<A>
Lorenzo de Medici (and Dufay): *
One of the popular music forms in 15th century Italy was the laude. It was devotional music with roots in the lay confraternities of Florence during the 12th and 13th centuries, the most important form of vernacular sacred song in the late medieval & Renaissance (equivalent to the English carol). These companies organized their own liturgical services; originally the laude were sung by members of the company & were monophonic, often in the poetic form of the ballata. Starting in the 14th & early 15th centuries professional instrumentalists & singers were hired. By 1470 the laudesi companies had established choirs of 5 to 11 singers who could perform three- or four-part polyphony. Besides being a patron, Lorenzo de' Medici & his mother Lucrezia Tornabuoni de’ Medici were poets who wrote laudas for performance. Lorenzo wrote both devotional & secular poetry as well as songs for the popular carnivals of Florence. One example of this is his lauda O maligno e duro core (sung to La canzona de' Valenziani), the song of the perfume makers. In the later part of Lorenzo's life, he wrote more serious & philosophical texts were written, including his most famous poem, the Song of Bacchus and Ariadne. The musical style used from organal textures, simple note-against-note polyphony, works in the style of early Dufay, syllabic and homorhythmic declamation, and cantilena textures with supportive lower voices. Simple 2-part settings were also prominent & could have been embellished or included a third improvised part.
We know Dufay had contact with Lorenzo. In 1439 Dufay (who had worked in Rome, Savoy & Florence) left Italy owing to the political turmoil caused by the Council of Basel and the Conciliar movement. After 1449 the struggle between different factions within the Church began to heal & Dufay once again left Cambrai for Italy. He went to Turin in 1450 but returned to Cambrai later that year; in 1452 he went back to Savoy yet again. Here he served officially as choirmaster for Louis, Duke of Savoy, but he was more likely in a ceremonial role, since the records of the chapel never mention him. He would not return to Cambrai for 6 years, and during that time he attempted to find either a benefice or an employment which would allow him to stay in Italy. During this time he composed 1 of the 4 Lamentationes (composed on the Fall of Constantinople in 1453) & his famous mass based on Se la face ay pale. He corresponded with Lorenzo de' Medici. However he was unable to find a satisfactory position for his retirement & returned north in 1458.
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<B>
school (of Okeghem): *
Music historians identify 5 generations of this school, namely:
First generation (1420–1450), dominated by Du Fay & Binchois; known as the Burgundian School, their embraced both earlier Burgundian traditions as well as Italian and English styles (for instance the poet Martin le Franc praised Binchois & Dufay for following Dunstaple in adopting the English character.
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Second generation (1450–1485), Ockeghem was its main exponent-
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Third generation (1480–1520): most significantly Josquin des Pres-
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Fourth generation (1520–1560): Rore, Willaert-
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Fifth generation (1560–1615/20): most notable is Lassus; by this time, many of the composers of polyphonic music were native to Italy and other countries: the Netherlandish style had naturalized on foreign soil, and become a true European style.
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<C>
Josquin des Pres: *
His age was an age of transitional; styles were changing rapidly, partially due to the movement of musicians between different regions of Europe. Northern musicians moved to Italy (heart of the Renaissance), attracted by patronage; while in Italy, they were influenced by the native Italian styles, bringing those ideas back to their homelands. The sinuous musical lines of the Ockeghem generation, the contrapuntal complexity of the Netherlanders, and the homophonic textures of the Italian lauda & secular music began to merge into a unified style. Josquin was to be the leading figure in this musical process, which eventually resulted in the formation of an international musical language, of which the most famous composers included Palestrina and Lassus. He trained in N. France, later travelling to Milan and Rome. His early sacred works emulate the contrapuntal complexity and ornamented, melismatic lines of Ockeghem. Yet as he was learning his contrapuntal technique he was also surrounded by Italian popular music in Milan & acquiring an Italianate idiom for his secular music. Over 50 years of composing saw him develop a simplified style, each voice of a polyphonic composition exhibited free & smooth motion; close attention was paid to clear setting & alignment of text with musical motifs. He was influenced by other composers & in turn he became the most influential composer in Europe (helped by the emergence of music printing).
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<D>
new madrigal (of Venice): *
Several major factors came together to create the Venetian style or School. Rome, long dominate in the musical establishment, fell out of favour after the death of Leo X (1521) & the Sack of Rome (1527). Venice offered an environment conducive to creativity. Key to this creativity was the Basilica of St. Mark' with its unique interior of opposing choir lofts. This architecture stimulated a musical style which exploited the sound-delay. This new style involved spatially separate choirs singing in alternation & represents a major stylistic shift from the prevailing polyphonic writing of the middle Renaissance & was 1 of the major stylistic developments leading to the Baroque style. In the Venetian polychoral form, an antiphonal style sets groups of singers & instruments sometimes in opposition, sometimes together, united by the organ. Adrian Willaert (choir master of St. Mark's 1527-62) was the first to make this effect famous. Zarlino, the most influential music theorist of the age, called Willaert "the new Pythagoras," Willaert's influence was profound as a composer & teacher since most of the Venetians who followed studied with him.
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<E>
Harmony (Zarlino):*
Zarlino’s theories were violently attacked by Vincenzo Galilei, a member of the Florentine Camerata. The Camerata was a Florentine society of intellectuals, poets & musicians, active 1573-87; aimed to revive ancient Greek music; they were a factor in the evolution of monody- expressive solo song with simple chordal accompaniment. Slightly later other similar groups would develop these ideas to produce the first operas. Zarlino strongly decried the monodic recitative of the Camerata, insisting that music has its own laws and should not abandon them in order to imitate the spoken word.
<F>
Frescobaldi: *
His printed collections contain some of the most influential music of the 17th century; he influenced Froberger, JS Bach & Purcell, and countless other major composers. Pieces from his celebrated collection of liturgical organ music, Fiori musicali (1635), were used as models of strict counterpoint as late as the 19th century. He published 8 collections of keyboard music, several were reprinted under his supervision, more pieces were published posthumously or transmitted in manuscripts. His collection of instrumental ensemble canzonas, Il Primo Libro delle Canzoni, was published in two editions in Rome (1628) & substantially Venice (1634).
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<G>
oratorio (Carissimi): *
Noted as one of the first composers of oratorios; his works are important for establishing the form of oratorio unaccompanied by dramatic action, which maintained its hold for 200 years. The name comes from their presentation at the Oratory of Santissimo Crocifisso in Rome. He is also credited for having given greater variety & interest to the instrumental accompaniments of vocal compositions. His oratorios include: Jephte (his best known, 6 voices & continuo 1648); Jonas (soloists, choirs & chorus, 2 violins & continuo); Judicium Extremum (soloists, chorus & continuo) and Vanitas Vanitatum (5 voices, 2 violins & continuo).
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<H>
opera (Monteverde): *
In 1606 Francesco IV Gonzaga commissioned Monteverdi to write the opera L'Orfeo (libretto by Alessandro Striggio) for the 1607 Carnival season. It ran 2 performances in February & March 1607. This was followed in 1608 by the opera L'Arianna (libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini) celebrating the marriage of Francesco to Margherita of Savoy. All the music for this opera is lost apart from Ariadne's Lament. The last years of his life were occupied with opera for the Venetian stage. Many historians feel Monteverdi is responsible for the transformation of opera from private entertainment for the nobility (Orfeo in 1607) to a major commercial genre, as exemplified by his opera L'incoronazione di Poppea (1643). His 2 surviving operatic works of this period, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and L'incoronazione are considered the first "modern" operas. Il ritorno is the first Venetian opera to depart from the mythological pastoral.