Tuesday, April 16, 2002

Ads for the Program: Yes, we're still interested! Put your business, your friend's business, or your favorite hairdresser in the Bella concert program. Or commemorate someone special with a "Memorium" or "In Honor of" message. See Vivian for details.

CD's of Bach Mass in C (last season) available for $10.

Instrumentalists They are here! Let's show them what we can do! Hurdy Gurdy next week.

Solos: There are solos/duets? in both Hildegard pieces, Stella Splendens and Rossi. Tell Erica if you are interested.

Dress Rehearsals: When and where are those, again?

• Monday, May 13, 7 pm, at Corpus Christi Church (322 St. James Drive, Piedmont).
• Wednesday, May 15, 7 pm, at St. Joseph-the-Worker Church (1640 W. Addison, Berkeley).

Sectionals

PIECE	PART	DATE	LOCATION
Nightengale	all	Sun, Apr 21, 10am	Arlene's

Era of the Week: The Fourteenth Century, Part II (Late Middle Ages)
Last week, we focused on the dark side of the fourteenth century, with all the turmoil that plagued Europe at that time. But death and disaster were not the only events of the era.

Political development went on. The first meeting of the French Estates-General (a convocation of the three Estates of the clergy, nobility, and commoners coming together on matters of government) took place in 1302. By 1332 the English Parliament was divided into two separate houses of Lords and Commons. The Doges' Palace was begun in Venice, Italy, marking the rise of that empire. Less cheerfully, in Paris the Bastille was under construction.(1)

Knowledge continued to spread, if sporadically. The first book on farming since the second century came out in 1305. Recipe books appeared for the first time since the Roman Empire, perhaps in part because sugar had finally arrived in Europe (reaching England by 1319). Sawmills appeared, and silk became a new industry in Lyon, France. Brandy was first distilled in France, the Lowenbrau (beer) factory opened in Munich (1383), and the flavor of mustard from Dijon became famous throughout Europe. (While contemplating the flavors of beer, brandy, and mustard, note also that many Europeans of the day had their main meal around ten in the morning.(2))

In the more distinctly technological realm, a mechanical clock was built in Salisbury Cathedral (England) in the mid-14th century. The Hundred Years' war was aided and abetted by the inventions of heavy cannon and the steel crossbow, but medicine progressed as well. Guy de Chauliac published a manual of surgery in 1363 and apothecaries were becoming popular in Germany. The first German university opened at Heidelberg in 1385, and scientific weather forecasts were attempted. In the humanities, Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) of Italy was an eminent poet, humanist, and historian of the era (and a strong critic of the Church authorities).

The game of tennis became popular in France and England, and remains so today. In Germany, playing cards outpaced dice as a popular pastime. Oil painting was introduced. Jongleurs (professional musical entertainers) appeared in France; the lute became popular, and the early keyboard instrument called the clavichord was developed around 1360.(3) Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) created the first polyphonic setting of the Ordinary part of the Catholic Church liturgy, which refers to those parts of the service that do not change - the Kyrie, Gloria, Agnus Dei,, and so on - thus making all our choral lives a little more interesting. Machaut wrote both sacred and secular songs in the polyphonic style of Ars Nova, or the "new art," which quickly took over European music.(4) The roots of the Italian madrigal started around 1340, and the first court ball was given in France in 1385.(5)

Much interesting fiction and non-fiction was written, including Dante's famous trilogy. The influential Christian mystic Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) wrote hundreds of letters to "bishops, kings, scholars, merchants, and obscure peasants," as well as an account of her visions; her advice helped convince Pope Gregory XI to move the papal seat from Avignon back to Rome.(6) From the heart of the darkness of the Black Death came Boccaccio's Decameron, an anthology of stories being told by a group of citizens hiding out from the plague. And, although French was still the official court language of England, the rise of Anglo-Saxon-derived Middle English was evident when Chaucer used it in his own collection of tales told by pilgrims on the way to Canterbury (drawing directly from Boccaccio).(7) The Robin Hood myths also became codified around this time, though they had circulated for two hundred years.(8) And to help ensure the posterity of these many literary works, Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press in Europe, was born in 1397.

Far away, the Ming Dynasty was starting in China, and Noh drama began in Japan. (Side note: The same plague that devastated Europe had also come to China, but with less effect as the Chinese had a more nutritious diet than the Europeans.) In the "new" world, the Anasazi Indians were finally abandoning southwestern sites such as Mesa Verde, which they had utilized since about 1 A.D. Mound building activities by tribes in the Mississippi region were peaking, and southeastern Native Americans were embossing copper plates with images of fantastic creatures. Further south, the Aztecs were building the great city of Tenochtitlan, where Mexico City stands today.(9)

It may seem strange that the above paragraphs, full of development and art, describe the same century reviewed last week. The fourteenth century had a profound legacy, in part because of the disasters that shaped it. The strength of the medieval governments and the Church was shaken, and the vast reduction in population following famine, war, and plague meant that cheap labor was no longer in great supply. Though their numbers were smaller, this actually gave the peasants more ability to negotiate: the noble classes depended on them to pay rent and work the land. The power of the commoners was growing both through this and through the increasing strength of the craft and merchant classes. Perhaps, too, the survivors emerging from the shadow of the many terrors of the era were more willing to break with tradition and pursue new ideas. Whatever the reasons, Europe emerged from the fourteenth century alive, with returning strength, and ripe for the flowering of the Renaissance.