When we talk about ancient Greece and Rome, we can easily think of Greek mythology and Homer's epic. Among them, Greek mythology and poetry literature sung by professional players and accompanied by lyre kisala-Homer's epic Iliad and Odyssey have left many records about music. The ancient Greeks believed that music was an activity of pursuing truth and beauty. They believed that music was the key to understanding the spiritual world and the universe. Music also has a magical power to purify people's minds and heal people's bodies. In ancient Greece, musicians were also dramatists, so the music art in ancient Greece was related to other arts. Musicians express music by arranging scales from top to bottom, that is, four-tone series. These modes are called Dorian mode, Phrygia mode and Lydia mode. Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Plato and his disciple Aristotle were all famous music aestheticians in ancient Greece, among which Pythagoras believed that the proportion of losing was the criterion to judge whether music was harmonious or not. Heraclitus thinks that the dialectical nature of music.
The music of ancient Rome is borrowed from the music of ancient Greece. The music of ancient Rome focuses on entertainment, recreation, and its appearance is relatively grand, and its content is biased towards political life and social life. By showing off military power and boosting morale.
the definition of the time of medieval music is very wide, and there is no definite conclusion generally. It refers to the period from 8 to 14, that is, between ancient music and Renaissance. From the perspective of appreciation, the music of this period is mainly for religious purposes, which may be a bit boring for people who are interested in appreciating classical music. Talking about medieval music theory can be discussed from several levels. The mutual development between Catholicism and gregorychant, the simple notation in the Middle Ages and the development process of folk music.
during this period, Christianity developed into a dominant religion and eventually became a powerful force affecting the development of medieval culture. According to legend, around the 6th century, Pope Gregory I finally unified the Christian liturgy, and at the same time, in order to adapt to this standardized Christian ritual activity, he collected and selected different chants used in church liturgy in various places to form a set of duet hymns. This set of duet hymns was called "Gregorian hymns" by later generations, and the modes of Gregorian chants were eight natural tones. The chants in this period were all sung in Latin, and all the lyrics came from Latin. The rhythm is free and flexible, the form is a chorus or duet of unaccompanied boys, and the expression pursues a detached and quiet atmosphere, which is a functional and practical music used for religious ceremonies.
Speaking of Gregorian chants, which are functional music, they are mainly used in two kinds of prayer ceremonies. One is a day class and the other is a mass. Mass is divided into specific mass and regular mass. Specific mass is only used in specific festivals, and the lyrics can be changed according to different festivals, while regular mass is used in every mass, so his lyrics are fixed. Gregorian chant got rid of the way of oral instruction in early western music and became the first music document recorded by music score. By the 16th century, the notation and the roll-call method had become the basic source of the development of western music. In the works of many classical, romantic and modern composers, the melody of chants was often quoted.