medieval dance – Early Music Muse

La prime Estampie Royal: completing the fragment of a medieval melody

Ian Pittaway Ars musicae, carolling, carols, Chansonnier du Roi, church modes, dance, estampida, estampie, gittern, Grocheio, historically informed performance, istampitta, istanpitta, Jean de Grouchy, Jerome of Moravia, Johannes de Grocheio, Manuscrit du Roi, mediaeval, medieval, medieval dance, medieval modes, medieval scales, modes, prime Estampie Royal, rhythmic modes, stampita, stantipes, Summa musice, Tractatus de Musica 9th February 202226th September 2024 5 Comments

The estampie was an internationally popular musical form of the late middle ages. Eight beautiful French estampies from circa 1300 are written in the Manuscrit du Roi, seven of which are complete. The first estampie is a fragment, due to the top half of the page being torn to remove illuminated letters, seen on the right.

After examining what we know about the estampie and the particular characteristics of French estampies, this article searches for historical principles upon which the fragment of La prime Estampie Royal can be made whole again.

The article begins with a video performance of the finished piece played on gittern, then explains the process of historically-informed construction, and ends with the completed music in modern notation.

The first dancing master’s manual: Domenico da Piacenza and the art of dance

Ian Pittaway Ambrosio Giovanni, arte saltandi & choreas ducendi, Cornazano Antonio, Cornazzano Antonio, dance, dancing master, De arte saltandi & choreas ducendi, Domenico da Piacenza, Ebreo Guglielmo, gelosia (dance), giloxia (dance), mediaeval, medieval, medieval dance, renaissance, renaissance dance 26th October 201915th October 2024 2 Comments

Early music and dance enthusiasts will be familiar with the work of authors such as John Playford, who published the series of dance instruction books called The (English) Dancing Master from 1651 onwards, and with Jehan Tabourot, who in 1588 wrote instructions for the dances of his youth under the anagrammatic pen name, Thoinot Arbeau, published in France as Orchésographie in 1589. There is evidence of earlier dancing masters – dance instructors – from the medieval period, but the first to write surviving choreography were in the renaissance of 15^th century Italy, and the earliest of these was Domenico da Piacenza (c. 1390/1400–1476/7). This article briefly outlines Domenico’s dance manual of c. 1450, the social context of his dances, his wide influence, and some ways in which his choreography and music notation can be interpreted using one example, La giloxia (The jealousy), a video of which begins this article.

Medieval music: a quick guide to the middle ages

Ian Pittaway Astripotens famulos (Kind ruler of the stars), bagpipes, bladder pipe, Cantigas de Santa María, citole, dance, ductia, estampie, fiddle, gittern, harp, istanpitta, Lambeth Palace Library MS 457, Mater dei (Mother of God), mediaeval, medieval, medieval dance, medieval fiddle, medieval modes, medieval scales, Mirie it is while sumer ilast, Miro genere (By a wondrous birth), nota, organistrum, oud, polyphony, psaltery, Sexte estampie Real, Sumer is icumen in, symphonia, symphonie, troubadours, trumpet, viella, vielle 9th July 201523rd December 2024 4 Comments

This article is a complete beginner’s guide to secular medieval music. When were the middle ages? What musical information is available in medieval manuscripts? What were the earliest surviving secular songs in English? What was medieval dance like? What forms of music did musicians play? Why does medieval music sound so different to today’s? How did medieval musicians harmonise?

This article features 5 illustrative videos of medieval music and several links to further articles.