Music 1253

Weekly Reading:   [ Weeks:  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  ]

Each week, students in Music 1253 should read one chapter from the course textbook, Concise History of Western Music by Barbara Russano Hanning [based on Donald Jay Grout and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music].

Topics: Because some of this reading is extensive, this guide suggests certain names, terminology, pieces of music, events, ideas, and other points that are significant. Students should approach the reading by seeking information about the topics suggested each week.

Supplementary information: Students also will find it extremely valuable to look up these terms in www.grovemusic.com (New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, 2nd edition on the web).
[Note that to access www.grovemusic.com, because it is a subscription service, the user must be logged into his/her University network account, or use the University Proxy Server.]

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Week 1:

Barbara Russano Hanning, Concise History of Western Music, Chapter 2, "Chant and Secular Song in the Middle Ages, 400-1450" pp. 18-44 [first edition: pp. 18-42].

Donald Jay Grout and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music, Chapter 2, "Chant and Secular Song in the Middle Ages," pp. 31-66.

• For more information, see:
  • Medieval Music History [GJC, Acadia Early Music Resources]
  • Donald Grout 'History of Western Music' Chapter 2: Chant and Secular Song in the Middle Ages [Music History Resources]
  • www.grovemusic.com (New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, 2nd edition on the web).
    [www.grovemusic.com is a subscription service, available only through University network accounts.]

Points to consider and terminology to know:

• Plainchant: definition, use in the (Roman Catholic) Church.
• Church Modes (see table p. 53):
• Authentic: I Dorian, III Phrygian, V Lydian, VII Mixolydian;
• Plagal: II Hypodorian, IV Hypophrygian, VI Hypolydian, VIII Hypomixolydian.
• Neumes (ninth century): [just what they are and a general understanding of how they work].
• Liturgy / Liturgical: definition and context (i.e., what is being discussed when one speaks of the Liturgy, of Liturgical Music.
• Liturgical Books: Graduale, Antiphonale, Liber usualis, Missale, Breviarium.
• Services:
• Mass: Proper and Ordinary (see table p. 35).
• Memorize names of the main musical sections of the Ordinary: Kyrie; Gloria; Credo; Sanctus; Agnus Dei; Ite, missa est or Benedicamus Domino.
• Important Musical sections of the Proper: Introit, Gradual, Alleluia or Tract, Offertory, Communion.
• Offices (Canonical Hours): especially Vespers.
• Sarum Chant.
• Psalms & Psalm Tones (& the Tenor [reciting note]), Antiphon, Magnificat, Doxology; antiphony / antiphonal.
• Theory: Guido d'Arezzo (ca. 991-1035), Micrologus (ca. 1025-1030); Solmisation; Hexachords (natural, hard, soft).
• Liturgical Drama.
• Musicians in the Middle Ages.
• Jongleur (minstrel).
• Secular song: Troubadour, Trouvère, Minnesinger, Meistersinger: definition and context, places, time periods.
• Instrumental Dances: especially Estampie
• Instruments: harp; Psaltery; Vielle (Fiedel, fiddle); Organistrum (Hurdy Gurdy); pipes, recorder, flute, Shawm, bagpipes; trumpet; percussion; pipe organ, Portative, Positive.
• For more information, see:
  • Links to History of Musical Instruments, Historical Guides [GJC, Acadia Early Music Resources]

Week 2:

Hanning, Concise History of Western Music, Chapter 3, "Polyphonic Music from its Beginnings Through the Thirteenth Century," pp. 45-64 [first edition: pp. 43-61].

Grout & Palisca, A History of Western Music, Chapter 3, "The Beginnings of Polyphony and the Music of the Thirteenth Century," pp. 70-93.

• For more information, see:
  • Medieval Music History [GJC, Acadia Early Music Resources]
  • Donald Grout 'A History of Western Music' Chapter 3: The Beginnings of Polyphony and the Music of the 13th Century [Music History Resources]
  • www.grovemusic.com (New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, 2nd edition on the web).
    [www.grovemusic.com is a subscription service, available only through University network accounts.]

Points to consider and terminology to know:

• Polyphony; Heterophony
• Development of definite music notation
• Musica enchiriadis & Scolica enchiriadis: first descriptions of Polyphony (parallel & oblique)
• Early Polyphony, elements of composition:
• vox principalis, vox organalis
• 11th-century Organum:
• Guido d'Arezzo, Micrologus (ca. 1025-1028)
• Winchester Troper (earliest known score containing polyphony used for performance, notated in neumes, so cannot be deciphered)
• Polyphony sung by soloists, replacing sections of chant that would have been sung by soloist.
• Aquitanian Polyphony / St. Martial Organum:
• Non-rhythmic notation.
• Two types:

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1. Florid melismatic Organal voice (added, contrapuntal part), against long held notes in Tenor (Tenor so named because it "held" the original chant melody).
2. Discant organum: note against note.
• Ars Antiqua 1: Notre Dame Organum (late 12th and early 13th centuries):
• Paris
• This style of counterpoint was the most historically influential of the period, throughout Europe.
• Magnus Liber Organi
• Anonymous IV: student(?) of Pérotin who wrote about Notre Dame Organum
• Organum purum (florid polyphony over sustained Tenor); Discant (Tenor with rhythmic patterns, used for melismatic parts of the chant)
• Organum, elements of composition:
• rhythmic modes: rhythmnic patterns (similar to poetic meters) suggested by grouping of notes into ligatures (notes tied together; derived from the neumes)
• Longa & Breve note values
• Clausulea, substitute Clausulea
• Polyphonic Conductus
• Ars Antiqua 2: Thirteenth Century
• Motet:
• derived from Clausulea with added texts [Mots] in Latin or French.
• Tenor is melody in repeated rhythmic pattern (as in the Clausulea).
• Separate text for each part.
• Voice parts: tenor (lowest), motetus (next to lowest), triplum (third from lowest), quadruplum (fourth from lowest).
• Late in century parts developed much independence, including overlapping phrase lengths.
• Very late Thirteenth Century
• Franconian Motet:
• Tenor usually performed twice in each piece;
• motetus in French;
• triplum usually in quicker values than other voices (by time of Petrus de Cruce, upper part extremely active);
• Introduction of duple rhythm (earlier motets had always been in triple subdivisions), due to new features in notation (notes of definite value rather than relative length).

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	Week 2

• Franco of Cologne, Ars cantus mensurabilis (ca. 1280): Franconian notation
• Breve now can be divided into two or three semibreves (hence both triple and duple metrical subdivisions). [Triple continued to be more common.]
• Different shaped notes to distinguish values [earlier the grouping determined value].
• Music usually copied (for performance) in choirbook format (all on same page, but each part in separate portion of page, not lined up with others). [Earlier polyphonic music usually was copied in Score.]
• For more information, see:
  • Franconian Rhythmic Notation [Brad Beyenhof , Department of Music, Point Loma Nazarene University]
• Hocket
• Background:
• 13th-century economic expansion;
• Crusades;
• Curtural revival (translations of Greek and Arabic books, literary revival);
• Establishments of Universities at Paris, Oxford, Bologna;
• Split of the Christian Church.

Week 3:

Hanning, Concise History of Western Music, Chapter 4, "French and Italian Music in the Fourteenth Century," pp. 65-85 [first edition: pp. 62-82].

Grout & Palisca, A History of Western Music, Chapter 4, "French and Italian Music in the Fourteenth Century," pp. 96-120.

• For more information, see:
  • Medieval Music History [GJC, Acadia Early Music Resources]
  • Donald Grout 'A History of Western Music' Chapter 4: French and Italian Music of the 14th Century [Music History Resources]
  • www.grovemusic.com (New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, 2nd edition on the web).
    [www.grovemusic.com is a subscription service, available only through University network accounts.]

• France:

Points to consider and terminology to know:

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• Ars Nova:
• Philip de Vitry (1291-1361), Ars Nova
• Older style of Ars Antiqua still maintained by some (Jacques de Liège).
• New notation rhythmic features:
• Duple subdivision of note values.
• Subdivision of Breve into multiple smaller notes, resulting in quicker note values (notation) and busier, more complex rhythmic details.
• Motet: most important musical genre.
• Other secular vocal music forms based on poetic structures, referred to as formes fixes: Lai, Virelai, Ballade, Ballata, Rondeau.
• Gervais de Bus, Roman de Fauvel (2 parts, ca 1310 & 1314, enlarged 1316.)
• Satirical allegory on the Roman Church.
• Survives in 12 manuscripts, expanded and elaborated.
• 167 musical pieces (interpolations), both monophonic (30 prosae and lais, 25 rondeaux, ballades, & other chansons, 52 alleluias, responses, etc., and 26 refrains) and polyphonic (34 motets).
  All are anonymous, but five motets are probably by Philip de Vitry.
• Isorhythmic Motet
• Tenor consists of a melody (Color) that repeats (often just once), with a rhythmic pattern (Talea, usually much shorter than the color) that repeats (many times; the Isorhythm). Beginnings and ends of the Color and Talea may or may not coincide.
• Sometimes (but not in most motets) the upper parts also have Isorhythm.
• Background:
• Dual papacy: Rome and Avignon (France).
• Increased secularization, so more vernacular literature and secular music.
• The Black Death (Plague), 1347-1361.
• Hundred Years' War, 1337-1453.

• Italy:

Points to consider and terminology to know:

• Little is known of sacred music.
• Squarcialupi Codex: early 14th century. 216 folios with 354 pieces of music, each composer (12 composers) in chronological order, mainly ballata and madrigals, composed ca. 1340-1415. 146 pieces in the MS are by Landini. The MS also contains a portrait of each composer. The name comes from early owners, the Squarcialupi family. The next owners were the Medici family. It then became part of the collection of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence. See: Jean Elizabeth Hutchings, "The Squarcialupi Codex in Florence," Italia & Italy, II, no. 8 (October-December 2000).
• Note: Codex is the Latic for "Manuscript"; folio is a way of numbering pages so each leaf has a single number, so one folio = two pages (fol. 1 = pp. 1-2, fol. 2 = pp. 3-4, etc.).
• Madrigal:
• Secular song, monophonic or polyphonic.
• Poetry centres on subjects of love, satire,and idealized pastoral settings.
• Structure: A series of three-line stanzas, with a closing ritornello of two lines.
• The music is strophic (each stanza has the same music).
• The ritornello has different music in a contrasting meter.
• The music is often very florid, especially in the upper part (i.e., with many highly melismatic passages, especially at beginnings and ends of lines of the poem).
• Note: The 14th-century madrigal has nothing in common with the much more familiar 16th-century madrigal (other than both are secular vocal music).
• Caccia:
• Very imitative, often canonic.
• Usually two upper, equal vocal parts, with instrumental Tenor.
• Ballata: ("Dance song")
• Appeared in the last forty years of the century.
• Structure like that of French virelai.

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	Week 3

• Background:
• Politically, Italy was a collection of independent city-states, the most important being Florence (Tuscany), Venice, Siena, Milan, and Genoa.
• Boccacio, Decameron.
• The Black Death (Plague), 1347-1361.

