Middle Ages & Renaissance Music History PDF

***Middle Ages*** - The phrase Middle Ages refers to the period of European history spanning: 450-1450 - In the Middle Ages, most important musicians were priests - Most medieval music was vocal - A main genre: **Plain Chant**---called later **Gregorian---**monophonic in texture...

***Middle Ages*** - The phrase Middle Ages refers to the period of European history spanning: 450-1450 - In the Middle Ages, most important musicians were priests - Most medieval music was vocal - A main genre: **Plain Chant**---called later **Gregorian---**monophonic in texture - Gregorian chant melodies tend to move stepwise within a narrow range of pitches - The two types of services at which monks sang were the office and the mass - The highlight of the day for monks and nuns was the mass - The church modes are like the major and minor scales today in that they consist of seven tones and an eighth tone that duplicates the first an octave higher - The form of the chant *Alleluia: Vidimus Stellam* is in ABA form, where A part returns---ternary form - The first large body of secular songs that survives in decipherable notation was composed by French nobles called *troubadours* and *trouvères* - These songs of the *Middle Ages* dealt with all of the following subjects: love, dancing and the Crusades, but not religion - The notation of the secular songs of the *Middle Ages* does not indicate rhythm but pitch and duration - Hildegard of Bingen/drone - Melismatic singing - An **Estampie** is a medieval dance. In the recording of the medieval estampie, the melody is played on a **rebec**, a bowed string instrument - **Organum** is a term applied to medieval music that consists of Gregorian chant and one or more additional melodic lines - The first steps toward the development of polyphony were taken some time between 700 and 900, when musicians composed new music to accompany dancing and the French nobles began to sing hunting songs together. At the same time monks in monastery choirs began to add a second melodic line to the Gregorian chant - The melody added to the Gregorian chant to form organum around 1100 was usually faster the original chant - The center of polyphonic music in Europe after 1150 was Paris - Leonin and Perotin are notable because they are the first important composers known by name. They indicated definite time values and were the leaders of the school of Notre Dame - Cantus firmus is the term used for a chant that is used as the basis for polyphony - The term **Ars Nova**/New Art refers to mostly Italian and French music of the fourteenth century - Machaut's 5 parts of the mass ordinary: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei - *The Notre Dame* Mass by Guillaume de Machaut was written for four voices without instrumental accompaniment and is the first polyphonic treatment of the mass ordinary by a known composer ***The Renaissance*** - The Renaissance in music occurred between 1450 and 1600 - For centuries now, the popes had lived in Rome but when a French born pope has been chosen (beginning of the XIV century), the pope residence was moved to Avignon, France. After riots in Rome and between 1378-1417, there 2 popes ruling at the same time, one in Rome and the other in Avignon/South France - Many composers French and Italian lived in France because they were supported by very wealthy but also very corrupted papal court - As the result both French and Italian styles merged and affected both sacred as well as secular music - The new international style was the basis for a new period in the music history, known as Renaissance - The Renaissance may be described as an age of curiosity and individualism, exploration and adventure and the \"rebirth\" of human creativity - The intellectual movement called *humanism* focused on human life and its accomplishments (interest of humanistic values of classical Greece and Rome). People modeled themselves after the ancient Greeks and Romans---in their embracing education, in their feeling of individual and collective responsibilities, enduring human values especially in the arts - Three notable changes: more focus on individual achievements; more interest in the real world than in the spiritual. Third, ease of travel and portable print invention (1450) - In the Renaissance, education---also music education---was considered a status symbol. Every person was expected to be trained in music. By aristocrats and the upper middle-class musical activity gradually shifted from the church to the court - Three-dimensional painting technique, working with oils, light and shade - Invention of the telescope and the microscope changed forever the way people look at the world - In many ways Renaissance must have been an exciting time to live (fork, pencil, tobacco, first public hospital, silver in Peru) **MUSIC**: The texture of Renaissance music is chiefly polyphonic. The Renaissance period is sometimes called \"the golden age\" of *a cappella* choral music. *A cappella* refers to unaccompanied (no instruments) choral music. Sound overall smoother, more homogeneous, less contrast. Polyphonic style based on imitation in which all voices present the same phrase