Music History – Study Guide #1: Ancient Music to the Renaissance Information in this document is drawn from lectures by Dr. David L. Matson, professor of music histor history y at Cedarvi Cedarvill llee Univer Universit sity, y, Cedarv Cedarvill ille, e, OH, and from from A Histor History y of Music Music in Wester Western n Culture by Dr. Mark Evan Bonds. This document prepared by Kevin J. Vaughn, 10-17-2004. ANCIENT MUSIC – GREEK AND ROMAN Music has always existed with God; there is no direct c ause-effect relationship regarding music; God did not “create” music as such – Genesis 4: Jubal is the first musician mentioned in Scripture. The roots of Western musical tradition are in Greece: Little notation; Music was mostly memorized • Theatre and religious ritual were the public venues for music • Word, music, and dance were all part of “music” • Monophonic • In Greece, poetry and song were indistinguishable • antiquity divides music into theory and practice . • Pythagoras – the earliest theorist; concerned with the essence of music; music was an art of measurement to him; Music was said to control: the planets/cosmos, human be havior DOCTRIN OF ETHOS: THE MODES OF MUSIC POSSESS INTRINSICALLY MORAL AND ETHICAL QUALITIES THAT AFFECT HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND EMOTIONS 45 Fragments are all that is left of Greek music before the 4th Century. Harmonics by Aristoxenus, 330 B.C. Earliest Theoretical Writing: Harmonics by
Music and Religion – inseparable to the Greeks. Cults were devoted to the gods and goddesses and each one had its own musical style and instrumentation. EX: Apollo = lyre, kithara; Dionysius = aulos Greek Theory – THE GREATER PERFECT SYSTEM Tetrachords – 4 notes, the outside interval always a P4, interlocking Read backwards, the formula was: tone, tone, semitone with an added note, the proslambanomenos , to form 2 octaves. chromatic – minor 3rd, ½ step, ½ step • enharmonic – major 3rd, 2 microtones • Tuning was based on ratios; the Pythagorean 5th was 3:2; consonance was determined mathematically. Greek Instruments: Aulos – used with dithyrambs (poems); single or double reed; 2 pipes; used in theatrical tragedies. Lyre and kithara – stringed and strummed 1
Psalteria – a plucked string instrument Also percussion instruments 582 B.C. – competitions for solo aulos and lyres; women were allowed to play the instruments professionally but were not allowed to compete. Music in the Early Christian Church no instruments because of their pagan associations • mostly vocal; psalms and chants from Judaism •
Plainchant Notation based on neumes; when placed according to their pitch above or below an imaginary line they are called diastematic or heightened neumes Elements of Plainchant Words and Music in chant – syllabic, neumatic, melismatic Divine Office: Psalms framed by antiphons, codified in 520 (The Rule of St. Benedict), observed by cloistered monks and nuns; Included the singing of at least one strophic hymn
Matins , Lauds , Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers , Compline Psalm Tone – 8 melodic formulas used to sing the psalms; syllabic; the psalm was preceded and followed by the antiphon ;
Mass (between prime and terce): Liturgy of the Word (readings) and Eucharist (Lord’s Supper); standardized by the late 7th Century when Charlemagne united the empire and standardized the liturgy of the church; 1570 - Council of Trent revised the liturgy; Ordinary Kyrie Gloria Credo Sanctus Agnus dei • • • • •
Proper Introit Gradual Alleluia/Tract Offertory Communion
Missa Solmenis – solemn/high mass (deacon and subdeacon) Missa Cantata – sung mass without deacons Missa Lecta – low mass; read not sung Missa Pro Defunctis – requiem mass Missa Pro Sponso et Sponsa – wedding mass
Kyrie and Gloria – begun by priest, sung by choir Collects and Epistles – prayers and readings sung by priest Gradual, Alleluia/tract – sequence sung by soloists w/ responses by choir Liturgy of the Word 2
gospel – readings sung by the priest sermon – spoken by priest credo – begun by priest, sung by choir Liturgy of the Eucharist offertory – sung by choir during preparation for communion canon and Lord’s Prayer sung to formulas Agnus Dei, communion – sung by choir before and after communion post-communion – sung by priest ite missa est or benedicamus domino – sung by priest, response by choir Recitation tone is used for long text passages ending with a cadence. Gradual, Alleluia, and Tract are responsorial chants (soloist, choir)
