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YUDKMC05_096-118hr 11-01-2007 14:36 Page 103 THE RENAISSANCE: 1400–1600 LISTENING GUIDE Date of composition: Thirteenth century Choir Duration: 2:24 Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Plainchant hymn, Pange Lingua Pan ge San lin gua glo gui nis que pre Fruc tus ven tris ge ri o ti o ne ro si si, Cor po Quem in si Rex T ef ris my ste mun di fu dit ri pre Student CD I, 29 Complete CD I, 29 um, ti gen um ti um. he Pange Lingua hymn was written by Thomas Aquinas, one of the foremost scholars and theologians of the late Middle Ages. The hymn is strophic: All four stanzas are sung to the same music. Each stanza has six lines, and they seem to fall into pairs. The chant is in the E (Phrygian) mode, but the only line that ends on E is the last one. This gives the music a sense of continuity until the end. The chant is almost entirely syllabic, and the text urges praise for the miracle of Christ’s birth and death. We will listen to all four stanzas, but what is important here is the music; therefore, the entire text is not given. Remember: All four stanzas have exactly the same music. CD 29 (29) TIME 0:00 0:33 1:04 1:39 2:12 LISTEN FOR Stanza 1 Stanza 2 Stanza 3 Stanza 4 “Amen” (“Pange lingua . . . ”) (“Nobis datus . . . ”) (“In supremae . . . ”) (“Verbum caro . . . ”) 103 YUDKMC05_096-118hr 11-01-2007 14:36 Page 104 CHAPTER 5 LISTENING GUIDE Student CD I, 30 Complete CD I, 30 Date of composition: c. 1520 Sopranos, altos, tenors, basses Duration: 2:51 Josquin Desprez (c. 1440–1521) Kyrie from the Pange Lingua Mass TENORS A ll of the three basic characteristics of Josquin’s style that we have discussed may be heard in the opening Kyrie of Josquin’s Pange Lingua Mass: 1. Simple imitation: A point of imitation introduces each short melodic phrase. 2. Overlapping cadences: Just as the first group is completing its phrase and moving into a cadence, a second group enters, and so on. 3. Paired imitation: One pair of voices sings a phrase of imitation, then another pair enters. Let us first look at the phrase that provides the material for the first point of imitation. It is derived from the first phrase of the plainchant hymn. Notice, however, that Josquin adds a short turning passage between the last two notes to provide intensity and drive to the cadence. Notice, too, the rhythm that Josquin has applied to the notes. It starts out with long notes (which stress the characteristic E–F half step of the Phrygian mode) and increases in motion until just before the end. The meter of this music is also very flexible. Composers of this era did not use measures or bar lines 104 YUDKMC05_096-118hr 11-01-2007 14:36 Page 105 THE RENAISSANCE: 1400–1600 (as you can see from the facsimile of the original score). This creates a very fluid sound without the regularly recurring accents that occur in later music. The movement as a whole has three main sections: 1. Kyrie eleison. 2. Christe eleison. 3. Kyrie eleison. Each section begins with a new point of imitation, and all are derived from the original hymn. The “Christe” section is based on the third and fourth lines of the hymn, the final “Kyrie” section on the fifth and sixth lines. Toward the end of the last section, Josquin adds new rhythmic material to create a strong drive to the final cadence. CD 30 (30) TIME LISTEN FOR 0:00 Kyrie eleison 0:45 Christe eleison 2:02 Kyrie eleison (Based on opening of hymn melody.) Tenors and basses; cadence overlaps with entry of altos. Sopranos enter before final cadence. (Based on lines 3 and 4 of hymn melody.) Paired imitation, overlapping entries. (Based on lines 5 and 6 of hymn melody.) Sopranos, altos, tenors, basses enter in turn; increase in activity before final cadence. THE LATE RENAISSANCE The sixteenth century was a time of remarkable musical achievements. The balance, beauty, and exquisite sound of imitative polyphony were fully explored by composers throughout Europe. In addition, composers began to use more homophonic texture—chordal harmonies—in their compositions. There are few greater contrasts in music than that between imitative polyphony, with its emphasis on individual melodies that overlap, and homophony, with its emphasis on chordal harmonies, and Renaissance composers from Josquin onward took full advantage of this contrast. They alternated and interwove the two styles in their compositions to achieve ever greater variety of texture and to underscore the meaning of their texts. In fact, the development of music during the Renaissance is marked by this increasing focus on expressing the text. During the sixteenth century, the combination of a high degree of technical accomplishment and a new interest in text expression led to the creation of some of the most beautiful works in the history of music. Masses, motets, and secular songs were created by composers throughout Europe—in France and Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, and England. But probably the main center of musical activity was Italy. Italy was the focal point of the Roman Catholic movement known as the Counter-Reformation, which began partly in reaction to the Protestant Reformation and partly as the result of a genuine desire to reform the Catholic Church from within. The Counter-Reformation had important consequences for music, as we will see. One technical change that may be noticed in late Renaissance music is the sound of the last chord at the end of sections. Until this time, final chords contained only the “perfect” intervals (octaves and fifths). But in the late Renaissance, composers began to think that final chords should present the fullest sound possible and, therefore, should include the third, as well as the root, the fifth, and the octave of the chord. You can clearly hear the difference between a piece that ends with the open sound of an octave and a fifth and a piece that ends with a full chord. (Compare the ending sound of the Machaut song in the previous chapter with the sound at the end of the following Palestrina motet.) 