- In Art History, the late Middle Ages are at times called the Gothic era.
- In music
Ars Antiqua
Ars Nova
- Scholasticism
- Entertainment outside the church
- Society was becoming more independent
Economically
Intellectually
Artistically
- The rise of towns stimulated centers of learning
New universities were established
Music became an integral part of education, first as science then art
The leaders and innovators of medieval music were either at
the universities or associated with the courts
- Musical leadership centered itself in Northern Europe instead of Italy as before
- Struggle between the church and the state
Between asceticism and humanism
Between the power of the church and the individual
In music between sacred and secular (expressiveness)

II.  Function of Music

- Sacred music served the same function as it had earlier
- The same liturgical texts were set but in polyphony instead of monophony
- An important addition to sacred music was the motet
- A rise in the social status of secular music
Demonstrated by the nobility of troubadours and trouveres
- For the first time composers achieved recognition for their creative efforts

III.  Style and Performance Practice

- The development of polyphonywas the major concern of composers
- In the 12th century the Ars Antiqua composers of the Notre Dame School
were the first to develop rules of polyphony
Leonin & Perotin
- Ars Nova emerged in France and Italy in the 14th century
Rhythm was expanded by the acceptance of duple patterns
Harmony - introduction of 3rds and 6ths (treated as dissonance)
- Formal Organization
Vocal music organized according to poetic and syllabic needs of the text
However, these were sometimes secondary to rhythmic and
harmonic considerations
Polyphonic music organized into sections/units by rhythmic modes
Longer sections were combined on the basis of the
isorhythmic principle
Organum continued to be an important organizational principle
Monophonic and polyphonic secular forms - "formes fixes"
Rondeau
Virelai
Ballade


- Melody

Vocal in style
Step-wise with a limited range
Sacred melody, other than plainsong, was usually in short phrases of
repeated metric patterns
Secular melody was generally in longer phrases and lyric
Sacred melody made no attempt to express the meaning of the text
Secular melody often captured the mood of the text
All earlier melodies were modal
In the Ars Nova, melodies had a tendency toward intervals that
suggested tonality


- Rhythm

Rhythmic development concerned all composers interested in
expressiveness of music
Rhythmic modes were devised to divorce melody from poetic meter
An interesting device of the period was the hocket
Alternating interruption of the rhythmic and melodic flow
among the voices
One of the most significant developments was a system of notation
By the 13th century mensural notation had been developed


- Harmony

Was the result of polyphonic texture
No systematic chordal structure
Very sharp, unresolved dissonances occurred
In the early Ars Nova, each of the upper voices related to the lowest
voice and not to one another
Since melodies were modal, so was the harmony
Secular music leaned toward tonality a bit more
Harmonic vocabulary limited to perfect fourth, fifths and octaves
Other intervals were considered dissonance
In the Ars Nova 3rds and 6ths were considered imperfect consonances
Utilized first in secular then sacred
Chromatic alterations were used at cadences to avoid tritones
or for the sake of "beauty"
Musica ficta


- Texture

Before 1300 secular music was monophonic and sacred music was
either set to traditional plainsong or organum
Polyphonic texture prevailed in all music after 1300
Three-voice polyphony was most common
Four-voice was in frequent use by the end of the 14th century
Almost all was based on preexistent chant melodies
(cantus firmus) that were of slow or augmented
note value
There was no distinction between the textures of sacred and secular
polyphony
The overall textural effect was an openness and lack of harmonic
direction due to predominant use of perfect intervals


- Instrumentation and Tone Color

Music for voices dominated both sacred and secular music
Melodic instruments could be substituted for the cantus firmus in
polyphonic forms
Instruments, no doubt, doubled the voice parts on occasion
especially in secular polyphony
Secular monophony was usually accompanied by instruments
most commonly the lute, harp, and viol
Combinations of instruments were used for dances and
"out-of-doors" music (probably improvised not written)

IV.  Music for Voices

- Secular Monophony was music of the troubadours, trouveres and minnesingers
Included many forms such as the Formes fixes
Virelai
Rondeau
Ballade
Minnesingers limited themselves to four formal types
Hymn type
The Italian Canzo
The German Bar form
Litany type
The French Rotrouenge
Rondel type
The French Virelai
The Italian Cantiga andLauda
Sequence type
The French Lai
The German Leich
- In the 13th century a type of polyphony called Notre Dame Organum was developed
- Other polyphonic forms
Clausula
Conductus
Motet
Isorhythmic motet
Ballata
Caccia
The 14th century Madrigal
- Polyphonic Mass
- Liturgical Drama

V.  Music for Instruments

- Notated instrumental forms were slow to develop.
- Most dances during this time were still improvised.
- Conducti, motets, and even polyphonic sections of the Mass
were sometimes played instead of sung

VI.  Composers

Hildegard von Bingen (1098 -1179)
Leonin (fl. 1160)
Perotin (12th cent.)
Adam de la Halle (c. 1237-1287)
Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377)
Francesco Landini (1325-1397)

VII. Historians, Theorists, and Manuscript Sources

Medieval writers still considered music the servant of the church, and their philosophy is mainly a repetition of the earlier authors.  However, major portions of their writings are concerned with practical problems of music, mainly those of rhythm and notation.
 
Franco of Cologne (fl. 1250-1280) - a medieval theorist and a practical musician.  His primary contribution to notation, which took his name, "Franconian," was in developing a system of precise durations for notes, indicated by their shapes.
Marchetto da Padua (fl. 14th cent.) - an Italian who wrote an account of the musical practices in Italy, was also the author of a theoretical treatise, "Pomerium," that was a justification of duple time in music.
Jacques de Liege (c. 1260-c. 1330) - a Belgian, was the author of "Speculum musicae," written about 1325.  It was an attack on modern musical practices. It is also a compendium of all medieval knowledge about music.
Jean de Muris (c. 1290-c. 1351) - a writer on music, astronomy, and mathematics.  He championed the cause of the "new style".
Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361) - was the first writer to theorize on the "new art."  His treatise, "Ars nova," in which he describes the new way of measuring time, gave the name to this period first in France and then in Italy.
There are a large number of manuscript collections from the 12th to the 14th centuries.  The following are generally recognized as the most important:
 
St. Martial MSS of the 12th century is a collection of early organum.

Two important collections of motets from the 13th century are the Codex Montpellier and the Codex Bamberg.

14th-century Italian secular music is adequately represented by the Codex Squarcialupi

Contains works by Landini and other Italian composers.