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Medieval Music

Code: 100638 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Musicology OB 2

Contact

Name:
Maria Incoronata Colantuono Santoro
Email:
mariaincoronata.colantuono@uab.cat

Teachers

(External) Maria Incoronata Colantuono

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

A good level of music theory and harmony is recommended


Objectives and Contextualisation

To provide students with the theoretical and practical knowledge that will enable them to understand the music of the Western Middle Ages


Competences

  • Critically analyse musical works from any of the points of view of the discipline of musicology.
  • Identify and compare the different channels of reception and consumption of music in society and in culture in each period.
  • Know and understand the historical evolution of music, its technical, stylistic, aesthetic and interpretative characteristics from a diachronic perspective.
  • Make changes to methods and processes in the area of knowledge in order to provide innovative responses to society's needs and demands.
  • Relate concepts and information from different humanistic, scientific and social disciplines, especially the interactions which are established between music and philosophy, history, art, literature and anthropology.
  • Relate knowledge acquired to musical praxis, working with musicians through the analysis and contextualisation of different repertoires, both related to historical music and to the different manifestations of contemporary music.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Use digital tools and interpret specific documentary sources critically.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analysing ideas about an artistic phenomenon in a given cultural context.
  2. Analysing the creators of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  3. Analysing the recipients of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  4. Apply the conceptualisation of philosophy, history, literature and anthropology to musical research.
  5. Assess the reliability of sources, select relevant data and contrast information.
  6. Communicate using language that is not sexist or discriminatory.
  7. Consider the subject as a whole and identify the context in which the processes studied are inscribed and their interrelationship with the elements and factors that are involved in their sociohistorical development.
  8. Contextualise new tendencies in musical creation in general historical evolution and observe its incorporation in the sociopolitical panorama in which they are framed.
  9. Contextualise musical works in their hsitorical and cultural setting from a critical perspective.
  10. Correctly identify the essential repertoire and the main composers of each historical period.
  11. Critically identify the different orientations of musical praxis that musicians apply to the music of each hsitorical period.
  12. Define the processes of periodisation and stylistic classification and usual typology in the historical conceptualisation of the musical fact.
  13. Identify and critically assemble the basic bibliography that has shaped the field of study.
  14. Identify and critically place different musical typologies in their historical periods.
  15. Identify phenomena of the circulation of ideas in music proficiency.
  16. Identify situations in which a change or improvement is needed.
  17. Identify the complexity of music reception processes.
  18. Identify the stylistic properties of each historical period.
  19. Identifying the context of the historical processes.
  20. Identifying the specific methods of history and their relationship with the analysis of particular facts.
  21. Integrate knowledge acquired in the production of clear and concise appropriate to the academic and specialist communication.
  22. Interpret the most important theoretical texts of each period.
  23. Interrelate technological and scientific changes in each period with the creation and reception of music.
  24. Link the periods of the history of music to periods of the history of art, in their similarities and differences.
  25. Present knowledge about the history, art or other cultural movements.
  26. Produce correct, precise and clear argumental and terminological writing of knowledge acquired, both in the area of musical specialisation and dissemination.
  27. Propose new experience-based methods or alternative solutions.
  28. Recognise in musical praxis element of different cultures and different historical periods.
  29. Solve problems of a methodological nature in the area of musicology.
  30. Use specific vocabulary of history correctly.
  31. Use the vocabulary of musicology related to each period of history.

