MUS101 12 - 17

Chanson

A French love poem set to either monophonic or polyphonic music. It is important to realize this is SECULAR music.

Genre

A general term that refers to the stylistic qualities that can be identified about the piece. For example, SONG - a short poem or set of words set to music - is a genre, as is a SYMPHONY - usually a four-movement orchestral work.

Song

A short poem or set of words that is set to music.

Antiphonal / polychoral styles

ANTIPHONAL music is when something is sung or repeated by two alternating groups. POLYCHORAL music is when music is arranged for multiple choirs of instruments, which would then be played sometimes in a performance style known as ANTIPHONAL, where each group plays in alternation and then together.

The Crusades

During the Middle ages, the chivalrous attitude of the time went along with many men going off an fighting the Crusades, in hopes of gaining the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the Muslims. When these European men were off in the East fighting the Crusades, musicians that accompanied them brought back music and instruments from the East. Among these were the REBEC, the STRAWM, and the SACKBUTT.

Troubadour vs. Trouvere

Due to the expansion of music during the Medieval Ages, alongside the sacred music of the cathedrals there was a flourishing repertory of songs that reflected medieval life. On the peasant level, there were minstrels who wander around the fringes of society, performing songs and dances in courts and towns. On a higher social level there were poet-musicians who flourished at the various courts of Europe. In the NORTH OF FRANCE, they were known as TROUVERES, and in the SOUTH OF FRANCE they were known as TROUBADOURS. TROUBADOURS and TROUVERES would sing their music and poetry themselves or entrust the performance to other musicians. Their songs often reflected the passion and chivalrous attitude of the time, usually dealing with unrequited love or unattainable goals. In Germany, these poet-musicians were known as MINNESINGERS.

Council of Trent

During the Catholic Reformation movement, a movement focused on society's return to Christian piety, the Council of Trent met from 1545 to 1563. The Council of Trent took up the matter of reforming sacred church music, objecting to certain instruments being played, the practice of encorporating secular music into church, and even polyphony in general. Some believed it was best to return to Gregorian chant. The committee assigned to deal with the "music problem" issued only vocal recommendations.

Renaissance Mass

Five prayers of the Ordinary (sung every day) were Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, and were sung in Latin (today, in the vernacular).

String quartet

Four performers, two violins, a viola, and a cello.

Musical Styles in History

MIDDLE AGES: 400 - 1450 EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD: 400 - 600 GREGORIAN CHANT: 600 - 850 POLYPHONIC DEVELOPMENT: 850 - 1150 Renaissance Period: 1450 - 1699 Baroque Period: 1600 - 1750 -> Classical period (1750 - 1825) -> Romantic Period (1820-1900)

Melismatic (musical style)

Melismatic setting is when many notes are set to a syllable. It is an expressive feature of Gregorian chant that strongly influenced subsequent Western music, and is part of its style.

LATER MIDDLE AGES

Post 800, around 1000 A.D. universities were formed all around Europe, though only those in the Catholic Church or the very rich could partake in becoming educated. This time period also witnessed the construction of Gothic cathedrals, including NOTRE DAME in Paris, one of the first places in which POLYPHONIC music was notated and integrated into musical worship. During this tumultuous time period, there was a quickly growing merchant class that existed outside of feudalistic society. This brought a new group of music patrons, through increased musical literacy and the spread of amateur musicians. This time period also showed a blossoming of chivalrous and romantic nature in people. This poetic attitude let to the first great flowering of secular music written in the vernacular. Important to recognize the distinction between SACRED and SECULAR music. SACRED MUSIC is used for WORSHIP and is traditionally written in LATIN, the language of the Roman Catholic Church. SECULAR MUSIC is listened to and written for entertainment purposes, and is written in the VERNACULAR, or language of the people.

RENAISSANCE SACRED MUSIC

Renaissance musicians expanded their contributions to music to sung worship in order to reconcile the needs of the individual with the primacy of the divine. Renaissance sacred music was generally performed A CAPELLA and features a fuller sound than medieval music. Renaissance composers were known to set texts from the ORDINARY of the MASS to polyphonic music (polyphonic MASSES). Some of this music was based on a fixed, preexisting melody called the CANTUS FIRMUS. Polyphonic writing from this period was based off of the principle of IMITATION, where musical ideas are exchanged between vocal lines, so that a similar but not identical phrase is heard in different registers.

