Early Music - Hist Musicita

7/30/2019 Early Music - Hist Musicita

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Ancient Era (500 BCE-500 CE) and the Medieval Period (500-1400 in the CE)Date Event in Music Other Events in History

500 B.C.E. Greek lyric poetry and drama begins to

emerge (believed to be sung)

Euripides writes music and drama in

ancient Greece (408 BCE)

First Olympic Games held in Greece (776 BCE)Pythagoras (mathematician/musician) teaches

in Greek Colony in southern Italy. (500 BCE)

300 B.C.E. Plato and Aristotle write about music Socrates is condemned to death by the AthenianCouncil for getting people to think (399)Ptolemy founds dynasty in Egypt (309)

100 B.C.E. Roman poet Vergil dies and leaves hisepic poem,Aeneid(unfinished, 19 BCE)

Rome conquers Greece (200 BCE)

Augustus becomes first Roman Emperor (27 BCE)

1 C.E. Metamorphoses written by the Romanpoet Ovid (14 CE)

Death of Emperor Augustus Caesar (14 CE)Jesus of Nazareth crucified by Romans (c.30 CE)Temple of Jerusalem destroyed by Romans (70)

100 C.E. Mesmodes of Crete Hymn to the Sun

(ca. 130)

Teotihuacan civilization in Mexico flourishesHadrians Wall built in England (122)

200 C.E. Roman citizenship extended to all freemen inRoman EmpireMonasticism becomes popular (c.280)

300 C.E. Bishop Ambrose introduces responsorialpsalmody in Milan (386)

Constantine converts Roman Empire toChristianity (312)Roman empire splits into Eastern and WesternEmpires (395)

400 C.E. Christian theology continues to be defined (410)Romulus Augustulus is deposed as RomanEmperor, Roman Empire falls (476)

500 C.E. Gregory I (the Great) elected Pope(590-604) he is believed to havedeveloped Gregorian Chant.

Rule of St. Benedict, a code of conduct forChristian monasteries (529)Birth of Muhammad (c.570)

600 C.E. Mass liturgy (Ordo Romanus) is

developed

700 C.E. Charlemagne seeks to unify churchliturgical uses of music (789)

Charlemagne, King of the Franks (768)

800 C.E. Organum in parallel and oblique motionappears inMusica Enchiriadis

Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.Baghdad becomes intellectual center of Arab

world. Arabs develop astronomy, algebra,

optics, and medicine.

900 C.E. Vikings begin settlements in Greenland

1000 C.E. Four-line staff andFlorid organumappears in Guido dArezzosMikrologus(1025)

Leif Erickson lands in North America (1000)Normans conquer England (1066)First Crusade begins (1096)

1100 C.E Leonin active at Notre Dame begins firstcompilation ofMagnus Liber Organi

(1180s)

Second Crusade begins (1147)Arab learning comes west (c. 1150)

Construction begins on Notre Dame (1163)1200 C.E. Perotinedits theMagnus Liber, adding 3and 4-voice organa. (1200-30)Carmina Burana is compiled (1220-40)

Francis of Assisi founds Franciscan Order (1209)Magna Carta signed in England (1215)Marco Polo travels east (1271-95)

1300 C.E. de Vitry writes treatiseArs Nova (1322).Francesco Landini (1325-97)

Dante writes theDivine Comedy (1307)Clement V moves papal seat to Avignon (1309)Papal schism begins leading to two Popes(1378)Chaucer writes The Cantebury Tales (1386)


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Mesmodes of Crete

Hymn to the Sun1

Name: Mesmodes of Crete

Pronunciation: MEZ-moh-deezDates: flourished around 130 C.E.Nationality: Ancient GreekTestable Title:Hymn to the SunDate Composed: circa 130 C.E.Genre: HymnInstrumentation: Voice, kitharaListen for: chanting voices, steady rhythmic pulseCompare with: Peri, Purcell, Wagner, Boulanger, Iraqi pasta

