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