Music History I Exam 2: Renaissance

Renaissance

“rebirth” in french; transitional period between Middle Ages and modern times; emphasized humanism

Spanish Inquisition

a harsh judicial court system established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II and Isabella I to enforce religious unity and secure political power across Spain

Holy Roman Empire

a large, decentralized collection of states in Central Europe that lasted for over a thousand years from its beginnings under Charlemagne or Otto I until its dissolution in 1806

Protestant Reformation

a 16th-century religious and political movement that broke the monolithic power of the Roman Catholic Church and created Protestantism

contenance angloise

English guise; Big Three: John Dunstable, Gilles Binchois, Guillaume Dufay; a distinctive 15th-century style of musical polyphony characterized by a sweet, consonant sound built on rich harmonic thirds and sixths

fauxbourdon

an unnotated line that was added in parallel motion to 2 notated lines; usually a 4th below; created texture rich in 3rds and 6ths

cantus firmus

replaced isorhythm; “fixed melody”; serves as the basis of a composition; can be newly composed for a work but is most often derived from an existing

conjunct motion

a stepwise melodic movement where notes move up or down consecutively be small intervals of a major or minor second

white notation

a historical system of mensural notation featuring open, hollow noteheads instead of solid black ones

Cadence

a progression of at least two chords that ends a musical phrase or section, acting like punctuation in a sentence

cyclic Mass

a musical setting of the Roman Catholic Mass Ordinary where all five standard movements share a common musical theme or organizing principle

head motive

a specific musical idea that appears at the very beginning of a set of movements or a piece to help tie them together

inversion

flipping or rearranging musical elements—such as intervals, chords, or melodies—upside down or by changing their bottom-to-top order

word (text) painting

a musical composition technique where the melody, rhythm, or harmony mirrors the literal or figurative meaning of the lyrics

viola da gamba

a bowed and fretted string instrument held vertically between the legs

sackbut

early form of the trombone

Counter-Reformation

the period of catholic revival and structural reform in the 16th and 17th centuries launch in response to the Protestant Reformation

hurdy-gurdy

a string instrument that produces sound by means of a hand cranked rosined wheel that rubs against the strings

ars perfecta

“perfected art”; coined by Henricus Glareanus to describe the pinnacle of Renaissance polyphonic vocal music

Calvinism

a major branch of Protestant Christianity that emphasizes the supreme authority of God and the doctrine of predestination

Black death (plague)

a devastating global pandemic that swept through Europe, Asia, and North Africa between 1346 and 1353

humanism

a progressive, non-religious life stance that emphasizes human value, dignity, and the ability to find meaning and ethics through reason, science, and compassion rather than supernatural beliefs

invention of printing press

Invented by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 in Mainz, Germany; a mechanical device that applies pressure to an inked surface resting on a medium like paper or cloth to transfer an image or text

musicus

“musical” or “of or belonging to music and poetry”

tactus

Latin word meaning “touch,” also refers to musical pulse

panconsonance

a 15th-century musical style where nearly every note belongs to a consonant triad or triadic inversion, significantly reducing dissonance

faburden

a 15th-century English musical technique for improvising or writing three-voice polyphony

pervading imitation

a Renaissance musical technique where all voices in a polyphonic composition take turns repeating the same melodic idea

root position triads

a three-note chord where the root note—the note that gives the chord its name—is the lowest sounding note in the bass

paratactic form

a writing style that places short, independent clauses or phrases side-by-side without using subordinating conjunctions to show which ideas causes or depends on another

mode

types of scales created by taking a parent scale—most commonly the major scale—and starting it on a different note

Musica reservata

a central style/way of performing music that emerged out of the late Renaissance and early Baroque period that is affiliated with being performed for private, noble audiences

canon

a compositional technique where an initial melody is played by one voice or instrument and strictly imitated by one or more other voices after a short time delay

ostinato

a short musical phrase, rhythm, or chord pattern that continuously repeats throughout a piece of music whilte other elements change

consorts of instruments

a small group of instruments playing together

cross-relation

a musical dissonance that happens when a note is followed or accompanied by a chromatically altered version of itself in a different voice or instrument

shawm

a loud, conical-bore, double-reed woodwind instrument that served as the direct ancestor to the modern oboe

through-composed

a compositional structure that continuously progresses from beginning to end with new, non-repeating material rather than recycling large sections like verses or choruses

Council of Trent

a major meeting of the Roman Catholic Church that took place in northern Italy between 1545 and 1563 to reform the church and respond to the Protestant Reformation

Dissemination

the act of spreading or distributing something widely, especially information, news, or ideas, to a large group of people

consonance vs. dissonance

_____ sounds stable and pleasant; ______ sounds clashing and tense

Old Hall Manuscript

the largest, most complete, and most significant source of English sacred music of the late 14th and early 15th centuries

Le institutioni harmoniche

a famous music theory treatise written by Italian Renaissance composer and theories Giosefffo Zarlino and first published in Venice in 1558

Dodecachordon

a groundbreaking 1547 music treatise by Swiss humanist and theories Heinrich Glarean that expands the traditional system of eight church modes to twelve

Musica Transalpina

a landmark 1588 collection of Italian madrigals with English-translated lyrics;