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27 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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General Characteristics
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1. Because of the rapid changes that music underwent during this 150 yrs it is not
possible to define a Rennaissance musical style - the Renaissance was more of a general cultural movement and state of mind than a specific set of musical techniques 2. Revival of ancient ideals with renewed interest in ancient Greek & Roman culture 3. Rise of Humanism a movement that revived ancient learning - particularly grammer, rhetoric, poetry, history, & moral philosophy a) Most characteristic intellectual movement of the Renaissance (1) A rededication to human as opposed to purely spiritual goals (2) Besides salvation after death, fulfillment in life was now a desirable goal - no longer considered evil to express the full range of human emotions & enjoy the pleasures of the senses (3) Artists and writers now turned to secular as well as religious subject matter and sought to make their works not only acceptable to God but understandable & delightful to people b) Rebirth in interest in music theory's Greek past |
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Gioseffo Zarlino- (1517-1590)
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i) pointed with pride to contemporary technique - contrasting with current
Greek revival ii) did agree with Bernardino Cirillo (who yearned for greatness of the past) that music had declined after the classical age iii) Le institutioni harmoniche (The Harmonic Foundations 1558) |
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Franchino Gaffurio (1451-1522)
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i) his treatises were most influential of the time
ii) writing stimulated new thoughts on modes, consonance & dissonance, the tonal system, tuning, word-music relations, the harmony of music, the human body & mind, & the cosmos iii) Theorica musice (Theory of Music 1492), Practica musice (The Practice of Music 1496), De harmonia musicorum intrumentorum opus (A Work concerning the Harmony of Musical Instruments 1518) |
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Heinrich Glareanus (1488-1563)
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i) added 4 modes to the traditional 8
ii) made the theory of modes more consistent with the current practice of compostion iii) Dodekachordon (The 12 String Lyre 1547) |
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Johannes Tinctoris (ca. 1435-ca. 1511)
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i) Liber de arte contrapucti (A Book on the Art of Counterpoint 1477) - the
outstanding instruction book on counterpoint in the 15th century ii) devised strict rules for introducing dissonance |
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Why Italy?
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i) while a collection of city-states, these competed for prestige & power
ii) created impressive palaces, art collections, maintained chapels of singers - were committed to artistic patronage to provide these iii) citizenry no longer in service to a feudal lord and freed from military service (utilized mercenaries) accumulated wealth through commerce, banking, & crafts a- gave priority to worldly matters b- wanted prosperity for families & education for their children iv) Catholic church after return from Avignon also were committed as the secular princes to a high standard of cultural activity & patronage |
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Musical Trends
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1. Tuning System
a) Musicians experimented with new tuning systems because they wanted consonances to sound sweeter & were expanding their tonal vocabulary to include notes of the chromatic scale b) Pythagoriean tuning (1) Devised from tuning theory of the Middle Ages & still prevailed in the mid-15th century (2) Yielded perfectly tuned 4ths & 5ths and 3rds & 6ths sounded rough (3) A sharped note and corresponding flatted note (G# - Ab) were different c) Bartolomè Ramos de Paraja proposed that the division be modified to produce more pleasing 3rds & 6ths - in 1482 d) Just Intonation (1) Ptolemy had devised a system - revealed by Gaffurio - that produced both perfect and imperfect consonances (2) But had disadvantages for polyphonic music - and other tuning comprimises (mean tone & equal temperment) gained favor |
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Words and Music
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a) Humanism brought music into a closer alliance with the literary arts
(1) Punctuation & syntax of the text guided the composer in shaping the structure of the musical setting and cadences of differing degrees of finality b) Composers sought new ways to dramatize the content of the text c) Became the rule to follow the rhythm of speech and not to violate the natural accentuation of syllables - whether in Latin or vernacular |
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Importation of Flemish Musicians
