UNIT 1 – PART 2
THE MIDDLE AGES &
THE RENAISSANCE
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
PRELUDE 2:
EARLY MIDDLE AGES
THE CULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES & RENAISSANCE
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter
Edition
“Hearing” from The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry (late 15th century)
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter
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PRELUDE 2: MIDDLE AGES (476 – 1460)
ALSO CALLED THE “MEDIEVAL PERIOD”
Early Middle Ages (to 1000)
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Fall of Roman Empire
Growth of Christianity (Roman Catholic Church)
Fuedal Society – clergy, nobility, and peasant classes
Illiterate except clergy (monks – monasteries, nuns convents)
“Patronage” (support, employment) for music by the Church
Art style = symbolic, impersonal, iconic
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SACRED MUSIC IN THE
MIDDLE AGES
CHAPTER 12
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CHAPTER 12. SACRED MUSIC IN THE
MIDDLE AGES
• The Mass
• Ordinary of the Mass
• 5 parts of the worship service that do not change – EVER!
• Latin (Vatican II, 1932 – 1965)
• Proper of the Mass
• 5 parts of the worship service that could be altered
• Would be changed according to feast days, holidays, baptisms,
weddings, funerals, etc
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ORDINARY OF THE MASS
• Kyrie (Greek)
• Lord have mercy
• Christ have mercy
• Lord have mercy
• Gloria
• Glory to God in the highest and in Earth, peace to men of
goodwill.
• Credo
• Literally, “I Believe”
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ORDINARY OF THE MASS
• Sanctus
• Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts.
Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
• Blessed is He that cometh
in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
• Agnus Dei
• Lamb of God,
Who takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God.
Grant us peace.
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CHAPTER 12. SACRED MUSIC IN THE
MIDDLE AGES
Gregorian Chant (plainchant, plainsong)
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First written music
Texture: Monophonic (choral with no accompaniment)
Rhythm: Nonmetric
Responsorial (soloist, then chorus)
Harmony: church modes (‘modal’)
Latin text - syllabic, neumatic, and melismatic
Hildegard of Bingen, Alleluia, O virga mediatrix
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Gregorian Chant Notation
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TEXT SETTINGS FOR CHANT
• Syllabic: one note for each word or syllable
example – Row, Row, Row Your Boat
• Neumatic: two to four notes per syllable
example – higher range of middle section - Hildegard, Alleluia
• Melismatic: many notes per syllable
example - ‘Gloria’ from Angels We Have Heard on High
example - opening of Hildegard, Alleluia (below)
Melismatic
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HILDEGARD OF BINGEN
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German (Holy Roman Empire)
Founded her own convent
Scholar: writings on science,
medicine, religion, philosophy,
poetry, and music
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The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
(NOTRE DAME) ORGANUM
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Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris
First polyphonic music
(non-imitative)
The development of precise
rhythm and pitch notation
Often based on pre-existing chants
(“cantus firmus”)
2-part music by Leonin,
3rd and 4th parts by Perotin
Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris
(1163–1235)
Notre Dame School, Guade Maria virgo
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The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
PRELUDE 2:
THE LATE MIDDLE AGES
THE CULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES & RENAISSANCE
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PRELUDE 2: LATE MIDDLE AGES
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Feudal society ending
Modern Nation/States, developing (France, England, etc.)
Opening of East & West (trade, cultural exchange)
Crusades
Cities & first Universities (centers of art and culture)
Rising influence of Royal Courts – Second source of “patronage”
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SECULAR MUSIC IN THE
MIDDLE AGES
CHAPTER 13
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CHAPTER 13. SECULAR MUSIC LATE MIDDLE AGES
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Ars Nova (new art) – music style first in France, then Italy
Minstrels (ie: troubadours, trouveres, etc.)
Secular dance - instrumental, improvised, instruments not
specified
Secular songs (ie: chanson) – settings of poetry, may be
monophonic or polyphonic
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MAUCHAUT
• French
• Employed by church and royal courts
• Composed “Notre Dame Mass” (First
complete polyphonic setting of Ordinary)
• Sacred music and secular songs (chanson)
Mauchaut, Pius qu’en oubli (Chanson)
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(continued on next page)
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
PRELUDE 2:
THE RENAISSANCE
THE CULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES & RENAISSANCE
The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
PRELUDE 2: THE RENAISSANCE
1450 - 1600
• Renaissance – “rebirth” or “renewal” – began in Italy.
