Terms Flashcards
(110 cards)
Church modes
11th century. 8 modes, paired one authentic and one plagal. The FINAL in D, E, F, G. Each has a tenor/reciting tone, in authentic mode a 5th above the final, the plagal mode a 3rd below the authentic modes tenor tone.
Used to classify the chants and write them down in liturgical books.
Guido of arezzo
ca. 991-1033 Created basis for the staff, with one line for F in red and C in yellow.
Solmization
Guidi de arezzo developed syllables for CDEFGA after the hymn Ut queant laxis, ut re mi fa sol la. Beginning of solfege, was used to teach the whole and half-tones around each final.
Hexachord
6-note scales using moveable-do solfege (ut-la), with three permutations, starting on C (natural), G (hard) and F (soft). The mi-fa always being the half-step
Proper Mass
The texts and melodies that vary day to day
Ordinary mass
The parts of the mass that stay the same every day: Kyrie, Gloria, credo, sanctus, Agnus Dei, ite, missa est
Neume
Figures written above the text to indicate number of notes per syllable and whether the melody ascended descended or repeated a pitch. Might have derived from the signs for inflection and accent, but didn’t show melody. Still had to memorize the melody.
Hymn
song to a gods. tradition included “shape-note singing” after the notation in these collections. an inventince american reconception ofthe syllables introduced by guido of arrezo. many open fifths.
Requiem Mass
mass for the dead. Oldest surviving polyphonic mass.
Dies irae
chant sequence from the mass of the dead. symbol of death, the macabre or the diabolical
sequence
genre popular from late 9th-12th century. set syllabically to a text mostly in couplets and are sung after the Alleluia in the Mass. A BB CC … N
Troubador and trouvéres
Middle Ages 12th century: poet-composers, sponsored by courts. Troubador in southern France whose language was Occitan, spread north to the Trouvéres (Old French). Trobar and Trover mean “to compose a song” later to mean “to invent” or “to find”. Kept their songs in chansonniers
Organum
two or more voices singing different notes in agreeable combinations. several styles of polyphony from 9th-13th centuries. parallel organum: (in 5ths) original chant melody is the principal voice, other is the organal voie, moving in a parallel 5th below. either or both voices may be doubled at the octave. also mixed parallel organum, such as moving over a drone with parallel motion. no tritones allowed. free organum, included improvising - parts may cross and added voice is now above the chant melody (instead of below). more disjunct voice becuase of the limited number of harmonic intervals.
Caccia
popular-style melody is set in strict canon to lively, graphically descriptive words. in fashion between 1345 - 1370, 2 voices in canon at the unison. cace means “hunt” in italian
Formes fixes: ballade, virelai, rondeau
14th century: ballades most serious, for philosphiocal or historical themes or for celebrating an event or person, rondeaux centered on themes of love, virelais related descriptions of nature to feelings of love. all formes fixes derived from genres associated with dancing. Machaut wrote many. ballade 3 stanzas each with same music and each ending with same line of poetry. rondeau has only one stanza and the refrain in two sections: ABaAabAB
Musica ficta
14th-16th centuries, “feigned music” because most altered notes (to avoid the tri-tone) lay outside the standard gamut. involved putting syllables mi and fa on notes where they wouldn’t normally go
cantus firmus
term introduced around 1270 to designate an existing melody, usually a plainchant, on which a new polyphonic work is based
L’homme armé
“L’homme armé” was a French secular song from the time of the Renaissance. Set in Dorian mode, it was the most popular tune used for musical settings of the Ordinary of the Mass: over 40 separate compositions entitled Missa L’homme armé survive from the period
Parody mass
or “imitation mass”. instead of using one voice as a cantus firmus, the composer borrow extsneively from all voices, which is why it’s called an imitation mass. typically teh resemblance to the model is strongest at the begining and end of each mvmt and the composer’s skill is demonstrated by the new combos and variations he can achieve with the borrowed material. used as such becuase the polyphony became much more complicated when using a motet or chanson in the late 15/16th centuries
Humanism
intellectual mvmt of the Renaissance came from the study of the humanities, grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, moral philosophy, centered on Classical Latin and greek writings. believed they developed the invidicual’s mind, spirit and ethics. faith in the dignity and nobility of humans anad our capacity to imporive our condition through our own efforts.
Petrucci Odhecaton
Petrucci (1466-1539) in 1501 in Venice brought out the first colleciton of pholyphonic music printed entirely from movable type (One Hundred POlyphonic Songs), though actually contains only 96. Petrucci used a triple-impression process in which each sheet went through the press 3 times - 1 for staff lines, 1 for words and 1 for notes/florid initials.
Chanson
major innovation in the Arts Nova period was the development of polyphonic songs “chansons” in treble-dominated style. upper voice is the principal line and carries the text, called the treble or cantus, supported by a slower-moving tenor without text.
K. (Köchel)
Ludwig van Kochel, in 1862, whose “K” numbers are universally used to identify Mozart’s compositions. From 1-626.
musical texture
monophonic, polyphonic/counterpoint, homophonic (pop song), polyrhythmic. how thick the voicing is, etc.