Quix #2 Prep Flashcards
(37 cards)
Guillaume Dufay - Kyrie from Missa L’homme arme
genre = Mass movement (Kyrie from an early Renaissance Mass)
* text = Greek (notice, NOT Latin) & sacred (part of the Mass Ordinary)
* texture = almost entirely non-imitative polyphony (early Renaissance)
- cantus-firmus composition (most specifically, a cantus-firmus Mass)
imitative polyphony
- Unlike Medieval polyphony, which was non-imitative, in imitative polyphony the
individual parts share brief snippets of melody, so that you can occasionally
hear the same musical figure occur in one voice after another. Places where
this occurs in the music are called ‘points of imitation. - It makes the text clearer, since the same words in each voice sometimes
have the same fragment of melody;
2. it makes for a music that is more readily understood and appreciated by audiences, because the melodies are reinforced through close repetition.
Renaissance Period:
1450-1600
1. Invention of Printing Press with moveable type (1450): music printing soon followed, greatly expanding affordable access to vocal and instrumental music of all genres, both sacred and secular.
2. Lutheran Reformation (c. 1500 and after): Martin Luther (1483-1546) The separation of protestant Christian sects from the Roman Catholic Church leads to a great diversity in post-1500 Christian sacred music.
3. Fascination with and study of Greek and Roman Antiquity—once the
concern of medieval theologians and scholars only—becomes more
common among the ever-larger literate classes; the architecture, visual arts, poetry, and music of the renaissance demonstrates this influence
Guillaume Dufay (c.1400-1474)
- spent more than 25 years in Italy, as a
musician and composer at the courts of various powerful families, or in major cathedrals, including the Papal Chapel in Rome. - composed music in all the sacred and secular genres common to his day— masses, motets, Magnificats, hymns, and chants, as well as secular songs of all types—using a rich musical language that combined techniques of earlier masters
(the previous Ars Nova) with the new techniques, textures and textual sensitivity of the emerging Renaissance aesthetic.
Humanism
an intellectual movement and ethical system centered on humans and their values, needs, interests, abilities, dignity and freedom, often emphasizing secular culture and sensuality over sacred concerns.
Josquin des Prez (c. 1450-1521)
- Like Dufay, Josquin was born and received early musical training in northern France (Flanders); he became
known as the greatest of the great and influential lineage of fine Flemish composers. - Like most musicians of his caliber at that time, Josquin composed both sacred
and secular music, setting both canonic sacred texts and contemporary secular
poetry by celebrated poets. - Josquin achieved international fame, and multiple printed collections of his works circulated widely. He was known to Martin Luther (also a musician and
composer), who referred to Josquin as “the greatest living composer.”
Josquin, Ave Maria . . . virgo serena
genre = high Renaissance motet
text = ancient sacred Latin prayer to the Virgin Mary
texture = 4-part polyphony; imitative polyphony
ensemble = a cappella; 4-part choir; SATB
form = ternary (3-part, A-B-A’)
L’homme armé
popular cantus firmus - served as basis for many renaissance songs
motet
“a polyphonic vocal genre, usually performed a cappella, that sets any Latin sacred text that does not belong to the Mass or Divine Office.”
word painting
The music itself is composed in such a manner that the sound of the music reflects the meaning of the text. For instance, an allusion to heaven in the ext might be set to a vocal line that is rising in pitch, or the mention of “pain” or “tears” in the text might be set to harsh sounding, dark, or dissonant hatrmony
homorhythm
A musical texture in which all of the parts move together rhythmically.
Renaissance music often alternates between polyphonic passages (in which all of the parts are rhythmically independent) and homorhythmic passages (in which all of the parts move together in the same rhythm).
Vicente Lusitano -Heu me, Domine
genre = motet
language = Latin (sacred text)
ensemble = SATB a cappella texture = imitative polyphony (four parts)
Vicente Lusitano (c. 1520- after 1561)
- Portuguese composer, music theorist, and priest of African descent, whose sparse
biography provides a rare glimpse into the African presence in the musical
life of Renaissance Europe. - Evidence of Lusitano’s racialized identity appears in a 17th-century biographical
manuscript in which he is referred to as ‘homem pardo’. - ’. The term ‘pardo’ appears
routinely in 16th- and 17th-century documents as an unambiguous description of
free Afro-Portuguese people who enjoyed a level of social mobility and access
to resources - he never
held a benefice (i.e., a paid, permanent position) nor served as a maestro di
capella - The paucity of information about Lusitano is directly related to his failure
to find a secure position at church or court, the fate of a great many musicians at
the time. However, the institutional racism of both his own time and of later
historiographical approaches (with the exception of some Portuguese scholars
effectively erased him from all histories of Renaissance music until recently.
Vincente Lusitano - Regina Caeli
genre = motet language = Latin (sacred text)
ensemble = SATB a cappella texture = imitative polyphony (four parts)
- How important was dancing in the written history of instrumental music?
- The most common type of instrumental music during the Renaissance were
DANCES, of all types, which were played for dancing or simply for listening enjoyment. Like music making—and perhaps even more so—dancing was an extremely important social activity, and one was expected to know how to dance the latest formal and popular dances.
