Medieval Journal Response to Brett’s: Cantigas de Santa Maria

Lindsay Lozito

351 WI

Dr. Granade

September 24, 2009

Journal Response to Brett’s: Cantigas de Santa Maria

Many people, including myself, have had false perceptions of the medieval period. We are quick to jump to conclusions on how music of the medieval period might be boring and pointless, but what we forget to remember is that music today is derived from music of the past, including the medieval period. From music, we are able to capture certain emotions in hopes of portraying that emotion to our audience. Medieval music has did this. I was very intrigued after reading through Brett’s journal about the Cantigas de Santa Maria. At the beginning of his journal he describes the piece as he understands it, but also points out some parallel relations to Puccini in the romantic period. Brett mentions how similar the two styles are with the parallel motion between the voices and the instruments. I thought Brett could have expanded more on the ideas of how both the Cantigas de Santa Maria and Puccini’s style of the romantic era are similar and how they are different. This just goes to show how music we know and enjoy, such as Puccini’s works, can relate to the medieval time period.

After reading through Brett’s journal of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, I became fascinated when listening to the work. Not being very knowledgeable about the piece, I was able to understand the meaning of the piece. Brett gave a clear description of each section of the piece, including different instruments used in the piece, and how it related to the actual text. It is especially apparent that Brett understands the terminology of the medieval time in how he tells us where we can find the certain style or idea in the music. Along with supplying good descriptions of the terminology, he uses the names of specific movements in the piece to show exactly how each term is applied in the music.

I was pleased to see Brett point out how the music is exceedingly interpretive and how the text is used to guide a particular emotion. This helps us to relate the music we play today with how it was developed. As much as I was fascinated by Brett’s descriptions of the entire piece and its movements, I was disappointed not to see more of Brett’s opinion about the piece. At the beginning of his journal, Brett states that he had heard much about the Cantigas de Santa Maria in the past, and was excited to delve into the piece to help him better understand the contents of the piece. It is great the he found out more information about the piece in its entirety, but I am curious to know his opinion of the piece after the extensive research he did.

Overall Brett did a fantastic job with his journal entry. His fluidity of writing made it easy to follow and understand exactly what is happening in the piece. The description of each movement aided me when listening to the piece, because it helped me to recognize most of the subjects Brett discussed in his journal entry. I especially enjoyed how Brett took the time to discuss all the instruments found in the piece and describe exactly where each instrument comes into play. Furthermore, he discusses the interplay between the instruments and the voice part. Brett has great organizational skills and a flowing paper, which helped make his journal more appealing to read. Brett is correct in saying that if only people would take the time to learn about medieval music, they would recognize the similarities in what we hear in today’s music. Our past helps shape our future in all aspects of life, especially music.

Medieval Journal: Guillaume De Machaut: Messe de Nostre Dame

Lindsay Lozito

351 WI

Dr. Granade

September 15, 2009

Guillaume De Machaut: Messe de Nostre Dame

Guillaume de Machaut, one of the leading composers of the fourteenth century[1], composed his greatest and most unique pieces, Messe De Nostre Dame in the early 1360s. The Messe De Nostre Dame, meaning Mass of Our Lady, contains six items from the Mass Ordinary - the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Ite Missa Est - and was one of the first polyphonic masses written as a single unit. [2] Before Machaut wrote the work in the fourteenth century, chants from the Mass Ordinary usually were not set polyphonically; polyphonic writing was reserved for the Proper. Machaut, however, built his mass on the text of the Mass Ordinary and treated the six movements as one, linking the movements together by similar styles, reoccurring motives, and keeping a tonal focus. The combined movements in Machaut’s mass are longer than any other mass in the fourteenth century.

Messe De Nostre Dame was composed for four voices consisting of a duplum and triplum written above the tenor voice and a contratenor, which is most often in the same range as the tenor.[3] Occasionally the contratenor will be written above or below the tenor line. According to the manuscript of the piece, it is assumed that soloists would have been the singers for the Messe De Nostre Dame. There is some controversy of whether or not instruments were a part of Machaut’s original composition of the Messe de Nostre Dame. Evidence proves that only unaccompanied voices appear in the original composition, although during the fourteenth century instruments were often used during Mass and special occasions. [4]

The Messe de Nostre Dame presents three wide-ranging styles throughout the piece. The three styles consist of a motet style, related to the isorhythmic motet Machaut wrote; a discant style, where the lower voices support the moving upper voices; and simultaneous style, in which all voices move in near or strict homophony. [5] Examples of the simultaneous style and the discant style can be found in the Gloria and the Credo of the Messe De Nostre Dame. You can see how the rhythms are almost identical in all four voices. Occasionally you will see the bottom voices sustaining notes, while the top voice sings a more decorative part. The motet style makes up the Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and Ite Missa Est of the mass. When listening to the record of the Messe De Nostre Dame, you can also hear examples of florid organum, where the lower voices support the “florid” upper voices. With the discant style all the voices move at the same pace with only a couple of notes for each note of the lower voices. The florid organum is similar to the discant style; only there are multiple notes in the upper voices for every one note of the lower voices. With florid organum, the words and the direction of the piece seem to lose their meaning, but the way Machaut composed the intricate rhythms and wide-ranging harmonies helps draw the listener in making the piece more appealing.

While listening to the Messe de Nostre Dame, you can hear examples of both discant and florid organum. Normally I tend to lose interest with the florid organum style because the meaning of the word is lost and sometimes the direction of the piece. With Messe de Nostre Dame, I was surprised to find myself intrigued by the work. Though the piece contains a majority of the florid organum style, Machaut made the piece more fascinating by use of rhythmic variations and the assorted harmonies within the four voices. The sections that grabbed my attention overall were the syncopation rhythms found throughout the piece. When those syncopation sections arose in the music, I felt the presence of another culture or style change. Thinking about medieval music, long melismic chants come to mind, but the Messe de Nostre Dame changed my perception. I used to assume that all medieval music was unexciting and monotonous, but this piece has changed my opinion. Messe de Nostre Dame has helped expand my knowledge of the depths of medieval music.

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[1] Donald Jay Grout, A History of Western Music (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006), 126.

[2] Ibid., 126

[3] Grout, 128

[4] Daniel Leech Wilkinson, Machaut's Mass: An Introduction (New York: Oxford, 1990), 114-115.

[5] Wilkinson, 16