6 - Folder 2 - High Renaissance: Franco-Flemish Music

Question 1

Describe the Franco-Flemish School.

Answer 1

In music, the Franco-Flemish School or more precisely the Netherlandish School refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition in the Burgundian States (Burgundy, Picardy, Burgundian Flanders, …) in the 15th and early 16th centuries, and to the composers who wrote it.

Question 2

Describe the High Renaissance (in terms of art).

Answer 2

In art history, High Renaissance, is the period denoting the apogee of the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance. The High Renaissance period is traditionally taken to begin in the 1490s, with Leonardo’s fresco of the Last Supper in Milan and the death of Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence, and to have ended in 1527 with the sacking of Rome by the troops of Charles V.

Question 3

Within the Franco-Flemish School, describe the High Renaissance.

Answer 3

i. Middle Renaissance period (late 15th to early 16th centuries).
ii. Considered the apex of the Renaissance style

Question 4

From where did the Franco-Flemish composers come?

Answer 4

They were an important group of composers from the “Low Countries” ( Hainaut, Flanders, Brabant or Picardy).

Question 5

Name the terms describing some of the areas and peoples of the Franco-Flemish School.

Answer 5

Northern France, Flanders (adjective: Flemish; part of modern Belgium); the Netherlands (also known as the Netherlands School).

Question 6

Where did many work and travel within the Franco-Flemish School?

Answer 6

Many worked or traveled in Italy.

Question 7

In what ways did the Franco-Flemish School combine North European and Italian styles?

Answer 7

i. North European — contrapuntal, imitative, cantus-firmus based, complex
ii. Italian — less complicated, emphasis on the melody part at the top of the texture

Question 8

With the rise of music printing, what occurred in 1470?

Answer 8

1470 — first printing of plainchant using moveable type

Question 9

What was the Odhecaton?

Answer 9

The Harmonice Musices Odhecaton (also known simply as the Odhecaton) was an anthology of polyphonic secular songs published by Ottaviano Petrucci in 1501 in Venice.

i. First printing of polyphonic music
ii. Printed by Ottaviano Petrucci — music printer in Venice
iii. Collection of secular works by various Franco-Flemish composers
iv. Widely distributed and highly influential

Question 10

What were Part Books?

Answer 10

Polyphonic music printed with one book for each part of the polyphony.

Question 11

In the Franco-Flemish Style, describe the use of Canon.

Answer 11

i. Contrapuntal technique in which one part is derived from another
ii. Strict imitation (strict canon or round)
iii. Retrograde canon (crab canon, canon cancrizans) — one part presents the melody of another part in reverse
iv. Mensuration canon — parts have the same music but different mensuration signs (different meters), so they are interpreted with different rhythms and tempi

Question 12

In the Franco-Flemish Style, describe Free Imitation.

Answer 12

i. Imitative textures, but not strict or canonic
ii. Embellishment of melodic lines
iii. All parts participate equally in the melody (the cantus firmus), passing it around freely in imitation

Question 13

In the Franco-Flemish Style, describe Harmonic Style.

Answer 13

i. Consonant harmonies
ii. General avoidance of stark dissonances
iii. Full integration of triadic harmonies (3rdsand 6ths)
iv. But still modal in conception (not tonal music)

Question 14

In the Franco-Flemish Style, describe Text Setting.

Answer 14

i. Increasing sensitivity to the specific meanings of words in the text
ii. Composers began to express the meaning of the words with the music itself
iii. musica reservata

Question 15

As part of the Text Setting, in the Franco-Flemish style, describe Musica Reservata.

Answer 15

1. used in sacred music
2. subtle illustration of text through the music
3. compare to the word painting of Renaissance secular music

Question 16

What were the Sacred Genres of the High Renaissance?

Answer 16

1. Mass

2. Motet

Question 17

Describe the Mass of the High Renaissance.

Answer 17

1. Polyphonic setting of the five-movement Mass Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei)
2. Generally unified by the cyclical use of one cantus firmus
3. Usually four parts
4. Imitative textures, especially at the beginning of movements or subsections

Question 18

Describe the Motet of the High Renaissance.

Answer 18

1. Once again a fully sacred genre (had been both sacred and secular in the Middle Ages)
2. Stylistically similar to the Mass
3. But only one movement, and often with a non-liturgical text
4. Freely imitative
5. May or may not use a cantus firmus

Question 19

Name four Franco-Flemish composers.

Answer 19

1. Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1420–1497)
2. Jacob Obrecht (c. 1452–1505)
3. Heinrich Isaac (c. 1450–1517)
4. Josquin Desprez (c. 1440–1521)

Question 20

Who was Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1420-1497)?

Answer 20

1. born in Antwerp (Flanders; modern Belgium)
2. worked in France for Charles I
3. small output of sacred and secular music (20 chansons, 13 masses, 10 sacred motets)

Question 21

Who was Jacob Obrecht (c. 1452-1505)?

Answer 21

1. worked in Flanders and Italy
2. composed numerous masses, motets, and chansons
3. Imaginative uses of the cantus firmus (paraphrase, cantus firmus masses, motto masses; some masses that use multiple canti firmi)

Question 22

Who was Heinrich Isaac (c. 1450-1517)?

Answer 22

1. worked for Lorenzo de Medici in Florence, Italy
2. also worked for Emperor Maximilian I in Austria
3. composed numerous masses, motets, and secular songs (in French, Italian, & German)

Question 23

Who was Josquin Desprez (c. 1440-1521)?

Answer 23

1. greatest of the High Renaissance Franco-Flemish composers
   a. recognized even during his lifetime
   b. Protestant reformer Martin Luther called Josquin “Master of Notes”
2. born in Northern France
3. worked as a singer in Milan, Italy when young
4. sang and composed at the Vatican in Rome
5. worked in France for King Louis XII
6. also worked for the Duke of Ferrara in Northern Italy
7. Composed motets, masses, and chansons (some included in the Odhecaton)