motet:

mainly vocal musical composition, highly diverse form & style, from the late medieval era; it was the pre-eminent polyphonic form of Renaissance music, music in several parts with words.  The earliest motets arose in the 13th century from the organum tradition exemplified in the Notre Dame school of Léonin and Pérotin.

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four-voice Mass:

a sung mass employing soprano, alto, tenor & bass voice types in a chorus or choir.  In early music, particularly that of the Renaissance, the use of the terms soprano, alto, tenor and bass for the voice parts should not be taken in the modern sense of defining which voices are to be used because much 4-voice vocal music of the time possesses the narrower overall range typical of men's voice music with a countertenor on the top (soprano) part.

 

Dunstaple:

1390-1453, English composer of polyphonic music late medieval & early Renaissance; one of the most famous composers of his age, near-contemporary of Leonel Power, and was widely influential, in England & on the continent, especially in the developing style of the Burgundian School.  His influence on the continent's musical vocabulary was enormous despite having apparently composed only a few works.  He was recognized for possessing something never heard before in the Burgundian School: la contenance angloise ("the English countenance"), a term used by the poet Martin le Franc in his Le Champion des Dames.  Le Franc added that Dunstaple’s style influenced Dufay and Binchois.

 

Binchois:

1400-60, composer of the Low Countries, early member of the Burgundian school; contemporaries ranked him behind Dufay & Dunstable; considered finest melodist of the 15th century, writing carefully shaped lines which are not only easy to sing but utterly memorable.  His tunes appeared in copies decades after his death, often later used as sources for Mass composition.  His music, even his sacred music, is simple & clear in outline, sometimes even ascetic.  Most of his secular songs are rondeaux (the most common song form of the 15th century). His melodies are independent of the rhyme scheme of their verses.  He wrote music for the court (he was employed by the Duke of Burgundy), secular songs of love and chivalry.

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Dufay:

1397-1474, Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance, central figure in the Burgundian School.  One of the last composers to make use of late-medieval polyphonic structural techniques (e.g. isorhythm) & first to employ the more mellifluous harmonies, phrasing and melodies of the early Renaissance.  His compositions for larger genres (masses, motets and chansons) are mostly similar to each other; his renown is due to his perfect control of the forms in which he worked, & his gift for memorable & singable melody.  Regarded by contemporaries as the greatest composer of his time.  He wrote for the common forms of the day, sacred including masses, motets, Magnificats, hymns, simple chant settings in fauxbourdon, and antiphons; and while all his sacred music is vocal, instruments may have been used to reinforce the voices in actual performance.  His secular music forms included rondeaux, ballades, virelais and other chanson types; this music is not specifically instrumental, though instruments were certainly used for some of his secular music, especially for the lower parts;

 

Fra Angelico:

See above page 221

 

Michelangelo:

see Chapter I page 34, Chapter II page 87, Chapter VI page 184 and above pages 221, 223

 

Lorenzo de Medici (and Dufay): * see Endnote<A>

Lorenzo de Medici (1449-92) followed in his father’s footsteps as the dominant political power in Florence which he ruled indirectly through surrogates in the city councils by means of threats, payoffs and strategic marriages. He effectively reigned as a despot.  He was also a great patron of the arts including music. Patronage in Florence was usually implemented as a means of bringing honour to either the city or its religious institutions.  The groups of musicians who represented the honour of the city or cathedral reflected on the city as well & patrons sought the best musicians. Private patronage served as a reflection of the patron's own wealth and standing. The Medici, beginning with Cosimo, may have given the chapel singers financial support in addition to the pay they received from the cathedral and the baptistery.  It is clear that the Medici influenced the selection of musicians for the Chapels at the Duomo & Baptistry, as well as playing a role in bringing musicians to Florence and, in some cases, finding them financial support.

 

Okeghem:

1410-97, born in Saint-Ghislain, Netherlands (today Belgium) most celebrated composer of the Franco-Flemish School in the last half of the 15th century, famous for his expressive music & equally renowned for his technical prowess.  He was the most influential composer after Dufay and before Josquin des Prez, on whom he had considerable impact.  In addition to being a renowned composer, he was also a singer, choirmaster, and teacher.  He influenced the subsequent generation of Netherlanders.  He was not a prolific composer & much of his work is lost.  We know of 14 masses (including a Requiem), 1 Credo, 5 motets, a motet-chanson and 21 chansons.  Two of the most famous contrapuntal pieces of the 15th century were written by him: namely Missa prolationum, which consists entirely of mensuration canons, and the Missa cuiusvis toni, designed to be performed in any of the different modes.  Even these technique-oriented pieces demonstrate his uniquely expressive use of vocal ranges & tonal language.  His use of wide-ranging & rhythmically active bass lines sets him apart from many of the other composers in the Netherlandish Schools.

