Renaissance

Question 1

When was the Renaissance period?

Answer 1

c. 1475-1600

Question 2

What event influenced the output of sacred music?

Answer 2

The Protestant Reformation

The Counter-Reformation movement resulted in an increase in sacred music from composers such as Palestrina, Victoria, Lassus, and G. Gabrieli, reflective of a conservative militant faith adopted in protest of the Reformation

Question 3

What branch of Rennaisance composers developed their own distinct style and how?

Answer 3

English composers e.g. Tallis and Byrd

Treated intervals and dissonances in a specific way in the interest of expression

Question 4

What is a secular form of Renaissance music?

Answer 4

The madrigal

Question 5

Where are the shapes of melodic lines in Renaissance music derived from?

Answer 5

Plainsong

Wikipedia:
Unaccompanied church music sung in unison in medieval modes and in free rhythm corresponding to the accentuation of the words, which are taken from the liturgy

Question 6

What are the characteristics of Renaissance melody lines?

Answer 6

1. Melodic movement is dictated by the words - each phrase is curved with mainly stepwise movement
2. Narrow range, rarely exceeding an 8ve
3. Melodic leaps happen predominantly as 3rds and perfect 4ths, and any leap is best followed by a step in the opposite direction
4. Sequence is not a feature so rhythm is rarely regular or repetitive

Question 7

Which melodic ‘leaps’ are acceptable in Renaissance music?

Answer 7

Major or minor 3rd
Perfect 4th
Minor 6th upwards ONLY

Less common but not forbidden: Perfect 5th

Question 8

Which melodic ‘leaps’ are forbidden in Renaissance music?

Answer 8

Major 6th
Any 7th
All augmented or diminished intervals

Question 9

What is the rule for two consecutive leaps in the same direction?

Answer 9

Should not add up to a major 7th or exceed and 8ve

Question 10

What is the tactus?

Answer 10

The beat - usually a written minim and approximately the same speed as the heartbeat

Question 11

What is species counterpoint?

Answer 11

An instructional method of adding a countermelody under a given melody (cantus firmus)

Consists of 5 stages (‘species’) which get increasingly intricate

Question 12

What is a ‘cantus firmus’ in species counterpoint?

Answer 12

The given melody which is unalterable

Translates to “firm melody”

Question 13

What are the basic rules of two-part writing?

Answer 13

1. Consonance between voices on every beat or ‘tactus’ unless carefully controlled (ie. dissonance)
2. Intervals used are mainly 3rds and 6ths, whilst other consonances like perfect 5ths and 8ves are mainly confined to weak beats due to the thinness of their sound (HOWEVER 8ve/unison was common at the beginning and at cadences)
3. Parallel or ‘consecutive’ 5ths and 8ves forbidden
4. Exposed 5ths & 8ves discouraged - when these intervals are arrived at in the outside parts through a leap in the upper part

Question 14

Why are parallel 5ths and 8ves forbidden in two-part writing?

Answer 14

They destroy independence of part-writing

Creates a bareness of sonority through repetition of the same interval

Question 15

Which modes are minor in quality?

Answer 15

Dorian
Phygrian
Aeolian

Question 16

Which modes are major in quality?

Answer 16

Mixolydian
Ionian
Lydian

Question 17

What does ‘musica ficta’ mean?

Answer 17

Translates to “false/feigned/fictitious music”

When pitches outside of the hexachord system were used in performance, notated or unnotated

Question 18

How was ‘musica ficta’ applied in renaissance music?

Answer 18

In performance unnotated accidentals were sometimes added

B changed to Bb in the Lydian mode (making it a scale of F)

Sharpened leading notes in the modes on:
D (C#)
G (F#)
A (G#)

These sharpened leading notes were especially used at cadences, where the semitone pull to the leading note was stronger, or on the final chord as a tierce de picardie

Question 19

True or false: the final chord must contain the 3rd

Answer 19

False:

Composers sometimes cadenced on a bare chord containing only the 8ve and 5th

Question 20

Where do modal key signatures (ie. modes with accidentals) originate from?

Answer 20

The transposition of modes, originally to suit the range of the voice

Question 21

What are the types of melodic decoration?

Answer 21

Passing notes: passed up or down (generally down) by step between two consonances, usually a 3rd apart

Auxiliary notes: decorated/drew attention to a consonance by movement up or down and then back

^ These two are dissonant with the melody note so CAN’T leap

Harmony notes: move to another note consonant with the melody note, therefore CAN leap

Question 22

Where would quavers be used?

Answer 22

Very sparingly

Usually in pairs to decorate a cadence

Question 23

When did the imitation in renaissance two-part writing usually occur?

