Quix #2 Prep Flashcards
Guillaume Dufay - Kyrie from Missa L’homme arme
genre = Mass movement (Kyrie from an early Renaissance Mass)
* text = Greek (notice, NOT Latin) & sacred (part of the Mass Ordinary)
* texture = almost entirely non-imitative polyphony (early Renaissance)
- cantus-firmus composition (most specifically, a cantus-firmus Mass)
imitative polyphony
- Unlike Medieval polyphony, which was non-imitative, in imitative polyphony the
individual parts share brief snippets of melody, so that you can occasionally
hear the same musical figure occur in one voice after another. Places where
this occurs in the music are called ‘points of imitation. - It makes the text clearer, since the same words in each voice sometimes
have the same fragment of melody;
2. it makes for a music that is more readily understood and appreciated by audiences, because the melodies are reinforced through close repetition.
Renaissance Period:
1450-1600
1. Invention of Printing Press with moveable type (1450): music printing soon followed, greatly expanding affordable access to vocal and instrumental music of all genres, both sacred and secular.
2. Lutheran Reformation (c. 1500 and after): Martin Luther (1483-1546) The separation of protestant Christian sects from the Roman Catholic Church leads to a great diversity in post-1500 Christian sacred music.
3. Fascination with and study of Greek and Roman Antiquity—once the
concern of medieval theologians and scholars only—becomes more
common among the ever-larger literate classes; the architecture, visual arts, poetry, and music of the renaissance demonstrates this influence
Guillaume Dufay (c.1400-1474)
- spent more than 25 years in Italy, as a
musician and composer at the courts of various powerful families, or in major cathedrals, including the Papal Chapel in Rome. - composed music in all the sacred and secular genres common to his day— masses, motets, Magnificats, hymns, and chants, as well as secular songs of all types—using a rich musical language that combined techniques of earlier masters
(the previous Ars Nova) with the new techniques, textures and textual sensitivity of the emerging Renaissance aesthetic.
Humanism
an intellectual movement and ethical system centered on humans and their values, needs, interests, abilities, dignity and freedom, often emphasizing secular culture and sensuality over sacred concerns.
Josquin des Prez (c. 1450-1521)
- Like Dufay, Josquin was born and received early musical training in northern France (Flanders); he became
known as the greatest of the great and influential lineage of fine Flemish composers. - Like most musicians of his caliber at that time, Josquin composed both sacred
and secular music, setting both canonic sacred texts and contemporary secular
poetry by celebrated poets. - Josquin achieved international fame, and multiple printed collections of his works circulated widely. He was known to Martin Luther (also a musician and
composer), who referred to Josquin as “the greatest living composer.”
Josquin, Ave Maria . . . virgo serena
genre = high Renaissance motet
text = ancient sacred Latin prayer to the Virgin Mary
texture = 4-part polyphony; imitative polyphony
ensemble = a cappella; 4-part choir; SATB
form = ternary (3-part, A-B-A’)
L’homme armé
popular cantus firmus - served as basis for many renaissance songs
motet
“a polyphonic vocal genre, usually performed a cappella, that sets any Latin sacred text that does not belong to the Mass or Divine Office.”
word painting
The music itself is composed in such a manner that the sound of the music reflects the meaning of the text. For instance, an allusion to heaven in the ext might be set to a vocal line that is rising in pitch, or the mention of “pain” or “tears” in the text might be set to harsh sounding, dark, or dissonant hatrmony
homorhythm
A musical texture in which all of the parts move together rhythmically.
Renaissance music often alternates between polyphonic passages (in which all of the parts are rhythmically independent) and homorhythmic passages (in which all of the parts move together in the same rhythm).
Vicente Lusitano -Heu me, Domine
genre = motet
language = Latin (sacred text)
ensemble = SATB a cappella texture = imitative polyphony (four parts)
Vicente Lusitano (c. 1520- after 1561)
- Portuguese composer, music theorist, and priest of African descent, whose sparse
biography provides a rare glimpse into the African presence in the musical
life of Renaissance Europe. - Evidence of Lusitano’s racialized identity appears in a 17th-century biographical
manuscript in which he is referred to as ‘homem pardo’. - ’. The term ‘pardo’ appears
routinely in 16th- and 17th-century documents as an unambiguous description of
free Afro-Portuguese people who enjoyed a level of social mobility and access
to resources - he never
held a benefice (i.e., a paid, permanent position) nor served as a maestro di
capella - The paucity of information about Lusitano is directly related to his failure
to find a secure position at church or court, the fate of a great many musicians at
the time. However, the institutional racism of both his own time and of later
historiographical approaches (with the exception of some Portuguese scholars
effectively erased him from all histories of Renaissance music until recently.
Vincente Lusitano - Regina Caeli
genre = motet language = Latin (sacred text)
ensemble = SATB a cappella texture = imitative polyphony (four parts)
