Quiz 2 Flashcards
Fauxbourdon
John Dunstable transmitted this new compositional procedure to the continent. Means false bass. Can also be called Countenace Anglois. It is a technique using 3 voices, where the outer voices frequently move in 6ths, and the inner voice has a 4th below the top voice (It seems like first inversion triads to us).
Psalters
Rhymed metrical translations of the Book of Psalms set to newly composed tunes, or to tunes that were popular or adapted from plainchant.
A cappella
Performance of a polyphonic (multipart) musical work by unaccompanied voices.
Motet
In Notre Dame polyphony, the Clausula sections became independent pieces to be performed during a Church service and were termed Motets. By the Ars Nova, the Motet could be either a sacred piece or a secular piece.
Anthem
A motet-like composition on an English text.
Palimpsest
Erasable clay or slate tablets used to write down the process of composition.
Text depiction
This provides more specific meaning to individual words or phrases. E.g: Melodies that rise for the word “Ascend”. Melodies that move downward for “descend.” Strong dissonances or chromatic lines for words such as “pain,” “death,” “sorrow”, etc. Not all texts necessarily have words that facilitate Text Depiction. The usage of Strophic text setting makes text depiction undesirable.
Madrigal
The most popular, vocal, polyphonic piece of the Renaissance was the song. It was called Chanson in France, and Lied in German. And one would expect it to be called Canzona in Italy. However, the term MADRIGAL was used instead. There is no direct evidence as to why this term was used, but it is the equivalent to the French Chanson or German Lied.
Contrafactum
The replacing of one text with a new text (Usually so it can be performed at church)
Toccata
The chief form of keyboard music in improvisatory style during the
second half of the 16th c. From Italian Toccare (to touch). Merulo was an important composer. This genre became much more important in the Baroque period that followed.
Chorale
Advanced music written by Martin Luther during the Reformation. Originally the melody was in the Tenor voice. Later it moved to the Soprano voice. The other three voices move in a smooth voice leading style. The other voices could be sung by the choir if there was one available. Many of the melodies were based on Gregorian chants, with CONTRAFACTUM applied to the text.
Transcriptions
Another source of income for composers would be from adapting a polyphonic vocal piece for a keyboard instrument, or lute. Professional composers would simply have the skill to take a vocal piece and reduce it to the keyboard, add musica ficta and improvise on it.
Sonata
From 15th c. on the term sonata “to sound” (sonare) was used to describe a variety of pieces for instrumental ensembles or solos. The Venetian sonata of the late 1500’s was the sacred version of the canzona and consisted of a series of sections based on a different subject or on variants of a single subject. It resembled an instrumental version of a polyphonic song.
Ricercare
to seek out” “to attempt”. Early ones were brief and improvisatory on lute. When transferred to the organ they had little imitation. Later its form became clearer as composers introduced repeated phrases and passages of paired imitation. By 1540 it contained a succession of themes without marked individuality or contrast-a textless imitative motet. Evolves into fugue.
Ostinato
Short bass lines that were repeated many times. Performers and composers wrote them and improvised variations over them.
Lute song
With the decline of the madrigal in the early 1600’s, the solo song with lute and viol accompaniment became popular. The leading composers of lute songs were John Dowland (1567-1620) and Thomas Campion (1567-1620). Texts were of a higher quality than the madrigal. Accompaniment is subordinated to the voice, but has a certain independence.
Tablature
Tablature notation (sometimes referred to as “intabulations”) showed graphically the location of the frets on a lute, viol, or similar instrument that must be stopped to produce the music. It was often for less trained musicians.
Consort song
The consort song was a secular song for a solo voice and a consort of instruments that had independent lines. Any instruments could play the non-vocal lines, but the most common was the viola da gamba consort. The consort song demonstrated greater contrapuntal independence of parts than the lute song.
Musica Reservata
A type of extreme text depiction used in the Renaissance period
Hausmusik
German term for gatherings on a regular basis that would take place and music would be performed for their own entertainment.
Augen Musica
German name for Musica Reservata
Prolations (name the types)
Equivalent to our sense of meter
C: 2/4 C w/dot: 6/8
O: 3/4 O w/dot: 9/8
Terpsichore
Huge book of dances composed/compiled by the German composer Michael Praetorius.
* - Published in 1612
* Has ver 300 different pieces, arranged by dance types.
* Short repetitive pieces.
* The title Terpsichore is a reference to the muse of dance from the nine Greek muses of mythology.
Points of imitation
term used to describe a compositional technique used frequently in the Renaissance. One voice introduces a melodic idea, which is then answered in the other voices one after another. At a certain point, (usually coinciding with a punctuation in the text) a cadence is reached. At the cadential point, one of the voices introduces a new idea which is then imitated by the other voices. This is the Point of Imitation. The introducing of new material at a cadence allows the piece to continue without stopping.
Different Mass types
Plainsong Mass (Cyclic Mass), Motto Mass, Cantus Firmus Mass (Tenor Mass), Paraphrase Mass and Imitative/Parody Mass
Mass
The Mass remains the most complex and sacred musical composition of the Christian Church. Unification of the various sections of the Mass by melodic means becomes more common.
Plainsong Mass (Cyclic Mass)
Each movement of the Ordinary was set to a different chant, yet the appropriate one for that text.
Motto Mass
Each movement opens usually in the treble voice with a recurring thematic idea
Cantus Firmus Mass (Tenor Mass)
Each movement of the Mass was built around the same cantus firmus. This will become the most common type of the Renaissance.
Paraphrase Mass
The Tenor is still based on Gregorian chant, but might be altered with variations, or migrate between the voices.