105 YUDKMC05_096-118hr 15-01-2007 17:30 Page 109 THE RENAISSANCE: 1400–1600 LISTENING GUIDE Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525–1594) Motet, Exsultate Deo Date of composition: 1584 Sopranos, altos I, altos II, tenors, basses Duration: 2:24 T he motet Exsultate Deo was first published in Palestrina’s fifth book of motets in 1584. This book contains twenty-one motets written for five voices. The text is from Psalm 81. Palestrina uses only the first three lines of the psalm. Sing out in praise of God our refuge, acclaim the God of Jacob. Raise a melody; beat the drum, play the tuneful lyre and harp. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, and blow it at the full moon on the day of your solemn feast. Exsultate Deo adiutori nostro, iubilate Deo Iacob. Sumite psalmum et date tympanum, psalterium iucundum cum cithara. Buccinate in neomenia tuba, insigni die solemnitatis vestrae. In his setting, Palestrina concentrates only on these exuberant opening verses of the psalm, rather than the fierce later ones. The music is bright and joyful, filled with dotted rhythms and running eighth-note patterns, which help to enliven the work. In addition, the composer uses some word-painting (echoing the meaning of words in music), such as on the opening word “Exsultate,” where the musical line rises triumphantly. Ex sul ta te De o With five independent musical lines, the number of possible combinations is large, and Palestrina constantly varies the texture of his music. The clearest examples of this variation are when the sopranos drop out briefly, leaving only the lower voices, or (on the words “psalterium iucundum”— “tuneful lyre”) when only three voices are sounding. Exsultate Deo is full of imitation, but Palestrina points up the entrance of new lines of text by having them sung homophonically by a pair of voices, which adds an underlying structure to the work as a whole. Cleverly, he departs from this technique toward the end of the motet on the words “Buccinate” (“blow”) and “tuba” (“trumpet”), where there is very close imitation, suggesting the echoing of trumpet blasts. This performance is by the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, England. This choir, which has been in continuous existence since the early sixteenth century, is made up of the same distribution of voices as it was originally: sixteen boys and twelve men. So all the high voices you hear are those of boys. 109 Student CD I, 31 Complete CD I, 31 YUDKMC05_096-118hr 11-01-2007 14:36 Page 110 CHAPTER 5 CD TIME 31 (31) 0:00 LISTEN FOR Exsultate Deo adiutori nostro, Sing out in praise of God our refuge, iubilate Deo Iacob. acclaim the God of Jacob. 0:49 Sumite psalmum et date tympanum, Raise a melody; beat the drum, 1:04 psalterium iucundum cum cithara. Buccinate in neomenia tuba, play the tuneful lyre and harp. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, insigni die solemnitatis vestrae. and blow it at the full moon on the day of your solemn feast. 0:11 0:28 0:37 32 (32) 0:00 0:13 0:23 The Madrigal [Imitation in pair of upper voices alone; rising line on “Exsultate.”] [Pair of lower voices. Cadence in all five voices; overlaps with:] [Many entries, suggesting a crowd “acclaiming.”] [Lower voices.] [Quite homophonic, becoming more imitative. Note dotted rhythm on “tympanum.”] [Elaborate flowering of the voices on “iucundum” (“tuneful”).] [Multiple echoes on “Buccinate;” homophonic climax on “neomenia.”] [Running echoes on “tuba.”] [Slower, lower, more “solemn.”] contrast is known as antithesis, and it presented ideal musical opportunities for madrigal composers. A sigh might be represented by a sudden, short pause—to be As we have seen, matching the words of the text with a musical setting that expresses their meaning was a primary concern of late Renaissance composers. The madrigal is the musical genre that demonstrates this desire most colorfully. The madrigal flourished in the courtly atmosphere of Italian aristocratic families. The poetry is serious and elegant, with a sonorous beauty of In his book, Morley its own. And the music is carefully designed to provides a detailed description of the way to reflect the text. Composers used a variety of techniques to write a madrigal. He then concludes: “Keeping bring out the meaning of the words they set. In these rules, you shall general, the same mixture of chordal textures have a perfect agreement and imitative polyphony was used in madrigals and, as it were, an as in motets, but composers went much further harmonical consent in their search for direct expression. If the text betwixt the matter and had words such as “rising,” “flying,” or “soarthe music.” ing,” then the music would have fast upward scales. “Peace” and “happiness” might be set to sweet major chords, “agony” and “despair” to wrenchThe title page to Thomas ing dissonances. In fact, contrasts of this kind— Morley’s A Plaine and Easie Introduction to between happiness and despair, for example—often Practicall Musicke, appeared in madrigal texts within the same poem. This printed in 1597. 