(DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

THE
CLASSICAL


MUSIC









BOOK



































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THE

CLASSICAL


MUSIC











BOOK


































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DK LONDON Anukriti Arora, Monam Nishat STUDIO 8
ASSISTANT ART EDITORS
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CONTRIBUTORS







DR. STEVE COLLISSON, CONSULTANT KEITH MCGOWAN

British cellist, lecturer, and examiner Dr. Steve Collisson has taught Early music expert Keith McGowan has worked with most of the
at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the University of Birmingham, major early music ensembles in the UK and was Master of Music
and the Open University. He has adjudicated at many music festivals and on several productions at Shakespeare’s Globe in London.
competitions, including the BBC Young Musician competition.
KUMI OGANO
LEVON CHILINGIRIAN
Adjunct Associate Professor in Music at Connecticut College, Kumi
Founder of the Chilingirian Quartet with the pianist Clifford Benson, Ogano is an authoritative performer of the work of Japanese composers
renowned violinist Levon Chilingirian performs worldwide and Toru Takemitsu and Akira Miyoshi.
teaches at London’s Royal Academy of Music and Guildhall School
of Music & Drama. SOPHIE RASHBROOK
MATTHEW O’DONOVAN Sophie Rashbrook writes and presents on classical music for Sinfonia
Cymru and the Royal College of Music.
Head of Academic Music at Eton College, in the UK, Matthew
O’Donovan writes extensively about music. He is also a founding DR. CHRISTINA L. REITZ
member of the vocal ensemble Stile Antico and a published arranger.
Dr. Christina L. Reitz is an Associate Professor of Music at Western
GEORGE HALL Carolina University (North Carolina), where she teaches courses in
music history and American music.
A former editor for Decca and the BBC Proms, George Hall is now a
full-time music critic. He writes for a wide range of UK music publications, TIM RUTHERFORD-JOHNSON
including The Stage, Opera, and BBC Music Magazine.
A teacher at Goldsmiths College, University of London, Tim Rutherford-
MALCOLM HAYES Johnson blogs about contemporary music and is the author of Music
after the Fall: Modern Composition and Culture since 1989.
Composer, writer, and broadcaster Malcolm Hayes has written
biographies of Anton Webern and Franz Liszt and edited The Selected HUGO SHIRLEY
Letters of William Walton. His Violin Concerto premiered at the BBC
Proms in 2016. Hugo Shirley is a music journalist and critic based in Berlin. He is a
regular contributor to Gramophone and Opera magazines.
MICHAEL LANKESTER
KATIE DERHAM, FOREWORD
Educated at the Royal College of Music, Michael Lankester enjoys
an international conducting career. He has been Music Director of Host of the BBC Radio 3 programs Sound of Dance and In Tune, Katie
the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Connecticut, and Conductor-in- Derham is one of the station’s best-known voices. She has
Residence of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. been the face of the BBC Proms since 2010 and hosts the weekly
magazine show Proms Extra during the season. Katie also fronts
KARL LUTCHMAYER television documentaries, including The Girl from Ipanema: Brazil,
Bossa Nova, and the Beach for the BBC, and hosted the programs
An international concert pianist, Karl Lutchmayer holds a professorship All Together Now: The Great Orchestra Challenge and Fine Tuned.
at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London and is guest lecturer at In 2015 Katie was a finalist on Strictly Come Dancing, and she
various music colleges, including the Juilliard and Manhattan Schools. won the Christmas Special in 2017.





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6

CONTENTS









12 INTRODUCTION 36 Music is a science that 55 This feast … did even
makes you laugh, sing, ravish and stupefie all
EARLY MUSIC and dance those strangers that
never heard the like
Messe de Notre Dame,
1000–1400 Guillaume de Machaut Sonata pian’ e forte,
Giovanni Gabrieli

22 Psalmody is the weapon RENAISSANCE 56 My lute, awake!
of the monk Lachrimae, John Dowland
Plainchant, Anonymous 1400–1600

24 Ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la 42 Not a single piece of BAROQUE
Micrologus, music composed before
Guido D’Arezzo the last 40 years … 1600–1750
is worth hearing
26 We should sing psalms Missa L’homme armé, 62 One of the most
on a ten-string psaltery Guillaume Dufay magnificent and
Ordo Virtutum, expensefull diversions
Hildegard of Bingen 43 Tongue, proclaim Euridice, Jacopo Peri
the mystery of the
28 To sing is to pray twice glorious body 64 Music must move
Magnus liber organi, Missa Pange lingua, the whole man
Léonin Josquin Desprez Vespers,
Claudio Monteverdi
32 Tandaradei, sweetly sang 44 Hear the voyce
the nightingale and prayer 70 Lully merits with
Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion, Spem in alium, good reason the
Adam de la Halle Thomas Tallis title of prince of
French musicians
46 The eternal father Le bourgeois gentilhomme,
of Italian music Jean-Baptiste Lully
Canticum Canticorum,
Giovanni da Palestrina 72 He had a peculiar
genius to express
52 That is the nature of the energy of
hymns—they make us English words
want to repeat them Dido and Aeneas,
Great Service, Henry Purcell
William Byrd
78 The object of churches
54 All the airs and madrigals is not the bawling
… whisper softness of choristers
O Care, Thou Wilt Despatch Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott,
Me, Thomas Weelkes Dieterich Buxtehude





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80 The new Orpheus 128 The most tremendous
of our times genius raised Mozart
Concerti grossi, Op. 6, above all masters
Arcangelo Corelli Symphony No. 40 in
G minor, K. 550,
82 The uniting of the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
French and Italian
styles must create the 132 The object of the
perfection of music piano is to substitute
Pièces de clavecin, one performer for
François Couperin a whole orchestra
Piano Sonata in F-sharp
84 What the English like minor, Op. 25, No. 5,
is something they can Muzio Clementi
beat time to 108 Bach is like an astronomer,
Water Music, who … finds the most 134 We walk, by the
George Frideric Handel wonderful stars power of music,
The Art of Fugue, in joy through death’s
90 Do not expect any Johann Sebastian Bach dark night
profound intention, The Magic Flute,
but rather an ingenious Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
jesting with art CLASSICAL
Sonata in D minor, 138 I live only in my notes
K. 9 “Pastorale,” 1750–1820 Symphony No. 3 in E-flat
Domenico Scarlatti major, “Eroica,” Op. 55,
116 Its forte is like Ludwig van Beethoven
92 Spring has come, thunder, its crescendo
and with it gaiety a cataract
The Four Seasons, Symphony in E-flat major, ROMANTIC
Antonio Vivaldi Op. 11, No. 3,
Johann Stamitz 1810–1920
98 The end and final
aim of all music 118 The most moving act 146 The violinist is
should be none in all of opera that peculiarly
other than the Orfeo ed Euridice, human phenomenon …
glory of God Christoph Willibald Gluck half tiger, half poet
St. Matthew Passion, 24 Caprices for Solo Violin,
Johann Sebastian Bach 120 We must play from Op. 1, Niccolò Paganini
the soul, not like
106 Telemann is above trained birds 148 Give me a laundry
all praise Flute Concerto in A major, list, and I will set it
Musique de table, WQ 168, Carl Philipp to music
Georg Philipp Telemann Emanuel Bach The Barber of Seville,
Gioachino Rossini
107 His whole heart and 122 I was forced to
soul were in his become original 149 Music is truly
harpsichord String Quartet in C major, love itself
Hippolyte et Aricie, Op. 54, No. 2, Hoboken III:57, Der Freischütz,
Jean-Philippe Rameau Joseph Haydn Carl Maria von Weber





