Evolution of western music 600-1750

Benedicts writing of his rule

530

founded famous monastery in 529 at Monte Cassino, Central Italy in 529. Here he wrote a set of rules that governed daily life in his monastery and it then became widely adopted elsewhere as the "Rule of St. Benedict"

Charlemagne and his Empire

800

Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne (b.742)as secular ruler of Western Roman Empire on Christmas Day 800. He expanded the kingdom, and there was a short period of peaceful stability during the beginning of his reign in which the arts and literacy flourished due to the rise of churches, schools and monasteries. This period was known as the Carolingian Renaissance.

Stages in the development of notation up until 1200

800

Oral Transmission-chant was transmitted from memory
Neumes-symbols that tracked the rise &fall of melodies in relation to text syllables NON DIASTEMIC(9TH CENTURY)
Neumes(DIASTEMIC NOTATION)-In 10th AND 11th CENTURIES Scribes placed neumes at varying heights to show size of intervals
Lines added to show specific pitches -C & F. GUIDO OF AREZZO elaborated this in the 11th Century, 4 lines staff, one note on line & in btwn, notes were specific to placement but no sense of absolute pitch.

Earliest Sequences

900

(came from book of antiphons that had melismas, words added. Notker Balbulus adopted this technique to make extra long vocalises such as Dies Irae

Guido of Arezzo

1000

created solmization of hand later coined " Guidonian Hand" syllable system for sight reading that corresponded to the hymn Ut Queant Laxis Ut Re Mi Fa Sol La, each joint stood for a diff note.

Hildegard Von Bingen

1100

1098-1179- 12th century Abbess of Rupertsberg, first woman we know of that had done these kinds of things
Composer, poet, visionary, scientist, polymath. most famous sequence Columba Aspexit

troubadours/trouveurs

1100

Resposible for Art music, a literate tradition, 1st tradition of secular and lyri poetry that gets written down

Ars Antiqua

1200

period before ars nova, antiqua motets were always in 3

Franco of Cologne’s Ars cantus mensurabilis

1280

written in 1280-development of franconian notation
Noteshapes signified relative durations.
Durations consisted of double long, long, breve, and semibreve.
A long could equal two or three breves
BUT a breve had to have three beats only! It had to be perfect. (3 equal semibreves, or 2 in a long-short pattern)
The system included signs for rests in specific durations as well.
Parts no longer in score notation

The Ars nova(term attributed to Phillipe de Vitry)

1300

difficult conditions=Famine,flood,Black death(1347-50,1/3 of population),Frequent wars,Great Schism(1378-1417),Growing secularism&increased literacy.Important innovations in notating rhythm,both duple&triple division of note values possible for 1st time.Division of the semibreve into smaller note values called minims.Noteshapes kept value regardless of their context(unlike Franconian notation),making syncopation possible.End of century, mensurations signs indicated divisions of time&prolation.

Guillaume de Machaut

1300

Poet, composer, man of letters Born in northeastern France, probably to a middle-class family
Educated as a cleric and took Holy Orders
Resided in Reims after 1340, with time to write poetry and music despite his position as canon of the cathedral there
First composer to compile his complete works and to discuss his working method
He paid for the preparation of several illuminated manuscripts
He wrote his poems first, then the music.

The Trecento-Italian for “1300”

1300

Italy was a collection of city-states, not unified as France was.
Several city-states cultivated secular polyphony.
Florence, Bologna, Padua, Modena, Milan, and Perugia were the main centers for secular polyphony.
Squarcialupi Codex (copied about 1410–15)
One of the main sources for Italian secular polyphony from pre-1330
354 pieces, grouped by composer, with a portrait of each composer at the beginning of the section containing his works

The Roman de Fauvel manuscript with De Vitry’s motets

1310

Allegorical poem that satirizes corrupt politicians and church officials
Fauvel is the central character.
The name is an anagram for Flattery, Avarice, Villainy (“u” and “v” were interchangeable), Variété (fickleness), Envy, and Lâcheté (cowardice).
Fauvel is a horse that rises to a powerful position, symbolizing a world turned upside down.
One manuscript contains 169 pieces of music interpolated within the poem, including some of the first examples in the new style, the Ars Nova.

