Are music and the Black Death, an outbreak of the bubonic plague, related in any way? Music expanded in new directions as Europe’s mid-14th century society collapsed in the face of the plague. Composers who survived the monstrosity came out of it interested in exploring new secular musical forms. But before they could do that, they had to get out alive, and everyone had a unique way of handling that problem. While some people desperately sought refuge in a place where the disease couldn’t find them, other brave souls looked the disease in the face and laughed. And partied.
When faced with sudden calamity or the inevitability of death, people have long seemed eager to party. You don’t need to go that far back to remember Y2K freakouts or the absurdity of 2012 predictions. Come on, it was an entire plot point in the television series Mr. Robot. Folks in medieval Europe were no different. They indulged themselves in the finer aspects of life — wines, beers, good music and, of course, raucous parties. They were a noise complaint in a suburban newspaper, the neighbors you hear screaming to the blaring bass-heavy beats until 4 am. Except for them, it wasn’t U.S. Top 50 blasting through speakers, but rather large groups of wanderers loudly singing songs. But remember, these people felt that death was inevitable and, in the end, everyone was just trying to evade it as best they could. In the process, the typical social order of medieval Europe completely broke down.
As the social order of Europe was demolished and chaos ensued, musical form began to flourish in new territories. Composers explored complex, secular song forms like the virelai, ballade, and rondeau. These songs were part of a movement toward more complex music: Music was also increasingly a part of the secular social fabric of European life, not just the religious part. And the raucous-rousers of the Black Death were no strangers to using music as a means of pure enjoyment.
The Black Death struck Europe strongest from around 1348-1350, when about one-quarter to one-half of the European population was killed by the plague. Because it was so widespread, no one knew who the disease would hit next, causing a panic. Medicine was not effective in treating the disease, and many believed God’s wrath was being thrust upon the Earth. The plague caused a mass hysteria that would not quit, and Giovanni Boccaccio describes this chaos in the introduction to his 1349 book, the Decameron. While the book is actually historically-informed fiction, its introduction serves as a historical account of people’s various reactions to the crisis. Some chose to repent for their sins and some chose to carry lucky charms with them to ward off the disease, but others abandoned religion entirely, instead leading lives of merriment. Indulging in the pleasures of life, these people sought parties wherever they could. Because so many believed the end was nigh, they no longer cared to keep their belongings, and items like houses became common property. Partygoers could walk into any house and claim it as theirs because people no longer were concerned with property rights. Then there were some who abandoned society entirely, choosing to lock themselves away as the plague spread through the towns around them. In their isolated cabins, they distracted themselves from the death and destruction with fine wine and music — the pleasantries of life.
One of these isolated plague survivors was composer Guillaume de Machaut, of France. He began to explore the creation of secular musical forms even before the plague, writing poems and setting them to text. After the worst of the plague subsided, this musical style, based on the already established verse-poetry forms, gained popularity. By 1365, the ballade had become one of the most popular secular song forms. And Machaut composed a lot of them. One of the most beautiful comes from his story Le Livre dou Voir Dit, and is titled “Nes que on porroit.”
Speaking of verse-based song forms, each day in Boccaccio’s novel, the Decameron, ends with a song performed by the characters — it’s usually a ballata, the Italian version of a French virelai. Another survivor of the plague era named Lorenzo da Firenze set Boccaccio’s text in the form of two ballatas. He’s the only composer known to have set these texts. One of the songs he set is a ballata titled “Non so qual i mi voglia.”
While the plague was gruesome, many people found ways to make the passing of time more bearable. And music was a large part of the pleasantry. So, next time you’re throwing a house party, maybe slip a ballade or two into the playlist, for old times’ sake.