Disclaimer

You are welcome to use the materials to study for exams, etc., AS LONG AS you are sure there aren’t academic honesty-related issues.

This class has been one of my favorite classes and most fortunate experiences to have had during my undergraduates. Professor Meconi truly changed the way I think about music.

Midterm I

(Note: page numbers are from this book: Yudkin, J. (2017). Music in Medieval Europe (Second). Oxford University Press.)

Terms

Composers

Adam of St. Victor

  1. French writer of sequences, skilled musician and powerful poet;
  2. Abbey of St. Victor – establishment of canons regular (community under a rule but less strict and confined as monks);
  3. composer of Laudes crucis attollamus, well-known sequence.

St. Hildegard von Bingen [p.202]

  1. German Benedictine abbess, prophet and mystic; founded a convent near Bingen;
  2. wrote Ordo Virtutem, the earliest surviving morality play with music, depicting the struggle between the Devil and the sixteen virtues
  3. letter to the prelates, against the loss of music due to the interdict, argues that music is the human body and soul, not only a source of joy, but also a way to praise god and understand history.

Bernart de Ventadorn [p.218]

  1. a Troubadour
  2. Humble birth, musically talented, discovered by lord, fell in love with lord’s wife, banished, etc.
  3. compsed Can Vei La Lauzeta Mover

Gace Brulén [p.231]

  1. trouvère, author/composer of Biaus M’est Estez
  2. might have been a knight with property

Walther von der Vogelweide [p.257]

  1. minnensinger, of the first main period of Minnensang; skilled poet;
  2. from a poor family of the lower aristocracy and working for noble class (dukes to emperors);
  3. composer of Nu Alrest Lebe Ich Mir Werde.

Genres, Styles, Compositions, Forms, etc.

Action chant

  1. Introit - when priests & celebrants enter
  2. Offertory - while bread and wine were prepared
  3. Communion - trans-substantiation

Composed chant of Mass Ordinary (KGCSAI) (Note: Kyrie Gloria Credo Sanctus Agnus Dei Ite Missa Est - Mar/2021)

Composed chant of Mass Proper (IGATSOC)

Fore-Mass:

  1. Introit [neumatic]
    • Antiphon - psalm verse - antiphon - lesser doxology - antiphon
    • Antiphon-psalm used to be repeated 3 times, but later, only repeated one time
    • Verse and Doxology are both liturgical recitatives; music for them was not written down ∵ memorized.
  3. Kyrie [neumatic]
    • tripartite (along with Agnus Dei)
  5. Gloria [syllabic]
  6. Gradual (Alleluia) [melismatic]
  7. Alleluia (Tract) [melismatic]
  8. Sequence [syllabic]
    • earlier sequences (800–1000): irregular accent rhythms & flexible assonance
    • later (1000–1150): systematic metrical & rhyming scheme. Change in text also influenced music setting
    • but all written in couplets with equal syllable counts, have careful melodic outline & modal clarity.
  10. Credo [syllabic]

Eucharist:

  1. Offertory [melismatic]
  2. Sanctus [neumatic]
    • 5 parts: Sanctus, Pleni, Hosanna, Benedictus, Hosanna
    • Hosanna with text repeat but not necessarily music; Benedictus could be parallel (beginning) to Pleni
  4. Pater Noster [liturgical recitative] (but it is Ordinary!)
  5. Agnus Dei [neumatic]
  6. Communion [neumatic]
  7. Ite, Missa Est [neumatic] (also Ordinary!)

Office

  1. Matins (2–3 a.m.)
  • Introduction, Nocturn * 3, Conclusion; very long
  • Nocturn: 3 psalms with antiphon; versicle; 3 lessons with responsory [Great responsaries!!]
  1. Lauds (celebration of daybreak)
    • canticle = Benedictus
  2. Four little hours: Prime, Terce, Sext, None (1, 3, 6, 9)
    • Short: 15–20 min
  3. Vespers (sunset)
    • Canticle for Vespers = Magnificat;
  5. Compline (before going to bed)
    • canticle - Nunc Dimittis
    • Marian antiphons

Opus Dei / opus mundi

  • Work of God (services, e.g. office) vs. mundane work (e.g. cooking, working in the field, etc.)

