MIddle Ages through 1750 Flashcards
Explain Plainchant
- Medieval Christian style
- Monopohonic - single line with no accompaniment
- Written in one of the eight modes or scale patterns created by the Greeks
- Rhythm followed the words themselves and was freely interpreted.
- Pope Gregory the Great commissioned the chants be written down, that is why this body of work is called Gregorian chant.
What are the dates of the Medieval Time Period?
450- 1450
Describe Secular Music of the Medieval time period?
- French Troubadors and trouveres, German Minnesingers and Meistersingers moving across Europe sharing the music.
- Monophonic melodies
- Lively Rhythms
- Depicted love as the central theme.
Explain polyphony as it was used in the Middle Ages.
- Born in the 9th century, music that consisted of multiple vocal parts and melodic lines moving in parallel intervals primarily fourths or fifths which are much more hollow sounding.
- The original melody of the polyphony was selected from a chant and was extended and added upon.
- Languages were combined for multiple parts, French was the first line, Latin would be the second line.
Explain Organum
- The sound created when two melodic lines are sung at the same time in parallel intervals.
- by the eleventh century two additional melodic lines were added moving in conjunction with each other and possibly overlapping. This was exemplified by the cathedral of Norte Dame
- style of music known as Ars Antiqua
Who was Guillaume de Machauntand?
- Brought polyphony to the mainstream musical audience.
- Machaut composed in a wide range of styles and forms.
- He is a part of the musical movement known as the ars nova. Machaut helped develop the motet and secular song forms.
- Machaut wrote the Messe de Nostre Dame, the earliest known complete setting of the Ordinary of the Mass attributable to a single composer.
- Brought polyphonic music to its full maturity in the 14th century.
What was a motet?
- Major musical style between the 13th and 18th centuries. The motet had three major classifications, Medieval motets, Renaissance Motets and Baroque motets,
- Medieval Motets: arose in the 13th century from the organum tradition exemplified in the Notre Dame school of Léonin and Pérotin., usually strophic interludes, in a longer sequence of organum (tenor voice), to which upper voices were added.[The motet took a definite rhythm from the words of the verse, and as such appeared as a brief rhythmic interlude in the middle of the longer, more chant like organum.
The practice of discant over a cantus firmus marked the beginnings of counterpoint in Western music. From these first motets arose a medieval tradition of secular motets. These were two or three part compositions in which several different texts, sometimes in different vernacular languages, were sung simultaneously over a Latin cantus firmus that once again was usually adapted from a passage of Gregorian chant. It is suspected that, for the sake of intelligibility, in performance the cantus firmus and one or another of the vocal lines were performed on instruments. Among the trouvères, Robert de Reins La Chievre and Richart de Fournival composed motets.
Increasingly in the 14th and 15th centuries, motets tended to be isorhythmic; that is, they employed repeated rhythmic patterns in all voices—not only the cantus firmus—which did not necessarily coincide with repeating melodic patterns. Philippe de Vitry was one of the earliest composers to use this technique, and his work evidently had an influence on that of Guillaume de Machaut, one of the most famous named composers of late medieval motets.
Renaissance Motets: Polyphony setting Latin text to music. Mostly sacred, however secular motets continued to be written however. These motets typically set a Latin text in praise of a monarch, commemorating some public triumph, or even praising music itself. Nevertheless, the themes of courtly love often found in the medieval secular motet were banished from the Renaissance motet. Many secular motets are known as “ceremonial motets”.[12] Characteristic of ceremonial motets was a clarity of diction, for the audience was not presumed to be familiar already with the text (as would have been true with Latin hymns) and also a clear articulation of formal structure, for example a setting apart of successive portions of text with sharp contrasts of texture or rhythm.
Renaissance was a time when the motets flourished
Focused on biblican passages and used ornamentation for the liturgy.
Baroque Motets: After 1600 the motet came to symbolize a sacred vocal work designed for the liturgy or devotion. petits motets, sacred choral or chamber compositions whose only accompaniment was a basso continuo; and grands motets, which included massed choirs and instruments up to and including a full orchestra.
What is a motif or motive?
a short syncopated melody that is well defined enough to be recognizable even during any variation. Smallest structural unit possessing a thematic identity.
Motives allowed for more development of an idea.
Baroque music incorporated motives to set a continuous pattern in the music with the repeated sequencing and modulation.
Ex. Beethoven Pastorale symphony - opening theme introduces three motives
*Sonatas carry motives at the beginning to be repeated in the different sections of the work.
Who was the prince of music?
Josquin Desprez
- Sacred polyphony contained four equal parts
- Established the use of continuous imitation where voices would pick up the melodic motives of the other parts and incorporated this canon into his works.
- Secular works combined lifting melodies with canonic backgrounds, using lovely rhythms and almost jazzy syncopations
What are the dates of the Renaissance Period?
1400-1600
Explain music of the Renaissance Period.
- Known as “New Birth” as composers of the time did not feel that any work over 40 years old was adequate for their audience.
- Music connected social aspects of culture and humanism
- Composers explored chromaticism and enharmonic styles
- Set popular folk tales to music
- Rediscovered the meter and rhythm of ancient music.
- Allowed the syntax and pronunciation of the words to be as prominent as the meaning
Explain Renaissance Dance Music.
- Frequently improvised
- created to inspire dances and merriment
- Spirited rhythms
- Instrumental dance music was prolific during this time.
Explain the English Madrigal
A vocal music form that flourished in the Renaissance, originating in Italy. The madrigal is generally written for four to six voices that may or may not be accompanied (in modern performance madrigals are usually presented a cappella). Madrigals are usually set to short love poems, though the words are occasionally about death, war, etc.; they were extremely popular in England and Italy, and also produced in France, Germany, and a few in Spain. The madrigal is characterized by word painting and harmonic and rhythmic contrast. In the madrigal, each line has its own tune, rather than the entire composition having a single tune with harmonic accompaniment. It was characterized by being sung a cappella, being light in style, and being very expressive. Many English madrigals were translations of Italian originals.
Characteristics of Baroque Music
Universal use of Basso Continuo
2 melodic styles 1. Dramatic, virtuosic style in singing 2. Mechanical, repetitious style in instrumental music
Melodic sequence - repetition of musical motive at successively higher or lower scale degrees.
Emerging standard harmonic chord progressions. , ex. V-I cadence
Growing importance of major and minor keys, replacing modes used in the Renaissance. These modulations helped create emotions and mood in music.
Rhythmic uniformity- patterns heard at the beginning surface again a and again, rhythmic drive
Excessive ornamentation
Large ensembles
Large scale compositions filled with detail
Power of music to move the listener, emotional expression
Terraced dynamics - changing volumes suddenly rather than gradually.
Rise of instrumental music
Basso continuo
Small ensemble of at least two instrumentalists who provided a foundation for melody or melodies above. One player produced chords, the other player produced low -sounding bass line.
