The History About The Middle Ages

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Jessica Webb

Florence Darlington Tech Music 105-50

The Middle Ages

The time period of the Middle Ages was roughly between 500 and 1450 C.E. also known as the Medieval period (Ferris, J., & Worster, L., 2010). In the Middle Ages there were very difficult social and economic situations that presented themselves (Ferris, J., & Worster, L., 2010). There was the fall of Rome, along with constant warfare because of religious and political disagreements (Ferris, J., & Worster, L., 2010). After the fall of Rome the time period became known as the Dark Ages, because there was no longer a Holy Roman Empire and nobody was really in charge or had a lot of power (Sherran, R.). Eventually the Christian Church came into power in Europe attempting to provide justice and started "Holy" crusades with the East (Sherrane, R.). Not only did they have issues with social and political agreements but also struggled with droughts having devastating affects on the communities as well as floods, all of which causing famine and disease (Ferris, J., & Worster, L., 2010). Such hard times drove religious people to sing with the upmost praises and joy keeping their minds on one day having eternal life in Paradise (Ferris, J., & Worster, L., 2010). Though they had problems with war and peace, we have the same problems today, yet their music is very different (Ferris, J., & Worster, L., 2010). According to Michael Delahoyde at Washington State University, the term "medieval" comes from the corrupt Latin spoken since the Classical period: "medii aevi," meaning "middle ages." He also states that it was the Renaissance who decided on the term because it was the "middle" between the Classical period and the Renaissance.

Michael Delahoyde presents the information that the middle ages have thousands of years worth of history and it became a little much, so historians have subdivided the middle ages into three parts known as The Early Middle Ages which consist of the years 300-1000 A.D., The High or Central Middle Ages consisting of the years 1000-1300 A.D., and lastly, the Later Middle Ages that consist of the years 1300-1500. The Early Middle Ages are basically known as the Dark Ages because of all the events that took place (Delahoyde, M.). However, as The High or Central Middle Ages approach, the times change and can no longer be considered the Dark Ages because the three-field system of crop rotation becomes very popular, along with horses and iron plows, so one starts to see surplus in food resulting in a better standard living, making this period said to be a time of reform and spiritual renewal (Delahoyde, M.). The population was also skyrocketing, causing universities to pop up everywhere (Delahoyde, M.). However, the time started to decline again and the people experienced a mini ice age causing even more disease, plague, and suicide (Delahoyde, M.). The Later Middle Ages witnessed the "Babylonian Captivity in France and England and the "Hundred Years War along with having to experience the "Black Death" in Europe and the "Plague" (Delahoyde, M.). Ending the Later Middle Ages was the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks ending Byzantine Empire (Delahoyde, M.).

