Chapter 2: Sacred Music

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Chapter 2 Sacred Music

• Journal Entry 7
• What does a cappella music offer the listener
  that instrumental music doesnt?
• Turn in entries 5, 6 and 7 when done.

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CHARACTERISTICS, continued from yesterday

• What SHMRFT traits can you fill in so far?
• Text Painting?
• No extreme dynamic contrast?
• Little tone color contrast?
• Little rhythmic contrast?

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CHARACTERISTICS, cont

• Texture
• Polyphonic
• 4, 5, or 6 voices, nearly equal melodic interest
• Imitation
• Each voice presents the same melodic idea in turn
  (as in a round)
• Some homophonic texture is used, especially in
  light music, dances

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CHARACTERISTICS, cont

• Fuller sound
• Bass register used for first time, increasing
  number of octaves heard
• Composers began to think in chords, in addition
  to individual melodic lines
• In Middle Ages, entire melody lines thought up
  one at a time and then combined.
• In Renaissance, melodies were thought up in
  relation to how they accompany each other
• Mild, relaxed
• Lots of stable, consonant chords, many triads
• Very little dissonance

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CHARACTERISTICS, cont

• Golden Age of a cappella choral music
• Little instrumental accompaniment
• 2 Main uses for instruments
• 1. To duplicate vocal lines to reinforce the
  sound
• 2. Play the part of a missing singer
• Now what can you add to your SHMRFT traits?

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CHARACTERISTICS, cont

• Rhythm
• Gentle flow, not sharply defined beat
• Each melodic line held great rhythmic
  independence
• Made it challenging to sing each singer had to
  be independently strong

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CHARACTERISTICS, cont

• Melody
• Melodies generally easy to sing
• Moves stepwise, few large leaps
• And your SHMRFT traits now?

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LISTENING TO RENAISSANCE

• Sicut Cervus
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

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Chapter 2 Sacred Music

• 2 Main Forms
• 1. Motet
• 2. Mass

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• Motet Mass

Shorter Set to sacred Latin text
other than the ordinary of the mass
Longer Set to 5 sectionsKyrie, Gloria,
Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei
Stylepolyphonic choral works Sacred Text
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Chapter 2, cont

• Josquin Desprez (1440-1521)
• Flemish (from what is
• now Belgium)
• Spent much of life in
• Italy
• Served dukes private
• chapels, papal choir in
• Rome, Louis XII of France,
• several church positions

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Desprez, cont

• Composed masses, motets, secular vocal pieces
• Strongly influenced other composers
• Praised for his skill

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Desprez, cont

• Ave MariaVirgo Serena (1502)
• (Hail, MarySerene Virgin)
• 4-voice motet
• Delicate, serene
• Polyphonic imitation
• Melodic phrase on Ave Maria presented by
  soprano, then imitated in turn by alto, tenor,
  bass
• Next, gratia plena has different melody, also
  passed from soprano down

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Ave Maria, cont

• Each voice enters while the preceding one is in
  the middle of its melody.
• Overlapping creates feeling of continuous flow

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• Josquin varied texture within a piece
• Also imitation between pairs of voices (duets
  between high voices imitated by duets between low
  voices)

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• Sometimes almost homophonic, like at Ave vera
  virginitas
• Also changes from duple to triple meter, then
  back to duple

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• Ends with slow chords, expressing Josquins
  personal plea to the Virgin O Mother of God,
  remember me. Amen.

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Ave Maria, cont

• Ave MariaVirgo Serena
• (Hail, Mary
• Serene Virgin)
• Josquin Desprez

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• Josquins varied texture within a piece
• Also imitation between pairs of voices (duets
  between high voices imitated by duets between low
  voices)

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• Sometimes almost homophonic, like at Ave vera
  virginitas
• Also changes from duple to triple meter, then
  back to duple

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• Ends with slow chords, expressing Josquins
  personal plea to the Virgin O Mother of God,
  remember me. Amen.

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Chapter 2 cont

• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (about
  1525-1594)
• Most important Italian composer of Ren.
• Devoted to composing for Catholic church
• Career in Rome church positions, including St.
  Peters Basilica
• Composed 104 masses, about 450 other sacred works

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Chapter 2 cont

• Career best understood against the backdrop of
  the Counter-Reformation.
• Early 1500s, Catholic church was challenged by
  Protestants (non-Catholic Christians).
• Sought to correct abuses, malpractices
• Sought to counter the move toward Protestantism
• Led to convening of the Council of Trent
  (1545-1563), which considered questions of dogma
  and organization

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Chapter 2 cont

• Council determined that church music had lost its
  purity
• Some complained that complex polyphony had made
  it impossible to understand the sacred text
• Some wanted only monophonic music (Gregorian
  chant)
• Church music shouldnt be written for the empty
  pleasure of the ear, but to inspire religious
  contemplation
• Palestrinas restraint, serenity reflect emphasis
  on more spiritual music

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Chapter 2 cont

• Palestrinas music is regarded as a model for
  church music because of its calmness,
  other-worldly quality
• Even today, the technical perfection of
  Palestrina is studied as the model for students
  of composition and counterpoint (imitation)

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Chapter 2 cont

• Kyrie from Pope Marcellus Mass (1562-1563)
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
• His most famous
• Seen as a reflection of the Council of Trents
  desire for clear projection of sacred text.
• A cappella, 6 voice parts
• Soprano, alto, two tenors, two basses

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Chapter 2 cont

• Kyrie 1st section of the Mass
• Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy.
• Christe eleison. Christ, have mercy.
• Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy.
• sounds fuller than Josquins Ave Maria because it
  has two more voice parts
• Very singable, eased melody, much like a
  Gregorian chant
• Leaps are balanced by steps

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LISTENING TO PALESTRINA

• Missa Papae Marcelli
• (Pope Marcellus Mass)
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

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VOCABULARY REVIEW

• Renaissance
• Individualism
• Universal man
• Humanism
• Realism
• Linear Perspective
• Text Painting/Word Painting
• Imitation
• Consonance/Dissonance
• A cappella

• Motet
• Mass
• Kyrie, Gloria, Credo,
• Sanctus, Agnus Dei
• Josquin Desprez
• Imitation
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
• Protestant Reformation
• Counter-Reformation
• Council of Trent

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UNIT III PRESENTATIONS

• Exploration Columbus, da Gama, Magellan
• Kieryn
• Claire
• Chris
• Taimoor
• Art da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael
• Emma
• Aaron
• Sami
• Ryan
• Literature William Shakespeare
• Anna
• Andrew
• Nathan
• Nick

• Technology Movable Type Printing Press,
  Gutenberg Bible
• Kalyn
• Julian
• Blake
• Jacob
• Religion Martin Luther and the Protestant
  Reformation
• Dominique
• Phil
• Alec
• Bilal

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HOMEWORK

• Complete the worksheet packet for Chapters 1-2,
  due tomorrow.
• Answers can also be found in books, if you need
  to take one home