• Jacobo da Bologna (active ca. 1340-1360)
• Italian composer and theorist.
• May have been a university teacher.
• At least 34 pieces survive: 25 madrigals in two voices, 7 three-voice madrigals and caccias, one Lauda-ballata, and one motet.
• Francesco Landini (ca. 1325-1397):
• Blind (as result of smallpox) poet, organist, and composer.
• Lived in Florence, possibly also in Venice.
• Most important italian composer of fourteenth century.
• Composed mainly Ballate:, 90 in two voices, 42 in three.
• Style notable for its melodic beauty.
• The Under-Third Cadence (upper part sings the notes ti-la-doh), common in his music, that of his contemporaries, and throughout the following century, is called the "Landini Cadence".
• Also common in his music, as well as his contemporaries, and throughout the following century, is the "Double-Leading-Tone Cadence", in which one part sings, for example, the notes Bnat-C, the second part F#-G [the extra leading tone], the third part D-C.
• Composed no sacred music.
• Also wrote on philosophy.
• Rarely used isorhythm.

• Late Fourteenth Century, Italy, France:

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	Week 3

Points to consider and terminology to know:

• Italy
• More French influence after 1377, brought by re-establishment of Papal Court in Italy, from Avignon in France.
• Beginning of composers from northern Europe (France, Netherlands) coming and working in Italy. Most important of these, Johannes Ciconia
• Instruments used in vocal music, although how is not clear.
• Some instrumental manuscripts survive: Robertsbridge Codex; Faenza Codex.
• France
• Avignon was the main centre of musical activity.
• Ars subtilor: Musicians took advantage of the new rhythmic capabilities of notation to create hightly complex musical designs, with extreme syncopation, hemiloa at varied rhythmic levels, remarkably complicated rhythms, elaborate use of triple-duple cross rhythms, and other intricacies.
• Musica Ficta: The use of accidentals (usually not notated) to chromatically adjust notes. Had developed grtadually over preceding centuries; now became extremely important.
  Purposes:
• to provide leading tone at cadences;
• to avoid tritones.
• Often not notated because singers knew, from rules of Solmization [sol-fa, sightsinging], when to alter pitches.
• Instruments:
• More evidence concerning musical instruments is available for this period.
• Sources of information are mainly in literature and visual art (Iconographic Sources).
• Evidence indicatesperformance of all instrumental as well as instruments mixed with voices.
• Not known if voices doubled voices, but thought likely.
• Groupings:
• Loud: Shawms, Cornetts, Brass, Percussion.
• Soft: Harps, Vielles, Flutes, Recorders.
• Keyboard: Organs of various sorts (small: Portative or Organetto, & Positive; large in Churches; invention of pedal-board in Germany, late 1300s); Clavichord (not common), Harpsichord possibly.
• For more information, see:
  • Links to History of Musical Instruments, Historical Guides [GJC, Acadia Early Music Resources]
• New notation rhythmic features:
• Italian:
• In Italian music subdivision of Breve into multiple smaller notes was indicated by dots on either side of grouping. This allowed multiple subdivisions of a great many smaller values per pulse. These dots called "dots of division". (This can be compared to the use of dots [as in modern notation] to increase value of note, in Early Notation referred to as "dots of addition").
• This method was useful when smaller values did not need to have different, or exact durations.
• French:
• Development of Franconian notation.
• French system was more useful to write small values having different, precise values.
• Notes grouped into values of Longa, dived into two or three Breves, etc. to the Semibreve, to Minim, and Semiminim.
• Mensural signs: metrical symbols were developed (similar, in a way, to modern time signatures): system of Circle (Tempus Perfectum [triple]) and Half-Circle (Tempus Imperfectum [duple]), Dot or absence of Dot in middle of Circle or Half-Circle (Prolation; Dot meant Perfectum).
• Use of Red notes (Coloration) to show temporary changes from triple to duple or duple to triple (the change from whatever was normal in the meter in effect - like modern triplets).

Composers:

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	Week 3

For each composer, know the following:

• Dates of birth and death, and / or dates active as a composer;
• Place(s) of work;
• Essential features of their compositional style;
• Genres;
• Names of important compositions and context of composition (time, place, purpose, ensemble, etc.);
• Be sure to listen to recorded examples of the compositions and look at scores.

• Johannes Ciconia (ca. 1370-1412)
• Baude Cordier (active late 14th-early 15th centuries):

Week 4:

Hanning, Concise History of Western Music, 5, "England and the Burgundian Lands in the Fifteenth Century: The Beginnings of an International Style," pp. 86-101 [first edition: pp. 83-98].

Grout & Palisca, A History of Western Music, Chapter 5, "England and the Burgundian Lands in the Fifteenth Century," pp. 123-141.

• For more information, see:
  • Renaissance Music History [GJC, Acadia Early Music Resources]
  • Donald Grout 'A History of Western Music' Chapter 5: Medieval to Renaissance: England and the Burgundian Lands in the 15th c. [Music History Resources]
  • www.grovemusic.com (New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, 2nd edition on the web).
    [www.grovemusic.com is a subscription service, available only through University network accounts.]

  [ Go to:   England:    fourteenth century  |  early fifteenth century  |  Composers  ||  Burgundy:    Sacred Music  |  Composers  ]

• Background:
• Hundred Years' War:
• Series of wars between France and England, from reign of Edward III to that of Henry VI.
• For much of the period, England controlled much of France.
• In the end, England was expelled from most of France, retaining only Calais.
• Burgundy:
• Extensive powerful and wealthy state ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy that controlled much of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Eastern France, Western Germany, and Luxembourg.
• Important Dukes: Philip the Good (1396-1467, duke of Burgundy 1419-1467) and Charles the Bold (1433-77, last reigning duke of Burgundy 1467-1477).
• The Dukes maintained substantial chapels, with up to 28 musicians.
• Secular music, both vocal and instrumental was important at the court.
• The influence of the Burgundians, their power during the Hundred Years' War, and their extensive travells resulted in the establishment of the Burgundian musical style (much derived from the English style of Power and Dunstaple) throughout Europe.
• See: Burgundy; Philip the Bold; John the Fearless; Philip the Good; Charles the Bold; Mary of Burgundy.

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• England:

Points to consider and terminology to know:

• General:

Week 4

• [To modern ears, the music seems more influenced by popular melody: natural, singable melodies, more a sense of major/minor tonality.]
• Contenance angloise: French term for the English characteristic (sweet sounding music) of Counterpoint having more emphasis on imperfect consonances (thirds and sixths) than the earlier and contemporary French music (that emphasized Perfect consonance [fourths, fifths, and octaves]), and more melodic simplicity.
• Fourteenth Century:
• Most important surviving source: Worchester Fragments
• Thought to originate from Worchester Cathedral.
• Genres (types of pieces) include: rondellus, conductus, motet, and miscellaneous liturgical items.
• Style features:
• Three-part counterpoint.
• Much use of voice exchange.
• Much use of what now are called first-inversion chords: intervals of third and sixth above lowest part.
• Rondellus:
• A type of English motet
• Voice exchange a standard feature, often in all three parts.
• Tenor or pes may take part in the voice exchange, or may have a short phrase sung over and over again (in the manner of an ostinato).
• Early Fifteenth Century:
• Most important surviving source: Old Hall Manuscript (Lbl Add. MS 57,950)
• 112 leaves
• Possibly originated at Windsor Castle.
• About 150 items of the Mass Ordinary; some Motets, Hymns, and Sequences.
• Important source for leading English composers of the period: Power, Dunstaple, etc.
• Much four-part writing.
• Tenor (Cantus Firmus) generally in second-lowest part.
• Some pieces have Cantus Firmus in top part.
• In a few pieces the Cantus Firmus migrates from part to part.
• Principal source of music that the French referred to as having the Contenance angloise.

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	Week 4

• English Carol
• Strophic vocal music.
• Two- and three-part compositions.
• Religious poetry in Engliah or Latin, or the two mixed together.
• Subject matter often the Virgin Mary or Christmas.
• Opening refrain, Burden sung after each stanza.

• Burgundian Music:

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	Week 4

Points to consider and terminology to know:

• General:
• Genres: Mass movements and complete Mass cycles (Ordinary), Magnificats, Motets, Secular Chansons (in French).
• Most counterpoint is in three parts: Tenor, Contratenor (in same register as Tenor), Discantus (top part).
• Extensive use of the Under-Third Cadence (Landini Cadence; upper part sings the notes ti-la-doh).
• New sort of cadence, to achiev more complete sonority (especially in four parts), "Octave-Leap Cadence": lowest part leaps one octave upward from sol-sol, while Tenor sings re-doh (sounds to modern ear as if bass sounds sol up to doh).
• Also the "Double-Leading-Tone Cadence" (in which one part sings, for example, the notes Bnat-C, the second part F#-G [the extra leading tone], the third part D-C).
• Triple meter preferred; some duple for contrast.
• Much use of Hemiola: triple-meter cross rhythms where one part has meter grouped in two groups of three, while another part has three groups of two (much like 6/8 against 3/4 meters).
• Burgundian Chanson:
• Polyphonic; usually in three parts; French secular poetry.
• Use formes fixes, much in the manner of the earlier French chansons: Rondeau, Ballade.
• Some use of contrapuntal imitation, but not an important structural feature.
• Sacred Music:
• In style similar to the chanson.
• Often the Cantus Firmus is in the top part, heavily embellished.
• Hymn settings often set in simple Fauxbourdon.
• Some Isorhythmic Motets for very formal occasions (becomming old fashioned).
• Some use of intricate structural rhythmic organization. See, for example, Dufay, "Nuper rosarum, flores" (1436).
• Cyclical Masses: Mass settings (Ordinary) generally have all sections unified through common musical content:
• Plainsoing Mass: The traditional plainsong melodies of a mass are each used for the different sections as Cantus Firmus.
• Motto Mass: Each section begins with the same opening motive, usually melodic (not necessarily in the top part), called a "Head Motive".
• Cantus Firmus Mass: Each section has the same melody as the Cantus Firmus, normally in the Tenor.
• English composers were the first to write this type.
• Europeans composers took the idea from the English.
• After 1450, this was the most common type.
• Voice parts (from top): Cantus or Discantus or Superius, Contratenor Altus, Tenor, Contratenor Bassus.
• Cantus Firmus might be plainsing, or Tenor part of a secular chanson. Plainsong Cantus Firmus often set with newly composed rhythms.
• Cantus Firmus often repeated.
• Masses began to be given titles based on the origin of the Cantus Firmus.
• The most popular Cantus Firmus was a secular melody called "L'homme armé". (Its origin is unknown.) Juyst about every composer between 1450 and 1600 composed at least one Missa L'homme armé.

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	Week 4

Week 5:

Hanning, Concise History of Western Music, Chapter 6, "The Age of the Renaissance: Music of the Low Countries," pp. 102-121 [first edition: pp. 99-119].

Grout & Palisca, A History of Western Music, Chapter 6, "The Age of the Renaissance: Music of the Low Countries," pp. 144-172.

• For more information, see:
  • Renaissance Music History [GJC, Acadia Early Music Resources]
  • Donald Grout 'A History of Western Music' Chapter 6: The Age of the Renaissance Ockeghem to Josquin. [Music History Resources]
  • www.grovemusic.com (New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, 2nd edition on the web).
    [www.grovemusic.com is a subscription service, available only through University network accounts.]

