Lesson Four:  The Rest of the Renaissance (ha ha...working title)

1  The Motet:  Josquin des Prez ("Josquin")

Read pages 105-107 in your text and listen to Track 9 of your Norton 1 CD:

1. What did Martin Luther say about Josquin's musical ability?
2. What musical jobs did Josquin hold?
3. Define:
• motet (p. 83)
• polyphonic texture
• monophonic texture
• homorhythmic texture
• counterpoint
• imitative counterpoint
• canon
• strict imitation
• free imitation
4. Look at the first five measures of Josquin's motet, p. 26.  The notes set to the text "Ave Maria" are imitative.  Is this strict imitation or free imitation?
5. The 1st tenor, 2nd tenor, and bass voices imitate the opening soprano voice at what interval? 
6. Look at the second phrase ("gratia plena"); is this strict or free imitation?  At what interval?
7. Third phrase ("Dominus tecum"); strict or free; at what interval?
8. Fourth phrase ("Virgo serena"); strict or free; at what interval?
9. Which voice leads the imitation in the fourth phrase?  Why is possible?
10. At square 26 on p. 27 ("Ave cuius conceptio") Josquin introduces a new texture: top and second voices are moving together in harmony.  What is this texture called?  What is the interval between most of the notes of the phrase?
11. The imitation of "Ave cuius conceptio" by the 2nd tenors and basses is strict; the "conceptio" notes in the 1st tenor create a stream of chords that sound to our modern ears like what triad inversion?  (The name of this harmonic technique is "fauxbourdon," which means "false bass" in French, and it is a late medieval technique probably invented by Dufay.)
12. In which texture, polyphonic or homorhythmic, is it easier for the audience to understand the words being sung?
13. George Orwell's famous phrase from "Animal Farm" states:  "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."  The musical setting to the text "solemi plena gaudio, Caelestia, terrestria nove replet laetitia" is homorhythmic, but some of the words are more homorhythmic than others.  Make a "dot-to-dot" drawing of the noteheads of each syllable in the phrase (on syllables that have more than one note, just the first note of the syllable)  You will end up with a drawing that shows you how strictly homorhythmic is each syllable in the phrase.  Some lines will be absolutely vertical (strict homorhythm) and some will bend one, two, or three times.) 
14. The imitation in the phrase "Ave, cuius nativitas" that begins at m. 27 on p. 28, has similarities and differences to previous counterpoint in this piece:  the upper two voices are paired and imitated three measures later by the lower two voices, but each pair of voices is in imitative texture rather than homorhythmic, and the imitation is not at the unison: 
• at what interval does the second voice imitate the first voice? 
• Is the imitation between 1st and 2nd voice and between 3rd and 4th voice strict or free? 
• Is the imitation of the first pair by the second pair strict or free?
15. Compare the imitation of the four voices in the "Ut lucifer, lux oriens" phrase to the imitation of the four voices in the first phrase of the piece ("Ave maria"):
• what is different about the timing of the entrance of the four voices?
• what is different about the starting notes of the four voices?
• which phrase is in completely strict imitation, and which has some free imitation?
• which phrase is markedly different from the others?
• are the intervals in the bass line identical or slightly different from the soprano and 2nd tenor line?
16. Describe the imitation in the phrase "Verum solem praeveniens."
17. Describe the imitation in the section that contains the next four phrases:  "Ave, pia humilitas," "Sine viro fecunditas," Duius annuntiatio" and "Nostra fuit salvatio."
18. The next section "Ave, vera virginitas, Immaculata castitas, Cuius purificatio Nostra fuit purgatio" is an absolutely beautiful piece of music, that is often performed as a separate piece, sometimes to different words.  Listen to it several times, trying to sing every part and notice the following characteristics/answer the following questions:
• Top line:  four phrases, AABC
• Second line:  very much like a modern alto line; harmonizes the soprano line homorhythmically in thirds, fifths, octaves; the second line quarter note rhythm foreshadows the top line rhythm in the B phrase
• Third line:  strict imitation (except for last four notes, the cadence) of the top line at the fifth below one beat displaced
• Bottom line:  very much like a modern bass line; harmonizes the top two lines at thirds, fifths, and octaves, creating functional harmony to our modern ears. 

