MUSIC 1700
A manuscript illumination of Machaut allegorically receiving
Nature and her three children.
Late Medieval Sacred Music (c.1250-1400)
Professor Daniel Jacobson
Late Medieval
Sacred vs. Secular
• SACRED:
SACRED: Polyphonic Mass/motet
- Messe Notre Dame (Machaut
(Machaut)) c. 1350
• SECULAR:
SECULAR:
- Monophonic Songs
- Some Polyphonic Songs
- Dance music
Significant differences in national styles during this
era (French, Italian, English)
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Some Terms to Keep Clear
• GENRE:
GENRE: The specific compositional category
(classification) of a musical work.
• STYLE:
STYLE: The manner in which musical elements are used
at various points in history
• INTERPRETATION:
INTERPRETATION: The performer’
performer’s manner of
RENDITION and FEELING that makes each particular
performance of a piece unique.
Late Medieval Styles
• French 14th c. = “Ars Nova”
Nova” (Machaut
(Machaut))
- as compared to the earlier “Ars Antiqua”
Antiqua” (Perotin)
Perotin)
• French late 14th/early15th = “Ars Subtilior”
Subtilior”
- notational and expressive experiments (Cordier)
Cordier)
• Italian 14th c. = “Trecento”
Trecento” (Landini
(Landini))
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Late Medieval Sacred
• SACRED: Polyphonic Mass
- Messe Notre Dame (Machaut) c. 1350
The earliest complete/reusable setting
of the Mass Ordinary by a single composer
First composer to treat the Ordinary as an abstract artistic whole,
but it is arguable whether or not this work is truly CYCLIC.
CYCLIC.
What is new in Machaut’
Machaut’s approach to this Mass?
Compare it to organum and 13th-century motet
-- continued on next slides…
slides…
Basic Elements in Perotin’s haec dies
organum “Ars Antiqua”
Antiqua” style
- no meter in held voice (tenor); faster, metrical
- RHYTHM rhythmic mode figures in upper voice (duplum)
- DYNAMICS - not an intentional consideration in this piece
- slow-moving haec dies chant melody in tenor;
- MELODY
upper line is more rhythmic than melodic.
- HARMONY - focus at cadence points is perfect intervals
- TEXTURE - 2-voice simple polyphony
- some distinction between “color” of the high voice vs. the
- TIMBRE low one, but not much of a consideration in this piece.
by the main punctuation (cadence) points
- FORM -indetermined
the Latin text
The haec dies prayer text is blurred because text syllables are very far apart (melismatic).
(The most important consideration in a vocal piece is usually the TEXT)
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Basic Elements in Anonymous 13th c. motet
O mitissima-Virgo-haec dies “Ars Antiqua”
Antiqua” style
- homorhythmic; all 3 voices have a similar
- RHYTHM
metrical, repeated rhythmic pattern (ostinato)
- DYNAMICS - not an intentional consideration in this piece.
- each voice has a decent tune; upper voice is slightly
- MELODY more-active; chant tune in tenor.
- harmonic “simultaneities” on every beat now;
- HARMONY cadential focus is still on perfect consonances.
- TEXTURE - 3-voice basic polyphony (homophonic)
- not a focus of this example
- TIMBRE
- Overall design is controlled by the two consecutive statements
the haec dies chant in the lowest voice; 5-note rhythmic ostinato
- FORM ofpattern
controls the small-scale design;
Three completely different prayer texts are rendered syllabically! (multiple perspectives)
--The most important consideration in a vocal piece is usually the TEXT
Basic Elements in Machaut’
Machaut’s Agnus Dei
“Ars Nova” style
- complex, syncopated rhythms in upper voices;
- RHYTHM isorhythm (“color”=melody vs. “talea”= rhythm) in tenor
- DYNAMICS - not a specific focus in this example
- 4 distinct melodic lines--tenor is an Agnus Dei chant tune
- MELODY
- HARMONY - cadential focus is still on perfect consonances
- TEXTURE - 4-voice independent, complex polyphonic counterpoint
- TIMBRE - not a specific focus in this example
- Cadential points coincide with the punctuation of the text.
(with repeating rhythmic
- FORM ISORHYTHM
pattern patterns) dominates the structure of this movement.
the 4th line is added BELOW the tenor to quote the chant tune while still maintaining
control of the lowest sounding “bass” notes.
The most important
consideration in a vocal
piece is usually the TEXT
The “Agnus Dei” prayer has a poetic form of A A B, but
Machaut’s musical form for this text is A B A (ternary).
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“Agnus Dei” from Machaut’s
Messe Notre Dame
POETIC STRUCTURE
OF THE PRAYER:
PRAYER TEXT/TRANSLATION
THE MUSICAL
STRUCTURE OF
MACHAUT’S “AGNUS”:
[A] Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
mundi, miserere nobis.
nobis.
[A]
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
[A] Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
mundi, miserere nobis.
nobis.
[B]
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
[B] Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
mundi, dona nobis pacem.
pacem.
[A]
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.
Usually, the most important consideration in a vocal piece is the TEXT, but in this example,
Machaut overrides the inherent poetic form by making this “Agnus” into a TERNARY [A B A]
design, with the “B” section having an intense ISORHYTHMIC structure in all four voices.
CANTUS FIRMUS technique
in the tenor of Machaut’
Machaut’s Agnus Dei
In the “Agnus Dei” movement, Machaut quotes an actual Agnus Dei
Gregorian chant tune in the tenor voice as a “cantus firmus”
(using a pre-existing tune as the structural voice for new polyphony):
w w w ww w w
&
========
So you can see how the chant quotation starts, here
are the notes of the chant (1st “Agnus” section)…
A - - - - - gnus
De - - - - - i ,
Machaut’s elaborated quote of the chant tune…
(added scalewise melodic ornaments are in yellow)
w. Q. b X w w.
&
========
h h h w w.
A - - - - - gnus
De - - - - - i ,
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ISORHYTHM in Machaut’
Machaut’s Agnus Dei
“Ars Nova” style
ISORHYTHM has 2 independent aspects:
- “Color” = melodic pattern
- “Talea” = repeated structural rhythmic pattern
Agnus Dei,
qui tollis …
Agnus Dei,
qui tollis …
Agnus Dei
qui tollis …
This TALEA repeats
again in all 4 voices
every three “measures”
until m. 46 (the 6th
talea is incomplete).
See mm. 31-46 on
pp. 44-45 of the
MUS1700 Resource Guide
Note: The “color” does
not repeat in this section
m. 31 m. 32
m. 33
The MIDDLE AGES
c. 450-1450
“From Monks to Machaut”
• c450-1000:
450-1000: Chant (early Christian music)
• c800:
800: Hildegard of Bingen (German nun)
• c1000:
1000: POLYPHONY
• c1150:
1150: French Ars Antiqua (Perotin
(Perotin))
• By c1360:
1360: complex styles
- French Ars Nova (Machaut
(Machaut)) then Ars Subtilior
- Italian Trecento (Landini
(Landini))
- English triadic-dominated sound (c 1250)
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