Renaissance 1450-1600 Flashcards
Aaron, Pietro
1480-1550 Theorist
Writing include discussion of the application of the theory of modes to polyphonic compositions
Counterpoint and cadence formation in four voices
Agricola, Alexander
Ca 1446-1506
Contemporary of Josquin represented in the Odhecaton
Wrote mostly secular music including 80 chanson, 8 masses
Anthems
English version of the motet
Full Anthem is for chorus throughout usually in contrapuntal style and unaccompanied
Verse anthem was for one or more solo voices with organ or viol accompaniment and with brief alternating passages for chorus
Binchois, Gilles
1400-1460
Worked in the Burgundian court in the early part of the 15h century
Contemporary of Dufay (leading composers of their day)
Smooth rhythmic and consonant sonorities
Secular music about 60 rondeaux for 3 voices and top voice dominant
Many pieces are in fauxbourdon
Byrd, William
1543-1623
One of the greatest English composers of the 16th century
Composed both Catholic and Protestant music for the church (he was catholic)
Studied with Thomas Tallis
Most important contributions are his motets and masses
Burden
A refrain especially that of the 15th century carol
14th/15th century England it was the lowest part of a polyphonic piece thus the term “Faburden”
Burgundian chanson
Three voice songs with French taxed in the upper voice only
Style influenced by the English, thus smooth rhythms and lots of thirds and sixths
Composers: Dufay, Binchois, Busnois (Burgundian court)
Burgundian motet
Interested in intellectual organization
Isorhythmic extended to pan Isorhythm
Dufay constructed Nuper rosarum flores with proportional rhythms in the Cantus firmus
Busnois, Antonie
1430-1492
Composer in the service of the duke of Burgundy
30 Chanson, most for three voices with French texts in the formes fixes especially the rondeaux
His Missa L’homme arme is the first of the “armed man” masses
It is a strict cantus firmus mass with non-imitative counterpoint in various textures
Calvin, John
1509-1564
Leader of the reformation in France who opposed the retention of elements of the Catholic liturgy and ceremonial much more strongly than Luther did
Prohibited singing of texts not in the Bible
Psalters - rhymed metrical translations of the Book of Psalms
Cambiata
Melodic figure in which a voice leaps a third down to a consonance instead of approaching it by step
Canon
Compositional technique in which one voice strictly imitates another in both pitch and rhythm
Earliest example is Sumer is icumen in.
Italian caccia, French chance and the Latin fuga
Dufay, Josquin, Palestrina and de la Rue wrote canons
Cantus firmus technique
The process in which a borrowed Melody becomes the foundation for a new polyphonic work
The earliest use of cantus firmus borrowed from Gregorian chant and placed in the tenor voice
Later the cantus firmus could either be sacred or secular, used in Isorhythm, strictly or paraphrased
Dufay - L’homme arme, Josquin Missa Hercules dux Ferrarie
Canzona
Originally an instrumental transcription by Italian composers of a French chanson
Later it referred to an instrumental work that used the chanson as a model having repeated sections with contrasting meters and textures
The ensemble canzona eventually gave way to the sonata, concerto and other multi-movement genres of the Baroque
Canzon villanesca all Napoletana
Lighter variety cultivated in Italy in the 16th century
Peasant song that appeared around Naples in the 1540s
Three voice, strophic lively piece in a homophonic style
Lots of parallel 5ths to suggest the country, rustic character
Eventually grew to resemble the madrigal and lost its identity
Carol
In the middle ages the Carol was an English song with a text Austin dealing with a virgin Mary or Christmas
In the renaissance it was several things; 1: pieces associated with dancing and processions, 2: religious carols with monophonic music similar to the lauda, 3: a polyphonic Carol either conductus-like or more elaborate polyphonic works composed in various forms like those of Davy and Cornysh
Clemens non Papa
1510-1556
A Flemish composer of the generation after Josquin
He composed chansons, 15 masses, over 200 motets and 4 books of psalms
His motets are similar to Gombert’s but with clearer phrase definition, melodic motives shaped to the meaning of the words and attention to modal definition through cadences and melodic profile
Compere, Loyset
1455-1518
Contemporary of Josquin
Composed elegant court music and specialized in small lyric forms like chansons
Concise clear cut phrases, forward looking to text settings, melodic planning, harmonic procedures and textural homogeneity
Cori Spezzati
(Broken choir)
Venetian school and in particular Willaert, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrielli
Inspired by the architecture of San Marco in Venice
Cultivated in Europe and found in music of Palestrina, Victoria, Lassus, Schutz and others
Cornetto
“Brass” instrument of wood or ivory
Came in three sizes and comprised a mouthpiece attached to a straight conical tube, punctuated by finger holes
Used in church and chamber music from 1550-1700
Council of Trent
1545-1563
Part of the counter reformation held formulate and give official sanction to measures for purging the church of abuses and laxities