Western History Begins in Greece2

When scholars speak of Western society, they are talking about cultures which share acommon heritage to the traditions of ideas, art, science, etc. developed by the ancientGreeks. We attribute to their society the first Olympic games, mathematicians andastronomers such as Archimedes, Euclid, and Pythagoras, the first great trio ofphilosophers: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and of course poets and dramatists likeHomer, Pindar, Euripides, Aeschylus and Aristophanes.3

After the death of Alexander the Great, the ancient Greek confederacy of city-statesbegan to fight amongst themselves. This made it easier for the upstart Roman nation tospread its empire and conquer the Greeks. The Romans chose to adopt much of Greekculture as their own, sending many Greek scholars and poets to Rome (as slaves) to

entertain and to teach the Roman youth. When Emperor Constantine decided to convertthe Roman Empire to Christianity, the Church was given control over what elements ofGreek and Roman culture would be taught and what would be condemned for heresy.4

Mesmodes of Crete

Mesmodes was a born on the Greek island ofCrete. He was a lyric poet and kitharode,a musician who plays the kithara. The kithara is an ancient stringed instrument relatedto the lyre and played similarly to the harp. He was a freedman (formerly a slave) andwhile in Rome, he became the favorite poet ofEmperor Hadrian.

1 Mesmodes of Crete. Hymne au Soleil on Musique de la Grece Antique. Atrium Musicae de Madrid.Gregorio Paniagua, director. Harmonia Mundi. 2000.2 Well, technically in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq).3 A heliocentric universe. 2000 years before Copernicus and Galileo Galilei, many ancient Greeksdiscovered that the Earth revolved around the sun and even estimated the circumference of the Earth. [ThePythagoreans] say that in the middle there is fire, and that the earth is one of the stars, and by its circularmotion round the center produces night and day. Aristotle, Concerning the Heavens, 4th cent BCE4 The study of ancient Greece and Rome is commonly called Classical Studies orClassics.


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Doctrine of EthosThe ancient Greeks believed that music could affectthe moral character of both the playerand the listener. This was called the Doctrine of Ethos. Therefore compositions wouldbe written using specific (and mathematically derived) modes and note combinations toevoke the desired effect.

Poems and Music

When dealing with early writings, especially in music prior to the invention of theprinting press around 1450, modern scholars have available only a limited number (if anyat all) of handwritten fragments. Because of this, only about fifteen poems attributed toMesmodes are known to exist,fourof them survive with ancient musical notation.

In 1581, Vincenzo Galilei, a musician, classics scholar, and father of the astronomerGalileo Galilei, published a collection of three ancient poems with musical notation, butattributed their composition to another poet named Dionysius.5 More thoroughscholarship in the last 25 years has attributed these poems to Mesmodes.

One of these three poems is the Hymn tothe Sun, sung in praise of the Sun god. Inancient Greek mythology, the sun wasthought to be a ball of fire which waspulled behind a four horsed-chariot drivenby the god Helios [Greek for sun].

Over time, the god Apollo becameassociated with the sun along with hisother duties as god of reason, archery,prophecy, and music where he is oftendepicted playing the kithara.6 Apollo with a kitharaBecause no one really knows how the ancients performed their music, scholars have to make aneducated guess based on what they know of poetry, theoretical writings and even reproducing theactual instruments. This recording presents one possible interpretation. After the speakerdelivers an opening statement (0:05) with a drone accompaniment, the singers chant the hymn asthe kithara plays an accompanying melodic line (0:27).

The meter of the poetry provides the rhythm of the hymn. Listen to the chanting beginning at(0:27). The metersounds very much like a familiar holiday poem.

We call this type composition strophic in that it sets all of the verses to the same music.

5 Read more about Vincenzo Galilei in the section on Opera.6Kithara is the etymological predecessor of our modern word,guitar.


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Medieval Period ca. 500-1400

During the medieval period the Church was both the primary spiritual and political forceof Europe.7 It controlled how and to whom knowledge was taught. Cathedral schools anduniversities, which emerged in the middle of the twelfth century, functioned as importanteducational and religious institutions.

During this period, only a small number of people could read. Most of them were eithermonks or clergy of the church or members of upper class families. Music was consideredan educated discipline, but even fewer people could read and write music.

