September 29 2015

Wrap up of musical form

Middle Ages and Renaissance music
The Baroque Era, part 1

 Rondo Form: A refrain (A) alternates with

rhythmically and thematically contrasting music.
ABACA or ABACABA (palindrome)
Usually two contrasting sections in rondo (B) and (C)
Audio: Jean Joseph Mouret Rondeau de Suite de
symphonie (1729). (Introduction to Listening CD included
with your textbook, track 25.
Figure 3.17 The chateau of Chambord, France

Identifying Musical Texture

Mussorgsky, "Great Gate of Kiev" from Pictures at an Exhibition (A

section)
Without using the terms homophonic, polyphonic or monophonic,
how would you describe the texture of this excerpt? (e.g.,
synchronized, unified, drawing attention to the melody)
Does each orchestral section have a uniquely characteristic line or are
all the lines moving at generally the same pace?
Is our attention focused on one melody or a variety of melodies heard
at the same time?

Promenade theme from Pictures at an Exhibition

Describe the alternating textures in this example
Does the bass line double the melody or are its pitches different?
Listen carefully.
Does the bass line share the same rhythm as the melody or is it
substantially different?
What makes the homophonic passages of this excerpt homophonic
rather than polyphonic?

Musical Styles
Style: The distinctive sound created by a
composer and artist, or a performing group, as
expressed through the elements of music
Each period in the history of Western classical
music has a distinct musical style
Middle Ages 476-1450

Romantic 1820-1900

Renaissance 1450-1600

Impressionist 1880-1920

Baroque 1600-1750

Modern 1900-1985

Classical 1750-1820

Postmodern 1945-presnet

Musical styles dont change overnight they

evolve and overlap
See Checklist of Musical Styles by Period,
pgs: 53-57 in text (7th edition)

Medieval Music, 476-1450

The Middle Ages (476-1450)

The Middle Ages was the time between the fall
of Rome and the Age of Discovery
The Roman Catholic Church was the dominant
spiritual and administrative force in Medieval
Europe
The Church and the court vied for political
control
Profound spirituality

Music in the Cathedral

1150-1350: The Age of Cathedrals
Started in northern France
Large, urban cathedrals that served as houses of worship
and municipal civic centers
Built in the Gothic style

Figure 5.3 The cathedral of Notre Dame of

Paris, begun c. 1160

Music at the Court

1150-1400: The court emerged as center for patronage
of the arts
Popular song and dance
Women were able to participate in court entertainment

Medieval Musical Instruments

Pipe organ: principal instrument of the monastery and
cathedral
Was the only instrument admitted by church authorities

More variety of instruments at court

Haut: Loud instruments; often used for dance music
Sackbut, shawm, cornetto

Bas: Soft instruments

Flute (recorder), fiddle (vielle), harp, lute

Vielle: Distant ancestor of the modern violin

Medieval Musical Instruments

Figure 5.8 Hans Memling (c. 14301491),

musical angels painted for the walls of a
hospital in Bruges, Belgium.

Left to right: cornetto, sackbut, organ, harp et vielle

Chapter Six: Renaissance Music, 1450-1600

Renaissance Music
Intellectual and artistic flowering that began in Italy,
then to France and England
Inspiration from ancient Greece and Rome
Musicians turned to the Greek philosophers,
dramatists, and music theorists as no actual music
survived from this time
Emphasis on the enormous expressive power of music

New alliance between text and music, with the

accompanying music underscored and enhanced the
meaning of the text
Greater range of emotional expression

Humanism

Emphasis on personal achievement, intellectual

independence, discovery
Culture rejoiced in the human form in all its fullness
Michelangelos David

New genre of painting the portrait

Depicted worldly individuals enjoying the good life

The Humanities: The study of the arts, letters, and

historical events than have enriched the human spirit
over the centuries
Figure 6.4 Leonardo da Vincis portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, called The Lady with the Ermine
(1496).

Popular Music in the Renaissance

1460: Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press
1501: First printed book of music in Venice by
Ottaviano Petrucci
3-step printing method: words, staff lines, and notes
Encouraged amateur music making (music was now
available to a mass market) and the printing of large
collections of music: songs, dance music, etc.

