ITALIAN CULTURE THROUGH MUSIC MIDTERM

Who were the Florentine Camerata?

- A group of intellectuals and musicians - Met in Florence in the late 16th century - Wanted to revive the style of ancient Greek drama

Describe the Lauda Spirituale

- Devotional song of praise, popular in central Italy - Sung in the vernacular - Earliest forms are monophonic, later became polyphonic

What was La Carphese (Tarantella)?

- Traditional shepards tarantrella from Carpino - First recorded in 1954

Pope Gregory I (The Great) was born when and said what about art and illiterate people?

- born c. 540 - said art was good for illiterate people

Orsanmichele NOTES:

- built in the 14th century, bundled by a music society - lauda- songs of pray that were not for an official church - built a marble tabanac to protect the painting in the building - ascending into heaven. she's surrounded by angels who are playing musical instruments - concept is that in paradise there is music

What are the characteristics of Gregorian chant/ plainchant?

- single line of melody - very simple - no instruments, all vocal tradition

Who was Marsilio Ficino?

A lyre player who believed he was the modern day Orpheus

What is a castrato?

A male singer with a voice equivalent to a soprano, or mezzo-soprano. The voice is produced by castration of the singer before puberty.

What was the tarantella?

A ritual-dance songs associated with rituals and weddings. It combines singing and dancing. Tied with healing and Pagan beliefs.

•Italian street theatre, popular from early 16th century onwards. •Started the idea that it made fun of how people say things (especially spaniards) •It interacts directly with the audience, in that sense it is very spontaneous •Improvised around set themes involving; •Actors in masks & costumes Stock characters- divided into Vecchi (old), Inamorata (lovers) and Zanni (servants); usually the servants help the lovers Clever servants outwitting their masters.

Commedia dell'arte

What do circles usually symbolize?

ETERNITY

Give some background of the statues outside of the Orsanmichele church.

Each guild formed around a particular trade or profession. Statues of their patron saints were installed in the niches which were around the outside of the building near street-level. These would have been highly-visible places for public viewing of the guild statues.

Describe the ultimate tragic love story of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Eurydice gets bitten by a snake, dies & goes to the underworld. Orpheus travels to the underworld. His music softens the hearts of Hades and Persephone, who agree to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: Orpheus must walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. Orpheus lost his faith and turned to see; Eurydice was still behind him, but her shadow was whisked back among the dead bc he turned back. Eurydice was gone forever. Orpheus tried to return to the Underworld but a man cannot enter the Hades twice, not alive anyway.

Tarantella often uses what kinda BASS? Hint: It gets repeated over and over

GROUND BASS

_____________ __________ is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the Roman Catholic Church.

Gregorian chant

Describe some ways that distinguishes Tarantella's bass from other musical bass forms.

Ground Bass has more instruments which are added, you can improvise around it and the bass gets repeated over and over.

Who was the man credited to have created the staff in music notation?

Guido Monaco

What language is the Gregorian chant sung in?

Latin

What do you call music written in a manuscript?

Laudario di Cortana

Describe the melody and Harmony of Gregorian chant.

Melody - The melody of a Gregorian chant is very free-flowing. The chant moves up and down by steps and small leaps within a narrow range. Melodies are often melismatic- syllables are held out over multiple notes. Harmony - Gregorian chants are monophonic in texture, so have no harmony.

What does MONOPHONIC mean?

One sound, one melody

The Florentine building known as ________________ was one of the most important places for sculpture in the early Renaissance years. Built in 1337, it was used to store grain and was owned by the city.

Orsanmichele

The Tarantella is still described in two legends, still told in Sorrento and Capri, describe these legends.

Siren legend: 3 beautiful women who lure men under water, called Sirens, try to enchant Ulysses with their song, but fail because Ulysses puts wax in his hears and ropes himself to the ship. The sirens call upon The Graces for help, asking them to teach them exotic dances. The Graces invented the Tarantella, knowing the sirens could not dance because they had tails. 2ND LEGEND: Sirens had beautiful legs and used them to attract Ulysses with erotic dances. Their attempt to seduce him was brought to an end when Ulysses didn't oblige.

What did Athanasius Kircher (In regards to Tarantism) do after college?

Studied the musical aspects of tarantism and wrote book where he drew on material he collected from Taranto.

•A series of dramatic madrigals Tells a story, but is not staged •Grew out of the commedia tradition •Used similar themes/characters •Enjoyed mimicking dialects & accents, or animal noises •Poked fun at all walks of life (poor,rich,men,women,etc.) •A reaction to the seriousness of monody and the new opera

THE MADRIGAL - COMEDY

TRUE OR FALSE: The first Baroque opera ever written was performed in 1597 in Florence in Italy.

TRUE

True or False: Women were usually the ones affected by Tarantism

TRUE

Define "Tarantismo"

The disease caused by the spider's bite. Common in south Italy.

Neumes were what in Plainchant?

The origins of the present-day music notation system.

What were old Lyres made out of?

Tortoise shell as shell and the string was animal guts

What is one of the influences of MADRIGAL COMEDY?

commedia dell'arte

what do neumes consist of?

consists of a note or a group of notes that are to be sung on a single syllable

A factor that made 16th-century Florence ripe for the advent of opera was its long tradition of musical theatre, manifested principally in the musical productions known as ____________ (or interludes) that were staged between the acts of spoken plays.

intermedii

the ______________ became increasingly lavish and costly—a form of conspicuous consumption meant to impress invited guests with their noble host's wealth and liberality. Their height was reached at Medici family weddings, each successive one striving hard to outdo the last.

intermedii

From 9th and 10th centuries, plainchant was first notated in___________?

neumes

Plainchant was originally passed on ______________

orally

Explain the origins of the Tarantella

tarantella's origin is connected with tarantism, a disease or form of hysteria that appeared in Italy in the 15th to the 17th century and that was obscurely associated with the bite of the tarantula spider; victims seemingly were cured by frenzied dancing.

Gregorian chant notation first used what symbols to indicate the rising and lowering of the sound of the letter??

the little accent like: "é"

Describe the styles of Opera

• RECITATIVE- speech-like, follows speech patterns and inflections • ARIOSO- more melodies but still follows speech patterns and inflections • ARIA- melodic (like a song), metric • CHORUS- more than one person singing each part, like a choir