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Early Music: Antiquity to 1600





Gregorian Chant by Monks Of The Abbey Of Notre Dame

Genre: Early Medieval Chant (700-900 AD)
Score: 80/100
Why I chose this recording: It seemed to be one of the top Gregorian chant albums available
Thoughts: This recording features a very subtle organ accompaniment, which I don't think traditionally would have been. As I read stuff, I did see lap organs and the such. Anyway, it's a very small thing to comment about, so I thought I'd say it first, haha.

It's quite beautiful, solemn, and spiritual, as it should be. It also is interesting how melismatic the music is. It often is like a 4 line single stanza, but a 3 minute song, due to how they sing a single word. R&B singers got nothing on them, hehe.

I also really liked how, although they were singing in monophony, they'd create cool dynamics by having a soloist, and a response form A and B.

Many monks only had this to communicate as they vowed silence otherwise. Some of these monasteries and the such claim to hold the same traditions past down, wish is really cool to have a chain of tradition going back that far, even if it likely isn't exactly the same.

Latin is beautiful.

While nothing really stands out from these recordings as extraordinary, they all transform me to a solemn place and I become pensive outside of my control.

I also thought back on the smells/experiences I had visiting old churches/cathedrals in Vienna, Munich, Augsburg, Nuremberg, and some smaller pilgrimage type places. The smells and echoes and solemn feel.

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Chant by Benedictine Monks Of Santo Domingo De Silos
I technically listened to this album instead, but I think it's more or less the same for what I'm trying to accomplish (because I couldn't find spotify/google music)

Genre: Early Medieval Chant (700-900 AD)
Score: 80/100
Why I Chose This Album: It seemed to be one of the top Gregorian chant albums available
Thoughts: One thing I learned is "although popular legend credits Pope St. Gregory the Great with inventing Gregorian chant, scholars believe that it arose from a later Carolingian synthesis of Roman chant and Gallican chant." Which is why some are seeing this as early as 700 instead of 1100.

This particular recording is also solemn, spiritual, and also has a subtle accompaniment. It also makes me pensive and quiet. Growing up LDS, it reminds me at times of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at times, to be honest (Particularly Mass of the Angels).

Again, exceedingly meslimatic. But not annoyingly either. You get lost in the music instead of it being showy, which of course would be the opposite of spiritual. It peacefully

Also this guy is important. I remember studying his hand stuff in Jazz band/learning all the modes/how simple yet complex music theory can be. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_of_Arezzo

It is really cool that music actually was so complex yet simple back then. I suppose that's an overgeneralization that could be applied today, so I'll clarify. Back then you have monophony, yet truly are using all 7 modes, etc. Today we typically use 2 modes, and perhaps we have more modern sounding music that sounds more complex, it actually isn't.

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Gregorian Chant by Konrad Ruhland / Cho...raltaicher

Genre:Early Medieval Chant (700-900 AD)
Score:80.1/100
Why I Chose This Recording: It felt like a more academic/authentic recording. Samples sounded legit.
Thoughts:
I think this is the best recording of the 3. Which is a bit strange as the first 2 were legit religious recordings and this sounds a bit more secular renditions of religious chants. Could be wrong, but that was my impression. Mostly because the other two had an accompaniment, where this is just plainsong.

Anyway, I found this the best recording from a logical/historical perspective, but the first two were more musical.

Also, these singers are AMAZING. They are able to maintain a single note for like 30 seconds straight with no break in their voice/loss of tone/loss of the note. It's quite impressive.

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Choral Settings Of Kassiani by Patricia...der Lingas

Genre: Early Medieval Chant (800s): Eastern Orthodox
Score: 85.7/100
Why I Chose This Recording: It's the only full album I could find for Kassiani's work.
Thoughts:
When I first heard about Kassiani, I was kind of impressed that it is a woman's music (given the time period) who actually is some of the oldest we have. Her story is pretty cool too. Her music is the oldest female music of the western world.

I really like the modes used in eastern chant. The style of singing has more flair/texture/style. I also feel the text being sung is more beautiful and meaningful than anything I read (samples) from the Gregorian chant. The first two pieces seem to be more sung in that style.

It is supposed from the point of view from Mary Magdalene. Coptics and Mormons think she may have married Jesus, while some Christians believed her to have been a prostitute.

Text:
Sensing Your divinity Lord, I, a woman of many
sins, take it upon myself to become a myrrh bearer
and in deep mourning I bring before You fragrant
oil in anticipation of Your burial;

crying Woe to me! What night falls on me,
what dark and moonless madness
of wild-desire, this lust for sin.

Take my spring of tears
You who draw water from the clouds.
Bend to me, to the sighing of my heart,
You who bend the heavens in Your secret
incarnation.

I will wash Your immaculate feet with kisses
and wipe them dry with the locks of my hair;
those very feet whose sound Eve heard
at the dusk in Paradise and hid herself in terror.