1529: Parisian music printer Pierre Attaingnant

develops a new single-impression method for
printing
Faster production rate, less expensive to print and for
those purchasing the prints

Popular Music in the Renaissance

Dance Music
Collections of dance music were published
Jacques Moderne, French music printer
Produced collections of dance music (and vocal music)

Musique de joye (Joyful Music): Collection of 25

dances arranged for instruments
Pavane: Slow, gliding dance in duple meter performed
by couples holding hands. CD1 (of 5), track 12
3 phrases, each one is repeated and ornamented

Galliard: Fast, leaping dance in triple meter

3 phrases, each one is repeated. CD1 (of 5), track 13

YouTube video of a pavane:

starts at 048.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VroYskzaF
p0&feature=player_embedded

Renaissance Music
Melody

Mainly stepwise motion within moderately narrow range; still

mainly diatonic, but some intense chromaticism found in
madrigals from end of period

Harmony

More careful use of dissonance than in Middle Ages as the

triad, a consonant chord, becomes the basic building block of
harmony

Rhythm

Duple meter as common as triple meter; rhythm in sacred

vocal music (Mass and motet) is relaxed and without strong
downbeats; rhythm in secular music (madrigal and
instrumental music) usually lively and catchy

Color

Predominant sound is unaccompanied ( a cappella) vocal

music; more music for instruments alone has survived

Texture

Mainly polyphonic: imitative counterpoint for 4 or 5 vocal

lines (Masses, motets, and madrigals); occasional passages of
chordal homophonic texture for variety

Form

Strict musical forms not often used; Masses, motets, madrigals,

and instrumental dances are through composed (no musical
repetitions, no standard formal plan

Introduction to Baroque Art and Music

The Baroque Era (1600-1750)

First appeared in Italy
Baroque: Excessive ornamentation in the visual arts
and a rough, bold instrumental sound in music
Energetic detail
Grandiose, flamboyant
Drama created through contrast

Figure 7.4 Rubenss The Horrors of War (1638

Baroque Architecture and Music

Construction on the grandest scale
Saint Peters in Rome

Space filled with abundant, even excessive,

decoration

Figure 7.1 The high altar at Saint Peters

Basilica, Rome

Figure 7.2 Saint Peters Square, Rome

Baroque Music
Grandiose music composed for such vast spaces
Compositions for colossal forces
Baroque orchestra of King Louis XIV sometimes had as
many as 80+ players
Some sacred choral works required 24, 48, or even 53
separate lines or parts

Love of energetic detail within a large-scale

composition
Highly ornamental melody above a solid chordal
foundation
Abundance of melodic flourishes

Baroque Painting and Music

Large and colorful paintings

Overtly dramatic
Drama created by means of contrast
Pure shock created by presenting gruesome events
from history or myth in a dramatic way
Music also highly dramatic
Doctrine of the Affections:
Figure 7.5 Judith
Beheading Holofernes (c.
1615) by Artemisia
Gentileschi.

Different musical moods could

and should be used to influence
the emotions (affections) of the
listener

Drama of the stage joined with

music to create Opera

Characteristics of Baroque Music

Remarkable variety of musical style
Introduction of many new musical genres:
Opera, cantata, oratorio, sonata, concerto, and suite

Two elements remain constant

Expressive, sometimes extravagant melody
Strong supporting bass

Figure 7.6 A Woman Playing the Theorbo-Lute

and a Cavalier (c. 1658) by Gerard ter Borch.

Expressive Melody
Use of soloist to communicate raw individual emotion
All voices not created equal
Emphasis on the highest and lowest sounding lines
Middle lines fill out the texture

S -------------------------------------------A --------------------------------------------------------T ---------------------------------------------------------

B --------------------------------------------

Rock-Solid Harmony
Provides strong harmonic framework for elaborate
melodies
Basso continuo (continual bass): A small ensemble of
at least two instrumentalists who provide a
foundation for the melody heard above
Usually a low string instrument and a harpsichord

Figured bass: Numerical shorthand places below the

bass line
Basis for improvised chords

Elements of Baroque Music Melody

Two different melodic styles
Somewhat mechanical instrumental style, full of
figural repetitions
More dramatic, virtuosic style of singing marked by
flourishes and melismas (makes its way into
instrumental music)

Melody expands lavishly over long musical spans,

not short symmetrical phrases

Elements of Baroque Music Harmony

Chord progressions that we hear today originated in
the Baroque
Music built around stock chord progressions
(I-VI-IV-V-I)
Melody unfolds while the chord progressions repeat

