MUSIC PART II & III
Movement
- piece that sounds fairly complete and independent but is a part of a larger composition.
Antonio Vivaldi
1)Antonio Vivaldi ( 1678- 1741), a towering figure of the late Italian baroque, was born in Venice; his father was a violinist at St. Mark's Cathedral. 2) Vivaldi's most popular work is the concerto La Primavera ( Spring) from The Four Seasons, a set of four solo concertos for violin, string orchestra, and continuo.
Polyphony
1)Polyphony means more than one pitch played at the same time - what we typically call harmony. 2)The first type of polyphony was called parallel organum. Here the cantus firmus and the higher harmony mirrored each other. 3)Eventually composers like Leonin and his student Perotin began adding a third and fourth part above the cantus firmus, and moved away from the eerie sounding parallel organum.
Josquin Desprez
1) 1st "Great Composer" glorified by contemporary and following generations 2)new approach to composition?
who invented the Motet ?
1) Adam de la Halle (1237-1286) 2) Motet - a piece of music where two or more different verses are fit together simultaneously, without regard to harmony
madrigal
1) An important kind of secular vocal music during the Renaissance was the madrigal, a piece for several solo voices set to a short poem, usually about love. A madrigal, like a motet, combines homophonic and polyphonic textures. But the madrigal uses word painting and unusual harmonies more often. The Renaissance madrigal originated in Italy around 1520, during a creative explo-sion in Italian poetry. 2) Madrigals-Poetry and Music
Guillaume de Machaut
1) Guillaume de Machaut ( about 1300- 1377), who was famous as both a musician and a poet, was born in the French province of Champagne.
Dido and Aeneas
1) Henry Purcell ( about 1659- 1695), called the greatest of English composers, was born in London; his father was a musician in the king's service. 2) His opera Dido and Aeneas was written for students at a girls' board-ing school.
Hildegard von Bingen
1) Hildegard von Bingen, who herself was a nun with reported mystical powers, began composing music different from the Notre Dame school. 2) Von Bingen wrote music that sounded wildly different than plainchant, which some attributed to her lack of musical training. Her melodies, even today, seem contemporary.
Recitative
1) Recitative is used for monologues and dialogues that connect the more melodic sections of the opera. It carries the action forward and presents routine information quickly. 2) In a recitative ( from the Italian word for recite), words are sung quickly and clearly, often on repeated tones.
Notre Dame Music began?
1). 1170 School of Notre Dame 2) 1360 Guillaume de Machaut Notre Dame Mass 3) From about 1170 to 1200, the Notre Dame com-posers developed rhythmic innovations.
About Gregorian chant
1).The melodies of Gregorian chant were meant to enhance specific parts of religious services. They set the atmo-sphere for prayers and ritual actions. 2).Roman Catholic services have been celebrated in the native language of each country, and so today Gregorian chant is no longer common.) 3).Gregorian chant conveys a calm, otherworldly quality; it represents the voice of the church, rather than that of any single individual. Its rhythm is flexible, without meter, and has little sense of beat. 4). The exact rhythm of chant melodies is uncertain, because precise time values were not notated. 5). its free- flowing rhythm gives the chant its free- flowing rhythm gives 6). Gregorian chant is named after Pope Gregory I ( the Great), who reorganized the Catholic liturgy during his reign from 590 to 604. 7). At first Gregorian melodies were passed along by oral tradition, but as the num-ber of chants grew to the thousands, they were notated to ensure musical uniformity throughout the western church.
Ars Nova
1)14th & 15th century France 2)The invention of modern notation 3)The creation of the Ordinary of the Catholic Mass 4)The popularity of the motet
concerto grosso
1)A concerto grosso pre-sents a contrast of texture between the tutti and the soloists, who assert their individu-ality and appeal for attention through brilliant and fanciful melodic lines. 2) A concerto grosso consists of several movements that contrast in tempo and charac-ter. Most often there are three movements: ( 1) fast, ( 2) slow, ( 3) fast.
Giovanni P. Palestrina
1)Adult life in Rome Choirmaster, singer,/ director of music 2)Reactionary period Church suppressed music that did not enhance words of the Mass Polyphony was distracting 3)Works were conservative 4)Wrote over 100 masses Gregorian chant Mass in Honor of Pope Marcellus 5)Influenced later music 6)Buried in St. Peter's Basilica "The Prince of Music"
The lute
1)The lute, which derives from the Arab instrument known as the ' ud ( literally, the wood), is a plucked string instrument with a body shaped like half a pear. The lute's versatility— like that of the guitar today— made it the most popular instrument in the Renaissance home. 2) In England the lute song was widely cultivated from the late 1590s to the 1620s. In contrast to much Renaissance music, lute songs are mostly homophonic in texture.
Cathe-dral of Notre Dame began?
1163 Beginning of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
a subject
A fugue is a polyphonic composition based on one main theme, called a subject.
solo concerto
A solo concerto is a piece for a single soloist and an orchestra.
clavichord
A third keyboard instrument, the clavichord, could make gradual dynamic changes, but only within a narrow range— from about . . . to . . . ( The clavichord produced sound by means of brass blades striking the strings.
oratorio
An oratorio contains a succession of choruses, arias, duets, recitatives, and orches-tral interludes.
Baroque suite
Baroque suite - set of dance-inspired movements.
Ars nova
By the early fourteenth century, a new system of music notation had evolved, and a composer could specify almost any rhythmic pattern. Now beats could be subdivided into two as well as three. Syncopation— rarely used earlier— became an important rhythmic practice. Changes in musical style in the fourteenth century were so pro-found that music theorists referred to Italian and French music as the new art ( ars nova in Latin).
