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MUS111 – HISTORICAL SURVEY TEST #1 – FEB. 15, 2007 Answer Key Listed below are the standard answers for each question – however, there may be other valid answers that apply (and, indeed, many of you will find that you received marks for answers not found below). SECTION I - LISTENING QUESTIONS 1) Listening Example 1 (10 marks) Josquin; Ave Maria; c.1485 Form of the composition – motet; Texture – polyphony Typical of this composer (and used in this piece) is composition by the process of imitation Describe the texture as it unfolds in the excerpt just played: point of imitation with entries ranging high to low (soprano to bass); heard several times until full texture of all four voices is reached; paired imitation of soprano and alto; paired imitation of tenor and bass; full four-voice texture is heard at the end of the excerpt 2) Listening Example 2 (7 marks) Leoninus; Viderunt Omnes; c.1180 Genre of the composition – organum; This composition is based on a preexisting chant/plainchant/plainsong/Gregorian chant Describe the melody and rhythm of the highest voice: the melody “undulates and cascades in a virtuosic way”, it is free, rhapsodic, melismatic; the rhythm is unmeasured and can also be described as “free and rhapsodic” 3) Listening Example 3 (8 marks) Weelkes; As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending from The Triumphs of Oriana; madrigal Describe in detail the word painting found in the excerpt just heard: “descending” = falling scale/pitches; “ascending” = rising scale; “country swains” = simple, repeated notes; “running down amain” = running musical line; “two by two” = two voices only; “three by three” = three voices only; “all together” = all six voices 4) Listening Example 4 ( 8 marks) Dufay; Lament of the Holy Mother Church of Constantinople; 1453 This piece is associated with the European court of Burgundy Comment on the melody and rhythm of the tenor line and describe how it relates to the other three parts in the piece: tenor is based on a preexisting plainchant to which rhythm is applied; the chant provides melodic gestures for other voices; the tenor’s notes are of much longer duration/held longer than the other vocal lines; diversity between voices – each voice has its own rhythmic and melodic character; heterogeneous hierarchy of voices 5) Listening Example 5 (8 marks) Machaut; Kyrie from Mass of Our Lady Structural technique used in this piece: isorhythm The cadences in this piece sound hollow/bare/not full because they lack the 3rd of the chord Comment on the composer’s use of rhythm in this piece: isorhythm (repeating rhythmic pattern) is found in both the tenor and contratenor; rhythmic contrast/diversity between vocal lines; use of syncopation for heterogeneous effect; use of hocket to produce heterogeneous effect 6) Listening Example 6 (8 marks) Hildegard; O Greenest Branch; c.1150; Text setting: nearly syllabic/neumatic Describe the stylistic features of the melody: predominantly stepwise motion; narrow range; avoids large leaps; gravitates around modal centre (G) Comment on the composer’s use of rhythm in this piece: lack of measured rhythm; freely flowing vocal line based on natural inflections of the Latin text; free rhythm; free-verse or prose rhythm; notes are generally of one basic value SECTION II – FILL IN THE BLANK Provide a term that best describes the definition that follows. (10 marks) mode organum quadrivium Mass melismatic texture Council of Trent syncopation reciting tone drone SECTION III – GENERAL QUESTIONS List and describe three basic compositional principles of Palestrina discussed in class: (6 marks) 1) smooth, controlled melodic lines, primarily moving in stepwise motion with few leaps -melodic lines flow smoothly and do not use strongly marked rhythms 2) careful control of dissonance; Palestrina avoided writing the kinds of strong dissonances that the madrigal composers liked to use 3) varied texture: Palestrina continually shifts his musical texture from imitative polyphony to homophony; in addition he will drop voices out and add them back in for musical variety 4) imitative entries: Palestrina varies the distance between his imitative entries (or ‘points of imitation’), varies the number of voices involved, and varies the voice ranges used (for ex., he may have an imitative entry between soprano and tenor, followed later by an imitative entry between bass, alto and tenor); this type of variety helps to keep the music interesting List five characteristics of Renaissance music: (5 marks) 1) the predominant sound is vocal polyphony, most commonly consisting of 4 or 5 lines 2) smoother sounding melodies that are homogeneous 3) imitative polyphony: using imitation between vocal lines as an organizing device in music 4) homophony - both chordal homophony and song texture 5) polyphony where all voices are equal in function 6) some pieces containing metre have no marked rhythms resulting in a floating quality List five characteristics of Medieval polyphony: (5 marks) 1) heterogenous melodies 2) heterogeneous rhythms 3) hierarchy: each voice performs a different function 4) use of preexisting chant as a foundation in compositions 5) use of isorhythm 6) hollow cadences containing no thirds 7) an aesthetic that prefers diversity between voices, melodies, and rhythms that are playing simultaneously Describe the criticism of music brought forth by reformers at the Council of Trent: (3 marks) At the Council of Trent the reformers agreed that music for the Church was becoming too theatrical; the polyphony was too complex and elaborate, and as a result the congregation could not hear the text that was being sung List and describe the two main sources from which the Renaissance derived its inspiration: (2 marks) 1) culture of ancient Greece and Rome 2) humanism