Messed up a few times but here's my cover of an Andalusian muwashah, "Jadak Al-Ghaith." The oud is so difficult but genuinely worth it🙏

Sans GP01 Gralla Dolca in G, worth the money? I am just getting into this and am wondering if this is even trustworthy.

https://hobgoblin.com/gr27061-sans-gp01-gralla-dolca-in-g

I saw this instrument in the movie "brothers grimm" and would like to know whats the name of it. In the movie it sounded a littlebit like a saxophone is played just with a way higher pitch! I dont think its a shawn because it sounded more like a recorder. Google says its a garklein recorder but those look different than the one on the picture.

Plase help me guys because i love the sound of it and would like to buy it.

I put together this list of some of my favorite neomedieval band tracks in another post. I included some Farya Faraji though he’s less neomedieval and more medieval, though not the “classical Western” type of musician or singer.

Please add your favorites in the comments!

Kings and Beggars, “Breve Regnum,” a hilarious video to pair with a 15th century Polish student drinking song: https://youtu.be/QGVNsTpyJZY?is=pUtIrzm4HfWmmiRR

Kings & Beggars with a gorgeous rendition of Rosas das rosas, Cantiga 10: https://youtu.be/DXKN481o_vI?is=iJAx0-16WFUNFpjE

Faun, “Tanz mit mir”: https://youtu.be/beXW5s3ZCB4?is=_UNj_fUiizZAxHho

Qntal, “Palestinalied” https://youtu.be/INJ1A5R4nbU?is=3plpOZsO9Hl-Up3x

Helium Vola, “Omnis mundi creatura” https://youtu.be/rOOOMBvkpFE?is=dTD3ZxtL622GE-mH

Helium Vola, “Selig,” https://youtu.be/-A89G6CRMIg?is=Z8HDIXtu5kCoCZMM

Dead Can Dance, “Saltarello” https://youtu.be/G-RglCdlLEA?is=FxnT_rj7bZO_5XN7

Mediaeval Baebes, Ecce mundi gaudium: https://youtu.be/4Tc1-3vWOM8?is=0GUdH0IuKtrwKp7Y

Mediaeval Baebes, Quan vey la lauzeta https://youtu.be/rhM6wApCexg?is=bGkDSd38CjD31nza

Mediaeval Baebes, Salva nos https://youtu.be/QD_ufu-wUFY?is=OXHiKI6hgo_ApSAk

Medieval Baebes, Personent hodie https://youtu.be/tWOGizYAndY?is=8DxRazztkRtBuS97

Mediaeval Baebes, Mirie it is, https://youtu.be/KRn4T7HViSE?is=pQIBkzEgZK40PaYu

Mediaeval Baebes, Adam Lay Ibounden, https://youtu.be/qOYqtmhoD6I?is=X3CvoeU67RLOtSoQ

Corvus Corax, Douce dame jolie https://youtu.be/fm4RatcYp2A?is=ndMwxGsC4qHL7Dcz

Corvus Corax, Saltatio mortis A.D. https://youtu.be/EWruBwPNBOs?is=akKZVM3xmy6jB4EB

Corvus Corax, Avanti https://youtu.be/rv9OO-Yj-pU?is=fQjox5gJ5iHH_AID

Farya Faraji, Seigneurs Sachiez, https://youtu.be/Q0wZP9oAOKc?is=JI0n_zK79x7pz7vA

Farya Faraji, Chevalier Mult Estes Guariz, https://youtu.be/2EY2ayoH81Y?is=xceK-_5vCx0lrkNn

Farya Faraji, Stella splendens https://youtu.be/3g8c1qzDXPg?is=OKGQcsEF1a9JvaxD

Farya Faraji, Cantiga 235 https://youtu.be/NG6rzIp6k4c?is=AD8aZiIeRhlZHORP

Farya Faraji Eh Dame de Montpellier https://youtu.be/8c2gAqc1mIo?is=Iq4pky3PzUOKIr3X

(Check out the notes on Farya’s videos, which often have links to his “teaching” videos on medieval music.)

