Music through the ages full#

The Renaissance (1450 – 1600) was a golden period in music history. They told stories, sung ballads and perhaps most importantly, brought with them influences from far and wide that seamlessly blended with the western musical cultures. These travelling storytellers and musicians covered vast distances on their journeys across Europe and further afield into Asia. Towards the close of the high medieval period, we find the emergence of instrumental pieces in their own right which in turn paves the way for many musical forms in the following period: The Renaissance.īefore leaving this period of music it is important to mention the Troubadours and the Trouveres.

Music through the ages full#

A full gamut of wind, brass and percussion instruments accompanied the Medieval music, although it is still the human voice that dominates many of the compositions. Instruments developed in accordance with the composer’s imaginations. It’s wonderfully polyphonic form is both mesmerising and delightful.

Alongside these important forms came the madrigal that often reflects the moods and feelings of the people of the time. Hildegard von Bingen and Perotin pioneered many of the musical forms we still recognise today including the motet and the sacred Mass. Throughout the Medieval period, the music slowly began to adopt ever more elaborate structures and devices that produced works of immense beauty and devotion. This is partly due to the development of musical notation, much of which has survived, that allows us a window back into this fascinating time.įrom the written music that survives from the monasteries and other important accounts of musical practices, it’s possible to assemble an image of a vibrant culture that ranges from the sacred to the secular. It was during this extended period of music that the sound of music becomes increasingly familiar. By this time music was a dominant art in taverns to cathedrals, practised by kings to paupers alike. Medieval PeriodĪs we move forward in musical time, we begin to enter the Medieval Period of music which can be generally agreed to span the period from around 500AD up until the mid-fifteenth century. This, in turn, looked back to earlier times and customs, particularly in the music of the Jewish people where the idea of a static drone commonly underpinned a second vocal line. Some controversy surrounds this claim, but the name has stuck and the music remains distinct and vitally important as it moves away from plainchant towards polyphony. It was Pope Gregory (540-604 AD), who is credited with moving the progress of sacred music forward and developing what is now called Gregorian Chant, characterises by the haunting sound of the open, perfect fifth. Music was very much subservient to the words, without flourish or frivolity. The chants that were composed devoutly followed the sacred Latin texts in a fashion that was tightly controlled and given only to the glory of God. Although early Christian music had its roots in the practices and beliefs of the Hebrew people, what emerged from this was to become the basis for sacred music for centuries to come. The trumpet as an instrument of announcement and splendid ceremony, or the lyre as an integral player in the songs of poets.Īcross Europe from the early part of the first century, the monasteries and abbeys became the places where music became embedded into the lives of those devoted to God and their followers.Ĭhristianity had established itself and with it came a new liturgy that demanded a new music. In the frescoes and in some written accounts, including the Bible, we have learned about the instruments that featured in the Roman and Greek times and their significance to the cultures.

It certainly indicates remarkable links to the music that would follow, perhaps most notably through the use of modality in Greek music. Surviving Greek notation from this period of musical history has given scientists and musicologists alike a vital clue to the way that the music of the time might have sounded. Musical practices and conventions perhaps conveyed by travelling musicians brought a wealth of diversity and invention. Influences from the west to the east merged into the pre-Christian music of the Greeks and later the Romans. It is from these humble beginnings that the music we enjoy today evolved.Īs we move further through the history of music we find increasing evidence of its key role in sacred and secular settings, although the division into these categories was not defined in this way until many years later. Voice would have been the first and most natural means of expression in our distant ancestors, used to bond socially or comfort a sleepless child. Significant evidence has been discovered that very early man developed primitive flutes from animal bones and used stones and wood as percussion. In all probability, music has played an important role in the lifecycle of humans perhaps even before we could speak.