Canticle

  • Poetic text taken from the bible that is not a psalm
  • canticle for the Vespers: Magnificat
  • Only at Lauds, Vespers and Compline

Hymn

  • Present in every office
  • Metric poetic texts (set syllable counts)
  • Strophic structure
  • Not from the Bible
  • Not melismatic

Psalm antiphon

  • Antiphon sung before and after psalm verses (e.g. in Introit: Antiphon - Psalm - Antiphon - lesser dox. - Antiphon)

Votive antiphon

  • Dedicated to a person
  • Marian antiphon:
    • Alma Redemptoris Mater; Ave Regina Celorum; Regina Coeli; Salve Regina
    • Sung at the end of Compline

Responsory

  • Respond to the lessons in Office (in Matins, respond to Nocturns & Great Responsory)
  • Neumatic, sometimes with melismas
  • cf. Gradual and Alleluia in Mass
  • Structure: Repetendum - Verse - Repetendum - Lesser Doxology - Repetendum
  • Alternation of solo and choir: intonation by solo, choir sing Repetendum; solo Verse; Choir repeat repetendum, etc.

Trope

  • Embellishments to the liturgy, usually sung by solo
  • Appears most often at action chants, but never at Credo; ability to make Ordinary into Proper
  • Could be added texts to explain/elaborate original texts, or long melismas at the end of (e.g.) responsaries.

conjunct / disjunct

  • stepwise vs. not stepwise

syllabic / neumatic / melismatic

  • One syllable per pitch / 2–5 syllables per pitch (~1 neume per pitch) / long melisma (>5)

canso / chanson / cantiga

  • songs by troubadour / trouvère / Iberia

Bar form

  • AAB design, with the first strophe (pes / Stollen) repeated one time, followed by frons / Abgesang, which provides contrast
  • Nu Alrest is in (rounded) bar form

Other terms

authentic / plagal [p55]

  • “leading” vs. “subsidiary”
  • pair of modes with same finals, but differing in reciting tones (by a 3rd) and range (by a 4th)

temporale / sanctorale

  • temporale is the feasts related to Jesus’ time on earth, and sanctorale is feasts of saints
  • sanctorales are set dates of the year, while temporale are mostly fixed (except Christmas and a few others)

8 Church modes

  • Dorian; Hypodorian; Phrygian; Hypophrygian; Lydian; Hypolydian; Mixolydian; Hypomixolydian.

Gamut

  • From G, up 2 octaves, then up a 6th, to E, which is the range of medieval singing;
  • contains 7 hexachords

Jubilus

  • The special melisma at the “ya” of Alleluia
  • literally means “song of joy”

Ordo Virtutum

  • morality play written by Hildegard
  • Synopsis: battle for the human soul, Anima, between 17 Virtues and the Devil

Troubadour / Trobairitz

  • Southern France, 1100–1250

joglar / joglaresse / jongleur

  • Singer, performer, with lower status than the troubadours
  • cf. minstrel

Vida

  • accounts of the poets’ lives
  • perserved in the manuscripts of compositions
  • influenced by vitae of Saints
  • able to see lives of composeres and attitudes of people

Razo

  • Story of how a song is written, similar but different from Vida
  • Recited before the song

Trouvère

  • Singers of Northern France, 1150–1300

Minnesinger / Meistersinger

  • Singers in the Germanic regions, 1200–1400

Manuscripts & Collections of Music

Riesencodex

  • Copied at the the last years of Hildegard’s life, when she was alive, and people had already considered her as a saint
  • Contains her works of music as well as letters, science and others
  • lit. “Giant manuscript”

Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum

  • “Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations”
  • collection of Hildegard’s 77 songs
  • characterized by the unusually wide range, free use of modes, self-written texts, various genre (many Marian Antiphons), organized by hierarchy rather than years;

Cantigas de Santa Maria [p250]

  • Rich collection of 400 songs in honor of the Virgin Mary, lavish, carefully organized
  • musical heritage of King Alfonso the Wise, intending to present this as a monument of his reign
  • Each single song tells a story of Mary performing magic on behalf of everyday people of the time; every 10th song is a general prase to mary.

Theorists, Writers on Music, Musical Treatises

Guido d’Arezzo

  • Music theorist; inventor of solmization and hexachords
  • Also took credits for the invention of 4-line notation (staff)

St. Augustine

  • Baptized by Ambrose, his teacher, and became bishop later
  • Comtemplation over music, on whether it is sinful or a way to praise god (in which, acknowledges the emotional and expressive power of music)

St. Hildegard von Bingen (cf. Composers)

Raimbaut

  • Song of poor knight; jongleur
  • While serving Marquis Boniface (who made him a knight), fell in love with the Marquis’s sister, Beatrice
  • with rumor, Beatrice became angry, but the lovers were reconciled by a song.

