I Cantatori

Outline of Western Music History

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I. The Middle Ages (800-1400)

A. Gregorian Chant

Official format of chant for the Roman Catholic Church

1. Predecessors

a. Byzantine chant (Greek Orthodox Church)
b. Ambrosian chant (Milan)
c. Gallican chant (used by the Franks until the time of Charlemagne
d. Mozarabic chant (Spain, influenced by the Moors)
e. Gregorian Chant

2. Style Attributes

a. Monophonic
b. Modal
c. A cappella
d. Nonmetric
e. Melodically conjunct
f. Limited range
g. Sung in Latin
h. Written in Neumatic notation

3. Modes

The authentic modes are odd-numbered, and Plagal modes are even numbered

a. Authentic modes (final is the root)

1.) Dorian (D final) Mode 1
2.) Phrygian (E final) Mode 3
3.) Lydian (F final) Mode 5
4.) Mixolydian (G final) Mode 7

b. Plagal modes (root is a 4th below the final)

1.) Hypodorian (D final) Mode 2
2.) Hypophrygian (E final) Mode 4
3.) Hypolydian (F final) Mode 6
4.) Hypomixolydian (G final) Mode 8

4. Text setting

a. Syllabic - one note per syllable (Hymns and sequences)
b. Neumatic - A few notes per syllable (Most common style)
c. Melismatic - many notes per syllable (Alleluia)
d. Psalmodic - Numerous syllables on one repeated note (Psalms)
e. Tropes - A phrase of text inserted syllabically into the melodic line of a chant.
f. Sequences - A special kind of trope, created by adding texts syllabically to melismatic passages associated with the Alleluia

5. Roman Catholic Liturgy

a. The Divine Offices - the most important Offices employing music are Matins, Lauds, and Vespers.

1.) Proper - Variable portions of the mass; Those using music are:

a.) Introit
b.) Gradual
c.) Alleluia
d.) Tract
e.) Offertory
f.) Communion

2.) Ordinary - Invariable portions of the mass; Liturgies can be sung at any time throughout the year. Those using music are:

a.) Kyrie
b.) Gloria
c.) Credo
d.) Sanctus
e.) Agnus Dei

3.) Requiem Mass - A special funeral mass, which includes:

a.) Kyrie
b.) Sanctus
c.) Agnus Dei
d.) Introit
e.) Offertory
f.) Communion

B. Secular Song

1. Musical Characteristics

a. Monophonic
b. Metrical and mostly in triple meter
c. Strong, regular rhythms; recurrent short rhythmic patterns
d. Clear phrases and sections, with repeats and refrains
e. church modes, plus Ionian and Aeolian
f. Generally syllabic
g. Mostly in vernacular
h. Text - wide range of subjects

2. French Secular Song

a. The largest body of medieval secular song, written by 2 classes of French poet-composers, troubadours and trouveres, educated and cultured noblemen.
b. Troubadours - South France - Late 11th-13th century

1.) Troubadour poetry

a.) Canso - love poem
b.) Sirventes - satirical
c.) Planh - plaint or lament on the death of an eminent person
d.) Pastourelle - Song between a knight and shepherdess
e.) Chanson de toile - spinning song
f.) Enueg - satirical
g.) Aube - Song of a friend watching over lovers till dawn
h.) Tenso or Jeu-parti - poem in dialogue
i.) Chanson de geste - epic chronicle (Chanson de Roland, 11 c.)
b. Trouveres - (North France) slightly later than the Troubadours

3. German Secular Song

a. Modeled after French Troubadour and Trouvere songs, 12th-16th c.
b. Minnesingers (Love Singers) 12th-14th Centuries, Aristocracy

1.) Minnelied - The name for the songs they wrote, on a variety of subjects, secular and quasi-sacred.

a.) Duple meter
b.) AAB form (Bar Form) - A - Stollen, B - Abgesang

c. Meistersingers (Master Singers) - The successors to the minnesingers, 15th and 16th centuries. They were members of middle-class guilds.

1.) Meistergesang - Created according to strict rules, also in Bar Form

4. England

a. limited song literature, little of it has been preserved
b. Scops (resident minstrels)
c. Gleemen (traveling minstrels)

5. Italian song form

a. Lauda - nonliturgical song, a song of praise to the Virgin.

1.) Composed in the Italian Ballata form - AbbaA (sim. French Virelai)

6. Spanish song form

a. Cantiga - similar to the Lauda, also extolled the Virgin. Same song structure (villancico.)

7. Latin Secular Songs

a. Goliards - Vagrant students and minor clerics, 10th - early 13th centuries

1.) Conductus - subjects: love, drinking, political satire, ribald themes, humorous paraphrases of chant. (The Song of the Sibyl)

C. Early Polyphony (Organum)

1. Parallel Organum

a. The earliest form of polyphony, beg. 9th century, two voices in parallel motion. ALSO: voices began on a unison, then the Vox Organalis remained at a stationary pitch level while the Vox Principalis moved upward until 4th was achieved, then the parts moved in parallel motion.

1.) Vox Principalis - based on a chant melody (later called Tenor)
2.) Vox Organalis - doubled the Vox Principalis a 4th below
3.) A slightly different form of Parallel Organum also existed where the voices began on a unison, then the Vox Organalis remained at a stationary pitch level while the Vox Principalis moved upward until a 4th was achieved, after which the parts proceeded in parallel motion.

2. Free Organum

a. 11th century; Contrary motion between the voices as well as parallel motion giving the 2 parts melodic independence.

1.) The intervals were predominantly 4ths, 5ths, and octaves
2.) This is when the chant line came to be known as the tenor
3.) The Latin expression describing this style, punctus contra punctum (note against note) was the origin of the term counterpoint.

3. Melismatic Organum

a. early 12th century; The tenor plainsong was in long sustained notes, and a higher voice was added with faster-moving notes.

1.) Also known as florid organum, St. Martial organum, Organum purum
2.) At this stage, polyphonic music achieved both melodic and rhythmic independence.

4. Theoretical Writings

a. Musica Enchiriadis (ca. 900) - anonymous
b. Scholia Enchiriadis - a (also anonymous) commentary on Musica...
c. Enchiridion Musices by Odo de Cluny (early 10th c)
d. The writings of Guido dArezzo (1st half of the 11th c)
e. The writings of John Cotton (11th-12th c)

5. Manuscripts

a. Winchester Troper - 11th century
b. St. Martial - France, early 12th c
c. Santiago di Compostela - Spain, early 12th c

D. Ars Antiqua (1150-1300) - further significant developments in polyphony. The musical center was Paris. Most polyphony was written for the Church.

1. Musical Characteristics

a. Polyphony

1.) Mostly 3-voice, some 2-part writing, and 4-part writing was introduced.
2.) All voices were generally in the same register; crossing of parts was common
3.) Imitation was rare and incidental
4.) A greater degree of rhythmic and melodic independence among parts
5.) Cantus firmi (Firm melodies borrowed or derived from chant) continued as principal basis.

b. Meter - Triple division of notes (tempus perfectum; 3/4, 6/8, 9/8,) dominated secular monophonic and polyphonic forms.

c. Rhythmic Modes - determined the rhythmic patterns of music. Consisted of 6 patterns of long (-) and short (U) units. Only the first 3 modes were commonly used; the mode itself often changed during the course of a melodic line.

1.) Trochaeus: - U
2.) Iambus: U -
3.) Dactylus: - U U
4.) Anapaest: U U -
5.) Spondeus: - -
6.) Tribrachys: U U U

d. Harmony - All harmonic intervals were employed. 4ths, 5ths and octaves predominated, but 2nds and 7ths became prominent, unrestricted by rules of usage.

e. Instruments - not specifically indicated in notated music. Instruments probably doubled vocal parts and played textless passages.

2. Genres

a. Notre Dame Organum

1.) Included 2-part sections in melismatic style sung by solo voices, and sections of chant sung by a choir.
2.) Included sections in discant style, in which the tenor was in shorter notes, known as clausulae.
3.) From the beginning of the 13th century, melismatic sections of organa were gradually replaced by ones in discant style.
4.) Organa were composed in 2-part (organum duplum) 3-part (organum triplum) and 4-part (organum quadruplum) textures

b. Polyphonic Conductus - 1st half of the 13th century

1.) The parts moved together in similar rhythm
2.) The tenor was newly composed, not borrowed from chant
3.) Texts were sacred, non-liturgical, set in syllabic style
4.) Composed in 2, 3, and 4 parts
5.) Conductus style was also used in secular forms such as ballade and rondeaux.

c. Motet - beginning in the 2nd half of the 13th century; Eventually replaced organum and conductus as principal polyphonic form.

1.) The style originated in the process of adding words (mot, in French) to the duplum (upper) part of a clausula. This part was also called the motetus, a term which later came to be applied to the entire composition. Compositional techniques for early motets:

a.) A Gregorian chant was selected for the tenor (lowest) part.
b.) It was modified according to one of the rhythmic modes
c.) Above it was added 2 parts (motetus, triplum) in faster-moving notes.
d.) Each part carried different texts, often in different languages; Tenor carried only the incipit, the 1st word or words.

2.) After the mid-13th century a new style of motet appeared, with more rhythmic differentiation between voices; All parts moved at the same speed.

a.) Franconian motet - Named after theorist Franco of Cologne; Placed the fastest rhythms in the top part.
b.) Petronian Motet - Named after composer Petrus de Cruce; With a fast, speechlike triplum, a slower duplum, and a sustained tenor based on a chant.
c.) A third motet style in which all parts moved at more or less the same speed, with a secular tenor melody.

d. Hocket (meaning hiccup) - late 13th and 14th-century

1.) A melodic line alternated between the voice parts.
2.) Used in most music of the Middle Ages; A composition which used the device solely was called a Hocket

e. Rota - A canon or round where 2 or more parts carry the same melody at different times.

1.) Isolated examples of rota appear in Ars Antiqua
2.) Summer is icumen in (ca.1250)

f. Rondellus (not the same as rondeaux)

1.) Secular; Usually in 3 parts
2.) Exchange (Stimmtausch): 3 different melodies (a, b, and c) were exchanged among the parts according to a plan, such as:

a.) triplum a b c
b.) duplum b c a
c.) tenor c a b

3.) The parts began together, rather than consecutively.

3. Composers and Major works

a. Notre Dame school - composed organa, polyphonic conducti, and motets.

1.) Leonin (Leoninus; ca. 1159-ca. 1201)

a.) Magnus Liber Organi - a collection of 2-part melismatic organa for the entire church year.

