Listenings - The Evolution of Music

Wow! I have been bitten by the Carmina Burana bug, or should I say infested by the Carmina Burana Plague. This is dark and disturbing stuff; rape, avarice, gluttony, greed! I had little idea what I was jumping into when I picked the 11th & 12th century Carmina Burana to start this blog. One could really go on a really deep dive with this material and I think this is just the beginning for me.  So what is Carmina Burana? It is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts, mostly in Latin, written by students and clergy. It's satirical, X-rated in places, and dark. There is some celebration but with very dark edges. The title simply means Songs from Benediktbeuern; Benediktbeuern being the town in Bavaria where the manuscript was discovered in 1803. The musical parts of Carmina Burana (about one fourth of the poems are accompanied by written notes) are .... problematic? The notation used is neumes without staff lines. In other words, it's just a suggestion of a melodic...

The evolution of music fascinates me. I have a hunger to understand the whole arch of music, from the earliest notations to the present day. But it is such a huge undertaking! And how to do it? While I could study the theory of music as one way to understand this huge subject I've decided that listening would be a much more enjoyable way for me. Music theory comes after as a way of explaining what's happening and while I do think it's incredibly valuable it's the music itself, how it SOUNDS, how it moves, and how it moves me that really draws me in. Perhaps this is a romantic notion but I feel that music really has a transformational power, in fact it is that power that impelled me to become a musician. The affect (effect?) that music has on my personally is a blessing but also a puzzling mystery; what exactly is happening, why am I moved, what makes this music beautiful-terrible-awe inspiring? I don't really expect to solve this mystery but I'm going to have a ...