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• Background:
• Renaissance thought and literature, with serious attention to the writings, philosophy, and art of classical Greece and Rome also influenced musical thought.
• Humanism: thought based on studia humanitatis (study of grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and moral philosophy), that enabled the educated person to become a complete human being with an ideal life, above the lower creatures..
• Emphasis of human rather than spiritual values.
• Seeking fulfillment in the present life, rather than only seeking salvation in the afterlife.
• Exploration of the full range of human emotions.
• Experiencing the senses.
• Many Greek music treatises translated for the first time.
• Increasing awareness of the natural world.
• Increased wealth, especially in Italy, through trade, permitted more leisure time to explore the world of the senses and ideas.
• Increased wealth, especially in Italy, led the nobility, then the increasingly wealthy professional classes, to seek pleasure and glorification through the arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, and music.
• To find and employ the best, Italian families, and the Italian Church, imported artists and musicians from northern Europe (especially from the Burgundian Lands).
• The Church was an enthusiastic supporter of the arts, seeking to enhance its glory.
• 1477: The Battle of Nancy, marked the defeat of the Burgundians and the death of Duke Charles the Bold, hence the end of Burgundian supremacy in art and music.
• Printing with moveable type:
• Developed ca. 1450 by Johann Gutenberg.
• 1501: First printed polyphoy using moveable type, Petrucci, Harmonice musices odhecaton.
• Permitted wider dissemination of music, even to North and Central America.
• Resulted in relative unification of musical style throughout Europe.
• Allowed certain composers to become widely known and imitated.
• Resulted in far more music surviving to the present day (than earlier, when all music was hand copied in manuscripts).

Points to consider and terminology to know:

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	Week 5

• Franco-Flemish Style, General:
• Style features (Motet style):
• More careful treatment of text setting, both in regard to rhythm and intonation, and to meaning.
• Much more careful use of dissonance, eventually using only unaccented passing and neighbouring tones, the nota cambiata; the only accented dissonance being the suspension.
• Fuller textures, generally four or more parts.
• Emphasis on balanced, homogenous polyphonic textures: parts close together (often cross); all parts very much alike in rhythm and melodic content.
• Much use of reduced number of voices for textural contrast.
• Tenor continued to play leading structural role, often carrying the cantus firmus
• Bassus began to become more significant (and lower) than in previous styles (Burgundians and Dufay), its line often providing a sense of direction.
• Vertical sonorities emphasized the triad, especially in first inversion (so interval above bass: 3rds & 6ths).
• More use of cantus firmus distributed among all parts.
• Increasing dependence on imitation as structural and textural device:
• Pervading imitation: constant imitation in all parts throughout a composition (with brief contrasting sections in a more homophonic style) [only incidentally in Ockeghem; more significant in next generation].
• Point imitation: imitation at beginning of section, each part entering in turn with the same melodic fragment (or motive / subject); (more important after Ockeghem).
• Increasing use of Head Motives to unify multi-movement pieces (such as settings of the Mass Ordinary).
• Most of the leading composers were born in north-east France, in the Netherlands and Flanders, or in north-west Germany. These mainly worked in Paris and/or northern Italy.
• Motets of this period and later are sacred works in Latin (not secular vocal music as in previous generations).
• Chanson, 1460-1480
• Still based on formes fixes but more extended and use of point imitation between parts.
• Often set for instruments, probably derived from a vocal version.
• Tenor or other parts often extracted and used as cantus firmus for masses.
• Chanson, 1470-1500
• Rarely based on formes fixes; more often in design and structure similar to the imitative Motet.
• Like the Motet, much use of point imitation at beginning of sections, & pervading imitation throughout.
• Voices equal to one another.

Composers: For each composer, know the following:

• Dates of birth and death, and / or dates active as a composer;
• Place(s) of work;
• Essential features of their compositional style;
• Genres;
• Names of important compositions and context of composition (time, place, purpose, ensemble, etc.);
• Be sure to listen to recorded examples of the compositions and look at scores.

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	Week 5

• Johannes Ockeghem (ca. 1420-1497)
• Johannes Ockeghem (ca. 1410-1497) Home Page [S.D. Atwell]
• Composer and bass singer.
• First of the internationally recognized Franco-Flemish composers.
• Little known of his life.
• Had a tremendous influence throughout Europe.
• Students included many of the leading composers of his and the next generation: Busnois, Josquin des Prez, Brumel.
• 24 June 1443-24 June 1444: singer, Notre Dame Cathedral, Antwerp.
• 1446-1448: in service of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon (brother-in-law to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy).
• 1450s until death, in service of Royal Court, Paris (in various positions).
• Works include:
• 14 Mass cycles: many are cyclical (usually on basis of cantus firmus).
• Missa mi-mi example of cyclical mass based on head motive in the Bassus.
• Missa prolationum example of mass based on series of mensuration canons (where parts sing same line in canon but at different speeds [proportions], indicated by changes not in note values, but by changes in mensuration symbols [temporal signs]).)
• Several of his masses are based on his own chansons.
• a few Motets [sacred]
• about 20 Chansons (based on formes fixes)
• Antoine Busnois [Busnoys; de Busne] (ca. 1430-before 6 November 1492)
• b. Busnes.
• Possibly in Paris eraly in life.
• before 1467: in service of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (in Dijon).
• 1477: on death of Charles the Bold, joined chapel of Mary of Burgundy (daughter of Charles the Bold). There until death of Mary, 1482.
• Remainder of life unknown.
• Works include: 2 complete Mass cycles; about a dozen other sacred works; 60+ chansons, mostly in French.
• Chansons still set using formes fixes.
• A few chansons printed by Petrucci.
• Jacob Obrecht (1457/58-1505)
• Of next generation after Ockeghem.
• Choirmaster and teacher.
• before 1480: ordained as priest.
• from 1476: employed at various churches, usually as singing teacher.
• Employed at Utrecht (1476-1478), Bergen op Zoom (1479-1484, 1496-1497), Cambrai (1484-1485), Bruges (1486-1491).
• 1487-1488 & 1504-1505: in service of Duke Ercole, Ferrara.
• 1505: died of the plague in Ferrara.
• Works include:
• 29 Masses.
• 28 Motets.
• Chansons and (part-)songs, most in Dutch, a few in French, one in Italian; usually more imitative than his sacred music.
• Instrumental music.
• Josquin des Prez (ca. 1440-1521)

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	Week 5

• Recognized in his lifetime and after his death as the most significant and influential composer of his era.
• Music widely distributed, both in manuscript and prints, during his lifetime and after his death.
• Born in north-east France, possibly Picardy.
• Probably a student of Ockeghem.
• 1459-1472: singer, Milan Cathedral.
• 1474-1476: singer, chapel of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza.
• 1477-1478: in Chapel of King René of Anjou, Provence (south-eastern France)
• 1479: in Milan.
• 1483: visited Condé (Netherlands).
• 1481-1486: life obscure, possibly in service of Louis XI, King of France.
• 1486-1494/95, possibly longer: singer in Sistine Chaple, Rome.
• 1501-1503: in France, probably in service of Louis XII.
• 1503: maestro di capella, Ferrara (with highest salary every given to any musician until that time); left to escape the plague.
• 1504-1521: Provost, Notre Dame, Condé-sur-l'Escaut.
• Many of his works (especially his Masses) were published by Petrucci.
• Text setting shows much sensitivity to the lyrics (musica reservata).
• Works include:
• About 75 Chansons and other secular works (none use formes fixes). Most are very imitative, very much in style of polyphonic Motet. Some are arrangements of popular songs.
• At least 20 Masses:
• Most are cantus firmus derived from popular tunes, from plain song (Missa Pange lingua), or sol-fa syllables (Missa Hercules dux Ferrariae).
• Some are Parody Masses: based on another polyphonic composition, with structures expanded, extended, and reworked.
• More than 110 Motets:
• Substantial output; much greater in proportion to his other works (a new feature).
• Style and structure of Josquin's Motets show much greater variety than in the Masses.
• Heinrich Isaac (ca. 1450-1517)
• Born in Flanders.
• Most of life spent in Italy, mainly Florence; also active in and Vienna (Austria), from 1497.
• 1485: singer in service of Medici family, as member of the Cantori di S. Giovanni.
• 1497: Court composer to Maximilian I, Emperor of Austria.
• Employment at Maximilian's court allowed much time for travel. Spent much time in Germany, northern Italy, and Florence.
• Works include about 40 Mass cycles (Ordinary), and 100 complete cycles of the Mass Propers; about 50 other Motets.
• Composed almost 100 secular songs in French (Chansons), German (Tenorlieder), and Italian (Frottole), many in very popular style.
• Much instrumental music.
• Pierre de la Rue (ca. 1460-1518)
• 1482-1485: singer at Siena Cathedral.
• from 1485 in the Netherlands.
• 1489: singer at s'Hertogenbosch Cathedral.
• 1492: entered service of Archduke Maximilian and then Philip the Fair in the Burgundian Chapel, Brussels
• 1506-1508: in Spain.
• 1508: returned to the Netherlands, in service of Margaret of Austria (regent of the Netherlands).
• 1514: entered chapel of Margaret's son, Charles (later Emperor Charles V).
• 1516: retired to Courtrai.
• [Compositions often mistaken for, and confused with, those of Josquin.]
• Prolific composer of about 30 Masses, a Requiem, and about 30 Motets; about 30 Chansons.
• Many works published by Petrucci and others.
• Jean Mouton (ca. 1459-1522)

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	Week 5

• French, in service of King of France. Visited Italy.
• 1477: employed as singer in Nesle; maître de chapelle from 1483.
• 1500: in Amiens.
• 1501: Grenoble.
• 1502: in service of Anne of Brittany (French Royal Family), then François I.
• Compositions include about 15 Masses, several Magnificats, and more than 100 Motets, about 20 Chansons.
• Petrucci published one book of his Masses (1515); much later, 1555, Le Roy & Ballard published a book of his Motets. Various other works were published in collections.

Week 6:

Hanning, Concise History of Western Music, Chapter 7, "The Age of the Renaissance: New Currents in the Sixteenth Century," pp. 122-152 [first edition: pp. 120-149].

Grout & Palisca, A History of Western Music, Chapter 7, "New Currents in the Sixteenth Century," pp. 177-219.

• For more information, see:
  • Renaissance Music History [GJC, Acadia Early Music Resources]
  • Donald Grout 'A History of Western Music' Chapter 7: New Currents in the Sixteenth Century [Music History Resources]
  • www.grovemusic.com (New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, 2nd edition on the web).
    [www.grovemusic.com is a subscription service, available only through University network accounts.]

