Post on 17-Sep-2018
transcript
The Middle Ages (476 CE-Early 15th
Century):
Church dominated intellectual and cultural life
Music was perceived as a means of serving God
Plainchant (aka Gregorian chant) consisted of monophonic, unaccompanied
melodies sung by a single voice/choir in unison
Polyphony became important for both sacred and secular music from the 10th
century onward
Scales are different than today and most instruments are not used now
Music for Sacred Spaces:
Era of great, gothic cathedrals, large buildings; meant to inspire and lift the eye
heavenward
Purpose of sacred music is to enhance texts being sung and inspire worshippers
with the beauty of their sound
All services of the church were provided with their appropriate melodies.
o Many services with the most important service being Mass
o Special efforts were made for the many chants of Mass
Hildegard von Bingen’s Play of Virtues (Ordo virtutum) combine plainchant with
new poetry to convey teachings to understand differences between good and evil
Music for Entertainment:
Medieval castles were symbols of the secular
Medieval Europe was divided into a series of kingdoms, duchies, and fiefdoms of
varied sizes ruled by a Lord who collected tax
Rulers competed for the best poets, dancers, and singers
Minstrels passed from town to town providing poetry, song, acrobatics, and
juggling
Troubadours, Trouvères, and Minnesingers sang and played songs about love,
heroism and pastoral life
Music was always featured at near every courtly gathering
Medieval secular music was sung to texts in the language of the people
Music for Dancing:
Dance was a highly significant social activity
Most dances were group activities (like present day line-dancing) and featured a
drummer providing a basic beat
Information Technology 1.0:
Until the 10th
century, music was transmitted orally, not in written form
Early plainchant manuscripts show symbols above texts indicating motion of the
pitch up/down
Making manuscripts were expensive: parchment was not readily available and ink
was expensive
Hildegard von Bingen and Play of Virtues
Morality play, dramatized allegory of good and evil
16 virtues; charity, obedience, humility, chastity, victory, etc.
Music exerts a powerful pull on the human spirit
o Hildegard noticed that Play of Virtues is powerful but could be even more
powerful with music
Music was perceived as a divine gift from heaven, so the devil in Play of Virtues
had no lines but shouted words
Hildegard builds on long tradition of liturgical plainchant
o Plainchant grew out of chants of Jewish services of worship, mainly the
melodic recitation of the psalms
Hildegard’s chant is similar to more florid types found in worship services
Clarity of Monophonic Texture
Monophonic texture allows performers to project text with great clarity
o The musicians towards the end added the sound of distant bells at the end
to emphasize the moment of dramatic triumph
Musicians probably added instruments to give variety to music’s timbre
Preserved music from the middle ages was monophonic and in the church, it
because known as plainchant because of the textural simplicity
Plainchant was well suited for performance in the large, resonant spaces of
medieval churches
Medieval Melody
Hildegard’s flowing melodies move primarily by step (conjunct) but the
occasional leaps (disjunct) provide variety and give text clear profiles
A sentence of text in plainchant almost always ends with a cadence
What makes plainchant sound otherworldly is the scales where melodies are
based
o Medieval composers had four additional modes (including major and
minor) each using a sequence of whole steps and half steps
Each scale (mode) was given its own Greek name
o Dorian (on D)
o Phrygian (on E)
o Lydian (on F)
o Mixolydian (on G)
o Aeolian (on A)
o Ionian (on C)
Projecting Words through Music
Two basic choices in setting words through music
o 1. Syllabic: one note per syllable, ensures words will be heard with
special clarity
o 2. Melismatic: a melisma is a syllable sung to many notes, providing
variety and emphasizing key words in a text
Free Rhythm
Two general approaches to how plainchant was performed; free or measured
o Free rhythm has individual notes lengthened or shortened according to the
length of the syllables in the words being sung
o Measured performances adhere to consistent meter
San Ildefonso Indians of New Mexico and Eagle Dance
Eagle dance is part of an ancient Native American rain ceremony and is always
accompanied by chant
Chant has been, and remains essential to sacred rituals throughout the world
Chant is predominant form of music in Native North American Indian culture
Where it hasn’t died from 19th
century wards with Euro-Americans, it survives on
