Beatriz de Dia
Composed the only surviving song by a trobairitz
Minniesingers
A poet-composer of medieval Germany who wrote monophonic songs, particularly about love, in Middle High German, generally written in church modes
Estampie
Only instrumental music currently known of from the medieval era—sounds like dance music
Musica enchiriadis
Music handbook from about the 9th century, demonstrated that polyphony was prevalent in the medieval era.
Polyphony
Music or musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody
Organum
Earliest polyphony we know of, in which harmony is set a 4th below the original chant. *A piece, whether IMPROVISED or written, in one of those styles, in which one voice is drawn from a CHANT.
Vox principalis
Original chant
Vox organalis
Typically voiced a 4th below the chant
Florid organum
Twelfth-century style of two-voice POLYPHONY in which the lower voice sustains relatively long NOTES while the upper voice sings note-groups of varying length above each note of the lower voice
Tenor
Principle voice who held the chant as other lines made polyphony with it *(1) In a MODE or CHANT, the RECITING TONE. (2) In POLYPHONY of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the voice part that has the chant or other borrowed MELODY, often in long-held NOTES
Leonin
Composer who compiled Magnus Liber Organi Notre Dame in France, late 12th/early 13th century—studied at University of Paris
Magnus Liber Organi
Compilation of responsorial chants which hold a 2-voice setting, put together by Leonin
Perotin
Composer considered the master of discant composition, expanded on teacher’s writings, Successor of French composer, studied at University of Paris.
Discant
Note-against-note occurring against tenor, generally faster than other parts of the organum. *Twelfth-century style of POLYPHONY in which the upper voice or voices have about one to three NOTES for each note of the lower voice.
Clausula
Section of music written in discant *In NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY, a self-contained section of an ORGANUM that closes with a CADENCE.
Motet
Composition made from taking a section from clausula and making it into a new composition
Franconian motet
Greater differentiation between upper voices as well as from the tenor.
Rota
Form of medieval English polyphony in which two or more voices sing the same melody, entering at different times and repeating the melody until all stop together.
Ars Nova
Gives French overview of what was occurring in the 14th century arts *Style of POLYPHONY from fourteenth-century France, distinguished from earlier styles by a new system of rhythmic NOTATION that allowed duple or triple division of NOTE values, SYNCOPATION, and great rhythmic flexibility.
Roman de Fauvel
Narrative Poem about an idiot donkey who raises to power; includes 169 pieces of music, several which are monophonic, and 30 motets
Philipe de Vitry
Author of the Ars Nova
Isorhythmic motet
Motet in which tenor lays out regularly occurring rhythm, and has recurring rhythmic or melodic patterns
Talea
Recurring rhythmic patterns
Color
Recurring melody patterns
Guillaume de Machaut
Astute poet and musician, wrote 23 motets, many of which were isorhythmic, and 1 major mass
Messe de Nostre Dame
Written by Machaut, first complete polyphonic setting of the ordinary of the mass by a known composer
Hocket
To hiccup, voices are in rapid succession, in which voices alternate using same talea, color, or both
Formes Fixes
Form that is recurrent, including virelai, ballade, and rondeau *Schemes of poetic and musical repetition, each featuring a REFRAIN, used in late medieval and fifteenth-century French chansons
Virelai
French forme fixe in the pattern A bba A, in which a refrain (A) alternates with stanzas with the musical FORM bba, the a using the same music as the refrain.
Ballade
French forme fixe, normally in three stanzas, in which each stanza has the musical FORM aab and ends with a refrain.
Rondeau
French forme fixe with a single stanza and the musical form ABaAabAB, with capital letters indicating lines of refrain and lowercase letters indicating new text set to music from the refrain.
Trecento
The 1300s (the fourteenth century), particularly with reference to Italian art, literature, and music of the time.
Francesco Landini
Famous composer of Ballate—about 140
Landini Cadence
Named after composer, concluding of a phrase which uses a major 6th to the octave by which a lower neighbor leaps up to a 3rd in the top voice.
Squarcialupi Codex
Manuscript which includes 350 pieces of polyphonic music from 12 composers—includes portraits of composers. *Includes madrigal, caccia, and ballata
Madrigal
Generally aab form Fourteenth-century Italian satirical love poetic form and its musical setting having two or three stanzas
Caccia
One voice chases other. *Fourteenth-century Italian FORM featuring two voices in CANON over a free untexted TENOR.
Ballata
Treble dominated, 2-3 voices, a dance song. AbbaA *Fourteenth-century Italian song in which A is the refrain, and the single stanza consists of two piedi (bb) and a volta (a) sung to the music of the refrain.
Ars subtilior
Subtle, more refined art tailored towards the upper class, pushing rhythmic limits*Style of POLYPHONY from the late fourteenth or very early fifteenth centuries in southern France and northern Italy, distinguished by extreme complexity in rhythm and NOTATION
Descant
English Polyphony