2.) Perotin (Perotinus; ca. 1170-ca. 1236)

b. Franco of Cologne (active ca. 1250-80) - author of a late 13th-century treatise on notation, also an important composer of motets.
c. Petrus de Cruce (Pierre de la Croix, active ca. 1270-1300) - late 13th-century motet composer
d. Montpellier Codex - Contains medieval compositions, mostly motets.
e. Bamberg Codex - 108 3-part motets
f. Las Huelgas Codex - Organa, conducti, and 58 motets

E. The 14th Century

1. Musical leadership

a. shared by France, where the period is called Ars Nova, and Italy, where the period is known as Trecento. Some common characteristics:

1.) Far more secular than sacred music was composed
2.) Tempus imperfectum (duple division of notes) was used more often than tempus perfectum.
3.) The rhythmic modes were abandoned in favor of more complex and diversified rhythms.
4.) Cantus firmus was used less often; More music was freshly composed without any borrowed material.
5.) Melodic and rhythmic interest tended to center in the top voice.
6.) Harmonic 3rds and 6ths appeared more frequently
7.) A melodic formula, commonly known as the Landini cadence, was often used. It consists of the scale-degree pattern 7-6-1, and appears in several different forms in 14th and early 15th century music.

2. The Ars Nova (France) - An evolutionary extension of the Ars Antiqua

a. Isorhythmic Motet - still based on cantus firmus, it evolved from a melding of the 13th century motet and compositional techniques imported from the Indian subcontinent.

1.) A chant (or part of a chant) is selected for the tenor
2.) The chant melody constitutes the color
3.) The color is repeated until the end of the piece
4.) The rhythmic pattern, called talea, is composed
5.) It is of much more extended length than the old rhythmic modes and of a length different from the color
6.) It, too, is repeated, but since its ending does not coincide with the ending of the color, a new relationship of talea and color results
7.) The upper parts are free to use the isorhythmic principle (but based on a newly composed cantus firmus,) or not
8.) The isorhythmic motet continues the practice of using different texts in the upper parts and passages of hocket.

b. Forme fixes

1.) Ballade - several 4-line stanzas, each with the same music.

a.) The form of each stanza was aabC, (C is the refrain)
b.) Mostly 3-part compositions, melodic/rhythmic interest in top voice

2.) Rondeau

a.) Derived from the monophonic trouvere form (ABaAabAB)
b.) Most often 3 part: with a solo vocal line and 2 lower, slower-moving instrumental parts.

3.) Virelai (chanson Ballade)

a.) Derived from the monophonic trouvere form, with the form AbbaA.
b.) Most were monophonic, but some polyphonic also.

c. Composers

1.) Guillaume de Machaut (ca. 1300-77) - Poet and leading composer of Ars Nova

a.) Wrote in all the French forms of the time, mostly secular
b.) Messe de Notre Dame - One of the first complete polyphonic settings of the Ordinary.

d. Compositions

1.) Roman de Fauvel - a satirical poem containing 130 interpolated compositions of various types, including some isorhythmic motets.
2.) Mass of Tournai (ca. 1300) A complete setting of the Ordinary, but the sections were probably composed at different times by different composers.
3.) Ars Novae Musicae - a treatise by Jehan des Murs (ca. 1300-ca. 1350)
4.) Speculum Musicae (Mirror of Music) - a treatise by Jacques de Liege(ca. 1260-ca.1330), arguing in favor of Ars Antiqua

3. The Trecento - 14th century Italian music.

a. Italian polyphonic music came into prominence for the 1st time.

1.) Did not usually employ cantus firmus
2.) rhythmically less complex than French music
3.) employed simpler textures
4.) Characteristic florid vocal style

b. Forms

1.) Madrigal

a.) The earliest Italian polyphonic form
b.) In 2 vocal parts
c.) Each stanza, in duple time, concluded with a ritornello section in triple meter
d.) Texts were idyllic, pastoral, amatory, or satirical.

2.) Caccia (chase or hunt) 1345-1370

a.) The 1st musical form to exploit the principle of canon based on continuous imitation between 2 or more parts.
b.) The 1st and 2nd part were in imitation at the octave, and the 3rd part was in slower moving notes, probably played on an instrument.
c.) Usually had a canonic ritornello section at the end.
d.) Texts typically described a hunt or some outdoor activity.

3.) Ballata

a.) Originated as a dance song
b.) Developed later than the madrigal and caccia
c.) resembled French virelai, with a refrain (ripresa) at the beginning and end of each stanza (AbbaA)

c. Composers

1.) Francesco Landini (or Landino, ca. 1325-97)

a.) Principal composer of the Trecento
b.) Blind organist in Florence
c.) Over 140 2- and 3-part ballate, 10 madrigals and one caccia.

2.) Jacopo da Bologna (active 1340-60)
3.) Gherardello da Firenze (ca. 1320-ca. 1362)
4.) Giovanni da Cascia (a.k.a. Johannes de Florentia, active 1340-50)
5.) Johannes Ciconia (ca. 1335-1411)

a.) Was French but settled in Italy
b.) Combined features of both national styles.

d. Documents and Manuscripts

1.) The Pomerian by Marchetto of Padua - an early 14th-century treatise that 1st established the acceptance of tempus imperfectum.
2.) Squarcialupi Codex

a.) the most important manuscript collection
b.) Contains some 350 compositions, mostly 2- and 3-part pieces representing twelve 14th- and 15th-century composers.

F. Instruments of the Middle Ages

1. Bowed Instruments

a. Vielles - the ancestors of the Renaissance viol family
b. Rebec - a pear-shaped instrument.
c. Tromba Marina - a long, single-string instrument, or with 2 strings in unison

2. Plucked Instruments

a. Lute - A pear-shaped body and an angled neck
b. Psaltery - An instrument of the zither family, with a flat sounding-board

3. Wind Instruments

a. Recorders - end-blown flutes
b. Shawm - a double-reed instrument, an early ancestor of the oboe
c. Various horns and trumpets

4. Organs

a. Portative Organ (Organetto) - a small portable organ
b. Positive Organ - medium-sized non-portable organ, and probably the first organ for which polyphonic music was composed.
c. Larger organs (up to 2500 or more pipes) were built for churches in the 14th century.
d. Robertsbridge Codex (ca. 1325) - The earliest organ music preserved in notation.

5. Other Keyboard instruments - harpsichords and clavichords were not in general use until the 15th century.

6. Percussion Instruments

a. Drums of various sizes and shapes were used mostly for dance and military music.
b. Nakers - kettledrums used in pairs
c. Tabor - the principal cylindrical drum
d. Various cymbals and bells

7. Uses of instruments

Specific instruments were never indicated on any manuscripts from this period, but following are 5 ways they are presumed to have been used:

a. Textless parts in polyphonic music were likely intended to be played by instruments.
b. Instruments were used to double one or more vocal parts.
c. They may have been substituted for voices in one or more parts with texts.
d. Vocal polyphony was occasionally played entirely by instruments.
e. Music clearly intended for instrumental performance was mainly dance music and a few instrumental motets and conducti.

The Middle Ages | The Renaissance | The Baroque | The Classical | The Romantic | The 20th Century

II: The Renaissance (1400-1600)

A. The 15th Century

The centers of musical activity shifted to England, northern France, and the Franco-Flemish region.

1. English and Burgundian Music

a. Musical Characteristics

1.) Mostly 3-part composition in the early 15th century.
2.) Melodic and rhythmic interest was usually in the top part.
3.) Many were essentially solo songs with textless (instrumental) parts below.
4.) A trend toward homophonic texture (chordal style or familiar style.)
5.) Melodic progression was characterized by numerous 3rds.
6.) Triple meter was more commonly employed than in 14th c.
7.) Discant (England) fauxbourdon (Europe) - Parallel 6th chords.
8.) Cantus firmi were less frequently used in Franco-Flemish music after 1450.
9.) Imitation was infrequently used.
10.) The Landini cadence (7-6-1) was still quite common.

b. Genres

1.) Mass

a.) Polyphonic settings of the Ordinary became standard liturgical form.
b.) Composers sometimes employed secular tunes as cantus firmi.

2.) Motet - The isorhythmic motet was gradually replaced by styles emphasizing the top voice, or a homophonic texture with fauxbourdon.
3.) Carol

a.) A popular 15th-century form in England
b.) A 2-part composition
c.) A religious poem of many stanzas on the same music, and a refrain (burden.)

4.) Chanson

a.) The main type of polyphonic secular music during the 15th century.
b.) Used secular French texts.
c.) Most were like solo songs, with the melody in the top part.
d.) The most common structure was that of the rondeau (ABaAabAB)

c. English Composers

1.) John Dunstable (ca. 1390-1453) - The principal English composer of the 1st half of the 15th century.
2.) Leonel Power (d. 1445)
3.) John Cooke
4.) Thomas Demett (ca. 1389-ca. 1436)

d. Burgundian Composers

1.) Guillaume Dufay (ca. 1400-74)
2.) Gilles Binchois (ca. 1400-60)

2. Franco-Flemish Music

 

a. Late 15th century; Its techniques spread throughout Europe, and later dominated 16th-century music. Typical Musical Characteristics:

1.) 4-voice writing became more common from the middle of the century.

a.) The bassus (bass) part was added below the tenor.

2.) More stylistic equality among parts, creating balanced polyphony.
3.) Imitation played a more prominent role than ever before.
4.) New types of canons were created.
5.) Fauxbourdon and Landini cadences disappeared.
6.) Pairing of voices in alternating passages (duet style or voice pairing.)
7.) Alternating passages of homophony and rhythmically diverse polyphony.
8.) Authentic (V-I) and plagal (IV-I) cadences became more common than modal .
9.) Accurate declamation (i.e. normal speech patterns) of the text was emphasized.
10.) Musica Reservata ("Reserved Music") - mid-16th century; Suiting the music to the meaning of the words; Introduced chromaticism, modal variety, ornaments and extreme contrasts of rhythm and texture in order to project the words forcefully and graphically.

b. Genres - Franco-Flemish composers developed new techniques rather than new genres.

1.) Canon - Used mainly in masses and some motets. Imitative devices employed:

a.) Imitation at various pitch intervals
b.) Imitation at various time intervals
c.) Augmentation - increased time values of notes in the imitating voice.
d.) Diminution - A decrease of the time values.
e.) Inversion - imitation of ascending intervals by descending intervals and vice versa
f.) Retrograde motion - Backward motion in imitating voice (cancrizans or crab canon.)
g.) Mensuration canons - the same melody carried by several voices at different rates of speed.
h.) Double canons - 4 parts, 2 different melodies, each canonically imitated.
i.) Combinations of these techniques.

