and decreases in tones began to occur, but this is not yet modulation. As a result of such experiments, interesting works were obtained, but not always harmonious. The most brilliant experimental musician of that time was Solazh. The musical culture of the Middle Ages was more developed in comparison with the culture of the Ancient world, despite the limitations of means, and contained the prerequisites for the flourishing of music during the Renaissance.

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

The Middle Ages - a great era human history, the time of the dominance 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.

During the Middle Ages, a new type of musical culture emerged 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 houses of the nobility, among warriors, etc. (bards, skalds, etc.). Over time, amateur and semi-professional forms of music-making of chivalry develop: in France - the art of troubadours and trouvères (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 kinds of songs, genres and forms of songs are cultivated (epic, “dawn”, rondo, le, virele, ballads, canzones, laudas, etc.).

Gradually, although slowly, the content of music, its genres, forms, and means of expression are enriched. In Western Europe from the 6th-7th centuries. A strictly regulated system of one-voice (monodic) church music based on diatonic modes (Gregorian chant) was emerging, combining recitation (psalmody) and singing (hymns). At the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia, polyphony began to emerge. New vocal (choral) and vocal-instrumental (choir and organ) genres are being formed: organum, motet, conduction, then mass. In France, in the 12th century, the first composer (creative) school was formed at Notre Dame Cathedral (Leonin, Perotin). At the turn of the Renaissance (ars nova style in France and Italy, XIV century) in professional music, monophony is replaced by polyphony, music begins to gradually free itself from purely practical functions (service of church rites), the importance of secular genres, including songs, increases in it (Guillaume de Masho).

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

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

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

Main foci professional music of the early Middle Ages - cathedrals, singing schools attached to them, monasteries - the only centers of education of that time. They studied Greek and Latin, arithmetic and music.

The main center of church music in Western Europe during the Middle Ages was Rome. At the end of VI - beginning of VII V. The main variety of Western European church music is formed - the Gregorian chant, named after Pope Gregory I, who carried out a reform of church singing, collecting together and organizing various church chants. Gregorian chant is a monophonic Catholic chant that combines centuries-old singing traditions of various Middle Eastern and European peoples(Syrians, Jews, Greeks, Romans, etc.). It was the smooth monophonic unfolding of a single melody that was intended to personify a single will, the direction of the attention of parishioners in accordance with the tenets of Catholicism. The character of the music is strict, impersonal. The chorale was performed by a choir (hence the name), some sections by a soloist. Progressive movement based on diatonic modes predominates. Gregorian chant allowed for many gradations, starting from the severely slow choral psalmody and ending with jubilations (melismatic chanting of a syllable), requiring virtuoso vocal skill for its performance.

Gregorian chant distances the listener from reality, evokes humility, and leads to contemplation and mystical detachment. This impact is also facilitated by the text in Latin, which is incomprehensible to the majority of parishioners. The rhythm of the singing was determined by the text. It is vague, indefinite, determined by the nature of the accents of the recitation of the text.

The diverse types of Gregorian chant were brought together in the main 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 begin to seep into Gregorian chant folk music through hymns, sequences and paths. If psalmodies were performed by a professional choir of singers and clergy, then hymns at first were performed by parishioners. They were inserts into official worship (they had features of folk music). But soon the hymnical parts of the mass began to supplant the psalmodic ones, which led to the emergence of the polyphonic mass.

The first sequences were a subtext for the melody of the anniversary so that one sound of the melody would have a separate syllable. The sequence is becoming 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 examples of polyphony come from monasteries - organum (movement in parallel fifths or fourths), gimel, faubourdon (parallel sixth chords), conduction. Composers: Leonin and Perotin (12-13 centuries - Notre Dame Cathedral).

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

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

The trouvères, making extensive use of the experience of the troubadours, created their own original genres: “weaving songs”, “May songs”. An important area of the musical genres of troubadours, trouvères and minnesingers were song and dance genres: rondo, ballad, virele (refrain forms), as well as heroic epic (French epic “The Song of Roland”, German - “Song of the Nibelungs”). The songs of the Crusaders were widespread among the Minnesingers.

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

Monophony is a consequence of the inextricable connection of the melody with the poetic text, which follows from the very essence of musical and poetic art. The monophony also corresponded to the focus on individualized expression of one’s own experiences, on a personal assessment of the content of the statement (often the expression of personal experiences was framed by depicting pictures of nature).

Mainly 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.

