2.7 The Renaissance
Europe from 14th to 16th century, starting in Italy
Revival of Greco-Roman culture = new values
Columbus, Magellan, Leonardo da Vinci, Copernicus, Galileo, and Shakespeare reinterpreting the world, focusing on philosophy, science, art.
New Attitudes
Early 15th century, plainchants not as common. treated more as just melodies, not frames for polyphony.
Extra notes, graceful rhythms, smoothed passages- they used “paraphrase”
Sonority (tone color, rich tone color) became more important, emphasized with paraphrase
Plainchants heard clearly in the soprano
Early Homophony
Plainchants seemed more homophonic w/ their accompaniment-like layers under the soprano (simple chords)
Sensuous effect over the “intellectual process of polyphony"
15th century!
Guillamore Dufay (c. 1400-1474), Harmonized Hymn, "Ave Maris stella"
Composer born raised in N. France (~modern Belgium)- later worked in Italy and lived in the French cathedral of Cambrai
Homophonic setting of a Gregorian hymn (short tune then amen)
Addressed to Virgin Mary, sung on her days & Saturdays
Dorian (D) mode, triple meter
Includes paraphrasing, extra notes/extensions
Pretty simple for Dufay, whose compositions were long & elaborate
The Mass
Intricate isorhythm, and then there was a simpler style (gentler, and more supple) used in polyphonic songs (chansons) including sacred music
Compositions become considerably longer, even if they were simple
Mass was "the largest and most important part of the Christian liturgy”
Kyrie: simple prayer
Gloria: long hymn
Credo: Recital of a list of Christian beliefs
Sanctus: shorter hymn
Agnus Dei: simple prayer
(5 section mass remains in use today!)
New composers set religious plainchants to new music
The High Renaissance Style
~1500 new style arose, blending imitative counterpoint and homophony
Imitation
Nonimitative polyphony mostly at the start of the 15th century
Imitative polyphony reflects moderation and balance among parts
Same thing starting in different voices at different times and pitches
Homophony
Simple homophony was used “as a contrast to imitative texture and as an expressive resource in its own right” (block-chord writing)
Etc.
Ideal tone color (especially in sacred music) was a capella, or just using human voices
Little tempo/dynamics changes
Fluid rhythm
Josquin Desprez (c. 1450-1521), Pange lingua Mass (c. 1510)
Master of the high renaissance style, born in North France, lived in Italy, served many royals
Josquin “pioneered whole new expressive genres,” wrote 18 different Mass settings (large pieces in the 5-section form)
Four-part mass
Kyrie I has a point of imitation, a brief passage of imitation polyphony, Kyrie II has a different point of imitation, and Christe has 2 (from the hymn). Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei all have many points of imitation interspersed with homophony (full outline given)
Music as Expression
The music of the Pange lingua mass addresses specific phrases and their sentiments, music can illustrate and express, etc.
Renaissance composers desired to highly influence emotions
Declamation- words were sung to rhythms and melodies that approximately imitated normal speech
Word painting was used to match music to the meaning of words
Josquin, Chanson, “Mille regrets”
Polyphonic chanson
Strong of cliches voicing the sorrowful lament of a lover who left their beloved
Slow rhythms and homophonic moments add to the tone
Late Renaissance Music
The high renaissance style was stable and flexible, so it continued to change. It had a wide reach too, used by Romans, Spaniards, Netherlanders, and Brits
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594), Pope Marcellus Mass (1557)
Palestrina was a Roman singer/choirmaster
He wrote secular music (popular) in his youth, but later regretted it
Palestrina composed more than 100 masses
Proved that complicated polyphony could convey sacred text
In the Gloria section, he uses a lot of homophony, only finishing w/ polyphony
Large and rich choir w/ 6 vocal parts
The Motet
Invented in late Middle Ages
Applied in many different ways over centuries, vary vastly
Flexibility allowed new, powerful religious messages
16th century motet is “a relatively short composition with Latin words, made up of short sections in the homophony and imitative polyphony”
Almost always religious
The Italian Madrigal
Secular Italian genre after 1530
“Short composition, usually for four to six voice parts, set to a one-stanza poem”
Imitative polyphony and homophony alternating
Shorter and less strict points of imitation
New techniques
The English Madrigal
Madrigals were also popular in Elizabethan England
Endorsed by Queen Elizabeth I, who loved music and played the lute
Include “The Triumphs of Oriana”
Thomas Weelkes (c. 1575–1623), Madrigal, “As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending” (1601)
Thomas Weelkes was just a “provincial cathedral organist-choirmaster”
Contribution to The Triumphs of Oriana
Uses a lot of word painting
Two sopranos, alto two tenors, and bass
Instrumental Music: Early Developments
Best composers focused on vocal genres (minus William Byrd), but there was a lot of instrumental development
First violins and harpsichords, and the lute was “perfected”
Instrumentalists often improvised their music
Renaissance Dances
Pavan- solemn dance in duple meter, w/ participants “stepping and stopping formally”
Galliard- faster dance in triple meter
Pavan and galliard often paired together
Less formal saltarello (Italian), jig (Irish), bransle (French)
Also ballets and court dances
Dance music mostly four to eight bars long with clear cadences and forms like aabb or aabbcc (repeats)
Tylman Susato, Pavan and Two Galliards (1551)
Susato was a Dutch composer, instrumentalist, and music printer
Known for his 1551 Danserye, collection of dances
Pavan “Mille regretz” moves Josquin’s chanson into slow, duple-meter outline
aabbcc
No specified instruments
Two galliards follow-
First is introduced w/ shawms (double-reed instruments)
||: aabb :||
Second is quieter, w/ sackbuts (Renaissance trombones)
aabbcc
2.7 The Renaissance
Europe from 14th to 16th century, starting in Italy
Revival of Greco-Roman culture = new values
Columbus, Magellan, Leonardo da Vinci, Copernicus, Galileo, and Shakespeare reinterpreting the world, focusing on philosophy, science, art.