reservations
Heard at powwows where Native Americans express their mutual bond and
identity
Eagle dance portrays life cycle of an eagle, creature regarded as the connecting
link between heaven and earth
Two men in eagle feathers dance movements imitating eagles turning, flapping
and swaying in the air
o The feathers aren’t allowed to touch the ground
Texture: Monophony
Eagle dance consists of one melodic line
Sung by male voices in unison
o Percussion instruments are perceived as singing the chant; sounds
punctuate the rhythm of the chant
Nearly all Native American music is monophonic and accompanied by percussion
Word-Music Relationships: Beyond Language
Songs are believed to have come from spirit world
Song is transmitted through a person who hears it in a dream or revelation and
teaches it to others
Native American chants make use of vocables – meaningless sung syllables, the
sound of which serves like a melodic instrument
Form: ABA
Each section has its own melody, built of smaller repeating units
Varied vocable at the end of each melody group creates contrast within each
section
Terraced Melody
Although A and B contrast in their rhythms and sung syllables, they are similar in
the overall downward contour of their melodies
Both descend the scale in terraced stages, eventually resolving a low tone
Francesco Landini: Behold, Spring
In Behold, Spring, we hear two voices singing independent and equally important
lines
It is a balata for two voices (balata means danced)
Landini’s setting captures the feeling of bodies in motion
Served as an organist at church in Florence and was renown as a poet
Believed to have written more than 150 secular songs, which represent 1/3 of all
Italian music survived from 14th
century
The Richness of Polyphonic Texture
Two or more voices of equal importance combine in a way that each voice retains
its own identity
Although our ears draw to upper line (because high pitches stand out more), the
lower line is just as melodious
Earliest polyphonic work was created in 8th
/9th
century by adding new lines above
or below the existing plainchant melodies
Some early works of polyphony were extraordinarily long and intricate but were
based on an existing liturgical melody
Perotin, wrote long and intricate works known as organum
o These used plainchant in long note values in the lowest voice, with faster-
moving voices layered above plainchant
Behold, Spring, is actually a new secular composition
Rhythm: The Pulse of Meter
Behold, Spring, is set around a steady pattern of triple meter (1-2-3|1-2-3 etc.)
The length of individual notes vary but music falls into consistent units of 3 beats
Units of Melody
Conjunct melodic lines were subdivided into smaller units, each ending with a
cadence
Cadences were used in second and fourth lines in each four-line strophe
Landini always cadences on unison (both voices sing exactly the same note)
At times, two voices move in same rhythmic pattern while other times the
rhythms diverge. They always coincide just before each cadence
Form: Turning Poetry into Music
Consists of three verses, known as strophes (or stanzas) with the first repeated at
the end
Form is ABAA
Once A is introduced, it can be repeated, varied, or contrasted though intro of new
idea
He used all of the above
Word-Music Relationships: Syllabic vs. Melismatic
Text is largely syllabic
Melismas used on line 3 of first strophe and in third line of second strophe
This creates a degree of variety
Guillaume de Machaut: “I Can All Too Well Compare My Lady”
Song gives voice to medieval art of courtly love
Pygmalion in text refers to mystic sculptor of antiquity who carved statue so
realistic he fell in love with it and it came to life
Love songs are as old as songs themselves
Three-Voice Texture
Song is for 3 voices and has 3 independent lines that are completely different
from one another
Uppermost voice is easiest to hear, it is the most rhythmically active and fluid
The lower voices move at slower speeds and sing longer (and fewer) notes
A Melody Punctuated by Cadences
There is a total of 5 cadences
Length is as little as 7 seconds to as much as 19 seconds
AAB Form:
Text consist of 4 sentences
Opening sentence is repeated for second sentence
Has same form as star-spangled banner
Alfonso el Sabio: Songs to the Virgin Mary (Cantigas de Santa Maria), no. 249, “He
Who Gladly Serves (Aquel que de volontade”
Drums and two wind instruments bring to life a work originally notated for only
one voice
Little amounts of music written for instruments survives from the middle ages but
composers and musicians rarely made sharp distinctions between vocal and
instrumental music
o Vocal lines were often performed on instruments if not enough singers
were available for performance