The art of chivalry cannot yet be spoken of as professional, but for the first time in the conditions of secular music-making, a powerful musical and poetic direction with a developed complex was created expressive means and relatively perfect musical writing.

One of the important achievements of the mature Middle Ages, starting from the 10th-11th centuries, was the development of cities (burgher culture). The main features of urban culture were an anti-church, freedom-loving orientation, connections with folklore, and its laughter and carnival character. Evolving Gothic architectural style. New polyphonic genres are being formed: from the 13th-14th to the 16th centuries. - motet (from French - “word”. A motet is characterized by the melodic dissimilarity of voices that simultaneously intoned different texts - often even in different languages), madrigal (from Italian - “song in the native language,” i.e. Italian. Texts love-lyrical, pastoral), caccia (from Italian - “hunt” - a vocal piece based on a text depicting a hunt).

Traveling folk musicians move from nomadic image life to sedentary life, populate entire city blocks and form unique “musician guilds”. Starting from the 12th century, folk musicians were joined by vagantes and goliards - declassed people from different classes (school students, fugitive monks, wandering clerics). Unlike illiterate jugglers - typical representatives of the art of oral tradition - vagantes and goliards were literate: they owned in Latin and the rules of classical versification, they composed music - songs (the range of images is associated with school science and student life) and even complex compositions such as conductions and motets.

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

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

Musical theory of the Middle Ages was closely related to theology. In the few musical theoretical treatises that have reached us, music was viewed as a “handmaiden 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 mode system was developed by representatives of church professional musical art - that is why the name “church modes” was assigned to medieval modes. The Ionian and Aeolian modes became established as the main modes.

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

Non-mutual recording was widely used. Guido Aretinsky improved the system of musical notation. The essence of his reform was the following: the presence of four lines, the third ratio between individual lines, the key sign (originally alphabetic) or the coloring of the lines. He also introduced syllabic notations for the first six degrees of the mode: ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la.

Mensural notation was introduced, where each note was assigned a certain rhythmic measure (Latin mensura - measure, measurement). Name of durations: maxima, longa, brevis, etc.

The 14th century is a transitional period between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The art of France and Italy of the 14th 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 genres of church music and turning to secular vocal and instrumental chamber genres(ballad, kachcha, madrigal), rapprochement with everyday songs, the use of various musical instruments. Ars nova is the opposite of the so-called. ars antiqua (lat. ars antiqua - old art), meaning musical art before the beginning of the 14th century. The largest representatives of ars nova were Guillaume de Machaut (14th century, France) and Francesco Landino (14th century, Italy).

Thus, the musical culture of the Middle Ages, despite the relative limitations of funds, represents a higher level compared to the music of the Ancient World and contains the prerequisites for the magnificent flowering of musical art during the Renaissance.

music middle ages Gregorian troubadour

Music medieval era - development periodmusical culture, covering a period of time from approximately V to XIV centuries AD .
During the Middle Ages in Europe a new type of musical culture is emerging - feudal , combining professional art, amateur music-making and folklore Because the church dominates in all areas of spiritual life, the basis of professional musical art is the activity of musicians in temples and monasteries . Secular professional art was initially represented only by singers who created and performed epic tales at court, in the houses of the nobility, among warriors, etc. ( bards, skalds etc.). Over time, amateur and semi-professional forms of music playing develop chivalry: in France - the art of troubadours and trouvères (Adam de la Halle, XIII century), in Germany - the minnesingers ( Wolfram von Eschenbach, Walter von der Vogelweide, XII - XIII centuries ), as well as urban artisans In feudal castles and in the cities all kinds of genera are cultivated, genres and forms of songs (epic, “dawn”, rondo, le, virele, ballads, canzones, laudas, etc.).
New ones come into everyday lifemusical instruments, including those who came from East (viol, lute etc.), ensembles (of unstable compositions) arise. Folklore flourishes among peasants. There are also “folk professionals”: storytellers , traveling synth artists ( jugglers, mimes, minstrels, shpilmans, buffoons ). Music again performs mainly applied and spiritual-practical functions. Creativity acts in unity withperformance(usually one person).
Both in the content of music and in its form it dominates collectivity ; the individual principle is subordinate to the general one, without standing out from it (a master musician is the best representative communities ). Strict reigns in everything traditionality and canonicity . Consolidation, preservation and distribution traditions and standards.
Gradually, although slowly, the content of music is enriched, its genres, forms , means of expression. IN Western Europe from the 6th - 7th centuries . a strictly regulated system is emerging monophonic ) church music based diatonic modes ( Gregorian chant), combining recitation (psalmody) and singing (hymns ). At the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia, the polyphony . New ones are being formed vocal (choral ) and vocal-instrumental (choir and organ) genres: organum, motet, conduction, then mass. In France in the 12th century the first one is formed composer (creative) school at Notre Dame Cathedral(Leonin, Perotin). At the turn of the Renaissance (ars nova style in France and Italy, 14th century) in professional musicmonophony is being supplanted polyphony , music begins to gradually free itself from purely practical functions (service of church rituals ), it enhances the meaning secular genres, including songs ( Guillaume de Machaut).

