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Music in the 16Th Century

Music in the 16Th Century

Chapter 6 in the 16th Century

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music

• replaced by more freely structured • new approaches to setting vernacular texts • the Parisian in • the in

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music The Parisian Chanson

• 1520s, a new genre of • lighter and more chordally oriented than earlier chansons • homorhythmic and dominated by vertical sonorities • melodies in the upper-most line

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music The Parisian Chanson • Claudin de Sermisy Tant que vivray - typical Parisian chanson - melody in top voice - syllabic text setting (a few melismas) - texture is mostly chordal (homorhythmic) with a few imitative figures - Spotify playlist shows two ways to perform the chanson (4 voices; voice with acc.) - see picture on Bonds p. 154 for performance practice

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music The Italian Madrigal • , a new genre of vocal music in Italy • for three or more voices setting mostly secular texts • contrapuntal writing • through-composed: setting each line of text to new music • no fixed form, single stanza with a free rhyme scheme • performed in many settings (banquets, private homes) Bonds p. 154

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music The Italian Madrigal

• Jacob Arcadelt Il bianco e dolce cigno - exhibits traits of early 16th century madrigal - text plays with two themes: swans sing just before they die and the euphemism of death for sexual climax - rhythm is a bit more complex than but still quite simple - texture is mostly chordal but with some lengthy imitative sections - harmonic variety seems greater that the frottola

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music The Italian Madrigal • Da le belle contrade d’oriente - mid-16th century madrigal - texture: 5 voices, much more imitative - text deals with two lovers departing at dawn - some “text painting” - m. 33 “you leave me alone” set solo - mm. 62-65 “repeating her embraces” repeated - mm. 72-81 the ivy and acanthus are entwined

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music The Italian Madrigal • Morir non può il mio cuore - “My Heart Cannot Die” - mid-16th century madrigal - among earliest printed vocal work by a professional female (see Composer Profile Bonds p. 158) - women had little access to professional training in composition at that time - little known of her life

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music The Italian Madrigal • Solo e pensoso - “Alone and Pensive” - late-16th century madrigal style - high level of - high level of text painting - details of text painting see Bonds p. 159

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music The Italian Madrigal • T’amo mia vita - “I Love You, My Life” - late-16th century madrigal style - virtuosic style (difficult vocal runs) - written for the della donne (Ensemble of the Ladies) Bonds p. 160 - imitative texture

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music The Italian Madrigal

• sub-genre of the Madrigal - - meant “country girl” - derives from same root word as “vile” - bawdy, suggestive text with double entendres - Matona mia cara - “My Dear Lady” - makes fun of a German mercenary soldier - he speaks Italian poorly with a heavy accent - “I vant make song under vindow ...” Bonds p. 160 - and balletto are also in this sub-genre

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music Secular Song in Germany

• most prominent varieties of were: the and the Tenorlied • also important are songs by members of the Meistersinger guilds

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music Secular Song in Germany • 16th century Germany song genres are: Lied and Tenorlied • Ludwig Senfl Zwischen Berg und tiefem Tal - “Between the Mountain and the Deep Valley” - Tenorlied (song with secular cantus firmus in tenor) • Meistersinger guilds - tradesmen and craftsmen who grouped together to cultivate music, and - subject of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music Secular Song in Spain

• principal genre of Spanish song in was the villancico (vee-lan-SEE-co) • form given as: AbbaA

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music Secular Song in Spain • Luis Milàn Al amor quiero vencer - “I Want to Conquer Love” - villancico AbbaA - written for voice with acc. - Spotify track has both the A and B versions in the Anthology - Milàn wanted the singer to embellish the melody in version A but not in version B - similar to the frottola with melody in top voice other voices fill out (or accompany)

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music Secular Song in England

• Italian madrigal spreads to England via sheet music • Musica Transalpina (Music from Across the Alps), published in 1588 • lute songs are essentially strophic notated for lute and one or more voices

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music Secular Song in England • Morley Now is the Month of Maying - balletto (like the bawdy villanella) - like Italian madrigal: 5-voice, some imitation - chordal texture, nonsense syllable at the end of lines, and sexually suggestive like Lassus’ villanella Matona mia cara (Anth I/51) - Morley claimed to object to Italian fads in music, of course, he wanted to see his English music.

