The musical Middle Ages
MUSIC HISTORY
From Gregorian monody to isorhythmic motets of the Ars nova, then the dawn of the Franco-Flemish school. Historical groundwork for choirs and singers, CALYP.
Source Jean Mislin · Musicologist, organist and choral conductor · teacher of Adeline Toniutti As part of Adeline Toniutti's research
What is the musical Middle Ages?
The musical Middle Ages, in the culture notes used here, means the pre-tonal repertories that precede the golden age of Franco-Flemish polyphony. Several layers stand out: « Gregorian monody; secular monody », the « polyphonies of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: organum, clausulae, conductus, motets », the « fourteenth-century polyphonies: isorhythmic motets of the Ars nova », then the fixed forms of secular music (fourteenth-fifteenth centuries). That path leads naturally to the musical Renaissance page.
Gregorian monody and plainchant
Monody, in the glossary sense, is an « unaccompanied melody for one voice ». Plainchant is identified with Gregorian chant: the monodic liturgical song of the Latin Church. Its notation rests on the neume, a « note or group of notes in Gregorian notation ». Related techniques are psalmody, tones and modes, ornamentation and the melismatic character of Gregorian chant.
The antiphon, « in the Gregorian repertory, [is] the psalm refrain or a melody sung at various liturgical moments » (introit, communion, vespers). The motet arises from plainchant around 1100 as vocal polyphony whose traits change by period. Secular monody coexists with this sacred tradition, still without the equal-voice imitation of the Renaissance.
Polyphony in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
The notes group under this heading organum, clausulae, conductus and motets. On the technical side, early polyphony moves through heterophony, diaphony and the « first learned superpositions »: lines are stacked on plainchant or on constructed melodies, rather than yet writing the equal imitative counterpoint of the Renaissance.
These genres prepare the fourteenth century. The motet, born of plainchant, multiplies texts and densities; organum and clausula train the ear for several simultaneous voices. It is the first great laboratory of Western polyphony, still far from Dufay's cyclic mass.
Fourteenth century: Ars nova and isorhythm
In the fourteenth century the notes place « isorhythmic motets of the Ars nova » at the centre of learned repertory. Isorhythm organises the tenor by repeated rhythmic patterns and structures large occasional motets. French polyphony of the period is dominated by Guillaume de Machaut: the later Franco-Flemish school « inherits French polyphony dominated by Machaut ».
On the secular side, fixed forms (rondeau, ballade, virelai) shape the song. The ballade, « the most refined genre since Machaut », disappears around 1430-1440; the rondeau dominates the fifteenth century; the virelai shrinks into the bergerette. Italian ars nova, with its melodic charm, later helps soften the austere polyphony of the northern masters.
Late Middle Ages: toward the Franco-Flemish school
« Thanks to the troubles in France at the end of the Middle Ages, musical culture shifts to the regions of northern France [and] Flanders […] as well as Burgundian lands. » Artists and musicians find welcome at the Burgundian court. Masters trained in that ferment « go beyond the limits of the ARS NOVA and bring polyphony and the art of counterpoint to their peak ».
The Franco-Flemish school (about 1420-1580) opens with Guillaume Dufay (1400-1474), trained at Cambrai. It synthesises Machaut's French art, Italian ars nova and the famous English « contenance angloise » of John Dunstable (systematic use of thirds and sixths). Early in the fifteenth century two genres still dominate: the isorhythmic motet and the French chanson. Dufay leaves isorhythmic motets (for example Nuper rosarum flores, 1436) while fixing the model of the polyphonic mass. See detail on the Renaissance page.
Chronological landmarks
- Gregorian monody: plainchant, psalmody, tones and modes, neumes, antiphons.
- around 1100: birth of the motet from plainchant.
- 12th-13th c.: organum, clausulae, conductus, motets; heterophony and diaphony.
- 14th c.: Ars nova, isorhythmic motets, fixed forms; Machaut dominant in France.
- late Middle Ages / early 15th c.: shift northward to Flanders and Burgundy; Dufay opens the Franco-Flemish school (c. 1420).
- 1436: Dufay's Nuper rosarum flores (isorhythmic motet for Florence's dome).
FAQ on the musical Middle Ages
Which repertories for the Middle Ages in music?
The notes distinguish Gregorian and secular monody; twelfth-thirteenth-century polyphony (organum, clausulae, conductus, motets); fourteenth-century polyphony (isorhythmic Ars nova motets); secular fixed forms; then, in the fifteenth century, the Franco-Flemish rise.
What is plainchant or Gregorian chant?
Plainchant is Gregorian chant: unaccompanied liturgical monody, notated in neumes, structured by psalmody, tones and modes. The antiphon is a refrain or melody for various moments of worship.
What is the Ars nova?
A fourteenth-century current whose isorhythmic motets illustrate learned polyphony. In France Machaut dominates; Italian ars nova later influences northern masters through melodic charm.
How does one pass from the Middle Ages to the musical Renaissance?
Troubles at the end of the Middle Ages shift culture northward and to Burgundy. Masters go beyond the Ars nova; Dufay (1400-1474) opens the Franco-Flemish school, heir to Machaut, Italy and the English contenance.
Sources and quotations
Landmarks and quotations for further reading.
- Jean Mislin: musicologist, organist and choral conductor, teacher of Adeline Toniutti. Notes used within Adeline Toniutti's research.
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