Revival.

Music in the period of the XV-XVII centuries.
In the Middle Ages, music was the prerogative of the Church, so most musical works were sacred, based on church chants (Gregorian chant), which have been part of the religion since the very beginning of Christianity. At the beginning of the 17th century, cult tunes, with the direct participation of Pope Gregory I, were finally canonized. Gregorian chant was performed by professional singers. After mastering church music polyphony Gregorian chant remained the thematic basis of polyphonic religious works (mass, motets, etc.).

The Middle Ages were followed by the Renaissance, which was an era of discovery, innovation and exploration for musicians, an era of renaissance of all layers of cultural and scientific manifestations of life from music and painting to astronomy and mathematics.
Although music remained largely religious, the weakening of church control over society opened up greater freedom for composers and performers to express their talents.
With the invention of the printing press, it became possible to print and distribute sheet music, and from that moment what we call classical music began.
During this period, new musical instruments appeared. The most popular instruments were those that music lovers could play easily and simply, without requiring special skills.
It was at this time that the viol, the predecessor of the violin, appeared. Thanks to the frets (wooden strips across the neck), it was easy to play, and its sound was quiet, gentle and sounded well in small halls.
Wind instruments were also popular - recorder, flute and horn. The most complex music was written for the newly created harpsichord, virginel (an English harpsichord characterized by its small size) and organ. At the same time, the musicians did not forget to compose simpler music that did not require high performing skills. At the same time, changes occurred in musical writing: heavy wooden printing blocks were replaced by movable metal types invented by the Italian Ottaviano Petrucci. Published musical works quickly sold out, and more and more people began to get involved in music.
The end of the Renaissance was marked by the most important event in musical history- the birth of opera. A group of humanists, musicians, and poets gathered in Florence under the patronage of their leader Count Giovanni De Bardi (1534 - 1612). The group was called the "camerata", its main members were Giulio Caccini, Pietro Strozzi, Vincenzo Galilei (father of the astronomer Galileo Galilei), Giloramo Mei, Emilio de Cavalieri and Ottavio Rinuccini in his younger years.
The first documented meeting of the group took place in 1573, and the most active years of work "Florentine Camerata "were 1577 - 1582. They believed that music had "spoiled" and sought to return to form and style ancient Greece, believing that the art of music can be improved and, accordingly, society will also improve. Camerata criticized existing music for its excessive use of polyphony at the expense of text intelligibility and the loss of the poetic component of the work, and proposed the creation of a new musical style in which text in a monodic style was accompanied by instrumental music. Their experiments led to the creation of a new vocal and musical form - recitative, first used by Emilio de Cavalieri, which was subsequently directly related to the development of opera.
The first officially recognizedopera , corresponding to modern standards, was the opera "Daphne" (Daphne), first presented in 1598. The authors of "Daphne" were Jacopo Peri and Jacopo Corsi, libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini. This opera has not survived. The first surviving opera is "Eurydice" (1600) by the same authors - Jacopo Peri and Ottavio Rinuccini. This creative union also created many works, most of which are lost.