Gregory the Great

  • Said to have received his commentary from the Holy Spirit, in form of a dove
  • compiled a book of antiphons
  • founded a schola, which performs the chant to this day

Charlemagne

  • suprised that the Gregorian chants were sung differently in different regions he conquered
  • attemped, with several fails, to have clerics learn the authentic chants from Rome, and sent to other regions
  • strict pedagogy of “whip with which he threatens the boys”
  • Started the notation
  • owned the largest territory since the fall of Roman Empire

Essay Questions

List the major musical components of the Mass and describe each one briefly.

Discuss the life and work of Hildegard von Bingen.

12th century

Abbess of convent

treatises

phophet

uncommon to take credit for 77 songs

own language, science

Discuss mode in plainchant.

  • Designed to categorized chants.

Trace the history of notation from ca. 800 to ca. 1100.

  1. ca. 800, Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope at Christmas, while he noticed chants differed from placed to place. He decided to unify them, and thus people invented unheightened neumes. (relative pitches, neumes differing in shape, and number of neumes distinguish melisma) - believed to be the beginning of written music
  2. 10th century, hightened neumes – pitches were written in relative positions of each other
  3. late 10th century: one line for middle C (and soon, another red line for F below)
  4. 1000s: Guido d’Arezzo invented 4-line staff
  5. 13th century: squared notations

Discuss the transmission and performance of music in the Middle Ages, explaining how it differs from practices today.

A cappella; Free rhythm

monophonic line and instruments for secular singers

no set pitch

oral adn inaccurate transmission, pronunciation

modes

little harmony, different cadences

Describe the main types of medieval secular monophony, indicating geographic regions and dates during which each flourished.

Discuss the offices, including information about each office, timing, duration, and so on.

Listening [composer, title, genre, style (form, mode, underlay, etc.)]

(Note from Mar/2021: the links might have expired, or public viewers may not have access to them.)

Anonymous - Alleluia Spiritus sanctus (Yudkin 04-06) [p86]

  1. Composer: Anonymous
  2. Title: Alleluia spiritus sanctus
  3. Genre: Alleluia, part of Mass proper [Mass of pentecost], functions as an alleluia, about holy spirit;
  4. melismatic, solo melisma except the choir repeat alleluia, jubilus and “potentia” (which has same melody as alleluia)
  5. Style – form: alleluia, jubilus; verse, ending in same melody as alleluia; return to alleluia, without repeating intonation.
  6. Style – mode: Hypodorian, Final in D, Reciting tone in F, range A-A
  7. intonation and continuation
  8. wide range on “perlustravit”
  9. potentia mirrors the melody of alleluia
  10. exchanging solo and choir

Adam of St. Victor - Laudes crucis attollamus (Yudkin 06-08) [p194]

  1. Composer: Adam of St. Victor [most famous composer of the late sequences]
  2. Title: Laudes crucis attollamus
  3. Genre: Sequence, part of Mass proper; (later period of Sequence writing);
  4. Style – form: same melody for texts written in couplets. (“each phrase has its own shape and character”)
  5. thourough-composed, but with motif at cadences (ABAGFGG) (cadential figures)
  6. Style – mode: mixolydian/hypomixolydian; Final in G; Reciting tone ???; range C-G (wide, starting rather low and ascending to the high G, in accordance with the emotional setting of the text)
  7. Text – internal rhyming: e.g. cruce // duce, scripturis // figuris, medicina // christiana
  8. Style – underlay: syllabic, with occational neumatic settings
  9. Text – praising the cross; cross appeared 15 times 10.

St. Hildegard von Bingen - Alleluia O Virga Mediatrix (D07-01)

  1. Composer: St. Hildegard von Bingen
  2. Title: Alleluia O Virga Mediatrix
  3. Genre: Alleluia – Mass Proper; contains jubilus!
  4. Style – form: the opening Alleluia should be repeated after the whole piece; some repeat within the ending melisma (tui orto);
  5. Style – mode: Phrygian (common in Hildegard); Final on E, Reciting tone on C; range D-G (wide, although common with Hildegard)
  6. Style – underlay: melismatic (sometimes syllabic)
  7. Text – virga: word playing with “virgo”; about Mary
  8. contains conjunctive scales but many disjunct motion of 5th, even 6ths.
  9. many ornamental neumes - quilisma, liquescent, oriscus

Bernart de Ventadorn - Can vei la lauzeta mover (Yudkin 07-01)