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8




174 I love Italian opera—it’s would not bother
so reckless saying it in music
La traviata, Giuseppe Verdi Das Lied von der Erde,
Gustav Mahler
176 Who holds the devil, let
him hold him well
Faust Symphony, NATIONALISM
Franz Liszt
1830–1920
178 And the dancers
whirl around gaily in the 206 My fatherland means more
waltz’s giddy mazes to me than anything else
The Blue Danube, The Bartered Bride,
Johann Strauss II Bedrˇich Smetana

179 I live in music like 207 Mussorgsky typifies
a fish in water the genius of Russia
150 No one feels another’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in Pictures at an Exhibition,
grief, no one understands G minor, Camille Saint-Saëns Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
another’s joy
Die schöne Müllerin, 180 Opera must make 208 I am sure my music has
Franz Schubert people weep, feel a taste of cod fish in it
horrified, die Peer Gynt, Edvard Grieg
156 Music is like a dream. The Ring Cycle,
One that I cannot hear Richard Wagner 210 I wanted to do
String Quartet No. 14 in something different
C-sharp minor, Op. 131, 188 He … comes as if sent Requiem, Gabriel Fauré
Ludwig van Beethoven straight from God
Symphony No. 1, 212 The music of the
162 Instrumentation is at Johannes Brahms people is like a rare
the head of the march and lovely flower
Symphonie fantastique, 190 The notes dance up there Symphony No. 9,
Hector Berlioz on the stage Antonín Dvorˇák
The Nutcracker,
164 Simplicity is the Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 216 Music is a language
final achievement of the intangible
Préludes, Frédéric Chopin 192 A symphony must Woodland Sketches,
be like the world. It must Edward MacDowell
166 My symphonies would contain everything
have reached Opus 100 if Also sprach Zarathustra, 218 The art of music above
I had written them down Richard Strauss all the other arts is
Symphony No. 1 (The expression of the soul
“Spring” Symphony), 194 Emotional art is a kind The Dream of Gerontius,
Robert Schumann of illness Edward Elgar
Tosca, Giacomo Puccini
170 The last note was drowned 220 I am a slave to my
… in a unanimous volley 198 If a composer could themes, and submit
of plaudits say what he had to their demands
Elijah, Felix Mendelssohn to say in words, he Finlandia, Jean Sibelius





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222 Spanish music with 258 Life is a lot like jazz … 274 Real music is always
a universal accent it’s better when revolutionary
Iberia, Isaac Albéniz you improvise Symphony No. 5 in D minor,
Rhapsody in Blue, Op. 47, Dmitri Shostakovich
223 A wonderful maze of George Gershwin
rhythmical dexterities 280 My music is natural, like
El sombrero de tres picos, 262 A mad extravaganza at a waterfall
Manuel de Falla the edge of the abyss Bachianas brasileiras,
Les Biches, Francis Poulenc Heitor Villa-Lobos
MODERN 263 I come with the 282 Never was I listened to

1900–1950 youthful spirit of with such rapt attention
and comprehension
my country, with
youthful music Quartet for the End of Time,
228 I go to see the shadow Sinfonietta, Leoš Janá cˇek Olivier Messiaen
you have become
Préude à l’après-midi d’un 264 Musically, there is not 284 I must create order
faune, Claude Debussy a single center of gravity out of chaos
in this piece A Child of Our Time,
232 I want women to turn Symphonie, Op. 21, Michael Tippett
their minds to big and Anton von Webern
difficult jobs 286 The music is so knit …
The Wreckers, Ethel Smyth 266 The only love affair that it takes you in very
I ever had was strong hands and leads
240 An audience shouldn’t with music you into its own world
listen with complacency Piano Concerto for the Left Appalachian Spring,
Pierrot lunaire, Op. 21, Hand, Maurice Ravel Aaron Copland
Arnold Schoenberg
268 Science alone can 288 Composing is like driving
246 I haven’t understood infuse music with down a foggy road
a bar of music in my life, youthful vigor Peter Grimes,
but I have felt it Ionisation, Edgard Varèse Benjamin Britten
Le Sacre du printemps,
Igor Stravinsky 270 A nation creates music.
The composer only
252 And ever winging up arranges it
and up, our valley is his String Quartet No. 6,
golden cup Béla Viktor János Bartók
The Lark Ascending,
Ralph Vaughan Williams 272 I detest imitation. I detest
hackneyed devices
254 Stand up and take your Romeo and Juliet,
dissonance like a man Sergei Prokofiev
Symphony No. 4,
Charles Edward Ives 273 Balinese music retained
a rhythmic vitality both
256 I have never written primitive and joyous
a note I didn’t mean Tabuh-Tabuhan,
Parade, Erik Satie Colin McPhee





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316 In music … things 324 Volcanic, expansive,
CONTEMPORARY don’t get better or dazzling—and obsessive
worse: they evolve and Études, Gyorgy Ligeti
transform themselves
298 Sound is the vocabulary Sinfonia, Luciano Berio 325 My music is written
of nature for ears
Symphonie pour un 318 If you tell me a lie, let L’Amour de loin,
homme seul, Pierre it be a black lie Kaija Saariaho
Schaeffer/Pierre Henry Eight Songs for a Mad King,
Peter Maxwell Davies 326 Blue … like the
302 I can’t understand why sky. Where all
people are frightened of 320 The process of possibilities soar
new ideas; I’m frightened substituting beats blue cathedral,
of the old ones for rests Jennifer Higdon
4´33˝, John Cage Six Pianos, Steve Reich
328 The music uses simple
306 He has changed our 321 We were so far ahead … building blocks and
view of musical time because everyone else grows organically
and form stayed so far behind from there …
Gruppen, Einstein on the Beach, In Seven Days,
Karlheinz Stockhausen Philip Glass Thomas Adès

