Music in the Middle Ages

A survey of the history of music in Europe between about 600 and 1400. The course is structured in five big subject areas: (1) plainchant: from St Gregory the Great to St Hildegard of Bingen, (2) the earliest polyphony, from the 8th to 12th centuries; (3) the tradition of the troubadours and trouvères, from the 11th to 14th centuries; (4) the Ars Antiqua: polyphony in the 13th century; (5) the Ars nova, polyphony in the fourteenth century. As much as possible, materials for discussion in class consist almost wholly on primary sources (in reproduction), modern recording, and musical scores.