Transcript Chapter 4

Concise History of Western Music
Fourth Edition
Chapter 4
French and Italian Music
in the Fourteenth
Century
By Barbara Russano Hanning
Based on J. Peter Burkholder, Donald J.
Grout, and Claude V. Palisca, A History of
Western Music, Eighth Edition
© 2010, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
PRELUDE
Prelude
• Conditions were more difficult than in the
thirteenth century.
• The Hundred Years’War (1337–1453) strained
the economy.
• Bad weather, famine, and floods
Prelude
• The Great Plague (known as the Black Death)
killed a third of Europe’s population during
1348–50.
– Victims died in agony within days of contracting
the plague.
– Survivors often fled Europe’s cities.
• Peasant and urban rebellions occurred in
many European regions.
A divided Church
• King Philip IV (the Fair) of France engineered the
election of a French pope, who resided in
Avignon rather than Rome.
• During the Great Schism of 1378–1417 there
were two and sometimes three claimants to the
papacy.
• When the papacy returned fully to Rome, it
brought French music.
• The Church and corrupt clergy were targets of
much criticism.
Science and secularism
• Philosophers distinguished between divine
revelation and human reason.
• Church and state were seen to have dominion
over different realms.
• These views spurred advances in science and
technology.
• Interest in the world, the individual, and
human nature made way for a growing secular
culture.
The arts enjoyed remarkable creativity
• Increased literacy led to more literature in the
vernacular.
– Dante’s Divine Comedy (1307) in Italian
– Boccaccio’s Decameron (1353) in Italian
– Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1387–1400) in English
• Giotto (ca. 1266–1337), a Florentine painter,
created a more naturalistic style in art.
• Secular songs received more attention.
Ars nova
• Ars nova (“The new art,” early 1320s) by
Philippe de Vitry (1291–1361)
• The title of this treatise denotes the French
musical style during the first half of the
fourteenth century.
• The stylistic innovation of this era centers on
rhythm and its notation
Ars nova
• Changes to the motet
– The subjects of motets became more political and less
amorous.
– The structure became more complex, as seen in
isorhythm.
• Changes to secular songs
– The polyphonic art song was the most important new
genre of the era.
– Machaut in France and Landini in Italy mastered this
genre while writing love lyrics in the tradition of the
trouvères.
THE ARS NOVA IN FRANCE
Roman de Fauvel
• The Roman de Fauvel (Story of Fauvel)
captures the spirit of the turn of the century.
– This allegorical poem satirizes corrupt politicians
and church officials.
Roman de Fauvel
• Fauvel is the main character.
– Fauvel is an anagram for Flattery, Avarice, Villainy
(u and v were interchangeable), Variété
(fickleness), Envy, and Lâcheté (cowardice).
– Fauvel, a jackass who rises to a powerful position,
symbolizes a world turned upside down.
– He marries and produces offspring that destroy
the world.
Roman de Fauvel
• The manuscript contains 169 pieces of music
– Some were written for this collection; others were
chosen for their relevance to the poem’s message.
– Most are monophonic.
– Thirty-four polyphonic motets, many denouncing
the clergy, are among the first examples of the Ars
Nova and of isorhythm.
– Philippe de Vitry composed at least five motets.
Isorhythm
• The tenor is laid out in segments of identical
rhythm.
– Thirteenth-century motets often have short, repeating
patterns in the tenor.
– In the fourteenth century, the tenor pattern grew
longer and more complex.
– The slow pace of the tenor makes it less a melody and
more of a foundational structure.
– The rhythmic pattern is called talea.
– The melody, called color, may also repeat but may not
coincide with the rhythm.
Isorhythm
• In arboris/Tuba sacre fidei/Virgo sum,
attributed to Vitry
– The tenor has two statements of the color.
– The color statements have three repetitions of the
talea.
– The upper voices are isorhythmic during the duple
sections of the tenor.
GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT
Guillaume de Machaut
• Machaut (ca. 1300–1377) is the leading
composer of the Ars Nova.