308 The role of the musician 322 This must be the first 329 This is the core of who
… is perpetual exploration purpose of art … to we are and what we
Pithoprakta, Iannis Xenakis change us need to be
Apocalypsis, Alleluia, Eric Whitacre
309 Close communion R. Murray Schafer
with the people is the
natural soil nourishing 323 I could start out from the 330 DIRECTORY
all my work chaos and create order
Spartacus, in it
Aram Khachaturian Fourth Symphony, 340 GLOSSARY
Witold Lutosławski
310 I was struck by the
emotional charge of 344 INDEX
the work
Threnody for the
Victims of Hiroshima,
Krzysztof Penderecki 351 QUOTE ATTRIBUTIONS

312 Once you become an ism,
what you’re doing is dead 352 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In C, Terry Riley

314 I desire to carve … a
single painful tone as
intense as silence itself
November Steps,
Toru Takemitsu





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FOREWORD









Music has a certain magic. It can transport us to a You might know that Beethoven was deaf later in life,
different world, drive us to dance, or remind us of lost but learning which of his works he composed yet never
loved ones. A single chord can reduce us to tears. Far actually heard adds a poignancy and an increased
from being an exclusive, elite preserve, the kind of sense of wonder to the listening experience. Realizing
music that provided people in the Western world with that Mozart was effectively an 18th-century pop star
pleasure and inspiration for most of the past 1,000 might convince you to give the Marriage of Figaro
years—and now commonly known as classical another try. Power, patronage, and censorship have
music—is still delighting listeners today. It toys with each played a part in the genesis of some of the best-
our emotions in our favorite movies; its symphonic loved pieces of music. As you will discover, the real-life
swells add drama to the action of computer games; drama and scandals often kept pace with the musical
and it hides in the structure and melodies of everyday dramatics on the stage and in the score.
pop songs. Its magic is of a very special sort—one that
has grown and evolved over the centuries, shaped These, then, are the worlds that the book you are
by politics, geography, religion—and the particular holding invites you to explore. It will be an invaluable
genius of a multitude of great composers. companion as it takes you on a journey through the
different periods of musical history, deepening your
Sometimes it’s enough just to listen and let the understanding and appreciation of some of classical
music wash over and through you without asking music’s greatest works. It will delight those of you who
why, when, or how, this piece originated. However, already love classical music but may have never—until
the classical music canon can seem intimidatingly now—come to grips with the component elements of
vast, encompassing many different styles and genres. musical vocabulary and theory. And best of all, it will,
For example, the early music of the medieval church— I hope, encourage endless hours of new listening.
plainsong and chant—is a sonic world away from
the waterfalls of sound created by the 19th-century Classical music, like all music, has passion at its heart.
symphony orchestras employed by romantic composers, It’s why the great works of the past have endured for
such as Tchaikovsky and Brahms, or the atonal centuries, why contemporary composers still strive to
experimentation of Schoenberg in the early 20th match and challenge that beauty, and why millions of
century. At times exploring new sound worlds can us love to play, listen, and be transported by it today.
be unfamiliar, or even a little uncomfortable, as the There is so much wonderful, passionate music out
composer may have intended. there—let this book open your eyes and your ears to it.

With The Classical Music Book, you will discover the
context of the great musical works of the last 1,000
years. Understanding who the composers were and
why they were writing can be a revelation and can add
a new layer of enjoyment and insight to your listening.
A familiar piece such as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons takes on
a whole new resonance when you learn that Vivaldi
demonstrated the true potential of the concerto form
for the first time and that his reputation spread from
Italy to Germany, where he inspired a young organist
named Johann Sebastian Bach. Katie Derham
Classical music commentator







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INTRODUCTION














































































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14 INTRODUCTION























vital part of human culture, disregard for Classical conventions, The first of these was the Church.
at least since Neolithic just as Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre Western classical music originated
A times, music has been du printemps (Rite of Spring) in a Europe dominated by the
a feature of every civilization, astounded those who attended Church. In addition to wielding
as cave paintings, frescoes, and its Paris premiere a century later. considerable political power, the
archaeology show. What is loosely Such leaps have defined the clergy provided the only source
referred to as “classical music” is main periods of classical music— of learning in society. For the
the music of Western civilization Early Music, Renaissance, Baroque, educated, music was part of an
as it evolved from medieval times Classical, Romantic, Nationalist, act of worship, not entertainment.
to the present day. In its broadest Modern, and Contemporary— It was sung by monks without
sense, it covers a wide spectrum though these are broad distinctions, instrumental accompaniment.
of music and not just the orchestral with different styles within each
or piano music that some people one, and the dividing lines are The “New Art”
imagine. This book explores how not clear-cut. For hundreds of years, the Church
classical music developed as an resisted any change to the simple
essential part of European culture The role of the Church chanting of sacred texts, the rise
and then spread across the world, Like other art forms, music has and fall of which was represented
delighting, surprising, and sometimes been shaped by external influences on manuscripts by “neumes”
perplexing audiences as it evolved as well as by brilliant individuals. (inflective marks). Eventually,
through the centuries. however, new ideas found their
way in. With the invention of
Bold leaps a system of notation by Guido
The development of a musical d’Arezzo, a monk in 11th-century
tradition, from medieval church Italy, choristers began to sing
music and courtly trobadors to simple harmonies to the tunes.
the avant-garde music of the Music is the social act They later embellished them with
21st century, was often incremental, of communication other melodies, creating polyphony,
but it has also been punctuated among people, a gesture a new sound that, in the 14th
by exciting innovations. The of friendship, the century, was hailed as the Ars
first operas, staged at the end of strongest there is. nova, the “New Art.” Composers
the 16th century, for example, Malcolm Arnold soon introduced other innovations,
revolutionized sacred as well as such as an organ accompaniment.
secular music, while Beethoven’s The Church began to lose its
“Eroica” Symphony shocked early control over music, and culture
19th-century audiences with its in general, a process helped along
groundbreaking structure and by the birth of a new cultural





