Response to Embellishing the Liturgy

The Monk Notker of St. Gall was a known author of the lengthy hymns that have embellished the Liturgy following the Alleluia of the mass. My response to this article is that it seems that such embellishments were for purely practical reasons, to make segments more easily memorized by members of the church.

Why would anyone want to embellish the Liturgy? It's interesting, because the specific choice to use the word 'why' implies a judgement. This judgement, or assumption in this case, of course, is that the standard or 'the norm' is that people would not want to embellish the Liturgy. If the Liturgy is not broken, are you going to try to fix it? People go to great lengths to establish, and more importantly, preserve traditions of cultures. The Liturgy, specifically, is a very influential tradition of a highly significant culture, so changing it in any way at all, especially during times of communication rates very much slower than today, would be a near impossibility against the odds of those up in arms about maintaining tradition. As we hear in lecture, this is evidenced by the fact that from 700 A.D. to the 1960's, the Liturgy had never been truly reformed.

To answer the question at hand now, I would suggest that embellishing the Liturgy could be just as practical as replacing old, worn out lighting in a house with more energy and cost efficient bulbs, or as aesthetic as painting the house a different color. Over time, things change in abundance both practically and aesthetically, and sometimes modifications should be made.

Week 2 Listening 3

Missa Assumpta Est Maria, For 6 Voices: Graduale: Propter Veritatem, by Palestrina
This seems like the typical chant. I'm not sure why Palestrina keeps popping up. I think that pandora has thrown some gregorian chant into the medieval station.

O Viridissima Virga, Antiphon: O Viridissima virga, Antiphon
This is a pretty, and solemn music. Females only. I'm noticing a trend that music of this period is either all male or all female. This piece in particular is not secular, I don't think, but it seems as though even the secular songs are not coed.

Week 2 Listening 2

Another Hildegard von Bingen. This time, "Voice of the Blood."
There is a pedal sustained note underneath, giving this a truly eerie and awesome feel. This singer is amazing. It has no harmony that I'm detecting, but it has a very strong modal melody line that takes care of the harmony itself. This song has a slow and solemn tempo. It is by far my favorite song of this era, thus far.


Philippe de Chancilier - Sol Oritur In Sydere
This is the highest countertenor that I've ever heard. His range is beyond that of most sopranos. I wonder why it was so popular to have the falsetto so mastered back in those times. It is definitely a beautiful sound, but it is so different than what we are used to today. I am entranced by his perfection of his instrument. It is entirely a Capella. There is no drone or any other voices to call or respond, and no instrument in sight, yet the singer is flawless. Truly, an impressive performance.

Week 2 Listening 1

I hopped on pandora.com and typed in "medieval," to which Pandora responded with "Sequentia Ensemble for Medieval Music, Cologne, Hildegard von Bingen: Canticles of Ecstasy." So, that is the channel that I listened to.

The First song, "O Ignis Spiritus" featured responsorial content as far as I could tell. Because this music is in a different language, I couldn't tell if it was repeated material or if the texture just alternated between virtuosic high soprano and a group. This recording was of all women. I needed to look up the word, "Canticles" on dictionary.com, and it is defined as a nonmentrical hymn or chant.

The second song, contrary to the first, seems as though it is in a major tonality. This song is called, "Guillaume de Machaut." Pandora seems to agree, as it just popped up a comment box saying it featured another female singer but in a major tonality. I think this might not be totally correct because we have discussed nothing but modes thus far in class.

The third song seems much more modal, especially in the harmony. There is a droning harmony in the background and a moving line on top, as the soloist. This recording seems as though it is in a very, very large cathedral or monastary because its resonance provides an overwhelming echo. I wonder if this is accurate, as female singers were not allowed to sing sacred music in services, so why would it be in a monastary or cathedral? This is called, "Gregorian Chant 1000: A Mass for the End of Time," by Anonymous 4. I think that I remember from Music Lit that composers of chant usually did not indicate who they were on the composition, but the chants were in collections and they seem to be able to group many chants together under a single composer.

