Music 1102A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Dorian Mode, Gregorian Chant, Gothic Architecture
19 Mar 2018
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Document Summary
1000 year period between the fall of the roman empire and renaissance. Plainchant ideal for projecting text through large spaces. Music captured simple pains and pleasures of being human. Dances were group activities, accompanied by a drummer. Instruments of the middle ages different from today. Music had to be written and copied by hand. Morality play: dramatized allegory of good and evil struggling over the fate of a single soul. Confrontations between satan and 16 virtues (ex: charity, obedience, humility, hope, chastity) Hell was believed to devoid music of music. Monophonic texture allows performers to project text clearly. Medieval performers likely added instruments to give variety. Play of virtues remains monophonic, with no instruments for long stretches. Plainchant also called gregorian chant (pope gregory i allegedly wrote most pf it in the late sixth century) Function: to project the text clearly and to enhance its meaning. Possessed clarity and melodic beauty thus it was inspirational.