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INTRODUCTION 15























movement, the Renaissance. As continued to act as patrons to symphony, the solo concerto,
the taboo surrounding secular composers and performers, but and the string quartet. Music
music disappeared, composers there was also an increasing public also became popular in the home
expressed themselves more freely, demand for opera and music in as the swelling middle class
and their music spread through general, prompting investment in acquired leisure time and musical
Europe, especially after the opera houses, concert halls, and instruments, including the piano,
invention of a method for printing public theaters. became more affordable.
and therefore distributing music. As the Baroque period
No longer controlled by the Church, progressed, composers such as The Romantic period
musicians sought employment J.S. Bach and George Frideric Despite its enduring influence, the
in the aristocratic courts of Italy, Handel created works of increasing Classical period gave way to a new
France, Britain, and the Netherlands, complexity, taking advantage of cultural movement almost as soon
where they made a comfortable the orchestras provided by their as it had begun. As Romanticism,
living providing entertainment. aristocratic patrons. The music with its emphasis on the individual,
The Church still wielded some of the “High Baroque” era was swept through Europe, expression
power, however, and after the particularly expressive, often took precedence over clarity.
Reformation, a more austere musical ornamented with trills and other Composers stretched the Classical
style was imposed on the Protestant embellishments, and sometimes forms to their limits in the quest
churches in northern Europe, and dazzlingly virtuosic. for new sounds. They looked to
even the Catholic authorities looked For a while, the concertgoing extramusical sources of inspiration,
to curb the complexity of polyphony. public flocked to hear the latest such as art, literature, landscapes,
Composers thus developed a simpler orchestral showpieces, operas, and human experience. ❯❯
yet more expressive harmonic and choral works, but then the
style. Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 Enlightenment, the Age of Reason,
broke new ground for sacred music dawned, and fashions changed.
by incorporating elements of this There was suddenly a demand for
exciting new style. more elegant music emphasizing
balance and clarity, leading to
Musical explosion the Classical period from which What passion cannot
Around the same time, in Florence, “classical music” gets its name. music raise and quell.
a group of intellectuals called the In a short time, Classical John Dryden
Camerata de’ Bardi came up with composers, such as Mozart, Haydn,
a new form of entertainment, and Beethoven, established the
combining music and drama to musical forms that are the staple
create opera. This was a success of modern concert repertoires,
in the aristocratic courts, which including the four-movement





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16 INTRODUCTION























Romanticism was essentially rock music, whose rhythmic pitch of an individual note, how
a Germanic movement, yet its beats had instant appeal, causing high or low the sound is, especially
emphasis on the individual audiences to turn away from the in relation to others, is represented
provoked a wave of nationalist unfamiliar sounds of new classical by a letter (A, B, C, and so forth),
composers who wanted to music, and even classical music sometimes modified by “accidentals”
distance themselves from Austro- in general. Nonetheless, popular (sharp or flat) that raise or lower the
German dominance of the musical music also influenced and inspired note by a half step. For much of the
ancien régime and champion classical composers, producing history of classical music, melodies
the music of individual nations. a cross-fertilization of ideas that (patterns of notes) were composed
Russian and Czech composers brought new life to classical forms, using the notes of the major and
began to integrate elements of folk as did the harnessing of modern minor scales, or keys, which help
music and themes into their work, technology. Composers such as to determine the mood of a piece
a trend later explored by composers Karlheinz Stockhausen exploited of music. The key also governs
in other parts of Europe. the potential of the electronic the harmony, when two or more
By the end of the 19th century, studio and the huge advances notes are played at the same time.
the excesses of German Romanticism in recording equipment. Certain combinations of notes—
also precipitated a breakdown of Today, some composers, more chords—are consonant, or
the very foundations of Western conscious of public tastes, are harmonious, and others more
music—a structure based on the writing in a more accessible style dissonant, harsher; major chords
harmonies of the major and minor than was the case 50 years ago, but tend to sound brighter, while minor
keys. What followed was a century composers continue to experiment, chords are more mournful.
of composers seeking not just a producing music incorporating
fresh style but a completely new video, theater, and global influences.
musical language. Two of the
many strands that emerged were The elements of music
particularly influential: 12-note In order to understand the ideas
“serialism,” pioneered by Arnold and innovations described in this
Schoenberg and refined by Pierre book, it is useful to be familiar Rhythm and harmony find
Boulez, and “aleatoricism”—in with the “building blocks” of their way into the inward
which chance played a role in the Western classical music, many places of the soul.
composition or performance of music. of which were devised by medieval Plato
monks, drawing on concepts
New influences formulated by the Ancient Greeks.
These musical experiments Notes are the fundamental
coincided with the evolution of jazz material of all music, either sung
and later the explosion of pop and or played on an instrument. The





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INTRODUCTION 17























A feature of the Baroque, Classical, For listeners, the most noticeable woodwind, brass, and percussion
and Romantic periods was the difference between a Renaissance instruments, and—since the
system of major-minor tonality in song and a full-blown 19th-century 1950s—electronic technology.
which a key note, called the tonic, symphony is the sound of the voice
is the gravitational center around and/or instruments. Throughout This book
which a composition revolves— history, new musical instruments How composers put these musical
moving away from the tonic to have been invented and existing elements together to develop
create tension and toward the ones refined, giving composers different genres of classical music,
tonic to resolve it. and musicians new sounds with and the factors that influenced
which to work. them, is explained in this book.
Musical forms Each of these instrument has It presents significant milestones
Different styles of music emphasize its own distinctive timbre, or in the history of Western classical
particular aspects of its structure. tone, and different combinations music: not only the great composers
Some focus on melody, perhaps of instruments and voices have and their works but also some
with a harmonic accompaniment, evolved over time. These range lesser-known figures whose music
as was common during the Early from a cappella (the unaccompanied exemplifies a style or period. They
Baroque period; others employ voice), through solo instruments, are arranged in chronological order,
counterpoint, the interweaving like the piano, and small chamber placing them in a wider historical
of two or more melodies in a groups, such as the string quartet, context to show how they reflect
complex form of polyphony that is to the full concert orchestra of more society and culture.
one of the defining characteristics than 70 players of stringed, Each article focuses on a piece
of Western classical music. of music that illustrates a particular
Also important is the musical development in music, discussing
form, or shape, of a piece of music: its salient features and its
it may comprise recognizably significance in relation to other
different sections, perhaps in works by the same composer, or
contrasting keys. For example, in the same style. An “In Context”
in a simple “ABA” form, a musical The time is past when sidebar and a “See also” section
idea is presented, followed by a music was written for a refer to other pieces of music that
second idea, and then the opening handful of aesthetes. are relevant to the one under
idea is repeated. Musical forms Sergei Prokofiev discussion. As not every major
range from simple songs, such composer, let alone all the great
as the Lieder, made popular pieces of music, could be featured,
by Franz Schubert and Robert a Directory section at the end of
Schumann, to the complexity the book details other significant
of a multimovement symphony. composers and their work. ■





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EARLY
























MUSIC

























1000–1400



























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EARLY
























MUSIC

























1000–1400



























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20 INTRODUCTION




Pope Gregory I Frankish ruler The anonymous treatise Hildegard of
gathers plainchant Charlemagne instructs his Musica enchiriadis is Bingen’s musical play
traditions from musicians to employ the published, the first Ordo Virtutum depicts
across the Church nuances of Roman singers, publication to name a war between the
in an attempt to leading to the development musical pitches with Virtues and the Devil
unify them. of neumatic notation. the letters A to G. over the human soul.