Most composers of the Medieval period were notfull-time musicians as their education gave themmany skills in addition to music. This enabledthem to advance through the ranks of the church aswell as in the courts of noble families. They oftenheld posts as judges, secretaries, administrators,

and diplomats.

What we know about music from the ninth throughtwelfth centuries has survived in manuscripts.These manuscripts were preserved by monasticcommunities and noble estates.

The earliest known written music (i.e. notatedmusic) in the medieval period is plainchant(generically called Gregorian Chant). Monks andnuns used plainchant to sing prayers. From this

written evidence scholars have concluded thatearly plainchant had two main characteristics:1) it was monophonic, meaning that there wasonly one melodic line with no accompaniment, and2) it was notated without rhythm or meter.

A Bit ofTrivia on the Liberal Arts

The curriculum was centered on the Seven

Liberal Arts which were divided into two

branches: the trivium (literally three roads)

consisting of Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic and

the quadrivium (four roads) consisting of

Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy.

These divisions have their roots in theeducational practices of the ancient Greeks.

Arithmetic was the study of number itself,

Geometry was the study of number in space,Music was the study of number in time and

Astronomy was a combination of the study of

number in space and time.

In the ancient world of the Greeks, philosophy

(meaning the love of wisdom) wasrepresented in the image of a woman (named

Philosophia). Philosophia was the unifying

force which nourished all of the liberal arts.

When the Church adopted this imagery,Philosophia became equated with the VirginMary. The word liberal incidentally derives

from the Latin word liber (book) which shares

its etymology with libera (free). Hence a liberal

education means a learned education.

Many plainchant performances are sung like this still. Whole choirs sing one melody inunison and treat each note with the same rhythmic value. Of course, just because themusic was notated this way does not necessarily mean that it was sung this way .8 Earlymonks may have had a rhythmic system which was transmitted orally but they did not

7 Before Martin Luther and the Reformation (ca. 1517), Roman Catholicism, also referred to as TheChurch, was the ONLY accepted Christian religion in Western Europe.8 Reading and performing only what was written down is considered a literal or strict interpretation.Music historians however, like literary and legal historians, understand that what was written down providesonly a hint of the original meaning. Therefore they engage in extensive research to understand the culturewhich produced the manuscript, trying to find meaning through context. This scholarly pursuit is notlimited just to Medieval music, but is also significant in our understanding of more famous composers likeMozart and Handel. This is why there are so many different recordings of HandelsMessiah.


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have a system to notate it. Therefore modern scholars are left to debate over the mannerin which chant was really performed.

Why all of this talk on Plainchant?

As stated in the previous paragraphs, plainchant is the first widely known style of music

to have been produced in written notation. When later composers began to writepolyphonic music, they would use an already known plainchant melody. Rememberthese early composers were religious officials and were therefore writing sacred music(and some secular music on the side), so it makes sense that they would use existingplainchants. Over the course of the 13th and 14th centuries, composers began to playaround a bit with the original plainchant to the point were it was virtually unrecognizable.

There is no doubt that instrumental and popular forms of music existed at that time, butlittle notation for such music has been found prior to the 14 th century. Therefore modernscholars focus on drawings, written records, treatises (a type of formal essay thatdiscusses a certain topic in a systematic manner) and orally transmitted folk music, to

make educated guesses as to how secular (non-religious) music was performed.

The following selection by Landini provides us with a three-part vocal interpretation.Some performances of his work might have only one singing voice with the other twolines played by instruments. Yet other performances omit singers entirely and provide acompletely instrumental version played on lute, organ or some other such instrument. Besure, therefore, to listen for clues in the music other than tone color (you never knowwhat might be played in the mystery round!)

Monastic Life

The Rule of St. Benedict was developed by the

monk St. Benedict around 520 C.E. This ruleprovided the template for living in a monastic

community which emphasized obedience and

humility. The abbot was the ultimate humanauthority within the community. The rule alsoregulated the hours in the day to be devoted to

prayer, readings, singing of psalms, regulations,manual work, penitential code, training of recruitsand vows. A new monk vowed to stay with themonastery until his death. Monks also renounced

personal property and took on a vow of poverty.Monasteries accepted any guest as if he were Christhimself. It seems they were cut off from the rest of

the world, but nevertheless they accrued many giftsand became repositories of great wealth while thosein the outside world lived at a level of subsistence.

