Medieval Music: Origins of Notation, (part 1)
The music of Medieval Europe is a vital story in the modern practices of notation in Western culture. The origins, people, and traditions that exist from 400 through 1100 A.D. give us insights to the ritual of recording and transmission of melody, songs, beliefs, and mores of these regions. This would develop and eventually become the standard by which the majority of the modern world transcribes musical compositions. This activity is not strictly linear, although its origins are rooted in the standards of Christian worship and its technique developed from the clergy that wrote and oversaw its evolutions. From the standardization of the Western Christian Chant and Liturgy, to the use of neumes and melodic identity, several key figures come forward in history as being responsible for the monumental achievement of written music.
Saint Benedict of Nursia is one of the first people in this chronicle. He was born in Nursia, Italy in 480 C.E. and died at Monte Cassino in 547 C.E. and is considered the father of Western monasticism. The rule that he established became the standard for monastic living. Known as The Rule of Benedict, it mapped out the daily practices of monks living in the clergy and set the ritual of prayer, diet, and schedule. Robert Brentano writes of the monastic pattern, “But through all the specific suggestions the Rule’s attentions are not really diverted to detail, they remain fixed upon its guiding principles: moderation even in abstinence; discretion in the application of regulations; awareness of individual differences; charity; the spirit rather than the letter of communal life and Christian virtue.” (Brentano, The Early Middle Ages, p81) It was this balance of moderation and reasonableness that persuaded many Christian religious communities to adopt his doctrine. Pope Paul the VI delegated Benedict the patron protector of Europe in 1964.
The Rule of Saint Benedict is the first codification of The Office, or Canonical Hours. This consists of a series of eight prayer services observed at specific times of day by various members of the religious communities. This standard allowed a group of monks or nuns to establish a ritual life structure, and consists of prayers, recitation, passages, and songs. Over the course of a normal week, all 150 psalms are sung at least once. The principle Office services, liturgically and musically, are Matins and Vespers. (Barbara Hanning, Western Music p 30). These services were concluded with the phrase, “Ite, missa est” (Go, you are dismissed). From this phrase came the Latin name for the entire service, Missa, which became the English word for Mass.
The people of Medieval Europe were not far removed from pagan ceremony that propitiated the gods to ensure good crops and bring prosperity. These new Christian communities looked to the church for similar securities. Life was hard, and there was a constant threat of war, famine, and disease. The life expectancy for the average person was under 30 years, and the opportunity to find solace temporarily in a place of beauty in addition to seeking ways to approach spirituality and the afterlife were important. The churches where Mass was celebrated were meant to invoke awe. In these resonant spaces, speech was easily lost, but singing carried words clearly to all corners. The acoustic engineering of these structures were a key part of their purpose and function.
Chants and melodies of these ceremonies were initially transmitted orally from memory. The ability for monks and leaders to remember these songs over the course of some 400 years of this practice is the subject of much controversy. Some scholars suggest that melodies were improvised based on strict formulas by epic singers and storytellers of the regions. There is evidence in many of the passages themselves of contours and features characteristic of the cadential patterns. As long as this exercise was dependent on memory, it was subject to variation. It was this variation that concerned leaders of the Frankish kingdoms and lead to a need for standardization. This unification of monastic practice was instituted as a means for Frankish lords and the Papacy to increase their influence within their territories.
Just as the collisions of civilizations would promote the necessity for a more complex system of communication, as seen with the invention of writing by the Sumerians some 3000 years earlier, so did the mingling of communities in Europe instigate leaders to invent standards in communicating musical practices. It would not be long before a famous Saint Gregory would be recognized as one of the first figures to develop a method of transmitting melody that circumvented the need for memorization. Saint Benedict was the influence that brought a standard practice of Christian Monastic service through his Rules. From here, the songs that accompanied these ceremonies would be immortalized through our first standards of music notation.
Enjoy the listening example of Ave Regina coelorum: Antiphona, Modus VI, from the album Lumières du Grégorien performed by Les moines du Monastère de Santo Domingo de Silos. This style of singing is named after Saint Gregory, from whom we attribute our first methods of music notation.
References for this article:
· Roberto Brentano, “The Early Middle Ages, 500-1000”, (Univ of Berkeley, CA 1964)
· Barbara Hanning, “Concise History of Western Music” (New York, 2014)
· Michael Knowles, “St. Benedict” (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Benedict-of-Nursia 2020)
Thanks for reading!