Motet

Starting in the Middle Ages, but increasingly popular in the Renaissance was the MOTET genre - a sacred work with a Latin text for use of the Mass and other religious services. Began based on organum with a melismatic approach, but eventually moved towards new polyphonic ideas. Many motets devoted to the Virgin Mary exist, as there were many religious groups devoted to her during this time period (music about her helped to control the masses as it created a mother-child relationship). A famous composer of MOTETS was Josquin de Prez.

Example of how to identify listening example

TITLE: SYMPHONY NO.5 in Cm, OPUS 67 COMPOSER: LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN GENRE: Symphony FORM: Four-movement symphonic work MEDIUM: Symphony

Cantus firmus

The CANTUS FIRMUS was a fixed melody that was used as a basis for elaborate ornamentation in the other voices.

Divine (Daily) Offices

The Divine Offices were a series of services celebrated in religious communities at various hours of the day.

(Listening) Gregorian Chant: Kyrie

The KYRIE is the first segment of the ORDINARY. TITLE: Kyrie COMPOSER: None GENRE: Kyrie plainchant from the Ordinary of the Mass FORM: Three phrases A-A-A-B-B-B-C-C-C' (varied) STYLE: Monophonic texture, conjunct melody with small range, wavelike motion, nonmetric meter, melismatic setting. MEDIUM: A capella alternating between two groups (antiphonal)

Madrigal

The MADRIGAL was Italian secular music that utilized intricate poetic verse structures. The music behind the poetry is known for its expressive device WORD PAINTING, or making the music directly reflect the meaning of the words. For example, a sharp dissonant sound representing "death".

Mass

The MASS is a ritualistic reenactment of Christ's Last Supper with his disciples. The MASS is the the primary ritual of the Roman Catholic Church that is attended by public worshippers, and is generally the most solemn. The prayers that make up the MASS were divided into two categories: the PROPER and the ORDINARY. The PROPER were texts that varied from day to day throughout the Church year, and the ORDINARY were the texts that remained the same every day. Gregorian melodies, in Latin, remain central to the MASS to this day.

Mass vs. Ordinary

The MASS is a ritualistic reenactment of Christ's Last Supper, complete with chanting prayers, and is one of the services offered to the public by the Church. The MASS is divided into two sections, the PROPER (prayers that varied by day) and the ORDINARY (prayers that stayed the same every day).

Medium

The MEDIUM is the specific group that performs the piece.

EARLY MIDDLE AGES

The Middle Ages begin with the collapse of the Roman Empire in 476A.D, beginning a thousand year period. The first half of the Middle Ages (400 - around 800 give or take) gave rise to all power being split between kings and the Roman Catholic Church, the latter of which approved the former. During the time of CHARLEGMAGNE (742 - 814) the emperor of the Franks, Europeans began to make systemic use of music notation. Much of the surviving music from the Middle Ages is sacred in nature, due to the culture being shaped by the sponsorship (patronage) of the Catholic Church.

Rebec

The REBEC is a small string instrument that is played with a bow, the precursor to the modern violin. BAS instrument.

Shawm

The SHAWM is a double-reeded woodwind instrument that is the predecessor of the modern oboe that was used by Turkish armies. HAUT instrument.

Organum

The earliest form of polyphony that grew from adding a second voice to a Gregorian chant at the interval of a fifth or fourth higher or lower.

Gregorian Chant

The early music of the Christian Church that is a testament of the highly spiritual nature of the Middle Ages. GREGORIAN CHANT began as PLAINCHANT, a free-flowing, accent-free Latin text that is MONOPHONIC in texture, lacking harmony and counterpoint. PLAINCHANT represents the starting point of artistic creativity in the West. Over time, it became necessary to assemble the ever-growing body of music into a LITURGY, or the church services. Though it took generations, it was credited to Pope Gregory the Great, codifying the melodies into what is known as GREGORIAN CHANT. GREGORIAN CHANTS are typically anonymously written, and are recognizable because they avoid wide leaps in the melody: chants are conjunct and gentle. Chants fall into three main classes, based on the way they are set to the text: SYLLABIC, NEUMATIC, and MELISMATIC, a notable expressive feature of Gregorian chant. Since there was no formal musical staff yet, little ascending or descending symbols known as NEUMES suggested the contour of the melody to the singers. Gregorian chant also uses a variety of scale patterns, or MODES, which served as the basis for European music for a thousand years. Chanted prayers are central to two types of services: the DAILY OFFICES and the MASS.

Form

The internal structure of a piece. An example of this is STROPHIC FORM, where the same melody is repeated at the end of every stanza (for example, a chorus), as opposed to THROUGH COMPOSED FORM, where there is a new melody for each stanza.