• Destruction of Constantinople – scholars, artists fled west.
• The “awakening of intellectual awareness” and the “beginning of
the modern era (in Western society)”
• Humanism – focus on human achievements (science, discovery,
ideas, reasoning)
• Secularization - focus on daily life, as opposed to religious ideas
• Interest in ancient Greece and Roman culture, art, philosophy
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PRELUDE 2: RENAISSANCE
• World exploration (ie: Columbus)
• Scientific discovery (ie: Galileo)
• Invention of Printing Press:
increased musical literacy,
‘amateur’ musician’ - (merchant
or middle & upper classes)
music in home
• Art – realism (expressive face, poses)
sense of motion and drama,
the human nude in sculpture,
(ie: daVinci, Michelangelo)
• Music as an ‘expressive’ art.
Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci
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RENAISSANCE SACRED
MUSIC
CHAPTER 14
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CHAPTER 14. RENAISSANCE
SACRED MUSIC
• the Golden Age of “a-cappella” singing
(choir or voices without instruments)
• imitative polyphony dominant (with other textures)
• some based on “cantus firmus” (pre-existing melody)
• harmony = modal but with fuller chords
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CHAPTER 14. JOSQUIN
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Singer
Franco-Flemish (northern France)
Employed royal courts & church Duke of Ferrara – northern Italy,
Papal Choir – Rome,
late in life – returned to France
*Motets, masses, and secular chansons
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CHAPTER 14. MOTET
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Most important genre of early polyphonic music
Sacred music (during the Rennaisance)
Timbre: SATB choir – ‘a-cappella’
Texture: mostly polyphonic (imitative)
with some homorhythmic
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The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
14. RENAISSANCE SACRED MUSIC
THE REFORMATION AND COUNTER-REFORMATION
(Protestant) Reformation
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Text in the vernacular (common language)
More “congregational singing”
Hymn tunes - simple melodies, homophonic texture, (ie: Bach)
Counter-Reformation
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(Martin Luther)
(Council of Trent)
Pure vocal music (no instruments)
Text in the traditional Latin
No secular tunes/influences
Clarity of text - simplified textures (ie: Palestrina)
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CHAPTER 14. PALESTRINA
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Italian, organist, and choirmaster
Employed – St. Peters Basilica and Sistine Chapel
Mostly sacred music
Mass – the liturgical music of Roman Catholic Church,
(approved by the Council of Trent)
also motets, some secular madrigals
Style: Timbre =‘a-cappella’ (5 or 6 voices in the choir)
Texture = mostly polyphonic with other textures
Palestrina, Pope Marcellus Mass, Gloria
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The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition
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RENAISSANCE SECULAR
MUSIC
CHAPTER 15
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CHAPTER 15. RENAISSANCE
SECULAR MUSIC
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Professional musicians: courts and civic functions
Merchant-class amateurs: music in the home
Instrumental dance music (instruments not specified)
Vocal music : Chanson and “Madrigal”
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15. RENAISSANCE SECULAR MUSIC
THE ITALIAN MADRIGAL
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Madrigals began in Italy
Text: based on a secular poem
Aristocratic court entertainment
Timbre: a few solo voices (ie: quartet)
“Word Painting” - music style reflecting the
meaning of the text
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WORD PAINTING EXAMPLES
FROM MONTEVERDI “A UN GIRO SOL” (AT A SINGLE TURNING
GLANCE)
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The breeze laughs all about
The sea becomes calm
The sky becomes more radiant
I alone am sad and weeping, doubtless on the day you were born,
so cruel and wicked, my death was also born.
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CHAPTER 15. RENAISSANCE
THE ENGLISH MADRIGAL
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“Elizabethan” age of literature (ie: Shakespeare)
Simpler and lighter in style/story, cheerful, humorous
Refrain syllables (fa-la-la)
Word-painting (examples - Farmer “Fair Phyllis”)
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CHAPTER 15. RENAISSANCE
THE ENGLISH MADRIGAL
John Farmer
• Active in Ireland and England
• Organist and choirmaster
• English madrigals & songs
Farmer, Fair Phyllis
Typical pastoral scene, by Zick
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SUSATO: THREE DANCES
• Susato: Belgium composer
• Set of 3 rondes (rounds)
• Performed by a wind band (instruments not specified)
• Each section in Binary form
(A-A-B-B)
(C-C-D-D)
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(E-E-F-F)
15. RENAISSANCE SECULAR MUSIC
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The Enjoyment of Music 11th, Shorter Edition