CHAPTER 22

MUSIC IN RENAISSANCE PARIS

THE RENAISSANCE IN PARIS

• During the Black Death (1349-1350) and the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) the fortunes of France, and Paris in particular, declined. Paris regained its former glory during the reign of Francis (r. 1515-1547), who almost single-handedly brought the Italian Renaissance to France. Among the accomplishments of Francis I were:– The importation of Italian artists such as Leonardo da

Vinci and Benvenuto Cellini into France– The establishment of a college for the study of

classical literature in both Latin and ancient Greek– The importation of Italian instrumentalists to play at

his court– The recognition of the importance of new invention--

music printing--by granting a monopoly to printer Pierre Attaingnant

King Francis I as painted by Jean Clouet about 1525

MUSIC PRINTING IN PARIS

• During the 1520s Pierre Attaingnant (c1494-c1532) developed a relatively inexpensive method by which to print music called single-impression printing.

A copy of the soprano part of a Mass by Jean Mouton printed by Pierre Attaingnant

in 1532

The wavy lines are created by the many small pieces of movable type being fitted together.

A French printing shop about the year 1530

On the right, proof-readers check the text for errors.

THE PARISIAN CHANSON

• Beginning in 1528 Pierre Attaingnant issued nearly a hundred collections of popular, polyphonic songs, usually for four voice parts. Each voice was set in its own book called a part book. The chanson Attaingnant published usually had a light, lively style in which the rhythms of the text animated the rhythms of the music. This type of chanson of the 1520s, 1530s, and 1540s has come to be called the Parisian chanson.

A tapestry from Bourges, France, depicting four singers performing a

chanson from part books

CLAUDIN DE SERMISY

• Claudin de Sermisy (c1490-1562) was the master of the Parisian chanson. Although primarily a church musician, he still managed to publish 169 very worldly, secular chansons. The most popular of these was his four-voice Tant que vivray (As Long as I Live), which possesses snappy musical rhythms inspired by the accents of the poem. An alluring melody and bouncy rhythms explain why Tant que vivrary was reprinted in England, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain, and appeared in many different instrumental arrangements.

The beginning of Claudin de Sermisy’s Parisian chanson Tant que vivray

first printed by Pierre Attaingnant in 1528

INSTRUMENTAL ARRANGEMENTS

• So popular was Claudin’s Tant que vivray that it soon appeared in instrumental arrangements for solo keyboard, lute, lute and voice, and even for three lutes. The four-voice version could also be played by a four-part instrumental ensemble. A version of a chanson, Mass, or motet arranged for solo lute is called a lute intablulation, in part because it is written in lute tablature. Pierre Attaingnant issued Tant que vivray in lute tablature in 1529.

LUTE TABLATURE

The beginning of Tant que vivray written in lute tablature (below) with a modern transcription (above). As often happens in lute transcriptions, the alto line of the original chanson has been removed, and notes of long duration are broken up into quickly moving lines of figural ornamentation (here eighth notes).

ARRANGEMENT FOR VOICE AND LUTE

The beginning of Claudin’s Tant que vivray arranged for voice and lute as published by Pierre Attaingnant in 1529. Here the soprano voice takes the over the original soprano line of the song while the lute plays a slightly ornamented arrangement of the bottom three voices.

ARRANGEMENT FOR KEYBOARD

• In 1531 Attaingnant issued a collection of twenty-one chansons arranged for keyboard solo, one of the first printed collections of keyboard music. Here again the ever-popular Tant que vivray appeared now with more abundant ornamentation applied to the chordal skeleton of the original chanson.

The beginning of Pierre Attaingnant’s arrangement of Tant que vivray for keyboard

solo

OTHER INSTRUMENTAL ARRANGEMENTS

A four-voice Parisian chanson might be performed by many different combinations of instrumentals. In this painting, showing Paris as it was about 1540, a flautist plays the upper voice of a chanson while a lutenist plays an intabulation of the lower voices.

DANCE MUSIC

• In 1529 Pierre Attangnant commenced to publish dance music for four-part instrumental ensemble. The most numerous dances issued by Attaingnant were the pavane and the galliard. The pavane is a slow, gliding dance in duple meter performed by couples holding hands. The steps of the dance came in units of four, and the lines of the music, consequently, tended to span four-bar phrases.

The beginning of a four-part instrumental pavane published by Pierre Attaingnant in

Paris in 1547

THE GALLIARD

• The pavane was usually followed by the galliard, a fast leaping dance in triple meter. The basic unit of this dance and its music involves six beats and six steps in 6/4 time. The fast steps are periodically embellished with leaps (sauts) into the air. The principal leap (saut majeur) occurs on beat five of the six-beat phrase, and this accounts for the frequent use of hemiola.

The beginning of a four-part instrumental galliard published by Pierre Attaingnant in

Paris in 1547

Note the hemiola in bar 4.

A painting believed to show queen Elizabeth I dancing the volta, an athletic dance closely related to the galliard.

THOINOT ARBEAU: THE DANCING PRIEST

• Thoinot Arbeau was the pseudonym of Jehan Tabourot (1520-1595), a priest who lived in Langres, in the eastern part of France. Most of what we know about dancing in Renaissance France is contained in Arbeau’s Orchésographie (1589), a manual of instruction presented in the form of a dialogue between master and pupil.

A couple executing a “révérance” (initial bow) as depicted in Thoinot Arbeau’s

Orchésographie (1589)