Medieval Music Historical Essay Sample

Do you know when music first started? Music began during the medieval period also known as the Middle Ages. Music is defined as the arranging sounds through the different elements of harmony, melody, timbre, and rhythm.  The study of polyphony in this period also came into being. Polyphony is one of many musical textures consisting of two or more independent simultaneous lines of melody. 

The middle ages had a very rich musical influence in European history after the collapse of Roman civilization leading up to the period of the Renaissance.  The creation of music intended to create a mood of peace. For example, the Gregorian Chant, this was one of the earliest composed and documented forms of music. It is stated that “Gregorian” refers to Pope Gregory I, who was head of the Catholic Church. The Gregorian chant was more of a monophonic form of music. It was song by members of a choir group of men of the local churches, the melodies tended to move by leaps over a wide range of pitches. 

These melodies were so closely tied to Latin accents, people would sing it in Latin. The Gregorian chant had a big impact on the development of Medieval & Renaissance music.  The Medieval Catholic churches would include the music & chants thought out the worship services during the day.  These chants were a part of the mass form of a new movement called Eucharistic sacrifice of the mass. This was one of the most important acts of Medieval Christian Worship. Movement of music refers to musical section that completes sounds but are part of a larger musical composition. There were five mass chants known as Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. Men and women both attended mass during the Middle Ages at times it made it to where it was little to see and not much to hear because the priest kept his back to the congregation which was a group of people assembled for religious worship and he would whisper the Mass in Latins.  

Middle Ages was not the only focus on religion and Church, but also focused on human, Medieval music was both sacred and secular. Sacred music was music written for the Church so that they could worship. Love songs, political satire, dances were defined as secular music. Many medieval poet composers wrote a lot of music about more secular love.  Musicians made they money by vocal music that had important position in the Catholic church which had a major impact on the cultural and political force in Western Europe. Many composers of the Middle Ages will forever remain anonymous. Guillaume de Machaut was a medieval French poet and composer, who helped develop different type of music forms such as motet and secular. 

Largely due to the belief of some Catholics that instruments were too closely associated with secular music, instruments were rarely use because secular music is non-religious music and Secular was being consider as a separate from religion. It included love songs, political satire, dances, and dramatic works. Individuals in the Middle Ages used music for worship and entertainment such as providing necessary accompaniments for court ceremonies, tournaments, dances, and after-dinner entertainment.