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16 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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trends
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A. Trends
1. Music continued to move toward an international style 2. Composers from England, France, & Italy contributed to its formation 3. Secular genres still dominated 4. Treble dominated texture - affecting Mass & motet 5. Motet now a quasi-secular & ceremonial genre |
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English music
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1. General Features
a) Sacred & secular art music (as that of Northern Europe in general) kept close connection with folk style b) Composition style (1) Leaned toward major tonality as opposed to the modal system (2) Wrote homophony rather than independent lines with divergent texts (3) Preferred consonances to the dissonances of the French motet (4) Fuller sound than that of the continent (5) Freer use of 3rds & 6ths (6) Parallel 3rds & 6ths in written & improvisation were common in English 13th century practice |
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14th and 15thC Comparison
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a) Chant repertory in 14th Century England was that of the Sarum rite (Cathedral of
Salisbury) and differed from the Roman rite melodically b) Continued to use the Sarum rite in the 15th century - as many on the continent did for plainchant starting point for polyphonic compostition c) Knowledge of 14th Century English music come from the Worcester Fragments - suggesting a school of composition centered at Wocester Cathedral (1) Consisting chiefly of motets, conductus, tropes of various sections of the Mass, & sections of the Proper (2) Fulget coelestis curia-O Petre flos-Roma gaudet i) Rodellus - an English type of motet reflects the folklike quality & harmonious blending of voices characteristic of time ii) the conductus & conductus like tropes of the Ordinary reveal a new stylistic feature - simultaneous 3rds & 6ths in parallel motion |
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Fauxbourdon (1420-1450)
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a) A continental technique - evident of the English influence of successive 3rds &
6ths b) Chiefly used for settings of the simpler Office chants (hymns & antiphons) & palms c) Characteristics (1) Consists of a chant accompanied by a lower voice in parallel 6ths (2) Each phrase ending in an octave (3) A third voice is improvised a 4th below the treble d) Importance of the device was as a new way of writing for three parts - around the 1450's (1) Upper voice still has the principal melodic line as in 14th century (2) Top voice & tenor are coupled (eventually with the contratenor as well) and are more nearly equal in importance, melodic quality, and in rhythm (3) Strongly influenced all types of composition and helped acceptance for conspicuous 3rds & 6ths in harmonic vocabulary |
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Old Hall Manuscript
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a) The chief collection of early 15th Century English music
b) Characteristics of collected works (1) Most Mass settings show greater melodic activity in the top voice (2) Many incorporate plainchant melodies in one of the inner voices - usually next to the lowest i) allows composer greater harmonic freedom ii) foreshadows the use of plainsong tenors in the Masses of late 15th & early 15th century c) Not the vehicle for influence on the continent though - this was through works copied into Continental manuscripts |
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John Dunstable (1390-1453)
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a) Worked on continent till English driven out in the battle of Agincourt in 1415
b) Explains why his works are preserved mainly in Continental manuscripts & his style had such an influence on European music c) Most numerous and historically important works are his 3 part sacred pieces (1) Voices are similar in character (2) Nearly equal in importance (3) Move mostly homorhythmically (4) Pronounce the same syllables together (5) Unfettered by isorhythmic scheme or cantus firmus freely determined the form of the music guided only by the text |
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15th Century Motet
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a) Background
(1) Originally a composition on liturgical text for use in church (2) By the 13th century term was also applied to works with secular texts - even those with a secular melody as a cantus firmus (3) By 1450 had become an anachronism and disappeared (4) 1st half of the 15th century term applied to settings of liturgical or even secular texts in the newer msuical style of the time i) this application is still in use today ii) defined as almost any polyphonic composition on a Latin text other than the Ordinary of the Mass a- including antiphons, responsories, and other texts from the Proper and the Office b- since the 16th Century also applied to sacred compositions in languages other than Latin |
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The Carol
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a) Origins
(1) Originally a monophonic dance song with alternating solo & choral portions (2) By 15th century had become a stylized two or three part setting of a religious poem in popular style b) Characteristics (1) Number of stanzas all sung to same music (2) A "burden" or refrain with own musical phrase sung at the beginning and repeated after each stanza (3) Not folk songs but angular melodies and lively triple rhythms give distinctly popular style and unmistakable English quality |
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Burgundian Music
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1. Background