 

school (of Okeghem): * see Endnote<B>

aka Franco-Flemish School, Netherlandish School, Burgundian School, Northern School, refers to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition originating from the Burgundian Netherlands in the 15th & 16th centuries and the composers who wrote it. The spread of their technique, especially after the revolutionary development of printing, produced the first true international style since the unification of Gregorian chant in the 9th century.  Franco-Flemish composers mainly wrote sacred music, primarily masses, motets, and hymns.  Most of the musicians were born in the thriving Burgundian provinces of Flanders, Brabant, Hainaut, or Limburg.  They were trained in the ecclesiastical choir schools of the cathedrals & collegiate churches in Liège, Tournai, Cambrai, Mons, Antwerp, Bruges & Ghent.  During periods of political and economic stability, the courts of the Burgundian dukes were a centre of cultural activity in Europe.  Yet many moved south to the European courts in Italy & Spain, some to Germany & France carrying their styles with them. The centre of gravity for music in Europe shifted & by late 16th century the musical world had moved from the Low Countries to Italy.

 

Josquin des Pres: * see Endnote<C>

1450-1521, French composer of the Renaissance. He was the most famous European composer between Dufay and Palestrina, considered to be the central figure of the Franco-Flemish School; considered the first master of the high Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal music emerging during his life.  During the 16th century, he acquired the reputation as the greatest composer of the age, his mastery of technique & expression was universally imitated & admired.  Writers as diverse as Castiglione & Luther wrote about his reputation and fame; theorists such as Zarlino held his style as that best representing perfection. 

 

polyphony of human voice:

see Chapter II page 63,  and above page 228

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“Late” age:

Spengler’s term for the late Summer, before the end of creativity with the emergence of Autmn

 

a cappela style:

Italian for "in the manner of the chapel" refers to music is specifically group or solo singing without instrumental accompaniment; it contrasts with cantata, which is usually accompanied singing. The term "a cappella" was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato style. Such music was originally used in religious services; Gregorian chant is an example of a cappella singing, as are most of the secular vocal music from the Renaissance. The madrigal, up until its development in the early Baroque into an instrumentally-accompanied form, is also usually in a cappella form.

 

Palestrina (a cappela style):

see Chapter III page 97 and above page 220

 

Lasso (a cappela style):

1532-94, Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance; considered to be the chief representative of the mature polyphonic style of the Franco-Flemish school, and 1 of 3 most famous & influential musicians in Europe at the end of the 16th century (the others Palestrina & Victoria).  A prolific composer of the late Renaissance, writing over 2,000 works in Latin, French, Italian & German vocal genres-motets, Italian madrigals & villanellas, French chansons & German lieder.  No strictly instrumental music by him is known, an interesting omission for a composer otherwise so wide-ranging and prolific, during an age when instrumental music was becoming an ever-more prominent means of expression, all over Europe.

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new madrigal (of Venice): * see endnote<D>

Initially the musical style of the 16th century madrigal was set by the poem, & it resembled the simple homophonic or chordal style of the frottola.  However the influence of the Franco-Flemish composers led to more contrapuntal style, with interwoven melodies; consequently the text was less syllabically declaimed.  Willaert & his pupil Cipriano de Rore (d. 1565) brought the madrigal to a new height of expression through their sensitive handling of text declamation and the introduction of word painting. Emotional words such as “joy,” “anger,” “laugh,” and “cry” were given special musical treatment but not at the expense of continuity.  Andrea Gabrieli (also a pupil of Willaert ) was one of the creators of the Venetian style, in which polychoral effects and brilliant contrasts of musical texture are characteristic.

 

basso continuo:

see above page 226

 

virtuosi:

Italian for virtuosos - a person who has special knowledge or skill in a field; a person who excels in musical technique or execution.

 

pious participants:

sacred music, choral music up to the Renaissance was composed for choirs of monks & brothers, men & women who were devotees to the Church, not music.  They were not professional or gifted musicians but men of faith & prayer.

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tone corpus:

the body of tones, all tones

 

timbre:

aka tone colour; the characteristic quality of sound produced by a particular instrument or voice.

 

Fermat (geometrical analysis):

see Chapter II page 69, 76

 

Descartes (functional analysis):

see Chapter I page 33, Chapter II page 61, 66, Chapter III page 112, Chapter VI page 188

 

Zarlino:

1517-1590, born in Chioggia, near Venice; educated by the Franciscans, an order he later joined; studied at St Marks in Venice under the tutelage of Adrian Willaert (musical director); Zarlino would himself became music director here.   Although he did compose (his motets display a mastery of canonic counterpoint) it is his theory that made him famous.  Considered preeminent European music theorist of the Renaissance, between Aristoxenus and Rameau, he made substantial contributions to the theory of counterpoint as well as to musical tuning.