Francesco Landini

1325

Along with Da Bologna, the most famous composer of the Trecento
Probably born in Florence, blinded by smallpox as a child
Particularly known as an organist
Organist as several important churches in Florence, but wrote no known sacred music!
Instead, known especially for his ballate

The Old Hall manuscript (Contenance Angloise)

1390

Our Source for English music of the late 1300’s – early 1400’s is the Old Hall Manuscript. It contains mostly settings of the Mass Ordinaries.
Music influenced by British presence on mainland Europe
Preference for thirds and sixths, especially in parallel motion
Simple melodies
Few dissonances
Syllabic text setting
Homophonic

Guillaume Dufay

1397

The most famous composer of his time
Traveled widely throughout his career, serving as chapel musician in Italy and southwestern France
His wide travels made it possible for him to absorb many styles and stylistic traits.
Music found in manuscripts around Europe attesting to his popularity and fame

Gilles de Binchois

1400

Worked in the service of English and Burgundian Nobles
Works include mass movements, motets, and secular songs
Works were widely copied and imitated by others

Dufay’s Missa L’Homme arme (The armed man)

1400

Extremely popular song of the time period. Musicologists are still arguing its meaning.
But beyond being a really well-known song, it also served as the borrowed material for over 40 cyclic masses of the 1400s.
Musically, it works as a good base – the tune emphasizes the interval of a fifth.
Our example is by Busnois, but check out others by Dufay, Obrecht, Josquin, and many more

Johannes Ockeghem

1420

One of the most renowned composers in the generation after Dufay
Worked in Northern Europe
After 1451 in the service of the French Kings
After 1465 became head of the king’s chapel
Traveled a little, and had contact with Du Fay, Binchois, and Busnoys, but was not as cosmopolitan as Du Fay
Composed relatively few works
Masses, motets, chansons
Developed his own style, synthesizing past, present, and his own style elements
Known for his unique masses

Dufay’s Nuper rosarium flores

1436

Written for the dedication of the dome, designed by Brunelleschi, for this church, Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence
An isorhythmic motet – at this point, old-fashioned, but connecting to the past for such an important occasion

Josquin des Prez

1450

Most influential composer of his time
His given name was Josquin Lebloitte; “des Prez” was a nickname.
Probably born in northern France
Worked:
Northern France (1470s)
Milan (1484-89)
Sistine Chapel in Rome (1489-95)
1501-03 worked for the King of France
Duke of Ferrara (1503)
Returned to N. France (1504)

Josquin’s Missa Pange lingua

1480

Based on a plainchant
All four voices sing the source chant at some point.
Phrases from the original generate motives for the new work.
The original chant is paraphrased.
Source chants chosen for their context, e.g., to honor a patron or a saint
Imitation in paired voices, a characteristic of Josquin’s style
The Credo highlights important words with homophony.

Josquin’s Ave Maria…virgo serena

1485

his earliest motets (1485)&1 of his most popular. Music setting driven by the text.Texture begins with points of imitation,moves to homophony,constant shifts in number of voices&btwn imitation&homophony. The text structure defines the musical sections,w/ each couplet or strophe given unique treatment.Rhythmic activity accelerates toward the conclusion of the 1st section“drive to the cadence,”2 meter changes provide contrast.In his time, this would have been performed by 1-few singers per part

Ottaviano Petrucci’s The Odhecaton

1501

Petrucci published Ochecaton A

Early 16th century Madrigals

1520

Jacques Arcadelt (ca. 1507–1568)-music follows the text-contrasting qualities of pleasingness (piacevolezza) and severity (gravita) in the sounds of Petrarch’s poems

Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina

1525

Born and raised in near or in Rome, and worked there his whole life
Taught music at the new Jesuit seminary
Works
104 masses, more than any other composer
Madrigals, which he later regretted having composed
Over three hundred motets
Other liturgical compositions
Participated in the reformation of chant books, which were published after his death

Arcadelt’s “Il bianco e dolce cigno”

1538

one of the most famous of the early madrigals.
Through composed
Music follows the text
Ex. Cadence m.5 at the end of a sentence.
Use of tritone relations (m.6, 26, 31)
A string of imitative entrances portrays the words “thousand deaths a day” (“mille mort’ il di”)

Mid 16th century madrigals

1540

Cipriano de Rore (1516–1565) -Complex text painting (madrigalisms)-For example in“Dele belle contrade d’oriente”m.25 “hope of my heart” rises with major triads. Mm.3 “alone you leave me, upper voice only, ascending chromatically (signaling grief)Coils of vines depicted musically in the last two lines of text

Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus’s Mass

1550

dedicated to the pope, demonstrated that sacred words could be intelligible in polyphonic music.
Palestrina said the mass was composed “in a new manner,” and it does show attention to text-setting for clarity, but the legend exaggerates Palestrina’s role.

