Name that composer!
This composer is referred to as the "inventor of a new art."
Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361)
-1309-1377: Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy
-1315-22: Famine
-1347-50: Black Death
-1337-1453: Hundred Years War between France and England
-1378-1417 Great Schism (3 popes in Rome, Avignon, Pisa)
What are the three forms fixes?
Virelai, rondeau, ballade.
How was 14th century music performed?
-small ensembles, 1 per part
-all vocal, all instrumental, mixed!
-manuscripts did not specify instruments
-presence of text does not mean the part was always sung nor does absence of words mean the part is instrumental
What are the full names for the Ars - named in the book?
Ars Antique, Ars Nova, Ars Subtilior
This composer is considered the best of all composers of the French Ars Nova.
Guillame de Machaut (1300-1377)
What did William of Ockham and his followers argue?
William of Ockham argued that knowledge of nature and humanity should rest on experience of the senses rather than on reason/faith alone and seek natural rather than supernatural explanations = early scientific method.
What is a madrigal?
Madrigal- song for 2-3 voices WITHOUT instrumental accompaniment (different than the 16th century ones!!!) all voices sing the same text, pastoral-satirical-or love poem. 2+ three line stanzas each set to the same music followed by a closing pair of lines called the ritornello (REFRAIN) set to different music with a different meter
How were instruments differentiated?
-instruments were differentiated by their relative loudness haut (high) and bas (low) volume not pitch
What 2 innovations in rhythmic notation coincide with the development of the Ars Nova?
Duple (Imperfect) division of note values
Division of the semibreve into minums
= greater rhythmic flexibility and syncopation
This composer was a rival of de Vitry's and major critic of the Ars Nova.
Jacques Liege (1260-1330 ish)
Name three major literary works of this century.
Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy (1307), Giovanni
Boccaccio’s Decameron (1348-53), Geoffrey Chaucer
Canterbury Tales (1387-1400)
Roman de Fauvel (c. 1310-1314)
What is isorhythm?
“Equal rhythm” in which the tenor is laid out in segments of identical rhythm; extends the practice in ND clausulae and 13th c motets where the tenor often repeats a rhythmic pattern and may also repeat a segment of melody
What types of keyboard instruments began to gain popularity?
Portative organ, large cathedral organs with pedal keyboards and stops; harpsichord and clavichord invented
Name three telling features of Ars Nova music.
-Double Leading Tone Cadence
-Hocket = 2 voices alternate in rapid succession, each resting while the other sings
-Ars Nova Notation
-DEVILISH DUPLE division
-Mensuration signs
-Isorhythm-color, tenor
This composer made frequent use of a certain type of cadence, named in his honor.
Francesco Landini (c. 1325-1397)
Name three inventions/inovations/new ways of thinking from this century.
-Eyeglasses, magnetic compass, mechanical clocks
-Pursuit of realism in the arts (Giotto, Dante, Chaucer)
-Music with structure/form
-Music for pleasure (secular)
Theorists of the time recognized 2 recurring elements in the motet tenor, rhythmic and melodic, what are they called?
-talea = recurring rhythmic segment
-color= recurring segment of melody
-could be the same length but most often the color extended over two, three, or more talea; upper voices may also be organized isorhythmically in whole or part to emphasize recurring rhythmic patterns in the tenor
What is musica ficta?
The use of chromatic alterations to avoid TT or to provide “a sweeter sounding harmony” at cadences as theorist Prosdocimo de Beldomandi said; Also, he said “the closer the imperfect consonance approaches the perfect one the more perfect it becomes.”
Why did Jacques Liege protest the Ars Nova style?
xDuple
x Imperfect consonances (3rds considered imperfect consonances, 6ths dissonant; both were long thought of as dissonant)
NOT A CHRISTIAN!
This composer is credited with writing a treatise on the complex notational system of the Ars Subtilior.
Philippus de Caserta (c. 1350-1435)
What is the Roman de Fauvel? What is it about? Why is it so relevant to music history?
Roman de Fauvel = an allegorical narrative poem satirizing corruption in politics and the church, warning to the King of France; Fauvel horse who represents the world turned upside down where the king outranks the pope - a world turned upside down. Fauvelembodies the sins of his name. Features 169 pieces of music, including 34 motets. ARS NOVA style.
What is a Landini Cadence?
-Landini Cadence- tenor descends by step, the upper voice descends to the LN and then up a 3rd; outer voices in octaves.
What genre of instrumental music do have surviving notated music for from the 14th century?
Mostly Italian istampita (relative of the estampie!)
How did composers differentiate between perfect and imperfect divisions in notation in the Ars Subtilior?
With colored ink! Red is perfect; black is imperfect.