C.600 C.800 C.875 C.1151


C.750 C.850 C.1026








Gregorian chant, a The development of Guido d’Arezzo
synthesis of Roman and the sequence, text pens his treatise
Gallican chants, is associated with a Micrologus and
commissioned by French particular chant melody dedicates it to Tedald,
Carolingian rulers. of the Latin Mass, Bishop of Arezzo, in
redefines liturgical music. Tuscany, Italy.


hat is now known it was exclusively vocal music, the melody. At this point, some
as Western Classical without accompaniment, and time in the ninth century, the pace
W music evolved from consisted of a single line of music, of change began to accelerate: a
the music of the medieval Church known as monody, which could be standardized form of church
in Europe, which in turn had its sung by one voice or a choir singing service, the Mass, was established,
roots in Jewish religious music and in unison. The tunes they sang are and specific plainchants were
the music of classical Rome and called “plainchant,” and each assigned to its various sections.
Greece. Our knowledge of this early region had its own collection of Notation also became more
music is limited, however, as it was chants. At the beginning of the sophisticated, with a horizontal
an oral tradition, memorized by seventh century, however, Pope line to clarify the pitch of the notes,
musicians and passed down from Gregory attempted to collect, showing how high or low they are.
generation to generation. The little categorize, standardize, and Most significant musically was
that is known for certain comes teach these regional variations the introduction of “organum,”
from contemporary accounts, which of plainchant as part of his efforts a simple form of harmony. Where
almost exclusively describe sacred to unify liturgical practice. plainchant had consisted of a single
music, as the Church effectively In order to guarantee that line of music, organum had two, and
had a monopoly on literacy. performance of these plainchants later three or even four, lines. One
was standardized across the whole voice would sing the plainchant,
The role of the Church of Christendom, a form of music and the other a parallel line of
The story of classical music begins notation was developed. This used music a few notes higher or lower.
with sacred Latin texts sung by symbols, known as “neumes,” As the music became more
monks as part of acts of worship. written above the text to give a complex over the years, the means
The performance was simple— graphic indication of the shape of of writing it down also evolved,





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EARLY MUSIC 1000–1400 21




Adam de la Halle’s The Tournai Mass, French composer
Le Jeu de Robin et composed by several Guillaume de
de Marion, regarded anonymous authors, is the Machaut’s
as the first secular first known polyphonic polyphonic mass
French play, is setting of a Mass Messe de Notre
premiered in Naples. transcribed to a manuscript. Dame is composed.






C.1280–1283 C.1320 C.1360–1365


C.1170 C.1300 C.1350








In Paris, Léonin Music theorist The Toulouse
bridges the gap Johannes de Mass assembles
between plainchant Garlandia’s De polyphonic Mass
and polyphony in his mensurabili musica movements adapted
Magnus liber organi. explains modal from existing motets
rhythmic systems. for three voices.


and in the 11th century a system of the plainchant, was succeeded By the mid-14th century, polyphonic
of differently shaped dots written by a more complex style, polyphony, music with interweaving vocal
on a staff of four or more horizontal in which each voice has its own lines had become known as Ars
lines was established this way— melody. This new technique was nova, the “New Art,” and composers
the forerunner of our modern pioneered by Léonin and Pérotin who had mastered the technique
system of music notation. in Paris and rapidly caught on were commissioned to write
across Europe. Masses for the cathedrals.
Music spreads At the same time, secular The new style was not
Notation not only helped standardize music was flourishing, too, in the exclusively developed for the
performance but also enabled form of traveling minstrels who Christian Mass. Composers also
musicians to write new music, entertained in the aristocratic wrote shorter settings of words in
which they did from the 12th courts and on the street. Known the same polyphonic style called
century onward, marking the as trobadors, trouvères, or similar “motets.” Some were settings of
beginning of classical music as regional variations, they were sacred texts, but a number of
it is known today. Music was no poets as well as composers and “serious” composers were also
longer anonymous and passed performers and, unlike church writing polyphonic motets on
on orally, and this led to the musicians, sang their songs with secular poems. As the medieval
emergence of composers and an instrumental accompaniment. period drew to a close, and the
compositions. This new breed It is likely that these entertainers Renaissance got under way,
of composer was keen to try out also played purely instrumental the Church’s monopoly on music
innovatory techniques. The simple music for dancing, but as such was on the wane. Sacred and
harmony of organum, with voices secular music was still an oral secular music were about to
singing in parallel with the melody tradition, none has survived. flourish side by side. ■





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22


PSALMODY IS



THE WEAPON




OF THE MONK





PLAINCHANT (6th–9th CENTURY), ANONYMOUS




he early Christian Church into the Divine Office or Liturgy
IN CONTEXT began as a Jewish sect, of the Hours—the basis of Roman
T so the evolving liturgy, or Catholic worship.
FOCUS forms of service, of the new faith
Plainsong
shared many traits with Jewish The singing of rites
BEFORE worship, including the repeated As Christianity spread from
c. 1400 bce A clay tablet from speaking, or chanting, of scripture the Holy Land, so did its rites
the ancient city of Ugarit in and prayer. Specifically, Christian and ceremonies, celebrated in
northern Syria records the aspects focused on particular the languages of the communities
hymn of a religious cult, with types of observance, such as the where it took root, such as Aramaic
fragmentary musical notation. reenactment of the Last Supper in Palestine and Greek in Rome.
(later to become the Mass) and As a result, different chant styles
c. 200 bce–100 ce Found psalm-singing, scripture readings, evolved, including the Mozarabic in
on a tombstone in a town and prayer to mark the new Iberia, the Gallican in Roman Gaul,
near Ephesus, in Turkey, Church’s holy days and feasts. and Ambrosian, after St. Ambrose,
the “song of Seikilos” is the Over time, these rites evolved a 4th-century bishop of Milan.
earliest complete, notated Of these earliest liturgies, only
musical composition. the Roman and Ambrosian chants
have survived in a recognizable
AFTER form. They became known as
1562–1563 The Catholic “plainsong” (a direct translation
Church’s Council of Trent bans of the Latin cantus planus) for the
the singing of the medieval simplicity of their unaccompanied
embellishments of plainchant melodies, which were sung in a
known as “sequences.” free, speechlike rhythm, reflecting
the unmetrical prose of prayers,
1896 The monks of the psalms, and the scriptures. This
Benedictine Abbaye de music, though unstructured, largely
Solesmes publish their Liber
usualis, an attempt to restore
Gregorian chant, distorted by A wooden sculpture of St. Ambrose
centuries of use, to a more (c.1500) shows him in his study. The
Roman bishop championed the hymn,
pristine and standardized text. or “sacred song,” as a key part of
church worship.





