Lecture 6

The Renaissance

Renaissance means “rebirth”

• Fourteenth to sixteenth century beginning in Italy.

• A rebirth of the glorious past of Rome and Greece.

• Artists strove to make their work more relevant to people’s needs and desires.

Listen to what happened.

• Machaut from before the Renaissance• To Palestrina in the late Renaissance• Dynamics--No Variety vs. Variety• Tone Color--3 voices vs. 6• Scales, Key, Mode--Palestrina is more sure• Rhythm and Tempo--Palestrina more simple,

follows words.• Pitch and melody--Palestrina more singable• Texture--mixture of homo and poly for words• Harmony--Use of harmony for beauty

So how did it happen?

Plainchant used in a different way . . .

• Composers used plainchant tunes but changed them and made them simpler and more sensuous.

• They put the tune on the top not on the bottom. They were therefore sung by the soprano.

• The paraphrase

Guillaume Dufay (c.1400-1474)

• Born and raised in northern France near Flanders (today Flanders is in Belgium).

• Region that supplied many musicians.

• Most moved to Italy and Dufay himself was in Italy for 25 years.

• Moved back to France later in life.

Dufay’s “Ave maris sella”

• A homophonic setting of a Gregorian hymn.• A hymn is a short tune sung through many

stanzas, followed by an “Amen”• It is in the Dorian mode (6th of the scale is

raised)• strophic• Beautiful. On its way to Palestrina but not

quite there.

The Mass

• Roman Catholic celebration of God and Jesus.

• Main Genre in the Renaissance and the thing that all composers showed there stuff with.

• Made up of sections, some sections were done all year, some were added for special occasions.

• The challenge was to unify these “parts” so they had something in common.

Simplicity

• Melodies became simple. Called chansons. Used as the chansons to “unify” the 30 minutes of music written for the mass.

• Mass was a five section piece.

• Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei . . . In that order.

Josquin Desprez (c.1450-1521)

• Pange Lingua is a good example of how composers unified the mass.

• Listen to the opening plainchant. Then listen to the first line of the Kyrie.

• Same thing in the Qui Tollis but the tune is paraphrased.

• The five polyphonic movements provided recurring points of familiarity that turned the whole of the mass into a profound artistic experience.

The High Renaissance• Dynamics-relatively constant• Tone color-a cappella• Scale Key and Mode-medieval modes• Rhythm and Tempo-rhythm fluid, no sharp

accents, meter often obscured, constant• Pitch and Melody-medium register, never very

high or low, smooth motion• Texture-mixture of imitative polyphony and

homophony• Harmony-consonant chords with mild carefully

controlled dissonances.

Turn to the chart on pg 81.

• Halo in renaissance painting

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)

• Compare with Josquin• Pope Marcellus Mass 1557• Palestrina more homophonic• Palestrina used a bigger choir• Palestrina clearer declamation• The Palestrina shows the change from the

rather stern liturgical polyphony of Josquin to the rich, sonorous, more sensuous sounding music of the late 16th century.

Council of Trent

• The whole plan of singing in the musical modes should be constituted not to give empty pleasure to the ear, but in such a way that the words be clearly understood by all, and thus the hearts of the listeners be drawn to desire heavenly harmonies, in the contemplation of the joys of the blessed.

The Madrigal

• A short composition set to a one-stanza poem, typically a love poem.

• One singer per part.• Intimate setting• Rapid pattern of polyphony and homophony• Similar pattern to what was happening in

sacred music at the time.• Popular in Italy but we will look at the English

Madrigal.

Thomas Weelkes (c. 1575-1623)

• “As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending”• Clear Declamation• Word Painting• Simple Rhythms• Clear Harmonies• Crisp short motivic melodies• Alternation of texture between polyphony and

homophony.

Early Instrumental Music

• Music was largely vocal before 1550.• But they were developing before that.• Dance music was the main instrumental

genre in the renaissance.• Pavane was a popular duple meter

dance• Galliard was a popular triple meter

dance

A Galliard named Daphne

• Form is aabbcc• Compound meter• Kick kick kick jump and land• This performance is to slow!• Had to rely on purely musical devices to

convey meaning. Leaves us with what needs to happen in the baroque.

A Jig named Kemp’s Jig

• Lively dance

• a a b form.

Terms

• Renaissance• Gregorian Hymn• Chansons• Mass• Paraphrase• Madrigal• Galliard• Pavane• Word painting