Content

 

  1. Introduction to medieval music
  2. Music in the medieval cultural universe
  3. Origins of Christian worship: liturgy and chant
  4. The variety of liturgies and chants in Christianized Europe 
  5. The Gregorian chant and liturgical rites
  6. Musical notations.
  7. Gregorian aesthetics: composition techniques, styles and modality
  8. The Mass
  9. Monastic world and Divine Office
  10. Trops and sequences
  11. Liturgical drama
  12. Troubadour lyricism
  13. Galician lyricism and Cantigas de Santa Maria
  14. Musical instruments and musica instrumentalis mediaevalis
  15. Origins of primitive polyphony
  16. Organum of Notre-Dame, conductus and motetus
  17. Ars vetus/ars nova french: political motet, ballade and rondeau
  18. The Italian Trecento: madrigale and ballata

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lessons 36 1.44 2, 3, 1, 4, 7, 9, 12, 17, 15, 25, 10, 11, 19, 20, 14, 18, 22, 23, 31, 24
Tutoring of class activities 4 0.16 4, 26, 21, 29, 30, 31
Type: Supervised      
Individual or group Tutorials 1 0.04 29
Participatory debate 4 0.16 2, 3, 1, 4, 7, 29, 31
Reading of musical illustrations 7 0.28 12, 10, 11, 14, 18, 30, 31
Type: Autonomous      
Preparation and correction of the notes 20 0.8 15, 13, 8, 31
Preparation of activities and oral debates 20 0.8 2, 3, 1, 26, 9, 12, 25, 10, 19, 20, 13, 14, 18, 16, 21, 8, 22, 29, 30, 31
Reading of bibliography 20 0.8 26, 30, 31
Study of the subjects 32 1.28 4, 7, 9, 12, 17, 11, 19, 20, 14, 28, 23, 30, 24

Development of the syllabus through lectures open to student participation.
Implementation of cooperative activities, flipped classrooms, and oral debates at the end of each thematic unit.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Final Exam 50% 2 0.08 2, 3, 1, 4, 26, 7, 9, 12, 17, 15, 25, 10, 11, 19, 20, 13, 14, 18, 16, 21, 22, 28, 23, 29, 30, 31, 24
Partial Exam 30% 1 0.04 26, 7, 9, 12, 25, 10, 19, 20, 14, 18, 16, 8, 30, 31
Questionnaires and oral debates 20% 3 0.12 6, 26, 19, 20, 16, 21, 27, 5

Evaluation

1. Partial exam (30%): students must develop a proposed topic, identify and analyze a musical excerpt, and an audio recording.

2. Final exam (50%): students must develop a proposed topic, identify and analyze two musical excerpts, and two audio recordings.

3. Participation in classes and oral debates for each of the two thematic blocks into which the course is divided (20%).

 

Assessment Clarifications

  • If the average grade of the partial exam is below 5, the failed content must be reassessed in the recovery exam.

  • Classroom activities (quizzes and oral debates) are non-recoverable.

  • The course cannot be passed with a failed partial exam.

  • The recovery exam will reassess the failed tests.

  • No individual exams will be conducted outside the established date and time, except in cases of duly justified force majeure.

  • A student will be considered "non-assessable" if they have not completed the partial or final exam.

  • If a student commits any irregularity that could lead to a significant change in the grade of an assessment act, they will receive a 0 for that assessment act, regardless of any disciplinary process that may be initiated. If multiple irregularities occur in the assessment acts of the same course, the final grade for that course will be 0.

  • If the tests cannot be conducted in person, their format will be adapted (maintaining the weighting) to the possibilities offered by the UAB's virtual tools. Homework, activities, and class participation will be conducted through forums, wikis, and/or exercise discussions via Teams, etc. The instructor will ensure that the student can access them or will provide alternative means within reach.

     

    USE OF AI

    • Restricted use: “For this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted exclusively for support tasks, such as bibliographic or information searches, text correction, or translations. Students must clearly identify which parts were generated using these technologies, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how these tools influenced the process and the final outcome of the activity. Lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in this graded activity will be considered academic dishonesty and may result in partial or total loss of marks for the activity, or more serious sanctions in severe cases.”

    Single Assessment

    On a single date, 3 assessment activities will be carried out: one involving the identification and analysis of three excerpts, another based on three listening exercises, and a third consisting of answering a four-question quiz on the course content.

    The first two activities will each count for 30% of the final grade, and the third will count for 40%.

    At the time of each assessment, the teacher will inform students via Moodle about the procedure and the review date.

