Research Guides: Music Subject Guide: Traditional

Page Contents

Byzantine Chant: Topic Page
The name given to the Christian chant of the Greek-speaking Orthodox Church.
Hymn: Topic Page
Song of praise, devotion, or thanksgiving, especially of a religious character.
Motet: Topic Page
Name for the outstanding type of musical composition of the 13th cent. and for a different type that originated in the Renaissance.
Plainsong: Topic Page
Or plainchant, the unharmonized chant of the medieval Christian liturgies in Europe and the Middle East; usually synonymous with Gregorian chant, the liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church.
Rondeau: Topic Page
French medieval lyric poem form of 10 or 13 lines with only two rhymes throughout, and with the opening words used twice as a refrain.
Troubadour: Topic Page
Poet-musician of Provence and southern France in the 12th-13th centuries. The troubadours originated a type of lyric poetry devoted to themes of courtly love and the idealization of women and to glorifying the chivalric ideals of the period.
Ballad: Topic Page

Faust: Topic Page
Legendary magician who sold his soul to the devil. The historical Georg (or Johann) Faust appears to have been a wandering scholar and conjurer in Germany at the start of the 16th century.

Carnival: Topic Page
Communal celebration, especially the religious celebration in Catholic countries that takes place just before Lent.
Ritual: Topic Page
In religious devotion or service, the practice of certain set formulas that either mark a particular important event in a person's life - such as birth rituals or death rituals - or form a patterned daily, weekly, or annual cycle.
Worship: Topic Page
Adoration and service of God or gods. This service involves reverence, awe, and wonder, and may take many different forms.