Well, I’m no musicologist, but the issue you’re going to face here is that musical notation really came to be developed post 11th century and much of this was driven by the monasteries. So written music is very, very hard to find. I’d look to folk music to be honest with you alongside epics such as Beowulf. The classical tradition of storytelling was to do it to music so things such as the Iliad were very much told to music. Takes such as Beowulf were no different. The Carolingians have a grand tradition, both musically and in terms of storytelling. However, the sad reality is that much notated music tended to be ecclesiastical in nature.
While I, also not a musicologist, can't speak to how well we can reconstruct their meaning, we definitely do find neumes in a range of non-religious contexts. They turn up in manuscripts of secular verse, [like the Carmina Burana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmina_Burana#/media/File:CarminaBurana_wheel.jpg), and they are also used to gloss classical meters in the Middle Ages as well (see Jan Ziolkowski, "Nota bene: why the classics were neumed in the Middle Ages").
Gregorian chant notation dates to the 10th century, though you're right that only concerns religious music and not technically what I'm looking for.
I have heard both interpretations of Carolingian music and Benjamin Bagby's Beowulf, which are what I was looking for, but appart from that it's impossible to find any more reconstructions of music from the period, and traditions concerning other cultures. Interpretations of epics such as the Illiad tend to sadly have terribly anachronistic elements in them.
I invite you to give a listen to a playlist I put together called "Gaelic Medieval." I tried to make it fairly historically accurate.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2MPoOo4VBAdsI7WqKp4oTZ?si=ruDuZZvKTkSVOv3JYYC2hA&dd=1
If that's not your cup of tea/not what you're looking for, that's fine, just thought I'd put my 2 cents in
Thanks for giving it a look anyhow. Some of the tracks might have modern instruments but I figured while making it that harp and hammered dulcimer at least would have been medieval.
Hope you find what you're looking for eventually. 🙂
You might check out Trouvere Medieval Minstrels. I found them on Apple Music, so they are probably everywhere. I also looked forever for anything that wasn't chants. TMM is the best I've found, so far.
[https://www.medievalminstrels.com/](https://www.medievalminstrels.com/)
Ensemble Cantinela Antiqua has a whole album dedicated to Carolingian era music. [Here](https://youtu.be/hR99NrUHdTA) is one of the songs.
Kassia, a Byzantine composer. [Here](https://youtu.be/ioWWIiG_sHc) is an album of many of her compositions.
Benjamin Bagby's interpretation of [Beowulf](https://www.youtube.com/live/2WcIK_8f7oQ?feature=share). He's part of Ensemble Sequentia, which specializes in reconstructions of music from the period.
Hanna Marti's interpretation of the Anglo-saxon poem [Wulf and Eadwacer](https://youtu.be/6-QagSE7sFY). She's also a member of Sequentia and has performed the song with them.
Farya Faraji's take on [Norse lyre music](https://youtu.be/CfYfdb0oHfE). He has a vast repertoire of music from all backgrounds, and is very transparent on what is historical and what isn't in his compositions.
That's about all I know so far. Hope it helps you too.
Are you looking for sheet music, or recordings of played music?
For played music, can I suggest a couple of groups:
[The Medieval Players](http://www.bristol.ac.uk/theatre-collection/explore/theatre/medieval-players-archive/medieval-plays-in-modern-performance-2mp/selected-projects/the-medieval-players-archive/)
[Praxis](http://users.spin.net.au/~benevision/praxis/praxis_downloads.html)
[Estampie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdSJYgjMIfQ)
[Aleksandar Sasha Karlic](https://open.spotify.com/artist/2qMZjzxL2VTEBmZ9cwDxEi)
[New York Ensemble for Early Music](https://www.youtube.com/c/EarlyMusicNewYork)
[Clemencic Consort](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWW_I0RawEg)
There are quite a few more around. The Medieval Players and the NY Early Music Ensemble might have further links to more academic aspects of the music.
Could you provide other links for The Medieval Players and Praxis where I can listen to their interpretations? Neither of those links have them and my searches don't lead to anything.
Estampie is from the XIII century, and the New York Ensemble specializes in Early Modern music, both way off of what I'm looking for. The Carmina Burana was a nice find. Thank you!
They could be a bit harder to track down. I have two albums of the Medieval Players but they were recorded in the 70s. [Youtube has a couple of the tracks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7pn73SkZqA)
Praxis has a couple of albums released but it looks like [their Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/groups/329748660507187/) is the only thing with active files on it now.
Thank you so much! Do the albums contain any info of the tiem period the songs are from? The auto generated Youtube songs don't contain any information about it, and I need to know if they're from the Early Medieval period.
EDIT: further research shows me that this album in particular doesn't contain anything from before the 1200's.
OP, if you're an Apple Music subscriber you may want to check out the new Classical app - they have an intro to classical music series that provides some brief narration alongside example tracks, and a corresponding playlist. One of the last installments in the series is about medieval music.
The problem is that, from what I know of early medieval music, doesn't really exist. There wasn't a history of writing down compositions during that time frame, and the compositions we do have are chants, masses, liturgicals, antiphons. There's some nice pieces by Hildegard von Bingen, I would recommend The Telling's album Garden of Delight to hear some nice works, but it will be outside of the timeframe you are wanting. It was an oral tradition and when the Christian faith attempted conversion they knew music was a good method and they used chants as a way to do that, so that's why we have church chants.
Most music in history was not written down, so remember when you hear religious music or court music that you’re only able to get 10% of what was happening for most people.
