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Music in the Fifteenth Century

music in the fifteenth century

prelude

  • strong english presence in france

    • english victories during war

  • england won the hundred years' war and brought governmental and military personnel, as well as composers and musicians for mass and secular entertainment

  • english music spread and made an impression on the french

  • midcentury - music in the burgundian lands became the chief conduit for a new style that assimilated italian, french and english elements

  • nearly all the leading composers active during the late fifteenth century came from netherlands, belgium, northeastern france, luxembourg, lorraine

  • chapels were musical establishments with salaried musicians who made up as many as 30 professionals

  • duchy of burgundy

    • low countries and france - pathways for importing english music to the continent

  • sumer is icumen in

    • pes - foot; two people sing a specific part over and over

    • cross - next group comes in

    • early example of english music

    • imperfect consonances in parallel motion, rota

cosmopolitan musicians:

  • presence of many foreign musicians contributed to the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the burgundian court

  • chapel members moved from court to court for new opportunities, fostering a cosmopolitan musical style

english music and its influence

  • england's sacred and secular art music were closely connected to folk styles

  • english carols (strophic with refrains) used successions of simultaneous thirds and sixths in parallel motion

refining the motet:

  • original meaning - pieces that added text to the upper part of a discant clausula

  • broadened meaning - includes any work with texted upper voices above a cantus (sacred or secular)

  • by 1450 isorhythmic motets disappeared

  • used to describe settings of sacred text in newer musical styles regardless of whether or not the settings were based on chant

dunstable:

  • john dunstable was the leading english composer of his time - wrote all styles of polyphony

  • three-voice sacred pieces are his most important works - some use cantus firmus in tenor, florid treble lines, tenor moving in thirds and sixths, or no basis on existing melody

  • quam pulchra es - three voices similar in character and equal in importance, move and pronounce together, consonant, phrases molded to rhythm of words

renaissance music theory (tinctoris)

  • consonance

    • emphasis on thirds and sixths - expanded theory of consonance beyond octave, fourth and fifth

  • tinctoris

    • liber de arte contrapuncti - johannes tinctoris, most up to date counterpoint instruction book

    • references numerous greek and roman writers but claims only the composers of the last two generations are worth imitating

    • relied on empirical evidence based on sensory perception

    • distinction between new and older practice

    • shows humanism, references greek and roman writers

    • sensory perception, relied on empirical evidence

    • described strict rules for theory and introducing dissonances

music in burgundian lands (du fay)

  • foremost composers were guillaume du fay and gilles de bins (binchois)

  • polyphonic music consisted of secular chansons with french texts, motets, magnificats and daily hymn settings, and mass ordinary

  • most pieces for three voices in a texture resembling the chanson or ballata

binchois:

  • served in the chapel of duke philip the good and didn't travel, explaining the consistency of his style

  • direct knowledge of english musicians made him a central figure in the creation of an english-inspired burgundian style

  • composed more than 50 chansons

du fay:

  • most famous composer of his time

  • trained at the cathedral of cambrai

  • travels exposed him to a wide variety of music and adopted it

    • italian elements (smooth vocal melodies, melismas)

  • wrote sacred music in a variety of styles, mainly in a three voice structure resembling the chanson

  • wrote isorhythmic motets for solemn public events

  • cantus firmus mass

masses

  • increasing polyphonic settings for mass ordinary

cyclic masses:

  • unity derived from liturgical association and compositional structure

  • began with beginning each movement with the same melodic motive (motto mass)

  • tenor mass/cantus firmus - constructing each movement around the same borrowed the melody, most often in tenor

  • written for four voices and part added below tenor (below tenor - contratenor bassus, second contratenor - contratenor altus)

missa se la face a pale:

  • one of the most celebrated tenor masses

  • acknowledgement of how far he came

layered texture in du fay's masses:

  • diverse characters that don't overshadow the melody

  • top two voices maintain smooth melodic contours

  • the stronger dissonances appear as suspensions and resolve downwards by step

music in the fifteenth century

prelude

  • strong english presence in france

    • english victories during war

  • england won the hundred years' war and brought governmental and military personnel, as well as composers and musicians for mass and secular entertainment

  • english music spread and made an impression on the french

  • midcentury - music in the burgundian lands became the chief conduit for a new style that assimilated italian, french and english elements

  • nearly all the leading composers active during the late fifteenth century came from netherlands, belgium, northeastern france, luxembourg, lorraine

  • chapels were musical establishments with salaried musicians who made up as many as 30 professionals

  • duchy of burgundy

    • low countries and france - pathways for importing english music to the continent

  • sumer is icumen in

    • pes - foot; two people sing a specific part over and over

    • cross - next group comes in

    • early example of english music

    • imperfect consonances in parallel motion, rota

cosmopolitan musicians:

  • presence of many foreign musicians contributed to the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the burgundian court

  • chapel members moved from court to court for new opportunities, fostering a cosmopolitan musical style

english music and its influence

  • england's sacred and secular art music were closely connected to folk styles

  • english carols (strophic with refrains) used successions of simultaneous thirds and sixths in parallel motion

refining the motet:

  • original meaning - pieces that added text to the upper part of a discant clausula

  • broadened meaning - includes any work with texted upper voices above a cantus (sacred or secular)

  • by 1450 isorhythmic motets disappeared

  • used to describe settings of sacred text in newer musical styles regardless of whether or not the settings were based on chant

dunstable:

  • john dunstable was the leading english composer of his time - wrote all styles of polyphony

  • three-voice sacred pieces are his most important works - some use cantus firmus in tenor, florid treble lines, tenor moving in thirds and sixths, or no basis on existing melody

  • quam pulchra es - three voices similar in character and equal in importance, move and pronounce together, consonant, phrases molded to rhythm of words

renaissance music theory (tinctoris)

  • consonance

    • emphasis on thirds and sixths - expanded theory of consonance beyond octave, fourth and fifth

  • tinctoris

    • liber de arte contrapuncti - johannes tinctoris, most up to date counterpoint instruction book

    • references numerous greek and roman writers but claims only the composers of the last two generations are worth imitating

    • relied on empirical evidence based on sensory perception

    • distinction between new and older practice

    • shows humanism, references greek and roman writers

    • sensory perception, relied on empirical evidence

    • described strict rules for theory and introducing dissonances

music in burgundian lands (du fay)

  • foremost composers were guillaume du fay and gilles de bins (binchois)

  • polyphonic music consisted of secular chansons with french texts, motets, magnificats and daily hymn settings, and mass ordinary

  • most pieces for three voices in a texture resembling the chanson or ballata

binchois:

  • served in the chapel of duke philip the good and didn't travel, explaining the consistency of his style

  • direct knowledge of english musicians made him a central figure in the creation of an english-inspired burgundian style

  • composed more than 50 chansons

du fay:

  • most famous composer of his time

  • trained at the cathedral of cambrai

  • travels exposed him to a wide variety of music and adopted it

    • italian elements (smooth vocal melodies, melismas)

  • wrote sacred music in a variety of styles, mainly in a three voice structure resembling the chanson

  • wrote isorhythmic motets for solemn public events

  • cantus firmus mass

masses

  • increasing polyphonic settings for mass ordinary

cyclic masses:

  • unity derived from liturgical association and compositional structure

  • began with beginning each movement with the same melodic motive (motto mass)

  • tenor mass/cantus firmus - constructing each movement around the same borrowed the melody, most often in tenor

  • written for four voices and part added below tenor (below tenor - contratenor bassus, second contratenor - contratenor altus)

missa se la face a pale:

  • one of the most celebrated tenor masses

  • acknowledgement of how far he came

layered texture in du fay's masses:

  • diverse characters that don't overshadow the melody

  • top two voices maintain smooth melodic contours

  • the stronger dissonances appear as suspensions and resolve downwards by step