W
hat is now known
as Western Classical
music evolved from
the music of the medieval Church
in Europe, which in turn had its
roots in Jewish religious music and
the music of classical Rome and
Greece. Our knowledge of this early
music is limited, however, as it was
an oral tradition, memorized by
musicians and passed down from
generation to generation. The little
that is known for certain comes
from contemporary accounts, which
almost exclusively describe sacred
music, as the Church effectively
had a monopoly on literacy.The role of the Church
The story of classical music begins
with sacred Latin texts sung by
monks as part of acts of worship.
The performance was simple—it was exclusively vocal music,
without accompaniment, and
consisted of a single line of music,
known as monody, which could be
sung by one voice or a choir singing
in unison. The tunes they sang are
called “plainchant,” and each
region had its own collection of
chants. At the beginning of the
seventh century, however, Pope
Gregory attempted to collect,
categorize, standardize, and
teach these regional variations
of plainchant as part of his efforts
to unify liturgical practice.
In order to guarantee that
performance of these plainchants
was standardized across the whole
of Christendom, a form of music
notation was developed. This used
symbols, known as “neumes,”
written above the text to give a
graphic indication of the shape ofthe melody. At this point, some
time in the ninth century, the pace
of change began to accelerate: a
standardized form of church
service, the Mass, was established,
and specific plainchants were
assigned to its various sections.
Notation also became more
sophisticated, with a horizontal
line to clarify the pitch of the notes,
showing how high or low they are.
Most significant musically was
the introduction of “organum,”
a simple form of harmony. Where
plainchant had consisted of a single
line of music, organum had two, and
later three or even four, lines. One
voice would sing the plainchant,
and the other a parallel line of
music a few notes higher or lower.
As the music became more
complex over the years, the means
of writing it down also evolved,INTRODUCTION
Guido d’Arezzo
pens his treatise
Micrologus and
dedicates it to Tedald,
Bishop of Arezzo, in
Tu s c a ny, It a l y.C.800
Frankish ruler
Charlemagne instructs his
musicians to employ the
nuances of Roman singers,
leading to the development
of neumatic notation.The anonymous treatise
Musica enchiriadis is
published, the first
publication to name
musical pitches with
the letters A to G.C.875 C.1151
Hildegard of
Bingen’s musical play
Ordo Virtutum depicts
a war between the
Virtues and the Devil
over the human soul.C.600
Pope Gregory I
gathers plainchant
traditions from
across the Church
in an attempt to
unify them.C.850
The development of
the sequence, text
associated with a
particular chant melody
of the Latin Mass,
redefines liturgical music.C.750
Gregorian chant, a
synthesis of Roman and
Gallican chants, is
commissioned by French
Carolingian rulers.C.10 26
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