Renaissance Mass Flashcards
What was Mass like in the Renaissance? (non-musical characteristics)
Machaut’s concept of writing unified masses became very popular, with some English composers introducing the concept of Mass cycles with each movement based on a common cantus firmus. It became a way for composers to demonstrate their ability to unify large-scale works as well as his contrapuntal and harmonical mastery (Renaissance)
What was Mass like in the Renaissance? (musical characteristics)
It usually had 4-6 voices, but usually only a few would sing at a time and they would only come together in “chant” sections. Additionally, the evolving counterpoint had made Mass lose its modal sound it had during the middle ages, giving it a tonal sound we know well today (Renaissance)
How did Josquin des Prez contribute to Mass?
He continued use of canti firmi and created the first known example of a soggetto cavato dalle vocali di queste parole (Renaissance)
How did Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina contribute to Mass?
His extremely complex counterpoint alternating with homorhythmic passages led the way for many other Renaissance composers to create rich, clear music (Renaissance)
Who was Martin Luther, what did he do, and what were his thoughts about music?
He was a German priest that nailed the 95 theses onto a church door, criticizing the church’s abuse of power. This eventually led to Luther translating the Bible into German and starting the Protestant reformation. The protestant church believed that the bible should be a Christian’s true spiritual guide while the Catholics thought it should be the Pope. Luther’s personal thoughts on music were to make all music into vernacular languages and get rid of polyphony in exchange for monophonic chants which everyone could sing (Renaissance)
Why did King Henry VIII of England break off from the Catholic church?
The pope refused to let him divorce his first wife and he broke off and created the Anglican church (Renaissance)
What was the Council of Trent and how did it impact music?
It was a meeting of church officials that spearheaded the Catholic Counter-reformation. Although it considered banning polyphony, Palestrina convinced them otherwise with his Missa Papae Marcelli that ensured a clear delivery of text. However, it did ban all but 4 of the hymns sung before the proclamation of the Gospel which made a large body of settings obsolete to composers (Renaissance)
What was the Catholic Counter Reformation?
A series of reforms in the Catholic church in which it weeded out corruption and condemned protestants of heresy (Renaissance)
What were some of the recommendations of the Council of Trent that were not implemented?
Banning instruments other than the organ, banning excessive polyphony, and banning secular canti firmi (Renaissance)
What quote best summarizes the Council of Trent’s thoughts on music?
Singing . . . should not be constituted to give empty pleasure to the ear . . . the words must be clearly understood by all, the hearts of the listeners drawn to heavenly harmonies . . .” (Renaissance)
ALL CHARACTERISTICS OF GLORIA FROM MISSA PAPAE MARCELLI
Genre: Mass
Composer: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Composition date: 1567
Source of Text: Gloria from Mass Ordinary
Language: Latin
Performing forces: 6 voices (SATTBB) a cappella
Texture: Polyphonic with homorhythmic passages
Amount of Polyphony: Restrained for text clarity
Text setting: Syllabic (Renaissance)
What is Parody?
Multiple voices borrowed from another composition (Renaissance)
What is Paraphrase?
Using an embellished cantus firmus (Renaissance)
What is Soggetto cavato dalle vocali di queste parole?
Turning the syllables into which solfege syllable it sounds the most like (Renaissance)