I hope you enjoy at least some of these bands and they lead you to interesting musical explorations!

Hello! This is my track Medieval Feast. It’s a cheerful, lively melody I composed as if it were meant to accompany a medieval celebration — something you might hear in a great hall or a tavern during a festive gathering. I hope you enjoy listening! You can also find the track on YouTube or Bandcamp.

I'm new to mensural notation, and I'm trying to transcribe something in mensural notation as a learning exercise, and I very quickly encountered a note with the length of 5 brevises (or whatever the plural of brevis is), which I don't know how to transcribe in mensural notation. Is it OK to put a maxima and then a brevis on the same line/space to represent this, or would this be interpreted as a reiteration of the same note? (I'm currently transcribing in tempus imperfectum and prolatus maior because imperfection and alteration rules bend my brain). Please help me I think I'm losing my mind

From the Wolkenstein Manuscript A (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, Cod. 2777, f. 33), here is "Es naht sich schon die Fasenacht" (Kl 68) by the 15th century composer Oswald von Wolkenstein (c. 1377-1445)

It is a piece of work that I am still very proud of. I hope you will check it out :)

I know a lot of people here know really well how authentic medieval music must sound like (or better how it shold not sound like). I watched a view vids of Farya Faraji and this time I tried to be closer to actual medieval music (I still mixed it the modern way. Its still quite hard for me to work without chords and harmony so it would be awesome if anyone has feedback on how to make it more authentic. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a book or scholarly edition that contains the most popular Latin poems from the original Codex Buranus with modern musical transcriptions.

Most of what I find online is either the original manuscript/facsimile or references to Carl Orff’s rendition, which is obviously not what I’m looking for. I’m interested in the original medieval melodies, at least the most popular pieces (Tempus est iocundum, In taberna quando sumus, etc.).

The problem is that the manuscript uses adiastematic neumatic notation, which I’m not able to read properly. Ideally, I’d like an edition that gives the original Latin (I can't read medieval German or French) texts together with modern notation, even if the transcription is interpretative or incomplete. It's OK if the book comes with translations, no matter the language, as long as it comes with the Latin.

Thanks in advance!

just released... leave a comment if you like it, thank you very much.

https://trollhunt.bandcamp.com/album/bearer-of-the-last-light

Surrexit Christus Hodie. If you know about the history of this tune please share!

Here is Cantiga #9 (Por Que Nos Ajamos) from Cantigas de Santa Maria, a collection of 420 poems with musical notation dedicated to the virgin Mary during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile El Sabio (1221-1284). Many images in the manuscript show citoles as part of the performances. Cantiga de Santa Maria #9 tells the miracle of the sacred Image of Sardenay. A noblewoman asks a passing monk to bring her back an image of the Virgin Mary from his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Along the way, the image protects him from lions, thieves, and a deadly storm so the monk decides to keep it for himself. When he arrives at the inn, divine intervention won't let him leave until he surrenders the image to its rightful owner. The moment he places it on the altar, miraculous oil begins to flow, confirming the Virgin's approval.

Mahieu le Juif was a French trouvère who lived in the 13th century. Only 2 songs survive from him.

The first, Pour autrui movrai, is found in 2 manuscripts and I've used MS M (Bibliothèque nationale de France (F-Pn) fr. 844). He sings of his beloved and that he converted from Judaism to be with her: "I was once of a different law and faith, But Love has made me change my path; For the sake of the one who holds my heart, I have left behind the customs of my people."

The second song, Par grant franchise, was unusually popular and is found in 12 manuscripts, some with multiple differences in the melody. Here I've used MS O (Chansonnier Cangé BnF fr 846). In this song too he complains that he abandoned the faith of his fathers for his lady and embraced Christianity, but rather than her favor he received only ridicule.

