Chapter 6 - New Developments in the 14th Century

Question 1

The 14th century was fraught with turmoil. Name four things negative things that happened

Answer 1

• Cooler climate causing economic slumps and famine
• The Babylonian captivity of the papacy
• The Black Death
• The Hundred years war

Question 2

When was the Black Death and how many people did it kill?

Answer 2

1347-50 and about one third of Europe

Question 3

When did the Hundred Years War occur and who was it between?

Answer 3

1337-1453 between France and England

Question 4

Describe “Roman de Fauvel”

Answer 4

This is an allegorical narrative poem that stars a horse named Fauvel and is critical of moral and political corruption. It features music in it’s manuscript that is among the first examples of the Ars Nova style

Question 5

Who is credited with creating the Ars Nova style?

Answer 5

Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361). His teachings were put into manuscripts (Titles Ars Nova) that were apparently crediting the style to him.

Question 6

What are mensuration signs?

Answer 6

These are the ancestors of modern time signatures; they denote either perfect time (triple), or imperfect time (duple)

Question 7

Two ryhthmic innovations enabled the Ars Nova style. What were they?

Answer 7

These were the creation of “imperfect” or duple time, and the further subdivision of the semibreve, allowing smaller note values

Question 8

A division of a semibreve is called a _______.

Answer 8

Minim

Question 9

Who invented mensuration signs?

Answer 9

Jehan de Murs

Question 10

What is Isorhythm?

Answer 10

Repetition in a voice part of an extended pattern on durations over the course of a composition or just a section

Question 11

Define Talea

Answer 11

In Isorhythm, this is the repeating rhythmic unit

Question 12

Define Color

Answer 12

In Isorhythm, this is the recurring melodic segment

Question 13

Birth and death dates of Guillaume de Machaut

Answer 13

1300-1377

Question 14

Why is Guillaume de Machaut important?

Answer 14

He was an influential composer and poet for his contemporaries and his compositions exemplify the French Ars Nova style

Question 15

Define Contratenor

Answer 15

This is a voice that is in the same range as the tenor that has a supporting role

Question 16

Did the Ars Nova style gave an increased or decreased prominence to imperfect consonances?

Answer 16

It gave an increased prominence to 3rds and 6ths, the imperfect consonances

Question 17

What distinguishes the styles of the 14th century from that of the 15th and 16th?

Answer 17

The greater remnants of the older styles, such as the frequent presence of parallel 5ths and octaves

Question 18

What are the three “formes fixes”?

Answer 18

These are the three most common forms of 14th century French song. They are the Ballade, Rondeau, and the Virelai

Question 19

During the Ars Nova period, what did the term “chansons” refer to?

Answer 19

In France, a chanson is a polyphonic song during the 14th century

Question 20

Describe “treble dominated style”

Answer 20

This is a style where the upper voice(s) are most important with the tenor and contratenor only playing a supporting role and are without text

Question 21

Describe the Ars Sublitor. When and where was this style found?

Answer 21

The Ars Sublitor is a more refined and complex continuation of the Ars Nova style, found in high class settings in France and Northern Italy during the later 14th century

Question 22

In Italy, what is the Trecento period?

Answer 22

This is the Italian term for the 14th century

Question 23

Italian liturature and music florished during the Trecento period. Name a few important facts.

Answer 23

• Music accompanied every aspect of life in Italy
• The prefered literary language switched from Occitan to a Tuscan Italian dialect
• Musical notation was initially different but adopted the French Ars Nova style later in the century

Question 24

Describe the 14th century madgrigal

Answer 24

This is an Italian piece sung a cappella for two or more voices all on the same text. They consist of two or more three line stanzas with the same music, and the piece concludes with a contrasting ritornello

Question 25

Describe the caccia

Answer 25

This is an Italian vocal work that is in strict cannon. It features two or more voices at the unison, and a slower untexted tenor. Often the text describes action scenes

Question 26

Describe the balleta

Answer 26

This is an Italian vocal genre with roots in dance songs. Early pieces were monophonic but most surviving examples are polyphonic

Question 27

Who was the foremost leader in the Italian trecento style and to what genre does most of works belong to?

Answer 27

Francesco Landini (ca. 1325-1397). The majority of his works are polyphonic balletas

Question 28

At the end of the 14th century, the Italian style began to blend into the style of which country?

Answer 28

France

Question 29

In the 14th through 16th centuries, how were instruments categorized?

Answer 29

By their relative loudness, rather than pitch (high or low volume, not pitch)