Musical theory and practice in the Middle Ages

Musical theory and practice in the Middle Ages

   The treatises of the Carolingian era and the lower Middle Ages were much more For practice than those of the classical and post-classical or the early Christianity. 

   Although Boethius never ceased to be quoted with veneration and the The mathematical fundamentals of music transmitted by it have continued to constitute The basis of the construction of scales and speculation about the intervals and Consonances, his writings were not very useful when it came to Solving the immediate problems of rating, reading, classification and interpretation of Or improvising and composing organum and other primitive forms of polyphony. Such were now the dominant topics of the treaties. 

   For example, Guido Of Arezzo, in his Micrologus (c. 1025-1028) attributes to Boethius the exposition of quotients Intervals. Guido tells the story of the discovery of these relations Numbers from the sound of a blacksmith's workshop hammer and applies these Quotients, dividing the monocord in the manner of Boethius.

   The monochorion consisted of a rope stretched between two trestles fixed at both ends of a Long wooden resonance box, with a movable easel to make vary The length of the part of the string that emitted the sound. 

   However, after presenting The Boethius process, Guido exposes another method, easier to learn, that gives The same diatonic scale, tuned in order to produce quarter, Pure octaves and a single integer, in the ratio of 9: 8. Guido still departs Of Greek theory by constructing a scale that is not based on the tetracorde and To propose a series of modes that have no relation to the tonoi or Harmony of the ancients. 

   This author spends long pages instructing the student about The characteristics and effects of these modes and the way in which they can be Composing melodies and easily combining two or more voices singing in Simultaneously. 

   Guido was to find in part the model for this crosstalk or organum In an anonymous treatise of the ninth century known as Musica enchiriadis (see chapter 3). Treaties such as Musica enchiriadis, or even more the dialogue between teacher and student Attached to it, Scolica enchiriadis, addressed the students who aspired to enter In the ranks of the clergy. 

   The monasteries and the schools connected to the cathedrals Institutions both religious and teaching. In the monasteries the education Was predominantly practical, combined with some elementary notions Of non-musical themes. 

   Cathedrals' schools tended to pay more attention to Speculative studies, and it was mainly these schools that from the beginning of the The thirteenth century prepared students for admission to universities. But the greater Part of formal education in medieval times was geared to practical issues And most treatises reflect this attitude. The authors of these They pay homage to Boethius in one or two introductory chapters, but later They pass with obvious relief to more pressing matters. 

   Some of the Teaching are in verse; Others are written in the form of dialogue between a student Abomination of knowledge and an omniscient master - a reflection of the traditional A method of teaching in which great emphasis was placed on memorization5. There were Visual memory aids in the form of boards and diagrams. The students Learn to sing intervals, to memorize chants, and later to read notes from Of the agenda. 

   To this end, one of the most essential components of the curriculum was The system of eight modes, or tones, as the medieval authors called them.

               THE ECCLESIASTICAL MODES

The development of the medieval mode system was Gradual process, that it is not possible to reconstruct all stages clearly. At Its finished form, reached by the eleventh century, the system included eight modes, Differentiated according to the position of the whole tones or halftones in an octave Diatonic built from the finalis, or final; In practice this was generally - though not always - the last note of the melody. Modes were identified by Numbers and grouped in pairs; Odd modes were designated as authentic ) And pairs per plagiarism ( 'collateral'). Each plagal mode had, invariably, The same end as the corresponding authentic mode. The modal scales Can be considered as analogous to octave scales on the white keys of a modern keyboard, starting with the notes R (first mode), Mi (third Mode), F (fifth mode) and Sun (seventh mode), with the corresponding plagais one Fourth lower (example 2.6). It should be remembered, however, that these notes do not Represent a height of "absolute" sound - a design extraneous to the chanting and The Middle Ages in general - having been chosen simply in such a way that the Characteristics could be the subject of a Of accidents. The endings of each mode are indicated in example 2.6 by the KM signal. Besides the End, there is in each mode a characteristic note, called tenor (as in tones of the Psalms), chord or recitation tone (indicated in example 2.6 by signal o). the finals Of pairs of modes, a plagal and an authentic one, are the same, but the tenors are many different. A practical way to identify tenors is to keep the following in mind: Scheme: (1) in authentic modes the tenor is a fifth above the end; (2) in Plagal modes the tenor is a third below the tenor of the corresponding authentic mode; (3) whenever a tenor, according to this scheme, fits in the note Si, Goes up to C. The final, tenor and scope of the melody are the three elements that contribute to To characterize a mode. Each plagal mode differs from the corresponding authentic mode Because it has a different tenor and scope: in authentic modes the scope Is located entirely above the final, while in plagal modes the final is the fourth note From the beginning of the eighth. In this way, the first and eighth modes have the same Scope, but different endings and tenors. In practice, however, a song in a A note comes down from the final, while the chants in plagiarist modes May rise beyond the octave plagal.

The development of the medieval mode system was Gradual process, that it is not possible to reconstruct all stages clearly. At Its finished form, reached by the eleventh century, the system included eight modes, Differentiated according to the position of the whole tones or halftones in an octave Diatonic built from the finalis, or final; In practice this was generally - though not always - the last note of the melody. Modes were identified by Numbers and grouped in pairs; Odd modes were designated as authentic ) And pairs per plagiarism ( 'collateral'). Each plagal mode had, invariably, The same end as the corresponding authentic mode. The modal scales Can be considered as analogous to octave scales on the white keys of a modern keyboard, starting with the notes R (first mode), Mi (third Mode), F (fifth mode) and Sun (seventh mode), with the corresponding plagais one Fourth lower (example 2.6). It should be remembered, however, that these notes do not Represent a height of "absolute" sound - a design extraneous to the chanting and The Middle Ages in general - having been chosen simply in such a way that the Characteristics could be the subject of a Of accidents. The endings of each mode are indicated in example 2.6 by the KM signal. Besides the End, there is in each mode a characteristic note, called tenor (as in tones of the Psalms), chord or recitation tone (indicated in example 2.6 by signal o). the finals Of pairs of modes, a plagal and an authentic one, are the same, but the tenors are many different. A practical way to identify tenors is to keep the following in mind: Scheme: (1) in authentic modes the tenor is a fifth above the end; (2) in Plagal modes the tenor is a third below the tenor of the corresponding authentic mode; (3) whenever a tenor, according to this scheme, fits in the note Si, Goes up to C. The final, tenor and scope of the melody are the three elements that contribute to To characterize a mode. Each plagal mode differs from the corresponding authentic mode Because it has a different tenor and scope: in authentic modes the scope Is located entirely above the final, while in plagal modes the final is the fourth note From the beginning of the eighth. In this way, the first and eighth modes have the same Scope, but different endings and tenors. In practice, however, a song in a A note comes down from the final, while the chants in plagiarist modes May rise beyond the octave plagal.