Sackbutt

The precursor to the modern trombone, a brass horn that utilizes a double slide to change pitch. HAUT instrument.

Oral Transmission

The preservation or teaching of music without written aid. This is how music is taught in many non-Western cultures that do not use Guido's staff.

(Listening) Hildegard: Alleluia, O Virga...

Title: Alleluia Composer: Hildegard of Bingen Form: Responsorial three-part structure Style: Plainchant, monphonic texture, nonmetric meter, melismatic setting and conjunct melody with some dramatic leaps Medium: A capella choir

(Listening) Josquin, Ave Maria...

Title: Ave Maria... Composer: Josquin Genre: Motet Style: Duple meter, shift to and from triple back to duple meter, imitative polyphony with homorhythmic elements, a capella Form: Sectional

(Listening) Chanson, Bonjour mon coueur

Title: Bonjour mon coureur Composer: Orlande de Lassus Genre: Chanson Form: Through composed, some repetition Medium: A capella, four voices Style: homorhythm, conjunct, narrow range, syllabic setting

(Listening) Gabrieli, Canzona septimi toni

Title: Canzona septimi toni Composer: Gabrieli Genre: Canzona Form: Sectional form, opening idea that returns at the end Style: First composer to notate and express dynamics formally, piano to fortissimo, rich consonant sound, repeated motives in duple meter

(Listening) Madrigal, Fair Phyllis

Title: Fair Phyllis Composer: John Farmer Genre: English madrigal Form: Short repeated sections Style: various textures, lively rhythm in duple and triple meter, dancelike melody Medium: Four voices (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) a capella

(Listening) Perotin style Organum, Gaude Maria virgo

Title: Gaude Maria Composer: None Medium: A capella, soloists sing organum and choir chants Style: Organum (slow moving lower voice and two faster moving faster voices), three part polyphony alternating monophonic chants

(Listening) Arcadelt, Il Bianco e dolce cigno

Title: Il Bianco e dolce cigno Composer: Jaques Arcadelt Genre: Madrigal Form: Through composed until the last line Style: Homophonic, consonant full sound, a capella with four voices, simple movement in duple with focus on top line

(Listening) Troubador Chanson

Title: Kalenda maya Composer: Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (troubdour) Genre: Estampie (Troubadour dance song) Style: Begins with solo rebec, joined by guitar and hand drum, eventually flutelike pipe enters with ostinato, solo voice. Monophonic song with conjunct melody that rises and falls in triple meter. Form: Strophic Form

(Listening) L'Homme arme (The armed man)

Title: L'Homme arme Composer: Guillaume Du Fay Form: Kyrie from the Ordinary of the Mass, based on campus firmus Style: Melismatic setting, a capella singing, campus firmus, non-imitative polyphonic texture, builds Kyrie on top of the song

(Listening) Ma fin est mon commencement

Title: Ma fin est mon commencement Composer: Machaut, Ars Nova Period Genre: Polyphonic Chanson Style: Three voices, a capella, melismatic setting with wavelike melody, duple meter that is syncopated Form: Rondeau, ABaAabAB (uppercase is refrain, lower = verses), non imitative polyphony

(Listening) Pope Marcellus Mass

Title: Pope Marcellus Mass Composer: Giovanni Palestrina Genre: Sacred Gloria of the Mass Ordinary Style: Full harmony from choir, a capella choir, syllabic texture, homorhythmic texture with polyphony, frequent changes in density of voices, through composed

(Listening) Susato: Three Dances

Title: Three Dances Composer: Susato Genre: Ronde Form: Three binary dances Style: Lively duple, full consonant chords, mostly homophonic, Medium: Four part instrumental, haut wind section (shawm, corentto, sackbut, tabor, tambourine)

A capella

Trademark of Gregorian chant and Renaissance sacred music, a cappella music is sung with voices alone and no other instrumentation.

Symphony

Usually a four-movement orchestral work. Symphony also implies the MEDIUM of the work, which is the specific group that performs the piece (in this case, orchestra).

"Haut" (high) vs. "Bas" (low) instruments

When courts would have groups of musicians play for them, they would have HAUT and BAS instruments, based on the dynamics of which they would be played. The instruments in these early ages were divided into generally the same musical groups that we have today - strings, woodwinds, percussion, etc. - but were further divided into HAUT and BAS categories depending on how they were used. HAUT instruments = LOUD instruments used OUTSIDE, such as the SHAWM and SACKBUT. BAS instruments = SOFT instruments used INDOORS, such as the REBEC.