Download Reading guide Christensen, ch. 12 “Renaissance modal theory” by

Reading guide
Christensen, ch. 12
“Renaissance modal theory” by Cristle Collins Judd
Know who and where Judd is.
Preparation:
What is the Renaissance a rebirth of?
What cataclysm in eastern Europe fostered this new interest in the Latin west?
This chapter is weaker than most that we have read so far. Use this guide, and try hard not to
worry about issues I don't point to with questions here.
p. 364
¶2 What is the central problem with modal theory in the Renaissance?
p. 365
¶1 Regarding this problem, what specific “questions arise'?
What recent musicologist doubts the relevance of mode in polyphony?
¶2 A good review: mode was conceived as a classification of chants. The explanation was
centered on the final and the ambitus (range of the melody). Boethius related what to the
modes?
Hermannus (and Marchetto) explained the modes how?
p. 366
¶0 What recent musicologist, in opposition to Powers, thinks mode was the all-explaining
principle of pitch in Renaissance polyphony?
¶1 Who is the most famous theorist of the 16th century?
¶2 What is his masterwork, and when was it written?
“Humanistic learning”: The late medieval and Renaissance movement toward studying ancient
Greek and Roman works in a form as close to the original as possible.
p. 367
¶2 What six basic audiences for writing about modes existed in the sixteenth century?
Lateinschulen: schools associated with cathedrals, etc., where boys went to sing soprano parts
in the choir and also to learn to read and write Latin, possibly as preparation for
university.
Musica speculativa: a tradition of thinking and writing about music opposed to musica
practica. What theorists have we read about that fit more into this category?
Chapter 12 – p. 2
p. 368
¶1 Who was the cantorinus for? (Note: two of the six categories!) What were its typical
contents?
Guidonian hand: Note that the hand gives the basic tone system, intervallic analysis through
the hexachords, and a solfège system.
mutation: singers using this overlapping solmization system had to know how to change to
different hexachords when a melody moved out of the range of the starting hexachord.
This switch was known as “mutation.”
¶2 What is the “first and foremost” use of modal theory even in the sixteenth century?
“Its medieval formulation”: the modal system of Berno and Hermannus.
p. 370
¶1 Which of the six categories is represented here? (Note: “Ciceronian sense” and “refreshment
of the mind.” Two categories possibly fit.)
¶2 According to the first sentence, which two of the six categories made up the target audience
here?
Which book did Zarlino acquire when he moved to Venice? What were its contents? Was this
list of contents typical?
¶3 Judd tells the story a little out of order. What two prominent theorists help preserve modal
theory between the time of Berno and the time of Zarlino?
p. 371
¶2 You don't need to make total sense of Vanneus' chart. But notice that he numbers the modes
in the early medieval way (protus authenticus, etc.) and the late medieval way (authentic
D mode is primus, while the plagal D mode is secundus).
maneriae: Judd continues to use this term. Modes I and II (Dorian and Hypodorian) are
different, yet they share something in common. That something was called a “quality” in
the enchiriadis treatises and in Hucbald, and it was explained by the intervallic
relationships around the final. Here, that something is called a maneria.
¶3 You don't need to memorize psalm tones for this class. But note that this is an important,
practical part of this type of modal writing.
p. 373
¶3 What do modern scholars think is the relevance of modal theory (in the tradition of Tinctoris)
to Renaissance polyphony?
p. 374
Chapter 12 – p. 3
¶0 Here is the main problem of Renaissance modal theory, but I don't know if Judd is going to
make it explicitly! I think you can come up with it, though. Tinctoris writes about mode
in one polyphonic example, but only discusses the mode of each voice, not of the piece as
a whole. What two basic features define a mode according to Alia musica? Or what
combination defines a mode according to Berno? Now think about applying one of those
theories to each voice in a piece by, say, Ockeghem. What will you find?
¶1 The line about ancient theory defining modes by octave species is misleading. But remember,
that's all the medieval theorists got out of it. And in any case, there was no talk in the
ancient authors about finals or about joining a species of fourth and a species of fifth.
¶2 Notice that Boethius is printed very early in the age of printing. It is still read in the 1520s, still
studied.
Who is credited with starting the humanist study of ancient theory?
p. 376
¶0 What our textbook doesn't make clear is that the ancient ethnic names (Dorian, etc.) favored
by Alia musica didn't really become standard in the middle ages; the medieval monks
preferred to use simple numbers to identify the modes. Gaffurio brings the ethnic names
back. What else does he get from his reading of Boethius?
¶1 What language were the described treatises written in?
What other feature made them special?
¶2 “The assimilation is primarily that of a repertory to a theory.” What repertory is now
submitted to what theory?
p. 377
¶0 Aaron determines the mode of a piece by determining the mode of one particular voice. Which
voice?
¶2 Clefs are designated here by the naming the referential pitch and the line upon which it is
placed. Remember that in the Renaissance, all clefs were movable. The F clef, for
instance, might be placed on the third, fourth, or fifth line.
The signatures of the time were not key signatures but rather transposition signs. In the
Middle Ages, we read, melodies of modes I and II usually ended on D, but might be
written to end on A if they involved some chromaticism on the second scale degree. By
the Renaissance, that chromatic trait seems to have disappeared. Dorian is still found
primarily on D, but may be found sometimes on G with a flat in the signature. The flat in
this case is a sign that the Dorian scale has been transposed from D to G.
