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"A verse without music is a mill without water." —ANONYMOUS TROUBADOUR

Key Points

  • Secular music arose in courts, performed by aristocratic troubadours and trouvères in France and by Minnesingers in Germany, and in cities, performed by wandering minstrels (Goliards, jongleurs).
  • Secular song texts focused on idealized love and the values of chivalry (code of behavior).
  • Secular songs and dances were sung monophonically, with improvised instrumental accompaniment.
  • Guillaume de Machaut was a poet-composer of the French Ars nova (new art) who wrote sacred music and polyphonic chansons (secular songs) set to fixed text forms (rondeau, ballade, virelai).
  • Instrumental music was generally improvised, performed by ensembles of soft (bas) or loud (haut) instruments, categorized by their use.
  • The religious wars (Crusades) and medieval explorations enabled the exchange of musical instruments as well as theoretical ideas about music with Middle Eastern and Far Eastern cultures (CP 4).

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