music of the middle ages essays

music of the middle ages essays Music has been a great influence in the lives of many people for many years and is constantly changing. Music has been divided into six periods: Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and Twentieth Century. The Medieval period was the longest and most distant period of musical history and consists of almost a millenniums worth of music. To examine the music of this period we must first look at the influences or dominating factors of medieval life. In a political sense, as well as a spiritual sense, the Roman Catholic Church was very much the focal point of a Medieval man's life. Between the collapse of control of the Roman Empire around 500 A.D. and the Renaissance in the middle 1400s, the Church remained the most continuously powerful organization in Europe. The great gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages help demonstrate how religion had become the focus of the times. The thousands and thousands of hours of labour, the tremendous cost involved, the extraordinary and detailed craftsmanship without the use of cranes or power tools must give us an idea of the effects of religion and the power of the Church. To worship God through one's craft was the highest artistic ideal of the times. While some of the great secular classic literature of the past was well known to many, it was considered to be only a teaching tool to assist in the understanding of the Bible. Music has always been an integral part of religious celebrations throughout history, and for the Catholic Church of antiquity, it was a vital element. The music of the Catholic Church absorbed Greek, Jewish, and Syrian influences among others, through the teachings of : Pythagoras 6th 5th BCE, a Greek mathematician and a musical theorist who believed that there were perfect intervals in music and introduced the 8ve, 5th, 4th, whole tone. Pythagoras ideas gave music scientific credibility through numbers and allowed it to be introduced as on...