The sun., 1910-05-15
SONG OF THV MIDDLE AGES
WH0 VIII WRITE IT'S WHOLE
RISTORHP

alfmction IN PoDUlnf oon91 ~ Faf
Black a. the TNelfth Century Eng'
Ilsh Rounds aud Preach ChansOns.
The rigorous scientific methods OF mod
ern historans have disturbed good many
long established IDEAS. The easy goinG
habit Of mind which has encouraged most
uf M in the delusion that the Middle Age
were DARK ages has been rUdely shaken.
We have been shown that these ages were
not 10 buried in intellectual and religious
dspFavity as We have fanCied and that
the conditions out oI which fsudalism Waa
deyeloped we're by no means 80 pernioioua
a. We used 20 think them.
We have come 10 question our former
faith In the picture drawn Tor N BY
Symonds Of the monk riding along the
SHORES Of Lake Leman with his head
bnried In his cowl and never noticing the
splsndors OF the world about him. We
have besn admOnished to remember that,
While Michelet sonOrOusly chanted that
tho renaissance was the discovery Of man
by himself and Of the world by man. the
ARaa which preceded the renaissance re-
stored the code Of Justinian and laid the
foundatiOns Of great universities.
~ the same line Of observation We
muel sventually come 10 see that the
hiatory oi music has been written asksw
by the majority Of authors dealing with
TIM subject They have shown m music
beginning. a. painting did. in the service
Of the Church. animated solely by the
II ~
authority Of dogma.
But two things are true: frst. that even
the great masters Of mediRval music did
not cOnhne themselves exclusively to
church composition. and secondly. that
there were many composers with whom
secular music. designed merely to give
pleasure. was the chief study.
The labors Of these writers. who Were
not trying TO build a musical liturgy for
The Roman Church, will have 20 be taken
more and more into consideration. aud
the worldly song OF the church COM
posers themselves will have 20 bs studied
with more appreciation ot their influence
on the general development Of the art
Il b history that the discovery Of the
vital principle Of imitation. which under
Hes the entire Vciencs Of cOunterpoint.
was made by some old master % the
French school which existed from IlOO
toabOut 1870. The existence Of this school
was unknown till the famous historian
Conasemaksr unearthed its records and
revealed 10 students Of music more than
60 composers previously never men
toned.
The richest years of this wonderful
Oid French school coincide With a splendid
paTiod In the history Of the University
of Paris. The relation Of this mighty
institution 10 musical thought has not
bssn properly examined. The theOrst-
cal work Of John ds Muris. published
In Paris In the fourteenth century. gives
- q GOOd general survey OF the results
Of the ahOrs of the French school Of
polyphOuic writers. while Jean de Gar
landia. born In England in the twelfth
century, studied at oxford i2O8. and az
Paris i2i2 wrote q treatise in which he
not only declared that double counter
point vas known in the twelfth century
but gave an example.
Il h important for us 20 realize that
secular music in free forms had been
written long before this time. We must
not forget the immense vogue Of the
songs OF the troubadours and mime
singers. The names Of Bertrand de Born.
Wolfram Won Eschenhach. Thihaut de
Navarro and Walther Won der vogel-
weide are probably those of poets rsthsr
than musicians. but the melodies which
they used for their songs had In them
the seeds Of a great ART and in the iilrss
Of time the wandering secular tune came
20 influence the scientifically fashioned
contrapuntal mas.
Histories of music DO not lav sufficient
emphasis on the fact that the artist CON-
possrs were engaged al an early date in
the writing Of secular songs. Johannes
Ocssghem. born about 1925. a pupil oG
BinchOis. az Antwerp. a singer in the ser
vice - Charles VII of France and after
ward treasurer of Sc Martins Cathedral
in Tours. died In 1873. leaving behind him
not only a large collection of ContraDuntaI
riddles and complicated masses but also
a considerable number of secular songs
In madrigal form. he was the teacher
of several noted masters u the Neither
lands school. and his celebrated pupil
JOsquin dee Pres. perhaps the first real
genius in musical composition. born about
1850 Al Condo. carried the skill Of Ockeg-
hsm together with his own creative
faculty into Italy lie was a singer in the
slstlne Chapel and on the death Of Si1tus
~. In 1854, hs went 20 the court of the Duke
Of MmtuA. always a musical centre Of
much importance.
JOsquin wrote huently and beautifully
IN the madrigal style. and the wide popu-
larity Of his art Ia attested by the biog-
rapher u Palsstrina, Daini who says there
was only Josquin in Italy. only JOsquin
IN France. only Josquin in Germany in
Flanders, In Bohemia. In Hungary. in
Spain only Josquin Such a musician
was bound % have hosts Of imiiatora and
hls msthods and style would inevitably
filter downward through stratum after
stratum til az the bottom the music Of
the people. little n either. yet enough
10 betray the strain of origin. would be-
found.
ROLAND 'Histoirs De l'OTera en- Europe
avant Lully ct soarlatti' says Of Josqun:
'Iie transformed by his spirit the art
Of hts predecessors. The springliks
freshr1~s of his genius. his refined in.
vsntion. the animation Of a quick Witted
mind, resuscitated music. and under
the anoient forms and ices Of the fifteenth
century made the first hope of spring
10 ahine Cnmnlicnlah rnnnlerunini q.