2.) Mass

a.) Prolation Mass - a canonic setting of the mass
b.) Cantus firmus mass (Cyclical Mass) - The same melody used for each section.
c.) cantus firmus was usually derived from a chant melody, but secular tunes were also used, the most popular of which was LHomme Arme, used by many composers.
d.) Masses were usually given the title of the cantus firmus.
e.) Some masses were based on newly composed cantus firmi.
f.) Missa Sine Nomine - Masses not based on a cantus firmus.
g.) Soggetto Cavato - Construction of a theme from the vowels of a name or phrase.

3.) Motet

a.) Motets were composed for the Proper and some of the Offices.
b.) Cantus firmi were not used as often.
c.) Franco-Flemish motets often included sections in homophonic, duet, and imitative style, as well as nonimitative counterpoint. (style changes corresponded to divisions of text.)

4.) Secular Music

a.) Chanson - Still the principal type of secular music; Became less sectionalized, more cohesive.
b.) Lieder - German mono- & polyphonic secular song; late 15th-16th c.

5.) Composers

a.) Antoine Busnois (d.1492)
b.) Johannes Ockeghem (ca. 1420-97) - An important composer of the late 15th century, and teacher of many leading 16th century composers.
c.) Jacob Obrecht (1450-1505)
d.) Heinrich Isaac (ca. 1450-1517)
e.) Pierre de la Rue (ca. 1460-1518)
f.) Alexander Agricola (ca. 1446-1506)
g.) Loyset Compere (ca.1445-1518)
h.) Josquin Desprez (ca. 1440-1521) - One of the most influential composers of the early 16th century. He wrote a large number of motets.

6.) Manuscripts and Documents (15th century)

a.) Old Hall Manuscript - Masses and motets by English composers.
b.) Trent Codices - 1585 compositions, 6 volumes, 75 composers of the 15th century.
c.) The Choralis Constantinus - by Isaac; 1st collection of motets for the entire church year.
d.) The Odhecaton (Venice, 1501) - 1st printed polyphonic music, pub. by Petrucci; Late 15th-c. polyphonic chansons.
e.) Terminorum Musicae Diffinitorium (ca. 1475) - 1st dictionary of musical terms, compiled by Johannes Tinctoris, theorist, composer, and commentator on music of his time.
f.) Liederbucher of Lochamer, Munich and Glogauer - Collections of German mono- and polyphonic secular music.

B. The 16th Century

1. The most important musical developments:

a. Franco-Flemish techniques continued to dominate sacred and secular music in Europe, but other schools emerged.
b. The technique of vocal polyphony was highly developed.
c. Vocal style was dominant, but an independent instrumental style was emerging.
d. The Roman Church still dominated religious music, but Protestant music, in Germany, France, and England, began a development that continued til the end of Baroque.
e. Secular music rose to a new eminence under the patronage of the nobility.
f. Modality still influenced sacred and secular music, but the trend was toward major and minor tonalities.
g. Triadic, chordal structures came to permeate 16th-century music.
h. Textures varied from homophonic to contrapuntal, generally characterized by balanced polyphony and equality of parts.

2. Roman Catholic Music

a. Musical Characteristics

1.) Equality of voice parts was the characteristic texture.
2.) The number of parts ranged from 3-8 or more, but 5 parts were most common.
3.) The texture sounds full because triads gave the music a rich harmonic sonority.
4.) As in the 15th century, homophony often alternated with conterpoint.
5.) Dissonance was restricted to passing & neighboring tones, anticipations, suspended 2nds & 7ths between 2 voices; 4ths between any voice & bass.
6.) Although instruments were used, music had with no intruments indicated.
7.) Mostly diatonic, but chromaticism began to appear late in the century.
8.) Roman Church language continued to be Latin, but vernacular languages were sometimes used outside Italy.

b. Genres - Masses and motets were dominant

1.) Mass

a.) Cantus firmus masses on chant and secular melodies and sine nomine masses were principal types.
b.) Another form appearing in late 15th century was the parody mass (imitation mass,) - part of a motet or secular chanson was altered to fit liturgical text. Does not use a Cantus Firmus. The composer uses not one voice but all voices of a chanson, making something completely new out of it.
c.) Complete canonic masses were less common after the early 16th c.

2.) Motet

a.) Basically the same as Franco-Flemish model

3.) Laude - Songs of praise, in simple homophonic settings, sometimes in Italian. Popular non-liturgical devotional songs. Religious counterpart of the Frottola

c. Schools and Composers

1.) Franco-Flemish

a.) Roland de Lassus (ca. 1532-94)
b.) Philippe de Monte (1521-1603)
c.) Jacobus Clemens (ca. 1486-ca. 1556) -also known as "Clemens non Papa"

• worked in Bruges and various Netherlands churches
• composed: chansons, 15 masses, more than 200 motets, 4 books of psalms

2.) Roman

a.) Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-94) - the king of sacred polyphony

• Texture - Divided the 6 voice choir into smaller groups, with each group carrying on a part of the polyphony, rather than each individual voice part.
• Melody - Plainsong-like, mostly stepwise motion with a few small leaps, leaps were usually followed by stepwise motion in the opposite direction. The melody usually had a range of no more than a 9th.
• Rhythm - Each voice is rhythmically independent, yet the overall effect is one of rhythmic regularity or congruity.
• Harmony - He generally avoided chromaticism, and used dissonance only on weak beats.
• Pope Marcellus Mass - Palestrina wrote the Mass to demonstrate that polyphony could be written without obscuring the text. Legend has it that he saved polyphony by doing this.

b.) Marc Antonio Ingegneri - An early teacher of Monteverdi
id="Anerio">c.) Felice Anerio (1560-1614)
d.) Giovanni Nanino (ca. 1545-1607)

3.) Spanish

a.) Cristobal Morales (ca. 1500-53)
b.) Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)

4.) Venetian

a.) Cori spezzati - The use of antiphonal effects produced by split choirs
b.) Adrian Willaert (ca. 1490-1562) - founder of the Venetian school; pioneered in bringing text and music into closer rapport

• studied composition in Paris with Jean Mouton
• worked in Rome, Ferrara, Milan, finally settling in Venice, serving as director of music at St. Mark's, the most prestigious musical post in Italy
• Zarlino was one of his pupils
• he insisted that syllables be printed under their notes, and attention be paid to the stresses of Latin pronunciation
• planned his compositions to suit the accentuation, rhetoric, and punctuation of the text

c.) Andrea Gabrieli (ca. 1510-86)
d.) Giovanni Gabrieli (ca. 1553-1612) - Andrea Gabrielis nephew and pupil.

• St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice - The heart and center of Venetian musical culture
• Polychoral Motets - a motet written for two or more choruses; Instrumental version was for two or more consorts.
• Sonata Pian'e Forte for 2 Consorts - A double-chorus motet for instruments. One of the first instrumental ensemble pieces for which the printed parts designate specific instruments, as well as one of the earliest instances of dynamic markings.

5.) English

a.) William Byrd (1543-1623)
b.) John Taverner (ca. 1490-1545)
c.) Christopher Tye (ca. 1505-ca. 1572)
d.) Robert Whyte (ca. 1538-74)
e.) Thomas Tallis (ca. 1505-85)

6.) German

a.) Ludwig Senfl (ca. 1486-ca. 1543) -a pupil of Heinrich Isaac

• served at the Bavarian court of Munich
• his masses and motets were composed in the conservative German style of the time
• he wrote secular songs, including Lieder, and set German texts for the Lutheran Church

b.) Jacob Handl (1550-91)
c.) Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612) - The greatest German composer of the late 16th century.

3. Reformation Music

a. Germany

1.) Chorale - Religious songs designed for congregational singing. Tune sources:

a.) The body of Gregorian chant modified by metrical settings
b.) Pre-existing tunes, usu. secular
c.) Nonliturgical German religious songs existing before the Reformation
d.) Newly composed hymns

2.) Chorale preludes - contrapuntal arrangements of chorales played on the organ before congregational singing.
3.) Composers

a.) Sixtus Dietrich (ca. 1490-1548)
b.) Johann Walter (1496-1570) - Luthers musical collaborator
c.) Johannes Eccard (1553-1611)
d.) Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612)
e.) Michael Praetorius (ca. 1571-1621)

b. France

1.) Psalms

a.) Intended for unison singing by the congregation and in the home.
b.) 4-part harmonizations and contrapuntal arrangements also.

2.) Composers of Psalter music

a.) Loys Bourgeois (ca. 1510-ca. 1561)
b.) Claude Goudimel (ca. 1505-72)
c.) Claude Le Jeune (1528-1600)
d.) Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621, Holland)

c. England - Henry VIII broke with the Roman church and established the Anglican

1.) Genres

a.) The Service, the Anglican counterpart to the mass, included Catholic-derived chant.
b.) Full Anthem (Cathedral Anthem) - Like the Catholic motet with English text.
c.) Verse Anthem - Solo and choral sections alternated, with organ or string accompaniment.
d.) Psalms - The 1612 Psalter by Henry Ainsworth - brought to the new world by the Pilgrims.

2.) Composers

a.) Christopher Tye (ca. 1505-ca. 1572)
b.) Thomas Tallis (ca. 1505-85)
c.) William Byrd (1543-1623)
d.) Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)

4. Secular Music

a. Musical Characteristics

1.) Rivaled sacred music due to humanism and nonreligious poetry
2.) The rise of national schools was more pronounced than in sacred music
3.) Secular music thrived in all European courts under patronage
4.) Intended as entertainment for amateur performers rather than concert music
5.) Chamber music for few participants rather than large ensembles

b. Italian Madrigal - The most important genre of Italian secular music in the 16th century

1.) early madrigals were written for 4 voices, but later 5 voices became the standard, and 6 or more parts were not unusual
2.) Madrigal poetry was more elevated and serious than the frottola; texts were written by major poets of the period

a.) A through-composed setting of a short poem
b.) Most texts consisted of a single stanza with a free rhyme scheme and a moderate number of 7- and 11-syllable (endecasyllabic) lines.
c.) The term Madrigal , as applied to poetry, was a generic term which described a variety of poetic types: sonnet, ballata, canzone, and ottava rima, as well as poems expressly written to be set as madrigals.