– Born in northeastern France, probably to a
middle-class family
– He composed in most of the major genres of his
time.
Motets
• Twenty-three motets, most from early in his
career
• Traditional texture: borrowed tenor and two
upper voices with different texts
• Longer and more complex than thirteenthcentury motets
Motets
• Nineteen use isorhythm, sometimes in all
three voices.
• Frequent use of hockets, passages featuring a
quick alternation of voices with one resting
while the other sings
Messe de Nostre Dame
• Probably the earliest polyphonic setting of the
Mass Ordinary composed by a single
composer and conceived as a unit
Messe de Nostre Dame
• Composed for the cathedral in Reims
– Performed at a Mass for the Virgin Mary
celebrated every Saturday
– After Machaut’s death, an oration for his soul was
added to the service.
– It continued to be performed there until the
fifteenth century.
Messe de Nostre Dame
Messe de Nostre Dame
• The six movements are linked by style and
approach.
– All six movements are for four voices.
– Recurring motives and cadence tones unify the
movements.
– The Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Ite, missa est are
isorhythmic, each with a different cantus firmus.
– The Gloria and Credo, with longer texts, are in discant
style and end with elaborate isorhythmic “Amens.”
Messe de Nostre Dame
• Kyrie
– The tenor is from a chant on the same Ordinary
text.
– The contratenor, a second supporting voice in the
same range as the tenor, is also isorhythmic but
with its own talea.
– The upper voices are partially isorhythmic.
Messe de Nostre Dame
Monophonic works in the trouvère
tradition
• Performed in the courts of the elite
• Machaut composed numerous lais, a
twelfthcentury form similar to the sequence.
Monophonic works in the trouvère
tradition
• The virelai is one of the formes fixes.
– A popular poetic form in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries often intended for dancing
(see Figure 4.7)
– The form is AbbaA: A is the refrain, a has the
music of A but new words, and b is a contrasting
musical phrase.
Monophonic works in the trouvère
tradition
Monophonic works in the trouvère
tradition
• Machaut, Foy porter
– Monophonic virelai
– The text pays homage to the poet’s beloved.
– Machaut uses innovative rhythms and supple
syncopations.
Polyphonic chanson (“songs”)
• Treble-dominated songs were a major
innovation of the Ars Nova.
– The treble or cantus carries the text.
– A slower-moving, untexted tenor supports the
cantus.
– A contratenor may be added.
Polyphonic chanson (“songs”)
• Most are settings of the formes fixes
– The formes fixes are fixed poetic forms.
– Musical settings generally reflect the poetic rhyme
scheme.
– Principal types: virelai, rondeau, and Ballade
– In polyphonic settings, Machaut preferred the
rondeau and ballade.
Polyphonic chanson (“songs”)
• Rose, liz, printemps, verdure
– This work is a rondeau: ABaAabAB.
– Long melismas fall on structural points and
enhance the appeal.
– Varied rhythms, including supple syncopations,
are typical.
– Machaut uses both duple and triple meters.
– The unusual fourth voice was probably added
later.
Polyphonic chanson (“songs”)
• Ballades
– Apparently Machaut’s favorite, these works were
more serious than the other chansons.
– Form: aabC
– Machaut composed more than forty ballades for
two, three, and four parts.
– Typical setting: high tenor solo and two lower
parts
ITALIAN TRECENTO MUSIC
Italian Trecento Music
• Music was important to Italian social life.
• Boccaccio’s Decameron describes music in social
life (see Vignette, p. 78).
• Most music was not written down, as even
polyphony was largely improvised.
• In Italian courts, travatori followed the tradition
of the troubadours.
• The only examples surviving in manuscripts are
monophonic laude, processional songs that are
devotional in nature.
Italian Polyphony
• Largest body is from the repertory of secular
songs.
• The principal centers are in central and
northern Italy, including Florence.
• Few examples of polyphony come from before
1330.
• After that date, there are several manuscripts,
including the Squarcialupi Codex.
