This illumination is from Hildegard Von Bingen, c. 1185, the days of Chivalry and of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Hildegard was an abbess, a scholar, a musician, a composer, a true rarity among men or women. Her music is in extant today, but very little other music, and all of it sacred survives. In medieval times there were few of the instruments we know today, with some exception such as the Recorder. The flute of the time was made of wood and there were only stringed instruments the musician was forced to pluck, inhibiting play. The dulcimer was one such instrument, although the dulcimer would evolve in the 14th century with the man's ability to create steel strings. Here was the first instrument that one could strum. Although this doesn't sound significant, it could arguably be considered the beginnings of popular music. The hurdy-gurdy was also developed at this time. (Look up any instrument I mention that you do not know.)


Two hundred years later, in Shakespeare's time, music had become a part of the English/European lifestyle, with the lute the most popular of instruments, essentially an ancient guitar. Whereas medieval music was incidental, something that was heard in the background, in Elizabethan times, music became a part of each day. Music was everywhere. Despite the rapid development of instruments, the madrigal was possibly the most popular form of the time, a storytelling form that was almost always sung without instrumental accompanyment.

Less than 100 years later, with the birth of JS Bach (1685-1750), the Baroque era would usher in our modern age of music. Tomorrow we will listen to a variety of music from each of these eras.