Page 34 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

32 IN CONTEXT

TANDARADEI, FOCUS

Secular medieval music
SWEETLY SANG BEFORE
c. 1160 Festum stultorum
(Feast of Fools) appears in
Paris and Beauvais as an
THE NIGHTINGALE opportunity around Christmas
for clerics to indulge in a
parody of the liturgy.

LE JEU DE ROBIN ET DE MARION (1280–1283), c. 1230 Ludus Danielis (The
Play of Daniel) is written in
ADAM DE LA HALLE Beauvais as a liturgical drama
in Latin.

AFTER
Late 14th century The
annual cycle of Mystery Plays
(performances of biblical
scenes set to music) begins in
York and Wakefield, England.

iverse musical traditions
are known to have
D flourished in European
towns and villages in the Middle
Ages, as they did in the courts of
noble families, yet almost none
of this popular music survives in
notation. While the Church used
scribes to regulate and record its
own repertoire for posterity, much
secular music was passed on orally.
However, the lack of written
sources among common people is
not just the consequence of poor
literacy. For many dance musicians
and the singers of epics, a written
text would not have reflected the
skilful, improvisatory nature of their
profession, honed by generations
of hereditary entertainers.
Furthermore, by recording their
works in a manuscript, they
risked handing their cherished
repertoire to rivals.

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