CHAPTER 2: THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD

The Growth of the Christian Church and Its Music

Rabbi Jesus spread Gods message that, to redeem humankind, you need to love God and
love your neighbor
o This was considered treason and Jesus was executed, Christians suffered 300
years of persecution
Emperor Constantine became Christian and issued Edict of Milan in 313 CE, giving
Christians religious freedom, made Christianity the official religion of the Empire
Belief of musical ethos remained strong
St. Augustines Confessions: discusses how the sensuous pleasure derived from music
may be distracting from the words being sung and turn attention away from God
The Jewish Heritage
Early Christians inherited worship and musical practices from the Jewish
o Worship: based on scripture, prayer, readings, teaching, giving of alms all passed
over
Jewish musical repertoire had both scriptural and nonscriptural songs
o Scriptural: psalms and canticles (poetic passages from religious writings)
Retained because Christian Old Testament retained Jewish scripture
o Nonscriptural: hymns
Elements of Jewish music which carried over to Christians:
o Monophonic
Performance included doublings, ornaments, etc
o Rhythm unmetered and controlled by words
o 3 performance methods:
Direct: solo or unison performance throughout
Responsorial: solo or leader performed verses and entire congregation
answers with the following verse or refrain
Antiphonal: divide into 2 groups and sing in alteration
o Pitch organization relied on Modes
The Diversification of Practice
Christianity spread all over Europe, political power decentralized and smaller, loosely
organized dominions formed
Communication was slow, musical styles started to vary between regions
The Eastern Influence
Emperor Constantine made Constantinople/Byzantium the capital of the Roman Empire
o Was a very stable empire which led to development of a sophisticated culture
Elaborate, extended musical compositions were written, especially hymns
Kontakion: musical composition resembling a long, poetic sermon
on bible text
o Contains a prologue and 20 more stanzas linked by a shared
refrain
Kanon: complicated, multisectional piece based on a series of 9
biblical canticles
Music was monophonic and mostly syllabic
Developed a kalophonic style: elaborate and florid embellishments,
similar to Middle Eastern and Asian music
o Modal tonal structure
Local European Practices
o After 4
th
century, churches and monasteries throughout Europe developed their
own idioms
o Old Roman style, the musical tradition of Rome itself has many examples, music
of the peripheral regions is not as well known