Medieval Instrument - Listening

http://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/instrumt.html

Bass Crumhorn - double reed on the inside of the instrument
Cornamuse
The Dulcian - like a bassoon, literally "sweet". Can play softly or loudly, very versitile
Sacbut
Dulcimer - Strings across a hollow box, played with mallets. great for accompanying
Gamba - "viol da gamba" looks a lot like a cello. 6 strings. played with bow, fretted.
Gemshorn - made out of horn, flutelike.
Hurdy-Gurdy - you turn a wheel that turns to vibrate the strings, with reeds that pop up and act as stops. Also called an organ grinder. Has drone strings that play constantly.
Kortholt - "short wood" - double bore instrument. Also double reed. Suprisingly low pitch for its size
Zink - buzzing of the lips. aka "cornett"
Lizard - it's a lower zink. "tenor cornett", conical bore.
Serpent - "bass cornett"
Lute - tons and tons of lute music, more than piano.
Mute Cornett - conical. very soft sound. played with recorders, lutes, and viols because it was soft
Organetto - a small organ
Rauschpfeife - another loud reed-cap instrument
Psaltery - a plucked instrument. like the lyre, much like ancient instruments
Rebec - predecessor of the violin family. fretless


***FIRST LISTENING***
"A l'entrada del tens clar"
There is a lower voice and a higher voice. This sounds, because of its lilt, like an Italian piece. "eya" as a response at the lines to affirm the grace of this young girl. It is a lively, festive piece; very secular, due to its earthly pleasures in content.
We also listened to a darker, more rhythmic version.

***SECOND LISTENING***
"Reis Glorios"
Starts with a buzzing instrument, and a double reed, with a string drone. Perhaps a lizard or serpent is present, for the lower buzzed instrument. A high soprano enters. It sounds quite minor for "Glorious King," in my opinion. Ah, perhaps it is "...soon I fear the jealous one will attack you."

***THIRD LISTENING***
"Comtessa de Dia: A Chantar"
I believe we listened to this in lecture on Wednesday. It is about unrequited love. Obviously, this piece is secular, as a female is singing, and it is about human love. I hear a light and thin plucking string, as well as a bowed string to accompany.

Office and Mass on Easter Day - Listening

Introit - (Proper)
This recording is completely monophonic.
The singers were all male.
I liked the texture of the piece; it seemed to speed up and slow down enough to keep me interested. The range of pitch had the same large dynamic, which is refreshing for sometimes more monotonous chants that I've heard in the past.
The first half is neumatic and melismatic, where later in the piece where it seems to speed up and gain a more positive energy, it becomes syllabic.

Kyrie - (Ordinary)
This seems to be a call and response.
This is significantly more melismatic.
It seems to be more metered. Most of the phrases are a wedge (>) in that they always start higher in pitch than they end.

Gloria
This one, probably for obvious reasons, seems to be the happiest sounding thus far. Another call and response.

Agnus Dei - Ordinary (on Easter)
It's interesting to me that there are repeated triad-sounding motives at the end of the phrases.

Agnus Dei (2)
Seems as though it's nearly a pedal at the beginning (on F). This is a more beautiful rendition. No matter where the phrases go, it seems to find its way back to the same pitch (F). This is another call and response. The Agnus Dei recordings seem to be shorter.

Agnus Dei (2) (on Christmas)
This one started with a phrase ending in a leading tone and resolution. Seems almost tonal, like the second Agnus Dei.

Do You Believe There is an Antisocial Music

I read Plato's Musical Idealism, and was asked to respond to what I read and was prompted the question, "Do you believe there is an antisocial music?" Immediately, Plato is slanted in that he opens with separating "Second-rate and commonplace people" and "men of worth and culture" as those who hire extraneous voices in their conversation with such nonsense and warbling, and those who can enjoy each other's company "without such frivolous nonsense." I responded to this with surprise as to the bluntness of Plato's words. At first, I didn't realize that music was a much more board encompassing idea that what I was used to.

Plato, when talking about law and society, which is on what I'll base the majority of this post, mentions that there were four distinct genres of music that were the norm: hymns, paeans, laments, and dithyrambs. He mentions that "...these and other types were definitely fixed..." and that it was not permissible to mix them. Plato parallels the uneducated mixing and misusing these types of music to those who misuse and bring disorder to law. So, Plato believes that music can be 'antisocial' in that it will go against social order.


I believe that there is definitely music that contributes to social disorder. Some popular bands such as Green Day and Blink 182 are all about rebelling against authority and mixing what used to be inappropriate, and making old thin lines a little more blurred, as Plato suggests.