New Attitudes
Early 15th century, plainchants not as common. treated more as just melodies, not frames for polyphony.
Extra notes, graceful rhythms, smoothed passages- they used “paraphrase”
Sonority (tone color, rich tone color) became more important, emphasized with paraphrase
Plainchants heard clearly in the soprano
Early Homophony
Plainchants seemed more homophonic w/ their accompaniment-like layers under the soprano (simple chords)
Sensuous effect over the “intellectual process of polyphony"
15th century!
Guillamore Dufay (c. 1400-1474), Harmonized Hymn, "Ave Maris stella"
Composer born raised in N. France (~modern Belgium)- later worked in Italy and lived in the French cathedral of Cambrai
Homophonic setting of a Gregorian hymn (short tune then amen)
Addressed to Virgin Mary, sung on her days & Saturdays
Dorian (D) mode, triple meter
Includes paraphrasing, extra notes/extensions
Pretty simple for Dufay, whose compositions were long & elaborate
The Mass
Intricate isorhythm, and then there was a simpler style (gentler, and more supple) used in polyphonic songs (chansons) including sacred music
Compositions become considerably longer, even if they were simple
Mass was "the largest and most important part of the Christian liturgy”
Kyrie: simple prayer
Gloria: long hymn
Credo: Recital of a list of Christian beliefs
Sanctus: shorter hymn
Agnus Dei: simple prayer
(5 section mass remains in use today!)
New composers set religious plainchants to new music
The High Renaissance Style
~1500 new style arose, blending imitative counterpoint and homophony
Imitation
Nonimitative polyphony mostly at the start of the 15th century
Imitative polyphony reflects moderation and balance among parts
Same thing starting in different voices at different times and pitches
Homophony
Simple homophony was used “as a contrast to imitative texture and as an expressive resource in its own right” (block-chord writing)
Etc.
Ideal tone color (especially in sacred music) was a capella, or just using human voices
Little tempo/dynamics changes
Fluid rhythm
Josquin Desprez (c. 1450-1521), Pange lingua Mass (c. 1510)
Master of the high renaissance style, born in North France, lived in Italy, served many royals
Josquin “pioneered whole new expressive genres,” wrote 18 different Mass settings (large pieces in the 5-section form)
Four-part mass
Kyrie I has a point of imitation, a brief passage of imitation polyphony, Kyrie II has a different point of imitation, and Christe has 2 (from the hymn). Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei all have many points of imitation interspersed with homophony (full outline given)
Music as Expression
The music of the Pange lingua mass addresses specific phrases and their sentiments, music can illustrate and express, etc.
Renaissance composers desired to highly influence emotions
Declamation- words were sung to rhythms and melodies that approximately imitated normal speech
Word painting was used to match music to the meaning of words
Josquin, Chanson, “Mille regrets”
Polyphonic chanson
Strong of cliches voicing the sorrowful lament of a lover who left their beloved
Slow rhythms and homophonic moments add to the tone
Late Renaissance Music
The high renaissance style was stable and flexible, so it continued to change. It had a wide reach too, used by Romans, Spaniards, Netherlanders, and Brits
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594), Pope Marcellus Mass (1557)
Palestrina was a Roman singer/choirmaster
He wrote secular music (popular) in his youth, but later regretted it
Palestrina composed more than 100 masses
Proved that complicated polyphony could convey sacred text
In the Gloria section, he uses a lot of homophony, only finishing w/ polyphony
Large and rich choir w/ 6 vocal parts
The Motet
Invented in late Middle Ages
Applied in many different ways over centuries, vary vastly
Flexibility allowed new, powerful religious messages
16th century motet is “a relatively short composition with Latin words, made up of short sections in the homophony and imitative polyphony”
Almost always religious
The Italian Madrigal
Secular Italian genre after 1530
“Short composition, usually for four to six voice parts, set to a one-stanza poem”
Imitative polyphony and homophony alternating
Shorter and less strict points of imitation
New techniques
The English Madrigal
Madrigals were also popular in Elizabethan England
Endorsed by Queen Elizabeth I, who loved music and played the lute
Include “The Triumphs of Oriana”
Thomas Weelkes (c. 1575–1623), Madrigal, “As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending” (1601)
Thomas Weelkes was just a “provincial cathedral organist-choirmaster”
Contribution to The Triumphs of Oriana
Uses a lot of word painting
Two sopranos, alto two tenors, and bass
Instrumental Music: Early Developments
Best composers focused on vocal genres (minus William Byrd), but there was a lot of instrumental development
First violins and harpsichords, and the lute was “perfected”
Instrumentalists often improvised their music
Renaissance Dances
Pavan- solemn dance in duple meter, w/ participants “stepping and stopping formally”
Galliard- faster dance in triple meter
Pavan and galliard often paired together
Less formal saltarello (Italian), jig (Irish), bransle (French)
Also ballets and court dances
Dance music mostly four to eight bars long with clear cadences and forms like aabb or aabbcc (repeats)
Tylman Susato, Pavan and Two Galliards (1551)
Susato was a Dutch composer, instrumentalist, and music printer
Known for his 1551 Danserye, collection of dances
Pavan “Mille regretz” moves Josquin’s chanson into slow, duple-meter outline
aabbcc
No specified instruments
Two galliards follow-
First is introduced w/ shawms (double-reed instruments)
||: aabb :||
Second is quieter, w/ sackbuts (Renaissance trombones)
aabbcc