Concerning music: too much secularism, excessive complexity (obscured words), bad pronunciation, carelessness and irreverent attitude of the singers
Pronouncement of the Council was extremely general, polyphony and secular models were still used
Countenance angloise
(English Guise)
Martin Le Franc used the term in a poem which describes the new musical style of Dufay and Binchois as being influenced by the smooth and consonant style of the new English composers liek Dunstable
Des Prez, Josquin
Ca 1440-1521
Works include: 18 Masses, 100 motets, and 70 chansons and other secular works
Masses are most conservative of his works, and use secular tune as the Cantus firmus
He was known for the care he took to suit his music to the text
Associated with the mid-16th century style development called Musica Reservata
Dodekachordon
Treatise by Swiss theorist Glareanus published in 1547
Expands the 8 church modes to 12 (adding modes based on A and C)
Double versicle
Versicle = phrase or sentence of text
In the sequence parallel versicles are often paired making a double versicle
Dufay, Guillaume
1400-1474
His contemporaries regarded him as one of the greatest of their age
Included by John Dunstable and the English Style
Sacred music into 3 categories:
1 hymns, antiphons, mass movements and some motets written in the treble-dominated style in which a borrowed melody is placed in the top voice and in fauxbourdon
2 Musically complex motets in for parts which are isorhythmic or polytextual
3 Mass pairs or cycles unified by mode, mensuration, and head motives.
He also wrote a lot of secular songs and three voices with French text (rondeau predominates)
Examples: Missa se la face ay pale , Missa L’homme arme (secular tune)
Dunstable, John
1390-1453
His contemporaries and successors in England and on the continent recognized him as the foremost English composer of the 15th century
Most works are in three voices except for voice isorhythmic motets
His works are mainly known through continental sources and features smooth rhythms and continent thirds in sixths
Eclogue
Pastoral poems often pathetic in tone
Eton Choirbook
The largest source of English church music from the turn of the 16th century
Contains votive antiphons and Magnificats but no complete mass cycles
Most of the music in the Choirbook
Faburden
And English technique of polyphonic vocal improvisation from 1430 until the late 16th century
In improvising a Borrowed melody from chant would be embellished by thirds and fifths above and parallel fourths below
in Faburden, the preexisting melody was probably placed in the middle voice
Falsobordone
Completely chordal harmonizations of psalm tones and other liturgical recitatives found especially in Spanish and Italian sources of the sixteenth century
Fantasia
Add imaginative instrumental composition meant to sound improvised
In the 16th century it was used synonymously with ricercare, which as an instrumental version of the motet
Fauxbourdon
A 15th century French technique of compositions in which two voices are notated. A third voice is improvised of forth below the top voice creating parallel six chords.
Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain
The powerful king and queen of Spain in the 15th century. In 1492 they defeated the Moors and drove them out of Spain and later drove out of Sephardic Jews. Everyone was forced to convert to Christianity. Many historical ballads and villancico (ABBA) were written telling these stories.
Historical ballades
Fitzwilliam Virginal
A manuscript of keyboard music copied in England between 1609 and 1619 which contains nearly 300 compositions written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It includes transcriptions of madrigals, contrapuntal fantasias, dances, preludes, descriptive pieces and many sets of variations
Folia
Dance song of Spain in the early 17th century with wild singing and dancing. In the baroque, composers wrote variations on the Folia
Frottola
Secular solo song with accompaniment propagated by Isabelle d’Este in Mantua in the late 15th century and early 16th century. It has the refrain-stanza form of the ballata (AaabA). The musical material is limited, using a varied form of the refrain for the stanzas
Gabrielli, Andrea
1510-1586
Uncle of Giovanni Gabrielli
Organist at St. mark’s in Venice in 1566
One of the first Italians whose works were able to escape the Netherlandish style
Music tends to be homophonic, syllabic, polychoral, and sonorous
He composed in nearly every genre; madrigals, sacred vocal music (Masses psalms motets concerti), secular vocal works and many instrumental compositions.
Contributed the new style: concertato, canzonas, ricercare and other intabulations for keyboard
Gabrielli, Giovanni
15557-1612
Nephew and pupil of A Gabrielli
Influence in continuing the new concertato style and establishing the new monody
Purely instrumental music is prominent in his output, including ricercare, canzonas and sonatas
Significant influence on Schutz and developments in Germany
Glarean, Heinrich
1488-1563
Swiss theorist most famous for his treatise Dodecachordon (the twelve-sting lyre) in which a 12 mode system is advocated and its application to monophony and polyphony discussed.
He added four new modes to the traditional eight (Aeolian, Hypoaeolian, Ionian and Hypoionian)