Exam 2 Review

Renaissance Dates

1400-1600

What does Renaissance mean?

French for "rebirth"

What changes did moveable type have on music?

new technology, printing press; new genres, new textures, international style

What are the general styles of Renaissance?

Expressive, focus on consonance, importance of text, strict rules for dealing with dissonances

What was interesting/different about Missa prolationum by Ockeghem?

Notated 2 voices but sang in 4 voices; uses four prolations of mensural notation

National style

16th century; ability to read musical notation and perform became an expected social grace

International style

15th century; printing press led to this, changed economics of music, and music could be sold as a commodity; amateurs could enjoy music

Who were the early Madrigal composers?

Phillipe Verdelot and Jacques Arcadelt

Who were the Mid-century madrigal composers?

Cipriano de Rore

Who were the late
madrigal composers?

Orlando de Lassus, Luca Marenzio and Carlo Gesualdo,

Music’s role in the Lutheran church

Music was central to Lutheran church because Luther was musician; Most important form of music in the Lutheran church was the Lutheran Chorale;

Music’s role in the Calvinist church

Stripped church of anything that might distract worshippers; Metric Pslams; Sung in church unaccompanied and in unison

Changes to Catholic church music due to the Council of Trent/Counter-reformation

Move to suppress variation in local practices in favor of a more uniform liturgy; Only policy adopted regarding polyphonic music suggested a ban on masses based on vernacular songs

Instruments in the Renaissance that are the same from the Middle Ages

Recorders, transverse flute, shawms, cornetts, trumpets

Sackbut

early form of trombone (made possible by invention of bent tubing and slide tubing)

Crumhorn

double reed enclosed in a cap so the lips do not touch (sounds like a soft bagpipe)

Lute

most popular household instrument in 16th century; Pear-shaped, rounded back, flat fingerboard, pegbox; One single and 5 double strings

Vihuela

Spanish, closely related to the lute, flat back, guitar shaped body

Viol or Viola da gamba

Developed in Spain mid-15th century; Became leading bowed string instrument of 16th century; Comes in different sizes; Player held instrument between the legs and bowed underhand; Played without vibrato; Fretted, 6 strings tuned a 4th apart with a M3 in the middle

Violin

distant cousin of the viol; Bowed, fretless tuned in 5ths; Descended from the medieval fiddle; First appeared in the early 16th century as a 3 string instrument used to accompany dancing; During the 17th century, the violin, viola and violoncello gradually displaced the viols

Organ

widely used in Middle Ages; Changed over time as makers added stops (ranks of pipes); By 1500 the large church organ was like the instrument we know today

Clavichord

solo instrument suitable for small rooms; Pressing a key raises a brass blade that strikes a string and remains in contact with it, sustaining the tone until the key is released; tone is very soft but can control volume within limits

Harpsichord

Both solo and ensemble playing in places of moderate size; Key moves a quill that plucks the string; cannot produce dynamic differences

Common Renaissance Dance forms

Basse danse, Pavane, Galliard, Allemande, Moresco

Introductory/Improvisatory Forms

Prelude, fantasia, ricercare, toccata, canzona

Importance of Venice as a center of music in late Renaissance/early Baroque

Independent state with its own empire; City of traders and chief port--very wealthy; Government spent lavishly on public spectacle, music, art

Importance of Sonata piano e’ forte by Gabrieli

one of the earliest known pieces to have loud and soft dynamics printed on it

humanism

movement to revive ancient Greek and Roman culture, and to study things pertaining to human knowledge and experience; Strongest intellectual movement of the Renaissance

Bas instruments

"soft" instruments associated with chamber; ex: flute and lute

Haut instruments

"loud" instruments associated with public court; ex: shawm, trumpet; conveyed political and military power

Le istitutioni harmoniche

A book on the Art of Counterpoint; Leading counterpoint treatise of 15th century; described strict rules of dissonance

Hemiola

cross-rhythms of three quarter notes in 6/8; ex: De plus en plus

Fauxbourdon

inspired by English Faburden; Cantus and tenor written out, moving mostly in parallel 6ths; end phrase on octave; Third voice (unwritten) sang in exact parallel a 4th below the cantus, ending on an open 5th and octave; Used for settings of the simpler Office chants

Polyphonic mass

written all over the continent; Became standard practice after to set the Ordinary as a coherent whole; Could be paired by same arrangement of voices, same modal center, similar musical material, etc.; Eventually included all 5 parts