Alfonso el Sabio ruled the Kingdom of Castile and Leon on the Iberian peninsula
between 1252 and 1284
The cantigas is a collection of more than 400 songs preserved in several different
manuscripts
Timbre: The Sound of Double Reeds
The shawm is a double reed instrument because the player blows through the tiny
space between a pair of cane strips
Air resonates between a long, open-ended tubular base made of wood and
produces a reedy, slightly nasal sound
Closest modern day relative is the oboe
Form: Repetition and Contrast
The form of this piece arises out of two units (A and B)
They begin in a similar manner by B moves into a higher register
Passage on drums introduces two complete statements of the melody (ABA ABA)
The A section is repeated twice at the end
Three Kinds of Texture
1. Monophony: both instruments play the same notes together, in unison
2. Homophony: one instrument plays the melody, the other a drone bass – a long
note held underneath the melodic line. Effect is like a bagpipe also used in
medieval times
3. Heterophony: both instruments play same melody at same time but one of them
plays a more elaborate and embellished for of it. The lines are thus similar and at
the same time different
The Renaissance (ca. 1425-1600)
Renaissance is French word for rebirth (spirit of humanism was reborn)
Composers brought spirit of humanism to art by setting both sacred and secular
texts in ways that united words and music directly
Typical renaissance vocal composition featured a full, rich sound, intricate in both
texture and rhythm
Music for Catholics, Music for Protestants
Rift among Christians began in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed complaints on
doors of church in Wittenberg
He set in reformation that established Protestantism as a new branch of
Christianity. Church would then be divided as protestant and catholic
Music for Growing Markets
As kingdoms, duchies, and city-states expanded both in population and wealth,
the demand for music and arts became greater
Best composers and musicians demanded high salaries
“Renaissance Man” was someone who cultivated knowledge and experience in
the full range of arts and sciences
A New Sense of Individuality
Art was more personal and drama tended toward allegory
Playwrights like Shakespeare were writing dramas and comedies with flesh-and-
blood characters
Composers captured emotions in ways that seem far more personal
Information Technology 2.0
Invention of printing by metal type changed the way information could be
transmitted
Composers achieved international stardom because their works could now
circulate across the entire continent
Josquin des Prez: “The Cricket”
Has four voices and at times the music mimics the sound of a cricket
Texture: Polyphony in Four Voices
Soprano (highest range), alto (second highest range), tenor (second lowest range)
and bass (lowest range)
Polyphony is the norm for renaissance music in general
Composers took great pride in their skill at counterpoint
o Writing a new melody against an existing one then adding a third and
fourth and so on
Word-Music Relationships: Music Imitates the Text and Form
Top and bottom voices sing long notes, inner voices weave around each other in
the middle
ABA form
Thomas Weelkes: “Since Robin Hood”
Is a madrigal song, about dancing
Texture: Polyphony in Three Voices
No voice predominates and all three contribute equally
The move together in same rhythm to make the text easier to understand
Poetic Rhythm in Music
Most metrical poems stick to a single meter from the beginning to end BUT robin
hood shifts from one meter to another
Beginning pattern is iambic, then moves to trochaic, and anapestic
William Byrd: “Sing Joyfully”
Sacred work to be sung in church with text coming from book of psalms
Takes first for verses of psalm 81
Example of a cappella choral music
Texture: Polyphony in Six Voices
Technique used was imitative counterpoint
o Particular style of counterpoint where one voice introduces each new
theme and is answered by another voice
Only four voices enter in imitative counterpoint (imitation) with both soprano
voices entering together
Sectional Form
Music follows form of text
Each line gets own melodic idea and ends with a cadence
o Some cadences are elided where a new line of text and music begins
before the previous one has come to a complete stop
The Baroque Era (1600-1750)
Called “baroque” because of attention to the extravagant and even bizarre
qualities of the music and art
Polyphony made room for homophony where one voice was clearly more
important than others
o Led to the emergence of opera
Composers extended the expressive possibilities of solo singing into scared
music, creating oratorio; an un-staged opera on a sacred topic.
