Song is a musical composition for one or more voices. It is performed with or without accompaniment. Most songs are written in a fairly simple style.
Songs are the oldest musical form and have been found in all cultures. The earliest surviving songs, which date from the late A.D. 800’s, are hymns known as Gregorian chants. These songs had Latin texts, and were used in religious services. The earliest known secular (nonreligious) songs date from the 1100’s. Between the 1100’s and the 1600’s, poets and singers called troubadours and trouveres in France and minnesingers and meistersingers in Germany composed works that glorified romantic love and heroic deeds.
Loading the player...Medieval music: Gregorian chant
Early songs were composed in the monophonic style—that is, they were written with only one vocal part and no accompaniment. Composers took the first steps toward polyphonic songs—works with two or more parts—when they added a second vocal line to Gregorian chants.
The chanson became one of the main song styles of the 1400’s. Chansons were written for several vocal parts. Most of these songs had a French text, and many were about chivalry and love. In the mid-1500’s, the madrigal became the most important type of art song. Most madrigals had many vocal parts and were settings of serious literary texts. A new song style in Italy in the early 1600’s, called monody, greatly influenced the development of the art song. Pieces in this new style had one part that was sung to a simple accompaniment.
In Germany during the late 1700’s, the monodic style led to the development of songs called lieder. Lieder used German poetry for their lyrics. Most were written for a solo singer and piano accompaniment. This style of song flourished in Germany during the 1800’s.
An important body of sentimental, popular songs also developed during the late 1700’s and the 1800’s. Many of these works came from the musical stage. Others were published as sheet music.
In the 1890’s and early 1900’s, a popular-music publishing industry, called Tin Pan Alley, emerged in the United States. This industry became responsible for the composition and sale of vast numbers of popular songs. Tin Pan Alley composers also wrote for the stage and later for motion pictures and recordings. Other styles of popular music in the 1900’s also relied heavily on song. For example, a vast majority of rock compositions are songs, and many instrumental jazz improvisations are based on songs.