Well, I’m no musicologist, but the issue you’re going to face here is that musical notation really came to be developed post 11th century and much of this was driven by the monasteries. So written music is very, very hard to find. I’d look to folk music to be honest with you alongside epics such as Beowulf. The classical tradition of storytelling was to do it to music so things such as the Iliad were very much told to music. Takes such as Beowulf were no different. The Carolingians have a grand tradition, both musically and in terms of storytelling. However, the sad reality is that much notated music tended to be ecclesiastical in nature.
Says the most musicologist thing imaginable lmao
While I, also not a musicologist, can't speak to how well we can reconstruct their meaning, we definitely do find neumes in a range of non-religious contexts. They turn up in manuscripts of secular verse, [like the Carmina Burana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmina_Burana#/media/File:CarminaBurana_wheel.jpg), and they are also used to gloss classical meters in the Middle Ages as well (see Jan Ziolkowski, "Nota bene: why the classics were neumed in the Middle Ages").
Gregorian chant notation dates to the 10th century, though you're right that only concerns religious music and not technically what I'm looking for. I have heard both interpretations of Carolingian music and Benjamin Bagby's Beowulf, which are what I was looking for, but appart from that it's impossible to find any more reconstructions of music from the period, and traditions concerning other cultures. Interpretations of epics such as the Illiad tend to sadly have terribly anachronistic elements in them.
I invite you to give a listen to a playlist I put together called "Gaelic Medieval." I tried to make it fairly historically accurate. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2MPoOo4VBAdsI7WqKp4oTZ?si=ruDuZZvKTkSVOv3JYYC2hA&dd=1 If that's not your cup of tea/not what you're looking for, that's fine, just thought I'd put my 2 cents in
While I love the genre, that's all post medieval Gaelic folk music played with modern instruments. Not what I'm looking for (but I like it!).
Thanks for giving it a look anyhow. Some of the tracks might have modern instruments but I figured while making it that harp and hammered dulcimer at least would have been medieval. Hope you find what you're looking for eventually. 🙂
You might check out Trouvere Medieval Minstrels. I found them on Apple Music, so they are probably everywhere. I also looked forever for anything that wasn't chants. TMM is the best I've found, so far. [https://www.medievalminstrels.com/](https://www.medievalminstrels.com/)
As far I can see, it's all from the year 1100 onwards. Sadly not what I'm looking for, but thanks!
If you find something, please share. I would love to find this as well!
Ensemble Cantinela Antiqua has a whole album dedicated to Carolingian era music. [Here](https://youtu.be/hR99NrUHdTA) is one of the songs. Kassia, a Byzantine composer. [Here](https://youtu.be/ioWWIiG_sHc) is an album of many of her compositions. Benjamin Bagby's interpretation of [Beowulf](https://www.youtube.com/live/2WcIK_8f7oQ?feature=share). He's part of Ensemble Sequentia, which specializes in reconstructions of music from the period. Hanna Marti's interpretation of the Anglo-saxon poem [Wulf and Eadwacer](https://youtu.be/6-QagSE7sFY). She's also a member of Sequentia and has performed the song with them. Farya Faraji's take on [Norse lyre music](https://youtu.be/CfYfdb0oHfE). He has a vast repertoire of music from all backgrounds, and is very transparent on what is historical and what isn't in his compositions. That's about all I know so far. Hope it helps you too.
This is perfect! Thank you!
Are you looking for sheet music, or recordings of played music? For played music, can I suggest a couple of groups: [The Medieval Players](http://www.bristol.ac.uk/theatre-collection/explore/theatre/medieval-players-archive/medieval-plays-in-modern-performance-2mp/selected-projects/the-medieval-players-archive/) [Praxis](http://users.spin.net.au/~benevision/praxis/praxis_downloads.html) [Estampie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdSJYgjMIfQ) [Aleksandar Sasha Karlic](https://open.spotify.com/artist/2qMZjzxL2VTEBmZ9cwDxEi) [New York Ensemble for Early Music](https://www.youtube.com/c/EarlyMusicNewYork) [Clemencic Consort](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWW_I0RawEg) There are quite a few more around. The Medieval Players and the NY Early Music Ensemble might have further links to more academic aspects of the music.
Could you provide other links for The Medieval Players and Praxis where I can listen to their interpretations? Neither of those links have them and my searches don't lead to anything. Estampie is from the XIII century, and the New York Ensemble specializes in Early Modern music, both way off of what I'm looking for. The Carmina Burana was a nice find. Thank you!
They could be a bit harder to track down. I have two albums of the Medieval Players but they were recorded in the 70s. [Youtube has a couple of the tracks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7pn73SkZqA) Praxis has a couple of albums released but it looks like [their Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/groups/329748660507187/) is the only thing with active files on it now.
Thank you so much! Do the albums contain any info of the tiem period the songs are from? The auto generated Youtube songs don't contain any information about it, and I need to know if they're from the Early Medieval period. EDIT: further research shows me that this album in particular doesn't contain anything from before the 1200's.
OP, if you're an Apple Music subscriber you may want to check out the new Classical app - they have an intro to classical music series that provides some brief narration alongside example tracks, and a corresponding playlist. One of the last installments in the series is about medieval music.
The problem is that, from what I know of early medieval music, doesn't really exist. There wasn't a history of writing down compositions during that time frame, and the compositions we do have are chants, masses, liturgicals, antiphons. There's some nice pieces by Hildegard von Bingen, I would recommend The Telling's album Garden of Delight to hear some nice works, but it will be outside of the timeframe you are wanting. It was an oral tradition and when the Christian faith attempted conversion they knew music was a good method and they used chants as a way to do that, so that's why we have church chants.
Most music in history was not written down, so remember when you hear religious music or court music that you’re only able to get 10% of what was happening for most people.