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EARLY MUSIC 1000–1400 23

See also: Micrologus 24–25 ■ Magnus liber organi 28–31 ■ Messe de Notre The Mass
Dame 36–37 ■ Canticum Canticorum 46–51 ■ Great Service 52–53
It took until at least the 11th
century for the Mass to reach
a final form. Its music became
known as the Gradual, a book
divided into the Ordinary (the
elements that remain the same
every week) and the Proper
(the parts that are particular
to the time and day in the
Church calendar).
The Ordinary of the Mass
has five parts. The first, Kyrie
eleison (“Lord, have mercy”),
is an ancient text in Greek (the
language of Roman services
until about the 4th century);
the second, Gloria in excelsis
Deo (“Glory to God in the
highest”), was introduced
in the 7th century; the third,
the Credo (“I believe”) was
adopted in 1014 (though is
believed to date from the
4th century); and the fourth,
followed the ancient Greek modal This Gregorian chant, Hodie the Sanctus (“Holy”), rooted
system of seven-note octaves made Cantandus (“today we must sing”), by in Jewish liturgy, had become
up of five tones and two semitones, St. Tuotilo, a 10th-century Irish monk, part of the Roman rite before
and consisted of two types of has neumes on the upper lines and the reforms of Pope Gregory I.
chant: the responsorial and the Latin script underneath. The fifth section, Agnus Dei
antiphonal. The former involved (“The Lamb of God”), was
more elaborate, solo chants, with a Gregory consolidated the music of added to the Roman Mass in
response from the choir. Antiphonal the Roman rite and is said to have the 7th century, originating
chants, where singing alternated instigated a papal schola cantorum from a Syrian rite.
between choir and congregation, (“choir school”) to do justice to the
consisted of simpler melodies. evolving repertoire.
These forms were shared by
Roman and Ambrosian plainsong, Expanded repertoire
but Ambrosian chant was smoother Under the rule of Charlemagne
in its note progression and more (742–814), the first Holy Roman
dramatic than Roman chant. It also Emperor, Roman chants were
made greater use of melisma, in synthesized with elements of the
which a string of notes was sung Gallican style, which was also
on one syllable—a style still used in common use. This expanded
in Middle Eastern and Asian song. collection formed the basis of
By the middle of the first Gregorian chant, which remains at
millennium, thousands of chants the heart of Catholic Church music.
existed across the different rites. Plainsong was also the foundation The ritual of the Mass was
The sheer variety of unique styles for medieval and Renaissance based on the Last Supper, shared
and traditions was addressed by music and its notation, based on by Christ and His disciples,
seen here in this detail from
Gregory I (Pope 590–604 ce), who the staves and neumes, or notes, a 6th-century manuscript.
wished to unify liturgical practice. of written chants. ■





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24

UT, RE, MI, FA,





SOL, LA







MICROLOGUS (c. 1026), GUIDO D’AREZZO







odern Western musical
IN CONTEXT notation has its origins
M in Europe’s monasteries
FOCUS at the end of the first millennium.
Early music notation
The earliest musical symbols,
BEFORE called neumes, were written aids
500 ce Boethius, a Roman for chants that used simple pen
senator and philosopher, writes strokes to remind the monks if
De institutione musica, which the music moved up or down, or
was still in use as a music remained on the same tone.
primer in the 16th century. Diastematic, or “heightened,”
neumes brought more clarity
935 ce In France, Odo of to notated chant by formalizing
Cluny’s Enchiridion musices the note shapes and imagining
becomes the first book to a single horizontal line across
name musical pitches with the page. This gave a “horizon”
the letters A to G. against which the singer could The Guidonian Hand was a system
work out the pitch. Nonetheless, invented to teach monks the easiest
AFTER heightened neumes were open way to reference the 20 notes of
1260 German music theorist to misinterpretation and greater medieval liturgical music.
Franco of Cologne writes precision was needed.
Ars cantus mensurabilis, pitch was now not only fixed from
which adds refinements to Invention of the staff note to note, but the singer knew
Guido’s notation. The solution, credited to Guido at a glance on which note to start.
d’Arezzo, an Italian monk and Guido’s treatise Micrologus
1300 In Paris, Johannes music theorist (though he may (c.1026) describes the singing
de Garlandia writes De have only formalized what was aid for which he is best known, the
mensurabili musica, describing then current practice) was to draw Guidonian Hand. If a modern singer
the six rhythmic modes. four lines across the page, allowing has to describe a particular note,
the singer to precisely gauge the they might picture the continuous
melody’s movement. Guidonian row of notes using seven letters
notation sometimes has one of the from A to G, repeated over the
lines in yellow ink to show the note seven octaves of a piano. To specify
C, and one in red to show F, so a particular “C,” the singer might





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EARLY MUSIC 1000–1400 25

See also: Plainchant 22–23 ■ Ordo Virtutum 26–27 ■ Le jeu de Robin et de Marion 32–35 ■ Great Service 52–53 ■
Monteverdi’s Vespers 64–69 ■ St. Matthew Passion 98–105


his thumb’s middle joint, his voice
ascended to A, and so on up the
scale, spiraling his finger around
the joints and tips of his fingers to
indicate all 20 notes (going into
I have determined to falsetto as the spiral tightened
notate this antiphoner, and the octaves ascended).
so that any intelligent
and diligent person Solmization syllables
can learn a chant. Guido backed up these seven
Guido d’Arezzo letter names with six “solmization”
syllables—ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la—a
system of talking about melodies
in an abstract way. This was the
precursor to today’s more familiar
sol-fa (doh, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti), but Italian monk and music theorist
Guido’s syllables differ in that his Guido d’Arezzo wears a laurel wreath
say “middle C” (in the middle of solmization did not use the note in a portrait painted by Antonio Maria
the keyboard). However, if that ti, so it has only six notes—a Crespi in the early 16th century, some
is not the one they had in mind, hexachord. As the range went 600 years after Guido’s death.
they might have to say clumsily, beyond the six notes, the hexachord
“C, the octave above middle C.” had to be repeated in overlapping “C sol-fa-ut” on the Guidonian
Guido, requiring only 2.5 patterns over the extent of the Hand and the lowest G, using the
octaves (20 notes) to cover the 20 notes of Guido’s Hand. Each Greek letter name, was “gamma
vocal range of the chants, used note then ended up with both a ut,” hence the expression still in
the same seven note names we use base letter name and a secondary use today “running the gamut.”
today (A to G) for his singing aid. coordinate, derived from the The monk could now easily
The novice monk would point to note’s unique position on the specify any of the 20 notes in
the tip of his left-hand thumb and hand, to designate the octave. conversation, in writing, or by
sing a low G. Sliding his finger to Modern “middle C” translates to simply pointing to his hand. ■

The modes developed soon after) were minor scale). (The mode on “B,”
categorized. Modes helped sometimes called “Locrian”
monks remember the many mode, was not used in the
liturgical works. Western music of the Middle
Modes can be played by Ages as it was too dissonant.)
D E F G A B C D using only the white notes on Music was organized
a piano. If you were to play six according to this modal theory
Western music inherited a complete seven-note scales, until, by the time of 18th-
theoretical foundation based on starting on each of the following century Baroque composers,
early church musical practices notes, that would give an idea such as Bach and Handel, the
in Greece, Syria, and Byzantium. of how each basic corresponding “major” and “minor” principle
Sometime in the 10th century, church mode would sound: C of tonal harmony essentially
the principle of musical “modes” (Ionian mode, corresponding reduced the number of scales
(groupings or “scales” of notes) with the major scale); D (Dorian); to just two. From then on,
developed, by which the various E (Phrygian); F (Lydian); G music was considered to be
melodies of plainchant (the basis (Mixolydian); A (Aeolian, in a particular “key” and
for “Gregorian” chants that corresponding with the natural not in any given “mode.”