Most important chantbooks: Gradual Romanum – complete chants for both forms of the mass Antiphoner Romanum – chants for the Office except Matins Liber Usualis – chants for both
The Liturgical Year – Advent – 4th Sunday before Christmas to Christmas Day Christmas – Dec. 25 and the 12 days following Epiphany – January 6 (visit of the Magi) until the beginning of Lent Lent – from Ash Wednesday (40 days – not counting Sundays – before Easter) to Maundy Thursday. Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Vigil Easter – 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon on or after March 21 Pentecost – 50 days after Easter until Advent Notation: originated in the 9th Century – earliest is ca 850 neumes – notes; represent one or more pitches on a four-line staff ligature – a group of notes Classification: strophic – same music to every stanza through composed – for every line of text there is new music psalmodic – texts drawn from the psalms Liturgical Drama: Biblical stories; developed 10th/11th Centuries; music and limited acting by the priest; later, costumes and non-scriptural themes; eventually moved outside of the church; actors processed to the conductus . Morality Plays: sacred but not part of the liturgy; allegorical; used to remind people about “momento mori” the moment of death; Medieval Music Theory: Practical issues more important than theoretical elegance because of the amount of chant to be memorized; most teaching in monasteries/cathedrals; Boethius is the main source of Greek
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theory; only religious music is discussed in treatise aimed at students who had to learn rules for singing. Church Modes: Range: ambitus End Pitch: finalis 8 church modes based on D, E, F, G – authentic Dorian (d – d) Phrygian (e – e) Lydian (f – f) Mixolydian (g-g)
plagal (4th below the authentic mode) Hypodorian (A – a) Hypophrygian (B-b) Hypolydian (c-c) Hypomixolydian (d-d)
Based on Hexachords: group of six notes – tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone Solmization syllables – (gamma) ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la gamut = available pitches based on interlocking hexachords starting on F, C, or G SOFT (molle) – B flat HARD (durum) – B natural NATURAL – no B
Guido of Arezzo – GUIDONIAN HAND to visualize the hexachords, 5-line staff, and a short Latin song (ut queant laxis) to teach. Mutation was required to move between the hexachords; musica ficta was used to adjust notes that didn’t exist in the hexachord (early modulation) Secular Music/Musicians of the Middle Ages
SECULAR, SYLLABIC, STROPHIC, MONOPHONIC Jongleurs – 10th Century professional musicians; vocalists and instrumentalists; 13th century – organized themselves into guilds; sang and played music composed by others. Troubadours (Southern France) Provence, spoke Provencal • 2600 poems and 300 songs survive • flourished in aristocratic circles • Guillaume IX, Duke of Aquitaine • Bernart de Ventadorn; the greatest •
Trouveres (Northern France) their language became modern French 1700 melodies and 4000 poems survive flourished in aristocratic circles King Richard (Lionheart) Adam de la Halle; the last and greatest
Characteristics of their songs – melodic style, syllabic with some short melismas, narrow range, embellishments may have been added (improv), rhythm is unknown Secular Song in Germany minnesinger – 12th-14th Centuries; sang love songs and epic poetry; strophic with melodic • repetitions; sang in AAB bar form Meistersinger – 14th-16th Centuries; engaged in competitions; Hans Sachs • Secular Song outside of Germany
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• • •
England – few songs survive Spain – 1250-1280; cantigas: songs of praise to the Virgin; similar to troubadours Italy – laude (songs for religious penitents) and frottole (the really secular ones)
Medieval Instrumental Music and Instruments estampie – surviving examples from England and France; monophonic or polyphonic istampita – Italian version, 14th Century, same as estampie The instruments of medieval Europe probably came from the Middle East via Byzantium or Moorish Spain; terminology and history are vague.
