The early Christian period saw the growth of the Christian church and its music following the edict of Milan in 313 CE. Early Christians inherited Jewish worship and musical practices, including scriptural songs from the psalms and canticles. Elements of Jewish music like monophonic singing and reliance on musical modes carried over. As Christianity spread throughout Europe, musical styles started to vary regionally as communication was slow between smaller political territories. The Byzantine empire influenced Eastern Christian music with elaborate hymns like the kontakion and kanon, which were monophonic and embellished in a kalophonic style with Middle Eastern influences. Local practices also diversified after the 4th century as churches and monasteries developed their own musical idi
The early Christian period saw the growth of the Christian church and its music following the edict of Milan in 313 CE. Early Christians inherited Jewish worship and musical practices, including scriptural songs from the psalms and canticles. Elements of Jewish music like monophonic singing and reliance on musical modes carried over. As Christianity spread throughout Europe, musical styles started to vary regionally as communication was slow between smaller political territories. The Byzantine empire influenced Eastern Christian music with elaborate hymns like the kontakion and kanon, which were monophonic and embellished in a kalophonic style with Middle Eastern influences. Local practices also diversified after the 4th century as churches and monasteries developed their own musical idi
The early Christian period saw the growth of the Christian church and its music following the edict of Milan in 313 CE. Early Christians inherited Jewish worship and musical practices, including scriptural songs from the psalms and canticles. Elements of Jewish music like monophonic singing and reliance on musical modes carried over. As Christianity spread throughout Europe, musical styles started to vary regionally as communication was slow between smaller political territories. The Byzantine empire influenced Eastern Christian music with elaborate hymns like the kontakion and kanon, which were monophonic and embellished in a kalophonic style with Middle Eastern influences. Local practices also diversified after the 4th century as churches and monasteries developed their own musical idi
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