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Points to consider and terminology to know:

• Franco-Flemish Style, 1520-1550, General:
• In vocal music, careful and deliberate balance between words and music, with more attention to structure and meaning of the text.
• In addition to the polyphonic songs, new styles with more homophonic textures introduced.
• Sacred music evolved more gradually than secular vocal music and instrumental music.
• The predominant type of Mass setting (of the Ordinary) became the Parody Mass (called now, by some writers, Imitation Mass). A Parody Mass was based on a previously composed Motet, Chanson, or other polyphonic composition. Each section of the Mass would extend and expand the structure of a section of the previously-composed piece, by adding extra parts and inserting extra music, so making the sections longer.
  [Previously, the most common type of Mass was the Cantus Firmus Mass, either the type where the Cantus Firmus (pre-existing melody: a plain song, a borrowed melody, or the tenor part of another polyphonic composition) was placed in the Tenor, or Paraphrase Mass, where the Cantus Firmus migrated from part to part.
• Textures became thicker, even dense, with five- and six-part music becomming more common that four-part, and with more parts sounding continuously together. The frequent two-voice textures within a four-or-more-part composition, common in works of Josquin and his contemporaries, became less frequent, even rare.
• Continuous, Pervading Imitation was the norm in serious composition.
• Motet structure became the most common compositional design: a series of sections, usually interlocked by overlapping or elided cadences, most beginning with Point Imitation: one or, less often, two or more parts entering with a short thematic statement, followed in succession by each other part entering with the same thematic statement in imitation, one after the other, at the unison, or (more often) transposed to the fourth, fifth, or octave above or below (also, less often transposed by other intervals). Some sections might be relatively homophonic (for contrast), or be a brief passage in Fauxbourdon.
• All parts truly polyphonic, with similar melodic and rhythmic content, close together in register, and frequently crossing.

Week 6

• Very careful treatment of dissonance, generally restricted to (frequent) suspensions, and off-beat passing tones and neighbouring tones.
• Apparently deliberate avoidance of sequential structures (something quite common in the music of Josquin and his contemporaries).
• Less expressive than the music of Josquin.
• Important genres, vocal:
• Frottola
• Madrigal [Note: no connection with the fourteenth-century Italian Madrigal genre.]
• Motet
• Mass (Ordinary)
• Lauda
• Part songs of various types:
• Polyphonic Chanson
• Parisian Chanson
• Villanella / Canzon villanesca (peasant song))
• Canzonetta
• Balletto
• Villancico
• Air de cour
• English Lute Song
• Secular Vocal Music:

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	Week 6

• Italy:
• Early in the sixteenth century, the most important vocal genre in Italy was the Frottola.
• This was gradually superceded by the Madrigal. Note that the Madrigal style evolved very rapidly from an initally relatively simple, almost homophonic and very melodic style, into a extremely sophisticated polyphonic genre.
• France:
• Parisian Chanson
• Developed 1515-1550
• Many (more than 1500 in 50 collections) published by the first French music printer, Pierre Attaingnant.
• Style: syllabic text setting.
• Much use of double entendre in words.
• Primarily homophonic, with short polyphonic sections.
• Main melodic interest in top voice.
• Relatively metrical rhythm.
• Most are in duple meter.
• Franco-Flemish [Polyphonic] Chanson
• Composed by most of the Franco-Flemish composers outside of Paris.
• More "serious" in compositional style, in a manner similar to the Motet.
• Shared many stylistic features of the Motet: careful balance of text and music, pervading imitation, structure based on a series of overlapping sections, most begun with point imitation.
• Much less metrical in rhythm than the Parisian Chanson.
• This style survived longest in the north of Europe, especially in the Netherlands.
• Important composers include Nicolas Gombert, Clemens non Papa, Orlando do Lasso, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621).
• Musique Mesurée
• A style of poetry (and thus music setting this poetry), vers mesurée was developed by the Académie de Poésie et de Musique (founded 1570), based on Greek and Latin metrical poetry.
• The members of the Académie applied the classical metres of long and short vowels to French poetry.
• The effect is poetry and music that sounds as if it is made of mixtures of duple and triple musical meters [not in the manner of triplets; rather, the effect of measures of varying length].
• The most important composer of this style of chanson was Claude le Jeune (1528-1600).

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	Week 6

• Germany:
• Lied:
• Three main types (all polyphonic): Tenorlied: (Lieder with main melody in the Tenor part; earliest and most common form about 1500, lasted well into sixteenth century); Lieder with main melody in top part (early type); true polyphonic Lieder in the manner of the French Polyphonic Chanson (slightly later in the sixteenth century).
• Lochamer Liederbuch (1455-1460): collection of monophonic Lieder and Tenorlieder in three parts.
• Glogauer Liederbuch (ca. 1480): collection of Tenorlieder and Lieder with main melody in top part in three parts.
• Important composers include Heinrich Isaac, Ludwig Senfl, and Orlando di Lasso.
• After about 1550, German vocal music began to emulate the style of the Italian madrigal and other Italian vocal music, especially the Balletto. A representative composer of this trend is Hans Leo Hassler.
• Spain:
• Villancico: the most common genre of secular vocal music; strophic, with a refrain; principal melody in top voice, often with instrumental performance f lower parts.
• Villancicos for solo voice with Vihuela or lute accompaniment also were composed.
• Most important composer of secular vocal music: Juan del Encina (1469-1529).
• England:
• Early sixteenth secular part-songs were much like the early Flemish Polyphonic Chanson or the German Tenorlied.
• Late in the sixteenth century, the English began to adopt the Italian Madrigal.
• Many Italian Madrigals were "Englished" (lyrics translated into English, otherwise unchanged), or arranged by English composers.
• Musica transalpina, 1588: collection of Italian madrigals, with English words, published by Nicholas Younge. It encouraged several other similar publications. Manyu English manuscripts of the time likewise contain Italian madrigals with English words.
• Thomas Morley (1557-1602) modelled many of his compositions after Italian madrigals, and other Italian vocal music, especially the Balletto.
• Triumphes of Oriana, 1592: collection of madrigals published by Thomas Morley in honour of Elizabeth I. Every madrigal ends with the lyrics, "Long live fair Oriana".
• English madrigals are noted for their clear declamation of the lyrics, and extreme, almost naive, use of word painting. (Another term for word painting is "Madrigalism".)
• Lute Song:
• Solo song with lute or orpharion accompaniment, and part-songs (with much simpler texture than madrigal) with or without lute or orpharion accompaniment developed toward the end of the sixteenth century.
• Leading composer of lute songs was John Dowland (1562-1626), who published his First Booke of Songes... in 1597. It was apparently a great sucess, for many other composers soon published similar collections, and Dowland's book appeared in subsequent editions, along with three further collections.
• The most important other composer of Lute Songs was Thomas Campion (1567-1620). Campion's style was lighter and more direct, and apparently more influences by the French air de cour.

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	Week 6

• Dowland's First Book... also introduced the innovation of the Table Book: the parts were arranged with the treble and lute part together on the left-hand page, and the other parts facing in three directions on the right-hand page, so the singers or instrumentalists of the other parts could sit around the end of a table and all read from the same book.
• Consort Song:
• A genre unique to England.
• Polyphonic songs, with the principal part usually in the top part (there are some with the principal part in the tenor), with other parts for an ensemble of viols.
• The genre includes both secular and sacred songs and Psalms.
• Most important composer of this genre was William Byrd.
• Trends at the end of the Sixteenth Century:
• Concerto delle Donne
• Virtuoso singers, at Court of Alfonso d'Este, Ferrara.
• Initally amateur members of the Court, later professionals.
• Style of compositions written for this ensemble featured dense textures, the voices close in register and frequently crossing, and extremely virtuosic lines, with jagged leaps, exceptionally rapid florid melismas, ornaments (trill, turns, etc.), rapid declamatory passages.
• The ensemble and style of composition was soon mimicked all over Italy.
• Extreme, even erratic chromaticism: Carlo Gesualdo (in Ferrara).
• In France, at the end of the sixteenth century, gradually the polyphonic chanson gave way to the air de cour: solo or part songs with lute accompaniment.

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	Week 6

• Instrumental Music:
• The earliest book about musical instruments, Sebastian Virdung, Musica getutscht und ausgezogen was published in 1511.
• More important information about renaissance instruments is in the book published more than one hundred years later: Michael Praetorius, Syntagma musicum.
• Renaissnace instruments were usually built in sets, each type of instrument having a full range of members from low registers to high.
• Important wind instruments included the double reeds: Shawms, Racketts, Dulcians; capped reeds: Crumhorns; Flutes (Transverse Flutes and Recorders); Cornetts (of wood or ivory, with finger holes and cupped mouth-pieces similar to that of a trumpet); Sackbuts (trombones).
• Viols: (Not directly related to Violin family); bowed (underhand), usually six strings (tuned fourth - fourth - third - fourth - fourth), fretted fingerboard.
• Keyboards: Organ (large instruments, such as those in churches and cathedrals; smaller portatives and positives); Clavichord; Harpsichord.
• Lute: the most common renaissance instrument; other instruments of a similar type, the most important being the Vihuela in Spain.
• Much instrumental music, especially before 1500, was simply vocal music played on instruments.
• Intabulation: Vocal music adapted for instruments such as lute and keyboard.
• Dances had always been important, and represent the earliest surviving written instrumental music. During the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, more dance compositions were written down.
• In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, instrumental genres were developed, modelled after vocal genres.
• At about the same time more idiomatic instrumental began to appear, especially for instruments such as keyboard instruments (harpsichord, clavichord; organ to lesser extent) and plucked fretted instruments (lutes, etc.) where chordal layouts were more natural than linear counterpoint.
• Ricercar; two types:
• Imitative, based on the (sacred, serious) Motet: very imitative and contrapuntal; structure of several overlapping sections. In England this type of composition was called Fantasia or Fancy (a different genre from the idiomatic Fantasia mentioned below).
• Solo, free-form prelude-type; very idiomatic, based on capabilities of a particular instrument.
• Cantus Firmus-based compositions, such as the In nominein England.
• Canzona and Sonata: similar to the imitative Ricercar, but modelled after the French Chanson, so livelier, quicker tempo, stronger rhythmic motion. Canzonas often began with a characteristic long-short-short-long rhythm. The term Sonata was used only for those compositions intended for use in church or cathedral services.
• Idiomatic compositions, including: Prelude, Preambulum, Fantasia, the idiomatic Ricercar, Toccata, Intonazione.
• Dances:
• Most early sixteenth-century dances are of the Basse danse type.
• Sixteenth-century dances often are in three sections, each repeated. There is seldom any thematic relationship between the dances.
• Dances often were performed in sets of two or three, the first of the set being in duple or quadruple meter, the last in triple; in these sets the second and third dances often were variations of the first. Paired sets often included the Pavanne and Galliard (especially in England), or Passamezzo and Saltarello (especially in Italy).
• Toward the end of the century the Allemande (Alman) and Courante began to become very popular.
• Many dance compositions, especially toward the end of the sixteenth century, are stylized, for purely instrumental poerformance, not intended for actual dancing.
• Variations were important. Types:
• Dances [possibly a result of the need to repeat danses over and over again];
• Basso ostinato / Ground Basses: changing music over a short repeating melodic fragment in the bass [possibly derived from improvation and from teaching patterns];
• Cantus firmus variations: contrapuntal variations against a repeating melody that might be in the top or tenor parts and would usually move from part to part in the different variations (especially popular in Spain).

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	Week 6

Week 7:

Hanning, Concise History of Western Music, Chapter 8, "Church Music of the Late Renaissance and Reformation," pp. 153-171 [first edition: pp. 150-169].