Modern two-key system: Major and Minor

Elements of Baroque Music Rhythm

Uniformity rather than flexibility
Meter and certain rhythmic patterns are established at
the beginning and continue to the end
Strong recurring beat (groove)
Rhythmic clarity and drive
Rhythmically propulsive

Elements of Baroque Music Texture

Homophony: Basso continuo provides a wholly
chordal framework
Many 17th-century composers rebelled against the
predominantly polyphonic, imitative texture of the
Renaissance
Hostility to Polyphony gradually diminished

Polyphony: Counterpoint
New genre of the Fugue
Bach and Handel

Elements of Baroque Music Dynamics

Early 17th-century, composers began to write
dynamics in their music
Use of two basic terms: piano (soft) and forte (loud)
Sudden contrasts of dynamics rather than gradual
crescendos and diminuendos
Terraced dynamics: Shifting of volume suddenly
from one level to another
Similar to contrasts between major and minor

Toward Late Baroque Instrumental Music

Toward Late Baroque Instrumental Music

About 80% of classical music is instrumental
Instrumental music became prominent in the 17thcentury with the rising popularity of the violin
Idiomatic Writing: Musical composition that exploits
the strengths of a particular voice or instrument
Use of expressive gestures that had developed in vocal
music
Doctrine of the Affections also applied to instrumental
music
Instrumental music could tell a tale or paint a scene

The Baroque Orchestra

Orchestra: An ensemble of music, organized around a
core of strings, with added woodwinds and brasses,
playing under a leader
Origins in 17th-century Italy and France
Harpsichord for basso continuo

Most Baroque orchestras were small, usually with no

more than 20 performers, each with individual parts
Could swell to as many as 80 for special occasions at
artistocratic and royal courts
King Louis XIV at Versailles, with composer JeanBaptiste Lully (1632-1687) as conductor

New musical genre: French Overture

Slow introduction, fast second section

Pachelbel and His Canon

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706): Known in his day as a prolific
composer for harpsichord and organ
Canon in D:
Instruments: violin 1, violin 2, violin 3, + basso continuo
(harpsichord and cello)
Use of imitative canon with three voices plus basso continuo that
unfolds over time polyphonic texture
First movement of a two-movement suite
Use of basso ostinato repeated 28 times
Bass line used by later classical composers as well as pop
musicians

Corelli and the Trio Sonata

Originated in Italy
Baroque Sonata: A collection of instrumental
movements, each with its own mood and tempo, but all
in the same key
Chamber Sonata (sonata da camera): featured dance
movements, such as allemande, sarabande, gavotte,
or gigue; four movements: slow-fast-slow-fast

Solo Sonata: Written either for solo keyboard instrument

or solo melody instrument (such as violin)
Trio Sonata: Two soloists and basso continuo performers
Sometimes a fourth instrument, harpsichord, is added to
bass, resulting in four musicians for the trio.

Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)

Composer-virtuoso who made Baroque solo and trio
sonatas internationally popular
Worked in Rome as a teacher, composer, and violin
performer
Works admired by Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig,
Franois Couperin in Paris, and Henry Purcell in
London
Modern sounding harmony
Functional harmony: each chord has a specific role or
function
Use of ascending chromatic bass lines: increases the
sense of direction and cohesiveness

Trio Sonata in C Major, Opus 4, No. 1 (1694)

Chamber sonata for two violins and basso continuo
(harpsichord and cello)
Four movements: Preludio, Corrente, Adagio, Allemanda
Prelude:
Use of a walking bass: moves stepwise either up or down

Texture: homophonic
Meter: duple meter
Mood: slow, calm

Figure 9.3 Arcangelo Corelli

Trio Sonata in C Major, Opus 4, No. 1 (1694)

Corrente: Binary dance form (AB), fast tempo
Duo between the violin and cello (melodic sequences)
Texture: homophonic Meter: triple meter Mood: lively, fast

Adagio : free form, slow tempo

Chordal accompaniment connection between the second and
fourth movement. Lack of cadences leave us in suspense for much
of the movement. Texture: homophonic Meter: duple meter
Mood: slow, full of tension, anxiety lack of resolution

Allemanda: Binary dance form (AB), fast tempo

Walking (running!) bass; melodic suspensions between the violins
Texture: homophonic Meter: duple meter Mood: very lively,
mostly energetic, brief passage that is darker (minor mode)
B section: changes to minor mode
Note the contrasts in mood and style between the movements First
and third are sombre and calm, the second and fourth are energetic,
lively dances