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a) The ruling princes & oligarchies in Italy were generous sponsors of music
(1) Brought in the most talented composers and musicians from France, Flanders, & the Netherlands i) Heinrich Isacc ca. 1450-1517 ii) Alexander Agricola ca. 1446-1506 iii) Philippe Verdelot ca. 1500-1550 iv) Jacques Arcadelt - founded a tradition of Madrigal composition v) Jacob Obrecht ca. 1458-1505 vi) Antoine Brumel ca. 1460-1515 b) These imported musicians dominated until 1550 bringing their music, methods of singing & composition, and their vernacular songs c) They also absorbed the less complicated, chordal, & treble dominated often danceable manner of the improvised and popular music of Italy d) This combination of northern and Italian elements accounted for many characteristics of the prevailing style in the 16th century |
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Music Printing
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1. The growth of printing made much wider dissemination of written materials possible
a) Printing from movable type was known in China for centuries and perfected in Europe by John Gutenberg (around 1450) b) First polyphonic music printed entirely from movable type - the Harmonice musices odhecaton - was brought out in 1501 by Ottaviano Petrucci (1) This required multiple passes for different staff elements (2) First single pass printing was done by John Rastell in London (about 1520) and applied systematically on a wide scale by Pierre Attaingnant in Paris (1528) 2. Application of moveable type to music had far reaching effects a) Provided a larger & reproducable supply of music scores b) A uniform accuracy was achieved eliminating the errors introduced with hand copying c) Printed music spread through out the world - including North & South America d) Encouraged the formation of both amateur & professional ensembles e) Preserved many more works for performance & study by future generations |
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Northern Composers and Their music
Johannes Ockeghem (1420-1497) |
a) Celebrated as a composer & teacher of many leading composers of the next
generation, his primary occupation was that of singer b) Many of the next generation of Franco-Flemish composers were directly or indirectly pupils c) Known output was relatively small for a composer of his renown - 13 Masses, 10 Motets, & 20 Chansons d) Chansons made use of the traditonal formes fixes of courtly poetry |
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The Generation after Ockeghem
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a) Their music mixes and even combines northern & southern elements
(1) Northern Elements i) The serious tone ii) leaning toward rigid structure iii) intricate polyphony iv) smooth flowing rhythms (2) Italian Elements i) more spontaneous mood ii) simpler homophonic texture iii) more distinct rhythms iv) more clearly articulated phrases |
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Jacob Obrecht (1456-1506)
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a) Choir Master for the Guild of Our Lady in Bergen op Zoom, Master of Choristers at
Cambrai Cathedral, succentor (supervisor of singers and trainer) at St. Donatian in Bruges, in service to Duke Ercole in Ferrara (where he died of plague in1506) b) Works include 29 Masses, 28 motets, chansons, songs in Dutch, and instrumental pieces |
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Josquin Des Prez ca. 1450's-1521
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a) Enjoyed high renown while still alive and exercised profound & lasting influence
(1) In the chapel of Renè of Anjou, sang in the chapel of Milan, at the Sistine Chapel in Rome, maestro di cappella at the court of Ercole I, provost at the church of Notre Dame in Condè-sur-l'Escaut (died here in 1521) (2) Body of work include 18 Masses, 100 motets, & 70 secular vocal pieces (3) His work straddles the Middle Ages & modern world - conservative techniques most evident in his Masses while also containing techniques common to the 16th century i) Imitation Mass (parody Mass) - instead of basing the Mass on a single voice of a chanson, the composer subjects all its voices to free fantasy & expansion ii) A common late 16th century technique it began to replace the cantus firmus Mass around 1520 |
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Music of Des Prez
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(1) Virtually abandons the formes fixes - choosing many strophic texts, and simple
4 & 5 line poems (2) Polyphony is interlaced with imitaiton (3) All voice parts are equal - instead of the cantus tenor serving as the skeleton of the music with the other voices filling in (4) Often arranged popular songs - composers of the period blended popular elements with the courtly and contrapuntal tradition of the chanson |
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Contemporaries of Obrecht and Josquin
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a) Heinrich Issac ca. 1450-1517
