Middle Ages & Renaissance (2)

Hildegard of Bingen

Abbess of the Rupertsberg, a visionary and mystic active in religious and diplomatic affairs. First woman composer to leave a large number of works that have survived

Instrumental Music

Became more important during the Renaissance.

Guillaume de Machaut

Biggest name in music first 1400 years. Wrote secular and sacred music.

Center of musical life and education during middle ages

Churches and cathedrals

Secular music in Middle ages

Flourished

Madrigal

Secular vocal music during Renaissance. Several solo voices set to a short poem usually about love. Homophonic & polyphonic textures. Word painting & unusual harmonies.

Bass register

Used for the first time during Renaissance

Pierre Francisque Caroubel

pasamezzo

5 parts of ordinary

1. Kyrie 2. Gloria 3. Credo 4. Sanctus 5. Angus Dei (Kangaroos Give Concerts: Sing Along)

Estampie

A medieval dance, one of the earliest surviving forms of instrumental music. Single melodic line, no instrument specified.

Lute

A plucked string instrument with a body shaped like half a pear. Versatile, most popular instrument in Renaissance home.

Ars nova

Changes in musical style in the 14th century were so profound that music theorists referred to Italian and French music as "new art". Beat could be subdivided, syncopation. Secular music more important than sacred.

Musicians worked for... (MA)

Churches, courts, towns

Medieval music: interval of a third

Considered dissonance

Renaissance: tempo/dynamics?

Does not indicate, or specific instruments or number of performers.

Women: Medieval

Not permitted to sing in church, make music and receive training in convents

Rondeau

One of the main poetic and musical forms in the 14th and 15th century France. Has 8 lines.

Mass

Polyphonic choral composition made up of five sections. (ordinary and proper)

Renaissance Motet

Polyphonic choral work set to a sacred Latin text other than the ordinary of the mass.

Church modes

Unique scales used in Gregorian chants. consist of 7 different tones & duplication of the first one

Pasamezzo

a stately dance in duple meter similar to another popular dance called Pavane

Medieval church's view of music during religious services

as a discreet accompaniment

Number of court musicians in Renaissance

as many as 60

Thomas Weelkes

as vesta was descending

Council of Trent

attacked Renaissance church music bc its use of secular tunes, noisy instruments, and theatrical singing

Secular music Renaissance

contained more rapid changes of mood than sacred.

Women: Renaissance

excluded from participating in liturgical services, nuns could perform in convents. Increasingly performed as virtuoso singers in Italian courts

John dowland

flow my tears

Two main forms of sacred Renaissance music

mass motet

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

mass: Polyphonic choral composition of catholic church. 5 parts. KYRIE

Learning during medieval period

monks in monasteries

Josquin Desprez

motet: short polyphonic choral work, different languages (latin & vernacular text) overlaid, smaller scale

Topics of secular music

nature & people's every day life, earthly sensuality

Development of the English (Elizabethan) madrigal

traced to 1588 considered as a result of a London publication of a volume of translated Italian madrigals

A cappella

unaccompanied vocal music

Instruments Renaissance

viols shawms lutes cornets sackbuts (Violas Should Let Cornets Speak)

Renaissance

1450-1600 Rebirth of human creativity, period of exploration and adventure, curiosity and individualism.

Middle Ages

450-1450, music basically monophonic based on church modes, surviving music manuscripts do not indicate tempo and dynamics

Drone

Consists of one or more long, sustained tones accompanying a melody

Mass ordinary

Consists of texts that remain the same from day to day throughout the church year.

Humanism

Dominant intellectual movement during the Renaissance, which focused on human life and its accomplishments

Invention of printing

During Renaissance, widened circulation of music

Elizabethan vs Italian Madrigal

Elizabethan: more lighthearted, flourished during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I

Organum

First step in revolution that transformed western music. Began between 700-900. Medieval music that consists of a Gregorian chant and one or more additional melodic lines.

Notre Dame composers

In the Middle Ages, first instances of western notation that -indicated specific pitches -measured rhythms with definite time values.

Dance music from Renaissance

Lots of dance music survived

Gregorian Chant

Melody set to sacred Latin texts and sung without accompaniment. Official music of Roman Catholic church for over 1,000 years. Conveys calm, otherworldly, spiritual quality. Flexible rhythm, floating quality.

Word painting

Musical depiction of specific words/poetic images

Texture Renaissance

Polyphonic, 4-6 different parts Imitation common, homophonic texture used in dances

Music in the Renaissance: society

Shifted from church to courts

Lute song

Song for solo voice and lute, mostly homophonic.

Renaissance: triads

Sounds mild and relaxed due to stable, consonant triads