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JOHN FARMER (1570- 1601)

MYSICLA STYLE:
• Composed 4 voices madrigals
• Combined chordal homophonic textures with imitative polyphony
• Favoured light-hearted, pastoral texts
• Modal harmonies, largely diatonic
• Employed vivid word painting
GENRES AND TITLE
• Madrigal: 1 collection, containing 16 madrigals , Fair Phyllis and A Pretty Little Bonny Lass

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC IN THE RENAISSANCE ERA
New instruments has evolved more came into being and repertoire emerged.

FITZWILLIAM VIRGINAL BOOK
• Close to 300 works in the collection
• Includes styles: dances, fantasias, preludes, arrangements of songs and madrigals and variations
• English keyboard composers of the time are represented , William Byrd, John Bull, Thomas Morley, and Giles Farnaby
• Idiomatic approach to keyboard writing
• Style of writing is often virtuosic: rapid scale passages, ornamentations and many novel figurations
• Fanciful titles “Carman’s Whistle”(William Byrd), “The King’s Hunt”(John Bull), “The Ghost”( William Byrd)

DANCE MUSIC
BACKGROUND:
• Social dancing was a very popular form of entertainment
• Earliest notated dances were from 13th
• By 16th more and more dances were notated b/c of developments in music publishing
• Improvisation continued to play an important role in hoe the music was created
• Dance music was performed on keyboard, lute and by instrumental ensemble
CHARACTERISTICS:
• Dances were generally polyphonic
• Often in 4 parts textures, reflecting vocal models
• Instrumentation was generally not specified
• Melodies often adapted from pre-existing vocal works- madrigal and chansons
• Popular 16th dances: branle, pavane, galliard, saltarello, allemande
• Dances were often paired to emphasize contrast as (pavane – slow and stately and galliard- lively and energetic) combination.

CARLO GESUALDO (CA 1561-1613)

MYSICAL STYLE:
• Italian composer and lutenist
• Intensely emotional style
• Extravagant word painting
• Exaggerated chromaticism with high level of dissonance
• Abrupt chord changes
• Frequent use of repetition
• Wrote his own texts, often reflecting his guilt and remorse.
GENRE AND TITLE:
• Madrigal:6 books
• Sacred music , Tenebrae Responssoria
• Instrumental music

ENGLISH MADRIGAL
BACKGROUND:
• The Italian madrigal spread from Italy yo England in the 1580
• The publication of Musica transalpine in 1588 launched the popularity of the madrigal in England
• As English composer s cultivated the genre, it took on a slightly different character
• Prominent English composers as Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Morley , Tomas Weelkes, John Wilbye composed madrigals

CHARACTERSTICS
• Resembles the Italian madrigal of the mid 16th
• Polyphonic and homophonic textures alternate
• Utilized word painting
• Pastoral texts
• Included nonsense syllables as “fa la la “ and “nonny nonny no”

ITALIAN MADRIGAL

BACKGROUND:
• 14th Italy ,”madrigal “referred to a poetic form and its musical setting (usually strophic )as a secular song
• 16th and 17th “madrigal denoted a type of secular song that flourished in the small aristocratic courts of Italy, including Venice,, Ferrara and Mantua; it then gained widespread popularity in Europe and England
• Initially homophonic with focus on bringing pleasure to the performers – amateur musicians
• Later evolved into more complex polyphonic texture with increased chromaticism-composed for an aristocratic audience
• In final 16th and 17th it assumed a highly mannered virtuosic style; a more personalized expression of the composer
• In early 17th it featured elements of baroque style(such as the use of bosso continuo and a dramatic declamatory style)

CHARACTERISTICS:
• Texts were short poems of a lyric or reflective character
• Generally through-composed in structure
• Topics included love and desire, [political themes, humour and satire
• Word painting was prominent – ideas, images, and emotions in the poems were conveyed through the music
• Chromaticism featured as an expressive device

GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI da PALESTRINA
• His compositions reflected his deep personal faith with a reverent, spiritual character
• Vocal polyphony in a cappela style
• The “Palestine style” of vocal polyphony has defined Renaissance polyphony and served as a model for counterpoint students to this day
• Employed polyphony balanced with homorhythmic textures (chordal declamation)
• Approaches to mass composition includes cantus firmus, parody, paraphrase, canonic; Performing forces range from 4to 6 voice.
• Individual vocal lines moved mostly by step or narrow leap
• Clarity in text setting was achieved through chordal texture, clear-cut phrases, and musical accents that corresponded with the text.
• Dissonance was avoided or used with care (passing note or off the beat; if on the beat resolved immediately)

