Music in the Fifteenth Century

music in the fifteenth century

prelude

• strong english presence in france
  • english victories during war
• england won the hundred years' war and brought governmental and military personnel, as well as composers and musicians for mass and secular entertainment
• english music spread and made an impression on the french
• midcentury - music in the burgundian lands became the chief conduit for a new style that assimilated italian, french and english elements
• nearly all the leading composers active during the late fifteenth century came from netherlands, belgium, northeastern france, luxembourg, lorraine
• chapels were musical establishments with salaried musicians who made up as many as 30 professionals
• duchy of burgundy
  • low countries and france - pathways for importing english music to the continent
• sumer is icumen in
  • pes - foot; two people sing a specific part over and over
  • cross - next group comes in
  • early example of english music
  • imperfect consonances in parallel motion, rota

cosmopolitan musicians:

• presence of many foreign musicians contributed to the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the burgundian court
• chapel members moved from court to court for new opportunities, fostering a cosmopolitan musical style

english music and its influence

• england's sacred and secular art music were closely connected to folk styles
• english carols (strophic with refrains) used successions of simultaneous thirds and sixths in parallel motion

refining the motet:

• original meaning - pieces that added text to the upper part of a discant clausula
• broadened meaning - includes any work with texted upper voices above a cantus (sacred or secular)
• by 1450 isorhythmic motets disappeared
• used to describe settings of sacred text in newer musical styles regardless of whether or not the settings were based on chant

dunstable:

• john dunstable was the leading english composer of his time - wrote all styles of polyphony
• three-voice sacred pieces are his most important works - some use cantus firmus in tenor, florid treble lines, tenor moving in thirds and sixths, or no basis on existing melody
• quam pulchra es - three voices similar in character and equal in importance, move and pronounce together, consonant, phrases molded to rhythm of words

renaissance music theory (tinctoris)

• consonance
  • emphasis on thirds and sixths - expanded theory of consonance beyond octave, fourth and fifth
• tinctoris
  • liber de arte contrapuncti - johannes tinctoris, most up to date counterpoint instruction book
  • references numerous greek and roman writers but claims only the composers of the last two generations are worth imitating
  • relied on empirical evidence based on sensory perception
  • distinction between new and older practice
  • shows humanism, references greek and roman writers
  • sensory perception, relied on empirical evidence
  • described strict rules for theory and introducing dissonances

music in burgundian lands (du fay)

• foremost composers were guillaume du fay and gilles de bins (binchois)
• polyphonic music consisted of secular chansons with french texts, motets, magnificats and daily hymn settings, and mass ordinary
• most pieces for three voices in a texture resembling the chanson or ballata

binchois:

• served in the chapel of duke philip the good and didn't travel, explaining the consistency of his style
• direct knowledge of english musicians made him a central figure in the creation of an english-inspired burgundian style
• composed more than 50 chansons

du fay:

• most famous composer of his time
• trained at the cathedral of cambrai
• travels exposed him to a wide variety of music and adopted it
  • italian elements (smooth vocal melodies, melismas)
• wrote sacred music in a variety of styles, mainly in a three voice structure resembling the chanson
• wrote isorhythmic motets for solemn public events
• cantus firmus mass

masses

• increasing polyphonic settings for mass ordinary

cyclic masses:

• unity derived from liturgical association and compositional structure
• began with beginning each movement with the same melodic motive (motto mass)
• tenor mass/cantus firmus - constructing each movement around the same borrowed the melody, most often in tenor
• written for four voices and part added below tenor (below tenor - contratenor bassus, second contratenor - contratenor altus)

missa se la face a pale:

• one of the most celebrated tenor masses
• acknowledgement of how far he came

layered texture in du fay's masses:

• diverse characters that don't overshadow the melody
• top two voices maintain smooth melodic contours
• the stronger dissonances appear as suspensions and resolve downwards by step

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