Chapter 6 and 7 Flashcards
16th Century
- Rise of secular repertoires in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and England
- Instrumental music became compositional focus–mannerism influenced music towards end of century
- Music printing expanded–> New consumers beyond the courts, giving rise to demand for less complex music
Secular Vocal Music
- Rondeau disappeared early 10c, vernacular texts formed basis of chansons
- Italian Madrigal: 3 + voices, mostly secular text, more ambitious vs. frotolla, became more contrapuntal, through composed, lots of word painting
- Composers: Bembo, Francesco Petrarca wrote with qualities of pleasingness, weight, detail to Italian language
16c Madrigal
- No fixed form
- Single stanza free rhyme scheme
- Reveal striking image @ beginning
- Accessible to well-trained amateurs, performed in variety of settings
Word painting
The use of musical elements to imitate the meaning of specific passages of text. Ex. Pain of hell=low pitch
The Parisian Chanson
- Lighter, more chordal than earlier chansons
- Homorhythmic, dominated by tonic, subdominant, dominant chords
- Melodies usually in uppermost line
- Composers: Claudin de Sermisy, Clement Janequin
Italian Madrigal
-Vocal composition of three or more voices, mostly secular
-NO direct connection to 14c madrigals
-Through composed–>setting each line of text to new music, allowing for explicit word painting
-No fixed form, consists of a single stanza, free rhyme scheme
-Incorporate “conceit”–striking image–that reveals itself at the end of poem
-Perfomed in many settings, banquest and homes
-Undemanding, accessible to the well trained amateur
-LOTS of collections: 2000+
Composers: Bembo, Sannazaro, Ariosto, Tasso, Guarini
End of Renaissance
Composers explored the possibilities of integrating voices and instruments to an unprecedented degree.
Subgenres of Italian Madrigal
“Villanella”, meaning country girl, derives from “vile”.
- Suggestive imagery, double entendres
- Frequently written in a local dialect
- Includes nonsense syllables, perhaps antimadrigal (lowbrow approach to madrigals)
Secular song in Germany
Prominent varieties: Lied and Tenorlied
-Called Tenorlied because it incorporated a well0known tune in the tenor, making a secular cantus firmus genre.
Meistersinger Guilds cultivated another song:
–>They were tradesmen and craftsmen who formed societies throughout Germany for music/poetry/singing
–> Governed by an elaborate system of rules and ranks and held regular competitions
–> Songs often in AAB bar form, just voice
Secular song in Spain
Principle genre: Villancio
- Identifies a poetic form equivalent to the French Virelai (AbbaA)
- Luis Milan published 12 villancios
- Texture similar to frottolla (uppermost voice dominates while lower fills out polyphony)
Secular music in England
- Italian madrigal transplanted to England in 1560s
- Composers: Marenzio, Palestrina, deMonte, Ferrabasco
- English were infatuated by all things Italian: Composer Thomas Morley did not appreciate this! Then moved away from Italian music.
Antecedent
Phrases that move from tonic to dominant
Consequent:
Phrases that move from dominant to tonic
Dance music
Abounds in repetition, in performance, the individual reprises (large sections to be repeated) can be played as often as desired
Binary Form
Two reprises together
- ->One of the earliest instances of synctactic form, where a central idea is presented and varied over the course of an entire movement (contrast to paratactic form)
- ->Basis for many dance types, then sonata forms
- ->Could be easily sung
Periodic phrase structure
Four measure antecedent phrase is followed by a four measure consequent phrase.
Mannerism
- Term from art history that designates a style of painting and sculpture characterized by the use of distortion, exaggeration and unsettling juxtaposition for dramatic effect
- -> In music: Applies to a small but important repertory of works (both sacred and secular) written in the second half of 16c characterized by distortion such as extreme dissonance, unusual harmonic progressions and exaggerated word painting.
Musica reservata
Music “reserved” for a select audience of elite noble-born or aristocratic listeners.
Gesualdo’s Moro, lasso al mio duolo:
Sex-as-death imagery, descending chromatic harmonies and voice leading.
Life:
Faster rhythm, melisma, more diatonic
Death: Chromatic, slower rhythmic values, descending lines = :(
-Part paratictic, part syntactic: Struggle between life & death
Charles Burney was NOT impressed by Gesualdo’s chromaticism
Classical antiquity
- Ancient greek
- ->music should be driven by word
- ->the affect of a text should be heightened by musical devices
Florentine Camerata
Group that discussed how a single voice could dominate in a texture that was not essentially polyphonic
–>They debated ways to recreate the style of singing used by ancient Greeks in their dramas
Bardi
He was asked to organize entertainment for french princess’ wedding
- ->Included 6 intermedi, each featuring miraculous powers of music in classical mythology
- ->No design, machinery, or costumes
- ->4 instruments, 3 voice
- ->Moves toward homophony: Principal melodic line with subordinate accompanying voices, well-suited to the clear projection of a text in a principle melodic voice
Seconda Prattica
- Emphasis on the projection of text
- Distinguished from prima prattica, the traditional Renaissance style of polyphony
- Use of Basso Continuo
Basso Continuo
- ->Line that is less of a polyphonic equal to the solo line and more of a subordinate accompaniment to it
- ->Provides harmonic framework for the solo voice of above it, homophonic texture
- ->Often used synonymously with “figured bass”, where upper voices are added to fill out the harmonies implied by the bass
- Any instrument, ideally more chordal
- Freed composers from obligation of writing in polyphony always, and to project a sung text through a single voice
- Solo singing then emerged into opera, where individual singers assume the role of individual characters