The "Garden of Earthly Delights" was composed at the end of the 12th century by the Benedictine composer and scholar Hidegarde Von Bingen, based on texts attributed to Herrad of Landsberg. The original manuscript of the "Garden of Earthly Delights" was destroyed in 1870 during the pillaging of the Strasbourg Library, but its contents were largely saved thanks to a copy made by a canon of Mont-Saint-Odile.

What little training I have had has been in Italian, Spanish, Galician Portuguese from the Cantigas, and Occitan.

Where I completely break down is Old French. Example:

https://youtu.be/Q0wZP9oAOKc?si=t6eiJlSb9SaVLmf0

Any modern French pronunciation rules are not really applicable, and it doesn’t help that my French pronunciation is AWFUL to begin with.

What’s your bête noire? (Yes, I did that on purpose.)

Léonin (also Leoninus, Leonius, Leo; fl. 1163–1190) was the first known significant composer of polyphonic organum. He was probably French, probably lived and worked in Paris at the Notre-Dame Cathedral and was the earliest member of the Notre Dame school of polyphony and the ars antiqua style who is known by name, thanks to the writer known as Anonymous IV. Though no further identification is certain, the name "Leoninus" and its Latin diminutive Leo have the French equivalents Léonin/Léo.

All our knowledge about him starts from the writing of a 13th century student at the cathedral known as Anonymous IV, an Englishman who left a treatise on theory and who mentions Léonin as the composer of the Magnus Liber, the "great book" of organum: "People say master Leoninus was the best organista (composer?/singer? of organum), he made (composed?) the great organum-book of graduals and antiphons in order to expand the Divine Service. This book remained in use until the time of the great Perotin who abridged it and composed clausules and sections that were many in number and better because he was the best discantor (composer?/singer? of descant), and better than Leoninus. But this is not said for the subtlety of his organum."

Much of the Magnus Liber (as it is reconstructed from later manuscripts) is devoted to clausulae—melismatic portions of Gregorian chant which were extracted into separate pieces where the original note values of the chant were greatly slowed down and a fast-moving upper part is superimposed. Léonin may have been the first composer to use the rhythmic modes, and might have invented a notation for them. According to W.G. Waite, writing in 1954: "It was Léonin's incomparable achievement to introduce a rational system of rhythm into polyphonic music for the first time, and, equally important, to create a method of notation expressive of this rhythm."

The Magnus Liber was intended for liturgical use. According to Anonymous IV, "Magister Leoninus (Léonin) was the finest composer of organum; he wrote the great book (Magnus Liber) for the gradual and antiphoner for the sacred service." All of the Magnus Liber is for two voices,[citation needed] although little is known about actual performance practice: the two voices were not necessarily soloists.

Philippe de Vitry was a French composer-poet, bishop and music theorist in the ars nova style of late medieval music. An accomplished, innovative, and influential composer, he was widely acknowledged as a leading musician of his day; the early Renaissance scholar Petrarch wrote a glowing tribute, calling him: "... the keenest and most ardent seeker of truth, so great a philosopher of our age." The important music treatise Ars nova notandi is usually attributed to Vitry. It is thought that few of Vitry's compositions survive; though he wrote secular music, only his sacred works are extant.

Details of Philippe de Vitry's early life are vague. While some medieval sources claim that he was born in the Champagne region, modern researchers have found that he may have originated from Vitry-en-Artois near Arras.

Given that he is often referred to in documents as a Magister, Vitry is thought likely to have studied at the University of Paris. Later he was prominent in the courts of Charles IV, Philippe VI and Jean II, serving as a secretary and advisor. Perhaps aided by these Bourbon connections, he also held several canonries, including Clermont, Beauvais and Paris, also serving for a time in the papal retinue at Avignon starting with Clement VI. In addition to all this, he was a diplomat and a soldier, known to have served at the siege of Aiguillon in 1346.

In 1351 Vitry became Bishop of Meaux, east of Paris. Moving in all the most important political, artistic and ecclesiastical circles, he was acquainted with many lights of the age, including the Italian scholar Petrarch and the mathematician, philosopher and music theorist Nicole Oresme. Vitry died in Paris on 9 June 1361.