POLYPHONY ~2 or more melodies performed simultaneously~ 9 Century; Winchester Troper is the earliest performance source; organum is early polyphony th
EARLY POLYPHONY: Historical Background – 1000-1200 Europe’s economy prospered • Crusades united the ruling families • Greek and Arabic books were translated into Latin • universities appeared – Paris, Oxford, Bologna • Christian church split into East and West • music notation developed • The earliest polyphony: music in which separate voices sing together, not in unison or octaves but as diverging parts; singers probably improvised polyphony and heterophony before notation; Musica enchiriadis th anonymous treatise from the 9 Century paired with the Schola enchiriadis mentions organum in two forms – parallel (strict) and oblique (free) The beginnings of polyphony and the music of the 13th Century:
Guido of Arezzo – (995-1050) wrote Micrologus Discant Organum ~ measured, note against note texture Texts: ~ tropes of the Benedicamus (trope) Domino ~ sequences from the ubulis of the Alleluia used to teach the priest to stay on pitch Versus ~ rhyming, accented Latin poems; newly written, not from liturgy or the Bible NOTRE DAME POLYPHONY: Paris was a flourishing commercial and intellectual center in the 12th and 13th Centuries; the Cathedral employed 2 of the earliest named composers: ~ LEONIN AND PEROTIN ~
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Leonin – 1150-1185 “optimus organista” First known significant composer of organum; among the first to use the rhythmic modes with the long and short; part of the Notre Dame Cathedral; uses primarily Mode 1. Magnus Liber Organi 35 responsories fro the offices 60 organa for the mass melismatic and discant organum clausulae (a musical section) Perotin – 1160-1220 “optimus discantor” Not necessarily attached to Notred Dame; details are va gue Revised the Magnus Liber (1180-1190) used all 6 of the rhythmic modes discant clausulae tenors in rhythmic modes or patterns and often repeated Sources of Notre Dame Music – Wolfenbuttel 677 and 1206 Madrid 20486 Florence MS, Pluteo 29.1 THE 6 RHYTHMIC MODES: Rhythmic patternd indicated by combinations of neumes; the modes give us a way to notate rhythm; patterns correspond to poetic meters; basic unit was the perfection. Iambic Trochaic Dactyllic – modified to create tempus perfectum Anapest – modified to create tempus perfectum Spondee Tribrach Triple = tempus perfectum Duple = tempus imperfectum
MUSIC OF THE 13TH CENTURY Polyphonic conductus – BRAND NEW MUSIC; no C.F.; composed by Perotin and others in the early 13th Century; out of favor after 1250 TEXTS: metrical Latin poems • non-liturgical / sacred themes • secular conductus dealt with serious themes • syllabic; all voices sing the same words as in ho mophonic texture • some melismas @ important places or words • tenor melody newly composed, not a C.F. •
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Motet – one of the most important forms of polyphonic music from 1250-1750; a polyphonic setting of a tenor taken from a whole plainsong (chant); used for experimentation Early Motet to about 1280 Clausulae became separate pieces text added to duplum was called motetus Voices from lowest – Cantus Firmus, Motetus (Duplum), Triplum, Quadruplum Musical Features ~ tenor melodies (C.F.): continued to come from chant; by the end of the century, melodies came from other sources; tenor parts were laid out in repeated rhythmic patterns. ~ each voice had its own text, each one related to the others, often multi-lingual; parts eventually didn’t line up; ~ refrain: a line or two from another motet; syllables or vowels might line up
The Franconian Motet – Franco of Cologne 1250-1280; theorist; NOTATION Ars Cantus Mensurabilis 1280 explains advances in notation allows division of breve into 2 or 3 semibreves ternary grouping predominant each note value had a different shape choirbook format as opposed to score format The Petronian Motet – Petrus de Cruce (Pierre de la Croix) 1270-1300; devised a manner of placing several notes to one breve. Other late 13th C. developments: hocket – each melody note in a different voice Isorhythmic Motets – derived from 13th century modal and rhythmic modes; melodic and rhythmic motifs were repeated in the tenor: melody – color rhythm – talea Sources of 13th Century motets: Codex Montpellier H196 assembled early 14th C.; largest collection; from Perotin to de la Croix; 345 compositions. Codex Bamberg Ed. IV 6 some Notre Dame music; 100 motets; 1 conductus; 7 text-less motets (instrumental?) Las Huelgas 186 compositions; 55 motets