Early Baroque music (1600-1654)

The creation by the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) of his recitative style and the consistent development of Italian opera can be considered the conventional point of transition between the Baroque and Renaissance eras. The beginning of opera performances in Rome and especially in Venice already meant the recognition and spread of the new genre throughout the country. All this was only part of a larger process that captured all the arts, and was especially clearly manifested in architecture and painting.
Renaissance composers paid attention to the elaboration of each part of a musical work, paying virtually no attention to the comparison of these parts. Separately, each part could sound excellent, but the harmonious result of the addition was more a matter of chance than of regularity. The appearance of the figured bass indicated a significant change in musical thinking—namely, that harmony, which is "the putting together of parts into one whole," was as important as the melodic parts (polyphony) themselves. More and more, polyphony and harmony looked like two sides of the same idea of composing euphonious music: in composing, harmonic sequences were given the same attention as tritones in creating dissonance. Harmonic thinking also existed among some composers of the previous era, for example, Carlo Gesualdo, but in the Baroque era it became generally accepted.
He labeled those parts of works where modality and tonality cannot be clearly separated as mixed major or mixed minor (later he introduced the terms “monal major” and “monal minor” for these concepts, respectively). The table shows how tonal harmony, already in the early Baroque period, practically supplants the harmony of the previous era.
Italy becomes the center of the new style. The papacy, although caught up in the struggle against the Reformation, but nevertheless possessing enormous financial resources replenished by the military campaigns of the Habsburgs, sought opportunities to spread the Catholic faith through the expansion of cultural influence. With the pomp, grandeur and complexity of architecture, fine arts and music, Catholicism seemed to argue with ascetic Protestantism. The rich Italian republics and principalities also competed actively in the field of fine arts. One of the important centers of musical art was Venice, which at that time was under both secular and church patronage.
A significant figure of the early Baroque period, whose position was on the side of Catholicism, opposing the growing ideological, cultural and social influence of Protestantism, was Giovanni Gabrieli. His works belong to the “High Renaissance” style (the heyday of the Renaissance). However, some of his innovations in the field of instrumentation (assigning his own, specific tasks to a certain instrument) clearly indicate that he was one of the composers who influenced the emergence of a new style
One of the requirements imposed by the church on the composition of sacred music was that the texts in works with vocals be legible. This required a move away from polyphony to musical techniques where words came to the fore. The vocals became more complex and florid compared to the accompaniment. This is how homophony developed.
Monteverde Claudio(1567-1643), Italian composer. Nothing attracted him more than the exposure of the inner, spiritual world of a person in his dramatic collisions and conflicts with the outside world. Monteverdi is the true founder of conflict dramaturgy of a tragic nature. He is a true singer of human souls. He persistently strived for the natural expressiveness of music. “Human speech is the mistress of harmony, and not its servant.”
"Orpheus" (1607) - The opera's music focuses on revealing inner world tragic hero. His part is unusually multifaceted, merging various emotional and expressive currents and genre lines. He enthusiastically calls out to his native forests and coasts or mourns the loss of his Eurydice in artless folk songs.

Music of the mature Baroque (1654-1707)

The period of centralization of supreme power in Europe is often called Absolutism. Absolutism reached its apogee under the French king Louis XIV. For all of Europe, Louis's court was a role model. Including music performed at court. The increased availability of musical instruments (especially keyboards) gave impetus to the development of chamber music.
Mature baroque differs from the early baroque in the widespread dissemination of the new style and the increased separation of musical forms, especially in opera. As in literature, the ability to stream musical works has led to an expanded audience; exchange between centers of musical culture intensified.
An outstanding representative of the court composers of the court of Louis XIV was Giovanni Battista Lulli (1632-1687). Already at the age of 21, he received the title of “court composer of instrumental music.” Creative work Lully was closely connected with the theater from the very beginning. Following the organization of court chamber music and the composition of “airs de cour”, he began to write ballet music. Louis XIV himself danced in ballets, which were then the favorite entertainment of the court nobility. Lully was an excellent dancer. He had the opportunity to participate in productions, dancing with the king. He is known for his collaboration with Moliere, for whose plays he wrote music. But the main thing in Lully’s work was still writing operas. Surprisingly, Lully created a complete type of French opera; the so-called lyrical tragedy in France (French tragedie lyrique), and reached undoubted creative maturity in the very first years of his work in opera house. Lully often used the contrast between the majestic sound of the orchestral section and the simple recitatives and arias. Musical language Lully is not very complex, but certainly new: the clarity of harmony, rhythmic energy, clarity of division of form, purity of texture speak of the victory of the principles of homophonic thinking. To a large extent, his success was also facilitated by his ability to select musicians for the orchestra, and his work with them (he conducted rehearsals himself). An integral element of his work was attention to harmony and the solo instrument.
In England, the mature Baroque was marked by the brilliant genius of Henry Purcell (1659-1695). He died young, at the age of 36, having written a large number of works and become widely known during his lifetime. Purcell was familiar with the work of Corelli and other Italian Baroque composers. However, his patrons and customers were people of a different sort than the Italian and French secular and ecclesiastical nobility, so Purcell's writings are very different from the Italian school. Purcell worked in a wide range of genres; from simple religious hymns to marching music, from large format vocal works to staged music. His catalog contains more than 800 works. Purcell became one of the first composers of keyboard music, whose influence extends into modern times.
Unlike the above composers, Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707) was not a court composer. Buxtehude worked as an organist, first in Helsingborg (1657-1658), then in Elsinore (1660-1668), and then, starting in 1668, in the church of St. Mary in Lubeck. He made money not by publishing his works, but by performing them, and he preferred composing music based on church texts and performing his own organ works to the patronage of the nobility. Unfortunately, not all of this composer’s works have survived. Buxtehude's music is largely built on the scale of his ideas, the richness and freedom of imagination, a penchant for pathos, drama, and a somewhat oratorical intonation. His work had a strong influence on composers such as J. S. Bach and Telemann.

