What era did Hildegard live in?

What era did Hildegard live in?

St. Hildegard was a Benedictine abbess, writer, poet, and composer who lived in 12th-century Germany. She had numerous prophetic and mystical visions during her life and is said to have been a miracle worker.

What does Ordo virtutum mean?

Order of the Virtues

What is the correct definition of melismatic singing?

A passage of multiple notes sung to one syllable of text, as in Gregorian chant. [Greek, melody, from melizein, to sing, from melos, song.]

What is a Neume?

Neume, in musical notation, a sign for one or a group of successive musical pitches, predecessor of modern musical notes. ... Neumes placed on the staff showed exact pitch, allowing a singer to read an unfamiliar melody. Even within western Europe, differing systems of neumes were used in different geographical regions.

What is the difference between melismatic and free meter?

Answer. Answer: Melismatic is a vocal passage with one syllable sung against several note passages while Free Meter is a musical meter without time signature.

What is the purpose of Gregorian chant?

Gregorian chant, monophonic, or unison, liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church, used to accompany the text of the mass and the canonical hours, or divine office. Gregorian chant is named after St. Gregory I, during whose papacy (590–604) it was collected and codified.

What was the most important form of early polyphonic music?

Of greater sophistication was the motet, which developed from the clausula genre of medieval plainchant and would become the most popular form of medieval polyphony. While early motets were liturgical or sacred, by the end of the thirteenth century the genre had expanded to include secular topics, such as courtly love.

What does responsorial psalm mean?

The Catholic Dictionary defines the responsorial psalm as: Antiphonal psalm that is said or read before the Gospel at Mass. Normally the psalm is taken from the lectionary and has some bearing on the particular text from Scripture.

What are the characteristics of Plainchants?

Characteristics of Plainchant

monophonic in texture (a single line)
sung a cappella.
sung in Latin.
non-metric.
composed in modes, or modal.

What does Plainsong mean?

Plainsong (calque from the French « plain-chant »; hence also plainchant; Latin: cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text.