Grout & Palisca, A History of Western Music, Chapter 8, "Church Music of the Late Renaissance and Reformation," pp. 224-248.

• For more information, see:
  • Renaissance Music History [GJC, Acadia Early Music Resources]
  • Donald Grout 'A History of Western Music' Chapter 8: Church Music in the Late Renaissance [Music History Resources]
  • www.grovemusic.com (New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, 2nd edition on the web).
    [www.grovemusic.com is a subscription service, available only through University network accounts.]
  • The Online Catholic Encyclopedia

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Points to consider and terminology to know:

• Reformation:
• Lutheran (the earliest established Protestant denomination):
• See: "Martin Luther" and "Lutheranism", at The Online Catholic Encyclopedia.
• Martin Luther, the ninety-five theses, Wittenberg, 1517.
• Sacred music in the vernacular (German).
• Chorales: Luther saw music as a positive influence on the individual, and felt this increased with congregation participation.
• Strophic hymns, initially monophonic (in unison), for congregational singing.
• Many composed by Luther himself; he also took popular melodies and adapted new sacred texts to these.
• Many were adaptations of Catholoc hymns.
• Quickly appeared in four-part versions, the most common being simple chordal settings.
• Polyphonic settings also were composed.
• 1524, Johann Walter (1496-1570) published a collection of 38 German Chorales and four Latin Motets.
• 1544, George Rhau (1488-1570) published a larger collection.
• The German Mass: The first published by Luther, 1526; partially in the vernacular, modified the Catholic Mass; emphasized the Chorale; the actual content varied from church to church.
• The Chorale Motet: Used in Catholic German states; Motets using Chorale melodies as cantus firmus. Important composers: Lassus, Michael Praetorius, Hans Leo Hassler.
• Calvinism
• See: "John Calvin" and "Calvinism", at The Online Catholic Encyclopedia.
• John Calvin (1509-1564)
• Congregational music limited to texts contained in the Bible.
• Metrical Psalms in the vernacular, to new melodies, for congregational and domestic use. In church, usually singing in unison; in domestic use the harmonized or motet-style Psalms settings were preferred.
• The French Psalter.
• Published 1562.
• Music composed by Claude Goudimel (ca. 1505-1572) and Claude le Jeune.
• The French Psalter was quickly translated into English, Dutch, and German.

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	Week 7

• Bohemian Hussites and Bohemian Brethren (Moravian Brethren, Czech Brethren):
• See: "Hussites", "Jan Hus", and "Bohemian Brethren", at The Online Catholic Encyclopedia.
• Jan Hus (1373-1415) led an early reform movement: Hussites.
• Similar ideals to Calvinists.
• Initially only vernacular monophonic hymns; later simple homophonic settings.
• Czech Brethren published a Czech hymn book that went through several editions (1505, 1519, 1541, 1561, 1564) and there were several other sixteenth-century hymn books based on these..
• A large number of Moravian Brethren emigrated to America during the eighteenth century, especially to Pennsylvania.
• England, late fifteenth century and early sixteenth century (until the Anglican Reformation, 1534):
• Little music composed (or at least survives) during the War of the Roses, 1455-1485.
• England relatively isolated from continental influence, so English music developed independently (until the Anglican Reformation).
• English music of this period, compared to continental developments, more rhythmically energetic; more contrast between the parts, long florid melismas; five- and six-part textures; imitation less significant.
• Most important composers: William Cornysh (1465-1523), Robert Fayrfax (ca. 1464-1521).
• The Eton Choirbook (ca. 1490-1502):
• Compiled for Eton College (Windsor).
• Includes compositions of Cornysh and Fayrfax.
• 67 Antiphons for the Virgin Mary.
• John Taverner (ca. 1490-1545)
• Most important composer of the early sixteenth century and leading example of English sacred music before the Reformation.
• 1525-1526: singer, collegiate church, Tattershall, Lincolnshire.
• 1527-1530: became first trainer of the choristers at the new Cardinal College, Oxford (later Christ Church College).
• 1530: appears to have returned to Lincolnshire, as trainer of choristers, St. Botolph's Church, Boston.
• 1534-1535: probably lost position as a result of Henry VIII's reforms.
• 1537: retired.
• Compositions include eight Masses, 9 Mass movements, Magnificats (à 3, à 4, à 5), a Te Deum, about 26 Motets, four part songs, and one textless composition.
• Music typical of early-sixteenth-century English style: rhythmically energetic; contrast between the parts, long florid melismas; some sequence; some imitaion.
• The "In nomine" portion of his Gloria tibi Trinitas Mass became the basis of the instrumental In nomine, a favourite genre of Elizabethan and seventeenth-century English composers.

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	Week 7

• Anglican Reformation, 1534:
• See: "Anglicanism" at The Online Catholic Encyclopedia.
• One important consequence was Henry VIII's seizure of Church lands, resulting in enormous transfer of wealth (perhaps the largest in history of Western Europe).
• Unlike Reformation in Europe, the English separation from the Roman Catholic Church was for political reasons.
• Initally the English Church continued to use the Roman Catholic liturgy. Important Note: The English Catholic Church had always had its own, separate rite, the Sarum Use.
• See: "Sarum Rite" at The Online Catholic Encyclopedia.
• 1549, Act of Uniformity:
• Standardized the Anglican liturgy.
• English text rather than Latin.
• Introduced the English Book of Common Prayer: a standardized text for all churches.
• See: "Book of Common Prayer" at The Online Catholic Encyclopedia.
• Allowed Latin in limited, special circumstances, such as Collegiate Chapels.
• Service:
• Replaced the Mass
• Integrated portions of Matins and Vespers, Communion. Briefer than the Mass, with less music.
• The Great Service was more elaborate, with polyphonic music.
• The Short Service was simpler, with homophonic music.
• Anthem:
• The Motet, but with English lyrics.
• The earlier, and standard Anthem was the Full Anthem.
• Ideally, for voices alone, or with basic organ accompaniment.
• Fully polyphonic, in completely developed Motet style.
• Verse Anthem
• English development (unique).
• Had written-out instrumental accompaniment, usually for organ, but also for viols in appropriate situations (chapels, etc.).
• Relatively elaborate sections for solo voices, alternating with (usually much briefer) sections for full choir.
• Most important composers of English Church music in this period:
• Thomas Tallis (ca. 1505-1585):
• Served under both Catholic and Anglican monarchs, so composed both types of music.
• Christopher Tye (ca. 1505-1572)
• Robert White (ca. 1538-1574)
• Counter-Reformation:
• See: "The Counter-Reformation" at The Online Catholic Encyclopedia.
• Partly ss a result of the successes of the Reformation the Catholic Church began a process of reform about 1540.
• Council of Trent, series of special meetings, 1545-1563, to deal with church reform, including music.
• See: "Council of Trent" at The Online Catholic Encyclopedia.
• Problems in church music that were considered included: use of secular cantus firmus, complex polyphony that obscured the lyrics, use of instruments in the service.
• Most important composers of Catholic sacred music in the middle and late sixteenth century include: Christóbal de Morales (ca. 1500-1553), Giovanni Pierlugi da Palestrina (1525/26-1594), Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594), William Byrd (1543-1623), Thomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611).

Week 8:

Hanning, Concise History of Western Music, Chapter 9, "Music of the Early Baroque Period," pp. 172-213 [first edition: pp. 170-207].

Grout & Palisca, A History of Western Music, Chapter 9, "Music of the Early Baroque Period," pp. 251-304.

• For more information, see:
  • Baroque Music History [GJC, Acadia Early Music Resources]
  • Donald Grout 'A History of Western Music' Chapter 9: Music of the Early Baroque Period [Music History Resources]
  • www.grovemusic.com (New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, 2nd edition on the web).
    [www.grovemusic.com is a subscription service, available only through University network accounts.]
  • Late Renaissance & Early Baroque, stylistic comparisons

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Points to consider and terminology to know:

• General features of Baroque Music:
• Broad chronological divisions (dates vary considerably from genre to genre and from country to country):
• Early Baroque: 1580-1630/50
• Middle Baroque: 1640-1680
• Late Baroque: 1680-1730/50
• "Baroque" as a term: [students should study the historical derivation and application of the word].
• Baroque style did not emerge suddenly; features can be observed as early as 1525 in some genres.
• While the most significant elements of the early developments (ca. 1580-1625) are apparent in Italian music, many important changes came from other parts of Europe, as, for example, in the developments in keyboard music in Spain, the Netherlands, and England.
• One reason for Italy's significance in the development was the important role of music in the civic life of the many Ita;lian city-states, especially Florence, Rome, and Venice.
• The one feature common to Baroque music in general, throughout the entire time period, is the belief in the power of music to express emotional feeling ("affective expression") and intellectual ideas.
• Increasing interest in the dramatic (theatrical) potential of music, most obviously in the development of Opera, but also in other genres.
• Use of strong contrast (in all musical elements) to express emotional shifts.
• Emphasis of the Bass line as generator of musical structure.
• As the Baroque proceeded, tonal harmonic structure and design became increasingly important in the construction of line (melody) and structure.
• Often highly embellished, florid melodic lines; busy bass lines.
• Polarization: Emphasis on treble (or two or more trebles) and bass, with gap in between, generally filled by basso continuo or thorough bass (chordal instruments supplying harmonic support).
• Chordal instruments in Early Baroque usually lute or theorbo (bass lute, tuned as tenor lute with extra, extended bass courses, called diapasons), and/or organ (large church instrument or smaller chamber organ, depending on circumstances) and/or harp, sometimes (rarely) harpsichord; in Middle Baroque, gradually harpsichord used more; in Late Baroque most common was harpsichord and/or organ.
• Other factors significant in Early Baroque development:
• Patronage
• Thirty-Years' War in Germany.
• Literature

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	Week 8

• Major developments in the sciences.
• Technological change (important in development of musical instruments).
• Trade with America, India, and the far East, and resulting shifts in wealth and power, as well as new resources.
• Early Baroque style:
• Rhythm
• Texture
• Harmony

Secular Vocal Music: Song and Cantata; Monody; Madrigal

• Prima pratica and seconda pratica
• The Affections
• stile antico and stile moderno; stile gravis and stile luxurians
• The role of the Madrigal.
• Explorations of the possibilities of the voice.
• Strophic bass
• Aria
• Recitative
• Bel canto
• Refrain Aria
• Concertato
• Canzonet
• Arioso

Sacred Vocal Music

• Sacred Concerto, Symphoniae sacrae, Cantiones sacrae, Geistliche Konzerte
• Cori spezzati: antiphonal
• Motet
• Oratorio
• Chorale and Chorale Motet

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	Week 8

Musical Drama: Opera & Oratorio

• Intermedi & intermezzi
• Madrigal comedy
• Florentine Camerata
• Ottavio Rinuccini

Instrumental Music

• The violin.
• Winds: recorder, cornett, sackbutt.
• Idiomatic writing.
• Canzona and Sonata
• Imitative compositions: Canzona, Ricercar, Fantasia (Fancy), Capriccio
• Variations: Partita, Passacaglia, Ground, Chaconne, Chorale partita, Chorale prelude, Organ chorale.
• Dances
• Improvisatory: Toccata, Fantasia, Prelude
• English consort music

Week 9:

Hanning, Concise History of Western Music, Chapter 10, "Opera and Vocal Music in the Late Seventeenth Century," pp. 214-232 [first edition: pp. 208-226].

