The Early Christian Period - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The Early Christian Period

Roots of Western musical practice

—

to ca. 800 CE Slide2

Old Testament ideas about music

Singing

and dance as responses to God’s goodness

Music

and poetry as prayer

—

Psalms

Music

as special gift

—

King David

Musical

powers

Joshua at Jericho (Joshua 6)

David and King Saul (1 Samuel 16:

14–23

)Slide3

Music in Jewish worship

Temple ritual

—music

important, but not retained in Christianity

Synagogue —

cantillation

of scripture;

Psalms

and

canticles

with genuine melody

Passover meal (seder)

—

included singing (Hallel, Psalms

113–118

)Slide4

Some elements of synagogue worship

Reading

, prayer

Presentation

of gifts

Scriptural

songs

—

psalms and canticles (with refrains

—

amen, alleluia)

Hymns —

simple, strophic, personal expressionSlide5

Musical notations (te’amim

) for chanting Jewish sacred musicSlide6

Christian Church —

dominated in Europe from about 300

CE to 1000 CE

Knowledge —

literacy tied to religion because of reliance on scripture

Culture —

worship only cultural activity to survive, music as medium for worship (cf. architecture, visual arts)Slide7

Musical practices in the early church

Night

services

Prayer

in Jerusalem, ca. 400

CE —

daily services from Psalm singing of monks

morning, evening worship

— early

four

th

century

third, sixth, ninth hours

—

later

fourth

century

Mass

teaching service

—

reading of Epistle and Gospel framed by singing

Eucharist (Holy Communion, Lord’s Supper)

Eucharistic prayers,

fourth

century

Communion Psalm established,

fourth

centu

rySlide8

Aspects of early Christian musical style

Some

melodies probably borrowed from Jewish music

Local

influences

“Composition

” from scratch unlikely in modal music culturesSlide9

Breakup of the Roman empire

Empire

split by Valerian, 254; division codified by Diocletian, 293

Constantinople established as capital, 325

Fifth-century

invasions from north

410

—

Visigoths sack Rome

429

—

Vandals

452

—

Attila (d. 453)

476

—

fall of Rome

Sixth

century

—

end of Roman imperial era

Justinian (r.

527–565

) asserts control of whole empire

—

Code of Justinian, Hagia Sophia

rise

of Franks

Lombards in northern Italy

Gregory I (r. 590-604) establishes independent power of papacy

Seventh

century

—

spread of Muslim power

Muhammad (570

/571–632

)

Koran written in final form in

651–652

conquest of Middle East, northern Africa, Iberian peninsula, to western AsiaSlide10

Divergent musical traditions in the West

“Roman-African” group

especially Roman (“Old Roman”)

related repertoires in

Ravenna

Aquileia

Benevento

“Gallican” group

Ambrosian

—

Milan

Celtic

—

Ireland

Mozarabic

— Spain

Gallican,

or Frankish

—

FranceSlide11

The music of Eastern Christianity —

Byzantine style and practice

Based

in Byzantium (Constantinople, now Istanbul), imperial capital from 330 and seat of Eastern Church

Ekphonetic

recitation

—

formulas for scripture readings

Elaborate

, extended musical compositions

—

two important types

kontakion

—

elaborate,

multistrophe

hymn

kanon

—

series of odes based on a canticle

Theory

(influence of Jewish practice rather than Greek)

system based on practice and melodic units rather than pitches

eight

echoi,

or classes of

formulas,

in two sets of

four,

centering on D E F GSlide12

Europe ca. 600Slide13

Music in the Western church

All

elements previously mentioned as deriving from Jewish tradition

readings and prayers

psalms and canticles

hymns

Plus

independent Christian chants originally associated with psalms

—

antiphonsSlide14

Questions for discussion

How did/does the

Judeo

-Christian tradition justify theologically the importance of music in its worship?

How did the

texts

that were sung in Jewish and early Christian worship reflect the needs of an unnotated musical tradition?