PROJECT:

Sequence the "Ave, vera virginitas, Immaculata castitas, Cuius purificatio Nostra fuit purgatio" in the keyboard lab, using a track for each part.  Save as "Josquin Ave vera."

Ave Maria [Hail Mary]
gratia plena [full of grace]
dominus tecum, [the Lord is with thee]
virgo serena. [serene Virgin]
Ave, cuius conceptio, [Hail, whose conception]
solemni plena gaudio, [full of great jubilation]
coelestia terrestria [fills Heaven and Earth]
nova replet laetitia. [with new joy]
Ave, cuius nativitas [Hail, whose birth]
nostra fuit solemnitas, [brought us joy]
ut lucifer lux oriens [as light-bearing morning star]
verum solem praeveniens. [went before the true sun]
Ave, pia humilitas, [Hail, pious humility]
sine viro fecunditas, [fruitful without a man]
cuius annuntiatio [whose Annuciation]
nostra fuit salvatio. [brought us salvation]
Ave, vera virginitas, [Hail, true virginity]
immaculata castitas, [immaculate chasity]
cuius purificatio [whose purification]
nostra fuit purgatio. [brought our cleansing]
Ave, praeclara omnibus [Hail, glorious one]
angelicis virtutibus, [in all angelic virtues]
cuius assumptio [whose Assumption]
nostra glorificatio. [was our glorification]
O mater Dei, [O Mother of God]
memento mei. Amen. remember me. Amen]

1.  
2. Click this youtube link to hear and watch a performance of Josquin's "El Grillo" ("The Cricket"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62-aBOZrqh8

2 Mythology (pp. 98-99)

1. Define/identify:
2. Venus
3. Venus and Adonis
4. the Muses
5. Calliope
6. Terpsichore
7. Euterpe
8. Pegasus
9. Mars
10. Cupid
11. Vulcan
12. Pan
13. panpipe
14. Apollo
15. Pygmalian
16. Pygmalian
17. My Fair Lady
18. quadrivium
19. Orpheus

Suggested Listening:

• link to excerpts from the soundtrack of the movie "Troy" by James Horner:

http://www.amazon.com/Troy-Music-Motion-Picture-Score/dp/B000244F7I

• link to excerpt of peruvian panpipes:

http://www.amazon.com/Los-Jilacatas-Panpipes-from-Chimo/dp/B000SEZCQ0

• link to excerpts from "My Fair Lady"

http://www.amazon.com/My-Fair-Lady/dp/B00138CZHY

• link to The Birth of Venus by Respighi, from Three Botticelli Pictures

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgO3JugGMm0 

Note:  The music to Troy, My Fair Lady, and The Birth of Venus is NOT Renaissance music; these pieces are written in an essentially Romantic symphonic style.  Their inclusion in this lesson shows that the interest in ancient Greek mythology, which was first revisited in the Renaissance has been an important part of our Western musical heritage since.

3 The Armed Man:  Dufay's L'Homme arme Mass

 

1. Listen to Track 7, and then sing with it several times, until you know this famous tune and can sing it without the recording.
2. Listen to Track 8 and sing along with your choice of the soprano, alto, or bass part.  Then sing along with tenor part. 
3. Explain the concept of the Renaissance cantus firmus mass, as if to someone who did not know what this was, using L'homme arme as your particular example.  Use your text's phrase "concealed in a web of polyphony" (p. 103) in your explanation.
4. Dufay set the Ordinary of the Mass to music nine times (in other words, he wrote nine Masses).  What are the names of the five movements in each of his masses?
5. Your text states, "In this Mass, we can hear at times the hollow-sounding octaves and fifths typical of medieval music and also the sonorous thirds and sixths that were growing in popularity." (p. 103)  Listen to track 8 again as you look at your score and find/label places that have these two different kinds of harmonic treatment.
6. Look at the key signatures of the four vocal parts.  What is interesting about them?  What is "musica ficta"?  Give examples from the score.  Where are some pitch discrepancies between the score and the recording?
7. Is this piece modal or is it in a key?  To our modern ears, does it sound major?  minor?  What is the tonal center of the A section (first Kyrie)?  What is the tonal center of the B section (Christe)?  The second A section (second Kyrie)? 
8. Below is a score of the opening measures of the Credo of this mass.  Look at the clef signs, the key signatures, and the time signatures, and compare them with the modern clefs, key signatures, and time signatures in your score.  Explain each.