 

Harmony (Zarlino):* see Endnote<E>

music theory work, 1558; although not the first to describe a version of meantone (a type of tuning system) he was the first to give it an exact definition in his Le istitutioni harmoniche.  Here he describes the 2/7-comma meantone as well as the 1/4-comma meantone and 1/3-comma meantone, considering all three temperaments to be usable.

 

motive:

a short musical phrase, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition; the smallest analyzable element or phrase within a subject; the shortest subdivision of a theme or phrase that still maintains its identity as a musical idea, the smallest structural unit possessing thematic identity.

 

fugal style:

see Chapter II page 61, Chapter VI page 183, 187, 197 and above page 220, 222

 

Frescobaldi (first master of fugal style): * see endnote<F>

1583-1643, musician from the Duchy of Ferrara (N Italy); an important composer of keyboard music in late Renaissance & early Baroque.  A child prodigy, Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara, but was influenced by a large number of composers, including Ascanio Mayone, Giovanni Maria Trabaci, and Claudio Merulo. Girolamo Frescobaldi was appointed organist of St. Peter's Basilica, a focal point of power for the Capella Giulia (a musical organisation) from 1608 to 1628 and from 1634 to 1643. He was the first of the great composers of the ancient Franco-Netherlandish-Italian tradition who focused his creative energy on instrumental composition. He brought a wide range of emotion to the relatively unplumbed depths of instrumental music.  Keyboard music occupies the most important position in Frescobaldi's extant work.

 

Bach (culminates Fugal style):

see Chapter I page 27, Chapter II page 62, Chapter III 112, Chapter VI page 183

 

Vocal masses (sung mass):

form of sacred musical composition, choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music. Most Masses are settings of the liturgy in Latin.  They may be a cappella (without an independent accompaniment), or they can be accompanied by instrumental obbligatos up to & including a full orchestra.

 

oratorio:

see Chapter VI pages 187, 203

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oratorio (Carissimi): * see endnote<G>

1605-74, Italian composer & music teacher & one of the most celebrated masters of the early Baroque & the Roman School of music.  He established the characteristic features of the Latin oratorio and was a prolific composer of motets and cantatas. He was highly influential in musical developments in north European countries through his pupils & wide dissemination of his music.  He was composing when secular music was about to usurp the dominance of sacred music in Italy, a decisive & permanent change.  When he began writing the influence of the previous generations of Roman composers was still heavy (e.g. Palestrina).  By the end of his career the operatic forms, as well as the instrumental secular forms, were predominant.

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cantata:

Until the early 17th century all "cultured" music was vocal.  With the rise of instrumental music the term cantata appeared (simultaneously with opera and oratorio), while the instrumental art became sufficiently developed to be embodied in sonatas.  From the beginning of the 17th century until late in the 18th, the cantata for one or two solo voices with accompaniment of basso continuo (and perhaps a few solo instruments) was a principal form of Italian vocal chamber music.

and see above page 226

 

cantata (Viadana):

1560-1627, Italian composer, teacher & Franciscan friar. He was the first significant figure to make use of the newly developed technique of figured bass, a musical devices which ended the Renaissance and initiated the Baroque eras in music.  He did not invent figured bass (we find them as early as 1597) but was the first to use it in a widely distributed collection of sacred music which he published in Venice (1602).  Agostino Agazzari published a treatise (1607) describing how to interpret the new figured bass, though it is clear that many performers had by this time already learned the new method, at least in the most progressive musical centres in Italy.

 

opera (Monteverde): * see Endnote<H>

1567-1643, Italian composer, string player & choirmaster; wrote both secular & sacred music, a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance & Baroque.  Much of his work is lost; only 3 complete operas of his survive. His opera L'Orfeo (1607) is the earliest of the genre; towards the end of his life he wrote works for the commercial theatre in Venice, including Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and L'incoronazione di Poppea.  He worked extensively in the earlier Renaissance polyphony tradition, (his madrigals); he also undertook developments in form and melody, & began to employ the basso continuo technique (so distinctive of the Baroque).  He was a significant influence in European musical history & as a composer whose works are regularly performed and recorded.

and see above page 226

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bass melody:

aka bassline, bass line or bass part, term used in many styles of music, for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played by a rhythm section instrument such as the double bass, cello, tuba or keyboard (piano, organ).  In unaccompanied solo performance, basslines may simply be played in the lower register of any instrument such as guitar or piano while melody and/or further accompaniment is provided in the middle or upper register.  In solo music for piano and pipe organ, these instruments have an excellent lower register that can be used to play a deep bassline.