Early Music History

time period for gregorian chant

10th century

key characteristics of gregorian chant

plainchant (monophonic, nonmetric, calming timbre), worship purposes

categories of gregorian chant

syllabic, pneumatic, melismatic

order of the Ordinary

kyrie, gloria, credo, sanctos, agnos dei

time period for Hildegard

12th century

key characteristics of Hildegard

first composer with a name, German with strong ties to church, based on chant music but with distinct style, paved way for more expressive music

example of Hildegard piece

Alleluia — disjunction, wide range, very expressive, dissonant cadence

time period of Leonin and Perotin

mid 12th century

key characteristics of leonin and perotin

polyphony, mainly cojunct, some leaps

time period of machaut

14th century

key characteristics of machaut

first composer focused on building his own reputation, part of Ars Nova movement, introduction of secular elements

troubadours

traveling musicians that accompany the aristocracy, strophic music about love, crusades, politics

example of troubadour music

vaqueras — fast tempo, mix of instruments, repeating melody

time period of josquin de Prez

15th century

key characteristics of joquin de prez

famous for motets (newly written religious pieces, word painting

example of josquin de prez

ave maria — through-composed, imitative polyphony w/ some homorhythmic sections and homophonic conclusion, each section focused on different virtue of the virgin mary

time period of palestrina

16th century

key characteristics of palestrina

a part of counter reformation

example of palestrina

gloria — melismatic in similar areas, monorhythymic, more conservative

time period of claudio monteverdi

17th century

key characteristics of Monteverdi

bridges gap between old music and the renaissance, homophony rather than polyphony, associated with Florentine comerata who believed that homophonic music was better at establishing an emotional connection w/ listener

Monteverdi’s madrigals

madrigals = secular genre of church singing, he wrote 4 in prima practica and the last 5 in old style in response to the backlash he recieved for his style

prima practica

polyphonic

seconda practica

homophonic

figure bass and who developed it

monteverdi, a new kind of notation that allowed accompaniment to know what supporting chords to play (which lead to tonality)

key parts of opera

overture, libretto, recitative, aria, chorus, ritornello

overture

instrumental introduction of the opera

libretto

the lyrics and dialogue of the opera

rescitative

the action that comes before the main song of the opera, in a speaking style of singing

aria

the main song of the opera

ritornello

small instrumental interlude between stanzas, not just limited to opera applies to baroque in general