(1) Output more pan-European than his contemporaries (2) Served the Medici under Lorenzo the Magnificent in Florence, court composer to Emperor Maximilian I at Vienna & Innsbruck b) Pierre del La Rue ca. 1460-1518 c) Jean Mouton 1459-1522 |
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The Odhecaton
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a) Pertrucci's 1st publication
(1) Contains chansons written between 1470 & 1500 (2) By composers from late Burgundian era to the generation of Obrecht, Isaac, & Josquin (3) The contained 4 voice chansons indicative of a developing genre i) fuller texture ii) a more completely imitative counterpoint iii) clearer harmonic structure iv) greater equality of voices v) duple meter replacing the more common triple meter of the Burgundian era |
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Music
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a) Bass was now extended downward to G or F (rarely notated below c before 1450)
b) Cantus Firmus assigned to the tenor c) Overwhelming consonant sound d) Secular compostion did not lag far behind Mass compositions in prestige & craft e) Use of fugal imitation (1) Each phrase of the text is assigned a musical subject that is then taken up by each of the voices (2) Subject is usually imitated exactly at the unison, octave, fifth, or fourth (3) First voices to enter either drop out after stating the subject or continue with free counterpoint until a cadence is reached (4) Before the last voice has finished its phrase, a different voice begins the next phrase of text with a new subject |
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Forms
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a) Masses
(1) Masses without a cantus firmus sometimes took titles from the mode in which they were written (2) Masses were also named for a structural feature (3) Masses having neither a cantus firmus nor any other identifying pecularity were called "Missa sine nomine" (Mass without a name) b) Chanson (1) Expanded the miniature proportions typical of early Burgundian chansons into larger musical forms (2) They were freely altered, rearranged, and transcribed for instruments (3) Provided an inexhaustible supply of cantus firmi for Masses c) Canon (1) Mensuration Canon - two voices move at different rates of speed i) simple augmentation or diminuation - second voice moving in note values twice or half as long as the first ii) other complex relationship or these devices in combination iii) could start on a different pitch (2) Double Cannon i) two or more canons sung or played simultaneously ii) two or more voices might proceed in canon while other voices moved in independent lines (3) Puzzle canons i) composers took a sly pleasure in concealed ingenuity - forcing performers into a guessing game ii) directions for deriving the second voice (or even for singing the written one) are sometimes only hinted at in an intentionally obscure or jocular fashion d) Motets (1) Could be written on a wide range of relatively unfamiliar texts - offering interesting new possibilities for word-music relationships (2) Masses on other hand left little room for experimentation due to liturgical formality, unvarying text, and established musical conventions |
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Text Setting
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a) In keeping with Humanist Ideals composers strove to make the music better
communicate the meaning of the texts b) Word/Music relationship (1) Fitted musical stress to the articulation of the words - both Latin & vernacular (2) Wanted the words heard & understood i) meant that this could not be left to singers in performance ii) required that the text in the score be underlaid (positioned under the music) clearly & completely) (3) Highly florid lines of Ockeghem & Franco-Flemish influence gave way to more direct syllabic settings - in which a phrase of text could be grasped as an uninterrupted thought c) Musica Reservata (1) Term came to use shortly after the middle of the 16th century to denote the "new" style of music by composers who introduced chromaticism, modal variety, ornaments, and extreme contrasts of rhythm & texture to project the words more forcefully and graphically (2) Terms meaning remains clouded |
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Summary of Style
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a) Around 1500 a prevailing style emerged out of the variety of compositional
techniques practiced in England & on the Continent b) Charateristics (1) Style i) structure of the text now largely determined that of the music ii) composers wrote polyphonic parts that were singable and nearly equal in importance iii) parts began to be composed simultaneously as the layering method became impractical with current compostional goals a- quest for fullness of harmony b- vocality of melody c- motivic relationships iv) Bass took over the foundation of the harmony v) cadences continued to close with perfect consonances but utilized full triadic sonority between them vi) favoring duple measures vii) while borrowed melodies were still used to unify a composition, they were distributed among voices rather than confined to tenor or superius |