The Legend of Pope Gregory I dictating plainchant to his scribes.


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Francesco Landini

Non avra ma pieta

Name: Francesco Landini

Pronunciation: frahn-CHESS-co lahn-DEE-neeDates: 1325-1397Nationality: ItalianTestable Title:Non avra ma pietaDate Composed: late 14th centuryGenre: ballataInstrumentation: 3 VoicesListen for: Ballata form, Landini cadenceCompare with: Busnois, Gesualdo, Mozart, Maluf

Francesco Landini

The poet and composer, Francesco Landini (a.k.a Franciscus da Florentia) is consideredone of the most important composers of fourteenth-century Italy. Although there are noknown sacred works attributed to him, his compositions account for nearly one-fourth ofthe entire repertoire of secular Italian music, commonly called Trecento.9

Francescos father, Jacopo del Casentino, was a professionalpainter and presumably wanted his son to follow in hisfootsteps. Unfortunately, as a result of contracting smallpoxduring his childhood, Francesco became blinded for life,making a career in painting out of the question.10

Fortunately for us, and for the world, his aptitude lay inmusic. He was able to master a number of instruments andwas especially noted for his fine singing voice and hisunparalleled skill at playing the organ. He was also highlyregarded as a craftsman and tuner of musical instruments. Landini playing the organetto:

miniature from the SquarcialupiManuscript, 15th century.

The Ballata

The majority of Landinis compositions are in the style of the ballata. Ballate are a typeof secular song featuring two alternating melodic patterns. When outlining the formalstructure of a piece of music it is customary to use letter names for distinct patterns. Inthis case the capital letterA is used for material that has the same melody AND text. A

lower case lettera means that it uses the same melody as A but has a different text.Lower case b means that it is a different melody with a different text. The standardform of the ballata is AbbaA. With more than one stanza, it becomes Abba Abba A.

9Trecento is an Italian word meaning 1300s. In this case secular music of the 1300s10 History has shown us a number of blind composers who have been highly regarded in their art. Homer was the blindancient Greek epic poet who recited theIlliadand the Odyssey. In our own time, we need look no further than StevieWonder and Ray Charles to understand the high regard the people ofFlorence must have felt for Landini.


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Landinis music had another distinctive feature termed the Landini cadence. These arecadences in which the upper voice moves from an interval of a sixth (which it has createdwith the lower voice) down a whole step, then up a third. The lower voice in themeantime has descended only a step making two voices an octave apart on the final noteof the cadence. [the diagram makes it clearer]

Listen for the Landini cadences, some of which occur at 0:06, 0:30, 0:50, 1:21. Can youfind more examples in this piece?

Text ofNon Avra ma pieta

Min:sec Form line Italian Text English Translation0:00 A 1 Non avra ma pieta questa mia donna She will not have mercy this lady of mine

0:20 2 Se tu non fai, amore, If you do not do this, love.

0:30 3 Chella sie certa del mio grandeardore

that she is certain of my great eagerness

0:51 b 4 Sella sapesse quanta pena iporto If she knew how much pain I carry

1:16 5 Per onesta celata nella mente through honestys sake hidden in my mind.

1:38 b 6 Sol per la sua bellecca che conforto Only through her beauty, other than which

2:02 7 Daltro non prende lanima dolente no comfort is given to a sorrowful soul

2:25

a8 Forse da lei sarebbono in me spente Perhaps by her would be extinguished in

me2:44 9 Le fiamme che la pare The flames which seem to arouse in her

2:54 10 Di giorno in giorno acresconol dolore increasing pain from day to day.

3:18 A 1 Non avra ma pieta questa mia donna She will not have mercy this lady of mine

3:38 2 Se tu non fai, amore, If you do not do this, love.

