Shrock - Renaissance Music Practices Flashcards
(29 cards)
Time period
1450-1600
General
Single texts
Vocal scores a cappella but performed with instruments
Keys accommodated needs of the singer
Pitch and key set ethos of music
Mis-conceptions
Always a cappella
Transpositions with high ranges
Keys not in ethos
Devoid of expression
Composers
Franco-Felmish: Dufay, Ockeghem, Busnois, Agricola
Palestrina: Italy as center of renaissance music activity
Text oriented
Pitch and keys set to ethos of music
Voice exchanges - same basic color imitated
Phrasing extremely important
Duration of notes according to the attached text
Musica ficta
Raising a tone by half a step in performance
Musica recta
Lowering a tone by half a step
Performing sources
First half from handwritten, second half from printed books
Choir books only say printed part
Music - Rubric, puzzles, canons
Transposition common
Meter sources added later
No Barlines
Text not placed specifically under note
Mensurstrich
Barlines between staves in modern editions
Performing sources
Common for voices and instrumentalists together
Solo not common
Timbre = homogenous (voices expected to match each other)
Instruments grouped in consorts - families of color
Scoring is a guide not an absolute
Performing Ensembles
Sacred: boys and men
Women ensembles in convents
Countertenors
Pitched lower than modern day scores
Secular: various boys, men women
Castratos
Stimmtausch
Voice exchange - exchange material at same pitch level and cross each other
Decani/Cantor
side of the dean and side of the cantor
Two choirs in church that sang across from each other
Choirs
4 part
Usually 8 singers (varied in size)
Secular music with one voice per part
Sound & Pitch
Basic volume is soft
Importance of blend between voices
“Perform more with the ear than the voice of instrument”
Timbre = naturally pure and without rich overtones, mellifluous not muscular
Tone = light, free, soft, relaxed, head tone quality
Chamber pitch - one step higher than choral
Transposition common
Ranges should not be too high
Ethos
Each pitch attributes are unique
CFG - flat and sterile
Keys are essential
Most work best with keys with sharps - D, A, E, B and F#
Meter and Tactus
Common tempo related to heartbeat (60-72)
Predominance of long note values
Whole note as tactus (long note values do not equal slow)
Meter showed tempo
Meter corresponded with natural declamation of text
Syncopation used - et is a connecting word often syncopated
Tactus matches harmonic rhythm
Tactus constant
Syncopation for expression
Tempo
Meant to convey feeling, emotive
Text influenced tempo
How do I speak the text
Acceleration is natural in text expression
Consistent tactus between double and triple
Sacred rep - slower
Somber - 48
Cheerful - 72
Tempos do not veer dramatically
Phrasing
Most absent in modern day performance but is essential. Don’t let it be static
Match the phrasing of speech
Increase volume towards caret then decrease
Reverberant acoustics - changes needed based on space
Be poetic story tellers
Rehearsal - sing in staccato with text stress
Oratory
achieve level of competence in speaking
Word for word translation
Transfer emphasis spoken naturally to music
Write out and enunciate text with elisions as they appear in music
Use caret signs for accented syllables
Strong vs. weak syllables
Point of arrival (caret signs) followed by de-emphazied syllable and a breath
Structure
Duration values not mathematical
Reveals architecture of music
Final note should be treated with fermata
Musica fictua and musica recta
Raising and lowering of notated pitch by half a step
Only specific notes of the scale
Only under specific circumstances
Especially at cadences
Musica Ficta
Most common
7th degree
Cadence - leading tone
May be necessary to raise 6th and 7th
Resolves to a dominant tonality
Consistency between parts
Natural
Musica Recta
avoid tritone
Lower 6th as it leads to 5th
Always take precedence over musica dicta
Consistency
