Download Mannerism in Music

Music during the Manneristic period shows few of
the peculiarities and even artificialities which have
been noted in the field of fine arts. The Italians al last
had enough of the complicated Flemish polyphony. It
was, however, ideally suited to the new spirit of
devotion and spirituality which pervaded the church
as a result of the Counter Reformation.
Palestrina, Victoria and Lassus are the masses and
motets of the Italian Palestrina (c. 1525-1594) and his
Spanish friend Victoria (c. 1540-1611) in their ardent
passion and dramatic expressiveness, represent the
ideal music of the Catholic faith.
Musician often link Lassus and Palestrina because
they were contemporary (both died in 1594), and both
composed the purest of a cappella church music.
Stylistically the are similar in their mixture of
polyphony and homophony and their use of the old
church scales but with an increase feeling for major
and minor tonality.
Lassus remained the true man of Renaissance, the
hearty Fleming at home in every musical form of the
period. Palestrina and the younger Victoria were
Jesuits-inspired, writing a lofty purity. It is their mood
of excessive awe and sublimity that links them with the
Mannerist period.
The composer who
completed this development
was Marenzio (c. 1560-1599). In
his music all the resources of
the polyphony and homophony
are made to serve the poetic
text. In order to paint in music
the dramatic word pictures of
the text he deliberately turned
his back on the old church
scales in favor of modern
tonality.
Before the resources of
modern harmony, based on the
interrelationship of keys, could be
fully exploited. This was whether to
tune the keyboard instrument by
mathematics or by ear. If the classical
Greek influence had been less
strong, it would probably have been
settled sooner. The ear tuning, or
equal temperament as it came to be
called, was finally established by
Zarlino, a Venetian theorist (1558)
He calls the four -voice setting the normal one, and he
likens the four voices to the four elements.
Bass – Earth (Foundation of the harmony)
Tenor – Water
Alto – Air
Soprano – Fire
Soprano is the most important part because of its
ornamental and elegant cantilena, proceeding such a
manner that it nourishes and feeds the souls of those
who listen.
one of the first practical applications of Zarlino’s
ideas was in the opera and oratorio which were born in
the same year 1600. there had been throughout the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries societies called
“academies” where groups of artistic dilletantes
gathered to discuss art and enjoy social good time.
One of these, called “Camerata” met in the home of
Count Bardi in Florence.