3:49 3 Chella sie certa del mio grandeardore

that she is certain of my great eagerness

Although this is structured with three polyphonic voices, the highest voice is consideredthe voice with the primary melody (this was a new departure from the polyphonic music

of the preceding centuries).

After listening to this piece a few times, try listening to it in sections. For instance, listento just the 1st line of text (0:00-0:20) ten times in a row, or at least until you are familiarwith the A melody. Then skip ahead and compare what you have heard to (2:25-2:44)and then again to (3:18-3:38).


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The Renaissance (1400-1600)

The Renaissance (which means re-birth) was an age of discovery and humanism.There was a revived interest in the culture of the ancient classical works of the Greeksand Romans. The re-discovery of their art influenced sculptors and painters, and the re-discovery of their literary works became models for poets and writers. Books, which

were before a highly prized possession and available only to the wealthy and monasteries,were no longer a rarity thanks to Gutenbergs printing press. Copies of works of classicalauthors, covering everything from medicine and astronomy to politics and philosophy,became widely distributed. Because of this push toward literacy, people began toquestion the accepted intellectual authority of the Church and the infallibility of the Pope.A Latin phrase sums up this attitude: Scientia Potentia (Knowledge is Power).

The Reformation

What is considered by many to be the most significant event in the Renaissance is theReformation. The Reformation began as an accident. It started when a former Germanlaw student turned devout monk and theology professor named Martin Luther, grew

frustrated at what he saw as corruption in Church practices. In an act of protest, he wrote95 statements (theses), pointing out what he saw as inconsistencies in doctrine, and nailedthem to the front door of the church at Wittenberg. He wanted the Church to correctthese practices. He ended up being condemned for heresy.

On Luthers side however, were German nobles, who in this age of newfound literacy andhumanism, no longer feared the threat of the Pope. They broke ties with the Church andbegan to call themselves Lutherans. Soon other Protestant groups began to emerge. Mostnotable was Henry VIII of England who created the Church of England.11

In music, Musicians wanted to get in on the act of reviving ancient culture too, but

nothing existed except for a few writings about music. In the middle of the sixteenthcentury, an Italian theorist named Zarlino thought that the music written in his day surelymust be just as good as that of the ancient Greeks and singled out the composer AdrianWillaert as the modern day Pythagoras. Zarlino then wrote a treatise calledLe istitutioniharmoniche (The Harmonic Foundations) that dealt with how to set the words of a text tomusic in the most effective and expressive manner. This work influenced the polyphonyof many composers, especially those who wrote secular madrigals.

Some Characteristics of Renaissance Music

Renaissance composers were also very fond of text-music relationships. For example ifthe text was about rising up to the heavens, the music would rise to the upper registers.This procedure is called word-painting, and was specifically mentioned by Zarlino asa characteristic of good music.

You will see that composers such as Carlo Gesualdo and Thomas Weelkes took word-painting to extremes by making full use of dissonances and chromaticism when theywrote their madrigals in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

11 The Reformation was the spark which gave rise to our modern concept of democracy.


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Timeline of the Renaissance Period ca. 1400-1600

Date Event in Music Other Events in History

1400 CE End of Papal Schism (1417)

1430 CE Nuper rosarum flores by Dufay isperformed at the dedication of the Dom

in Florence (1436)

Joan of Arc is executed (1431)

1450 CE Gutenberg prints Bible from movable type (1454)

1470 Tinctoris writes on the Art ofCounterpoint(1477)

Henry Tudor defeats Richard III and becomes Henry VIIof England (1485)

1490s Antoine Busnois dies (1492) Jews and Muslims expelled from Spain (1492)Columbus first voyage across Atlantic (1492)

1500 Compositions by Josquin, Obrecht andIsaac published in print.

Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa (1503)Henry VIII becomes King of England (1509)

1510 Adrian Willaert composes at SanMarcos Basilica in Venice (1527)Early Italian Madrigal (1529)

Martin Luthers 95 theses criticizing the Church

begins the Reformation (1517)

Rome sacked by Reformers (1527)Henry VIII splits from Church and marries Anne Boleyn

(1533)1540 Dodekachordon written by the theoristGlarean increases number of modes from8 to 12.Tomas Luis de Victoria is born (1548)

Nicolaus Copernicus publishes Concerning theRevolutions of the Orbs in the Heavens (1543) This isrevolutionary work which moved the center of theUniverse from the Earth to the Sun.Counter-Reformation begins at Council of Trent

(1546-1563).

