In medieval Europe, the church had more powerful ruling power than the state or other social groups. At that time, all kinds of knowledge and art, including philosophy, served the church, and medieval music developed supernormally because of Christianity. In the church music, the form of polyphonic music was created and the counterpoint method was completed. The original printed music was used by the church for mass. The rise of keyboard instruments and their teaching methods can't produce anything without teaching. From all musical theories to notation, to chorus and ensemble, most of them are the heritage of the medieval church. Although today's symphonies and operas are mostly secular, it can't be said that they have nothing to do with the medieval church.
Church music, at the beginning, probably adopted the form from the Jewish kingdom intact, that is, singing hymns and reciting the Bible, which can be imagined as pure vocal music. Religious music has always been dominated by vocal music because vocal music has lyrics. On the contrary, instrumental music mainly developed as secular music.
Roman music
The word "Roman style" mainly comes from the architectural terms of that era. Romanesque music is one of the greatest commemorative cultural relics in the world art history. This kind of music has neither harmony nor accompaniment. It is characterized by chorus and produces a solemn sense of harmony through the echo of the church patio. Its quaint and beautiful religious feelings are completely consistent with Roman-style church buildings.
Romanesque music is one of the important musical forms in this period in the Middle Ages, and its representative is Gregorian chant, which is a typical Catholic music. In the long Middle Ages, Gregory Chant played the most important role in music, which was a pure single melody singing. In Gregorian chant, there are four church modes and their variant styles: Dorian mode, Phrygia mode, Lydia mode and mixed Lydia mode. /kloc-Ionian mode and aria mode appeared in the 0/6th century, further forming today's scales. In the era of Gregory I, Rome established a school called "Singing Class", which can be regarded as one of the earliest music schools in the world.
Ambrosius (340-397) collected songs sung in churches, formulated four church mode scales composed of seven tones for church music, and created the form of duets. In hymns, the relationship between lyrics and language situation, tone and rhythm is solved in an ideal form, and they naturally and perfectly express religious feelings, which can be regarded as a summary of the music art of this era.
Artistic feature
In medieval Europe, the power of the church was higher than that of the state and other social groups.
At that time, all social ideologies, including all kinds of arts and philosophies, had to serve the church, so medieval music developed supernormally with the help of Christianity.
It can be said that all music theories, notation, chorus and ensemble, the rise and teaching of keyboard instruments in the Middle Ages are closely related to the church. Today's symphonies and operas are mostly secular in content, but they are also inextricably linked with the medieval church.
Church music, originally adopted the form from the Jewish kingdom intact, that is, singing hymns and reciting the Bible, is pure vocal music. Religious music has always been dominated by vocal music because vocal music has lyrics. On the contrary, instrumental music mainly developed as secular music.
The transition from original monophonic music to polyphonic music is an important feature of medieval music. In addition, medieval music also made great progress in theory, completing the counterpoint method and the line spectrum method. The invention and production of musical instruments have also made great progress. Trombone, trumpet and horn were widely popular at that time, and bowstring instruments (such as violins) were also widely used.
The characteristics of Gregorian chant come from its function, and the religious spirit requires rationality, abstinence and temperance, so the chant also presents a simple style. The lyrics are Latin, mostly Bible, and music should obey the lyrics. Therefore, the melody is a single-part music without accompaniment, with fixed rhythm and smooth progress (mainly progressive three degrees, occasionally jumping four or five degrees), improvisation and pure male voice. (Listen)
There are four ways to sing Gregorian hymns: solo (less), chorus, alternate singing (alternate hymn) and response singing (response hymn). The content of singing is mainly chanting, praying and singing in worship, just like recitation and aria in opera. The former half sings and half speaks, like a monk chanting scriptures, while the latter has a slightly stronger sense of melody and highlights a sense of solemnity. Gregorian chant melody can be divided into three types according to the combination of lyrics and singing: syllable-one word, one sound; Pneumatic style-one word corresponds to one pneumatic symbol (polyphony); Melismatic style-one-word pronunciation, highlighting "flower singing"
The following important Gregorian chant music forms embody these three music types:
Chant Tone: It is the oldest and most primitive hymn melody, which consists of 65,438+050 poems in the Old Testament. The meter of these poems is not rigorous, and the length of each sentence is different. Only the upper sentence and the lower sentence are the framework of a section, which is mainly fluent and even homophonic repetition, and belongs to the "syllable type" hymn. Its forms basically include "Qi" (only used in the first section), intonation (homophonic polyphony, singing a section or sentence quickly), middle "turn" (semi-termination) and ending "harmony" (which is the most melodious part of the heart).
Antiphon: It used to be a way of singing poetry. The first and second sentences of each verse in the poem are sung alternately by two choirs, and later this alternate part becomes an "alternate hymn" independently, which belongs to the "New Chinese" hymn.
Chorus: This is the most artistic form of Gregorian chant. Like the alternate hymn, it originally refers to the singing form-the soloist quotes a poem and then the choir repeats the first half of the poem. After that, the choir chose other contents as lyrics, and the melody became more and more fancy, becoming a unique' response department'. It belongs to "Flower Singing".
Hymn (hymn): It is the only poetic form in the early Gregorian chant, which belongs to "syllable form" and has strict meter.
Canticle: It is similar to the melody of a poem, but the lyrics are other contents of the Bible, and the melody is slightly decorative.
Choir: Singing in response, singing other than poetry.
musical instrument
In the early Middle Ages, the church rejected instrumental music. With the prosperity of secular culture in the late Middle Ages, some schools of instrumental music appeared, and the types of musical instruments increased. Can be divided into the following categories:
Plucked instruments: lyre, harp and lute handed down from Rome.
Bowstring instruments: violin (vielle or fiedel) and organ.
Wind instruments: flute, oboe, bagpipes, trumpet and horn. Keyboard instruments: large organ, portable organ, fixed (desktop) organ.
Percussion instruments: drums, bowls, castanets, etc.
Neglect comment
The development of music in the Middle Ages is undoubtedly the most imprisoned and gloomy period in the whole music history.
After years of war and religious asceticism, the content and form of music are based on religion and developed in the struggle between pop music and religious music.
The most remarkable development of music in this period is: parallel organnon with hymns as continuous parts, parallel octave, Decante with the fusion of two parts as rhythm mode, until the peak of world classic songs in 13, which embodies the interaction between religious music and secular music. /kloc-The French "Art Nouveau Movement" in the 0/4th century was the peak of the development of pop music in the Middle Ages. Both the appearance of new notation and other rhythms and the embodiment of secular polyphony music represented by Ma Xiao in three "fixed forms" have played a good role in connecting the past and attaching importance to the development of humanistic music.
Although the development of medieval music is slightly gloomy in the history of western music, its artistic achievements still have a great influence on later generations.