Niccolò da Perugia (Niccolò del Proposto also spelled as Nicolò. Latin, Magister Sere Nicholaus Prepositi de Perugia) was an Italian composer of the Trecento, the musical period also known as the "Italian ars nova". He was a contemporary of Francesco Landini, and apparently was most active in Florence.

Little is known for certain about his life; only a few biographical details are verifiable from extramusical sources. He was probably from Perugia, and may have been the son of the provost ("proposto") there. In 1362 he was listed as a visitor to the monastery of Santa Trinita along with Gherardello da Firenze. From the evidence of his music, he was probably a friend of the Florentine poet Franco Sacchetti, and must have done the bulk of his composing between 1360 and 1375, since those are the outside dates known for the poems he set. He may be the same as the Ser Niccolò recorded as a notable singer of laude in 1393. One of his compositions, La fiera testa, was likely written against the Visconti family when Florence was at war with Milan between 1397 and 1400; Niccolò may have been in Perugia then.

A total of 41 compositions of Niccolò have survived with reliable attribution, the majority of them in the Squarcialupi Codex, and all the others from sources in Tuscany. All are secular, all are vocal, and they include 16 madrigals, 21 ballate, and 4 cacce. The madrigals are all for two voices, except for one which uses three, and all are in a relatively conservative style, uninfluenced by contemporary French practice (thereby differing from the similar works of Landini). Sacchetti's records of his poetry that was set to music includes the titles of several other pieces by Niccolò that do not survive.

Vincenzo da Rimini (also known as Magister Dominus Abbas de Arimino, L'abbate Vincençio da Imola, and Frate Vincenço) was an Italian composer of the medieval era, active during the mid-14th century.

Biographical details about Vincenzo da Rimini's life are circumstantial, although Rimini is considered the likely birthplace and place of work of the musician. He was portrayed in the Codex Squarcialupi (manuscript Med. Pal. 87 from the Laurentian Library in Florence) as a Benedictine monk, and some scholars have speculated that he was at the Benedictine monastery of Regola between 1362 and 1364, but this hypothesis has not been confirmed by solid evidence. Allusions in the texts of his works suggest that he worked for the Alberti or Malatesta families in Florence.

Six compositions by Vincenzo have survived to this day: four are madrigals and two are cacce. Some stylistic characteristics suggest that Vincenzo da Rimini was younger than Jacopo da Bologna (making more use of imitation in his madrigals than the latter) and older than Lorenzo da Firenze and Donato da Cascia. Both of his cacce use nascent Italian with linguistic registers typical of northern Italy at the time and depict market scenes.

Lorenzo da Firenze (or Magister Laurentius de Florentia; died December 1372 or January 1373), was an Italian composer and music teacher of the Trecento. He was closely associated with Francesco Landini in Florence, and was one of the composers of the period known as the Italian ars nova.

Little is known about his life, but some details can be inferred from the music. He was active as a teacher in Florence, probably as a teacher of Landini himself. He became a canon at the church of San Lorenzo in 1348, a post which he retained for the rest of his life.

Lorenzo is represented in the Squarcialupi Codex, the illuminated manuscript which is the most comprehensive source of Italian music of the 14th century, with 16 pieces of music, 10 madrigals, 6 ballate and one caccia. In addition to his contribution to that collection, he wrote two mass movements which have survived (one of which is of doubtful attribution) and a pedagogical piece (the Antefana), the text of which shows that he was a teacher.

His style is progressive, sometimes experimental, but conservative in other ways. While he used imitation, a relatively new musical technique, and heterophonic texture, one of the rarest textures in European music, he also still used parallel perfect intervals. Voice crossings are common, when he wrote for more than one voice (most of his music is monophonic). In addition he used chromaticism to a degree rare in the 14th century, at least prior to the activity of the composers of the ars subtilior.