Answer 23

Within the equivalent of 2 bars distance

Question 24

How strict did the opening imitation tend to be?

Answer 24

Intervals tended to be copied exactly in the opening, for at least the first 4 or 5 notes

Question 25

At what intervals did imitation usually occur?

Answer 25

Could occur at the 8ve but was more common at the 5th or the 4th

The pattern tended to be that subjects moving upwards would be imitated at the 5th whilst subjects moving downwards would be imitated at the 4th

Question 26

What is a ‘tonal answer’ in renaissance fugal writing?

Answer 26

An altered imitative entry - established in late Renaissance

Usually occurs when the subject moves between the tonic and the dominant and is imitated (‘answered’) by a move between the dominant and tonic

Question 27

What rhythmic features are important?

Answer 27

Contrary motion when possible

Syncopation

Question 28

How do you incorporate a dissonance on an accented beat (ie. suspension) in Renaissance music?

Answer 28

1. Prepare as a consonance on a weak beat
2. Sounding of the suspension on a strong beat
3. Resolution by moving a step down to a consonance on a beat weaker than the suspension itself

Question 29

True or false: A cadence should always be decorated with a suspension

Answer 29

True: Most commonly a 7-6 suspension

Question 30

What are the possible decorations of the suspension formula?

Answer 30

1. A half-beat (crotchet or quaver depending on tactus) anticipation note before either the note of preparation, the note of resolution, or both in the case of a chain
2. Use of a pair of quavers (which can only move by step) to ornament the melody line in the unaccented resolution
3. Change of bass note under the resolution - implies change of inversion or harmony

Question 31

Do double suspensions occur in Renaissance music?

Answer 31

Yes: Most commonly in 3rds and 6ths

Question 32

What unprepared dissonances are used in Renaissance music?

Answer 32

Accented passing note
The ‘nota cambiata’
The anticipation note
The ‘consonant 4th’

Question 33

When does an accented passing note occur?

Answer 33

On the weaker beats (e.g. in 4/2 time on the 2nd and 4th minim) as part of a (usually descending) line

Generally appears as a crotchet and rarely as a quaver

Question 34

What is a ‘nota cambiata’

Answer 34

Translates to a ‘changed note’

The only case in this style of a dissonance being quitted by a leap

Involves stepwise descending movement from the consonant note, followed by a descending leap of a 3rd

Must be followed by and upwards step

Tends to involve that would later be understood as the 7th of the dominant chord

Often found in conjunction with a suspension

Question 35

How many possible types of cambiata are there in 3rd species counterpoint?

Answer 35

Three

Above the cantus firmus:
8-7-5-6
6-b5-3-4

Below the cantus firmus:
3-4-6-5

Question 36

Where is an anticipation note used?

Answer 36

Often at a cadence, particularly when the tonic is sounded against the leading note

Question 37

What is a ‘consonant 4th’?

Answer 37

An unprepared 4th approached by step over a stationary bass

A third voice is necessary t create a dissonance (e.g 2nd or 7th) on beat 3, so the 4th can resolve as a normal suspension

Question 38

How does an augmented triad occur?

Answer 38

When the parts, analysed vertically, create a chord with an augmented interval

Question 39

How is the augmented triad utilised in Renaissance music?

Answer 39

The augmented interval of the chord is used to heighten the meaning of the text, and hence was heavily used by the madrigalists

Question 40

What are ‘cross’ or false relations?

Answer 40

Dissonance involving sounding, either simultaneously or in close proximity, of the sharpened and flattened leading notes, one rising and one falling

This is done to avoid horizontal augmented intervals in the melody line

Question 41

Where were cross relations particularly popular?

Answer 41

In 16th-century England in the music of Tallis and Byrd, where it was used as a cadential formula, earning it the title of the ‘English cadence’

Question 42

Who was known as the most ‘extreme’ of the Italian madrigalists?

Answer 42

Gesualdo

Question 43

Which harmonic features were common in Renaissance music?

Answer 43

A chord on the flattened leading note

Progressions e.g. ii-I, V-IV, and iii-I or I-iii

Question 44

Which notes did Renaissance composers avoid doubling?

Answer 44

Leading notes
Dominant 7ths
Dissonances
Chromatically altered notes

Question 45

Why did Renaissance composers avoid doubling the aforementioned notes?

Answer 45

1. The notes were already prominent and doubling them would upset the balance of the chord
2. Notes of motion need to move either up (leading notes) or down (7ths and most dissonances); if they are doubled consecutive motion will ensue

Question 46

Doubling of major 3rd

Answer 46

Was frequently doubled when not appearing as a leading note

Was quitted in contrary motion

Usually doubled in chord VI in a minor key when the progression moves V-VI