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Maddalena Casulana (c. 1544-c. 1590)
- Italian composer, lutenist and singer, primarily known today for her published madrigals. Very little is known about her life.
- She is also known to have been commissioned to write a large scale five-part piece for a royal wedding in Munich, where she traveled at the duke’s expense. Her three books of madrigals, containing a total of 66 works, are the first by a woman to be printed.
In what socio-economic strata of European society did the earliest operas first appear?
Opera was originally created in the wealthy Italian courts of Florence in approximately 1600 by a group of intellectuals, poets and musicians who were attempting to recreate the ancient Greek dramas, which they determined had been sung in a very declamatory (i.e., speech-like) style. Although originally a genre designed for aristocratic entertainment, by 1637 the city of Venice
opened the first public opera house that sold tickets and operated on the basis of profit. Opera was to
become one of the most important public venues for musical entertainment in all of history.
madrigal (genre of secular vocal music)
- the most important secular vocal genre of the late renaissance and early baroque periods
- a polyphonic, secular vocal genre invented in Italy in the 16th century (late Renaissance)
- Madrigals were settings of secular poetry on a variety of topics (love, Greek mythology, etc.) in the vernacular language (always in Italian for Monteverdi and M. Casulana).
- Madrigals were nearly always settings of celebrated contemporary poetry by someone other than the composer.
- Madrigals were a genre of ‘high art,’ meaning that they were created and performed for the entertainment of royalty and other educated members of royal courts. Commoners
(peasants and others not frequenting royal courts) rarely (never) heard such music. - This genre was imitated and adapted by international composers as far away as royal courts in France and England, where they created madrigals using poetry in their own languages.
Maddalena Casulana Morir no può il mio cuore
- genre = madrigal
also sometimes called an ‘Italian madrigal’ to differentiate it from madrigals in other languages (most commonly French or English) that were composed later in other countries. - text = Italian secular poem about love and longing (‘courtly love’)
- ensemble = a cappella, SATB (all sung by men in this recording)
- texture = polyphonic (for the most part—see below)
Although the piece is essentially polyphonic, there are some moments in which the parts move in parallel motion (creating one of the two types of homophony), but most of the piece is polyphonic so it is not correct to refer to the entire work as ‘homophonic’. It is best to think of the work as polyphonic.
Opera
Opera is—by definition—homophonic in texture; if you have accompaniment, the music
must be at some level homophonic (although Baroque textures can be complex and involve
more than one texture simultaneously, as we will hear).
* The genre of opera represents a large-scale collaborative effort between composers,
librettists, performers, set designers (architects, carpenters), costume designers, stage hands, etc.
* Opera is, in fact, only a broad category, not a genre. Operas of various types may be
divided into distinct genres according to the language of the text
Libretto
- The libretto is story or text of an opera, written by the LIBRETTIST—almost never the
composer herself, but rather someone with literary and poetic skills. - Operas were/are intended as entertainment and use secular texts in a vernacular language.
- The subject matter of librettos vary widely, covering the range of human experiences, but
love, sex and violence are always favorites (even when based on a biblical story). - The earliest operas (particularly in Italy but also elsewhere) drew their subject matter from
the myths, dramas and histories of ancient Greece and Rome, and therefore often feature
mythical figures, gods, etc. - – Also like the ancient dramas, early operas contained choruses (pieces for a large vocal group) that comment on the plot and circumstances of the main characters.
Overture
- the instrumental piece (for the orchestra alone) that introduces an opera. It is the first thing
you hear at the beginning of the opera, often before the main opera characters come on stage. - Overtures often contain musical themes from the vocal pieces to follow, sort of
‘foreshadowing’ the action of the opera.
2 subgenres of opera
- RECITATIVE
- a song that imitates the rhythms and pitch patterns of natural speech (somewhat, at least);
* usually carries the action and dialogue of an opera; used to forward the action of drama;
* not very LYRICAL and MELODIOUS; sounds more like speech or recitation, ands is
often largely (but not entirely) syllabic and contains many repeated pitches;
* good for expressing text in which the meaning is important; usually does not have long
melismas or repetitions of text;
* rhythmically ‘free’ or nonmetrical, and therefore contains no strong beat;
* usually accompanied by only one or two instruments (maybe more), the BASSO
CONTINUO (also called simply ‘the continuo’ or ‘the continuo group’), who closely follow
the singer (and/or conductor in later works).
2.ARIA
* a song for solo voice, often (not always) with a larger ensemble (orchestra) playing the
accompaniment
* strongly metrical; i.e., has a strong and recognizable beat (although not necessarily a
fast one);
* a melodious or lyrical song that expresses an outpouring of emotion, thereby developing
the character of the person singing the aria;
* very lyrical, ‘musically oriented,’ often repeating fragments of the text, and containing
melismas that ‘show off’ the technical and expressive abilities of the star singers;
* typically, arias became the most well-known parts of an opera, and the most famous ones
were (and are) often performed as ‘stand-alone works’ without the rest of the opera.