one after the other. Constant sense of overlapping. Also, less strict imitation: free imitation or paired imitation. Renaissance composers often used *word painting*, a musical representation of specific poetic images. Renaissance melodies are usually easy to sing because the melody often moves along a scale with few large leaps. Final chords contained the "perfect intervals of 5 and 8 but also 3^rd^." - The leading music center in sixteenth-century Europe was Italy - Renaissance music sounds fuller than medieval music because the typical choral piece has four, five, or six voice parts of nearly equal melodic interest with small or close intervals - The two main forms of sacred Renaissance music are the **Mass/**Catholic and the **Motet/**Lutheran**,** both in Latin text. Motets have very expressive words. They have moments of homophonic texture as well - Josquin Desprez (Northern France), Lutheran **Motet, Mass, and Secular Song**, spent much of his life in Germany. The Renaissance motet is a polyphonic choral work set to a sacred Latin text other than the ordinary of the Mass - Palestrina, Catholic **Mass (ordinary/5 parts of the mass)**, was centered in Rome.  Palestrina convinced the Pope to keep polyphonic and not go back to monophonic single melody music. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina\'s music includes 104 masses and some 450 other sacred works. Careful control of dissonance - Palestrina\'s *Pope Marcellus* *Mass* sounds fuller than Josquin\'s *Ave Maria* because it is set for six voices instead of four - A secular song by John Dunstable of England and Guillaume DuFay of France - The **Renaissance Madrigal for** several solo voices (secular music) began around 1520 in Italy, and then reached England: *As vesta was Descending* by Thomas Weelkes. Thomas Morley published many madrigals in England as well. The madrigal became very popular during the XVI century. The technique of depicting the meaning of words through music/**word painting** - **Lute Song** is another secular genre by John Dowland (melody plus accompaniment (**homophonic texture**) The Baroque Period: 1600-1750 ============================= Baroque -- "flamboyant lifestyle" -- "fills the space" -- busy, elaborate, unity of mood. - Instrumental music: entire section or movement will express one mood - Vocal music, changes in text may be accompanied by change in the music; "word painting" music supports the text **Music elements:** - Melodies are complex, not easy to remember on one hearing, they reoccur and give impression of unceasing development. Wide leaps are common(intervals); use of major/minor scale tonality (ca. 1680) - Harmony: chords - Rhythm heard at the beginning often repeated, strong and regular rhythmic pulse, constantly moving bass line called Basso Continuo---found in all genres of Baroque music - Dynamics: sudden changes, called **terraced dynamics** - Texture mostly polyphonic, "imitation" between individual melody lines - Music "composed to order---" musicians worked for Church (very elaborate music), and for aristocratic courts or employed by large town - Music profession taught in a master/apprentice relationship **Composers:** - Johan Sebastian [ ] Bach (Germany, Lutheran but worked in sacred and secular positions, played organ and violin) - **George Frederic Handel** - born in Germany lived in England (composed the Oratorio "Messiah") - Gabrieli (Italian) - early Baroque period, first to bring instruments into the Catholic Church - before just vocal music (Venice). Monteverdi [ ] (Italian, opera one of the first opera composers), and Vivaldi [ ] -- the "red haired priest" -- composed Concerto Grosso and Solo Concerto (see below) for a girl's orphanage in Italy. - Baroque orchestra consisted of strings, organ/harpsichord maybe a few wind instruments -- oboe, trumpets, bassoon, and tympani. Corelli and his Trio Sonata in a minor. **Church Music:** Catholic -- Mass (as the music part); Lutheran -- Chorale (hymn tunes that all would sing -- sung in German text) and Church Cantata (multi movement works for chorus, soloists and orchestra). Lutheran services lasted about 4 hours but had plenty of music. **Forms:** Ternary -- ABA within one section or movement. Instrumental music frequently made up of movements or sections in the music separated, or with a pause. Movements would contrast by tempo. Ritornello form found in Concerto Grosso -- theme repeated (presented in fragments) First genre -- **Trio sonata,** 3 parts/4 performers, then grew larger into **Concerto Grosso**. Other genres: **Opera** (secular genre) -- the composer: Peri created first opera "Euridice" in 1600. Monteverdi -- "Orfeo" composed 1607. Operas: on stage, costumes, scenery, acting; not intended to be religious. Arias -- songs, Recitatives -- narrative, were separate. Operas were composed for (aristocratic) court ceremonies -- "display of magnificence and grandeur." Oratorio -- like opera "large scale work" -- chorus soloists and orchestra like opera but no acting/scenery/costumes; based on Bible stories though not really intended for religious services -- Handel's "Messiah" is famous example. **Concerto Grosso** (small orchestra size, mostly strings, with