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Summary of Genre
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i) Cyclical Mass & motet were the preferred sacred
ii) Chanson was cast in new shapes pervaded by imitation - moving away from forme fixes iii) utilization of transparent forms a- overlapping fugal or imitative sections relieved by occasional homophonic textures (3) These trends gave composers greater flexibility than they had before and more opportunity to communicate with a larger audience |
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Contemporaries of Obrecht and Josquin
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a) Heinrich Issac ca. 1450-1517
(1) Output more pan-European than his contemporaries (2) Served the Medici under Lorenzo the Magnificent in Florence, court composer to Emperor Maximilian I at Vienna & Innsbruck b) Pierre del La Rue ca. 1460-1518 c) Jean Mouton 1459-1522 |
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The Odhecaton
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a) Pertrucci's 1st publication
(1) Contains chansons written between 1470 & 1500 (2) By composers from late Burgundian era to the generation of Obrecht, Isaac, & Josquin (3) The contained 4 voice chansons indicative of a developing genre i) fuller texture ii) a more completely imitative counterpoint iii) clearer harmonic structure iv) greater equality of voices v) duple meter replacing the more common triple meter of the Burgundian era |
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Music
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a) Bass was now extended downward to G or F (rarely notated below c before 1450)
b) Cantus Firmus assigned to the tenor c) Overwhelming consonant sound d) Secular compostion did not lag far behind Mass compositions in prestige & craft e) Use of fugal imitation (1) Each phrase of the text is assigned a musical subject that is then taken up by each of the voices (2) Subject is usually imitated exactly at the unison, octave, fifth, or fourth (3) First voices to enter either drop out after stating the subject or continue with free counterpoint until a cadence is reached (4) Before the last voice has finished its phrase, a different voice begins the next phrase of text with a new subject |
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Forms
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a) Masses
(1) Masses without a cantus firmus sometimes took titles from the mode in which they were written (2) Masses were also named for a structural feature (3) Masses having neither a cantus firmus nor any other identifying pecularity were called "Missa sine nomine" (Mass without a name) b) Chanson (1) Expanded the miniature proportions typical of early Burgundian chansons into larger musical forms (2) They were freely altered, rearranged, and transcribed for instruments (3) Provided an inexhaustible supply of cantus firmi for Masses c) Canon (1) Mensuration Canon - two voices move at different rates of speed i) simple augmentation or diminuation - second voice moving in note values twice or half as long as the first ii) other complex relationship or these devices in combination iii) could start on a different pitch (2) Double Cannon i) two or more canons sung or played simultaneously ii) two or more voices might proceed in canon while other voices moved in independent lines (3) Puzzle canons i) composers took a sly pleasure in concealed ingenuity - forcing performers into a guessing game ii) directions for deriving the second voice (or even for singing the written one) are sometimes only hinted at in an intentionally obscure or jocular fashion d) Motets (1) Could be written on a wide range of relatively unfamiliar texts - offering interesting new possibilities for word-music relationships (2) Masses on other hand left little room for experimentation due to liturgical formality, unvarying text, and established musical conventions |
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Text Setting
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a) In keeping with Humanist Ideals composers strove to make the music better
communicate the meaning of the texts b) Word/Music relationship (1) Fitted musical stress to the articulation of the words - both Latin & vernacular (2) Wanted the words heard & understood i) meant that this could not be left to singers in performance ii) required that the text in the score be underlaid (positioned under the music) clearly & completely) (3) Highly florid lines of Ockeghem & Franco-Flemish influence gave way to more direct syllabic settings - in which a phrase of text could be grasped as an uninterrupted thought c) Musica Reservata (1) Term came to use shortly after the middle of the 16th century to denote the "new" style of music by composers who introduced chromaticism, modal variety, ornaments, and extreme contrasts of rhythm & texture to project the words more forcefully and graphically (2) Terms meaning remains clouded |