US_024-025_Guido_d_Arezzo.indd 25 26/03/18 1:00 PM

26


WE SHOULD SING


PSALMS ON A



TEN-STRING PSALTERY



ORDO VIRTUTUM (c.1151), HILDEGARD OF BINGEN









IN CONTEXT

FOCUS
Early female composers
BEFORE
c. 920 The surviving two
stanzas of Jórunn Skáldmaer’s
Sendibítr (“A biting message”)
represent the longest skaldic
verse (a type of Norwegian
poem possibly sung in
performance) by a woman.
1150 In Paris, Abbess Héloïse
possibly composes the Easter
music drama Ortolanus
and the Easter sequence
Epithalamica, attributed to
theologian Peter Abelard.
AFTER ne of the most original Hildegard receives a divine
1180 Beatriz Comtessa de voices in sacred music of vision in an image from a 13th-century
Dia writes a collection of five O the early Middle Ages was manuscript. She is accompanied by
troubadour songs. The song that of the female cleric Hildegard Volmar of Disibodenberg (left) and
her confidante Richardis von Stade.
A chantar m’er de so qu’eu no of Bingen in Germany. Her musical
volria survives with notation. output is also one of the largest of
any single identifiable medieval Hildegard grew up under the
1210 Juliana of Liège may composer. Her collection entitled tutelage of a young visionary
have written music for the Symphonia armonie celestium called Jutta of Sponheim. With
Feast of Corpus Christi, revelationum (“The symphony of support from Jutta and a monk
which is said to have come the harmony of celestial revelation”), named Volmar at the abbey of
to her in a vision. for example, includes more than Disibodenberg, Hildegard learned
70 plainchant compositions. the psalms and practiced the





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EARLY MUSIC 1000–1400 27

See also: Le jeu de Robin et de Marion 32–35 ■ Messe de Notre Dame 36–37 ■
Missa l’homme armé 42 ■ The Wreckers 232–239 ■ blue cathedral 326


chant repertory of the church
year, studied the playing of the
psaltery (a stringed instrument),
and learned to write Latin. Like
Jutta, Hildegard professed to be
divinely inspired, claiming to have Heaven was opened and a
“never learned neumes, or any fiery light of exceeding
other part of music.” While the brilliance came and
truth of this assertion is unknown, permeated my whole brain …
it may have been an attempt to and immediately I knew the
disassociate herself and Jutta from meaning of the exposition Hildegard of Bingen
an education that ordinarily would of the Scriptures.
not have been available to women. Hildegard of Bingen Born in 1098 as the youngest
For women in the 12th century, to child in a large family of
profess knowledge of the trivium lesser nobility, Hildegard
(the rhetorical arts) or quadrivium spent her early childhood in
(the sciences and music theory) Bermersheim, south of Mainz,
or to provide interpretation of the in Germany. She suffered
Bible might be considered a direct from ill health, and even
threat to male authority. becomes more expressive and before the age of five began
animated, the sweeping vocal to see visions, drawing the
Magnum opus lines of Humilitas (Humility), Fede family’s attention to her
The earliest extant morality (Faith), and Spes (Hope) inspiring spiritual acuity by predicting
play, and one of the first musical the sister Virtues to respond the color of an unborn calf.
At about the age of eight,
dramas to be recorded, Hildegard’s with ardor. However, the original she was placed in the care of
most well-known work, Ordo notation is little more than the Jutta of Sponheim, a visionary
Virtutum (“The play of the Virtues”), barest of bones: recordings with who lived as a recluse in a
contains more than 80 melodies fiddles, flute, and harmonized hermitage near the abbey
that form a musical drama most accompaniments represent at Disibodenberg.
likely intended to be performed by the modern interpretation of The women’s hermitage
the nuns of Hildegard’s order. The this sketch. was later opened to monastic
play calls for a cast of more than aspirants, and at the age of
20 singing roles and concerns Writings and divinity 14 Hildegard devoted her life
the struggle for a soul (Anima) Hildegard’s letters reveal her to God as a Benedictine nun.
between 17 “Virtues” (Humility status as “seer and mystic,” which On the death of Jutta in 1136,
is the Queen of the Virtues) and allowed her not just the freedom and at the age of 38, Hildegard
their adversary, Diabolus (the to offer stern advice (even to the was elected to lead the
Devil). Diabolus, perhaps originally pope) but opportunities for musical religious community. She
performed this role until her
spoken by Hildegard’s friend expression. She often emphasized death in 1179 but also found
and scribe Volmar, lacks all the transcendent origin of her time to write three volumes
harmony and articulates in works. Music connected her to of visionary theology, scientific
spoken interjections. a lost Eden, before Adam and Eve works, and religious verse.
The accompanying melodies precipitated the Fall of humankind
in the manuscript indicate when by eating the forbidden fruit. She Other key work
the Virtues sing as a chorus and envisaged her texts being at the
gives more florid music to the solo service of the music, so that “those c.1150s Symphonia armonie
voices. As the Virtues step forward who hear might be taught about celestium revelationum
to introduce themselves, the music inward things.” ■





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28 IN CONTEXT

TO SING FOCUS


The rise of vocal harmony

BEFORE
IS TO PRAY c.1000 More than 160 organa,
probably written by Wulfstan,
the Cantor of Winchester
Cathedral, are collected in
the Winchester Troper.
TWICE c.1140 The Codex Calixtinus

mentions a certain Magister
Albertus Parisiensis as

work for three voices.
MAGNUS LIBER ORGANI (c.1170), composer of the first notated
AFTER
LÉONIN c.1200 Pérotin improves and
expands on Léonin’s work in
the Magnus liber organi.







he development of
polyphony (richly layered
T music for multiple voices)
in the mid-12th century is closely
linked to Notre Dame in Paris,
the lavish new cathedral built by
Maurice de Sully when be became
Bishop of Paris in 1160. Around
this time, a French composer
called Léonin was creating fresh
embellishments for two voices, in
order to enhance the traditional
plainchant. Under the patronage of
the cathedral, Léonin and a number
of other innovative composers
formed what later became known
as the Notre Dame School.