  1. Composer: Bernart de Ventadorn
  2. Title: Can Vei la Lauzeta Mover
  3. Genre: troubadour melody (canso)
  4. Style – form: strophic, but within a strophe, no repeating melody
  5. also, with cadencing on D two times in each strophe, a strophe is subdivided into two halves; in the last line, C appears below D, which makes the cadence stronger at the end of strophe
  6. at the second half, the finals descend from G to D, demonstrating organization.
  7. Style – mode: range C-D (more than an octave)
  8. language: Occitan (Langue d’oc); Southern France
  9. Style – underlay: syllabic, with neumatic groups at the end of each line - again shows organization.
  10. Text - rhyme: ababcdcd
  11. Text - courtly love; seeing the lark move (unrequited love)
  12. Dorian
  13. a final tornada addressed to a person
  14. 12th century

Gace Brulé - Biaus m’est estez (Yudkin 07-05) [p232]

  1. strophic
  2. text - rhyme: abababba
  3. for each stanza, repeated musical setting (1~2 = 3~4)
  4. higher register is used at the later half of the strophe (line 5);
  5. “closed” ending on D, on line 2, 4, 5, 8
  6. trouvere / chanson
  7. Gace Brulé - early trouveres (later 12th century)
  8. envoi - half stanza at the end of the piece
  9. unrequited love for an unattainable woman
  10. Langue d’oil; Northern France
  11. range: C-D (> one 8ve)

Anonymous - Non e gran cousa (Yudkin 07-14) [p251]

  1. Composer: Anonymous
  2. Title: Non e gran cousa
  3. Genre: Cantigas de Santa Maria
  4. Style – form: strophic with refrain (non e gran cousa…) musically, AbbaA (the first A, refrain, is not repeated later)
  5. Style – mode: range C–B - less than an 8ve - normal for cantiga, since they usually don’t have wide ranges but mode ???
  6. Style – underlay: ~neumatic, also mixed with syllabic groups
  7. brief synopsis, not with music, is recited before the song.
  8. language - Gallego-Portuguese
  9. music originally set to rhythm!
  10. conjunct descending line: AGFED, rhythmic repeat (QQQQ Whole note) ???
  11. 13th century

Walther von der Vogelweide - Nu alrest lebe ich mire werde (Yudkin 07-18)

  1. Walther von der Vogelweide - early Minnensinger; Minnensang
  2. name: Nu alrest lebe ich mire werde
  3. ~1200s
  4. Strophic
  5. bar form (rounded)
  6. Palästinalied / crusade song
  7. distinguished B section at a higher register
  8. cadences on D
  9. Germanic language
  10. range: C-C (8ve)

Know how to:

  • Generate a gamut with all seven hexachords; provide hexachord solmization for a line of music.

  • Draw a chart indicationg each of the 8 medieval modes (including names, numbers, finals, ranges and reciting tones); be able to transpose any of the eight modes.

  • Discuss a piece of music (score exerpt), either known or unknown.

Midterm II

Terms

Early Polyphony/Notre Dame School:

organum: two voices -

  1. vox principalis: from a piece of plainchant
  2. vox organis: newly created voice

parallel organum

  • ca.900 (first information about organum) in Musica enchiriadis & Scolica enchiriadis
  • vox organis below the vox principalis (down a 5th or 8ve)
  • move in parallel motion

free organum

  • ca. 1100, theoretical treatise ~Ad organum faciendum~
  • vox organis on top, plainchant below
  • not only in parallel motion: also contrary/oblique motion
  • still 2 voices
  • many acceptable intervals, with 5th being most common
  • still note-against-note polyphony

Aquitanian polyphony (i.e.  St. Martial polyphony)

  • 12th century: Codex Calixtinus, manuscript about pilgrimmage to Santiago di Compostela; includes music.
  • melismatic organum
  • discant style appears, neume-against-neume

Notre Dame Polyphony

  • Magnus Liber Organi: “Great Book of Organum”; manuscripts of ND polyphony - fragmented sections of music that has to be combined with plainchant to make musical or liturgical sense.
    • Anonymous IV: says “Magnus Liber is written by Leonin and revised by Perotin”
    • Leonin: wrote the Magnus Liber; famous composer (and poet) and great writer of organum
    • Perotin: 
      • revised the Magnus Liber; 
      • wrote (added) 3- and 4-voice chants polyphony
      • speeding things up – without organum, only discant and copula
      • (Alleluia posui adiutorium)
  • melismatic organum (OR organum purum OR organum)
  • copula: top voice uses rhythmic modes; bottom voice free
  • discant: both voices use rhythmic modes (later, called clausula & added substitude clausula)
  • (Johannes de Garlandia & De mensurabili musica) rhythmic modes: 
    • repeated rhythmic patterns, using three different note lengths
    • KNOW WHAT THE SIX MODES ARE

clausula / substitute clausula

  • clausula - another name for the discant section in ND polyphony; 
  • substitute clausula - same text as the clausula, same plainchant (bottom voice). but with new organum composed

conductus

Settings of Latin poems, varying from monophonic to 4-voice; composed with rhythmic modes and syllables change quickly (almost syllabic), except in the caudas (could be melismatic) at the end, or beginning, of a piece. 