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi ( 1567- 1643), one of the most important composers of the early ba-roque era, was born in Cremona, Italy. For this court Monteverdi created the earliest operatic masterpiece, Orfeo ( Orpheus, 1607). Orfeo ( Orpheus, 1607)
trio sonata
Composers often wrote trio sonatas, so- called because they had three melodic lines: two high lines and a basso continuo.
humanism
During the Renaissance, the dom-inant intellectual movement, which was called humanism, focused on human life and its accomplishments. Humanists were not concerned with an afterlife in heaven or hell.
John Dowland
Flow My Tears ( about 1600), by John Dowland ( 1563- 1626) The leading English composer of lute songs was John Dowland, a virtuoso performer on the lute famous throughout Europe. His lute song Flow My Tears was extraordi-narily popular in Shakespeare's time, and in our own day it has been recorded by many singers, including the rock star Sting.
Gregorian chant
For over 1,000 years, the official music of the Roman Catholic church has been Gregorian chant, which consists of melody set to sacred Latin texts and sung without accompaniment. ( The chant is monophonic in texture.)
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel ( 1685- 1759), a master of Italian opera and English oratorio, was born in Halle, Germany, one month before J. S. Bach. Handel was not from a mu-sical family— his father wanted him to study law— but by the time he was nine, his musical talent was so outstanding that he was allowed to study with a local organist
who Created the first Ordinary for the Catholic Mass
Guillaume de Machaut
Estampie ( Thirteenth Century)
The estampie, a medieval dance, is one of the earliest surviving forms of instrumental music.
tutti
In a concerto grosso, a small group of soloists is pitted against a larger group of players called the tutti ( all). Usually, between two and four soloists play with anywhere from eight to twenty or more musicians for the tutti. The tutti consists mainly of string instruments, with a harpsichord as part of the basso continuo.
countersubject
In many fugues, the subject in one voice is constantly accompanied in another voice by a different melodic idea called a countersubject. A constant companion, the counter-subject always appears with the subject, sometimes below it, sometimes above it.
J. S. Bach
J. S. Bach (1685-1750). German. One of the most important Baroque composers.
Ars Antiqua Composers
Leonin (1163-1190) Perotin (early 13th century) Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) Anonymous (?)
who were the Two successive choirmasters of Notre Dame ?
Leonin and Perotin, are among the first notable composers known by name. They and their followers are referred to as the school of Notre Dame.
Spring.
Like most of Vivaldi's concertos, Spring has three movements: ( 1) fast, ( 2) slow, ( 3) fast. Both the first and last movements are in ritornello form.
What is Ars Antiqua?
Literally means "old art" Stemmed directly from Gregorian Chant This style of music can be characterized as adding hollow sounding harmonies(perfect 4ths & 5ths) to existing chants. This type of music is called organum. Originally, one voice would be added above the existing chant. The chant would be sung very slowly - it was called the cantus firmus.
overture
Most operas open with a purely orchestral composition called an overture or a prelude. Since the eighteenth century, the music for an overture has been drawn from material heard later in the opera.
fugue
One cornerstone of baroque music is the fugue, which can be written for a group of instruments or voices, or for a single instrument like an organ or harpsichord. A fugue is a polyphonic composition based on one main theme, called a subject. Throughout a fugue, different melodic lines, called voices, imitate the subject.
sonata
One of the main developments in instrumental music was the sonata, a com-position in several movements for one to eight instruments. ( In later periods, the term sonata took on a more restricted meaning.)
Opera
Opera - drama that is sung to orchestral accompaniment
libretto
The creation of an opera involves the joint efforts of a composer and a dramatist. The libretto, or text, of the opera is usually written by the librettist, or dramatist, and set to music by the composer.
Renaissance
Renaissance - rebirth of human creativity
a cappella— choral music.
Renaissance choral music did not need instrumental accompaniment. For this rea-son, the period is sometimes called the " golden age" of unaccompanied— a cappella— choral music.
Four Seasons
The Four Sea-sons, a set of four solo concertos for violin, string orchestra, and basso continuo.
chorale & cantata.
The chorale, or hymn tune, was sung to a German religious text. Chorales were easy to sing and remember, having only one note to a syllable and moving in steady rhythm. Both were used in the Lutheran church service and had German religious text.
ritornello
The first and last movements of concerti grossi are often in ritornello form, which is based on alternation between tutti and solo sections. In ritornello form the tutti opens with a theme called the ritornello ( refrain).
answer
The first time, it is based on the notes of the tonic scale. But when the second voice presents the subject, it is in the dominant scale— five scale steps higher than the tonic— and it is then called the answer. A subject beginning with the notes C- D- E, for example, would be imitated by an answer five steps higher, on G- A- B. This alternation of subject and answer between the two scales creates variety.
aria
The main attraction for many opera fans is the aria, a song for solo voice with orchestral accompaniment.
Mass ordinary
The mass ordinary consists of texts that remain the same from day to day through-out the church year. The five sung prayers of the ordinary are the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.
Arcangelo Corelli
The most prominent Italian violinist and composer of string music around 1700 was Arcangelo Corelli ( 1653- 1713). Corelli was also an eminent teacher who laid the foun-dations of modern violin technique. He wrote only instrumental music: sixty sonatas and twelve concertos, all for strings.
basso continuo
The new emphasis on chords and the bass part resulted in the most characteristic feature of baroque music, an accompaniment called the basso continuo ( Italian for continuous bass).
Troubadours
Troubadours were French musicians who traveled across Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries. They sang mostly love songs. They accompanied their love songs with instruments, unlike the church.
ensemble
When three or more singers are involved, the composition is called an ensemble. In a duet or ensemble, the performers either face the audience or move through action that develops the plot.