Late Baroque music (1707-1760)

The precise line between mature and late baroque is a matter of debate; it lies somewhere between 1680 and 1720. To a large extent, the complexity of its definition is due to the fact that in different countries styles changed asynchronously; innovations that were already accepted as a rule in one place were new discoveries in another
The forms discovered by the previous period reached maturity and great variability; concert, suite, sonata, concerto grosso, oratorio, opera and ballet no longer had clearly defined national characteristics. The generally accepted patterns of works are established everywhere: the repeated two-part form (AABB), the simple three-part form (ABC) and the rondo.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) - Italian composer, born in Venice. In 1703 he was ordained a Catholic priest. It was to these, at that time still developing instrumental genres (baroque sonata and baroque concerto) that Vivaldi made his most significant contribution. Vivaldi composed more than 500 concertos. He also gave programmatic titles to some of his works, such as the famous "Seasons".
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) was one of the leading keyboard composers and performers of his time. But perhaps the most famous court composer was George Frideric Handel (1685-1759). He was born in Germany, studied for three years in Italy, but in 1711 he left London, where he began his brilliant and commercially successful career as an independent opera composer, fulfilling orders for the nobility. Possessing tireless energy, Handel reworked the material of other composers, and constantly reworked his own compositions. For example, he is known for reworking the famous oratorio "Messiah" so many times that there is now no version that can be called "authentic."
After his death, he was recognized as a leading European composer, and was studied by musicians of the classical era. Handel mixed the rich traditions of improvisation and counterpoint in his music. The art of musical decoration reached a very high level of development in his works. He traveled throughout Europe to study the music of other composers, and therefore had a very wide circle of acquaintances among composers of other styles.
Johann Sebastian Bach born March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Germany. During his life he composed more than 1000 works in various genres except opera. But during his lifetime he did not achieve any significant success. Moving many times, Bach replaced one not very high position after another: in Weimar he was a court musician for the Weimar Duke Johann Ernst, then became caretaker of the organ in the Church of St. Boniface in Arnstadt, a few years later accepted the position of organist in the Church of St. Blasius in Mühlhausen, where he worked for only about a year, after which he returned to Weimar, where he took the place of court organist and concert organizer. He stayed in this position for nine years. In 1717, Leopold, Duke of Anhalt-Köthen hired Bach as bandmaster, and Bach began to live and work in Köthen. In 1723 Bach moved to Leipzig, where he remained until his death in 1750. In the last years of his life and after Bach's death, his fame as a composer began to decline: his style was considered old-fashioned in comparison with the burgeoning classicism. He was better known and remembered as a performer, teacher and father of the younger Bachs, especially Carl Philipp Emmanuel, whose music was more famous.
Only the performance of the St. Matthew Passion by Mendelssohn, 79 years after the death of J. S. Bach, revived interest in his work. Now J. S. Bach is one of the most popular composers
Classicism
Classicism - style and direction in art XVII - early XIX centuries
This word comes from the Latin classicus - exemplary. Classicism was based on the belief in the rationality of existence, in the fact that human nature is harmonious. The classics saw their ideal in ancient art, which they considered the highest form of perfection.
In the eighteenth century, a new stage in the development of social consciousness began - the Age of Enlightenment. The old social order is being destroyed; the ideas of respect for human dignity, freedom and happiness acquire paramount importance; the individual gains independence and maturity, uses his mind and critical thinking. The ideals of the Baroque era with its pomp, pomp and solemnity are being replaced by a new style of life based on naturalness and simplicity. The time is coming for the idealistic views of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, calling for a return to nature, to natural virtue and freedom. Along with nature, Antiquity is idealized, since it was believed that it was during Antiquity that people managed to realize all human aspirations. Ancient art is called classical, it is recognized as exemplary, the most truthful, perfect, harmonious and, unlike the art of the Baroque era, is considered simple and understandable. The focus, along with other important aspects, is on education, the position of the common people in social order, genius as a human property.