What anthology suggests modal categorization by its ordering?
Chapter 12 – p. 4
p. 378
¶1 How do the collections by Scotto more explicitly indicate modal categorization of polyphonic
pieces?
p. 379
¶0 and chart De Rore's book of madrigals is ordered by mode and includes samples from each of
the eight modes. What surprises do you see in de Rore's understanding of the modes?
p. 380
¶0 Again, Judd tells her story a little of order for an audience that may know nothing of modal
theory at the time. Remember, Powers believes that “mode” was a traditional idea that did
not necessarily have anything to do with polyphonic composition. He notes instead
twenty-four combinations of ambitus, signature, and final, and suggests ways in which
each combination might be thought of as similar to a traditional mode. Meier, on the
other hand, believes that composers were consciously thinking modes when writing
polyphony, but were thinking more about characteristic melodic figures and their
expressive content.
The fact remains that “mode” is a problematic concept when applied to polyphonic music. As
you can see in the text, some composers said their music was in a mode. But how do you
determine the mode of a polyphonic piece? For one thing, the voices may end on different
pitches. For another, they may have different ranges. A third problem arises with the
new, confusing use of flats in a signature. Theorists did not deal with the problem
consistently. Some, notably Glarean and Zarlino, came up with a new theory of twelve
modes to cover the possibilities. Another theoretical problem is that some theorists were
emphasizing octave species, others a final, and others an ethical or affective character for
each mode.
p. 382
¶1 What evidence shows that Zarlino was not thinking about affective character in his Song of
Songs cycle?
¶2 How are the five voices of Zarlino's motet arranged with regard to modal ambitus?
p. 383
¶0 By the sixteenth century, what alteration to the original conception of the F modes was
common?
¶1 What repertory does Glarean use to demonstrate his twelve modes?
¶2 We have seen these two conceptions of modal scales before. Which one does Alia musica
represent? Berno of Reichenau?
I'm not sure I agree with Judd's positioning of Glarean. In our reading excerpt, Glarean clearly
Chapter 12 – p. 5
goes through the process of combining fifths and fourths, although he rejects many
combinations as unacceptable. So perhaps his extreme discretion with this method can be
seen as rejecting the very concept of deriving modes by adding fourths and fifths.
p. 388
¶0 After all his reasoning and manipulation (neither of which is terribly clear from this account,
I'm afraid), how many modes does Glarean come up with?
Again, I think Judd fails to make the main point explicit. Glarean ends up with more modes
because he tries to define mode exclusively as an octave species, with division into fourth
and fifth or fifth and fourth. He is much like Alia musica in this regard, except that isn't
tied to the tradition that there are only eight modes, and so he only rejects the
combinations that emphasize the diminished fifth between B and F.
p. 389
¶1 How does Zarlino show that he knows and approves of Glarean new theory?
Although de Rore clearly thought of a mode on F as Lydian or Hypolydian even though it used
B-flats, Zarlino has a different idea. What does he call that mode? Why?
p. 393
Note that Zarlino finds examples of the “eleventh” mode in chant!
Note also that he includes octave species, fifth-plus-fourth, and affective explanations.
Note also his inconsistency in stating that a “lascivious” mode was used in an antiphon addressing
the “sweet mother of the Redeemer”!
p. 394
¶0 Note here that modal theory was always a problem. Since the earliest notated chants allowed
for chromaticism involving b quadratum and b rotundum, all the talk of species of fifth
and species of octave was a close approximation to begin with. Chants notated going
from F to f were designated to mode V no matter whether the b was flat every time.
¶1 According to Zarlino, what are appropriate beginning and ending notes for each mode?
¶2 Whereas Glarean related the twelve modes to chant, to what repertory does Zarlino apply
them?
p. 395
¶1 processo: I believe that Judd is saying here that Zarlino demonstrates the Alia musica-esque
structure of each mode as an octave species divided into fourth and fifth through the use
of tonal imitation. Look at p. 384, where the tenor outlines the fifth, and the bassus
imitates below with the outline of a fourth. A plagal form of the mode is demonstrated.
Chapter 12 – p. 6
p. 397
¶0 Zarlino renumbers the modes. What note is now the “first” final?
The new order of finals corresponds to what? (Hint: it has something to do with Guido.)
“Superiority of harmonic division over arithmetic.” I don't understand from this description
how this is new. But what it means is that the C-G-c arrangement (the harmonic division
of the octave) is first, and the Ã[gamma]-C-G arrangement (the arithmetic division)
second. You should be able to divide the octave harmonically and arithmetically and to
give the mathematical explanation of these two means. If you can't, ask me to go over it
in class.
p. 399
¶1 Did the twelve-mode system take over Europe?
¶2 What composers reflected the twelve-mode system in their cyclic works? Do these composers
represent widespread areas of Europe?
p. 400
¶1 Are you surprised at how recently musicologists tried looking at 16th-century polyphony using
concepts of tonal music? How successful have been the attempts to view it with “the
theory of the time”?
p. 402
In other words: things were confusing then, things are confusing now. But you should know the
basic problems of mode in the Renaissance and the basic facts concerning the positions of
Aaron, Glarean, and Zarlino.