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music Secular Song in England

• John Farmer Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting All Alone - four-part madrigal, alternates chordal and imitative sections - uses text painting - also has sexually suggestive section

Thursday, September 13, 12 Secular Vocal Music Secular Song in England

• Come, Heavy Sleep - - strophic madrigal notated for lute and one or more voices (Bonds p. 165) - strophic form is a “verse form” where the music is repeated with new words

Thursday, September 13, 12 Sacred Vocal Music

• The Reformation ended unity and created demands for a new kind of music • The Counter-Reformation produced its own musical responses to the Protestant revolution

Thursday, September 13, 12 Sacred Vocal Music Music of the Reformation

• Martin Luther posts his 95 theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517 • Luther recognized power of music to spread Protestant faith • emphasized worship in vernacular and communal participation in worship • congregational singing of - known in German repertory as

Thursday, September 13, 12 Sacred Vocal Music Music of the Reformation

• tunes came from various sources including liturgical of the • see Bonds p. 166, Example 6-1 - Luther derives his Chorale “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland” from the “Veni Redemptor gentium”

Thursday, September 13, 12 Sacred Vocal Music Music of the Reformation

• Calvinists banned instrumental music and limited sacred music to unaccompanied unison singing of • Ulrich Zwingli and his followers considered music too seductive and irrational to be permitted within liturgy

Thursday, September 13, 12 Sacred Vocal Music Music of the Reformation

• in England, began writing in English (Anthems) • Full Anthems for chorus throughout • Verse Anthems alternate choral sections with solo (plus accompaniment) sections

Thursday, September 13, 12 Sacred Vocal Music Music of the Reformation

• Anthem -- a in English for use in the Church of England’s worship service - full anthem (for chorus throughout) - verse anthem (alternates passages for solo voice plus instr. acc. with chorus) • Verily, Verily I Say Unto You - early full anthem; mostly chordal texture; some text painting • Sing Joyfully Unto God - full anthem - more imitative texture (influenced by the madrigal)

Thursday, September 13, 12 Sacred Vocal Music Music of the Counter-Reformation

• after excommunicating Luther for heresy in 1521, the Roman Catholic Church began to reassess • The Council of Trent met in three sessions to formulate doctrines of faith, revise the liturgy, and purge the Roman Catholic Church

Thursday, September 13, 12 Sacred Vocal Music Music of the Counter-Reformation • the Council of Trent eliminated several plainchants • they also declared sacred music was to serve the text and the text should be clear and intelligible to listeners (see Bonds p. 169) • the Council considered a return to plainchant but that was rejected

Thursday, September 13, 12 Sacred Vocal Music Music of the Counter-Reformation

• Palestrina “Credo” from Missa Papae Marcelli - legend says that this piece saved in the Catholic Church (not true) - by mid-16th Century 3rds and 6ths considered as consonances - exhibits the polished and consonant sound of Renaissance church music - Palestrina set the standard for 16th century contrapuntal style - Fux’s book (Gradus ad Parnasum, 1725) uses Palestrina as the model

Thursday, September 13, 12 Instrumental Music

• in 16th-century, for the first time composers wrote substantial quantities of instrumental music

Thursday, September 13, 12 Instrumental Music Intabulations

• Intabulations are of existing vocal work for a plucked string instrument or keyboard • plucked stringed instruments included: lute, guitar, vihuela, , and pandora