Grout & Palisca, A History of Western Music, Chapter 10, "Opera and Vocal Music in the Late Seventeenth Century," pp. 309-341.

• For more information, see:
  • Baroque Music History [GJC, Acadia Early Music Resources]
  • Donald Grout 'A History of Western Music' Chapter 10: Opera and Vocal Music in the Late Seventeenth Century [Music History Resources]
  • www.grovemusic.com (New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, 2nd edition on the web).
    [www.grovemusic.com is a subscription service, available only through University network accounts.]

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Points to consider and terminology to know:

• General
• The style of popera became the most important influences in the late seventeenth century, directly influencing many other genres: [secular] cantata, oratorio, motet, Luthern sacred cantata, solo song.
• The most influential centres of opera were Venice and Naples.
• Italian style dominated most of Europe, except for French music, which maintained a relatively distinctive style.
• In England, opera did not develop as a genre, but the stylistic features of opera were adopted for other genres. Important was the semi-opera, which incorporated opera-like scenes into conventional theatre.
• The most important vocal genre other than opera was the cantata, that by the latter seventeenth century was a genre of several movements (usually alternating recitatives and arias) often in the nature of an opera scene.
• A common feature in all late seventeenth-century music, carried over into seventeenth-century baroque music is the running bass (or, at slower tempos, the walking bass): a relatively melodic bass line with constant rhythmic motion, often an almost unbroken stream of eighth-notes or quarter-notes, or a mixture of eighth- and sixteenth-notes or of quarter- and eight-notes. .
• Opera in Venice
• Venice was the most important centre for opera.
• In the opera, the focus of attention was the solo singer: operas were designed to feature the abilities of specific, individual singers.
• The most important genre withn the opera was the aria.
• Gradually, after 1650, the number of arias in an opera increased, to a total after 1670 in the century of sixty or more per opera.
• Initially (i.e., from 1600 until 1670 or so) the structure of most arias was simple strophic or a set of continuous strophic variations.
• Strophic variations: a form in which the same bass line is restated (sometimes with some rhythmic variation) for each stanza of the lyrics, but the melodic content of each stanza varies.
• The length of the bass line might correspond with the length of each stanza; then the bass pattern is referred to as a Strophic Bass.
• The length of the repeated bass pattern might be much shorter than the stanza; then the bass pattern is referred to as a Basso Ostinato, or Ground, or Ground bass.
• Often these repeated bass patterns were standard melodies or series of pitches, such as: Chaconne, or Ciacona, Ballo del gran duca, Romanesca, Ruggiero.

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• Other structures include refrain structures, forms of simple binary (AB, ABB), and dance songs (where the musical style of the aria mimicked the rhythmic characteristics and structure of a dance).
• Gradually the Da capo aria became more important and common.
• In all these forms, the presence of repeated musical sections was significant, for it gave the singers opportunity to display their ability in improvisation, by adding embellishment (often extensive).
• Usually, arias were accompanied only by the basso continuo.
• Many arias are motto arias, in which the aria begins with a very short musical statement or motive, the motto, that, after a short instrumental phrase, is repeated and continued into the next phrase of the aria. This was especially popular in the da capo aria, as it drew the return of the opening section to the attention of the listeners (hence allowing them to appreciate the improvised embellishment that the singer added to the return of the A section).)
• Many arias had instrumental ritornelli:
• The ritornello, very common also in instrumental compositions, was a section of music that recurred several times during a piece, between (and often before and after) other, varying, sections of music, so providing unity to compositions.
• In the seventeenth century, usually all the statements of the ritornello were in the same key.
• Toward the end of the seventeenth century, the restatements of the ritornello might be in other keys; this became the norm in the eighteenth century.
• The performers often added improvised embellishment to the restatements of the ritornello.
• Opera in Naples
• A new style of opera developed in Naples (different from that in Venice), that gradually became the predominant form of opera in the late baroque.
• Neapolitan opera paid scant attention to the drama. More important was the musical content.
• Recitative: The monody of earlier opera and declamatory song was made even more declamatory, dryer, and speech-like, with rapid delivery of the lyrics.
• Recitativo semplice: very dry, speech-like, used for delivery of dramatic text, either in dialogue or for a single singer.
• Recitativo obbligato: Recitative accompanied by the orchestra, was more expressive and melodic; was used for moments of emotional intensity or dramatic tension.
• Recitativo obbligato in the eighteenth century was called recitativo accompagnato, recitativo accompagnato, or simply accompagnato.
• Recitativo arioso: melodic, song-like Recitative.
• Neapolitan opera preferred the Da capo aria. Often the B section was used to express a change in dramatic emotion, so was musically contrasted with the A sections.
• Other Italian Secular Vocal Music

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• Cantata
• In the early seventeenth century, Cantata could refer to any secular vocal music for one or more solo voices.
• Cantata gradually came to mean more extended compositions, often strophic variations; then compositions with two or more separate, contrasting sections.
• By the end of the century, the Cantata was a vocal composition of two or more movements (often four), generally alternating Recitative and Aria (most often Da capo).
• Lyrics could be narrative, pensive, or love poems.
• By the end of the century, the musical style was much like that of operatic Recitative and Aria, but performed usually for private audiences, without dramatic costume or scenery.
• Because the Cantata was briefer than opera and performed for smaller groups of people, the content usually was more subtle than that in opera.
• Alessandro Scarlatti was the most important composer of Cantatas in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, composing more than 600..
• Chamber duet and trio
• Usually scored for equal voices (in the same register) with basso continuo accompaniment.
• Often in two or more movements or sections.
• [In a sense the vocal equivalent of the instrumental sonata.]
• Serenata
• Cantatas composed for special occasions. Often performed outside in the evening.
• Semi-dramatic compositions, in a sense a compromise between Cantata and Opera.
• Usually longer than Cantatas, with a relatively dramatic plot (often allegorical).
• Often performed in dramatic costumes, but without stage action.
• Ensemble usually larger than that of Cantatas; consisting of two or more singers and instrumental group.
• Important composers include Alessandro Scarlatti, Alessandro Stradella (ca. 1639-1682), and Händel. Important Austrian composers include Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741) and Antonio Caldara (ca. 1670-1736).
• Italian Sacred Vocal Music
• Polyphonic music, much in the style of late renaissance sacred music continued to be composed, especially in Rome.
• More common were sacred compositions in the Baroque styles of sacred concerto in the concertato style and polychoral music in the Venetian style.
• France

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• Italian opera was produced in France.
• There also was a separate genre of French opera.
• In France, Ballet was important, both as a separate genre, and as a significant component in opera.
• Similar to the situation in England, in France the dramatic component of opera was equally important to the musical.
• The French récits were similar to the declamatory air de cours, so more melodic and musical than the Italian recitative.
• Polyphonic chorus were also important in French opera, generally beginning each act.
• Court operas usually ended with a grand ballet, in which the nobility, including the King, participated.
• Louis XIV was a dancer (of professional caliber) and guitar [baroque guitar: unlike the modern guitar] player.
• Jean-Baptiste Lully developed récitatif simple, similar to the Italian recitativo semplice, but with changing meters to express the declamation, and more musical récitatif mesuré.
• Lully also established the French Overture.
• Introductory movement for ballets and operas.
• In two sections: the first relatively slow and dignified, in duple meter, homophonic texture, with emphasized dotted rhythms; the second quick, fugal (or very imitative), often in triple meter.
• The genre was adopted quickly all over Europe and used through to the end of the baroque. It became common not only as an opera and ballet overture, but also to begin many other multi-movement musical genres, including suites and sonatas.
• Other vocal music:
• France also adopted the multi-movement cantata.
• Solo song continued to be popular.
• French sacred music:
• French composers adopted the Italian sacred oratorio, combining Italian and French style. In French oratorios the chorus was more important.
• The most important forms were the multi-movement solo Motet, Petit Motet, and Grand Motet.
• The Grand Motet included instrumental preludes with vocal solos, ensembles, and chorus.
• The Petit Motet were for small ensembles of solo voices.
• England
• In the theatre, music played a supporting role.
• Likewise, in songs and ayres, the poetry and music were intended to play equal roles in a fine balance.
• As Thomas Campion writes in the Preface to his Two Bookes of Ayres [ca. 1613], “To the Reader” (sig. A2v), “In these English Ayres I have chiefely aymed to couple my Words and Notes lovingly together…”.
• Consequently, musical drama as opera did not become established in England during the seventeenth century.
• The closest form to opera in England, and then only in court circles was the English Court Masque (also spelled Maske).
• The best-known Masques are Milton's Comus (1634), with music by Henry Lawes (1696-1662) and Cupid and Death (1653), with music by Matthew Locke (1621/22-1677) and Christopher Gibbons (1615-1676).
• After the English Civil War, during the Commonwealth and Protectorate (1549-1660), public theatre was banned. Private performances of plays with music were permitted, hence the production of Cupid and Death and other plays with music. When the use of music in a play was extensive, it was sometimes referred to as a semi-opera.
• After the Restoration of Charles II, only two "real" operas (in the sense of being sung throughout) were composed, John Blow's Venus and Adonis, and Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689). Both were small-scale chamber operas, produced for private performance.
• Other vocal music:
• Solo songs, duets (most often in the form of dialogues), and part songs for three and four voices were especially popular in England.
• Catches were exceptionally popular in England. Christopher Simpson, in his Compendium: Or, Introduction to Practical Musick in Five Parts, at the end of "The Fifth Part. Teaching The Contrivance of Canon", he adds a final chapter, "Of Catch or Round". He describes the Catch and Round thus (1667 edition, p. 174): "I must not omit another sort of Canon, in more request and common use (though of less dignity) than all those which we have mentioned; and that is, a Catch or Round: Some call it a Canon in Unison; or a Canon consisting of Periods. The contrivance whereof is not intricate: for, if you compose any short Strain, of three or four Parts, setting them all within the ordinary compass of a Voice; and then place one Part at the end of another, in what order you please, so as they may aptly make one continued Tune; you have finished a Catch."
• Anglican music:

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• In cathedrals and large churches, the Full Anthem and Verse Anthem continued to be the most important genre.
• In private chapels and the Chapel Royal, a few composers supplied small-scale Continuo Motets or Motet Psalms.
• Continuo Motets or Motet Psalms were compositions in the Italian concertato style, usually for two trebles or two tenors, bass voice, and Thoroughbass (the equivalent of the Italian basso continuo).
• The most important collection were those by William Lawes and Henry Lawes, published in Choice Psalmes, 1648 (with two additional Motet Psalms by William Lawes in the Chirk Castle manuscript part-books (now in the New York Public Library).
• Other published collections of Motet Psalms are: William Child, The First Set of Psalmes of III Voyces. Fitt for private Chappells or other private meetings with a continuall Base either for the Organ or Theorbo newly composed after the Italian way...3 part books (1639; Second edition, 1650); John Wilson, Psalterium Carolinum. The Devotions of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings, rendered in Verse. Set to Musick for 3 Voices and an Organ, or Theorbo...4 part books (1657)-the voices are two trebles and bass; and Walter Porter, Mottets of Two Voyces for Treble or Tenor and Bass. With the Continued Bass or Score: To be performed to an Organ, Harpspycon, Lute or Bass-Viol...3 part books (1657).
• Germany
• Hamburg opera
• First public opera house outside Venice.
• Productions modelled after Venetian opera.
• Like England, a primary form of dramatic was the play with some additional music, a genre that in the eighteenth century came to be called Singspiel.
• Recitative was in the Italian style.
• Arias could be in Italian or French styles, or popular German styles.
• Other vocal music:
• Solo songs were generally simpler than in other countries, often being strophic, but normally had more instrumental accompaniments and ritornelli.
• Cantatas.
• Sacred music in Germany and Austria:
• German sacred music, both Roman Catholic and Luthern, was modelled after the Italian. Many German composers trained in Italy, and many Italian composers worked in Austria and in German states.
• Munich, Salzburg, Vienna were the most important centres fore Roman Catholic sacred music.
• Luthern sacred music:

