music history quiz 3

Syllabic vs. melismatic

syllabic is when each syllable of text has its own note, and melismatic is when a single syllable is sung to many notes.

monasticism

a way of life based on a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Rule of St. Benedict

introduced in 800-821 - a model of life becomes rule followed by all monasteries. Unifies form of worship in frankish empire, ensuring that all are singing roman chant and those distributed by charlemagne and are following the Divine Office. Was written in 520

Christian liturgy = Divine Office & Mass

evolved from simple Jewish-inspired chants to complex polyphony, with significant periods including the development of Gregorian chant, the emergence of polyphony around the 10th century, and later reforms

Charlemagne

Crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope in 800 on crismas zay. He orders that the roman rite be used throughout his empire - desires to go back to “the clarity of the source” of all chants. 

Pope Gregory I

plainchant (aka Gregorian chant)

monophonic, unaccompanied, sacred vocal music with a free un-metered rhythm, traditional sung in Latin. (Gregorian chant) Roman Catholic

Hildegard of Bingen

1098-1179 She was a German abbess, composer and visionary mystic of the Middle Ages

Sequence (What it is; chant it originated from)

Double verse structure

a song using two distinct repeating verses before a chorus or a song with two consecutive lyrical sections that are considered a single large “verse” unit 

liturgical drama

refers to plays and dramatic performances that were historically performed within or near a church service. Liturgical drama is a type of performance that uses music, along with dialogue and action, to tell religious stories, but the music itself is a component, not the whole concept. 

secular monophony

a style of medieval and early renaissance music featuring a single, unaccompanied melodic line without religious themes, sung by troubadours, trouvères, and goliards about love, heroism, or daily life

troubadour, trouvére, trobairitz

fin d’amours

vernacular

bar form

a three part musical and poetic structure (AAB)

strophic

relating to, containing or consisting of strophes(repeating sections of a song, or form where the same music is used for different verses of texts) using the same music for successive stanzas

performance practice traditions in secular monophony

the interpretive traditions surrounding the single unaccompanied melodic line of medieval songs. Improvisation, instrumental accompaniment, and flexible rhythmic interpretation guided by text

Duke William IX

Eleanor of Acquitaine

Late 16th century madrigal

an acapella composition written for 4-6 voices through-composed except for the closing couplet and features word painting

Madrigalism

word painting applied to the genre renaissance madrigal

Mimesis

an attempt to reproduce reality in the music

Word painting

creates an explicit association between individual words & the music to which they’ve been set. Pain→harmonic dissonance, song→extended malisma

Mood painting

when the composer attempts to create a musical impression of poetic mood

Josquin desPrez

Genius Construct (during the Renaissance)

(Renaissance) Motet

a polyphonic vocal composition that uses sacred text and is sung in Latin

Paratactic Form

medieval & renaissance - sense of fragmentation, modularity or a sense of standing on its own musically, repeatable sections

“drive to the cadence” (a hallmark of Josquin’s compositional style)

a sense of forward momentum and heightened anticipation leading to a harmonic conclusion or a sense of finality at a cadence point. Gradual release in rhythmic activity and melodic intensity, building tension that is resolved by the cadence.

Points of imitation

a musical passage or otive that is introduced in one voice and then copied by other voices at a different pitch and time, creating a texture of overlapping or sequential imitative entries in a contrapuntal composition

Pervasive imitation

a compositional technique (late renaissance) where a short melodic idea or motive is imitated and repeated across almost all voices in a polyphonic texture.

Mass Ordinary

Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei

Mass vs. Cyclic Mass

Plainsong (or Plainchant) Mass

Headmotive or “motto”

placing a cantus firmus in the tenor voice and paraphrasing a borrowed melody in each movement

Motto Mass

Cantus firmus

Cantus firmus Mass

Paraphrase Mass

What role did charlemagne and the spread of his carolingian empire play in the development and spread of early medieval music?

what role did Eleanor of Acquitaine’s marriage to King Louis VII of france and King Henry II of England play in the development and spread of early medieval music?

what is the difference between plainchant and secular monophony?

who was Hildegard of Bingen and why is she important for the study of medieval music?

1098-1179 She was a German abbess, composer and visionary mystic of the Middle Ages. She is one of the first known female composers and her work constitutes one of the largest and most significant surviving collections of medieval music. She composed liturgical songs and poems. Experienced visions from God. and wrote theological, medicinal, and botanical texts.