Secular music in the context of Musical style

A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. Genre is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometimes used interchangeably.

Music can be divided into genres in numerous ways, sometimes broadly and with polarity, e.g., popular music as opposed to art music or folk music, or, as another example, religious music and secular music. Often, however, classification draws on the proliferation of derivative subgenres, fusion genres, and microgenres that has started to accrue, e.g., screamo, country pop, and mumble rap, respectively. The artistic nature of music means that these classifications are often subjective and controversial, and some may overlap. As genres evolve, novel music is sometimes lumped into existing categories.

Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the first and longest major era of Western classical music and is followed by the Renaissance music; the two eras comprise what musicologists generally term as early music, preceding the common practice period. Following the traditional division of the Middle Ages, medieval music can be divided into Early (500–1000), High (1000–1300), and Late (1300–1400) medieval music.

Medieval music includes liturgical music used for the church, other sacred music, and secular or non-religious music. Much medieval music is purely vocal music, such as Gregorian chant. Other music used only instruments or both voices and instruments (typically with the instruments accompanying the voices).

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and Baroque periods of music history.

Born in Cremona, where he undertook his first musical studies and compositions, Monteverdi developed his career first at the court of Mantua (c. 1590–1613) and then until his death in the Republic of Venice where he was maestro di cappella at the basilica of San Marco. His surviving letters give insight into the life of a professional musician in Italy of the period, including problems of income, patronage and politics.

Philippe de Vitry (31 October 1291 – 9 June 1361) was a French composer-poet, bishop and music theorist in the ars nova style of late medieval music. An accomplished, innovative, and influential composer, he was widely acknowledged as a leading musician of his day; the early Renaissance scholar Petrarch wrote a glowing tribute, calling him: "... the keenest and most ardent seeker of truth, so great a philosopher of our age." The important music treatise Ars nova notandi (1322) is usually attributed to Vitry.

It is thought that few of Vitry's compositions survive; though he wrote secular music, only his sacred works are extant.

Johannes de Grocheio (or Grocheo) (Ecclesiastical Latin: [jɔˈan.nɛs dɛ ɡrɔˈkɛj.jɔ]; c. 1255 – c. 1320) was a Parisian musical theorist of the early 14th century. His French name was Jean de Grouchy, but he is best known by his Latinized name. He was the author of the treatise Ars musicae ("The Art of Music") (c. 1300), which describes the functions of sacred and secular music in and around Paris during his lifetime.

The French composer Guillaume de Machaut was the most prolific composer of his time, with surviving works encompassing many forms, the three formes fixes rondeaux, virelais, ballades, as well as motets, lais and a single representative of the complainte, chanson royale, double hocket and mass genres. Most of his extant output is secular music, a notable exception being the renowned Messe de Nostre Dame. His oeuvre as a whole represents an unprecedented volume of surviving music for a single medieval composer, largely in part due to his own efforts to preserve and curate manuscripts for his music. The dominant figure of the ars nova style in late medieval music, Machaut is regarded as the most significant French composer and poet of the 14th century and often seen as the century's leading European composer.

Since many titles are merely the first lines of the texts used, in different sources individual pieces may be referred to by slightly different titles. For example, R20 is known both as Douce dame and Douce dame tant qui vivray. Furthermore, some of Machaut's works (most notably the motets) employ simultaneous performance of several different texts. In such cases, the title of the work lists all texts used, starting from the top voice.

Edward James "Son" House Jr. (March 21, 1902 – October 19, 1988) was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist, noted for his highly emotional style of singing and slide guitar playing.

After years of hostility to secular music, as a preacher and for a few years also working as a church pastor, he turned to blues performance at the age of 25. He quickly developed a unique style by applying the rhythmic drive, vocal power and emotional intensity of his preaching to the newly learned idiom. In a short career interrupted by a spell in Parchman Farm penitentiary, he developed his musicianship to the point that Charley Patton, the foremost blues artist of the Mississippi Delta region, invited him to share engagements and to accompany him to a 1930 recording session for Paramount Records.