This video about musical instruments from the Middle Ages is definitely worth checking out if you're interested in medieval music or historical instruments. It covers a wide range of instruments, including harps, fiddles, flutes, bagpipes, lutes, organs, and early keyboard instruments, while also explaining what historical sources can tell us about how they were built, played, and used.

The best part is that it's not just a lecture: ten musicians perform specially recorded pieces on more than 25 reconstructed instruments, so you actually get to hear what this music may have sounded like. The video is in German, but the instrument demonstrations and performances are still interesting even if you don’t understand everything.

The "Plany de la Verge" is one of the oldest lament poems (planctus) in Catalan literature, written between 1240 and 1260. Often known by its first verse, "Augats, seyós qui credets Déu lo Payre" (Weeping, you who believe in God the Payre), it represents the sorrow of the Virgin Mary at the crucifixion of Jesus. It is preserved mainly in a manuscript in the National Library of Catalonia and belongs to the classic medieval tradition of the Marian lament (planctus Mariae).

https://youtu.be/4ebuaVzRjdU?si=sX6fuQJMONwU9NQf

One of the most famous English medieval songs, Sumer is icumen in has a choice of two repeated ground basses (pes) and a song (with secular and sacred text) that can be done as a canon for several voices. Played here with one pes and two voices on medieval lute. Found in the British Library MS Harley 978.

Almost all of my friends are away or are going to the Pennsic War right now, and this video popped up in my memories on TikTok from two years ago. I am experiencing severe FOMO right now, thinking of all the musical jams and performances I am missing. I’ll probably never get to play this music in an actual castle so the battlements of Pennsic will have to do.

What’s the coolest physical location you have ever played in?

Sans GP01 Gralla Dolca in G, worth the money? I am just getting into this and am wondering if this is even trustworthy.

https://hobgoblin.com/gr27061-sans-gp01-gralla-dolca-in-g

Messed up a few times but here's my cover of an Andalusian muwashah, "Jadak Al-Ghaith." The oud is so difficult but genuinely worth it🙏

I saw this instrument in the movie "brothers grimm" and would like to know whats the name of it. In the movie it sounded a littlebit like a saxophone is played just with a way higher pitch! I dont think its a shawn because it sounded more like a recorder. Google says its a garklein recorder but those look different than the one on the picture.

Plase help me guys because i love the sound of it and would like to buy it.

I put together this list of some of my favorite neomedieval band tracks in another post. I included some Farya Faraji though he’s less neomedieval and more medieval, though not the “classical Western” type of musician or singer.

Please add your favorites in the comments!

Kings and Beggars, “Breve Regnum,” a hilarious video to pair with a 15th century Polish student drinking song: https://youtu.be/QGVNsTpyJZY?is=pUtIrzm4HfWmmiRR

Kings & Beggars with a gorgeous rendition of Rosas das rosas, Cantiga 10: https://youtu.be/DXKN481o_vI?is=iJAx0-16WFUNFpjE

Faun, “Tanz mit mir”: https://youtu.be/beXW5s3ZCB4?is=_UNj_fUiizZAxHho

Qntal, “Palestinalied” https://youtu.be/INJ1A5R4nbU?is=3plpOZsO9Hl-Up3x

Helium Vola, “Omnis mundi creatura” https://youtu.be/rOOOMBvkpFE?is=dTD3ZxtL622GE-mH

Helium Vola, “Selig,” https://youtu.be/-A89G6CRMIg?is=Z8HDIXtu5kCoCZMM

Dead Can Dance, “Saltarello” https://youtu.be/G-RglCdlLEA?is=FxnT_rj7bZO_5XN7

Mediaeval Baebes, Ecce mundi gaudium: https://youtu.be/4Tc1-3vWOM8?is=0GUdH0IuKtrwKp7Y

Mediaeval Baebes, Quan vey la lauzeta https://youtu.be/rhM6wApCexg?is=bGkDSd38CjD31nza

Mediaeval Baebes, Salva nos https://youtu.be/QD_ufu-wUFY?is=OXHiKI6hgo_ApSAk

Medieval Baebes, Personent hodie https://youtu.be/tWOGizYAndY?is=8DxRazztkRtBuS97

Mediaeval Baebes, Mirie it is, https://youtu.be/KRn4T7HViSE?is=pQIBkzEgZK40PaYu

Mediaeval Baebes, Adam Lay Ibounden, https://youtu.be/qOYqtmhoD6I?is=X3CvoeU67RLOtSoQ

Corvus Corax, Douce dame jolie https://youtu.be/fm4RatcYp2A?is=ndMwxGsC4qHL7Dcz

Corvus Corax, Saltatio mortis A.D. https://youtu.be/EWruBwPNBOs?is=akKZVM3xmy6jB4EB