How did these people live to see another day when the Middle Ages started and ended badly? Someone who was talented in many areas other than just music in the Middle Ages was Hildegard of Bingen. In 1098, Hildegard of Bingen, a lady known for her extraordinary works in many fields but most importantly music, was born at Bermersheim in the Rhineland (Mather, O. C.). Hildegard was the baby of ten children to her noble parents (Mather, O. C.). Though her parents gave her to the Benedictine monastery of Disibodenburg when she was eight years old, and cared for by Jutta of Spanheim because she told her parents she had visions and they felt her gift should be devoted to religion (Mather, O. C.). Jutta of Spanheim was the abbess of a small community of nuns who was controlled by the Benedictine monks (Mather, O. C.). Though Jutta taught Hildegard basic education, she still impacted the Middle Ages with her extraordinary works, in that she was talented in many different things such as music, poetry, theology, the visual arts, and the natural sciences. (Mather, O. C.). When Jutta died in 1136, Hildegard took her place as the abbess and not long after becoming abbess, Hildegard claimed she had a vision that told her to " tell and write," and that is exactly what she did the rest of her life (Mather, O. C.). Hildegard set out to change the world and to help others through her visions, music, and preaching. She was driven and when Pope Eugenius III blessed Hildegard after reading her unfinished book and told her also to keep writing, it made her even more driven (Mather, O. C.). People were drawn to her because with her having visions she could do so much and gave her power because the Pope had also blessed her (Mather, O. C.). Hildegard was a woman of many talents and I believe that alone, gave her power and drew people to her because she was able to succeed in each of her talents and people saw that she was true to herself. "Hildegard also traveled on preaching tours to Cologne, Liege, and regions of Swabia, which was a huge deal for nuns to do so (Mather, O. C.). This proves that she was fearless, that she had the drive inside of her to make a difference and to change the world. According to Olivia Carter Mather, one of Hildegard’s most important events of her lifetime was her decision to move her nuns away from Disibodenburg in 1148, to reestablish Rupertsberg. Rupertsberg was an abandoned monastery, and though her decision to do this was not supported by the monks of Disibodenberg, the church hierarchy, or her own nuns, she decided to move forward with her decision, further proving my statement of how she wanted to impact this time period (Mather, O. C.). Her determination to make a difference and not care if she were different showed in her music as well. Hildegard’s music compared to Middle Ages or Medieval Ages music had many differences. The fact that her music was so different caused her name to be kept out of textbooks because many did not understand why it was so different, however, many composers of this time period are not able to be called by name but Hildegard obviously is one of the few that can (Mather, O. C.). Hildegard’s works are divided into two parts known as the Ordo Vivtutum and the Symnonia armonie celestium revelationum, the Ordo Vivtutum is composed of morality plays and set to music, while her Symnonia armonie celestium revelationum is made of 77 songs whether they were antiphons, responsories, sequences, hymns, a kyrie, and an alleluia that are all for Mass and Office (Mather, O. C.). Hildegard used extremely wide vocal ranges up to two octaves, with large leaps and florid melodies, along with not using very many key gestures, which characterized her melodic passages, showing how different she is from common Medieval Age music (Mather, O. C.). Olivia Carter Mather also states that scholars such as Ludwig Bronarski and Joseph Schimidt-Gorg analyzed her music and referred to it as "motivic variation. The biggest difference that makes Hildegard’s style of music was her use of fragments that varied with repetition, yet not necessarily appearing in a pattern or in regular intervals in the piece of music (Mather, O. C.). Yet another perfect example of how she was different. Her music was written to praise regional saints or deal with issues relevant to a community of women trying to keep vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, while also teaching and encouraging the new musical material, it was used to be sung by nuns at Mass, Office, and some special occasions if to come up (Mather, O. C.). Showing that she used her music to go to the good of others, to help people get through the hard times and to stick to what they believed. Specifically Hildegard had seven sequences, which were chants of the Mass sung between the Alleluia and the Gospel (Mather, O. C.). Sequences were most likely first developed in the ninth century and became very popular in the Western liturgy by the thirteenth century (Mather, O. C.). Though Hildegard was very different with her music, her sequences she followed, many were typical characteristics of the medieval period, yet still she put her different style and historical situation throughout the sequence to make it her own (Mather, O. C.). Most of her sequences were based on paired-line structure but text pairs basically never had the same number of syllables, making the first couplet line vary from the second couplet line (Mather, O. C.). Being that Hildegard’s sequences had no musical