3.) Mirroring of the text, or text painting, was emphasized.
4.) It bore no resemblance to the trecento madrigal
5.) Originally intended to be sung by the aristocracy at social gatherings, but after around 1570, professional groups of virtuoso singers were employed

a.) They were performed at meetings of academies, and used in plays and other theatrical productions
b.) around 2000 collections of madrigals were published between 1530 and 1600

6.) Chromaticism - composers began exploring the chromatic scale, partly in order to revive the chromatic and enharmonic genera of Greek music

a.) Nicola Vicentino - the most influential experimenter in chromaticism

• in 1555, he published a treatise - L'antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica (Ancient Music Adapted to the Modern Practice) proposing the revival of chromaticism
• he designed the arcicem balo and arciorgano to perform music containing half-step and microtonal progressions that were impossible to play on normal keyboards

7.) The Petrarchan Movement - Petrarch (1304-1374) was a 14th-century poet; many composers in the 16th century set his sonnets and canzoni to music, and there was a general resurgence of interest in his work and the ideals embodied in his work.

a.) Pietro Bembo (1470-1547) - Cardinal, poet, critic, leader of Petrarchan movement

• he discovered in the work of Petrarch a "music of vowels and consonants and sounding syllables that could inspire composers to imitate these effects in their counterpoint."
• he Identified two opposing qualities in Petrarch's work:
  -piacevolezza (pleasingness) - grace, sweetness, charm, smoothness, playfulness, wit
  -gravita (severity) - modesty, dignity, majesty, magnificence, grandeur
• rhythm, distance of rhyme, number of syllables per line, patterns of accents, lengths of syllables, and the sound qualities of the vowels and consonants contribute to making a verse pleasing or severe
• included all of these ideas in his 1525 book Prose della volgar lingua

8.) Composers

a.) Costanzo Festa (ca. 1490-1545)
b.) Phillippe Verdelot (ca. 1480-1545)
c.) Jacques Arcadelt (ca. 1505-ca. 1568)

• Ahime, dov'e 'l bel viso - Illustrates Arcadelt's transitional style between the homophonic frottola and the more imitative madrigal, a style which was shared by Verdelot in his later compositions

d.) Adrian Willaert (ca. 1490-1562)
e.) Giaches de Wert (1535-96) - worked in Mantua, in the service of the Gonzaga family

• published 11 books of 5-part madrigals, 1 book of 4-part madrigals, a collection or canzone villanelle, as well as a number of madrigals printed in miscellaneous collections
• during the 1580's and 90's, he moved away from the work of Petrarch and towards the greater emotionalism of some of the poets of his time, in addition demonstrating an increased willingness to underscore literary meaning , and decreased use of complex use of imitative counterpoint
• his later madrigal collections were filled with virtuosic vocal lines, ornamental runs and turns

f.) Carlo Gesualdo (ca. 1561-1613) - prince of Venosa

• married his cousin, and later murdered her and her lover when he caught them together
• utilized chromaticism to underscore the text
• Io parto e non piu dissi

g.) Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) - 1602-13 - master of the ducal chapel at Mantua

• 1613-43 - choirmaster at St. Mark's in Venice
• his combination of homophonic and contrapuntal parts, faithful reflection of the text, and free use of chromaticism and dissonance demonstrated his expressive power
• his work was moving toward the new style of the 17th-century, and he in fact continued to be a musical force in the early Baroque period
• he wrote ornaments and embellishments which previously would have been improvised
• Cruda Amarilli

h.) Orlando di Lasso (1532-94)
i.) Philippe de Monte (1521-1603)
j.) Luca Marenzio (1553-99)
k.) Cipriano de Rore (1516-65) - the leading Madrigalist of his generation

• he set the trends the madrigal was to follow in the second half of the century
• Datemi pace, o duri miei pensieri

9.) Other Italian styles

a.) Villanella (canzon villanesca, or peasant song) - 3-part texture, strophic, homophonic

• deliberate use of parallel 5ths
• sometimes used to mock the correct, more sophisticated madrigals
• it eventually grew to resemble the madrigal so much that it lost it's identity

b.) Canzonetta (little song)
c.) Balletto - dance-like rhythms, fa-la-la refrains
d.) Frottolla (pl. - Frottole) - 4-parts, syllabic, homophonic

• melody in the upper voice, marked rhythmic patterns, diatonic harmonies
• fixed-form Frottole - barzelletta, capitolo, terza rima, strambotto
• free-form Frottola - canzone
• flourished in the Italian courts, despite it's musical simplicity and earthy, satirical text
• forerunner of the Italian madrigal
• o non compro piu speranza - Marco Cara (ca. 1470-ca. 1525)

c. French Chanson - resembled the Italian frottola and the canto carnasc ialesco

1.) Characteristics:

a.) fast, light, rhythmic song for 4 voices
b.) syllabic, in duple meter, with many repeated notes
c.) homophonic with some imitation
d.) each piece had 4 short sections, such as a a b c or a b c a
e.) text was usually filled with sexual innuendo, although more serious subjects were occasionally used
f.) Pierre Attaingnant (ca. 1494-ca. 1551) - the first French music printer; printed more than 50 collections of Chansons, more than 1500 pieces from 1528-52

2.) genres

a.) Chanson rimee
b.) Chanson Mesuree

3.) Composers

a.) Claudin de Sermisy (ca. 1490-1562)
b.) Clement Janequin (ca. 1485-ca. 1560) - he was known for his descriptive chansons, featuring imitations of bird calls, hunting calls, street cries, and sounds of war.
c.) Nicholas Gombert (ca. 1495-ca.1556)
d.) Claude LeJeune (1528-1600)
e.) Jacques Mauduit (1557-1627)
f.) Orlando di Lasso (1532-94) - also exerted an influence on the late 16th-Century French Chanson

d. English Music - developed later in the century

1.) Genres

a.) English Madrigal (also Canzonet and ayre)
b.) Ballett - modeled on the Italian balletti

• homophonic with the melody in the top voice, and written in dance-like meters-sections are set off by full cadences
• often called "fa-la's", so named after the refrains which were often sung to those syllables

c.) Lute songs - solo songs with lute and viol accompaniment

• the poetry of the English airs is better than that of the madrigals
• the melodies are remarkable for their subtlety and sensitive text declamation
• the lute accompaniments, while subordinated to the voice, have rhythmic and melodic independence
• in some collections, the songs are printed with the lute part written out for 3 voices, arranged on the page so that performers sitting around a table could read from the same book (Grout p.217); In this format, they could be performed by voices or instruments or both

d.) Consort Songs - a native English tradition; solo songs or duets accompanied by an ensemble, or "consort," of viols

2.) Collections

a.) The Triumphs of Oriana (1601) - a collection of 25 madrigals by different composers, published by Morley, in honor of Queen Elizabeth I

• each madrigal ends with the phrase "Long live Oriana," a reference to Elizabeth derived from pastoral poetry
• the accents of the words are maintained independently in each voice-an example of how the English madrigal gives greater attention to musical structure than the Italian

b.) Musica Transalpina - a collection of Italian madrigals translated into English, 1588

3.) Composers - Madrigals

a.) Thomas Morley (1557-1602) - the earliest and most prolific of the English Madrigalists - composed madrigals, canzonets and balletts
b.) William Byrd (1543-1623) - raised the technical level of the Consort Song in his collection Psalms, Sonets and Songs (1588)
c.) John Wilbye (1574-1638)
d.) Thomas Weelkes (ca. 1575-1623) -O Care, thou wilt despatch me
e.) John Ward
f.) Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)

4.) Composers - Lute Songs

a.) John Dowland (1562-1626)
b.) Thomas Campion (1567-1620)

e. German music - Franco-Flemish music appeared in Germany around 1530

1.) Genres

a.) Polyphonic Lied - combined German melodic material with an old-fashioned style and contrapuntal technique derived from the Franco-Flemish tradition.

• Lochamer Liederbuch (Locheim Songbook) 1455-60 - one of the earliest collections of German polyphonic songs: Monophonic melodies and 3-part songs with the melody in the tenor
• Glogauer Liederbuch (Glogau Songbook) 1480

b.) Quodlibet ("whatever you like")

• different songs or song fragments thrown together as an incongruous mixture of texts
• some German composers set classical Latin verses, such as the Odes of Horace, in which the music followed the rules of classical meter, much like the French Musique Mesuree

2.) Composers

a.) Heinrich Isaac (ca. 1450-1517)
b.) Paul Hofhaimer (1459-1537)
c.) Ludwig Senfl (ca. 1486-ca. 1543) - perfected the genre in the 16th century
d.) Orlano di Lasso (1532-94) - entered the service of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria in 1556 or 57, then served as head of the ducal chapel in Munich from 1560 until his death in 1594; He wrote 7 collections of German Lieder.
e.) Johannes Eccard (1553-1611)
f.) Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612) - the greatest German composer of the 16th century

• he combined Italian Suavity with German seriousness
• his works include German lieder, canzonets and madrigals with Italian text, Latin motets and masses, settings of Lutheran chorales, and works for instrumental ensemble and keyboard

g.) Melchior Franck
h.) Jacob Regnart (ca. 1540-99) - "Entertaining German Songs for 3 Voices in the Manner of the Neapolitan or Italian Villanelle", published in 1576.
i.) Heinrich Schutz (1585-1672)
j.) Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630)

f. Spanish Music

1.) Villancico - The principal genre of secular polyphony; the Spanish equivalent of the frottola

a.) A short strophic song with a refrain
b.) The melody was in the top voice, and was probably performed by a soloist accompanied by 1 or 2 instruments
c.) Cancinero (songbook) - a collection of villancicos

2.) Composers

a.) Juan del Encina (1469-1529) - the principal Spanish poet and composer of the early 16th century
b.) Luis de Milan (ca. 1500-ca.1561)

g. Eastern Europe

1.) Waclaw of Szamotul (ca. 1520-67) - Poland
2.) Jacob Handl, a.k.a. Jacobus Gallus (1550-91) - Bohemia

5. Instrumental Music

a. Important Characteristics in its development:

1.) Generally stayed within the limits defined by vocal idioms
2.) Improvisation played an important role
3.) Instruments were used in the performance of vocal music
4.) Published transcriptions of vocal music for instruments were numerous
5.) Some instr. genres came directly from vocal ones; Others were instrumentally conceived.

b. Musical Characteristics of distinctly instrumental music:

1.) Rapid and long scale passages
2.) Numerous wide skips
3.) Melodic range wider than vocal limitations
4.) In lute and keyboard music, contrapuntal parts freely added or dropped out without rests indicated
5.) Extensive ornamentation
6.) Freer treatment of dissonance

c. Genres

1.) Dance Music

a.) Pavane and Gaillard - most popular dance pair
b.) Ronde and Saltarello - Italian dance pair
c.) Basse-danse
d.) Allemande
e.) Courante

2.) Cantus Firmus forms - based on chants, chorales or secular songs

a.) Verset - played by the organist between stanzas of a hymn.

