The Classical Music Book

32

TANDARADEI,

SWEETLY SANG

THE NIGHTINGALE

LE JEU DE ROBIN ET DE MARION (1280–1283),

ADAM DE LA HALLE

D

iverse musical traditions

are known to have

flourished in European

towns and villages in the Middle

Ages, as they did in the courts of

noble families, yet almost none

of this popular music survives in

notation. While the Church used

scribes to regulate and record its

own repertoire for posterity, much

secular music was passed on orally.

However, the lack of written

sources among common people is

not just the consequence of poor

literacy. For many dance musicians

and the singers of epics, a written

text would not have reflected the

skilful, improvisatory nature of their

profession, honed by generations

of hereditary entertainers.

Furthermore, by recording their

works in a manuscript, they

risked handing their cherished

repertoire to rivals.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Secular medieval music

BEFORE

c. 1160 Festum stultorum

(Feast of Fools) appears in

Paris and Beauvais as an

opportunity around Christmas

for clerics to indulge in a

parody of the liturgy.

c. 1230 Ludus Danielis (The

Play of Daniel) is written in

Beauvais as a liturgical drama

in Latin.

AFTER

Late 14th century The

annual cycle of Mystery Plays

(performances of biblical

scenes set to music) begins in

York and Wakefield, England.

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