Music History I Renaissance Genres

Motet

a type of polyphonic vocal music that usually features multiple voices singing sacred or religious texts without instrumental accompaniment

Sacred Latin text, imitative polyphony, flexible sacred themes, a capella

What are four characteristics of a Motet?

cantus firmus (motet CF)

a pre-existing melody—typically drawn from Gregorian chant or a secular tune—that serves as the structural foundation for a polyphonic composition; can be newly composed for a work bus is most often derived from an existing composition; replaced isorhythm

Features one dominant, pre-existing structural melody moving slowly in a single voice while the rest of the texture accompanies it.

What is one characteristic of a cantus firmus?

Canon (motet)

a strict contrapuntal musical form where melody is strictly imitated by one or more voices at fixed time intervals

Parody (motet)

where a composer uses an entire polyphonic work—very often a motet—as the foundational material to build a completely new piece

Paraphrase (motet)

a compositional technique where a pre-existing melody—typically a Gregorian plainchant—is altered and woven into a polyphonic work known as a motet

Mass

a sacred choral composition that sets the unchanging prayers of the Western Christian Eucharistic litugy

Chanson

any lyric-driven French song; sophisticated polyphonic vocal works by composers like Guillaume Du Fay and Clement Janequin

Frottola

the most popular type of Italian secular song during the late 15th and early 16th centuries and served as the primary predecessor to the madrigal

Villanelle

in Renaissance music, a light, rustic Italian secular song style that emerged in Naples around the mid-16th century as a playful, down-to-earth reaction against the overly refined madrigal

Lied

a polyphonic secular vocal composition from the 15th and 16th centuries that served as the primary German-language song form of the era

Meistersinger

amateur German poets and musicians from the artisan and trading classes who established influential musical guilds across southern Germany during the 15th and 16th centuries

Lute song

a musical style from the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras, popular mostly in Englad and France between 1590 and 1620

Parisian chanson

a popular, lyric-driven French secular song style that emerged in the 1520s during the Renaissance, feature lighter, homophonic four-voice textures that places the poetic text front and center

Madrigal (Italian)

an unaccompanied secular vocal music form for three to six voices that matched expressive poetry with dramatic musical storytelling

Madrigal (English)

a vibrant, brief musical movement of unaccompanied secular vocal music that flourished in England from 1588 to 1627

Prelude

a short, improvised or free-form piece that musicians—especially [lutenists and keyboard players]—played to test their tuning, warm up their fingers, and quiet the room before a larger performance

Anthem

a sacred choral composition with English words that emerged during the mid-16th-century English REformation as the Anglican equivalent to the Latin Catholic motet

Chorale

vocal art music written and performed between 1400 and 1600, defined by smooth polyphonic textures and a “rebirth” of expressive sacred and secular styles; strophic hymns

Tenorlied

a polyphonic German secular song style from the Renaissance, popular from the 15th through the mid-16th century

villancico

a prominent poetic and music form in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America during the Renaissance, originating as a rustic folk song before evolving into sophisticated art music

strictly sacred during renaissance period

Motets: secular or sacred?

sacred

Mass: secular or sacred?

secular

chanson: Secular or sacred?

secular

Frottola: secular or sacred?

secular

Villanelle: secular or sacred?

secular

lied: secular or sacred?

included both secular and sacred elements

meistersinger: secualr or sacred?

secular

lute song: secular or sacred?

secular

parisian chanson: secular or sacred?

secular

Italian madrigal: sacred or secular?

secular

English madrigal: secular or sacred?

both, started in sacred and expanded into secular

prelude: secular or sacred?

sacred choral composition

anthem: secular or sacred?

sacred

chorale: secular or sacred?

secular

tenorlied: secular or sacred?

started secular, transitioned into sacred devotional use

villancico: secular or sacred?

sacred

cantus firmus: secular or sacred?

both

Canon: secular or sacred?

sacred

parady: secular or sacred?

sacred

paraphrase: secular or sacred?