1550 Pope Marcellus Mass by Palestrina(1555)Zarlino writes a landmark text on

contrapuntal composition.

Jacopo Peri born (1561)

Carlo Gesualdo born (1567)

England struggles with the Reformation:

Edward VI rules 1545-1552 (Protestant)Mary I rules 1553-1558 (Catholic)Elizabeth I rules 1558-1603 (Protestant)In Paris, Protestants are massacred (1572)Irish Catholics massacred by English, English begin

Protestant settlements of Northern Ireland. (1579)1580 Vincenzo Galilei publishes works byMesmodes (1581)

Italian madrigals come to England in

the publicationMusica Transalpina

(1588)

Spain occupies Portugal (1580)Mary Queen of Scots is executed (1587)English defeat the Spanish Armada (1587)

1590 Deaths of composers Palestrina and

Orlando di Lassus (1594)

Shakespeare writesRomeo and Juliet(1594)Giordano Bruno is burnt at stake for his theory of theuniverse; similar to the Copernican theory (1599)


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Antoine Busnois

Missa O crux lignum (O Wooden Cross)

Name: Antoine Busnois

Pronunciation: AHN-twahn ben-NWAHDates: c. 1430-1492Nationality: BurgundianTestable Title:Missa O crux lignumDate Composed: later 15th centuryGenre: MassInstrumentation: 4-VoicesListen for: polyphony, imitation, cadencesCompare with: Landini, Gesualdo, Haydn, Faure, Boulanger

Antoine BusnoisAntoine Busnois was a composer, poet, singer and musician in the northern Europeanduchy ofBurgundy.12 He was employed at St. Martin de Tours (a church) between 1460and 1465 and later joined the court ofCharles the Bold who became duke of Burgundyin 1467. After Charles death in 1477, Busnois served in the court chapel ofMarie ofBurgundy, Charles daughter. As it happened, Maries husband, Maximilian I ofAustria became Holy Roman Emperor the year after Busnoiss death.

Busnois excelled in composing short secular songs for three voices (similar to Landini)which were very popular in his own day. By comparison he wrote 64 secular songs butonly 2 Masses. His masses, however became very influential for later composers, and it isfor this reason that many scholars view Busnois as the bridge between the Medieval and

Renaissance eras.

The Mass

The Mass was, and still is, an important spiritual event in a church service whichcombines music and text. It represents the central ritual that celebrates the Last SupperJesus of Nazareth had with his followers. The Mass was to composers of the Medievaland Renaissance eras what thesymphony was to composers of the Classical and Romanticeras. It provided the large formal structure for composers to flex their creative muscle.

There are two types of texts used in the Mass. The first is called the Mass Ordinary. Itconsists of five prayers sung at every Mass, regardless of the occasion. Hence, their texts

never change. These Mass movements are: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei.The second type of text refers to the Mass Proper. The text of the Mass Proper is feast-specific, that is, it changes from service to service depending on the occasion.

12 A duchy is a country ruled by a Duke.


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In the Middle Ages the texts were sung in a monophonic texture known as plainchant.As writing for more than one voice developed, the music began to incorporate polyphonywith two or more voices singing simultaneously but often with equally independent parts.

Missa O crux lignum (Mass O Wooden Cross)

This Mass is Busnoiss lesser known of his two Masses. The other isMissa LHommeArme. Both of these Masses are for four voices and are considered cantus firmusMasses (chant foundation). A cantus firmus Mass is a Mass in which all five musicalsettings of the Mass Ordinary are based upon the same plainchant melody. In this case,the melody of the Catholic plainchant, O crux lignum is used. The text, of course, is thetext of the Mass Ordinary.13

In a polyphonic setting, the plainchant melody begins unornamented in the tenor voice,providing the structural foundation for the other voices. Tenor is based upon a Latinword and means that it holds the chant melody. In Busnoiss time the tenor wassandwiched between two voices, the contratenor bassus (low against tenor) and the

contratenor altus (high against tenor). A fourth voice called the superius, was thehighest pitched voice. These became our modern day soprano, alto, tenor, and bassvoices, although today the tenor refers only to vocal range, not plainchant function.