Thirteenth Century & Ars nova

hocket

influence on motets

Sumer canon

  • rota (round???) in England
  • many contrafacta after it

Petronian motet

motets written with multiple division of the breve, e.g. Aucun Ont Trouve

Isorhythmic motet

Isorhythm (w/ talea & color)

a product of mensural notation

Virelai

(first) fixed form by Machaut: AbbaA (usually 3 stanzas) - with such form, balance between the new and familiar. ma have origined from dance; cf. lai??? one of the earliest and simplest fixed form, hardly polyphonic, but if so, 2-voices

Rondeau

(second) fixed form by Machaut: ABaAabAB, through-composed

Ballade

  • (third) fixed form by Machaut: aabC or aab(b+C)
  • most complex, intricately organized, and experimental style (tried different voice arrangements, and even, polytextuality)
  • far more melismatic that other 2 forms (usually on penultimate syllables) with metrical complexities, syncopation, rhythmic devices, shifts of pitch focus, and freedom of dissonance. also, musical rhyme. 
  • also, beaute parfaite is a ballade (aabC * 3). 

Las Huelgas Codex

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STROPHIC AND STANZAIC

Roman de Fauvel

a play about the most powerful person in France: one manuscript of which has musical interludes, contains motets that reflect which genre???

Machaut manuscripts

Machaut

Franco of Cologne

wrote the book Ars cantis mensurabilis, which (1) defined note length w.r.t. note shapes (duplex long/maxima; long; breve; semibreve) later, added minims (2) identified / classified ligature shapes (??? what does this mean?)

  • Phillippe de Vitry / Johannes de Muris (a.k.a. Jehan des Murs)
  • Theorists of Ars nova: the treatise of Phillippe, Ars nova, gives name to this era; Johannes de Muris wrote Ars novae musicae. 

contrafactum

Ars antiqua vs. Ars Nova

It generally refers to 14th century polyphony, esp. in France??, as opposed to Ars antiqua, which refers to 13th centry polyphony. In this time, composers started to move away from rhythmic modes. Representative work of the time is Roman de Fauvel in France.  It is characterized by the longer compositions, display of a range of notational values, compared with Franconian and post-Franconian techniques.

Additional terms

Trecento

  • 14th century (1300s) Italian music
  • TRAITS???

Ballata

  • from/as the framework of virelai – i.e. AbbaA, 3 stanzas
  • Beaute parfaite by Anthonello de Caserta

Caccia

  • hunt and canon, with its French counterpart being “chace”
  • freely-written verse in one long stanza of irregular length
  • occationally rounded off by a 2-line ritornello

Madrigal

  • texts - madrigal poem that, after crystallized, hsa 2~3 stanzas of 3 lines, and another stanza as a ritornello. strophic & ritornello separately composed
  • usually two voices, could be three, usually all texted. florid upper voices with rapid melismas on first & penultimate syllables; more syllabic texts in between. 
  • lower voices move in longer note values, but show imitative passage of the upper voices. 
  • parallel 5ths and 8ves are common
  • 2 parts often cadence at unison

Squarcialupi Codex

contains the trecento period music

Landini

Ciconia

Ars subtilior

A more subtle art: late 14th polyphony of Avignon, famous for its delicacy and intricate melodic and rhythmic patterns (cf. double leading tone (DLT) cadence [p.393])

  • movement by half step of both the main note and the 5th, creating a //5th
  • (can it also move in contrary motion???)
  • typical cadence in Machaut and 14th century polyphony
  • creating a great sense of expectation and satisfactory arrival
  • later, such parallel motion is avoided
  • engages use of musica ficta

Landini cadence

composers & genres from listening

Essay Questions: 

Machaut's masses (cf. Yudkin) (possibly analysis?) [p.393]

  • Focuses on the Mass ORDINARY - composed all of them, including Ite Missa Est
  • movements with longer texts (Gloria & Credo) are written in conductus style with short, clear phrases and primary syllabic text setting; sectional divisions marked by strong cadences. 
  • DLT cadences and musica ficta
  • beyong G & C, other movements are written in the form of isorhythmic motet: tenor based on plainchant, isorhythmic tenor & contratenor
  • an important difference nonetheless: not polytextual – all voices have same text, which obscures the independence of the voices (relatively) and clarity of the isorhythm (since, with different texts or lack of texts, different voices remain distinct)

Trace the history of rhythmic notation to ca. 1400, citing theorists when possible. Discuss the similarities and differences between early notation and today's musical notation.

