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What Medieval Music Sounds Like

At Pennsic XLIII in 2013, Dreda and Lucien presented a class titled, “What Medieval Music Sounds Like”, a survey of SCA-period music from early chant to English Madrigals. Our goal was exactly as the title implies: to give attendees a listening tour of medieval and renaissance music, with a taste of what period music sounds like. We performed our list of songs live for the class.

Herein find the list of songs we performed, plus online references and pointers to the music, and a brief bibliography of sources.

Music

period composer title notes, refs
early-early Tu patris sempiternus es filius CHANT
lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video
1098-1179 (Hildegard) O Viridissima Virga ODD CHANT
lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video
1150-1201 (Léonin) Alleluia, Pascha POLYPHONIC CHANT
lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video
1157-1199 (Richard) Ja nus hons pris TROUBADOUR
lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video
Ar Ne Kutz Ich Sorghe Non lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video
1221-1284 (Alphonse?) Cantiga 100
Santa Maria, strela do dia
CANTIGA DE SANTA MARIA
lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video
1300-1377 (Machaut) Douce Dame Jolie VIRELAI
lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video
1300+ (anon) Angelus ad Virginem ENGLISH
lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video
1325-1379 (Landini) Ecco La Primavera FLORENTINE
lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video
(Dunstable) Quam Pulchra Es | lyrics MP3 | sheet music | video
1379-1474 (Dufay) Vergene Bella CHANT/FAUXBOURDON
lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video
1400+ (anon) Abide, I hope it be the best ENGLISH
lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video
1400+ (anon) Nowel sing we both and some ENGLISH – CAROL
lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video
1590 (Byrd/Balladeer) Watkins Ale ENGLISH – BROADSIDE
lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video
1595 (Morley) Miraculous Love’s Wounding ENGLISH – LUTE
lyrics | MP3 | sheet music | video

Bibliography

[under construction]

Singing Early Music: The Pronunciation of European Languages in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance
edited by Timothy McGee
at Amazon.com

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