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• Most Luthern sacred music was based on the Chorale.
• Luthern sacred concertos were of three types:
• Concertato arias with or without choruses.
• Concertato Chorales.
• Concertato arias with Chorales. The Chorales might be in concertato style or plain hynmns.
• Luthern Cantata:
• Multi-movement work, usually based on a single Chorale.
• Lyrics usualy based on the day's Bible readings.
• Many composers composed sets for the complete church year.
• Format often consisted of: opening concerted motet for the chorus with instruments; altrernating recitatives, solo arias, duets, and Chorale settings; a final chorus, sometimes a concerted setting of the final stanza of the Chorale for chorus, or often a congregational singing of the final stanza.
• Historia and Passion settings:
• In the Luthern church, the Historia was preferred over the Oratorio.
• the Historia was an oratorio-like setting of narratives based on Biblical texts.
• The Passion, the most important Historia, was a setting of the Easter narrative based on one of the four Gospels.
• These settings included choruses, solo arias and recitatives, and ensembles for solo voices.
• Generally the narrative was presented in recitative by one or more solo soloists, referred to as the Evangelist.
• Abendmusik:
• Evening concerts presented during Advent at the Marienkirche, Lübeck (north Germany).
• Sponsored by local businesses.
• Under the direction of Dietrich Buxtehude (ca. 1637-1707), organist at Lübeck, 1668-1707, these became especially famous and influenced many other German composers, including J.S. Bach.
• Initially the concerts consisted of organ music and vocal music.
• Dietrich Buxtehude began the practice of composing an oratorio for each of the five concerts before Christmas.
• The practice lasted until 1810.

Composers:

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For each composer, know the following:

• Dates of birth and death, and / or dates active as a composer;
• Place(s) of work;
• Essential features of their compositional style;
• Types of Music composed (genres);
• Names of important compositions and context of composition (time, place, purpose, ensemble, etc.);
• Be sure to listen to recorded examples of the compositions and look at scores.

• Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)
• Born in Florence; 1646, taken to France by the Chevalier de Guise; became garçon de chambre in the household of Mlle. de Montpensier.
• Was a skilled dancer, violinist, keyboard player, and guitarist.
• Much influenced by Michel Lambert (who's daughter, Madeleine Lambert, Lully married, 1662).
• Quickly gained power at the French Court (possibly due to Lambert's assistance).
• From 1652, active as dancer and composer at court.
• 1653: became composer of the king's instrumental music.
• From 1657, responsible for most productions of ballet de cour.
• ca. 1657, gained control of the king's private ensemble, the petit violons.
• Became a member of Louis XIV's vingt-quatre violons du roy.
• 1661: Louis XIV appoints Lully surintendant de musique et compositeur de la musique de chambre.
• 1662: Lully appointed to position of maître de la musique de la famille royale.
• 1672: Lully's Académie royale de musique was granted a monopoly on music drama, making Lully effective dictator in all musical production in France.
• Most important composer of French opera. Texts usually by Jean-Philippe Quinault.
• Composed much instrumental music: overtures, dances.
• Composed dances for insertion into Italian operas.
• Invented the genre, comédie ballet, play with songs and dances.
• Lully had much influence. His notable students include Pelham Humfrey, Georg Muffat, and J.F.K. Fischer.
• Lully's compositions include: 13 tragédies lyriques [operas], about 30 ballets, incidental dramatic music, Motets, and various instrumental music.
• Adam Krieger (1634-1666)
• Collections of songs and cantatas: Neue Arien, 1667 & 1674.
• Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1634-1704)
• French composer; noted for his secular cantatas and sacred oratorios.
• Dietrich Buxtehude (ca. 1637-1707)
• John Blow (1649-1708)

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• English composer; organist for Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal.
• Collection of vocal music (solo songs, duets, trios, etc., modelled after Henry Purcell's Orpheus Britannicus): Amphion Anglicus, 1700.
• Agostino Steffani (1654-1728)
• Influential composer of Venetian opera, who worked in Munich and Hanover, so exported the style of Venetian opera to Germany.
• Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
• Probably a student of John Blow.
• Held several positions in London, including positions as composer for the theatres, at court, organist for Westminster Abbey (succeeding and then being succeeded by Joh Blow).
• His more extended examples of theatre music occupy entire scenes, so are, in effect, like portions of operas. These semi-operas include Dioclesian (1690), King Arthur (1691), The Fairy Queen (1692), The Indian Queen (1695), and The Tempest (1695).
• Compositions include chamber music, songs, Dido and Aeneas, theatre music for about 50 plays, sacred music, court odes, keyboard music, concertos.
• Collection of vocal music (solo songs, duets, trios, etc.): Orpheus Britannicus, 1698; Book 2, 1702.
• Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
• Born in Palermo.
• Early life in Rome, where possibly he studied with Carissimi.
• First operas composed in Rome.
• 1680 or earlier-1684: maestro di cappella to Queen Christina of Sweden (in Rome).
• Scarlatti's other patrons in Rome included the Cardinals Benedetto Pamphili and Pietro Ottoboni.
• 1684: moved to Naples, where employed by the Austrian Viceroy until 1702.
• In Naples he was the most important opera composer. There, he composed more than 85 operas, of which less than half survive.
• While living in Naples, Scarlatti continued to be active in Rome.
• June 1702: left Naples for Florence.
• October 1702: returned to Rome (having failed to obtain a position in Florence).
• 1703: became assistant music director at S. Maria Maggiore, Rome.
• Public theatres in Rome were closed, so Scarlatti concentrated his composing on oratorios, serenatas, and cantatas.
• Patrons included the Cardinals Benedetto Pamphili and Pietro Ottoboni and Prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli.
• 1706: elected to the Arcadia Academy.
• 1707: promoted to position of maestro di cappella at S. Maria Maggiore.

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• 1708: returned to Naples where employed by the new Austrian Viceroy, Cardinal Grimani.
• 1708-1718, composed eleven operas in Naples.
• Scarlatti's last operas were produced in Rome.
• After 1715, Scarlatti became increasingly interested in keyboard and instrumental ensemble music.
• Scarlatti composed about 115 Operas, more than 600 Cantatas, Serenatas, Oratorios, Masses, Mass movements, Motets, other sacred music, Madrigals, Orchestral music (including a set of 12 Sinfonie de concerto grosso), chamber sonatas, keyboard music.
• Reinhard Keiser (1674-1739)
• 1685-1692: studied at the Thomasschule, Leipzig.
• 1692/94: first dramatic music, Der königliche Schäfer, produced in Braunschweig.
• 1694: position as court composer, Braunschweig.
• 1695: moved to Hamburg.
• 1702-1707: Director of the Hamburg opera.
• 1719-1720: in Stuttgart; failed to obtain a position.
• 1721 back in Hamburg.
• 1722 in Copenhagen; also failed to obtain a position there.
• Returned to Hamburg for the remainder of his life.
• 1728: appointed Canonicus minor, Hamburg Cathedral.
• He wrote in a mixture of Italian and German styles.
• In Hamburg also produced operas by Händel, Mattheson, and others.
• His works include more than 100 operas and other dramatic works, oratorios.
• Louis Nicolas Clérambeault (1676-1749)

Week 9

• French composer; his cantatas have recitatives in the French style and arias modeled after those of the Italians.

Week 10:

Top

Hanning, Concise History of Western Music, Chapter 11, "Instrumental Music in the Late Baroque Period," pp. 233- [first edition: pp. 249-248].

Grout & Palisca, A History of Western Music, Chapter 11, "Instrumental Music in the Late Baroque Period," pp. 345-369.

• For more information, see:
  • Baroque Music History [GJC, Acadia Early Music Resources]
  • Donald Grout 'A History of Western Music' Chapter 11: Instrumental Music in the Late Baroque Period [Music History Resources]
  • www.grovemusic.com (New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, 2nd edition on the web).
    [www.grovemusic.com is a subscription service, available only through University network accounts.]

Points to consider and terminology to know:

• General
• During the late Baroque, instrumental genres came to have an importance equal to that of vocal.
• Development of instrumental techniques and of the technology of the instruments themselves led to increasingly idiomatic use of instruments.
• Important late Baroque instrumental genres include the chamber sonata (sonata da chiesa), chamber suite (sonata da camera), concerto grosso, idiomatic music for harpsichord and clavichord: variations and dance suite, and idiomatic music for organ: toccata, fugue, and organ chorale.
• Chamber Music
• The Baroque Sonata grew out of the late Renaissance Canzona.
• At the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries, the term sonata referred to an instrumental work used in conjunction with vocal music, usually in a sacred context.
• Other terms for similar compositions are sinfonia, an instrumental piece played before a vocal cmposition, and ritornello, an instrumental piece played between sections of another type of music (usually vocal), and thus heard more than once during the performance of the overall composition. In certain circumstances, the sinfonia and ritornello might be the same music, the different terms simply describing where the music is used.
• Early Baroque sonatas emphasized the different sections of canzonas: gradually, composers introduced more and more contrast between the sections, and gradually the sections became more separate. About 1660, these sections began to appear as separate movements.
• The contrast between the sections included various tempi, meters, and textures.
• Normally, all the sections/movements of Baroque sonatas are in the same key.
• The ensembles for sonatas usually included two, three, or four [rarely more] similar solo instruments, usually all in the same register, with basso continuo.
• In the first half of the seventeenth century, the harmonic continuo instruments most often used included lute, theorbo, harps [including baroque double and triple harps as well as Irish Harp] and/or organ. Harpsichord was used much less frequently. Sources mention continuo played on just about every other finger plucked instrument in use at the time.
• After 1660, the harpsichord became more common as a continuo instrument.
• Melodic continuo instruments were not always used in performance of sonatas. The melodic continuo instrument most often used was the viola da gamba. The v'cello was used much less often. Also used, especially for larger ensembles were the curtal (especially when the ensemble include one or more wind instruments) and violone (double bass viola da gamba) for extra weight.

