The beginnings of polyphony and eighteenth-century music

The beginnings of polyphony and eighteenth-century music

   The beginnings of polyphony and eighteenth-century music

The eleventh century is of crucial importance in the history of the West. The 1000- -1100 d. C. witnessed a revival of economic life throughout the Western Europe, an increase in population, the clearing of uncultivated lands and Birth of modern cities; The conquest of England by the Normans, some Important steps towards the reconquest of Spain from the Muslims, the first crusade A cultural resurgence, with the first translations of Greek and Arabic, The beginnings of universities and scholastic philosophy and the diffusion of architecture Romanesque style. The cultural independence of the West has been marked by the Of literature in the vernacular and found its symbol in the schism Between the churches of the West and the East in 1054. The eleventh century was no less crucial to the history of music. In those years, Certain changes which, when taken to the final To Western music many of its fundamental characteristics, these traits Which distinguish it from other music in the world. Such changes can be summarized As follows. 

1. The composition was little by little replacing improvisation as a form Creation of musical pieces. Improvisation, in one or other of its forms, Is the normal form of creation in most musical cultures and was, probably, Also the only one in the West until about the ninth century. Gradually, the The idea of ​​composing each melody once and for all, instead of improvising every Interpretation based on traditional melodic structures; Only from then on We can say that musical works came to "exist" in the way Independently of each execution.

2. A composite work could be taught and transmitted orally and could suffer Changes in this transmission process. But the invention of musical notation has Possible to write the music in a definitive way, which could be learned from Of the manuscript. The notation was, in other words, a set of Could be followed, whether the composer was present or not. That way, Composition and implementation became independent acts, rather than combining In the same person, as before, and the role of the interpreter became Mediation between the composer and the public. 

3. Music began to be more consciously structured and subject to certain Principles - for example, the eight-mode theory, or the Rhythm and consonance; Such principles were eventually organized in Systems and presented in treaties. 

4. Polyphony began to replace the monophony. It is true that polyphony This is not exclusively Western, but it was our music that, more than any other Another, has specialized in this technique. We developed the polyphonic composition at a Never equaled, and it must be recognized at the expense of melodic subtleties and That are characteristic of music and other highly civilized peoples, the India and China, for example. We must underline that all the changes we have been describing have taken place Very gradual way; There was not an abrupt and absolute cut with the past. The monophony Continued: some of the most beautiful examples of monophonic singing, including Antiphons, hymns and sequences, were produced in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The improvisation Continued to be practiced after the eleventh century and many stylistic aspects of the new Composite music had their origin - as it always does - in the practice of improvisation. However, if we take a look at the whole development Historical perspective, we can see that it was in the eleventh century that the First steps towards a new and different musical system. In the first Thousand years of the Christian era the church of the West had absorbed and adapted for its own use everything What he could go to the music of antiquity and the Orient. Around 600 d. W. This process of absorption and conversion was practically completed, and over the Four hundred years that followed the material was systematized, codified and disseminated Throughout Western Europe. This inheritance was not abandoned. The compositions Polyphonic sacrates until the end of the sixteenth century and even later Chanting along with other musical materials of diverse origins. However, Polyphony will begin to develop independently of such contributions and independently Of the Church. By the sixteenth century composers discovered New domains of expression and invented new techniques to dominate them; And it's in that New period in the history of music that we still live today.