Fifty shades of the dark middle ages

No, to be honest, the title is a bit tricky: we will give not fifty examples, but much less, but – nevertheless. The middle ages have always attracted musicians – including those whose idea of the middle ages is quite far from reality. But, perhaps, just because of this “medieval music”, including its dark hypostasis, boasts a considerable variety of shades.

It’s funny, but the term “medieval music” is not quite accurate: most often it means either folk, that is, the performance of folk music and the composition of their songs “in the same spirit”, or something like lute music of the Renaissance. The real “medieval music” sounds completely different – it is, for example, Gregorian chants. Continue reading →