ARS NOVA / TRECENTO Philippe de Vitry – 1292-1360; composer, theorist, poet, priest Ars Nova Musicae 1325 first used the phrase “ars nova”
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introduces new notational and rhythmical organizations duple note division allowed for the first time smaller note values (semibreves)
During this period, older music styles were defended by c onservatives who criticized the new ways. Le Roman de Fauvel – 3,280-line poem by Gervais de Bus (1310-1400) ~ an allegorical attack on social corruption and abuses against the church by religious orders. ~ Flaterie, Avarice, Valianie, Variete, Laschate Guillaume de Machaut – 1300-1377 – ARS NOVA AND MOTETS - composer, priest, poet; blind in one eye; endured the plague; contemporary with Chaucer and Petrarch - 1323 – worked for king of Bohemia - 1337 – canon @ Reims Cathedral Secular Music followed Ars Nova rules binary rhythm shorter note values accompanied melody CF treatment given up uses ars antique and isorhythm in motets brought instruments into the church 21 Rondeau – AbaAAbAB 33 Virelai – AbbaA 42 Ballade – ababcdE Messe de Notre Dame Performed @ coronation of Charles V (1364); 1st setting of a polyphonic mass by a single composer; instruments used; 5 movements for 4 voices Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Ite missa est = ISORHYTHMIC Gloria and Credo are note-against-note (contrapuntal); music does n ot express the text
ITALIAN MUSIC IN THE 14TH CENTURY Background – Italy was not unified; composers worked in churches and wrote secular music; no examples of church polyphony from this period survive; Sources: Squarcialupi Codex – 1420 354 pieces by 12 different composers of Trecento/Quattrocento; each section contains a composer’s picture and works. Madrigal – secular, 4-part Subjects: love, satire, pastoral life Form: several 3-line stanzas followed by ritornello - each stanza to the same music (strophic) - ritornello to different music/meter - sometimes melismatic 8
Caccia – a “chase”; hunting songs canon at the unison with lively descriptive words; prominent 1345-1370 instruments support 2 equal upper voices; irregular poetic form; music portrays horns, dogs, birds, etc. Ballata – song to accompany dancing later than the madrigal/caccia (after 1365) similar to French Virelai in form Francesco Landini – c1325-1397 - TRECENTO leading composer of ballate; 90 two-part; 42 three-part. a blind organist – virtuoso on small organ; composed only SECULAR music sometimes more 3rds and 6ths than in the Ars Nova
LATE 14TH CENTURY ITALIAN STYLE French influence came to Italy when the pope moved back to Rome (1377); Italians wrote in French genres and notation; northern composers settled in Italy. Instrumental Music – performance practice is unclear; instruments doubled vocal parts; ensembles played vocal music. Keyboard arrangements: ROBERTSBRIDGE CODEX (1325) – earliest notated keyboard music Faenza Codex (15th Century) Avignon was the center for secular music in fixed form ( form fixe); composers wrote complex music for professionals and cultivated listeners. THE EARLY RENAISSANCE In the 15 Century composers discovered 6th and 3rd from English music by Dunstable and others; development of ballade, rondeau, isorhythmic motets, sacred and secular music; appearance of secular cantus firmi in the Mass. th
English Music – close connection with folk style o major tonality rather than modal tonality; more 3rds and 6ths o homophonic texture o 14th Century – WORCESTER FRAGMENTS o source for most 14th century English music motets, conducti, liturgical music o Rondellus – English type of motet characterized by voice exchange
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Early 15th Century – OLD HALL MANUSCRIPTS sections of the ordinary of the mass o some isorhythmic settings o chant moves between different voices o Cantilena – treble dominated John Dunstable – c1390-1453 leading English composer of early 15th Century; may have worked in France; works preserved in continental manuscripts; he went back and forth between England and the continent. Carol – origins in monophonic dances with alternating solo and choral sections; in the 15th century, 2 or 3 part settings of religious poems in popular style FORM – strophic; burden/refrain before or after stanzas MUSIC IN BURGUNDY Dukes of Burgundy – east-central France, ruled like kings; produced leading northern composers Philip the Good – 1419-1467 ~ owned land in Belgium and Holland; very wealthy; built elaborate chapels and hired musicians (approx. 28). Charles the Bold – 1467-1477 ~ an amateur musician; hosted musical guests and traveled often, creating a common musical style in Europe. Characteristics of Burgundian Music: 3 voice parts: tenor and contra-tenor (instrument) in the same range and treble (discantus); treble was the principle voice cantilena (treble dominated) cadences: Landini, octave leap rhythm and meter: triple meter favored; duple for contrast; hemiola Composers:
Guillaume Du Fay – 1397-1458 born near Cambrai; worked as choirboy in Italian courts and for the pope commonly associated with the Burgundian court Italian manuscripts preserve his music Trent Codices among the most important (copies in the CU library) Gilles Binchois – 1400-1460 master of the chanson; served in the chapel of Phillip the Good chansons are expressive, rhythmically simple, melodic Forms: Burgundian Chanson – any polyphonic setting of a French secular poem Rondeau form for most love poems with refrains of 2, 4, or 5 lines Ballade – think Du Fay
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Sacred Music in Burgundian Style Chanson style was used for masses and motets; cantilena, 3-part with the treble embellishing the chant C.F. hymn settings written by Du Fay (accretions) isorhythmic motets continued to be written for solemn ceremonies 1436 Du Fay wrote Nuper Flores for instrumentalists and choirs After 1420, composers treated the Mass Ordinary as a un ified whole based on cyclical procedures: Plainsong Mass – each movement based on a different plainsong melody (CF) Motto Mass – every movement begins with the same melodic motive (head motive) C.F. or Tenor mass – based on same melody played in tenor voice; invented by English composers and adopted by continent; customary in the second half of the 15th Century.
THE RENAISSANCE The Rebirth – term appeared c.1550 ~ Humanism encouraged musicians to express emotions in music (similar to ethos). Scholars translated Greek treatises on music into Latin. Value was taken from the spiritual and put on the human. Ancient Greek theory was applied to polyphony. The Greek modes were considered the same as the church modes and the “power” of the modes was accepted. Theorists devised theories for counterpoint based on consonance and dissonance. Pythagorean tuning was inadequate; different tuning methods w ere tried composers and singers paid more attention to relationships between words and music the music began to express a full range of human emotion patronage appeared – wealthy people brought musicians from France, Flanders,
Netherlands to live with them; the best were in the papal chapel Music Printing – 1450: movable type; 1473: liturgical music books printed; 1501 – first collection of polyphony was printed using movable type in Venice ( Harmoniche musices odhecaton) Ensemble music was printed in oblong partbooks, one volume per part. Printing made performance of music possible in far off places by amateurs. Johannes Ockeghem – 1420-1497 Background - 1st of the great northern composers - sang in the Antwerp Cathedral choir in 1443 - served Charles 1, Duke of Bourbon - sang in the royal chapel of the kings of France from 1450 till retirement - composed relatively few works: masses (liturgical), motets (non-liturgical religious), and chansons (non-religious). Masses – 13, similar to Du Fay in sound. The bass voice is lower than in earlier music (“f”). Voice parts are nearly equal and frequently cross.
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Jacob Obrecht – 1457/58 – 1506 The representative composer of Franco-Flemish composers after Ockeghem. - father was a professional trumpeter - he trained for the priesthood - choirmast in Zoom, Cambrai, and Bruges - 1487-88 worked for Duke Ercole 1 of Ferrara - traveled between Italy and Belgium - died of the plague in 1506 in Ferrara Works: 29 masses using some C.F. technique; 28 motets; secular songs in French and Dutch; some instrumental music. CHANSON – 1460-1480 one of the larger musical forms • uses imitative counterpoint • popular genre of the time • transcriptions and arrangements were made for instruments • it was possible for any of the voices of the chanson to be a cantus firmus in the Mass • OBRECHT and BUSNOIS were the prominent chanson composers •
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