3.) Imitative forms

a.) Organ transcriptions of motets
b.) Ricercare - original organ pieces in motet style
c.) Canzona - derived from the chanson
d.) Fantasia
e.) Capriccio

4.) Improvisational forms

a.) Preludes

5.) Variation Forms

a.) Cantus Firmus variations - same melody, with different accompaniment each time
b.) Theme and Variations - Melody was varied each time
c.) Hexachord variations - Used the 1st six notes of a scale as a theme
d.) Ground Variation - Based on a short theme of 4 to 8 measures in the bass with continuous and changing counterpoint above.

d. Germany

1.) Organ composers

a.) Conrad Paumann
b.) Hans Buchner
c.) Hans Kotter
d.) Leonhard Kleber
e.) Paul Hofhaimer
f.) Arnolt Schlick

2.) Lute composers

a.) Hans Judenkunig
b.) Hans Gerle
c.) Hans Neusiedler

3.) Ensemble composers

a.) Elias Nikolaus Ammerbach
b.) Valentin Haussmann
c.) Melchior Franck

e. Spain

1.) Vihuela Composers

a.) Luis de Milan (ca. 1500-ca.1561) - leading composer
b.) Luys de Narvaez
c.) Enriquez de Valderrabano
d.) Miguel de Fuenllana

2.) Organ composers

a.) Antonio Cabezon (1510-66)

f. Italy

1.) Lute composers

a.) Frencesco Spinacino
b.) Ambrosio Dalza

2.) Organ composers

a.) Claudio Merulo (1533-1604)
b.) Girolamo Cavazzoni
c.) Annibale Padovano
d.) Andrea Gabrieli (ca. 1510-86)
e.) Giovanni Gabrieli (ca. 1553-1612)
f.) Giovanni de Macque

3.) Ensemble composers

a.) Florentio Maschera
b.) Andrea Gabrieli (ca. 1510-86)
c.) Giovanni Gabrieli (ca. 1553-1612)

g. France

1.) Pierre Attaingnant, the 1st French music printer, published numerous collections of organ, lute and clavecin music by unnamed composers
2.) Jean Titelouze (1563-1633) composed cantus-firmus organ pieces based on chant

h. England

1.) Virginal Composers

a.) Hugh Aston
b.) Giles Farnaby
c.) William Byrd (1543-1623)
d.) John Bull (ca. 1562-1628)
e.) Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
f.) The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book

2.) Organ composers

a.) John Redford
b.) John Bull (ca. 1562-1628)

3.) Lute composers

a.) John Dowland (1562-1626)
b.) Francis Pilkington
c.) Thomas Campion (1567-1620)

4.) Fantasias for viols

a.) Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)

The Middle Ages | The Renaissance | The Baroque | The Classical | The Romantic | The 20th Century

III. The Baroque (1600-1750)

Baroque - (From the Portugese Barroco, describing a deformed pearl.) Flamboyant, decorative, extravagant and expressionistic.

A. Characteristics

1. Baroque Dualism - The grand and the small coexisted

a. Stile Antiquo (1st Practice) - Vocal Counterpoint, a holdover from the Renaissance. Strict polyphony according to prescribed rules. The style of vocal polyphony exemplified in the work of Zarlino, which emphasized the music over the text.
b. Stile Moderno (2nd Practice) - Homophony, vocal and instrumental. That of Monteverdi, Rore and other Italians, emphasized the text over the music.

2. Idiomatic Writing

a. The rise to prominence of the soloist - singer, violinist, trumpet - invited composers to address their thoughts to a particular medium, such as the violin or solo voice.

3. Doctrine of the Affections

a. The states of the soul: rage, excitement, grandeur, contemplation, wonder, etc. The composers were trying to represent the affections in a generic sense, rather than express personal feelings. Each composition should have a specific emotional effect.

4. The Florentine Camerata

a. An informal academy in Florence, at which literature, science and the arts were discussed and new music was performed. They believed ancient Greek music consisted of a single melody; They stood against the practice of vocal polyphony, and favored monody.

1.) Girolamo Mei - A Florentine scholar who edited a number of the Greek tragedies. He proposed that all of the text of a Greek tragedy was sung, including the actors' parts. He published a treatise in 4 books, "De modis Musicis" after reading almost every ancient work on music that survived.
2.) Vincenzo Galilei - Father of the astronomer Galileo; In his Dialogue concerning Ancient and Modern Music, he attacked the theory and practice of vocal counterpoint as exemplified in the Italian madrigal, arguing that it could never deliver the emotional message of the text.
3.) Jacopo Peri (1561-1633) - A member of the Camerata who invented the recitative style, in his setting of "L'Euridice", the first opera.
4.) Ottavio Rinuccini (1562-1621) - A poet, the librettist of L'Euridice.
5.) Giulio Caccini (1551-1618)

a.) L'Euridice - Pastoral/Mythological verse play by Ottavio Rinuccini, on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The first opera, set to music by Peri and Caccini.

B. Genres, composers, works

1. Opera - Opera Seria (serious opera)

a. Musical Characteristics

1.) Solo song, 1st called monody, then eventually aria
2.) Ensembles of 2 or more solo voices, called duet, trio, etc.
3.) Recitative - a declamatory style of singing dialogue. A style of speech-song which was halfway between the continuous change of pitch in speech and the intervallic motion in song. The notes of the basso continuo were held steady while the voice moved, sounding like free, pitchless declamation.
4.) Chorus
5.) The Orchestra accompanies singing, and provides instrumental introductions and recurring interludes (ritornello)
6.) Overture - the instrumental introduction to the opera
7.) Ballets - formal dances found in some operas
8.) Cadenza - An improvised passage, usually on the V chord of a final cadence. A type of embellishment commonly found in opera and some instrumental music.

b. Italian opera - Italy was the leader in opera development

1.) Florentine Opera - the Florentine Camerata sought to revive ancient Greek tragedy in the late 16th Century

a.) Euridice (1600) - Ottavio Rinuccini, Jacopo Peri, Giulio Caccini
b.) Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
L'Orfeo (1607) - A 5-act version of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, written by Monteverdi and produced in Mantua. Used a 40-piece orchestra
c.) Francesca Caccini (1587-ca. 1640) - Daughter of Giulio Caccini

• La liberazione di Ruggiero dallisola dAlcina (1625) - billed as a ballet, but had all the trappings of an opera.

2.) Roman Opera - The center of opera development from 1630-50. Opera did not take root in Rome until the 1620's, when the newly-elected Pope's music-loving nephews were put in a position where they could promote opera.

a.) Most opera librettos were from mythology or epic poems.
b.) Solo singing in the operas consisted of recitative, arias and "Half-arias" (mezz'arie ) or short tuneful interludes in the midst of recitative.
c.) Luigi Rossi (1597-1653) - a leading Roman opera composer of the early Baroque.

• Orfeo (1647)

3.) Venetian Opera - took leadership of opera from 1650 to the end of the century

a.) The first public opera houses opened there.
b.) More emphasis was put on formal arias
c.) The bel canto style, with more emphasis on vocal elegance
d.) Less use of choral and orchestral music
e.) Complex and improbable plots
f.) Elaborate stage machinery
g.) Short instrumental introductions, prototypes for the overture
h.) Mythological themes and epic poems dominated the Venice scene, as well as Roman history and the crusades.
i.) It's reputation for freedom from religious and social restraints made it an ideal place for opera to flourish.
j.) Between 1637-78, more than 150 operas were produced.
k.) Il Ritorno dUlisse - Monteverdi
l.) Benedetto Ferrari (ca. 1603-81)
m.) Francesco Manelli (ca. 1594-1667)
n.) Pier Francesco Cavalli (1602-76) - A pupil of Monteverdi, and a leading Venetian opera composer.
o.) Antonio Cesti (1623-69)

4.) Neapolitan Opera - dominated early-18th c. opera. Important developments:

a.) Da capo aria - ABA sectional structure
b.) Recitativo Secco - Dry recitative, accompanied by basso continuo
c.) Recitativo Obbligato - Accompanied by the full orchestra
d.) Recitativo Arioso - (aria-like recitative) between recitative and aria.
e.) Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)

c. Other national styles

1.) French Opera and ballet - France resisted Italian opera, instead creating their own national form, but not until 1670.

a.) Use of ballet in operas
b.) Greater importance of drama
c.) More use of the orchestra
d.) Shorter and simpler dancelike airs
e.) Careful accentuation of text
f.) More expressive and melodic recit
g.) Less emphasis on virtuosity
h.) The French overture
i.) Ballets-court dances with costume and scenery, no singing or dialogue
j.) Comedie-Ballet - combination ballet and play
k.) Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-87) - The "Musical Dictator" of France.

• His Ouvertures were influential on later generations of composers.
• Alceste

l.) Ouverture - A 2-part form of overture for ballet, opera, oratorio and some instrumental works.

• 1st movement - Slow movement, homophonic, characterized by dotted rhythms.
• 2nd movement - Fast movement, serious in character, yet with some fugal imitation.

m.) Hippolyte et Aricie - Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)

2.) English dramatic Music - serious English opera never achieved much popularity. Stage plays were prohibited in mid-17th century England, but a play set to music could be called a concert and so avoid the ban. These English "Semi-Operas" were really plays with a large proportion of vocal and instrumental music.

a.) Opera - Venus and Adonis - John Blow (1649-1708)
b.) Masque - Theatrical court entertainment, a play with music performed privately for nobility
c.) Incidental Music - written to be performed during the action of plays
d.) Entracte Music - performed between scenes or acts of plays
e.) Henry Purcell (1659-95) - Organist at Westminster Abbey, as well as other musical posts in London.

• He wrote many other works, including incidental music for 49 plays.
• Dido and Aeneas - Written for a girls boarding school at Chelsea. The "miniature" opera (1 hour in length) incorporated the achievements of English theater music and Continental influences.
• "When I am laid in earth" ostinato - The lament is set over a 5-measure basso ostinato (borrowed from Italian opera.) Suspended notes are re-attacked on the strong beat, intensifying the dissonance.

3.) German Dramatic Music

a.) 17th Century German courts favored Italian opera, but a few cities supported companies that performed operas by native Germans.
b.) Hamburg - The center for opera in Germany - The 1st public opera house outside of Venice opened here in the 1670's.
c.) Singspiel (Sing-play) - The German version of opera. A play which interspersed songs with spoken dialogue.

