Vocal Music in the Medieval and Early Baroque Periods

The word medieval can be translated to ‘the time in between’, referring to the time between the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance in 1450. Religion and church music was very important in this time period because it was the only music that was important enough to be documented. The idea of combining two or more lines together began to be used in large churches as a way to emphasize certain words. Plainchant, a piece of music made up of only one line, was the basis of the early medieval period, where the other vocals were used for lines above the plainchant and below it, making much shorter notes. Soon, a motet was introduced. A motet is when each vocal line has it’s own words, creating up to three texts at once, making the texture more dense. The Church was extremely powerful during the Medieval period. The elaboration in music during this period is related to the liturgy and how it was spoken. In Chants such as the psalms, lessons or prayers, the music is a direct translation of the text to be used within the Church. Also important to the Church, the hymns and sequences were organized into pattern and rhymes. Gregorian Chants not only were for the liturgy, but also for the polyphonic music of the Medieval Period. From the 12th century, secular music started to be written down and was also the first made out of melodic lines, which sometimes allows an instrument to be used in the back. Many songs used the theme of ‘courtly love’, which is an ancient type of love where the man devotes his life to pleasing the woman. In the early Baroque period, society was changing rapidly. The Church was being challenged by the middle class