The Council of Trent

1550

Palestrina Credited with saving polyphony from the Council of Trent

Late 16th century madrigals

1580

Luca Marenzio Carlo Gesualdo (ca. 1561–1613)-Vocal lines more complex, harder to sing-Intensified use of melodic chromaticism -Rules of melody, harmony, counterpoint all bent to reflect the text

The Concerto delle donne (Ferrara)

1580

Around 1570, some renaissance princes began to employ professional singers to perform madrigals in their courts
As professionals, these singers could perform more virtuosic music
In 1580, Alfonso d’Este of Ferrara founded a trio of women singers – Laura Peverara, Anna Guarini, and Livia d’Arco
Some of the first professional women musicians – they were “respectable,” married to courtiers, and appointed as “ladies in waiting” to his wife.

The intermedi for Florence’s La Pellegrina”

1589

For the 1589 wedding of Ferdinand de’ Medici and Christine of Lorraine in Florence, composers wrote intermedii for the play “La Pellegrina” on the theme of the power of ancient Greek music.

Marenzio’s “Solo e pensoso”

1599

Based on a sonnet by Petrarch
Madrigalisms
poet walking alone with slow chromatic ascents, moving a half-step per measure.
Mm. 25-33, close imitation depicts poets darting eyes
Mountains- leaps mm.88-92
Rivers- 8th note runs spanning a 7th mm.93-100
Compared to earlier generations
Vocal lines more complex, harder to sing
Intensified use of melodic chromaticism
Rules of melody, harmony, counterpoint all bent to reflect the text

Peri’s Orfeo e Euridice

1600

Peri invented a new idiom, recitative, to bridge the Greek ideas of pitch in speech and intervallic (diastematic) pitch in song.
Basso continuo sustains a chord and plays the bass line as the singer moves between pitches that are consonant and dissonant against it.
Consonances occur on all stressed syllables.
Peri’s goal was dramatic expression
He performed the role of Orfeo in the premiere.

Monteverdi’s move to Venice

1600

he was in charge of musicians at St. Mark’s Cathedral
Monteverdi was poor, and managing the musicians of St. Marks. He was also responsible for composing music for all major feasts of the church. He received commissions for writing music, this job acted as a platform for him to be recognized by foreign musicians.

The publication of “The Triumphs of Oriana”

1601

The Triumphs of Oriana is a book of English madrigals, compiled and published in 1601 by Thomas Morley, which first edition has 25 pieces by 23 composers including Thomas Weelkes "As Vesta Was"

The premier of Monteverdi’s Orfeo

1607

Monteverdi’s first opera, produced in Mantua on commission
Libretto
Five acts, each ending with a vocal ensemble that comments on the action, like a Greek chorus
The centerpiece of each act is an aria sung by Orfeo.
Monteverdi specified instruments in his score.
Recorders, cornetts, trumpets, trombones, strings, and continuo
A regal, a buzzy-sounding reed organ, portrays the underworld.

Jean-Baptiste Lully

1632

Born in Florence and came to Paris at age fourteen
1653 began to work for Louis XIV
1672: granted monopoly on the production of sung drama
1687: Hit his foot with his staff while conducting and developed fatal gangrene from the injury
fifteen operas, fourteen comédie-ballets, twenty-nine ballets, and liturgical music

Establishment of the first public opera house in Venice

1637

1637: Teatro San Cassiano opened as the first public opera house.

Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione de Poppea

1642

Written 1642 when Monteverdi was 74.
Based on a historical subject, Roman emperor Nero’s second marriage, rather than myth
Focus on content and emotional expression
Frequent shifts between simple recitative, aria, and a style midway between them, recitativo arioso, or arioso

The reign of Louis XIV of France

1643

Encouraged others to refer to him as “The Sun King.”
used the arts to help consolidate his rule.
Centralized the arts and sciences, establishing royal academies for each, including one for opera (1669).
The palace at Versailles projected his power and kept potential rivals busy with court entertainment

The Ballet de la Nuit

1653

This was a 12 hour ballet that Louis XIV performed in when he was 14 years old,and he played 5 parts

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre

1665

Came from a family of musicians
Played before Louis XIV at 5yrs
Madame de Montespan took her into her establishment, where she remained connected to the court until her marriage
After her marriage, she gave lessons and concerts from her home
One of the first to write harpsichord suites and trio sonatats
First French woman to write an opera

Lully's "Armide"

1686

Lully's opera, was written in collaboration with Philippe Quinault, based on Tasso's poem La Gerusalemme liberta. this opera was seen as Lully's greatest work.

Publication of Jacquet de Guerre's dance suites

1690

Jacquet was a woman who got her music published under King Louis XIV monopoly on music, She attributed her music to Louis XIV. Also the 1st woman during this time to write an opera, her dance suites were important as well because Louis XIV loved to dance