2. Comic Opera - emerged in the early 18th century in reaction to Italian serious opera

a. Italian Opera Buffa - La Serva Padrona - Giovanni Pergolesi (1710-1736)
b. French Opera Comique
c. English Ballad Opera
d. German Singspiel
e. Spanish Zarzuela

3. Vocal Chamber Music

a. Solo Song

1.) Italian Song

a.) 5th Book of Madrigals - Monteverdi

2.) German Lied
3.) English Song

a.) the Catch - a cappella vocal canon or round, often ribald, witty texts
b.) Orpheus Britannicus - Henry Purcell

b. Chamber Cantata (Italy)

1.) Short, nontheatrical works for 1 or 2 solo voices with basso continuo
2.) secco recitatives alternating with da capo arias
3.) Composers/Works

a.) Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
b.) Coffee Cantata - J.S. Bach

4. Religious Music - Stile Antiquo existed side by side with the Stile Moderno

a. Venetian School - Church of St. Marks - The center of church music in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

1.) Venetian Polychoral Motets - Antiphonal music for 2 or more varied groups of voices and instruments.
2.) Giovanni Gabrieli (ca. 1553-1612) - The leading polychoral motet composer

b. Catholic Music

1.) Mass and Motet - Composed in the new dramatic style

a.) Antonio Caldara (ca. 1670-1736)
b.) Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
c.) Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
d.) Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-87)

2.) Grand Concerto - Polychoral composition inspired by the works of Gabrieli and the Venetian school.

a.) Orazio Benevoli (1605-72)

3.) Concerto for Few Voices - for two or three voices and organ continuo

a.) Lodovico Viadana (1560-1627)
b.) Alessandro Grandi (ca. 1575-1630)

c. Protestant Music

1.) Renaissance-style motets, Polychoral music, Sacred Concerto (Concerto for Few Voices)

a.) Heinrich Schutz (1585-1672) - The greatest German composer of the mid-17th century.

• Studied with Giovanni Gabrieli
• From 1617 until his death, he served as master of the chapel of the elector of Saxony at Dresden
• Oratorios: The Seven Last Words (1645), Christmas Oratorio (1664)
• Sacred Concertos: Kleine geistliche Konzerte (1639)

2.) Lutheran Church Cantata (Wachet Auf - J.S. Bach)

a.) Pietist/Orthodox Theology and the Lutheran cantata

• The Orthodox party favored using all polyphonic and instrumental music in the services.
• The Pietists favored music of simpler character which expressed personal feelings of devotion.
• The cantata, championed by the poet Neumeister, brought these groups together by setting poetry with Pietist leanings to the more formal musical styles, and including the dramatic elements of the aria and recitative.

3.) English Church Music

a.) Cathedral Anthem
b.) Verse Anthem

d. Oratorio

1.) Emerged as a religious form distinct from opera & liturgical music
2.) Employed some Opera devices

a.) Arias, duets
b.) Recitative
c.) More use of chorus
d.) Overture
e.) Other instrumental pieces
f.) No scenery or costumes
g.) Narrator

3.) George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

a.) Samson
b.) Judas Maccabaeus
c.) Messiah

e. Passion Music - settings of the Easter story

1.) Gospel Recitation
2.) Plainsong Passion
3.) Polyphonic Passion
4.) Oratorio Passion (7 Last Words - Heinrich Schutz)
5.) Chorale Passion (St. Matthews Passion - J.S. Bach)

5. Instrumental Music

a. Musical Developments

1.) Instrumental Idiom - was finally fully developed
2.) Basso Continuo (Figured Bass, Thoroughbass) - Only the melody and bass were written out, and the keyboard or lute would fill in the required chords. If chords other than root position were used, or if chord tones outside the key signature were used, the required symbols would be placed above or below the bass note.
3.) Improvisation
4.) Variation
5.) Use of sequence
6.) Ensemble Media - A clearer distinction between chamber and orchestral media
7.) Tuning - Equal temperament
8.) Agrements - 17th century French ornamentation found in keyboard or lute music.
9.) Notes Inegales - Straight eighth-note rhythms were performed as triplet rhythms (quarter-note triplet followed by 8th-note triplet.)

b. Imitative forms

1.) Early forms: ricercare, canzona, fantasia, capriccio carried over from Renaissance
2.) Fugue - reached a degree of standardization

a.) Exposition - each independent voice enters with the theme in turn.
b.) Subject - (dux, leader) first statement of the theme, in the tonic
c.) Answer - (comes, companion) the answer, in the dominant
d.) Episodes - short passages, in which the subject does not appear
e.) 3 techniques used to intensify the return to the tonic at the end:

• Pedal Point - A continuous repeated or sustained note in the bass, over which the melodic and harmonic structure continues.
• Stretto - Entrances of the subject overlap each other.
• Augmentation - The note values of the subject are doubled

f.) Art of the Fugue - J.S. Bach

c. Variation forms

1.) Keyboard instruments were the principal media
2.) Partita- Sets of variations on a melody, also "Theme and Variations."

a.) The melody was repeated with little or no change, sometimes wandering from one voice to another.
b.) The melody itself received different embellishment in each variation.
c.) The bass or the harmonic structure, rather than the melody, is the constant factor.

3.) Passacaglia
4.) Chaconne
5.) Ground
6.) Cantus Firmus Variations

d. Dance Suite (German Suite

1.) Allemande - (German) medium tempo, duple meter, beginning on an upbeat.
2.) Courante - (French) medium tempo, 6/4 , 3/2 or shifts between; the resulting hemiola was effective at cadences -a bit faster than Allemande
3.) Sarabande - (Spanish) slow movement, 3/2 or 6/4 meter, based on recurring rhythmic pattern. More homophonic than 1&2
4.) Gigue - (Anglo-Irish) fastest tempo, in 12/8, 6/8, 6/4 , 3/8, 3/4, Often wide melodic skips and in fugal style.

e. Choral Prelude - an organ composition in which material was derived from a chorale melody

1.) Cantus Firmus Chorale - Presented the melody continuously as a cantus firmus in longer note values against faster-moving counterpoint
2.) Coloration Chorale - Stated the chorale melody in the top part as a cantus firmus, highly ornamented
3.) Chorale Partita - sets of variations on a chorale tune
4.) Chorale Fantasia - chorale melody is fragmented and resultant motives developed.

f. Improvisatory Forms

1.) Toccata, Prelude, Praeludium - A piece in improvisatory style for solo keyboard instrument or lute, usually consisting of a succession of fugal and non-fugal sections.

a.) The standard form eventually became the Toccata and Fugue, with the toccata as an improvisatory introduction, usually homophonic.

g. Sonata

1.) Solo sonata
2.) Trio sonata - 2 solo instruments and continuo
3.) Sonata da camera - (Chamber Sonata) A suite of stylized dances.

a.) Usually for 2 violins and basso continuo

4.) Sonata da chiesa - (Church Sonata, originally part of the proper) A mixture of abstract movements and others that were essentially dance movements.

a.) Often in four movements: slow-fast-slow-fast.
b.) Usually for 2 violins and basso continuo

h. Orchestral Music

1.) Concerto [and contrast] - contrasted solo instruments or small ensemble of solo instruments against a full orchestra.

a.) Typical configuration: Fast-Slow-Fast
b.) Orchestral Concerto - several-movement work, emphasized1st violin and bass
c.) Concerto Grosso - small ensemble of solo instruments (concertino) set against a large ensemble (concerto grosso.)

• Ripieno - Full Orchestra (tutti)
• Concertino - Small ensemble of soloists, often 2 violins and continuo.

d.) Ritornello Form - recurring instrumental refrain, used by Torelli and Vivaldi - rit. 1 - solo 1 - rit. 2 - solo 2 - rit. 3. Similar to a rondeau, except that all the ritornellos except the first and last are in different keys.

i. Bologna School of Violin Composers- The most important center of violin music was the Church of San Petronio in Bologna. The composers of this school shunned technical display and special effects, and their style was more balanced and idiomatic to the instrument.

1.) Guiseppi Torelli - A leading figure in the Bologna school, he contributed most to the development of the concerto around the turn of the century. Most of his concertos are in the order fast-slow-fast, which was adopted by later concerto composers. Each of his Allegro movements began with a ritornello that develops one or more motives in the full orchestra.
2.) Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)- A well-known performer, composer and teacher who studied for four years at Bologna. His trio sonatas were the crowning achievement of late-17th-century Italian chamber music, and his solo sonatas and concertos served as models for composers for the next half century. His sonatas were known for their unity of key and unity of theme, and he relied on sequences to achieve clear tonal organization.

j. Cremona Violin Makers

1.) Nicolo Amati - The first violin maker; He influenced the others.
2.) Antonio Stradivari
3.) Giuseppe Guarneri

C. Major Composers

1. Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

(The Red-Headed Priest) Violinist and composer from Venice.

a. Received lessons from his father, the head violinist at St. Mark's Chapel.
b. Ordained in 1703, but left the priesthood due to illness.
c. Employed as conductor, composer, teacher and superintendent of music at the Pio Ospedale della Pieta, a conservatory and shelter for orphans and illegitimate children.
d. He was influenced by Corelli.
e. Over 500 concertos - form: Allegro - Slow - Allegro.
f. His allegros began with ritornellos.
g. The texture was more homophonic than contrapuntal, emphasizing the 2 outer voices.
h. Allegro form: ritornelli alternate with solo sections.

1.) Each rit. usually has 3 motivic sections.
2.) The closing rit. usually reverses the themes.

i. 90 sonatas, 16 sinfonias (opera introductions,) establishing him as the founder of the classical symphony.
j. Program music, such as the "4 Seasons."
k. Vocal works, including 49 operas, masses, oratorios, etc.
l. His work influenced the classical composers

2. Jean-Phillipe Rameau (1683-1764)

The foremost French musician of the 18th century.

a. He was practically unknown before age 40.
b. He first attracted attention as a theorist, then later as a composer.
c. His big break came when he was discovered by the wealthy patron La Poupliniere, and became his organist, conductor, and composer-in-residence.
d. Lullists vs. Ramists - The Lullists found Rameau's operas too musically complex
e. "War of the Buffoons" - French music vs. Italian, and the former Lullists became Rameau's ardent supporters, as he was by now a national institution.
f. Theory - His work as a theorist was influential, in that he recognized the chord as the primal element in music, as well as the importance of the tonic, dominant, and subdominant.