Gloria fromMissa O crux lignum

The excerpt on the CD is the Gloria fromMissa O crux lignum. After a solo tenor voiceintroduces the opening text, the other voices stagger in, each with their own independentmelodic lines. One manner in which he integrated his compositions was by using pointsofimitative polyphony where one voice begins a short melodic fragment to be imitatedby the other voices. To a subtler degree a similar technique is used with the rhythms. Inspots, Busnois also used Landini cadences, but notice how each cadence seems to flow

effortlessly into the next musical section without really stopping.

min:sec 0:00 0:10 0:24 0:42-0:55 3:27

texture monophonicchant

polyphonytwo voices

Imitativepolyphony

Drones againstmoving voices

newsection

events tenor alone tenor rising -soprano slower

more voices enter moving toward whatsounds like akey change

QuiTollis

What I find particularly intriguing about Busnois is his treatment of the texture. Hebuilds from one voice to four and then terraces them out for dramatic effect. He alsoemploys long sustained tones called drones orpedal points which serve as a backdrop tothe polyphony of the other voices.14 Busnoiss masterful skill of modal harmony andrhythm allowed him to create dramatic gestures of tension and release whichforeshadowed the developements of later compsers like Obrecht and Josquin.

13 Busnois is thought to be the 2nd composer to have written aMissa LHomme arme, which is a Mass basedupon a secular tune called The Armed Man. It would be the equivalent of someone today writingMissaOops!...I Did it Again. It goes to show that popular music has almost always been used in church.14 Compare the use of texture with Faure and the drones with Haydn.


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A Word About Polyphony

The history of polyphonic music from organum to the isorhythmic motet marks thebeginning of counterpoint, the technique essential to music of the Renaissance and theBaroque. Counterpoint is the art of composing music that is created by playing two ormore different melodies at the same time.15 Bear in mind that the theory of functional

harmony (i.e. chord progressions) was not created until the 18th century. Up until thattime, a composition was conceived contrapuntally where right and wrong notes weredetermined by what intervals sounded consonant or dissonant.

Burgundy began in 1364 as a littlecountry situated on the northeastern

border of France. Under the ambitiousleadership of various dukes, it acquiredwealth and lands which today make upthe Low Countries of Luxembourg,Belgium, and the Netherlands. The lastDuke of Burgundy was Charles theBold

. When he died in 1477, much ofthe lands were annexed by France withthe Low Countries going to hisdaughter, Marie and then to her son,Philip the Handsome.

The Burgundian dukes garnered aninternational reputation as great patronsof the arts who spared no expense toretain artists of merit. Musicians andartists alike would travel to Burgundy tostudy their craft, be it secular or sacred.

The style of music which emerged hereeventually influenced the music playedin the court of the Holy RomanEmperor and lead the way to the musicknown as the High Renaissance.

Illumination on parchment 22x16cm fromMarie of Burgundys Book of Hours (ca, 1467-80)

sterreichischeNationalbibliothek, Vienna

The illumination above is an exquisite example of the visual arts, archetecture andclothing styles in late 15th century Burgundy. It shows Marie in the lower left hand cornerreading herBook of Hours, a book used for reflecting on biblical passages. As she reads,a window into the spiritual realm opens up showing the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesusin the middle of the picture. If you look carefully in the window, you can see Marie onthe very left between two other women, all of whom serving as humble ladies in waiting.

15 The term counterpoint comes from the Latinpuncta contra puncta (literally: point against point ornote against note.) The term counterpointis often synonymous withpolyphony.