110 YUDKMC05_096-118hr 11-01-2007 14:36 Page 112 CHAPTER 5 LISTENING GUIDE Student CD I, 33 Complete CD I, 33 Date of composition: 1595 Thomas Morley (1557–1602) Two English Madrigals Two sopranos (Sweet Nymph Come to Thy Lover); two baritones (Fire and Lightning) Duration: 2:31 T he texts for these short pieces were probably written by Morley himself. Each one contains picturesque images, which the music captures beautifully. The first madrigal, Sweet Nymph, compares the lover, singing his song to his beloved, to a nightingale, a favorite image for composers. The second, Fire and Lightning, uses the imagery of thunder and storms to describe the “stormy” nature of love. It is lively and frenetic, with a kicker at the end. Both are primarily imitative, with very close imitation in some sections to liven up the proceedings or to intensify the sound. The very last line of Fire and Lightning is suddenly homophonic to draw attention to the sting at the end. This last line also exploits antithesis (“fair”/“spiteful”) to make its effect. Both madrigals have such short texts that there are many repetitions of each phrase, and you will hear many instances of word-painting. The fine performances here are by students Sarah Pelletier and Suzanne Ehly, sopranos, and faculty members William Sharp and Mark Aliapoulios, baritones, of the Boston University School for the Arts. CD TIME 33 (33) 0:00 0:49 Sweet nymph come to thy lover, Lo here alone our loves we may discover, (Repeat of first two lines) Where the sweet nightingale with wanton gloses, Hark, her love too discloses. 1:03 (Repeat of last two lines) 0:00 0:45 Fire and lightning from heaven fall And sweetly enflame that heart with love arightful, (Repeat of first two lines) Of Flora my delightful, So fair but yet so spiteful. 0:47 (Repeat of last two lines) 0:12 0:20 0:39 34 (34) LISTEN FOR 0:08 0:16 0:31 Imitation. Touches of homophony on “Lo here alone.” Imitation; high notes and close harmony on “gloses” [trills]. High notes, very close imitation, especially last time through. 112 Lively; very close imitation. Smooth descending scales on “sweetly.” Scales in opposite direction on “delightful.” Last time through: homophonic, close pungent harmony, dissonance on “spite-,” incomplete sound on “ful.” YUDKMC05_096-118hr 11-01-2007 14:36 Page 114 CHAPTER 5 LISTENING GUIDE Student CD I, 35 Complete CD I, 35 Date of composition: 1597 Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1555–1612) Canzona Duodecimi Toni Two brass choirs Duration: 3:53 T his work by Giovanni Gabrieli is divided into several sections and contrasts two brass “choirs,” which are heard in dialogue. As in Josquin’s Pange Lingua Mass, the music is pushed forward by overlapping cadences, one choir beginning as the previous choir ends. Sometimes the two choirs play together. The piece features dynamic contrasts of loud and soft, which are characteristic of late Renaissance and early Baroque music. A special effect involving dynamic contrast is “echo,” in which the exact repetition of a phrase at a lower volume suggests distance. The canzona is full of varied rhythmic patterns, but the most pervasive is the “canzona rhythm,” LONG-short-short ( h q q ), which you will hear throughout the piece, in fast and slow tempos. CD TIME LISTEN FOR Introduction 35 (35) 0:00 Both brass choirs. Fairly slow, medium loud; canzona rhythm is prominent. Section 1 36 (36) 0:15 0:20 0:27 Choir I. Faster tempo, same musical motive and rhythm, faster tempo, homophonic. Choir II, growing louder. Both choirs, loud, featuring flourishes by trumpets in imitation; cadence. Section 2 37 (37) 0:43 Second idea, quieter, mostly homophonic, echoes, passages of imitation between choirs, lively rhythms; cadence. Section 3 38 (38) 1:26 1:43 1:49 Third idea, loud, mostly homophonic, echoes, both choirs. Trumpet flourishes, cadence. Canzona rhythm; close imitation, cadence. Section 4 39 (39) 2:10 2:35 3:02 Fourth idea, quiet, canzona rhythm, lots of imitation between choirs, cadence. Multiple echoes, from loud to soft, between choirs; crescendo . . . Final idea, both choirs loud, leading to big climax. 114 YUDKMC05_096-118hr 11-01-2007 14:36 Page 115 THE RENAISSANCE: 1400–1600 LISTENING GUIDE Complete CD I, 40 Date of composition: 1551 Tielman Susato (fl. 1543–1561) Ronde and Saltarelle Recorders and percussion Duration: 1:52 T his example is a dance pair written by the Flemish composer and publisher Tielman Susato. The ronde and saltarelle are both Renaissance dances in binary form. On the repeats, the melodies are occasionally ornamented with trills and decorative figures. The two dances use the same melody, but the ronde is in duple meter, whereas the saltarelle is in triple meter; the effect of the meter change is dramatic. CD TIME LISTEN FOR Ronde (40) 0:00 [duple meter: recorders and drum] First phrase: etc. 0:14 0:29 Repeat (ornamented) Second phrase (higher): etc. 0:36 Repeat (ornamented) Saltarelle (41) 0:43 [triple meter: recorders and tambourine] First phrase: etc. 1:05 1:26 Repeat (ornamented) Second phrase (higher): etc. 1:37 Repeat (ornamented) 115