1.) He also established the melodic minor scale.
2.) 2 treatises: Treatise of Harmony Reduced to its Natural Principles, and New System of Music Theory.

g. Works - He composed his best-known works between ages 50-56.

1.) Was mostly known for his operas
2.) Instrumental sections of his operas were particularly influential
3.) Airs: Little difference between recit. and aria
4.) Clavecin Pieces

3. George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

"A completely international composer," he won international renown during his lifetime. His music influenced British musical life for more than a century.

a. Life in Germany

1.) Born in Halle, to a non-musical family, but his talent was so obvious, his father grudgingly allowed him to take lessons.
2.) Under Zachow, organist and church music director there, he learned the organ, harpsichord, violin, oboe, counterpoint, and copied the scores of German and Italian composers.
3.) Went to University of Halle and was appointed cathedral organist.
4.) But he gave up a career as cantor, and moved to Hamburg to write opera, beginning with Almira..

b. Italy - 1706-10,

1.) became court musician-composer for Marquis Ruspoli in Rome, hung out with Corelli, Caldara, the 2 Scarlattis, and Steffani, all influences
2.) wrote Latin motets, an oratorio, Italian cantatas, and the opera Agrippina, produced in Venice, 1709.

c. Return to Germany

1.) became music director at the court of Hanover
2.) immediately took a long leave of absence to spend time in London.

d. England

1.) first leave of absence - sensational success with his opera Rinaldo.
2.) fall, 1712, again granted a leave of absence from Hanover, and returned to London, staying for 2 years.
3.) his Hanover boss, the Elector of Hanover, was crowned King George I of England, and legend has it that Handel wrote his Water Music to be played as a surprise for the King in order to regain favor with him.
4.) settled down to a long and prosperous career in London, and became a British citizen
5.) buried with public honors in Westminster Abbey when he died.

e. Instrumental Works

1.) Water Music - suite of pieces for wind instruments
2.) Music for the Royal Fireworks
3.) 6 concertos for woodwinds and strings
4.) 12 Grand Concertos - combines modern traits with retropective elements.

f. Operas - His Italian operas, to which he devoted 35 years of his life, were enjoyed in London, as well as Germany and Italy.

1.) Radamisto,
2.) Ottone,
3.) Giulio Cesare
4.) Rodelinda
5.) Orlando
6.) Alcina.

g. Oratorios - blended elements of Italian opera with the English masque, the choral anthem, French classical drama, ancient Greek drama, and the German historia

1.) Saul
2.) Messiah
3.) Semele
4.) Judas Maccabaeus
5.) Jephtha
6.) 26 English oratorios in all

4. JohannSebastian Bach (1685-1750)

a. Life - Born in Eisenach. Trained as a violinist and organist, he received training from his father, a town musician, and from his elder brother Johann Christoph, an organist.

1.) Arnstadt - He served as organist there, and composed chiefly for the organ
2.) Weimar - Court organist, later concertmaster at the court of the Duke; He studied the works of the Italian composers in this period.
3.) Cothen - Music director at the court of a prince, and composed clavier music and instrumental ensemble works.
4.) Leipzig - Cantor of St. Thomas School, music director at St. Thomas and St.Nicolas Churches.

b. Instrumental Music: Buxtehude &Vivaldi influences

1.) He traveled 200 miles to see Buxtehude and study with him, staying longer than he was supposed to (Arnstadt period.)
2.) He studied the music of Vivaldi, even writing some arrangements of his works
3.) Sacred/Secular Unity - felt that everything he wrote, sacred and secular, was for God, and often reworked his sacred music for secular compositions, and vice-versa.

c. Pedagogical Keyboard works

1.) The Well-Tempered Clavier
2.) Little Notebooks
3.) Little Organ Book
4.) 2-part Inventions
5.) 3-part Sinfonie

d. Organ Preludes & Fugues - (Weimar period) idiomatic for the organ and technically difficult.

1.) Preludes [Orgelbuchlein]
2.) "Little Organ Book" (Weimar and Cothen) 45 in the book
3.) 170 organ chorales.

e. Comprehensive Keyboard Projects

1.) Well-tempered Clavier - Preludes and fugues in all keys, in two sets of 24 each.
2.) Goldberg Variations - 30 variations. Every 3rd variation is a canon at different intervals
3.) Musical Offering - Frederick The Great wrote a theme, Bach improvised on it. He later wrote this set of variations on the theme and presented it to him, complete with a trio sonata for flute, the instrument which Frederick played.
4.) Art of the Fugue - 18 canons and fugues, in strict style, all based on the same subject.

f. Keyboard and Orchestral Suites
g. Brandenburg and Other Concertos - Dedicated to the Margrave of Brandenburg.

1.) Combined the Italian and German styles.
2.) 3-movement, fast-slow-fast form.

h. Vocal Music

1.) Cantatas: 295 Church Cantatas, 1/3rd of which have been lost.
2.) Neumeister Cantatas - Settings of the poet's cantata texts.
3.) Chorale Cantatas - The verses of a chorale were set as variations
4.) Secular Cantatas - cantatas for secular occasions - Coffee and Peasant Cantatas
5.) Passions: St. John, St. Matthew (for double chorus, double orchestra, 2 organs, soloists.
6.) Mass in B Minor - He compiled this from some of his earlier works 1747-49.
7.) Christmas Oratorio - a set of 6 cantatas for Christmas and Epiphany
8.) Magnificat - for 5-part chorus and orchestra
9.) Chorales - 375 have survived.

The Middle Ages | The Renaissance | The Baroque | The Classical | The Romantic | The 20th Century

IV. Classical (1750-1825)

Classicism:
1. As pertaining to the highest order of excellence in literature and art
2. As pertaining to the culture of the ancient Greeks and Romans

Historical Events:
-The French Revolution (1789-99)
-The American Revolution (1776-83)
-The Industrial Revolution
-The "Age of Reason"
-Scientific Advances:
Benjamin Franklin harnessed electricity
Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen
Edward Jenner perfected vaccination
-Encyclopedia Brittanica

A. Elements of Classical Style:

1. Lyrical melody
2. Diatonic harmony
3. Rhythmic regularity
4. Folk elements
5. Music began moving from the palace to the concert hall

B. Genres

1. Classical Chamber Music

a. Music written for small ensembles (2 to 10,) one player to a part; Types of Chamber Music:

1.) String quartet - 4 movements

a.) Allegro
b.) Slow movement - A-B-A or Theme-and-Variations
c.) Moderate dance - minuet and trio form
d.) Fast movement - sonata-allegro or rondo form

2.) Duo sonata
3.) Trio
4.) Quintet

2. The Classical Symphony

a. The Classical Orchestra

1.) Strings
2.) Woodwinds
3.) Brass
4.) Percussion

b. Movements (They follow the Sonata form)

1.) Sonata-Allegro
2.) Slow Movement
3.) Minuet and trio (or Scherzo and Trio)
4.) Finale, either Rondo or Sonata-Allegro

3. Concerto and Sonata

a. Concerto - A work for solo instrument and orchestra

1.) Sonata-Allegro form

a.) Cadenza - an improvised solo passage that interrupts the movement

2.) Slow movement
3.) Finale

b. Sonata - A work for one or two instruments, consisting of a series of contrasting movements

4. Sacred Choral Music

a. Mass - A setting of the most important service of the Catholic Church, which culminates in a symbolic re-enactment of the Last Supper
b. Requiem Mass - The Mass for the Dead
c. Oratorio - A music drama based on a religious subject

5. Classical Opera

a. Opera Seria - serious, or tragic Italian opera, with plots drawn from the legends of antiquity
b. Comic Opera - Opera Comique (France), Opera Buffa (Italy), Ballad Opera (England) and Singspiel (Germany); Mozart was master of this genre

1.) Sung in the vernacular
2.) Down-to-earth plots
3.) Exciting ensembles at the end of each act
4.) Abounded in farcical situations, humorous dialogue, popular tunes and the impertinent remarks of the "Buffo", a bass who spoke to the audience with a wink and a nod.

C. Composers

1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91)

a. Born in Salzburg, Austria
b. His father was Leopold Mozart, composer-violinist
c. Began composing before the age of 5, and had written major works by age 13
d. Began performing at the age of 6
e. Toured Europe at age 7
f. 1770's: under the patronage of the archbishop of Salzburg
g. 1782: Married Constanze Weber, breaking his ties with his father and the archbishop of Salzburg
h. The final year of his life, he wrote The Magic Flute, and labored to complete the Requiem as his health was failing
i. Died December 4, 1791, at age 35, leaving the Requiem unfinished (his pupil, Franz Xavier Sussmayr, completed the work)
h. Principal Works:

1.) Orchestral music, including more than 40 symphonies
2.) Concertos, including 5 for violin and 27 for piano
3.) Operas:

a.) Idomeneo (1781)
b.) The Abduction from the Seraglio (1782)
c.) The Marriage of Figaro (1786)
d.) Don Giovanni (1787)
e.) Cosi fan tutti (1790)
f.) The Magic Flute (1791)

4.) Choral music, including 18 masses, the Requiem, and others
5.) Chamber music, including 23 string quartets, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
6.) Keyboard music, including 17 piano sonatas and Fantasia in C minor
7.) Secular vocal music

2. Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

a. His Life

1.) Born in Rohrau, Austria
2.) Was a chorister in St. Stephen's Cathedral
3.) When his tenure as chorister ended, he continued to teach himself music
4.) Worked under the patronage of Prince Esterhazy
5.) Achieved fame by middle age

b. His Music

1.) Over 100 Symphonies, including the "London Symphonies"
2.) Chamber Music
3.) Sacred Vocal Music: Masses, including the Lord Nelson Mass; Oratorios, including The Creation
4.) Operas
5.) Keyboard Music

3. Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)

a. His Life

1.) Born in Bonn, Germany
2.) At age 11, he became assistant organist in the court chapel, then at 12, harpsichordist in the court orchestra
3.) He became a self-supported musician, through giving lessons, publishing, etc.
4.) He began going deaf in his late 20's
5.) After a period of reclusiveness, he emerged and produced some of his best work
6.) He died at 57, famous and revered

b. His Music

1.) His 3 Creative periods

a.) Classical
b.) Transitional
c.) Romantic

2.) 9 symphonies, including 5th and 9th (Choral)
3.) Concertos
4.) Chamber music
5.) 32 piano sonatas, including Pathetique and Moonlight
6.) Choral music, songs and 1 opera

The Middle Ages | The Renaissance | The Baroque | The Classical | The Romantic | The 20th Century

V. Romantic (1820-1900)

A. Musical Characteristics

1. Singable melody
2. Expressive harmony
3. Expanded forms
4. Musical Nationalism

a. Russian School - "The Mighty Five"