a) Dukes of Burgundy while feudal vassals of the King of France virtually equaled him in power b) Ruled over Holland, Belgium, northeastern France, Luxemburg, & Lorraine c) Ruled a virtually independent sovereigns until 1477 d) They maintained a chapel with a corps of composers, singers, & instrumentalists who furnished music for church services e) In addition, Philip the Good maintained a band of minstrels 2. Influence the production of a common musical style a) Music training centers - in cathedrals, chapels, choir schools - developed (1) In Antwerp, Bruges, Cambrai, Paris, Lyons (2) Later Rome, Venice, & other Italian cities b) Visits of foreign musicians to the courts c) Members of the chapels continually moved from one court to another in response to better opportunities d) Prestige of the Burgundian Court was such that the music cultivated there influenced other European musical centers |
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Guillaume Du Fay (1397-1474)
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a) His and contemporaries works are preserved in two manuscripts - one at the
Bodleian Library at Oxford & the Trent Codices b) While associated with the Burgundian Court, he was not a regular member of the ducal chapel |
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Music Overview
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a) The Burgundian musical style cast such a spell that it lingered in Europe long after
the duchy had ceased to exist as an independent political power in 1477 b) General Characteristics (1) Period produced four principal types of composition - Masses, Magnificats, motets, and secular chansons with French texts (2) The discantus line flows in expressive phrases breaking into melismas when approaching important cadences (3) Cadence formula still major 6th expanding to an octave - often with the Landini embellishment (passage from major 6th to the octave is ornamented by a lower neighbor leaping up a 3rd in the upper part) (4) Rhythm is some form of triple meter with frequent cross rhythms produced by hemiola i) Duple meter was used mainly in subdivisions of longer works to provide contrast ii) definition-hemiola a- three beats against two in an equivalent amount of time b- whether between voices or successive measures (measure of 3/2 against two measures of 3/4) |
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Musical Forms
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a) The Burgundian musical style cast such a spell that it lingered in Europe long after
the duchy had ceased to exist as an independent political power in 1477 b) General Characteristics (1) Period produced four principal types of composition - Masses, Magnificats, motets, and secular chansons with French texts (2) The discantus line flows in expressive phrases breaking into melismas when approaching important cadences (3) Cadence formula still major 6th expanding to an octave - often with the Landini embellishment (passage from major 6th to the octave is ornamented by a lower neighbor leaping up a 3rd in the upper part) (4) Rhythm is some form of triple meter with frequent cross rhythms produced by hemiola i) Duple meter was used mainly in subdivisions of longer works to provide contrast ii) definition-hemiola a- three beats against two in an equivalent amount of time b- whether between voices or successive measures (measure of 3/2 against two measures of 3/4) |
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Mass Forms
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Plainsong Mass
i) composed all 5 parts in same style a- strengthened when each movement used a separate chant (in ornamented form in the treble) as a starting point b- melody used called a "cantus firmus" - using secular or sacred material c- unity resided in the liturgical association rather than musical semblence d- Mass using Gregorian themes is called a "missa choralis" or "plainsong mass" (3) Motto Mass i) used same thematic material in all sections of the Mass ii) called "motto Mass" it the connection consisted only in beginning each movement with the same melodic motive (usually in the treble) (4) Cantus Firmus Mass i) constructing every movement around the same cantus firmus - placed in the tenor ii) called a "cantus firmus Mass" or "cyclical mass" iii) English composers utilized this first but became widely used on the Continent iv) customary practice by second half of 15th century |
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Musical Techniques
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a) Four voice parts became standard
(1) Placing cantus firmus in tenor (following the medieval motet tradition) created problems i) sound ideal of 15th century needed the lowest voice to function as a harmonic foundation - particularly at cadences ii) having lowest voice as non alterable cantus firmus would limit composers ability to provide this harmonic foundation iii) solution was to add a voice below the tenor a- called at first contratenorbassus & later simply bassus b- parts high to low were superious (also called cantus or discantus), contraatenor altus later called altus, tenor, bassus b) cantus firmus in long notes and in an isorhythmic pattern (1) When plainchant, a rhythmic pattern was imposed on it and repeated if the melody was repeated (2) When a secular tune the original rhythm was retained - but faster or slower in relation to the other voices |
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Gilles Binchois (1400-1460)
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a) Stood at center of musical life in the Burgundian Court
b) Master of the chanson - especially the rondeau c) Continued the treble dominated style of the 14th century - avoided rhythmic complications |
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Summary
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1. Differentiate musical style of Renaissance from the Middle Ages
a) Control of dissonance b) Predominately consonant sonorities (6th & 3rd) c) Equal importance of the voices d) Melodic & rhythmic identity of lines e) 4 part texture f) Occasional use of imitation 2. Rise of a "learned" musical style rising to dominance after the middle of the century |
