Middle Ages & Renaissance Study Guide

Middle Ages Dates: 500-1450 1. What was going historically during this era? What was life like? It was a chaotic period of social and political unrest. Religious and political differences between and within regions led to nearly constant warfare. The life of all the classes was dominated by the feudal system – feudalism. 2. Who or what had the power? The church 3. Who were learned or literate? Holy men or people of important status such as kings, queens, and knights most other people were illiterate 4. Who were allowed to sing in church? Only men were allowed to sing in church 5.

Most of the music that was notated during the middle ages was sacred or secular? Sacred 6. Was most medieval music vocal? Yes 7. What is Gregorian Chant? Discuss its origin, texture, melody, rhythm, text. How did it receive its name? What is its purpose? Music to which portions of the Roman Catholic service are sung by unaccompanied voices singing in unison. The melodies of Gregorian chant are commonly sung a capable and in unison by men and boys, or by women in female religious institutions such as convents. The rhythm is free and flexible.

The text may be treated in a syllabic manner with one note of music corresponding to each syllable of text. 8. When chant was notated, was the rhythm notated or Just the melody? Gregorian Chant and Just the melody 9. What are church modes? Any of a system of modes used in Gregorian chants up until 1600 10. What is the Mass? Roman Catholic worship service 11. What is the Proper of the Mass? Parts of the mass change according to the seasons of the church year around Easter and others at Characteristic; they are proper or appropriate, only at certain times. 12. What is the Ordinary of the Mass?

Parts of the mass celebrated at any season of the year or time of the day. 13. Who is Hildebrand of Bigger? 12th century Benedictine abbess who was a composer of sacred song and chant 14. When did composers begin to write polyphonic pieces? What was this early polyphony like? 15. What is a canon? Polyphonic composition in which all the voices perform the same melody, beginning at different times 16. What is a drone? Sustained tone 17. What is an station? Persistently repeated melodic or rhythmic pattern 18. What is the liturgy? Words of the mass 19. Who is Gallinule De Mach? The century poet and musician who composed the first complete polyphonic setting of the entire Ordinary of the Mass. 20. What city became the musical center of Europe during the mid to late Middle Ages? What was the musical center of this city and who worked there? Vienna Composers came from all over Europe to train in and around Vienna, and gradually they developed and formalized the standard musical forms that were to dominate European musical culture for the next several decades. 21. Composers began to write polyphonic songs that were not always based on chant, what were hey based on instead? 22.

By the 14th century a new system of music notation had evolved. It allowed a composer to specify almost any rhythmic pattern. Were beats now divided into two or three parts or both? Was syncopation used? Both and yes Renaissance Dates: 1450-1600 1. What was going historically during this era? What was life like? 2. What is humanism? Period characterized by a new optimism, that began in 14th century Italy and spread throughout western Europe during the Renaissance 3. What effect did the printing press have on music? It enabled books to be printed quickly and inexpensively, making them available to commoners 4.

Was every educated person expected to be trained in music? Yes 5. Where did musical activity gradually shift to? From the church to the court 6. Were composers content to remain unknown? No not anymore 7. Does vocal music continue to be more important than instrumental music? Yes 9. What is word painting? Musical illustrations of verbal concepts 10. What is the primary texture of most renaissance music? Polyphonic 11. How many different parts are typically found in a renaissance piece? How does this compare to the music in the Middle Ages?

Typical pieces have four, five, or six parts, but medieval music had two and three parts. 12. What is a capable? Unaccompanied group singing 13. What was the rhythm like in renaissance music? Rhythm is more a gentle flow than a sharply defined beat. 14. What was the melody like in renaissance music? The melody usually moves along a scale with few large leaps. 15. What were to the two main types of sacred music? Define each of them? Motet is a polyphonic choral work set to a sacred Latin text other than the ordinary of the mass. Mass is a polyphonic choral composition made up of five sections: Keri, Gloria,

Credo, Sanctum, and Gangs Die. 16. Who was Joaquin Deeper? What type of music did he compose? Netherlands composer of the Renaissance who composed Western Music 17. Who was Giovanni Periling dad Palestinian? Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best- known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition. 18. What was the counter-reformation and the Council of Trend? The time when the Church launched its counter-attack to reformation 19. List the three complaints with the sacred music of the day? 20. What is a Lutheran chorale?

A four-part choral piece by theologies and writer Martin Luther, who also composed, used in Lutheran church services. 21. What is a psalm tune? Tuneful settings of the 150 psalms in versions suitable for congregational singing 20. What is a madrigal? Secular song introduced in Italy that became popular in England as well. Polyphonic in texture and expressive in mood, madrigals are written in the vernacular. 21. Who was Thomas Wilkes? An organist and church composer 22. How were instruments categorized in the Renaissance? Low or soft 23. Explain how dances are performed together?

During the Renaissance period, there was a distinction between country dances and court dances. Court dances required the dancers to be trained and were often for display and entertainment, whereas country dances could be attempted by anyone. At Court, the formal entertainment would often be followed by many hours of country dances which all present could Join in. Dances described as country dances such as Charlatans or Carthaginian remained popular over a long period – over two centuries in the case of this dance. A Renaissance dance can be likened to a ball.