Homophony also brought the genre of concerto
Period of energy and motion, ornamentation and extremes and contrasts between
light and dark in paintings.
Architecture become ornate as did musical lines (ornamental flourishes and trills
[notes next to each other that are played in alternation very rapidly])
Baroque composers and performers were committed to representing the passions
through music. They could move their audiences by the artful portrayal of
emotion.
Projecting Cultural Power through Music
Nations splendor was measured in cultural terms as well as political and economic
terms. Arts were important means of projecting power and authority.
Rulers vied with one another to find and retain the best artists, poets, composers,
and musicians.
The Splendor of the Church
Arts served also to project the power of the church.
Churches spent large sums of money on lavish decoration that would both convey
the church’s authority and inspire religious fervor.
Churches invested small fortunes in their organs, and organ building enjoyed its
golden age in the Baroque era
o Johann Sebastian Bach made frequent trips to towns and cities around
central Germany to test the craftsmanship of newly installed instruments
Opera, Oratorio, and the Entrepreneurial Spirit
Earliest operas were performed in private theatres at the courts of the nobility and
royalty
First public opera houses opened in Venice in 1637 and by early 18th
century,
some theatres under control of monarchs began opening doors to paying
customers
Impresarios invested heavily in new productions and enormous sums to the
singers who could ensure the success of a new work
The oratorio was essentially identical to opera in its musical form, but it was
upstaged and the libretto was usually based on a scared subject
o Handel’s Messiah, moves audiences today as it did in 1742 when it was
first performed
Arson became a serious problem in the opera world for a time during the baroque
era
The Virtuoso
Baroque era was an age of opulence, and it extended to the world of sound.
Virtuoso singers and instrumentalists were coveted by rulers and the public alike.
o These musicians were expected to embellish parts written for them
Castrati, singers who were castrated as young boys so as to preserve high range of
their voices – were high in demand
The most successful castrati became the equivalent of millionaires, possessing
high range of a woman’s voice and the physical power of a man’s voice.
Claudio Monteverdi: Orpheus, selection from Act II (composed 1607)
Orpheus is one of the earliest operas
The scene presents the moment in which legendary poet and singer Orpheus
learns of the death of his wife, Eurydice; the chorus, following the conventions of
Greek drama
Opera was a drama sung from beginning to end, and the genre of opera has
remained devoted to its original purpose: to convey a story onstage through
characters who express their thoughts and emotions by singing
Orpheus is the most frequently performed of all early operas. Music was richly
varied, with elaborate songs and choruses for the singers and lively instrumental
music for the dancers
Homophonic Texture: One Character, One Voice
Homophony, a single principal voice with a subordinate accompaniment – is
essential in opera, for it allows one singer to represent a single character onstage.
Instruments accompanying the singer is called basso continuo (continuous bass)
o Basso continuo consists of two instruments: one that can sustain long
notes (bass, viol, cello, bassoon), and one that can play chords (lute or a
harpsichord).
Organ was one of the few instruments that alone could both sustain a sound and
play chords.
Homophonic texture made it easier for audiences to understand the text being
sung. A single singer carrying the melodic line, could articulate the words clearly
without competition from other voices
Homophonic texture, restored a greater sense of balance between text and music
Word-Music Relationships: Between Speech and Song
Selection opens with an extended “recitative” by Orpheus.
o “Recitative” derives from the same root word as recite and lies between
singing and speaking
Advantage of recitative over more conventional styles of singing is that it allows
the words to be projected with special clarity: melody is less important.