a few soloists) -- multi movements usually 3 -- fast, slow, fast. Contrast between solo and full orchestra (called "tutti"). **Fugue** (polyphonic, subject/counter subject. Inversion, retrograde, stretto, diminution, augmentation, pedal note, episodes). **Sonata** -- instrumental work in multiple movements - one to eight musicians, single person on each musical part. **Baroque Suite** -- instrumental, multi movement, based upon "dance" music. **Classical period -- 1750 -- 1820** Classical period 1750 -- 1820 moved away from ornate flamboyant style of the Baroque. "Age of Enlightenment" rise of the middle class questioning traditional authority (religion), music stress balance and "clarity in structure" (transition period -- 1730-1750 were composers C.P.E. Bach and J.C. Bach, sons of J.S. Bach) **Three main composers:** Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) started working at the "court" but left, unfortunately died broke. Very prolific composer of Symphonies, concertos and operas. Joseph Haydn (1732 -- 1809), worked for an aristocrat for 30 years, but was considered a servant; wrote over 100 symphonies. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). **Beethoven** was a brilliant pianist, was self-educated and had read widely, but began to feel the first symptoms of deafness in his twenty-ninth year. In comparison with earlier composers, he was far more extensive and explicit in marking dynamics (volume) in his music. Vienna, Austria, musical capital of Europe -- Mozart and Beethoven lived there, Haydn moved there later in life. Beethoven opened new realms of musical expression that profoundly influenced Composers throughout the nineteenth century (Romantic period). Beethoven greatly expanded the "development" section of the sonata-form movement and made it more dramatic.  **Music in society:** growing middle class fueled a demand for public concerts. Music making in the home became increasingly important. **Musical Elements:** Contrasts of mood between and within movements and may occur gradually or suddenly in "a tastefully acceptable emotional range." **Melodies:** tuneful, easy to remember, phrases occur in pairs, major/minor tonality. Some tunes taken from folk or "popular" music. **Rhythm:** numerous patterns changes occur gradually or suddenly, frequent changes in length of notes -- all of this provides variety and contrast. **Texture:** mostly homophonic. **Dynamics:** changes gradual or sudden. End of Baroque -- basso continuo. **The Classical Orchestra:** increased in size from the Baroque with four sections: strings -- violins, violas, cellos, basses; "woodwinds" - \@2 flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons; "brass" -- French horns, trumpets; and percussion -- tympani. Wind and brass instruments used to provide contrast of tome color or timbre. **Genres:**  ***Symphony*\--** a musical composition for orchestra in four movements. The usual order of movements in a classical symphony is fast, slow, dance-related, and fast. The first movement of a classical symphony is almost always fast, and in sonata form. Second movement usually very lyrical. A great example of the classical symphony genre is **Mozart\'s** *Symphony No.* *40 is in G minor* has 4 contrasting movements and it is one of his last three symphonies. **Concerto** is a "large-scale" work in 3 movements for an instrumental soloist and\ orchestra. (The favored solo instrument in the classical concerto was the piano). Emergence of soloists virtuosity. A typical sequence of movements in a classical concerto is fast, slow and fast. Hence, the classical concerto differs from the symphony in that it does not have a minuet or "dance" movement.  **Chamber music** is also performed by one player per part. The most important form of classical chamber music is the string quartet and is designed for the intimate setting of a small room**. The String Quartet **-- (classical chamber music) written for two violins, viola and cello and has one player on a "part.". **Sonatas:** (also chamber music) one on a part. **FORMS: SONATA (FORM)**---Consists of three main sections: Exposition, Development and Recapitulation. It is used frequently as the form in the first, slow and final fast movements of a multi-movement work. The term *sonata form* refers to the form of a single movement, and it should not be confused with the term *sonata*, which is used for a whole composition made up of several movements (3 or 4; could be 2 as well). The three main sections of a sonata-form movement are often followed by a concluding section known as the coda. (Short musical ideas or fragments of themes that are developed within a composition are called "motives"). The **Rondo** may be schematically outlined as ABACAB (or D) A. Its tuneful main theme returns several times in alternation with other themes. **Minuet and Trio --** dance like (third movement of a symphony, typically). It is in ternary form -- ABA; trio is the B section; the minuet section is then repeated. **Theme and Variations,** the main melody is repeated and altered or varied (by harmony, rhythm, dynamics, instrumentation, timber, etc. (often the form in the second movement of a symphony). **Opera **expanding from the Baroque period; still consisted of solo singers, Arias (songs) and recitatives (narrative), chorus, orchestra, costumes, acting and scenery. Operas content were serious or comic; often made fun of aristocrats. **The Romantic Period -- 1820 -- 1900** Beethoven influenced many composers in the Romantic period **Romanticism** as a stylistic period in western art music: - Encompassed the years 1820-1900. -  Characterized by a fascination with fantasy - Imagination and individuality. - Emotion and expressiveness A revolutionary attitude inspired by the French Revolution -- through to about 1850, which contributed to Nationalism. Prospering middle class from the Industrial Revolution. Music patronage by the elite individual (aristocrat) replaced by preferences of the general public. Aspects of Romantic Music: **Exoticism** in music - Drawing creative inspiration from cultures of lands foreign to the composer**.** - Usually exotic places (middle east or Asia), **Composers have a fascination about life and music from another country** **Nationalism** - Fascination with national identity that led composers to draw on colorful materials for their music, specifically folk tunes and rhythms and from their own lands. - Composers have knowledge of their own folk tunes, rhythms, dances - Composers also used their national legends as subject matter. Romantic music inspired by **nature.** The audience - Large and growing middle class wanted to hear concerts - Musicians and composers made their livelihood performing public concerts and publishing music matching the tastes of the general public - Making music in the home took on great importance. (only way to hear music if not going to a concert or hearing music at Church) - A very important musical part of every middle-class home during the romantic period was the piano - Romantic composers wrote primarily for a middle-class audience whose size and prosperity had increased because of the industrial revolution Middle class audience wanted what the aristocrats and upper class had enjoyed for generations. They supported orchestras and opera companies by buying tickets and going to concerts. Because of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, many aristocrats could no longer afford to maintain private opera houses, orchestras, and composers.  Music schools and conservatories were founded for training music students. The Church no longer (or rarely) commissioned new compositions. Romantic Music Overview video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWRDRRZpwDU]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWRDRRZpwDU) **Characteristics of Romantic music:** **Melodies/Harmony** - long, complex and highly expressive - Melodies evolved, harmonies more complex - Romantic composers relied upon a more prominent use of chromatic harmony -- moving by semitones or whole tones, use of dissonances **Rhythm** - Extremely diverse and flexible - The art of **rubato**\--a slight holding back or pressing forward of tempo in the performance of much romantic music\-- To intensify the expression of the music. - **Changes in tempo -- added to the expressiveness in the music** **Dynamic** - changes sudden and gradual - extremely wide ranges. **Texture** - mostly homophonic. **Forms** - Expansion from the Classical Period (Sonata, Rondo, etc.) - Since the melodies are long complex and expressive, composers find ways to make the melodies more interesting by altering the character. - This is achieved by changes in dynamics, instrumentation, or rhythm and is a romantic technique known as: **thematic transformation**. **The orchestra** - **Many new instruments added to the orchestra** - Toward the end of the romantic period might include close to 100 musicians.  - It was larger and more varied in tone color than the classical orchestra. **Current genres:** From Before (secular): Symphonies, Concertos, Operas, Sonatas, String Quartets. Also Overtures and Preludes (started in Baroque). **New genres of the Romantic Period:** **Tone Poem or Symphonic Poem** - Development of **Program music** (the tone poem is an example of program music) is instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea, or scene; music that tells a story "or paints a picture." - Based on literary or pictorial idea. - Franz Liszt was the first to use this genre - Previous composers would occasionally do this -- Vivaldi: "the Four Seasons" - Somewhat like "word painting" where the music helps tell the story presented by lyrics Early composer that got things going - Hector Berlioz\--French composer (1803-1869) - Wrote *Symphonie fantastique* (*Fantastic Symphony*, 1830) **program music example** - This work is considered "autobiographical." - This composition, written very early in the romantic period, demonstrated interesting, innovative or "novel" orchestration - Has been described as "weird and diabolical." - In five movements and each had a title **Hector Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique** Berlioz was one of the first great conductors from the Romantic Period **Non-program music is called *absolute music*** - ***No title ex: Mozart Symphony \# 40 in g minor -- this is absolute music***