mode to the particular genre, they did not fit into strictly one modal category (Mather, O. C). For example, Olivia Carter Mather states, "one sequence, "O presol vere civitatis," steps out of the traditional eight-mode system and ends on c." She also states that, " because c was not used as a final for much sacred medieval music and was not considered a legitimate mode by many theorists, it is possible that the sequence was simply transported from f." However, I disagree, I believe that it was not transported for the female voice, evidence throughout Hildegard’s life proves that she was different from what the common Medieval Ages music was. Not only did she have just those seven sequences, she also wrote a Kyrie and an Alleluia, both composed to be used for Mass (Mather, O. C.). The Kyrie that Hildegard wrote was said to be a textbook example in multiple ways, being that it is highly melismatic, range of more than one octave, uses large leaps, and also includes a descending scale of several notes (Mather, O. C.). Olivia Carter Mather points out that in general Hildegard’s music has all of these characteristics and that Kyrie as a genre firs her compositional style. However, like most of Hildegard’s music her hymns are not your traditional hymn pattern (Mather, O. C.). She has written five hymns total and though her hymns are separated into stanzas, all five hymns have random number of lines per stanza or syllables per line and they all lack internal repetition of complete lines (Mather, O. C). Her hymns illustrate Hildegard’s theology and poetic style by using imagery of many things, a few are nature in general, power of chastity, and comparisons between saints and Scriptural figures (Mather, O. C). Hildegard’s also wrote antiphons, which are short syllabic additions to the chant liturgy that are sung with chants for both Mass and Office, they precede and follow Psalms or they can be sung between each verse of a Psalm (Mather, O. C.). Hildegard wrote forty-three antiphons, made of three different categories known as Psalm antiphons that are normally short and syllabic, votive antiphons normally being longer and more elaborate, and gospel antiphons; however, her Psalm and votive antiphons have characteristics in common making it hard to tell which is which (Mather, O. C). Yet again making her music different from normal Middle Ages music. Not only did Hildegard write antiphons, hymns, and sequences, she also wrote responsories, which are chants that are sung at Offices after Bible readings, they can also be divided into two categories (Mather, O. C.). Hildegard’s are "Great" responsories, which are her most melismatic and florid chants of all, while a traditional "Great" responories are long and elaborate (Mather, O. C.). The other category is "short" responsories they are exactly that, they are shorter than the "Great" responsories (Mather, O. C.). Lastly, Hildegard wrote two "symphoniae" pieces (Mather, O. C.). "Symphoniae is a type of music not represented in the medieval music period (Mather, O. C.). Which again I believe this shows how she was different from everyone else and she was confident in that. The names of these two pieces were called "O dulcissme amator and "O Pater omnium," both of which are about virgins and widows and their struggles with their vows of chastity and symbolic marriage to Christ (Mather, O. C.). These two pieces are both neumatic and in the e mode (Mather, O. C.). Hildegard’s most used mode was conveniently the e mode (Mather, O. C.). Olivia Carter Mather says that musically Hildegard’s two symphoniae are a lot like her hymns than anything else. Hildegard’s symphoniae’s are also very structured by placing many long, unpaired lines of text, making them a lot like a hymn as well (Mather, O. C.). Mather mentions that these two pieces were made to stand alone, and I agree for the simple fact that Hildegard wrote these pieces of music for her nuns (Mather, O. C.). To help her nuns realize what their role was no matter how hard it was. Mather also points out that like the struggle Hildegard has between her music and music genre, that these two symphoniae are an example of that struggle. I agree one-hundred percent with Mather because throughout Hildegard’s life and music career she is simple different in the way she wrote a pieces of music, she was different in that she had visions, and she was different in that she was a nun that preached to people and nuns did not normally do that.

The Middle Ages in my opinion seemed to be a very difficult time, yet somehow the people of this time period were inspired to create beautiful music. They used the only thing they had good in their lives to push them to live another day, in hopes that one-day they would spend eternal life in paradise. A perfect example of how people used music to get through life was the life of Hildegard. She was blessed with many talents, had a special gift of visions and was born into a noble family. Still we must remember that she was given away at the young age of eight, which I would find difficult. She lived in a time of famine, disease, war, and a mini ice age. People were suffering from depression and Hildegard was able to use her music, her vision, and the rest of her talents to keep moving on with her life and to benefit others. She preached to others, even being a nun and she went out on limbs to reestablish multiple monasteries, but most importantly she used music to change others lives and others used music to keep their minds on paradise.