Who shall count the multitude of my sins
or the depth of Your judgment,
Saviour of my soul? Do not ignore Your
handmaiden, You whose mercy is endless.

Here's the story (from wikipedia):

The most famous of her compositions is the eponymous Hymn of Kassiani (also known as the Troparion of Kassiani), which is part of the orthros of Holy Wednesday, commonly chanted late in the evening of Holy Tuesday.

Tradition says that in his later years the Emperor Theophilus, still in love with her, wished to see her one more time before he died, so he rode to the monastery where she resided. Kassiani was alone in her cell, writing her Hymn when she realized that the commotion she heard was because the imperial retinue had arrived. She was still in love with him but was now devoted to God and hid away because she did not want to let her old passion overcome her monastic vow. She left the unfinished hymn on the table. Theophilus found her cell and entered it alone. He looked for her but she was not there; she was hiding in a closet, watching him. Theophilus, overcome with sadness, cried and regretted that moment of pride when he rejected such a beautiful and intellectual woman; then he noticed the papers on the table and read them. When he had finished reading, he sat and added one line to the hymn; then he left. The line attributed to the Emperor is the line "those feet whose sound Eve heard at dusk in Paradise and hid herself for fear". Legend says that as he was leaving he noticed Kassiani in the closet but did not speak to her, out of respect for her wished privacy. Kassiani emerged when the emperor was gone, read what he had written and finished the hymn.

The Hymn of Kassiani is chanted only once a year during Holy Week, at the end of the aposticha at Matins on Great and Holy Wednesday, which is traditionally served in Tuesday evening. The music for the hymn is slow, sorrowful and plaintive. It lasts about ten to twenty minutes, depending on tempo and style of execution. It requires a very wide vocal range, and is considered one of the most demanding, if not the most demanding, pieces of solo Byzantine chant, and cantors take great pride in delivering it well. It is also sung by choirs in unison, often underpinned by Byzantine vocal bass drone. The faithful make a point of going to church specifically "to listen to Kassiani" that evening. In many places in Greece, the Bridegroom Matins service of Great Tuesday is popular with sex workers, who may not often be seen in church at other times of the year. They come in great numbers, in order to hear the Hymn of Kassiani, as the hymn is associated with the woman fallen in many sins.

Also this appears to have several versions of the same hymn/Troparion in multiple version by multiple different composers/interpretations as described here: https://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_r...mp;filetyp e=About%20this%20Recording&language=English#

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Funny enough, the only music I can find on this subject are death/black metal albums, hahaha:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisslerlieder

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Notker Balbulus: Sequenzen, Tropen &...o Virtutum

Genre: Early Medieval Chant & Sequences (between 881 and 887)
Score: 81.1/100
Why this recording: Seemed like a decent recording representing works of Notker Balbulus/Liber Hymnorum
Thoughts:

Again with the soloist, response. Cool dynamics. Seems like more words per melismatic run. This seemed to feature music on strings and pipe that repeated the style throughout from time to time. Strings are using some doublestop parties. So perhaps the beginning of some organum?

Sometimes it stops and tells a story, sometimes accompanied by some kind of theme - flute. It's refreshing to have more than just plainchant enter the musical scene. I'm not saying historically that's all that existed, rather what I've listened to so far.

More information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notker_the_Stammerer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequence_(musical_form)

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The School Of Notre Dame by Orlando Consort

Genre: Ars Antiqua/Organum: Notre Dame School (roughly 1160 to 1250)
Score: 80/100
Why this recording: Seemed like a great representation of Léonin and Pérotin/Notre Dame School
Thoughts:

Having been mostly listening to monophony/pre-ars antiqua, this was a slight musical explosion, where now two distinct voices sing. Whether monophonic (octaves) or polophonic, it is quite clear that two distinct voices are present.

It still very much is just chant, but now we have the first serious play of dyads/drones/intervals, and continuing on the forms of the accepted modes.

Musically interesting, and again very impressive how that singer can drone for so long with out loss of tone or pitch. Emotionally kind of boring for me, to be honest. I can understand how some were anti-nova, meaning they thought the fancy musical changes were distracting from the essence of the music. I feel that same issue carries on today with like prog rock... sometimes prog rock is fantastic and sometimes it's just musical show off for the pure purpose of show off and that's pretty damn annoying at times and distracts me from any real connection to humanity. I mean it is impressive, but I lose interest in such aesthetics.

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Hildegard Von Bingen: Ordo Virtutum by Sequentia

Genre: Ars Antiqua/Liturgical Drama (1151)
Score: 84.1/100
Why this recording: It was a full recording of her Liturgical Drama and a great recording. Sequentia seemed legit.
Thoughts:

This is the oldest morality play and the only musical drama to survive with both text and music. It is quite the work. It is far from simple. While there are multiple voices/instruments, the singing is strictly monophonic and the arrangements are also mostly monophonic. There are drone elements at times though. Interesting dance moments.

