3. Musical Instruments and ensembles in the Renaissance Flashcards
What years was the Renaissance in?
1400 to 1600AD.
What is organology?
The study of musical instruments.
What does renaissance mean?
It translates to ‘rebirth’, as it was the period which featured the rebirth of classical learning from Ancient Greece/Rome (Trivium, quadrivium)
What was the Ancient Greek (Aristotelian) classification of musical instruments?
The human voices was an animate instrument. Strings/wind were inanimate instruments.
What was the recorder designed to do?
Imitate the human voice
How often was percussion used?
Rarely, it wasn’t usually favoured.
What is the name of the classification designed in 1914?
Hornbostel-Sachs. It is the most widely used classification system by ethnomusicologists and organologists.
Who designed the instrument classification in 1914?
Erich Moritz von Hornbostel + Curt Sachs.
What are the four categories of Hornbostel-Sachs classification system?
Idiophones, membranophones, chordophones and aerophones.
What is the description for idiophones?
Instruments sounded by the substance of the instrument itself, owing to its solidity and elasticity. For example, bells or xylophones.
What is the description for membranophones?
Instruments excited by tightly stretched membranes. For example, a drum.
What is the description for chordophones?
Instruments with one or more strings stretched between fixed points. For example, violins, guitars and harps.
What is the description for aerophones?
Instruments in which the air itself is the vibrator in the primary sense.
Why are aerophones split into two classes?
The first class includes instruments which do not contain vibrating air when played. These are called free aerophones and include free reed instruments, such as the harmonica. The second class features instruments which do contain vibrating air when played: most wind, woodwind and brass instruments.
What is Pollux’s classification system?
Created in the second half of the 2nd century AD, Pollux called the human voice animate whilst percussion instruments (including strings) and wind instruments were inanimate.
What is Porphyry’s classification system?
Created between the late 3rd and early 4th century AD, Porphyry, similar to Pollux’s system, but divided strings apart from percussion into their own group.
What is Boethius’s classification system?
The late Roman theorist created this between the late 5th century and early 6th century AD and simply stated that strings, wind and percussion were all musical instruments.
What are electrophones?
They were added to the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system afterwards, meaning instruments that produce sounds by electronic means - such as a theremin.
What two phrases are used to describe classification systems?
Natural (culture emerging) or artificial (observer imposed).
What did ‘haut’ describe?
High or loud instruments, typically used in an outdoor setting. For example, trumpets or drums.
What did ‘bas’ describe?
Low or soft instruments, used for more intimate settings. For example, lutes, fiddles and harps.
What is a shawm?
Woodwind instrument with a bassoon-like double reed.
From the 14th century onwards, how was music observed?
In binary opposition, haut and bas.
What is the difference between haut and bas?
Haut - ceremonial wind music. Bas - intimate.
What are some practical limitations of combining haut and bas instruments?
Volume levels vary so greatly between the instruments that they didn’t tend to mix well.
What happened to wind instruments come the 15th century?
The skills of the woodwind performers increased to a point where they were appropriate to perform at important/royal occasions. Technology increased to the point where instruments could be produced to perform together (such as the slide trumpet). The introduction of lower pitched to accompany the shawm meant that a wind ensemble was capable of a greater harmonic range.
Why might a important person want a haut ensemble to play at their occasion in the 14th and 15th century?
The rich people of the late middle ages due to an uneasy political situation had to demonstrate their rank and power. A grand music ensemble showed wealth.
What was going on culturally at the time in Europe?
There was a slump in the economy. Three years of crop failure in a row. And the plague. This lead to a crisis in the ordered rank of society; they were required to demonstrate their ranking.
Even though Haut musicians were present at important occasions, why were they still viewed as low status?
Because the playing of their instruments required inelegant actions such as the puffing out of the cheeks as well as jagged movements for the slide trumpet/trombone. They also wore clothing which suggested low status such as tight fitting costumes with stripes.
What is a psaltery?
A stringed instrument of the zither family.
What instruments did the amateur upper class play?
The harp, the psaltery and later the lute because they were delicate and gentle physical movements. They didn’t want to seem to have worked hard and practised a lot because of the facade of their easy life style.
What are consorts?
Started off as only one family of instruments (only Shawms, or only Viols) and then over time the weaker members of one consort would be replaced with the stronger members of another. Or occasionally, two consorts would be joined together.
What are foundation instruments?
An instrument which would also accompany consort and described as ‘perfect’ because it could play in any key. Such as the organ, lute, harp.
