Renaissance Listening Flashcards
* John Dunstable: "Quam pulchra es" * Guillaume Du Fay: Gloria, from "Missa Se la face ay pale" * Henricus Isaac: "Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen" * Josquin des Prez: "Ave Maria... virgo serena" * Johann Walter: "Ein' feste Burg" * William Byrd: "Sing joyfully unto God" * Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Agnus Dei I, from "Pope Marcellus Mass" * Orlando di Lasso (Lassus): "Cum essen parvulus" * Thomas Weelkes: "As Vesta was" * Claude le Jeune: "Revecy venir du printans" *
- ca. before 1430
- Text from Song of Solomon
- Genre: motet or cantilena
John Dunstable: “Quam pulchra es”
TEXTURE
* 3-part largely homophonic with short melismas
* Each voice nearly equal in importance (polyphonic?)
John Dunstable: “Quam pulchra es”
HARMONY
* frequent 3rds, 6ths and occasional triadic outlines
* almost every vertical sonority is consonant
* tonal center or C – Ionian mode on C NOT C MAJOR!
John Dunstable: “Quam pulchra es”
RHYTHM
* 3/4 METER
* no repeated rhythmic patterns
* homorhythmic
John Dunstable: “Quam pulchra es”
MELODY
* mostly syllabic with cadential melismas (brief)
John Dunstable: “Quam pulchra es”
FORM
* freely composed, but 2 sections divided by the text
* section 1: mm1-30 based on abbreviated versions of vs. 6, 7, 5, and 4 from Ch. 7 of Song of Solomon
* section 2 from vs. 11-12 with added alleluia
* strongest cadences mark ends of Bible verses
John Dunstable: “Quam pulchra es”
TIMBRE
* men’s voices
John Dunstable: “Quam pulchra es”
- Genre: cantus-firmus mass (and imitation mass)
Guillaume Du Fay: Gloria, from “Missa Se la face ay pale”
TEXTURE
* polyphonic (up to four parts)
* superius, contra, tenor, tenor bassus
Guillaume Du Fay: Gloria, from “Missa Se la face ay pale”
HARMONY
* lots of 3rds and 6ths which lead to triads on strong beats
* 6th to octave cadences between various voices
* mostly consonance with dissonances in suspensions and on passing lines
* in F mode in outer two sections
* middle section in C starting at “cum sancto” at m. 159
Guillaume Du Fay: Gloria, from “Missa Se la face ay pale”
RHYTHM
* triple meter 3/4 (3x3/4 in tenor) in outer sections but middle section in duple meter
Guillaume Du Fay: Gloria, from “Missa Se la face ay pale”
MELODY
* upper two voices – mostly stepwise with some skips
* bassus, mostly provides foundation of chords
* tenor holds cantus firmus
* upper two voices fastest moving lines
* also head motive stated in superious that recurs in this piece at mm. 40, 88, 119, 165, and 184
Guillaume Du Fay: Gloria, from “Missa Se la face ay pale”
FORM
* 3 sections based on statements of the tenor with upper voice duet preceding: first section rhythm x 3 of original
* second x 2
* third in same time as ballade
* 3rd section sounds more like the original, also quotes more from original in upper voices
* form pertains to ratios and Golden Section
Guillaume Du Fay: Gloria, from “Missa Se la face ay pale”
TIMBRE
* 4 part male voices
Guillaume Du Fay: Gloria, from “Missa Se la face ay pale”
- ca. 1500
- Innsbruck – favorite city of the emperor Maximilian I
- Genre: Lied
Henricus Isaac: “Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen”
TEXTURE
* Homophonic (melody in Superius)
* four parts satb
Henricus Isaac: “Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen”
HARMONY
* suspensions leading to cadences to F or G
* each stanza midpoint cadences on G
* modal rather than tonal
* cadences from 6th to octave with occasional triads on E-flat – whole step below final – unusual to occur in a piece in F major.
Henricus Isaac: “Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen”
RHYTHM
* Homorhythmic
* duple meter
Henricus Isaac: “Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen”
MELODY
* mostly conjuct with some skips
* lots of suspensions
Henricus Isaac: “Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen”
FORM
* strophic setting
Henricus Isaac: “Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen”
TIMBRE
* Four parts
* SATB (women and men)
Henricus Isaac: “Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen”
TEXTURE
* constantly changing to reflect the text in each section
* points of imitation (polyphonic) in beginning
* then 2,3,4, voices relatively homophonic
Josquin des Prez: “Ave Maria… virgo serena”
HARMONY
* invokes old fauxbourdon style of parallel sixths and 6-3 sonorities
* clear tonal center – C Hypoionian as range of at least a fifth above and a fourth below C in the tenor and superius
* consonant
Josquin des Prez: “Ave Maria… virgo serena”
RHYTHM
* reflects phrasing of words giving longer syllables longer values
* changing meters: 4/2; 6/2; 3/2; 2/2
* changes to reflect text for emphasis AND for expression of feelings and ideas
Josquin des Prez: “Ave Maria… virgo serena”
MELODY
* mostly stepwise with emphasis of 5 to 1 leaps in opening lines
* mostly short phrases
* often syllabic, sometimes neumatic
Josquin des Prez: “Ave Maria… virgo serena”
FORM
* determined by the form of the poem;
* Section I: points of imitation, then voice together with faster rhythm in “drive to the cadence”;
* Section II: homophony (with recalling old style of sacred music to emphasize the text); also staggered voices to represent “multitudes of heavenly and earthy voices”
* Switching continues throughout other sections,
* Ending with slow rhythmic unison
Josquin des Prez: “Ave Maria… virgo serena”
TIMBRE
* four voiced choir with women’s and men’s voices
Josquin des Prez: “Ave Maria… virgo serena”
- Most famous of Luther’s chorales
- printed 1529 in a chorale collection
- words based on Psalm 46
- Genre: Lutheran, four-part chorale
Johann Walter: “Ein’ feste Burg”
TEXTURE
* four voice polyphony
Johann Walter: “Ein’ feste Burg”
HARMONY
* Chorale tune in tenor as was tradition in German Lied
* free counterpoint with other voices
* Ionian mode transposed to F
* Luther associated Ionian modes with hymns of faith
Johann Walter: “Ein’ feste Burg”