This is probably on par with Kassaini overall, but I found myself not getting into the scenes as much as the processionals and dances. Likely because I didn't understand them/read them, even if the overall concept is intriguing.

The Symphoniae section is interesting 3 movement section of this work. I mean... it's almost like Wagner didn't invent Gesamtkunstwerk, but borrowed the idea from Hildegard! Seriously, this is quite the impressive work from an uneducated musician. Poetry, 3 part symphony, opera like features, it's quite the amazing work for 1151 AD.

Also the soprano parts are quite beautiful, even if the concept of soprano likely didn't even exist then. Way ahead of its time.

Probably will check this out sometime: http://www.sequentia.org/recordings/recording05.html

From Wikipedia:
Hildegard of Bingen was never classically trained in composition, nor was she trained to play instruments. She was "self-taught", although not in a way that many people would expect. Her whole life Hildegard of Bingen claimed to be both Clairvoyant and Clairaudient. The music came to her in her trances and that is how she was able to compose that many pieces without any formal training. She also attempted to describe what she was going through in her works such as Ordo Virtutum.

The subject of the play is not typical for a liturgical drama. It shows no biblical events, no depiction of a saint's life, and no miracles[3]. Instead, Ordo Virtutum is about the struggle for a human soul, or Anima, between the Virtues and the Devil. The idea that Hildegard is trying to develop in Ordo Virtutum is the reconnection between the "creator and creation".

The final word, porrigat ("stretch out"), is set to thirty-nine notes, it is the longest melisma in the play. It is meant to illustrate the stretch of a divine hand toward humanity.

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Alleluia Nativitas: Music And Carols Fo...do Consort

Genre: Ars Antiqua/Organum (1160 for Viderunt Omnes)
Score: 80.1
Why this recording: I was most interested in Viderunt Omnes, and this claimed to have the full version. Legit. Apparently most recordings don't have the full version.
Thoughts:

I like this recording much more than the Notre Dame School by the same group. Dunno if just recorded at another time or if the selections are more interesting musically. Starting to get three voices in some of these.

For those interested, Viderunt Omnes is the classic textbook Organum piece. Everyone who knows anything about music during this time likely nearly first heard Viderunt Omnes.

You can see why the Kassiani text was more interesting. Viderunt Omnes just says (not to be disrespectful but it is kind of boring praise, but an ok good news story):
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Rejoice in the Lord, all lands.
The Lord has made known his salvation;
in the sight of the heathen
he has revealed his righteousness.

Apparently this text is really important though cause there's like 4 really important versions of it: 1) original, 2) Perotin, 3) Leonin, 4) Adam de la Halle. Wouldn't be surprised if I didn't see more.


As for the Viderunt Omnes recording itself, somehow this version (which I think is the Perotin version cause I hear 4 voices), is slightly silly, yet mesmerizing. It must have been pretty stunning to have the typical monophonic singing for centuries, maybe at the most harmonizing at the 5th, to something this stunning.

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Walther Von Der Vogelweide: Lieder Von ... Per-Sonat

Genre: Minnesang (1190-1230)
Score: 82.1
Why this recording: Seemed legit. Has Unter den Linden. Whole album dedicated to Walther von der Vogelweide
Thoughts:

Here's the translation of one of his most famous poems/pieces Unter der Linden (also a famous street in Berlin). It's really interesting because Minnesänger aren't supposed to be this racy. The whole point of Minnesang is to be courtly love - how fair the lady is and not really passionate like this. What's also interesting is that it is from the perspective of the queen/woman. Instead of giving praise to the princess, etc. it's actually her giving praise of racy experience none shall know about.

Modern English translation by Raymond Oliver (wikipedia):
1. Under the lime tree
On the heather,
Where we had shared a place of rest,
Still you may find there,
Lovely together,
Flowers crushed and grass down-pressed.
Beside the forest in the vale,
Tándaradéi,
Sweetly sang the nightingale.

2. I came to meet him
At the green:
There was my truelove come before.
Such was I greeted —
Heaven's Queen! —
That I am glad for evermore.
Had he kisses? A thousand some:
Tándaradéi,
See how red my mouth's become.

3. There he had fashioned
For luxury
A bed from every kind of flower.
It sets to laughing
Delightedly
Whoever comes upon that bower;
By the roses well one may,
Tándaradéi,
Mark the spot my head once lay.

4. If any knew
He lay with me
(May God forbid!), for shame I'd die.
What did he do?
May none but he
Ever be sure of that — and I,
And one extremely tiny bird,
Tándaradéi,
Who will, I think, not say a word.

Overall I thought it was quality stuff. Interesting the last piece was with bag pipes it sounded like... so curious if it was actually like that, or maybe it was pipes in a different form, dunno. Double stops all over the place. I'd totally listen to this again on purpose. It probably means more to me studying German literature, but it still, I feel, is a staple.

Does this belong to the what music do you shag to thread I saw once?