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Carlo Gesualdo

Arde il mio cor (My Heart Burns)

Name: Carlo Gesualdo

Pronunciation: CAR-lo jez-WAL-doDates: 1567-1613Nationality: ItalianTestable Title:Arde il mio corDate Composed: 1596Genre: Late Italian MadrigalInstrumentation: 5-VoicesListen for: word painting, uses of chromaticismCompare with: Busnois, Peri, Vivaldi, Wagner

Carlo Gesualdo

Carlo Gesualdo was the Prince of Venosa, a southern Italian region near Naples. Being anobleman, he was not encouraged to devote his life to music as that was deemed anoccupation for the lower classes. In 1590 his life dramatically changed forever. As thestory goes, he caught his wife and her lover together. Gesualdo flew into such a rage thathe murdered them both. This event did nothing to endear him to his public, so in 1594 hemoved north to Ferrara and married Leonora dEste, the daughter ofDuke Alfonso II.

Because of the high regard for music and musicians in Ferrara, Gesualdo was free tocompose and still maintain his aristocratic status. While in Ferrara he published fourbooks of his madrigals. He returned to his castle in Naples in 1597 and published his lasttwo books of madrigals there in 1611.

Late Renaissance Madrigal

The late Renaissance Madrigal is not your familiar Thomas Morley, light and delicateEnglish madrigal with homophonic verses and fa la la choruses. It is instead a rathercomplicated secular work which takes word-painting to the extreme. In this style, threecomposers stand out, the Englishman Thomas Weelkes and the two Italians, LucaMarenzio and Carlo Gesualdo.

Gesualdos music, like so many of the late madrigalists, marks a transitional stagebetween Renaissance modal polyphony and early Baroque triadic harmony. He will oftencontrast sections of fiery imitative polyphony with sweet homophony. It is his innovative

use of chromaticism, however, which makes his music so intriguing, as well as difficultto sing. The resulting sound is that of unconventional chord progressions which stoodunparalleled until the music of Richard Wagner in the mid to late 19th century.

Arde il mio cor

Arde il mio cor roughly translated, My Heart Burns, appears as the eighteenthcomposition in GesualdosFourth Book of Madrigals published in Ferrara in 1596. Readthrough the translation of the text and familiarize yourself with the corresponding words


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in the original Italian. You will find that practically every word and sentiment is treatedwith a musical device, be it fluttering rising lines of polyphony imitating the flickeringflames of fire, lush homophonic triadic harmonies representing sweetness or strangeharmonic progressions relating the ironic sentiments of the poem.

Arde il mio cormin:sec Text of the Madrigal Translation Event

0:00 Arde il mio cor ed e si dolce il focoChe vive nellardore,

My heart burns and so sweet is the fireThat it lives in the blaze,

flickering imitativepolyphony

0:12 Onde lieto si more. And thus dies happily. homophony

0:14 repeat text variation on music

0:43 O mia felice sorte O my happy fate staggered entrances

0:49 O dolce, O sweet, sweet homophony

0:54 estrana morte! andstrange death! strange chordprogression

repeat text variation on music

Note that in the first section, the initial excitement of the music fades away on the wordse si dolce il foco. Aside from the sweet treatment of the word dolce, the immediateunsettling harmonic shift on the wordstrana sounds strange indeed.

One final word about Italian madrigal texts, the syllable count of each line in each stanzamust be either 11 or 7. Unless you speak Italian (and understand the rules of elidingvowels, it will be difficult to read the poetic text properly. So I have, just for funprovided a more or less phonetic rendition below.

Syllable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

line 1 Ar dil myo cor ed eh see dol chil foh coh

line 2 kay vee veh nell ard or ehline 3 Ohn day lyeh to see mor eh

line 4 Oh mya feh lee chay sor tehline 5 Oh dol chay strah nah mor teh

Notice that in lines 2 through 5, the 6th and 7th syllables rhyme.

Transition to the Baroque

Eventually this style of music fell out of fashion and, as you will read in the Operachapter, was thought to be ridiculous. Gesualdo died before he could make any more

musical contributions. His contemporary, Claudio Monteverdi easily made the transitionbetween the old style of the Renaissance to the new style of the Baroque. It isMonteverdis later madrigals for solo voice which eventually developed into the earlyBaroque aria.

Early Music - Hist Musicita

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