Plainsong mass

each movement is based on a chant to the same text

Motto mass

movements share the same opening motive, called the head motive

Cantus-firmus mass

The same cantus firmus is used in each movement, normally in the tenor

Canon

deriving 2 or more voices from a single notated voice

Mensuration canon

2 voices sing simultaneously from the same part, but with different durations (because they are applying different mensuration signs)

Villancico

Became most important form of polyphonic song in Renaissance Spain; Text usually on rustic subjects; Composed for the aristocracy; Short, strophic, syllabic, mostly homophonic; Reflect a growing preference for simplicity

Madrigal

single stanza with 7 or 11 syllable lines and either a standard or free-rhyme scheme; No refrains or repeated lines; Through composed;

Villanella

Lively, strophic piece in homophonic style, usually 3-voiced

Meistersinger

"master-singer"; German amateur singer/poet-composers

Lied

German song; typically for solo voice with piano accompaniment

Musica transalpina

Collection of Italian madrigals translated into English

Lutheran Chorale

Most important form of music in the Lutheran church; Congregation sang several chorales during each service; metric, rhymed, strophic poem, and melody was simple rhythm and unison.

Metrical Psalm

metric, rhymed, strophic translations of psalms in the vernacular that were set to newly composed melodies or tunes adapted from chant or other sources

Anthem

polyphonic work in English, like a motet, usually sung by the choir near the end of Matins or Evensong

Variation Form

Form that presents an uninterrupted series of variants on a theme
In the 16th century, used for independent instrumental pieces; Theme could be an existing or newly composed tune, bass line, harmonic plan, melody with accompaniment

Basilica San Marco/Church of St. Mark

Center of Venetian musical culture; Church known for Byzantine domes, bright gold mosaics, and Palo d’Oro, altarpiece of sold gold and precious jewels

Polychoral motets

2-5 choirs, each with a different combination of high and low voices “mingled with instruments of diverse timbres” and “answered one another antiphonally and joined together in massive sonorous climaxes”

Johannes Tinctoris

wrote Liber de arte contrapuncti, (A Book of the Art of Counterpoint) book about rules of counterpoint and dissonance

Gioseffo Zarlino

wrote Le istitutioni harmoniche (The Harmonic Foundations)

John Dunstable

Most highly regarded English composer of the fifteenth century; Composed in all polyphonic genres of the time; composition: Quam pulchra es

Antoine Busnoys

Most prolific and widely praised chanson composer of his time; Served Charles the Bold, Mary of Burgundy, and Maximilian of Hapsburg; composition: Busnoy’s Je ne puis vivre

Jean de Ockeghem

Esteemed for his masses; Served the kings of France for almost a century; composition: Missa prolationum

Josquin des Prez

Regarded as the greatest composer of his time; His pieces were widely sung, praised, and emulated during his lifetime and for decades after his death; composition: Mille regretz, Missa Pange lingua

Juan del Encina

First Spanish playwright; Leading composer of villancicos; Wrote on pastoral themes depicting an idealized world of shepherds and other rustic figures in beautiful rural landscapes; composition: Oy comamos y bebamos

Franceco Pertrarca (Petrarch)

Poet that most composers in Venice were obsessed with during the 16th century

Cipriano de Rore

Madrigals captured sounds, emotions and images in the text; composition: De la belle contrade d’oriente

Maddalena Casulana

First woman whose music was published & first to regard herself as a professional composer

Orlando de Lassus

Wrote in all genres; Total production was more than 2,000 pieces; Music known all over Europe; Granted rights to control the dissemination of his music by King Charles IX and by the Holy Roman Emperor

Martin Luther

Professor of biblical theology; Organized the Lutheran church; Approach to theology influenced by his humanistic education

Jean Calvin

Felt similar to Luther-rejected papal authority, embraced justification through faith alone; felt that some people are predestined for salvation, others for damnation

William Byrd

Leading English composer in the late 16th/early 17th centuries; Master of almost all major genres of the time; composition: Sing Joyfully unto God

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Works were praised as the “pinnacle of Church music”; Renowned especially for his masses and motets; Music became a model for later centuries of church music and of counterpoint in strict style; composition: Pope Marcellus Mass

Tómas Luis de Victoria

Most famous Spanish composer of the 16th century; music was shorter, less florid melodies, more frequent cadences, more chromatic alterations, more contrasting passages in homophony or triple meter; composition: Missa O magnum mysterium

Giovanni Gabrieli

One of leading composers of the late Renaissance/early Baroque; Known today primarily for his instrumental works (though equally accomplished in sacred works); composition: Canzoni septimi toni a 8 (Canzona in Mode 7 in 8 Parts) from Sacrae symphoniae