    The same resit system as in continuous assessment will be applied.


										
											
										
											Possible date of the final exam: consult the degree information list.

Bibliography

COMPULSORY READING BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fassler, M., Music in the Medieval West, New York – London, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2014 (transl. La música en el Occidente medieval, Akal Música, 2020)

Fassler, M., Music in the Medieval West Anthology, New York – London, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2014

or:

Cattin, G., La monodia nel medioevo, Turin, EDT, 1991 (Storia della musica, ed. by Società Italiana di Musicologia, vol. 2), transl. Historia de la Música, Desde la Antigüedad al siglo XIII, Spanish edition coordinated and revised by Andrés Ruiz Tarazona, vol. I, pp. 109–296

Gallo, A., La polifonia nel medioevo, Turin, EDT, 1991 (Storia della musica, ed. by Società Italiana di Musicologia, vol. 3), chapters I–III (Il Duecento, Il Trecento francese, Il Trecento italiano), transl. Historia de la Música, La Música de los Siglos XIII al XVI, Spanish edition coordinated and revised by Andrés Ruiz Tarazona, vol. II, pp. 3–52

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hoppin, R.H., Medieval Music (New York, 1978; Spanish ed. 1991)

Idem, Anthology of Medieval Music (New York, 1978; Spanish ed., Madrid, 2002)

Gómez, MªC., La música medieval en España (Kassel, 2001)

Idem, Historia de la Música en España e Hispanoamérica 1. De los orígenes hasta c.1470, ed. MªC. Gómez (Madrid, 2009)

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie (London et al., 2001)

SPECIFIC BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books (according to syllabus):

1. Interpretation and Aesthetics

  • Ferrari, M., L’interpretazione della musica antica, Ut Orpheus (2022)

  • Haynes, B., The End of Early Music (Oxford, 2007)

  • Leech-Wilkinson, D., The Modern Invention of Medieval Music (Cambridge, 2002)

  • Sherman, B.D., Inside Early Music: Conversations with Performers (Oxford University Press, New York, 1997)

2. Philosophy and Thought

  • Boynton, S. – Reilly, D.J., Resounding Images: Medieval Intersections of Art and Music (2015)

  • Boethius, De Institutione Musica, transl. S. Villegas (Madrid, 2005)

  • Fubini, E., Music and Aesthetics in the Medieval Era (Pamplona, 2008)

  • Schueller, H.M., The Idea of Music. An Introduction to Musical Aesthetics in Antiquity and the Middle Ages (Kalamazoo, 1988)

3–4. Memory, Notation, and Chant

  • Busse Berger, A.M., Medieval Music and the Art of Memory (Berkeley-Los Angeles-London, 2005)

  • Chailley, J., L’imbroglio des modes (Paris, 1960)

  • Levy, K., Gregorian Chant and the Carolingians (Princeton, 1998)

  • Saulnier, D., Regards sur le plain chant: la liturgie et sa musique, ed. Feuilles (2021)

  • Treitler, L., With Voice and Pen: Coming to Know Medieval Song and How it was Made (Oxford, 2003)

5–10. Gregorian Chant and Liturgy

  • Apel, W., Gregorian Chant (Bloomington, 1958)

  • Asensio, J.C., El canto gregoriano (Madrid, 2003)

  • Baroffio, G. – Ju Kim, E., Cantemus Domino Gloriose. Introduzione al canto gregoriano, Saronno, Urban, 2003

  • Brockett, C. W., The Repertory of Processional Antiphons, Brepols, 2019

  • Carrillo Rojo, R., Text, Liturgy, and Music in the Hispanic Rite, Oxford University Press, 2021

  • Colantuono, M. I., Medieval Music and Liturgy at the Biblioteca de Catalunya (9th–13th c.), Generalitat de Catalunya

  • Grier, J., The Office of the Holy Trinity at Saint Martial de Limoges in the Eleventh Century, Brepols, 2020

  • Harper, J., The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the Tenth to the Eighteenth Century (Oxford, 1991)

