Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

Medieval Music is a bit misunderstood. Often times people think of classical music as Medieval music - which isn’t true. Classical Music has its roots in the Renaissance and for the most part our tradition of classical music is no more than 300 years old.

Medieval music very much comes from the real medieval period which started around when Rome fell (shortly before 500 AD), and ended around 1400 when the Renaissance began. This beginning of the Renaissance period marks the ending of the Medieval Period and so it does with the music too.

And regrettably we don’t have a real lot of musical materials from the Medieval period because writing, copying, and creating manuscripts was extraordinarily expensive and time consuming. The church is the only solid source of the materials that we have and of course the music is all religous in its intent.

What we do know of the music of the period was that there were two major types of music: the music of the commoner (secular) or what we might consider minstrel music and the music of the church. The secular music was often in the form of poems sung to the accompaniment of an instrument such as the flute, pan flute or lute. And the music of the church was often in the form of a prayer, chant, or meditation and often just solo or multiple voices. The most popular of these musical forms is probably the Gregorian Chant which is still observed and used in monasteries to this day. It has even found a measure of popular acclaim and Chant cd’s sell quite well.

If you want to know a bit more about Medieval Music or want to try listening to some cd’s I have put together some information about it on my medieval website. You can listen to a Gregorian Chant I have selected for you and it includes music to play at a medieval feast, and a cd by the brilliant Hildegard von Bingen who was a genius that was hundreds of years ahead of her time.

 Medieval Music is hundreds of years old but there is something about it that still strikes a chord. Medieval Music on the Medieval website  

Popularity: 36% [?]

Medieval Music is a bit misunderstood. Often times people think of classical music as Medieval music - which isn’t true. Classical Music has its roots in the Renaissance and for the most part our tradition of classical music is no more than 300 years old.

Medieval music very much comes from the real medieval period which started around when rome fell (shortly before 500 AD) and around 1400 when the Renaissance began. This beginning of the Renaissance period marks the ending of the Medieval Period and so it does with the music too.

And regrettably we don’t have a real lot of musical materials from the Medieval period because writing, copying, and creating manuscripts was extraordinarily expensive and time consuming. The church is the only solid source of the materials that we have and of course the music is all religous in its intent.

What we do know of the music of the period was that there were two major types of music: the music of the commoner (secular) or what we might consider minstrel music and the music of the church.

The secular music was often in the form of poems sung to the accompaniment of an instrument such as the flute, pan flute or lute. And the music of the church was often in the form of a prayer, chant, or meditation and often just solo or multiple voices. The most popular of these musical forms is probably the Gregorian Chant which is still observed and used in monasteries to this day. It has even found a measure of popular acclaim and Chant cd’s sell quite well.

If you want to know a bit more about Medieval Music or want to try listening to some cd’s I have put together some information about it on my medieval website. It includes music to play at a medieval feast and a cd by the brilliant Hildegard von Bingen who was a genius that was hundreds of years ahead of her time.

Medieval Music is hundreds of years old but there is something about it that still strikes a chord.

Medieval Music on the Medieval website

Popularity: 32% [?]

Conan - The Complete Quest (Conan The Barbarian/The Destroyer)

The Riddle of Steel - “Crom is strong! If I die, I have to go before him, and he will ask me, ‘What is the riddle of steel?’ If I don’t know it, he will cast me out of Valhalla and laugh at me.” ~Conan the Barbarian

The Name of Conan’s Sword is “The Atlantean”

The Conan Sword is of course wielded by Conan who is a character created by a writer named Robert E. Howard.

An interesting observation about the sword. It is very similar to a flamberge which was a two-handed sword from the middle ages and the unique thing about the flamberge was the wielder could hold it in the normal way and swing it with both hands much like it was a baseball bat. But the Flamberge had a special section above the crosspiece which was wrapped in leather. This allowed the wielder to choke up on it and swing it in tighter circles. The Atlantean has this same kind of structure. You can see in the picture from the movie above that conan’s left hand is on the choked up section. The atlantean didn’t have a leather wrapping here it was metal.

Conan Swords at Amazon.com

Official Conan The Barbarian Sword

Valor - Sword Conan Stainless Hilt 41.25″

When did the sword first appear?

Conan first appeared in the Magazine “Weird Tales” in 1932 in a story called “The Phoenix on the Sword”. And the sword made its first movie appearance in the movie Conan the Barbarian in 1982 with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Conan. Here is a scene from the first movie with Conan doing a Kata with Atlaantean.

About the Movies:

Schwarzenegger made two Conan movies:

• Conan the Barbarian - Collector’s Edition (1982)
• Conan the Destroyer (1984)   Other Conan works:

  Conan the Adventurer 1997 TV Series

  Conan Unchained: The making of Conan the Barbarian

  Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Computer Game

   

  Conan Books

  The major portion of Conan stories appeared in Weird Tales magazines in the 1930’s

  Conan the Barbarian
  Author and creator Robert E. Howard

  Conan the Barbarian was born in the land of Cimmeria in the world of Hyboria in the Hyborean age. Created by Robert E. Howard Conan made his first appearance in the story The Phoenix on the Sword published in Weird Tales in 1932.

  Conan is famous for his physical stature and strength. He stood Six foot six and weighed two hundred pounds. He was an adventurer that traveled across the land of Hyboria encountering evil wizards, monsters and princesses. He eventually became the King of Aquilonia which was the most powerful kingdom in Hyboria.

  Conan Books at AmazonConan stories published by Howard:

  The Phoenix on the Sword (Dec 1932)
  The Scarlet Citadel (Jan 1933)
  The Tower of the Elephant (Mar 1933)
  Black Colossus (Jun 1933)
  Xuthal of the Dusk. Published in Weird Tales as The Slithering Shadow (Sep 1933)
  The Pool of the Black One (Oct 1933)
  Rogues in the House (Jan 1934)
  Iron Shadows in the Moon. Published in Weird Tales as Shadows in the Moonlight (Apr 1934)
  Queen of the Black Coast (May 1934)
  The Devil in Iron (Aug 1934)
  The People of the Black Circle (Sep/Oct/Nov 1934)
  A Witch Shall be Born (Dec 1934)
  Jewels of Gwahlur (Mar 1935)
  Beyond the Black River (May/Jun 1935)
  Shadows in Zamboula (Nov 1935)
  The Hour of the Dragon (Dec 35/Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr 1936). Novel.
  Red Nails (Jul/Aug/Sep 1936)

  Conan Books -

  • The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (Conan of Cimmeria, Book 1)
  • The Bloody Crown of Conan (Conan of Cimmeria, Book 2)
  • the Conquering Sword of Conan   

Popularity: 38% [?]