Thursday, September 13, 12 Instrumental Music Variations

• composers shaped restatements of a theme to delight and move listeners (similar to good public speaking, modeled on Cicero) • Cabezón Diferencias sobre el canto de la Dama le demanda - “Variations on the Song ‘The Lady Demands It’” - melody in upper voice first, then works through five variations

Thursday, September 13, 12 Instrumental Music Freely Composed Works

• adhere to no established scheme or vocal model • genres of 16th century include: the , fantasia, , , and prelude

Thursday, September 13, 12 Instrumental Music Freely Composed Works

• Ricercar (see Bonds p. 173) - in Italian, ricercare means “to seek out” - in music, a ricercar “seeks out” a theme or mode (mode like a key) - filled with runs and passagework

Thursday, September 13, 12 Instrumental Music Freely Composed Works • Francesco Spinacino Ricercar - early ricercar; sounds improvised - main musical theme arrives in m. 20 • Ricercar del duodecimo tuono - “duodecimo tuono” means the 12th tone which is C-Ionian mode - example of the later ricercar - now it is an imitative genre

Thursday, September 13, 12 Instrumental Music Dance Music • built on principle of periodic phrase structure • consists of modular units of equal length (e.g., 4-bar phrases) • social dance consisted of a pattern of repeated steps • the music reflected the dances’ structure

Thursday, September 13, 12 Instrumental Music Dance Music

• William Byrd Pavana, The Earle of Salisbury - English virginal music - balanced phrases (typical of dance music) - Spotify track uses a set to the “lute” stop

Thursday, September 13, 12 Instrumental Music Dance Music

• Terpsichore - collections of more that 300 dance tunes (using 4 or 5 voices) - 4-bar phrases are common in these pieces - bouree is a lively dance in duple meter - volta is a vigorous “turning” dance (often in compound duple meter) - but, our score shows 3/2. The fast tempo seems to make each measure feel like it has one beat (with three subdivisions), and every two measures sound like they go together.

Thursday, September 13, 12 Mannerism

• style of painting and sculpture using distortion, exaggeration and unsettling juxtaposition • style of sacred and secular music using extreme dissonance, unusual harmonic progressions and exaggerated word painting • music reservata - music “reserved” for a select audience

Thursday, September 13, 12 Mannerism Parmigianino, Madonna with the Long Neck (1535)

Thursday, September 13, 12 Mannerism Jacopo da Pontormo, Descent from the Cross (1525-28)

Thursday, September 13, 12 • Lassus’ Prophetiae Sibyllarum. • The elaborate initial letter C (from the word “Carmina”) is typical of Renaissance manuscripts. • This source, copied around 1558, illustrates the use of accidentals in music of this time, and the round note heads were beginning to replace the lozenge-shaped note heads. • example of musica reservata (music reserved for a select audience)

Thursday, September 13, 12 Orlande de Lassus This copperplate engraving, made in 1593, shows the composer toward the end of his career as music director to the Duke of in . The chain around his neck holds the medallion of the Knight of the Golden Spur, an honor conferred on him by Pope Gregory XIII in 1574.

Thursday, September 13, 12 Mannerism

• Lassus prologue from Prophetiae Sibyllarum - chromaticism is a kind of mannerism in music - Lassus uses all 12 chromatic pitches, building chords on nine different roots in mm. 1-9

Thursday, September 13, 12 Mannerism

• Lassus Cum essem parvulus - six-voiced motet - text painting: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child” scored for upper parts, likely sung by boys; many more examples like this - not exactly clear why this piece exhibits musical mannerism. I guess Bonds believes there is an exaggerated use of text painting (see Bonds p. 181)

Thursday, September 13, 12 Mannerism

• Moro, lasso, al mio duolo - late-16th century madrigal; 5-voiced texture alternating chordal and imitative sections - high level of dissonance (look for chromatic third relationships at beginning) - Charles Burney (in 1789) believed the dissonances were “offensive” - poetic imagery mixes sex and death

Thursday, September 13, 12

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