  1. [ca.1270] ~Johannes de Garlandia~ & ~De mensurabili musica~: 6 rhythmic modes;
  2. [ca.1240–80] ~Franco of Cologne~ & ~Ars cantis mensurabilis~: (duration of different note shapes & how to interpret the ligatures) & ~Franconian notation~
  3. [13th century] ~Petrus de Cruce~: how to fit many semibreves in a breve & Petronian motet (Aucon Ont Trouve)
  4. [early 14th century] mensural notation from {Ars nova by Phillipe de Vitry & Ars novae musicae by Jehan de Murs}; tempus & prolatio, breve-semibreve-minim

Discuss the history of pitch notation, including unheighted neumes, heighted neumes, single line, 2 lines (C and F), and staff!

Compare and contrast French and Italian secular music of the 14th century, citing examples from the listening lists to support your statement.

  • French has untexted parts, while Italian are mostly texted
  • Purely Italian traits (Landini): vocal display, clarity of the declamation, rapid articulation to consonant areas of response
  • French: occational shift in meters
  • Italy: showcase of vocal features and virtuoso
  • French: interplay & hocket

Discuss the life and work of Guillaume de Machaut, explaining his significance.

  1. transitional composer between {ars nova, ars antiqua}
  2. most prolific composer of Ars nova
  3. first to write a setting of polyphonic mass ordinary (his only liturgical work)
  4. help the fixed forms: standard form of French secular music
  5. writes both monophony and polyphony (incouding fixed forms)
  6. major poet (writes text for music) and composer
  7. both music and & poetry are collected in elaborate manuscripts
  8. major motet composer
  9. self-aware of style, genre, aesthetics, composition process
  10. famous while alive for his creative work
  11. ALSO, HIS THREE LISTENINGS

Discuss the medieval motet.

  • [early 13th century] formed from clausula (substitute clausula), when words started to be added to the upper voice, initially to illustrate and comment on the plainchant text, then growing to vernacular languages and can be independent (while the meaning of clausula has to be interpreted within the liturgy)
  • [mid 13th century] vernacular motets, in vernacular language & secular themes
  • [late 13th century] tenor line also newly composed, new texts, Petrus de Cruce & Petronian motets
  • Polytextual

Provide a short history of polyphony to ca. 1300, citing theorists when possible. 

Skills to be prepared to:

  • Write an isorhythmic tenor.

  • Explain mensural notation in painstaking detail.

  • mensural notation (w/ black & white notation) before 1450, black; after, white
  • modus: tempus perfectum/imperfectum; prolatio maior/minor

*Ars cantis mensurabilis*

Listenings

in some pieces each voice lies about a fifth below the other.

Alleluya Spiritus Sanctus [p.296]

  1. composer: anonymous
  2. polyphonic chant (Alleluia, mass Proper) - Notre Dame Polyphony
  3. contains organum purum, copula and discant
  4. two voices - plainchant (vox principalis) at the bottom; organum (vox organis) at the top
  5. opening intonation is set to organum style for soloists (as well as all polyphonic sections)
  6. choir repeating the alleluia and jubilus; verse is sung by solo, and the choir comes back for “potentia”, as well as the jubilus at the end. The melody for potentia mirrors alleluia as in the plainchant setting. 
  7. mode of plainchant: hypodorian, range is one octave; solo parts have wider range, up to E.
  8. polyphonic parts cadence on unison, 4th and 5th
  9. copula has repeated rhythm and melodic sequence, stand out with its faster rhythm in the vox organis.
  10. discant is set to flexible rhythmic modes, although in each discant section, one mode prevails, e.g. in one section the upper voice has Mode 3, the lower voice Mode 5, while in another discant, both voices mostly receive Mode 2 (a long discant set on the original melisma of perlustravit (the “a”))
  11. upper voice has a 12th???

Alleluya, Posui Adiutorium [p.310] - listening has instrumental parts???