GENRES AND TITLE:
• MOTETS: over 300 including Lauda Sion and Alma Redemptoris Mater
• MASSES: over 100, Missa L’homme arme, missa Lauda Sion
• Other liturgical works, hymn and magnificants.
• Madrigals: sacred and secular

MARTIN LUTHER (1458-1546)

•  Leader of he Protestant reformation and founder of the Lutheran Church
• Posted his “Ninety-Five Theses” in 1517
• The service in German instead of Latin and engaging the congregation by replacing elaborate polyphonic settings of the mass with simpler music: German chorales with monophonic hymn tunes that were easy to sing
• Because of the translated bible the congregation could now actively participate in the music of the service using their native language.

THE REFORMATION:

• 16^TH Christian reform movement in Europe
• Led by Martin Luther
• Resulted in formation of many new Protestant denominations

THE COUNTER-REFORMATION:

• Mid 16^th reaction of the Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformation
• The Church’s attempt to win back support and regain political power
• Response to challenges to authority included the Council of Trent.

COUNCIL OF TRENT:

• A series of meeting of the highest Catholic Church officials
• Took place in Trento, Italy from 1545-1563
• Condemned “Protestant heresies “and reaffirmed the doctrines of Catholicism

·         Recommendations regarding liturgical music included:

o   The text should be audible

o   The counterpoint should not be dense

o   Except for organ, instruments should not be used

o   Harmonic writing should avoid intense chromaticism

o   Use of secular cantus firmus banned (forbidden)

o   Displays of virtuosity should be avoided.

VOCAL MUSIC IN THE RENAISSANCE ERA

SACRED MOTET IN 15TH:

BACKGROUND
• In 13th motet was based on cantus firmus, has 3 voices texture included polytextuality and often sacred and secular elements.
• In 14th developments in the motets including greater complexity in rhythm, harmony and counterpoint; yet was still on cantus firmus techniques and continued to feature polytextuality.
• In 15th the motet continued to develop and flourish as a significant genre in vocal polyphony
• In became the genre that allowed composers to experiment with new approaches to contrapuntal writing.

CHARACTERISTICS:
• Polyphonic texture
• A single, Latin text (no longer polytextual)
• Sacred genre
• Generally for 4 voices
• Imitative counterpoint, often contrasted with homorhythmic sections
• Demonstrates the new harmonic language (use of 3rd, and 6th)

JOSQUIN DES PREZ( CA 1440- CA 1521)
• Highly successful and renewed in his day, northern French (late Gothic era)
• Great master of contrapuntal techniques: canonic writing, imitative counterpoint
• Rich in emotional expression, his music embodies the humanism of his time
• Vocal settings sought to express the meaning of the text through frequent use of syllabic text setting and slower matching of musical stresses with accentuation of the text and word painting
• Modal harmonies –triadic(3rd and 6th)often spiced with dissonance.

GENRES:
• MOTET: close to 100, including Ave Maria….virgo serena ,Absalon, fili mi
• MASES: 18, Missa L’homme arme, Missa La sol fa re mi.
• CHANSON :over 60, El grillo, Mille regretz

MASS :

BACKGROUND :
• The earliest mass settings took the form of monophonic chats (Haec dies from the Gregorian Mass for Easter Sunday)
• The 12th and 13th many chants particularly the Mass Proper served the basis for Organum
• 1st complete polyphonic setting of the Mass Ordinary –Messe de Nostre Dame by Guillaume de Machaut is the longest extant work from the Middle Ages.
• An important service in Roman Catholic Church, it includes prayers, readings from the Bible and re-enactment of the Last Supper – referred to as Holly Communion (Eucharist)
• “Mass” means go, you are dismissed.

CHARACTERISTICS:
• In the Renaissance era composers used polyphonic settings of the 5 movements of the Mass Ordinary to demonstrate their mastery of contrapuntal devices
• Composers often used secular songs as melodic sources for the cantus firmus (L’homme arme is based on a popular battle tune)
• Other devices could be linked thematically (same motive or cantus firmus might be used throughout the 5 sections of the Mass Ordinary)
• Masses could also be freely composed, based entirely on new material