Renaissance Music PDF - MUS 153: Music Appreciation

Here is the transcription of the provided text into a structured markdown format. # MUS 153: Music Appreciation Dr. Lisa Clark ## Music in the Renaissance: Madrigals, Motets, and Masses ### The Renaissance * Renaissance = "rebirth" * revival of ancient Greek and Roman culture * New foc...

Here is the transcription of the provided text into a structured markdown format. # MUS 153: Music Appreciation Dr. Lisa Clark ## Music in the Renaissance: Madrigals, Motets, and Masses ### The Renaissance * Renaissance = "rebirth" * revival of ancient Greek and Roman culture * New focus on human experience * scientific method based on observation * arts guided by sensory experience ### New Attitudes: What is humanism? * exploration * classicism * reformation * education The image shows a renaissance-era painting utilizing a perspective view. ### Renaissance Music (1450-1600) * Sacred Genres * Mass * Motet * Secular Genres * Chanson * Italian Madrigal * English Madrigal ### Characteristics of Renaissance Music * Words and Music * Vocal music more important than instrumental * Word painting * Increasing attempts to express feelings * use of consonant harmonies * carefully controlled dissonance ### Characteristics, cont. * Texture * Polyphonic * Imitation among voices * Favors beautiful *a cappella* sonorities * Rhythm and Melody * Gentle flowing rhythms versus sharply defined beat * Melodic line has greater independence ## Singing in Friendship: The Renaissance Madrigal * The Madrigal: Linking Music and Poetry * Madrigal most important secular genre of the era 1. secular vocal composition for three to eight voices 2. aristocratic form, poetry and music 3. flourished at Italian courts 4. favorite diversion of cultivated amateurs 5. sung from part books, chamber music 6. text: short poems, lyric or reflective character * a. emotional words for weeping, sighing, trembling, dying; set suggestively 7. topics: love, unrequited love, humor and satire, politics, scenes of city and country life 8. word-painting: madrigalisms * a. music directly reflects meaning of words * b. e.g., harsh dissonance “death,” ascending line "heaven,” “stars" * c. expressive device, enhanced emotional content The image shows a couple with their necks arched looking upward to a man standing above them and in the background. The image is related to, Schla varmermanie-Claudio Monteverdi. ``` Yes, I would prefer death I place an amorous kiss Upon the beautiful lips of my heart's true love Ah, such sweet whispers taunting me as if in jest ``` ``` That of sweetness in this matter extinguishes Ah, life of mine This pallid man Whose breast you tighten panic-stricken ``` ``` I retreat Ah,lips Ah!Kisses Ah!Whispers! Ah,whispers fretted to say Yes, I would prefer death ``` * The Madrigal in England * Flourished during Elizabethan era (1558-1603) 1. developed Italian madrigals into native form 2. simpler texts, lighter in style 3. refrain syllables: “fa la la” The image is a diagram of "Weelkes' As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending, madrigal". ``` As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending She spied a maiden Queen the same ascending, Attended on by all the shepherds' swain; To whom Diana's darlings came running down amain First two by two, then three by three together Leaving their Goddess all alone, hasted thither, And mingling with the shepherds of her train, With mirthful tunes her presence did entertain. Then sang the shepherds and nymphs of Diana: Long live fair Oriana! ``` ### Remember Me: Personalizing the Motet in the Renaissance Golden age of the *a cappella* style 1. polyphony: based on imitation * a. subtle, varied effects * b. combines individual action with collaborative worship 2. harmony: fuller chords, "sweeter” thirds and sixths 3. carefully controlled dissonance 4. cantus firmus: elaborate ornamentation in other voices 5. greater interest in duple meter * Josquin des Prez and the Motet * Motet: sacred vocal work, Latin text 1. used in Mass, other religious services 2. combined newly written texts with prescribed prayers 3. praise of Virgin Mary extremely popular * Josquin des Prez (c. 1450–1521) 1. powerful influence on following generations The inside of the Sistine Chapel is shown in an image. * varied career: northern Europe, Italy, France * a. courts in Milan, Ferrara * b. papal choir in Rome * c. returned to France, provost at Condé 9. humanism, rich in feeling: expressive harmony, serene melodies 10. output: over 100 motets, 17 Masses, French chansons, Italian secular songs * Josquin: Ave Maria...virgo serena (Hail Mary... gentle Virgin.(1480s) 1. four-voice a cappella choir, sacred Latin motet 11. rhymed, strophic prayer to the Virgin Mary 12. sectional form: follows poetry 13. musical reference to preexisting chant 14. varied textual styles: convey meanings of text 15. imitative polyphony, moments of homorhythm 16. voice combinations highlight emotional aspects * a. frequent changes in voice groupings * b. equality and interdependence of voices * c. full ensemble ends phrases 17. final line reflects humanism: “O Mother of God, remember me" ### Glory Be: Music for the Renaissance Mass * The Renaissance Mass * Reenactment of the sacrifice of Christ 1. most solemn ritual of the Catholic Church 2. daily service, two collections of prayers * a. Ordinary: fixed prayers (texts remain the same) * b. Proper: variable prayers 3. sung in Latin (except the Kyrie, sung in Greek) * Ordinary set to music 1. Kyrie: prayer for mercy 2. Gloria: hymn of praise (Glory be to God on high...) 3. Credo: confession of faith (I believe in one God, the Father) 4. Sanctus: song of praise (Holy, holy, holy...) 5. Agnus Dei: "Lamb of God" * The Reformation and Counter-Reformation * Reformation: Protestant movement 1. Martin Luther (*1483-1546*), Augustinian monk * a. posted Ninety-Five Theses, 1517 * b. excommunicated by Catholic Church * c. believed in monophonic congregational singing in the vernacular as basis of Christian worship * d. admirer of Josquin, encouraged polyphonic worship music * Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reformation 1. return to Christian piety * a. sweeping changes * b. increased efforts to help the poor, combat heresy 2. Council of Trent (*1545-1563*) regulated every aspect of religious discipline 3. Council of Trent concerns: * a.corruption of traditional chant, extravagant embellishments * b.objected to certain instruments in church * c.incorporation of popular songs in Masses * d.secular spirit in sacred music * e.irreverent attitude of church musicians * f. complex polyphony obscured the text 4. Council's general recommendations: * a. favored pure vocal style * b. respect integrity of sacred texts * c. avoid virtuosity * d. encourage piety * e. some advocated return to Gregorian chant, abolish polyphony * Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594) 1. Italian composer, organist, and choirmaster 2. worked at St. Peter's in Rome (Vatican) 5. pure a cappella style of vocal polyphony * a. typical of late Renaissance * b. clear vocal declamation of text 6. output: mostly sacred, over 100 Masses * Palestrina and the Pope Marcellus Mass 1. all-male a cappella choir: soprano, alto, two tenors, two basses * a. church choirs of the era were all male * b. sopranos: boy sopranos or male falsettists * c. altos: male altos or countertenors * d. trained professionals: more spiritually powerful 2. Gloria: restrained, serene, celestial Palestrina, Pope Marcellus Mass, Gloria (published 1567) * 6-part choir, a cappella. * through-composed, short ideas exchanged between voices * monophonic opening: officiating priest * homorhythmic and polyphonic textures follow * frequent changes in density of voices * focus on clarity of the words * full, consonant harmony [Gloria, from Pope Marcellus Mass]