  1. composer: Perotin
  2. polyphonic chant (Alleluia, mass Proper) - Notre Dame Polyphony
  3. 3-voice setting
  4. still as before, chorus repeats alleluia and jubilus, but intonation and verse is sang by soloists.
  5. organum style disappeared – rhythm prevails through the composition (possibly due to the added voices)
  6. shorter and more regular phrases, compared with 2-voice polyphonic chants (possibly due to loss of organum)
  7. lowest voice (tenor) has the plainchant; tenor shifts from holding long notes to regular rhythmic patterns (in rhythmic modes!)
  8. two upper voices are mostly note-against-note, with clear modal rhythm (mostly Mode 1, but other modes are common); contrary motion between the upper voices prevails. the top voice receives slightly more ornamentation at times.
  9. triplum (3-voice polyphony, also 4 voices, quadruplum)

O natio / Hodie Perlustravit [p.316]

  1. composer: anonymous
  2. Latin motet (from the Alleluia Spiritus Sanctus, added texts to the upper voice);
  3. 2-voices, upper voice has new text in Latin
  4. added texts to the upper voices of a clausulae, which comes from a discant in Alleluya Spiritus Sanctus
  5. melodically, has similar structure and style as a discant, i.e. ND polyphony. 
  6. added texts intending to rhyme with the original (e.g. the ‘di’ in hodie is paired up with the upper voice ‘di’ in Callidi)
  7. frequent use of Mode 3 in the upper voice, while the lower (tenor) either sustained or mode 5.
  8. furthermore division of beats in the upper voice
  9. cadences on unison, 5th and 8ve. final cadence on an octave in A. 
  10. top voice tropes the word of the tenor line

Aucon Ont Trouve / Lonc Tans / Annuntiantes [p.335]

  1. composer: anonymous
  2. genre: Motet (vernacular)
  3. three voices - triplum, motetus and tenor.
  4. secular text in vernacular language (French) about courtly love for upper voices, tenor taken from plainchant (polytextual)
  5. tenor is slowest, motetus has some melody, and triplum is the most fast-moving part. the text assigned to each part has the same pattern. Tenor only has one word in Latin
  6. intervals: 5th or 8ve at cadences, and short dissonance at passing notes; triton is carefully avoided by #F
  7. text confined to a few rhymes that cadences musically
  8. Petronian motet: triplum receives fast-moving note groups of 2–7 notes
  9. motetus part carefully composed to counterbalance the tenor – when tenor is without rests, motetus slows down
  10. 36:27 ratio of two parts in the 2 parts of triplum – a balance important to composers of the time, also providing sense of compression at the shorter second part. 
  11. Latin chant as basis; 
  12. upper voice does have rhythmic modes, but plus Petronian ornamentations

Douce playsance / Garison seon nature / Neuma quinti toni [p.376]

  1. composer: Philippe de Vitry
  2. isorhythmic motet, Ars nova
  3. isorhythmic tenor: the color is stated twice, each taking four taleas, but at the second time the rhythmic value of each note is diminished in half, and long rests eliminated.
  4. tenor in Lydian mode (neuma quiti toni),
  5. text speaks of the pains and pleasures of love
  6. a wider range for each voice, allowing contrast between voices, and thus tenor becomes the foundation both in structure and sonority.
  7. constant interplay between triple and duple meters
  8. in the first portion (Color I), talea is made of 9/8 shifting to 6/8; triple:duple = 3:2; in Color II, with diminution and suppression of rests, triple meter portion is shortened. so triple:duple = 3:4
  9. isorhythm also evident in some upper voices, e.g. triplets preceding each new talea in the tenor.
  10. double leading tone cadences
  11. tenor line newly composed
  12. text in French; 

Moult Sui [p.404]

  1. composer: Guillaume de Machaut
  2. genre: virelai (Machaut’s fixed form)
  3. formal structure: A bba A bba A bba A (division between stanzas usually after refrain A), thus, strophic
  4. two voices: cantus (texted) and tenor (untexted)
  5. cadences followed by rests, at end of each part of the text (one letter in the form); first ending of b section is a more open cadence, while other endings are on an 8ve, which is conclusive. 
  6. unity: some repeating motif, e.g. in upper voice, the ending of both sections are the same, with ~4mms of repeat.
  7. also, note groups repeated as a motif.
  8. contrast: second section (b) with higher range: which delineate the form
  9. the piece is in 2/4, but constantly introduces 6/8 meter
  10. strong ending cadence in G in unison
  11. strophic (stanzaic???)
  12. simple foundation, instrumental, clear.