Texture is polyphonic because the chorus represents the reactions of the many
characters onstage who are witnessing the drama
Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Overture and Act 1, nos. 1-4; composed 1689
One of the first operas to be written in English
Story comes from Virgil’s Aeneid, which is about the aftermath of the Trojan war
and founding of Rome
Chief characters were:
o Dido, the queen of Carthage (soprano; the highest vocal range)
o Aeneas, a Trojan prince (baritone; the middle-low male voice)
o Belinda, Dido’s maidservant (soprano)
Form by the Numbers
1. Overture: an instrumental opening signaled to the audience that it was time to
leave the socializing and direct attention to the stage, where the singers would
soon appear. This form of overture is known as a French overture. There are two
characteristics
a. The slow long introduction features a consistent alternation between long
and short notes
b. The fast section begins with imitation among the voices: the same theme
introduced by different instruments of the orchestra in succession.
2. Scene and chorus: an aria, sung by Belinda to queen Dido. Aria is Italian for air
or melody and is used to describe any lyrical movement or piece for solo voice
3. Song: another aria, this one more elaborate. Dido sings her melody over an
ostinato pattern in the bass, a short array of nine notes repeated over and over.
This kind of pattern is known as ground bas or simply a ground.
4. Recitative: Belinda and Dido in dialogue, provided a way of delivering text
quickly and clearly in a singing style similar to speech. Accompaniment of basso
continuo
5. Chorus: in the manner of the chorus in an ancient Greek tragedy, the chorus
comments on what just happened on stage
Word-Music Relationships: Speaking, Expressing, Commenting
When Purcell’s characters talk to each other, he gives them something between
speech and song: the recitative. When they convey something of deep feeling, he
gives them lyrical arias in which they linger expressively over individual words.
Each unit of the opera is dominated by a single affect, or emotion.
Mbuti Pygmies: Marriage Celebration Song (1958)
In the marriage celebration song of the Mbuti Pygmies of central Africa, the
repetition of a single pattern of notes and rhythms throughout the entire song
provides a unifying structure above which a variety of melodies are presented
The Mbuti use ostinatos as the basis for complex musical structures involving
polyphony, interlocking rhythms and the alternation of voices to create a melody
The music of the Pygmies has found growing interest among western audiences
and has influenced pop, jazz and world beat genres
Texture: Layers upon Layers
Ostinato in this song is made of multiple layers that overlap and interlock in
intriguing ways with the most obvious textural layer being call and response
Beneath the call and response structure is two heterophonic lines stacked.
o Heterophony is simultaneous playing or singing of two or more versions
of a melody.
Heterophony is a basic way of creating harmonic support without using harmony
built from chords, giving a thicker texture to polyphony.
Two heterophonic lines are further layered by a hocket construction. Hocket is a
form of polyphony consisting of two or more rhythmically interlocking voices.
Form: A Call-and-Response Ostinato
Consists of four phrases; ABBB covering a total of 8 beats
o Essential melodic unit repeats over and over to create the ostinato while
the 5 basic lines remain consistent
Barbara Strozzi: Revenge (1651)
Song allows singer to display great vocal agility and makes effective use of
contrasting timbres.
Music requires small group of musicians: one singer, two violinists, and a basso
continuo consisting of the cello and lute
Decoration of the Melody
Singer adds extra notes to the notated melody line, decorating it more elaborately
as the piece progresses.
Music of the baroque era is like jazz music today: musicians embellish a basic
tune in a highly individual and often quote spontaneous manner.
Form: Contrast and Repetition
Alternate two contrasting melodies – first in duple meter, second in triple meter –
to create a large-scale structure.
Timbre: Contrast and Punctuation
Strozzi uses two violins to great effect punctuating the end of every line in the
refrain (A section) echoing the soprano
The violins drop out entirely during the B sections to emphasize contrast between
A and B
Johann Sebastian Bach: Fugue in G Minor, BWV 578 (“Little”) [1705]
A fugue is a polyphonic work based on a central theme. They are easily to
recognize as they begin with the theme in one voice, which is imitated by all the
other voices in succession.
Comes from the word fugitive as it refers to the tendency of voices chasing each
other
Fugue is regarded as the touchstone of a composer’s art for it demanded more
than just the invention of a good tune.
