The principal genres of the Middle Ages are a reflection of the lifestyle of the
ID: 412971 • Letter: T
Question
The principal genres of the Middle Ages are a reflection of the lifestyle of the church and court of the time. These music genres include: plainchant, secular songs and dances of the troubadours, Notre Dame organum, and ars nova motets. Describe the two basic characteristic features of plainchant. Listen to one of the plainchants recordings and try to imagine yourself as a medieval monk or nun in prayer and contemplation during a religious observance for which it was written. After listening to the plainchant of your choice, ask yourself whether chant is prayer, or if is it music? When discussing the plainchant of your choice mention the title of the chant and composers’ names in your post. Contrast your experience of listening to a plainchant with that of listening to the music at court.
Explanation / Answer
Two basic characteristic features of plainchant are – (i) Singing is usually unaccompanied and simple (ii) Plainchant is usually written on 4 lines and not on 5 lines like modern music notation.
A plainchant recording that is listened to is titled ‘Hymn of Kassiani’ and the composer’s name is Kassia. This plainchant is in the form of a prayer and is a part of orthros of Holy Wednesday.
Listening to a plainchant is a totally different experience from listening to music at court. The obvious difference is that singing in court is usually accompanied by musical instruments. Secondly listening to a plainchant aroused my spiritual thoughts and reflections, something which did not happen when I listened to music at court.
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