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Medieval Music Theory
Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the first and longest major era of Western classical music and is followed by the Renaissance music; the two eras comprise what musicologists generally term as early music, preceding the common practice period. Following the traditional division of the Middle Ages, medieval music can be divided into Early (500–1000), High (1000–1300), and Late (1300–1400) medieval music. Medieval music includes liturgical music used for the church, other sacred music, and secular or non-religious music. Much medieval music is purely vocal music, such as Gregorian chant. Other music used only instruments or both voices and instruments (typically with the instruments accompanying the voices). The medieval period saw the creation and adaptation of systems of music notation which enabled creators to document and transmit musical ideas mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vihuela
The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of the lute in Italy and has a large resultant repertory. There were usually five or six doubled strings. A bowed version, the vihuela de arco (arco meaning bow), was conceived in Spain and made in Italy from 1480. One consequence was the phrase vihuela de mano being thereafter applied to the original plucked instrument. The term ''vihuela'' became "viola" in Italian ("viole" in Fr.; "viol" in Eng.), and the bowed vihuela de arco was to serve as a prototype in the hands of the Italian craftsmen for the "viol, da gamba" family of fretted bowed string instruments, as developed starting in 1480. Their vihuela-inherited frets made these easier to play in tune than the rebec family (precursors of the "Lira da braccio, da braccio" family), and so th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