Bach wrote this fugue when he was 20 in Arnstadt
Timbres of the Organ, Timbres of the Orchestra
No other instrument has the range of volume and timbre found in the organ
High voices have a particular sound, perhaps a bit reedy, middle voices have a
more rounded tone, and the lowest notes blast like brass instruments.
Number of combinations goes well into the 100’s
A Distinctive Melody
The progression – slow to faster to fastest – gives the theme a strong sense of
forward progression.
Fugal Texture:
Fugues begin with a central theme (subject) in one voice all by itself. Subject is
often recognizable and has features such as a melodic leap, distinctive rhythms
etc.
Imitative counterpoint is recognizable as the voices imitate each other sounding
against (countering) the others at the same time
Opening entry of all voices on the main subject is known as a fugal exposition as
it exposes the main idea of the work
Fugues were common in baroque era
Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, “Winter”, first movement (1720)
A concerto is an instrumental work for a soloist and larger ensemble. This one is
for a solo violin and an orchestra of stringed instruments plus basso continuo.
Contrasting Timbres:
Concerto was a favorite for baroque audiences as it featured dramatic contrasts
between the sound of a solo instruments and the combined sound of all other
instruments.
Solo parts in a concerto are demanding and downright flamboyant.
Form: The Ritornello Principle
Movement consists of series of alternating sections between the orchestra and
soloist
The statements made by soloists and the return of the full ensemble after is the
ritornello principle
Tonic note is F minor
Operatic arias contain ritornellos also
Word-Music Relationships: Program Music
Vivaldi indicated which lines of the following poem corresponded to the specific
points of the concerto
Johan Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concerto no. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047, finale
(1720)
Features multiple soloists: trumpet, oboe, violin, and recorder
Not all concertos are for only one soloist
Extreme Timbres
Solo instruments provide unusual contrast amount themselves.
o Trumpet is loud and penetrating
o Recorder is soft and gentle
o Oboe and violin lie in between
George Frideric Handel: Water Music, Hornpipe (1717)
King George hired Handel to write a song for his party on the Thames.
Water Music is a suite, a series of some two dozen individual dance movements
o Usually consists of different types of dances such as minuets, gavottes,
and gigues.
Was performed 3 times in succession
Binary Form
Consists of two sections, both repeated
First section begins in the primary key, or tonic, and modulates to a secondary key
area
At the end of the first section, the central note is not the same as the point of
origin (modulation) and it changes the harmonic home
Second section begins in any key except for the tonic and remains unstable before
finally returning to tonic
Melodically, binary form rests on a single basic idea
Movements appear in genres such as sonatas and symphonies as well as suites and
later became the basis for sonata form
Timbre: Strings vs. Winds
Orchestration is the manner in which various instruments are assigned to the
musical lines
Each line sounds different because of different orchestration
Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata 140, Awake a Voice Calls to Us, selections (1731)
Cantata is a work sung during a service of worship
Bach wrote cantatas when he was music director at St. Thomas’ Church in
Leipzig
Unified Timbre
Instruments of the orchestra double the voices
o High instruments like violin, flute, and oboe double soprano line while
low instruments (violas, cellos, basses) double lower voice lines
When instruments double voices, the contrast is minimized and creates a sense of
unity
A Familiar Melody
Lutherans placed high importance on the personal connection of each believer
Chorale melodies played a role in making this connection
Bar Form:
Form is AAB
Opening phrase (A) is sung twice then melody concludes with contrasting section
(B)
Star spangled banner has this form
Form: Ritornello Principle
Similar to that of Winter by Vivaldi
George Frideric Handel: Messiah, selections (1747)
Church remained ambivalent toward opera
Oratorio is like opera except it wasn’t staged
Handel’s oratorio, messiah, doesn’t have characters or plot nit uses conventions of
opera and has recitative, aria, and chorus
Form: Paired Movements:
the aria is built on the ritornello principle
Single Melody
aria speaks of destruction
Handel thus does not use any melodic contrast
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