Reason reigns in art too. Wanting to emphasize the high purpose of art, its social and civic role, the French enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot wrote: “Every work of sculpture or painting should express some great rule of life, should teach.”

The theater was at the same time a textbook of life, and life itself. In addition, in the theater the action is highly ordered and measured; it is divided into acts and scenes, which, in turn, are divided into individual replicas of the characters, creating the ideal of art so dear to the 18th century, where everything is in its place and subject to logical laws.
The music of classicism is extremely theatrical; it seems to copy the art of theater, imitate it.
Dividing a classical sonata and symphony into large sections - parts, in each of which there are many musical "events" - is similar to dividing a play into actions and scenes.
In music classical age Often a plot is implied, a certain action that unfolds in front of the audience in the same way as a theatrical action unfolds in front of the audience.
The listener just has to turn on his imagination and recognize the characters of a classic comedy or tragedy in the “musical clothes”.
The art of theater also helps explain the great changes in the performance of music that took place in the 18th century. Previously, the main place where music sounded was the temple: in it, a person was below, in a huge space, where music seemed to help him look up and devote his thoughts to God. Now, in the 18th century, music is heard in an aristocratic salon, in the ballroom of a noble estate or in a city square. The listener of the Age of Enlightenment seems to treat music on a first-name basis and no longer experiences the delight and timidity that it inspired in him when it sounded in church.
The music no longer has the powerful, solemn sound of the organ, and the role of the choir has diminished. Music classic style It sounds light, it has much less sounds, as if it “weighs less” than the heavy, multi-layered music of the past. The sound of the organ and choir was replaced by the sound of a symphony orchestra; sublime arias gave way to light, rhythmic and danceable music.
Thanks to the boundless faith in the capabilities of the human mind and the power of knowledge, the 18th century began to be called the Age of Reason or the Age of Enlightenment.
The heyday of Classicism began in the 80s of the eighteenth century. In 1781, J. Haydn created several innovative works, including his String Quartet op. 33; The premiere of V.A.’s opera is taking place. Mozart's "The Abduction from the Seraglio"; F. Schiller's drama "The Robbers" and "Criticism" are published pure reason» I. Kant.

The brightest representatives of the classical period are the composers of the Vienna Classical School Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. Their art admires the perfection of compositional technique, the humanistic orientation of creativity and the desire, especially noticeable in the music of W. A. Mozart, to display perfect beauty through the means of music.

The very concept of the Vienna Classical School arose soon after the death of L. Beethoven. Classical art is distinguished by a delicate balance between feelings and reason, form and content. The music of the Renaissance reflected the spirit and breath of its era; in the Baroque era, the subject of display in music was the human condition; the music of the Classical era glorifies the actions and deeds of man, the emotions and feelings he experiences, the attentive and holistic human mind.

Ludwig Van Beethoven(1770–1827)
German composer often considered the greatest composer of all time.
His work is classified as both classicism and romanticism.
Unlike his predecessor Mozart, Beethoven had difficulty composing. Beethoven's notebooks show how gradually, step by step, a grandiose composition emerges from uncertain sketches, marked by a convincing logic of construction and rare beauty. It is logic that is the main source of Beethoven's greatness, his incomparable ability to organize contrasting elements into a monolithic whole. Beethoven erases traditional caesuras between sections of form, avoids symmetry, merges parts of the cycle, and develops extended constructions from thematic and rhythmic motifs, which at first glance do not contain anything interesting. In other words, Beethoven creates musical space with the power of his mind, his own will. He anticipated and created those artistic movements that became decisive for the musical art of the 19th century.

Romanticism.
covers roughly the years 1800-1910
Romantic composers tried to express the depth and richness of a person’s inner world with the help of musical means. The music becomes more prominent and individual. Song genres are being developed, including ballads.
The main representatives of romanticism in music are: Austria - Franz Schubert ; in Germany - Ernest Theodor Hoffmann, Carl Maria Weber, Richard Wagner, Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Ludwig Spohr; V
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