  • Hiley, D., Western Plainchant. A Handbook (Oxford, 1993)

  • Schulze, H., Musical Text as Ritual Object, ed. Brepols, 2015

11. Liturgical Drama

  • Donovan, R.B., The Liturgical Drama in Medieval Spain (Toronto, 1958)

  • Nardini, L., Chants, Hypertext, and Prosulas, Oxford University Press, 2022

  • Orden, D.H., The Staging of Drama in the Medieval Church (Wewak-London, 2002)

  • Ranking, S., The Music of the Medieval Liturgical Drama in France and England (New York & London, 1989)

12. Troubadours and Vernacular Song

  • Aubrey, E., The Music of the Troubadours (Bloomington-Indianapolis, 1996)

  • Krause, K.M. & Stones, A., Gautier de Coinci: Miracles, Music and Manuscripts, Brepols, 2007

  • Menéndez Pidal, R., Poesía juglaresca y juglares (Madrid, 1991/9th ed.)

  • Rossell, A., El cant dels trobadors, Ajuntament de Castelló d’Empúries (1992)

  • Rossell, A., Literature and Music in the Middle Ages, 2 vols. (Lyric and Epic Song), Dinsic (Barcelona, 2004)

  • Van der Werf, H., The Chansons of the Troubadours and Trouvères (Utrecht, 1972)

  • Zuchetto, G., Terre des troubadours XII–XIIIe siècles (Paris, 1996)

13. Cantigas and Hispanic Repertoire

  • Anglés, H., La música de las Cantigas de Santa María del rey Alfonso el Sabio (Barcelona, 1943–64), 3 vols.

  • Colantuono, M. I., Memory and Melodic Composition in the Cantigas de amigo of Martin Codax, A Roda de Fortuna, 2 (2015)

  • Idem, From vox mortua to vox viva: Composition Systems and Orality in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, Boitatá, n. 19

  • Ferreira, M.P., The Sound of Martin Codax (Lisbon, 1986)

14. Instrumental Music

  • Baldassarre, E., Musica instrumentalis mediaevalis, Il Salentino editore (Melendugno, 2014)

15–17. Ars Antiqua and Ars Nova

  • Musica enchiriadis and Scolica enchiriadis, transl. R. Erickson (New Haven-London, 1995)

  • Wright, C., Music and Ceremony at Notre Dame of Paris, 500–1550 (Cambridge, 1989)

  • Everist, M., French Motets in the Thirteenth Century (Cambridge, 1994)

  • Fauvel Studies. Allegory, Chronicle, Music, and Image in Paris, BnF MS Fr. 146 (Oxford, 1998)

  • Gómez Muntané, M., The Llibre Vermell. Songs and Dances from the Late Middle Ages (Madrid, 2017)

  • Kügle, K., The Manuscript Ivrea, Biblioteca Capitolare 115 (Ottawa, 1997)

  • Leech-Wilkinson, D., Machaut’s Mass. An Introduction (Oxford, 1990)

  • Robertson, A.W., Guillaume de Machaut and Reims (Cambridge, 2002)

  • Stäblein-Harder, H., Fourteenth-Century Mass Music in France (MSD 7, 1962)

18. Trecento

  • Beck, E.M., Singing in the Garden: Music and Culture in the Tuscan Trecento (Innsbruck, 1998)

  • Pirrotta, N., Music and Culture in Italy from the Middle Ages to the Baroque (Cambridge, 1984)

JOURNALS

  • Early Music [EM]

  • Early Music History [EMH]

  • Musica Disciplina [MD]

  • Plainsong & Medieval Music

  • Acta Musicologica [AcM]

  • Archiv für Musikwissenschaft [AfMw]

  • Journal of the American Musicological Society [JAMS]

  • Notes

  • The Musical Quarterly [MQ]

  • Revista de Musicología [RdM]

  • Quodlibet

  • Revista Catalana de Musicologia

  • Rivista Italiana di Musicologia


Software

There is no specific software required.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed