Musical Explorations: Text and Music - Songwriting Through the Ages

Song is perhaps the oldest form of musical communication, with the earliest surviving manuscript dating from 3400 years ago. Song has accompanied rituals associated with spirituality, labour, education, entertainment and, of course, expressions of emotion such as love and grief. In this presentation, some of these functions will be explored through examples of plainsong, polyphony, ballades, madrigals, chansons, lieder, and modern works. We shall see how, at various times, the entwining of text and music has favoured one element over the other, and how each language’s rhythm and inflection influences the melodies created.