B. Genres

1. The Romantic Song

a. Song Structure

1.) Strophic form
2.) Through-composed form
3.) Modified strophic form

b. The Lied (Lieder, pl.)
c. Song cycle

2. 19th Century Piano Music

a. The short lyric piano piece

1.) Prelude
2.) Intermezzo
3.) Impromptu

3. Program Music

a. Instrumental music endowed with literary or pictorial associations
b. Genres

1.) The Concert Overture
2.) Incidental Music
3.) Program Symphony
4.) Symphonic Poem (originated by Liszt, also called "Tone Poem")

4. The Romantic Symphony

a. Form

1.) Fast - Sonata-allegro form
2.) Slow, lyrical - Sonata-allegro, A-B-A or Theme & Variations
3.) Moderate Dance - Minuet or Scherzo - A-B-A form
4.) Fast - Allegro or Presto - various forms

5. The Romantic Concerto

a. Characteristics

1.) Comparable to the symphony in its dimensions
2.) Focused on the virtuoso soloist

6. 19th Century Choral and Dramatic Music

a. Choral Music

1.) Amateur Choral Groups
2.) 19th Century Choral Styles

a.) Mass
b.) Requiem
c.) Oratorio
d.) Part Songs - Choral settings of lyric poems

7. Romantic Opera

a. National Styles

1.) France

a.) Grand Opera
b.) Opera Comique
c.) Lyric Opera

2.) Germany

a.) Singspiel
b.) Music Drama (Wagner)

3.) Italy

a.) Opera Seria
b.) Opera Buffa

b. Late Romantic Opera - Verismo (Realism) - Opera composers from this movement dealt with more realistic subjects.

8. Ballet

C. Composers

1. Germany and Austria

a. Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)

b. Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

1.) Most known for his Lieder -He composed more than 600, including Erlking
2.) Died at 31 years of age

c. Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47)
d. Johannes Brahms (1833-97)

1.) A German Requiem

e. Robert Schumann (1810-56)

1.) Enjoyed a career as a music critic - "The New Journal for Music"
2.) Had a mental breakdown
3.) Composed more than 300 Lieder, including the song cycle Dichterliebe

f. Richard Wagner (1813-83)

a.) The most famous German opera composer
b.) Mostly self-taught as a composer
c.) Ring of the Nibelung - His cycle of 4 operas
d.) Chromatic Harmony was a characteristic of his work.

g. Clara Schumann (1819-96)

1.) Wife of Robert Schumann
2.) Also known as a virtuoso pianist
3.) Most of her music consisted of solo piano music

h. Franz Liszt (1811-86)

1.) Hungarian-born
2.) Won acclaim as a piano virtuoso
3.) Became a cleric in his later years

2. Italy - almost entirely confined to opera

a. Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

1.) The most famous Italian opera composer
2.) He composed 28 operas

a.) Early Period: Macbeth
b.) Middle Period: Don Carlos
c.) Final Period: Aida

3.) He died at 87, wealthy and famous.

b. Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919)

1.) Pagliacci

c. Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)

1.) Opera buffa

d. Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
e. Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)

3. France - Mostly opera comique and lyric opera

a. Georges Bizet (1838-75)

1.) Carmen -The initial failure of this opera led to his breakdown and early death.

b. Hector Berlioz (1803-69)

1.) Program Music

a.) Symphonie Fantastique
b.) Romeo and Juliet

c. Frederic Chopin (1810-49)

1.) Polish-born
2.) Piano muisc

a.) Polonaise in A Flat

d. Gabriel Faure (1845-1924)
e. Charles Gounod (1818-93)
f. Cesar Franck (1822-90)

4. Russia

a. Modest Musorgsky (1839-81) - member of the "Mighty Five"

1.) He took a post in the Russian Ministry of Transport
2.) Works

a.) Boris Gudonov - Opera, based on a Russian drama
b.) Pictures at an Exhibition

b. Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
d. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-93)

1.) He expressed the pessimism of the late Romantic movement
2.) His homosexuality led to depression in his early years
3.) Nadezhda von Meck, a wealthy aristocrat, became his benefactress
4.) He died suddenly from cholera at age 53
5.) The Nutcracker ballet

e. Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

1.) Pianist-composer

5. Czechoslovakia

a. Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)

1.) He studied and utilized in his composition Czech folk music
2.) Works

a.) Symphony no. 9: From the New World - during his stay in the U.S.

b. Bedrich Smetana (1824-84)

The Middle Ages | The Renaissance | The Baroque | The Classical | The Romantic | The 20th Century

VI. 20th Century

A. The Post-Romantic Era

1. Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) - Bohemia

a. He was Jewish, but Converted to Catholicism
b. Moved to U.S. - Directed the NY Philharmonic 1909-11
c. The Song of the Earth

2. Richard Strauss (1864-1949) - Germany

a. Known for his operas and symphonic poems
b. Instead of leaving during Hitler's reign, became involved with the Nazis
c. Thus Spake Zarathustra (symphonic poem)

B. Impressionism

1. Characteristics:

a. Use of dissonance
b. Whole-tone Scale
c. Parallel chords
d. 9th chords
e. Subtle orchestral colors
f. Non-western rhythms
g. Small forms

2. Claude Debussy (1862-1918) - France

a. The most important French composer of the early 20th century
b. Reacted against Romanticism
c. Clair de lune

C. Post-Impressionism

1. Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) - France

a. A member of the "Apaches," a group of avant-garde poets, painters and musicians
b. The ballets Mother Goose and Bolero

D. Expressionism (Germany)

E. Neoclassicism

1. Formalism

F. New Elements of Musical Style

1. Polyrhythm
2. Polychords and Polyharmony
3. Polytonality
4. Atonality
5. The New Melody
6. Popular Styles

G. 12-tone Music (Serialism)

1. The tone row

a. transposition
b. inversion
c. retrograde
d. retrograde inversion

2. Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) - Russia

a. His early works were ballets

1.) Firebird - his first ballet

b. Middle period: Neoclassical
c. Late period: 12-tone technique (which in earlier years he had opposed)
d. When WWII broke out, he moved to the U.S.

3. Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) - Austria

a. A self-taught musician
b. He invented the 12-tone technique (serialism)
c. Early period: Post-Wagnerian Romanticism
d. Middle period: Atonal-Expressionism
e. Late period: 12-tone
f. Moved to U.S. in 1933, when Hitler came to power
g. Sprechstimme - The vocal melody is spoken rather than sung; The singer sings the written note at first, rising or falling in pitch immediately after.
h. Tone-color Melody (Klangfarbenmelodie) - Each note of a melody is played by a different instrument.

4. Alban Berg (1885-1935) - Austria

a. A student of Schoenberg
b. His work was banned after Hitler came to power
c. Wozzeck - His first of two operas

5. Anton Webern (1883-1945) - Austria

a. Another student of Schoenberg
b. He perfected the technique of "total serialization," applying serialism to all aspects of his music
c. He was shot by an American soldier 5 months after WWII ended

H. Other early to mid-20th-Century Composers:

1. Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) - Russia

a. He moved to the U.S. after the Russian Revolution, but was not accepted here; He then moved to Paris, and eventually returned to Russia.
b. They later tried to censor him, but he was too popular in Russia
c. His music was known for it's "comic" elements
d. Peter and the Wolf

2. Bela Bartok (1881-1945) - Hungary

a. Hungarian Nationalism: He collected Hungarian peasant folk songs, incorporating them into his music
b. He moved to the U.S. on the eve of WWII
c. Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

3. Charles Ives (1874-1954) - United States

a. Head of an insurance company, he composed in his spare time
b. He had done his best work by age 44, but his compositions weren't heard by the public until he was 65.
c. His compositions captured the spirit of American folk music
d. Polytonality and Polyrhythm

4. Ruth Crawford (1901-53) - U.S.

a. Her work was practically unknown until after her death
b. Stepmother to folk singer Pete Seeger
c. She foreshadowed the serial techniques which later came into vogue

5. Aaron Copland (1900-91) - U.S.

a. One of the greatest contemporary American composers
b. Incorporated Jazz into his music
c. Wrote music for many films
d. Rodeo, Appalachian Spring

I. After 1950:

1. Greater organization in music

a. Total Serialism

2. Greater freedom in music

a. Aleatoric ("Chance") Music
b. Open Forms
c. Microtonality

3. Elliott Carter (b. 1908) - U.S.

a. "Metrical Modulation"

4. Pierre Boulez (b. 1925) - France

a. Conducted the New York Philharmonic for 5 years
b. Total Serialism, "Combined Media"

5. Non-Western Styles

6. John Cage (1912-92) - U.S.

a. Pioneer of Aleatoric (chance) music
b. Non-Western scales
c. Studied with Schoenberg, but soon became more interested in rhythm
d. "Prepared Piano"
e. Chance Music
f. 4'33" - The role of silence in regard to sound

7. Multicultural Influences in Contemporary Society

a. George Crumb (b. 1929) - U.S. -Ancient Voices of Children
b. Gyorgy Ligeti (b. 1923) - Hungary -Atmospheres

8. Technology and Music

a. Musique Concrete
b. Synthesizers
c. Milton Babbitt (b. 1916) - U.S. -Serialism, Electronic Music
d. Tod Machover (b. 1953) -"hyper-instruments"; FXOS Dexterous Hand Master

9. Other Recent Trends:

a. Neo-Romanticism -Samuel Barber (1910-82): Adagio for Strings
b. Minimalism -Phillip Glass (b. 1937), Steve Reich (b. 1936)
c. Post-Minimalism -John Adams (b. 1947): Nixon in China

The Middle Ages | The Renaissance | The Baroque | The Classical | The Romantic | The 20th Century

Repetities

I Cantatori repeteert elke woensdag van 20.00 tot 21.30 uur in het Wijkcentrum de Schakel, adres: Archimedestraat 9, 6533 MA Nijmegen. Leden en belangstellenden van harte welkom.

Dirigent

Norbert Bartelsman studeerde orgel bij Bram Beekman en klavecimbel bij Cynthia Wilson op het Brabants Conservatorium.

Repertoire

Het repertoire van I Cantatori bestaat vooral uit polyfone muziek uit de Renaissance en vroeg barok, aangevuld met muziek uit latere perioden geinspireerd op de Renaissance.

Uitvoeringen

Enkele flitsen uit onze concerten.

Projecten

Demo

Agenda

Leden

Foto’s & Video’s

Links

Backstage (leden)

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Ontwerp & beheer: Marco Huysmans