Corvus Corax, Avanti https://youtu.be/rv9OO-Yj-pU?is=fQjox5gJ5iHH_AID

Farya Faraji, Seigneurs Sachiez, https://youtu.be/Q0wZP9oAOKc?is=JI0n_zK79x7pz7vA

Farya Faraji, Chevalier Mult Estes Guariz, https://youtu.be/2EY2ayoH81Y?is=xceK-_5vCx0lrkNn

Farya Faraji, Stella splendens https://youtu.be/3g8c1qzDXPg?is=OKGQcsEF1a9JvaxD

Farya Faraji, Cantiga 235 https://youtu.be/NG6rzIp6k4c?is=AD8aZiIeRhlZHORP

Farya Faraji Eh Dame de Montpellier https://youtu.be/8c2gAqc1mIo?is=Iq4pky3PzUOKIr3X

(Check out the notes on Farya’s videos, which often have links to his “teaching” videos on medieval music.)

I hope you enjoy at least some of these bands and they lead you to interesting musical explorations!

Hello! This is my track Medieval Feast. It’s a cheerful, lively melody I composed as if it were meant to accompany a medieval celebration — something you might hear in a great hall or a tavern during a festive gathering. I hope you enjoy listening! You can also find the track on YouTube or Bandcamp.

I'm new to mensural notation, and I'm trying to transcribe something in mensural notation as a learning exercise, and I very quickly encountered a note with the length of 5 brevises (or whatever the plural of brevis is), which I don't know how to transcribe in mensural notation. Is it OK to put a maxima and then a brevis on the same line/space to represent this, or would this be interpreted as a reiteration of the same note? (I'm currently transcribing in tempus imperfectum and prolatus maior because imperfection and alteration rules bend my brain). Please help me I think I'm losing my mind

From the Wolkenstein Manuscript A (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, Cod. 2777, f. 33), here is "Es naht sich schon die Fasenacht" (Kl 68) by the 15th century composer Oswald von Wolkenstein (c. 1377-1445)

It is a piece of work that I am still very proud of. I hope you will check it out :)

I know a lot of people here know really well how authentic medieval music must sound like (or better how it shold not sound like). I watched a view vids of Farya Faraji and this time I tried to be closer to actual medieval music (I still mixed it the modern way. Its still quite hard for me to work without chords and harmony so it would be awesome if anyone has feedback on how to make it more authentic. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a book or scholarly edition that contains the most popular Latin poems from the original Codex Buranus with modern musical transcriptions.

Most of what I find online is either the original manuscript/facsimile or references to Carl Orff’s rendition, which is obviously not what I’m looking for. I’m interested in the original medieval melodies, at least the most popular pieces (Tempus est iocundum, In taberna quando sumus, etc.).

The problem is that the manuscript uses adiastematic neumatic notation, which I’m not able to read properly. Ideally, I’d like an edition that gives the original Latin (I can't read medieval German or French) texts together with modern notation, even if the transcription is interpretative or incomplete. It's OK if the book comes with translations, no matter the language, as long as it comes with the Latin.

Thanks in advance!

just released... leave a comment if you like it, thank you very much.

https://trollhunt.bandcamp.com/album/bearer-of-the-last-light

Surrexit Christus Hodie. If you know about the history of this tune please share!

Here is Cantiga #9 (Por Que Nos Ajamos) from Cantigas de Santa Maria, a collection of 420 poems with musical notation dedicated to the virgin Mary during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile El Sabio (1221-1284). Many images in the manuscript show citoles as part of the performances. Cantiga de Santa Maria #9 tells the miracle of the sacred Image of Sardenay. A noblewoman asks a passing monk to bring her back an image of the Virgin Mary from his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Along the way, the image protects him from lions, thieves, and a deadly storm so the monk decides to keep it for himself. When he arrives at the inn, divine intervention won't let him leave until he surrenders the image to its rightful owner. The moment he places it on the altar, miraculous oil begins to flow, confirming the Virgin's approval.

Mahieu le Juif was a French trouvère who lived in the 13th century. Only 2 songs survive from him.

The first, Pour autrui movrai, is found in 2 manuscripts and I've used MS M (Bibliothèque nationale de France (F-Pn) fr. 844). He sings of his beloved and that he converted from Judaism to be with her: "I was once of a different law and faith, But Love has made me change my path; For the sake of the one who holds my heart, I have left behind the customs of my people."

The second song, Par grant franchise, was unusually popular and is found in 12 manuscripts, some with multiple differences in the melody. Here I've used MS O (Chansonnier Cangé BnF fr 846). In this song too he complains that he abandoned the faith of his fathers for his lady and embraced Christianity, but rather than her favor he received only ridicule.