Medieval to Renaissance
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Transcript of Medieval to Renaissance
MEDIEVAL TO RENAISSANCEA musical history synopsis
MEDIEVAL MUSIC Fall of Rome-1400 Notation: Originally no notation, transmitted
orally, later 4 staff with neumes Modes=Scales 8 Church modes : Dorian, hypodorian,
Phrygian, hypophrygian, Lydian, mixolydian, hypolydian, and Hypomixolydian
Females not used in playing or singing outside of the Abbey’s as it was considered improper for women to perform or take part in the church service.
Sacred and Secular
GREGORIAN CHANT Named for Pope Gregory I who is credited
with writing down the composition treatise on chant
Monophonic Hildegard von Bingen
11th century Nun First important female composer
GREGORIAN CHANT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK5AohCMX0U
HILDEGARD VON BINGEN
ORGANUM Plainchant Heterophonic-melody line with accompanying
harmonic line set at a fixed interval
ORGANUM
MOTET Litergical or secular Often dealing with courtly love Early Polyphonic music
MOTET
MADRIGALS Italian secular polyphonic music more sophisticated than Motets because of
fluidity of melody lines
MADRIGAL
GUIDO DE AREZZO 11th century Monk Credited with adding staff lines to musical
notation Developed the “Guidonian Hand” which was
used to help people remember the church modes and supposedly be able to sight read the music better or compose correctly
GOLIARDS Itinerate song/dance troupes Wrote and sang in Latin, but songs are
mostly secular Little music survives, but much poetry
TROUBADOURS/TROUVERES Wandering poets Music dealt with courtly love, war, chivalry Spoke and sang a Medieval French dialect, Probably accompanied on instruments
CHANSON French Polyphonic, secular music
RENAISSANCE MUSIC 1400-1600 Reliance on the interval of the Third (Previously thought of
as a dissonance) Still Modal (rather than tonal, emphasis on the Fifth) Richer Texture with four or more parts (more polyphony) Blending rather than contrasting melodic textures Use of larger ensembles that spanned the vocal range Greater emphasis on Harmony Notation: 5 staff lines, no bar lines, no scores, Accidentals
not always noted 1470s: Music started to be printed on a press, brought
music to a greater audience 1500s: Music and art began to imitate each other in detail
and complexity, sacred music began to become more complex, canons became popular, the beginnings of opera
ART COMPARISON
TWO IMPORTANT SACRED MASSES Cantus Firmus-one melody line that is
repeated throughout Parody Mass-Takes parts or all of its voicing
from a pre-existing work such as a motet or a secular chanson
PALESTRINA’S GREAT SAVE Near the end of the Renaissance, the Church
began to get upset at the way music was being written, such as in the case of the parody mass
St. Charles Borromeo (Archbishop of Milan) collected all the church music and determined what was “good” and what was “bad”
The “bad” totaled over 1500 works. Palestrina stepped in and convinced
Borromeo not to destroy all the music, that those written properly should be saved and new music should be composed along those lines.
The rules were compiled by the Council of Trent
GUILLAUME DU FAY 15th Century, Franco-Flemish Music was widely distributed and influenced
many later composers even though he lived before the printing press
Wrote masses,motets and chansons Also wrote many settings of chants using
fauxbourdon (false bass) to create parallel harmony
May have been the inventor of Fauxbourdon
JOHANNES OCKEGHEM 15th century, Franco-Flemish Not as prolific as you would expect given the
length of his career Most of early masses written in cantus firmus Later important masses written in a style
similar to the later parody mass Also wrote motets and secular chansons
JOHANNES OCKEGHEM
JOHANNES OCKEGHEM
JOSQUIN DES PREZ 15th century/early 16th century, Franco-Flemish Considered to be the greatest composer of his time Wrote sacred and secular pieces such as Masses,
Motets, chansons worked in Milan, Rome, and France/Belguim One of the first to employ the use of motifs in
compositions to foster unity within a work Wrote masses in Cantus Firmus, paraphrase masses
(similar to cantus firmus, but more ornamented) Parody masses, along with other mass styles of the day wrote in a new style of sacred music called the Motet-
Chanson which combined the form of a Chanson with the addition of chant based cantus firmus in the bass
JOSQUIN DES PREZ
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTSBrass Trumpet: One version
used a slide like a trombone, others were straight trumpets without valves, used mainly in the military and for Royalty
Cornett: Made of wood, but played like a trumpet, the largest is called the serpent and was said to be the closest to the human voice
Sackbut: Like a trombone, only used in sacred music
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTSWoodwinds Shawm: Double Reed,
seven finger holes and a thumb hole, mostly used with drums in street music
Transverse flute: Wooden, forerunner of modern flute
Recorder: Still commonly used, used in consorts in the renaissance
RECORDER CONSORT
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTSStrings Viol da Gamba: Played
between the legs regardless of size, forerunner of the modern violin family
Hudy Gurdy: Mechanical, used in street music
Harp: Small 22-44 strings, sat on players lap
Lute: Strings set in “courses” of two strings with highest string being single typically 8 courses or 15 strings
VIOL DA GAMBA
JOHN DOWLAND British lute player of the late Renaissance Best known for sad sounding songs Was extremely popular and would sign
autographs “Dowland sempre dolens” (Dowland always sad)
FLOW MY TEARS