Squarcialupi Codex
• One of the main sources for Italian secular
polyphony
• Named for a former owner
• There are 354 pieces, grouped by composer.
• A portrait of each of the twelve composers
appears at the beginning of the section
containing his works.
Squarcialupi Codex
• Most are for two or three voices.
• Types of works
– Madrigal
– Caccia
– Ballata
Madrigal
• Madrigal (not related to the sixteenth-century
madrigal)
• Subjects: love, satire, pastoral life
• Usually for two voices
Madrigal
• Form
– Each stanza set to the same music
– Ritornello (Italian for “refrain”), a closing pair of
lines set to different music in a different meter
Madrigal
Madrigal
• Non al suo amante by Jacopo da Bologna (fl.
1340–?1370)
– Unlike in the French chanson, the voices are
relatively equal.
– The last accented syllable of each poetic line is set
to a long, florid, melisma.
– The melody lacks the syncopations common in
French music.
Caccia (Italian, “hunt”)
• Similar to the French chace (“hunt”), a popularstyle melody set in strict canon with lively,
descriptive words
• Two voices are in canon at the unison with an
untexted tenor.
• Sometimes the text plays on the concept of a
hunt, as in Tosto che l’alba by Ghirardello da
Firenze.
– Imitations of hunting horns
– High-spirited and comic
Ballata
• Popular later than the madrigal and caccia
• Influenced by the treble-dominated French
chanson
• Ballata is from ballare (“to dance”), and it was
originally a song to accompany dancing.
Ballata
• The form is AbbaA, like a single stanza of a
French virelai.
– The ripresa (refrain) is sung before and after the
stanza.
– The stanza consists of two piedi (feet) and the
volta, the closing line sung to the music of the
ripresa.
Ballata
Francesco Landini
• Landini (ca. 1325–
1397)was the leading
composer of the
trecento.
– He was blind since
boyhood.
– He played many
instruments but was a
virtuoso on the small
organ (organetto).
Francesco Landini
• He composed 140 ballate.
– Most are for two voices.
– Others, presumably later works, have three parts
in a treble-dominated style similar to Machaut’s.
Francesco Landini
• Non avrà ma’ pieta
– Many sonorities containing thirds and sixths,
though never at the beginning or end of a section
– Despite syncopation, arching melodies are
smoother than Machaut’s
– Melismas on the first and penultimate syllables of
a poetic line are characteristic of the Italian style.
– Under-third cadences, known as “Landini
cadences,” are typical of trecento music.
Francesco Landini
Francesco Landini
Foreign influences
• French influence overtook the Italian style at
the end of the century, particularly after the
papal court moved back from Avignon.
• English polyphony was also influential; this
would become more pronounced in the next
century.
THE ARS SUBTILIOR
The Ars Subtilior
• In the late fourteenth century, French and
Italian music became more refined and
complex.
• Music catered to the extravagant tastes of
performers and the courtly elite.
• The papal court at Avignon was one of the
main patrons of secular music.
Polyponic chansons predominated
• The formes fixes continued to be set.
• Most were love songs.
• Composers were fascinated with technique
and extreme complexities.
• This repertory is known as the Ars Subtilior
(“the subtler art”).
Polyphonic chansons predominated
• The written music often included fanciful
decorations and ingenious notation.
– Love song in the shape of a heart
– Canon in the shape of a circle
• Rhythmic complexity
– The level of complexity is not matched until the
twentieth century.
– Works feature voices in contrasting meters and
conflicting groupings.
– Harmonies are purposely blurred through rhythmic
disjunction.
En remirant vo douce pourtraiture
• En remirant vo douce pourtraiture by Philippus
de Caserta (fl. 1370s)
• Ballade
• The three voices move in different meters.
• Each phrase has a distinctive rhythmic profile.
• Modern performance of the tenor and
contratenor can be either vocal or
instrumental
En remirant vo douce pourtraiture
Additional Art from Chapter 4
Figure 4.4
Figure 4.5
This concludes the presentation slides for
Chapter 4: French and Italian Music in the
Fourteenth Century
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