Doulz viaire gracieus [p.408]

  1. composer: Machaut
  2. genre: rondeau
  3. formal structure: ABaAabAb (through-composed???)
  4. three voices: cantus, and untexted triplum and tenor (unusual arrangement).
  5. text: one-stanza poem about love; rhyme scheme reflected in music (2 rhymes in accordance with a and b sections)
  6. text underlay: mostly syllabic, occationally ornamented with melismas.
  7. both tenor and triplum mirror the Cantus once (mm. 7 and 8)
  8. tenor mostly long, focusing on G and then shifts to bB in the second part
  9. triplum in conterpart with the cantus, in {parallel, contrary} motion; also, connects a and b sections togetter with a passing group of notes.
  10. metrical shifts (common for Machaut’s fluid rhythmic style): time signature although 3/4, often shifts temporarily to 6/8
  11. cantus is mostly conjunct motion
  12. vernacular, secular

Kyrie from Messe de Nostre Dame [p.396]

  1. composer: Machaut
  2. genre: polyphonic Kyrie, Mass Ordinary first polyphonic mass, tripartite, etc.
  3. four voices! triplum, motetus, contratenor, tenor. all with same text
  4. triplum has some syncopation and hocket
  5. isorhythmic contratenor and tenor
  6. tenor has original plainchant melody, which is also repeated separately later in the piece.
  7. tenor has very short talea of only four notes, making the plainchant very clear to be identified.
  8. plainchant in dorian, thus the tenor starts at A, and reaches D at cadence; contratenor and triplum takes over the A, creating a DLT cadence at the end of “eleison”.
  9. usage of musica ficta: creating leading tones for cadences
  10. cadential articulations: cadences in the middle of the piece coincide with new talea and colors, making it less conclusive

Donna, S’i’ T’o Fallito [p.445]

  1. composer: Francesco Landini (dolcezza)
  2. polyphonic ~ballata~
  3. form: AbbaA (same as virelai) - single stanza, with refrain
  4. some rhythmic elaboration: shifts in meter, which is supposedly influenced by French styles
  5. two voices that have the same text
  6. Trecento, Italian
  7. secular & courtly love
  8. Landini cadence at m.24
  9. sweet melody, characteristic for Lantini
  10. organist, blind, etc.
  11. melismas at the first and last syllable of each line

Tosto Che L’Alba [p.436]

  1. form: caccia (hunting song, canon)
  2. composer: Gherardello da Firenze
  3. form is relatively free (aab), thorough-composed(?) not strophic, with a two-line ritornello, with NO change time signature
  4. ritornello slightly changes in modality, with added bB in tenor, and with faster notes and closer entry of canonic voices.
  5. “space” - 10 measures of silence for the second cantus part (but instrumental tenor starts at beginning). 
  6. Trecento, Italian
  7. multiple textures
  8. hocket
  9. (at least highly influenced by) rhythmic modes
  10. hightest note in the second cantus - A - “look a deer is coming towards you”
  11. most cadences are on 5ths
  12. (manuscript in Squarcialupi Codex)

Una panthera [p.485]

  1. composer: Johannes Ciconia - marking the end of medieval music
  2. madrigal
  3. trecento music - Italian
  4. sudden slowing down at the beginning ritornello, providing contrast
  5. elaborate passing notes  
  6. text: praising the city of Lucca
  7. three voice, middle part untexted - unusual of the time
  8. 2 stanzas + ritornello
  9. florid top voice - characterised
  10. hocket texture

Beaute parfaite [p.474]

  1. composer: Anthonello de Caserta
  2. genre: French ballade
  3. context: 2nd stage of Ars subtilior (late 14th century Avignon music, ~French, but composer from Italy)
  4. text: poem written by Machaut; employs alliteration, assonance, rhythmic patterns and word play.
  5. fixed form: ballade (aabc); three stanzas 
  6. 3 voices: Cantus and untexted tenor, contratenor
  7. metrical shifts and delicacy: not only changing between time signatures (and different signatures for different parts at the same time), but also syncopations
  8. very fast moving and syncopated (rhythmically intricate) note groups in the cantus.
  9. text underlay: melismas at the beginning and end of each line of text, but middle part relatively fast-moving in syllables. 
  10. independent motion of different parts, although they returns to the same “goal of motion” at cadences (both rhythmically and melodically)
  11. ending of each section cadences on an octave with long pause; also, less conclusive cadences as pauses – not reached by step, etc.