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• Common in the early Baroque were sonatas for three violins and continuo, for three cornetts and continuo, or a combination of violins and cornetts.
• After about 1660, the most common ensemble was a trio sonata of two solo instruments (usually violins) and continuo.
• Before about 1660 all sonatas were (relatively) serious [not necessarily somber] compositions of several sections or movements.
• After about 1660 two distinct types of sonata appeared: the sonata da chiesa (church sonata), essentially a development of the sonata of the earlier seventeenth century, and the sonata da camera (chamber sonata), a set of dances (or suite), sometimes preceded by a prelude. Many composers (including J.S. Bach) continued the use the term sonata only for the sonata sa chiesa, using other terms to describe compositions of the sonata da camera type.
• After about 1660 the sonata da chiesa often (but certainly not always) consisted of four movements: slow - fast (usually fugal) - slow (ofter in triple meter) - fast (sometimes a quick triple, in a jig-like style).
• Towards the end of the seventeenth century, composers began to compose solo sonatas (i.e., for solo instrument and continuo). There also is, from the seventeenth century, a very small number of sonatas for a single instrument alone without accompaniment (especially the viola da gamba in France and England).
• Performers normally added improvised embellishment (often a great deal) to the solo parts in sonatas.
• The most important composer of sonatas of the late seventeenth century is Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713).
• Other important composers of sonatas include Heinrich von Biber (1644-1704), Johann Jakob Walther (1650-1717?), Georg Muffat, Dietrich Buxtehude, William Lawes, Henry Purcell, Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762; student of Corelli who settled in England), Marin Marais, François Couperin, Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764).
• Large Ensemble Music
• Italy: In addition to sonatas for solo instruments, similar works were composed for ensembles with multiple instruments per part, also called sonata, sinfonia, canzona, concerto.
• Germany:
• Many composers wrote dance suites for ensembles of solo instruments and of multiple instruments per part. Often the dances were preceded by an initial movement, sometimes called Intrada. Various town organizations produced concerts of music, including collegia musica (societies of professional and amateur musicians), Stadtpfeifer (town bands) that performed Turmsonaten or Turmmusik (music from town towers).
• The orchestral dance suite preceded by a French overture became an important genre late in the seventeenth century. As a result, the entire suite often was called Overture. In the eighteenth century, many composers wrote such Overturen, including: J.S. Bach, who composed four (though one, in B minor, for flute, strings, and continuo, is, in effect, a chamberwork of the sonata da camera type); Händel (Water Music, Fireworks Music, Concerti a due cori), and Telemann (who composed about 120).
• France: Instrumental dances (ballet) were very important in French opera, leading to performance of dance suites for large ensembles.
• Concerto:
• The Concerto, as a multi-movement work for large ensemble with one or more solo instruments, appeared about 1670-1690.
• Three types of Concerto:
• Concerto grosso: for concertino [small concerto: small group of soloists (often corresponding to the standard trio sonata ensemble)] and Concerto grosso [large concerto, or tutti, or ripieno, the orchestra];
• Concerto ripieno (or Concerto sinfonia): for ensemble (without emphasized soloist);
• Solo concerto: for solo instrument with orchestra (tutti or ripieno).
• The large ensemble normally consisted of strings: violins 1, violins 2, violas (sometime omitted), bass instruments and continuo.
• Origins:
• The concerto appeared from a variety of influences, through the gradual adaptation of other standard genres.
• Most important was the development from the sonata da chiesa, through addition of doubling parts (reinforcement or "stuffing" = ripieno) to portions of each movement.

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• In French opera and ballet, the dances often featured contrasting solo sections, for variety and descriptive colour.
• In Venice and Bologna, pieces for one or two trumpets with strings, generally called "sonata" were popular.
• Alessandro Stradella (1644-1682) was an important early composer of these sonatas for trumpet with strings. (Henry Purcell composed a sonata for trumpet and strings that may have been iimitation of Stradella's compositions.) Stradella also was probably the first composer of the Concerto grosso type.
• Late seventeenth-century Opera Arias often featured a group of one or more solo instruments that played with the singer, while the larger ensemble played ritornelli between the vocal sections.
• The most common function of the late Baroque concertos was as introductory pieces or interludes for operas, oratorios, masses, and other multi-section genres. Consequently they often were called sinfonia.
• Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) was the most important seventeenth-century composer of concertos. His concertos all follow the layout and musical style of his sonatas, the musical content of the tutti sections similar to the solo.
• Arcangelo Corelli and other composers distinguished their concertos as concerto da chiesa and concerto da camera.
• These early concertos often use the slow-fast-slow-fast movement layout of the sonata da chiesa. Many have more than four movements.
• Venetian Concerto:
• Appeared slightly later than the Concerto grosso.
• There is less stylistic similarity to the the layout and musical style of the sonata da chiesa and sonata da camera
• The soloist(s) have musical material that contrasts with the musical content of the tutti. The musical material of the tutti is usually much simpler and more direct, often based on triadic outlines and strong rhythmic gestures.
• The Venetian Concerto is usually three movements: fast-slow-fast.
• Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709) was the most important seventeenth-century composer of Venetian Concertos.
• Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) and Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1750) adopted the Torelli type of concerto.
• The fast movements of Venetian Concertos are often constructed in what is called the Ritornello Concerto form: Initial tutti or Ritornello (generally a direct, easily recognized thematic statement, based much on simple triadic outlines) in the tonic key (possibly of several sections); a solo section (episode) that may modulate, a restatement of the tutti ritornello in the dominant key (or, in minor-key concertos, the relative major key), followed by series of alternating solo sections (episodes), and tutti ritornello statements (usually partial) in various keys, closing with a complete restatement of the initial tutti ritornello in the tonic key.
• J.S. Bach used this Ritornello Concerto form in his concertos and many other pieces, including the prelude to his English Suite no. 3 in G minor, and even the first Kyrie elison of his Mass in B minor.
• Keyboard Music 1: Organ
• Germany:
• Leading organ builder: Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753)
• In German organ building, much influence of French organs (many stops with contrasting timbres) and Dutch (sets of pipes, called Werke, placed throughout church for spacial contrast).
• Temperament [tuning]: normal was mean-tone temperament, in which thirds were larger than just temperament and fifths were slightly flat (but no so flat as modern equal temperament. In mean-tone temperament some keys sound better in tune than with equal temperament, while others are relatively out of tune. Equal temperament had been known before 1600 and was commonly used on fretted string instruments (such as lutes and viola da gambas), but was not used onkeyboard instruments.
• German organs were among the earliest to have full pedal keyboards.
• Toccata:
• Toccatas sometimes called Praeludium.
• The Baroque Toccata was more deliberately structured than that of the sixteenth century.
• The structure normally consisted of relatively freely composed sections (in a style sounding improvised) alternating with more strict fugal sections.
• Toccatas often contained virtuosic display, with energetic pedal work.
• Most important seventeenth century composers of Toccatas include Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)and Dietrich Buxtehude (ca. 1637-1707).
• Fugue:
• Fugues were composed as independent compositions, paired with Preludes, and as sections within other compositions, especially Toccatas.
• The style and structure of the Fugue was derived from the Ricercare and Canzone. While sixteenth century imitative compositions generally were multi-thematic and multi-sectional, the Fugue quickly became monothematic early in the seventeenth century.

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• The structure: Opening exposition in which the fugue subject is stated once in each part, first part in the tonic key, the second part to enter (the answer) in the dominant key, the third in the tonic, etc. There might be a countersubject, a recurring counterpoint that sounds against the subject throughout the exposition. After the initial exposition, the fugue proceeds with alternating episodes (sections with out the subject, often developing motives from the subject, sometime modulating) and middle entries of the subject. Toward th end of a fugue, addition interest might be generated by introducing stretto: entries of the subject in quick succession, when the answering voice does not wait for the preceding voice to complete its entry, so, in effect, each part enters too soon.
• Fugues became important as functional music with in church services, as demo\nstration pieces (often organists auditioning for a position were expected to improvise a formal fugue based on a subject supplied at the audition), and as didactic pieces for students.
• Organ Chorales; compositions based on the Luthern Chorale:
• Standard harmonized Chorales, often with basic counterpoint in the lower parts.
• Chorale variation or Chorale partita: Chorale melody used as cantus firmus for a set of melodic variations, with the Chorale tune appearing in a different voice in each variation.
• Important seventeenth-century composers of Chorale variations include Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621), Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654), and Buxtenude.
• Chorale fantasia: Phrases of the Chorale melody are treated in paraphrase, with motives taken from the melody used as basis for contrapuntal composition.
• Chorale Prelude (now sometimes simply termed Organ Chorale):
• One type: Each phrase of the Chorale melody is used as a fugal subject for a brief fugal exposition with slight contrapuntal extension.
• A second, more common type after the late seventeenth century, a type associated with Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706): Each phrase of the Chorale melody is presented as a cantus firmus; before it enters, each phrase of the melody is introduced by a short passage in imitative counterpoint, much like a brief fugal exposition, referred to as preimitation or Vorimitation.
• Third type, often associated with Buxtehude: The Chorale melody is presented with extensive added embellishment, with motives from the melody in the accompanying parts.
• A fourth type, introduced in the eighteenth century: The Chorale melody is presented as a cantus firmus with the accompanying parts flowing in a continuously moving counterpoint based on only one or two motives.
• Roman Catholic Germany, Austria, and Italy:
• Most common were compositions based on liturgical cantus firmus with imitative counterpoint.
• France:
• Freely imitative compositions, featuring antiphonal dialogue between sections of the organ.
• Cantus firmus Masses, using organ settings of the Mass plain song as substitute sections (versets) for the sung Mass.
• Keyboard Music 2: Harpsichord & Clavichord
• As in the sixteenth century, Variations were popular; types: melodic cantus firmus, harmonic; variations based on a basso ostinato or ground bass.
• Keyboard Suite:
• France: Suites generally composed as miscellaneous sets of dances that could be grouped together by the performer in various combinations (unified by being in a single key). These sets sometimes were called ordres.
• Austria and Germany: Suites usually composed as sets of Dances intended to be played together. A standard grouping (though other choices of dances were possible) was: Allemande, Courante or Corrente, Sarabande, Gigue (Jig).
• Baroque dances are generall binary in structure, with each part repeated (usually with added embellishment).
• Allemande:
• Moderately quick dance in quadruple meter.
• Starts with a quick upbeat (generally sixteenth note, if pulse is quarter note).
• Texture features fairly steady flow of rapid notes.
• Courante or Corrente
• Moderate or fast dance in compound meter: 6/8 or 9/8 or 6/4 or 9/4.
• Often, especially in the French Courante, much hemiola [shifting from 6/8 to 3/4 with eighth-note constant, for example].
• The Italian Corrente was faster and oftens featured a continuous running bass.
• Sarabande

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• During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there were several different types of Sarabande, all in triple meter.
• In the early to mid-seventeenth century, the Sarabande was a fairly quick dance, in simple triple meter with little elaboration. Some Sarabandes of this type feature cadences that come to rest (rather oddly) on the third beat of the measure.
• In the late seventeenth century, the Sarabande was a moderate triple, with gently running bass line.
• In the eighteenth century the Sarabande often was a slow, stately triple meter, with accent on the second beat of the measure, and an elaborate and embellished melody. Often the composers wrote out the embellishments for the repeats; the written-out version was generally called a Double.
• Gigue (Jig)
• Very fast compound meter (6/8 or 9/8 or 6/4 or 9/4); often fugal or very imitative.

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