troubador
a male poet-musician of the courtly art of vernacular sung poetry that developed in the Middle Ages in southern France
trobaritz
a female poet-musician of the courtly art of vernacular sung poetry that developed in the Middle Ages in southern France
trouvere
a poet-musician of the courtly art of vernacular sung poetry that developed in northern France during the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries
chanson
the French word for song, monophonic or polyphonic
chasonnier
a book of songs, as created by musicians in the Middle Ages and Renaissance; a collected anthology of chansons
fin’amors
the theme of ideal love, an important value in chivalric society, as expressed in the poetry of the troubadours
Minnesinger
in the high Middle Ages the name for a German poet-musician writing love songs
Minnesang
in the high Middle Ageas a song of love in old high German
cantiga
a medieval Spanish or Portuguese monophonic song; hundreds were created on subjects of love, epic heroism, and everyday life
villancico
a devotional song dating from the Middle Ages associated with Spain and Latin America consisting of several stanzas and a refrain
*goliard
wandering clerics or vagabond students in the 12th and 13th centuries who wrote latin secular and often satirical song texts
organum
a type of polyphonic religious music of the Middle Ages; the term came to be used generally to connote all early polyphony of the church
parallel organum
organum in which all voices move in lockstep, up or down, with the intervals between voices remaining the same
vox pricipalis
one of the two voice parts in an early organum; it is a preexisting chant that served as a foundation for another newly created line
vox organalis
one of the two voice parts in an early organum; it is a newly created line added to the preexisting chant
oblique motion
motion occurring when one voice repeats or sustains a pitch while another moves away or toward it; used in medieval organum to avoid tritones
occursus
a running together, Guido of Arezzo’s term for cadence
Aquitanian polyphony
a repertory of about sixty-five pieces of two-voice organum surviving today from various monasteries in southwestern France
sustained-tone organum
organum in which the bottom voice holds a note while the faster-moving top voice embellishes it in a florid fashion
Codex Calixtinus
first manuscript to ascribe composers’ names to particular pieces (ca. 1150); contains twenty polyphonic pieces
Musica enchiriadis
a music theory treatise (ca. 890s); describes a type of polyphonic singing called organum; teaches church singers how to improvise polyphonic music
Gothic architecture
a building style that emerged around Paris in the 12th century; characterized by greater height, greater light, and repeating geometrical patterns
nave
the western end of a cathedral or large church; public area; used as town hall and civic auditorium as well as for religious processions and votive prayers
choir
the eastern end of a cathedral or large church; contained the high altar and was the area in which most music was made
Leoninus
12th-century Notre Dame composer/singer who compiled “Magnus liber organi” containing 100 two-voice organa; uses modal rhythmic notation
tenor
in early medieval polyphony the bottom most voice, often a preexisting chant, upon which the composition is built; holds or draws out the notes
organum purum
florid two-voice organum of medieval (12th century) Paris continuing the tradition of earlier Aquitanian polyphony in sustained-tone style
discant
a style of music in which the voices move at roughly the same rate and are written in clearly defined modal rhythms (as compared to organum purum)
clausula
a section or phrase in a medieval composition written in discant style
modal notation
(12th c.) system where rhythm is determined by context as opposed to modern notation in which each sign (note) indicates a specific duration
rhythmic modes
simple patterns of repeating rhythms employed in the polyphony of Paris during the 12th and 13th centuries; evolved into a system of six patterns
ligature
in early notation a group of two, three, or four individual notes
substitute clausula
a section or phrase in a medieval composition written in discant style and intended to replace another similar section or phrase
Perotinus
Notre Dame composer of three and four-voice organa during the high Middle Ages; modular musical design in many of his works
duplum
second voice in two- three- or four-voice organa
triplum
third voice in a piece of three- or four-voice organum of the Middle Ages
quadruplum
fourth voice in four-voice organa
Notre Dame School
name given to the composers Leoninus, Perotinus, and their colleagues in Paris; created a repertory of more than a 1000 pieces (1160-1260)
close
an independent urban conclave or gated community located next to the cathedral for those employed in the cathedral as clergy, servants or choirboys
Latin Quarter
the university area of Paris located across the Seine River from Notre Dame cathedral on the left bank
conductus
Middle Ages extra-liturgical piece for 1-4 voices with metrical Latin poems texts in stanzas; serious and moralistic; used for movement of the clergy
Feast of Fools
the Middle Ages name for the New Year’s Day festival on which the youngest of church clerics took charge of the church
cauda
in the vocabulary of the medieval musical theorist, a long melisma on a single syllable; used in a conductus to set off key words
motet
(13th c.) each upper voices has its own poetic text that comments on the Latin chant text in the tenor; (later) a sacred choral composition in Latin
motetus
the second voice (immediately above the tenor) in the thirteenth-century motet
Franco of Cologne
(late 13th c.) wrote musical treatise defining systematic classification of consonance and disonance; defined three basic note shapes and values
long
the longest of the three basic note values and shapes recognized by Franco of Cologne around 1280 in his classification of musical durations
breve
the middle of the three basic note values and shapes recognized by Franco of Cologne around 1280 in his classification of musical durations
semibreve
the shortest of the three basic note values and shapes recognized by Franco of Cologne around 1280 in his classification of musical durations
mensural notation
symbol specific notation developed in the late thirteenth century; the direct ancestor of the system of notation used today
Jean des Murs
14th-century Parisian mathematician, musician (and murderer) whose musical treatise the “Art of New Music” helped define the avant-garde Ars nova
Phillipe de Vitry
14th-century Parisian composer whose musical treatise the “New Art” helped define the avant-garde Ars nova; often used isorhythmic techniques
Ars nova
musical avant garde of the early fourteenth century characterized by duple as well as triple relationships and a wide variety of note values
minim
a new short note value recognized by the fourteenth-century theorists of the Ars nova; a subdivision of the semibreve
mode
(modus) the division of the long into two or three breves in 14th-century mensural notation
time
(tempus) the division of the breve into two or three semibreves in 14th-century mensural notation
prolation
(prolatio) the division of the semibreve into two or three minims in 14th-centruy mensural notation
Ars antiqua
the music of the 13th century characterized by a uniform pace and clear ternary units (as contrasted with the “new art” of the early 14th century)