Composing organa
There are no records of Léonin
until nearly a century after he
was active, when an Englishman
studying in Paris (known to
musicology as “Anonymous IV”)
wrote about Master Léoninus.





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EARLY MUSIC 1000–1400 29

See also: Plainchant 22–23 ■ Micrologus 24–25 ■ Messe de Notre Dame 36–37 ■ Canticum Canticorum 46–51 ■
Monteverdi’s Vespers 64–69 ■ Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott 78–79


The nave of Notre Dame de Paris shifting the single note to an
was completed shortly after the death adjacent pitch, to make a more
of Maurice de Sully in 1196. Léonin and pleasant relationship with the
Pérotin created their music in or close chant before moving back to the
to the new cathedral.
finalis. Traditions involving a fixed
note accompaniment are still heard
century, but the stages in the today, in Sufi Muslim Qawwali
development of harmony-singing music from India and Pakistan,
are unclear. The papal Schola and in bagpipe music.
cantorum (choir) of the 7th century
maintained a total of seven singers, A sinful sound
including three scholae (scholars) The move toward polyphony was
as well as an archiparaphonista not universally welcomed. Some
(the fourth-ranking singer) and within the church objected to the
three paraphonistae, a Greek term new methods—notably the English
meaning “one who sings alongside cardinal Robert of Courçon, who
the chant.” Some musicologists criticized the writers of organum
believe this may suggest the on the grounds that this new music
presence of singers who specialized was effeminate. In his Summa, he
in a harmonizing role. wrote that “If a wanton prelate
He described Léonin as the The simplest harmonizing gives benefices to such wanton ❯❯
optimus organista (best composer technique was for a singer to hold
of organa, or vocal harmonizations) the finalis (principal note) of the
and the author of the Magnus liber mode of the piece as a sustained Cistercian monks at Zwettl Abbey,
Austria, practice choral singing in this
organi (Great Book of Organum), an note underneath the chant. This miniature accompanying notation for
anthology of music used by the would be sung to an open vowel the Graduale Cisterciense (c.1268). A
cathedral to solemnify the liturgy. sound, perhaps occasionally graduale is a liturgical chant or hymn.
Anonymous IV writes that
Léonin’s Great Book was used until
the time of Pérotin (c. 1160–1205),
who was known as the best
composer of discants—an organum
with countermelodies on top of the
plainsong. Pérotin shortened and
improved Léonin’s organa, wrote
better clausulae (musical episodes
inserted in the chant), and also
composed organa for three and four
voices. According to Anonymous
IV, Pérotin’s music was still in use
at Notre Dame in his time (c.1280).
Early harmony
Before the time of Léonin,
vocal harmonies were far simpler.
Theorists took a certain interest
in the practice of singing in parts
from the latter half of the 9th





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30 THE RISE OF VOCAL HARMONY


Pérotin’s Alleluia nativitas was
written for three voices. As seen here,
the number of lines in a staff was not
fixed at this time; they merely gave a
rough idea of the “height” of the notes.

singers in order that this kind of
minstrelish and wanton music may
be heard in his church, I believe
that he becomes contaminated
with the disease of simony.”
Attitudes such as Courçon’s, which
associated the intertwined male
voices of polyphony with sodomy,
sought to discredit the new musical
style by associating it with sin.

Two handbooks
The first works that attempted
to explain vocal harmony were
Musica enchiriadis (“The Music
Handbook”), c.900, and its
companion text Scholia enchiriadis.
The simplest harmonizing method
illustrated by the writer of the
handbooks was singing in octaves.
This technique was known as
“magadizing” in ancient Greece
and occurs naturally when men and also suggests a hybrid method, describe this technique as
boys sing in unison. The method of whereby the vox organalis a version of “heterophony”
utilizing a basic harmony, parallel (“accompanying voice”) either (embellishing a single line).
to the original chant, was called holds a pitch or moves in parallel
“simple organum” by the writer of harmony with the vox principalis Scattered examples
the enchiriadis. Scholia enchiriadis (“main voice”) before returning A short piece of organum for two
to a unison with the chant at the voices moving independently came
ends of phrases. to light in 2014 on the back leaf of a
Although simple organum manuscript in the British Library
involves more than one voice, this that can be dated to c. 900. It
singing in octaves is not normally appears to demonstrate that some
Masters of organum … set described by modern writers as singers in northwest Germany were
minstrelish and effeminate “polyphony,” because the two parts quite adept at this hybrid style of
things before young and are not independent. Creating organum by the end of the 9th
harmony by simply following the
century. Although it is a single
ignorant persons.
Robert of Courçon melody at a different octave (or isolated example, the piece (Sancte
Bonifati martyr, “St. Boniface the
other harmonic interval) makes the
English cardinal harmonizing part a slave to the Martyr”) is agreed to be the
(c.1160–1219)
chant’s shape and movement. The oldest existing notated piece of
effect is to enrich the sound of the polyphonic music for performance.
chant, but the technique of finding The Winchester Troper (c.1000),
this added harmony has little a manuscript copied into two books
finesse. Musicologists prefer to at Winchester Cathedral from





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EARLY MUSIC 1000–1400 31


Development of indication of pitch, either of the
vocal harmony original chant melody or in the
harmonizing vox organalis, making
accurate transcription of these
Plainchant: pieces difficult.
A single unaccompanied A century after the Winchester [Pérotin] notated his books
vocal line in free rhythm, Troper, The School of St. Martial of very faithfully according to
like speech. Limoges explored polyphony in 90 the use and custom of his
pieces in four French manuscripts master, and even better.
(c. 1120–1180), and the Codex Anonymous IV
Calixtinus (c. 1140) from Santiago
de Compostela, in northwest Spain.
The notation of this “Aquitanian
Organum: polyphony” was less ambiguous in
Addition of a second pitch than the Troper and suggests
voice at a different that most of the repertoire was
octave paralleling sung to a rhythm. The pieces are to one of six metrical patterns
the first voice. mostly for two singers in a more (trochaic, iambic, and so forth, akin
melismatic style, in which the to Classical poetic meter). These
upper voice sometimes has many are indicated by two note shapes,
notes, sung over a less active lower longa and brevis (long and short),
voice. The Codex Calixtinus the duration of the note depending
contains what may be the first on context. Léonin’s development of
Counterpoint: composition notated for three organum in the discant style owed
The interweaving of voices, the Congaudeant Catholici. much to this innovation.
simultaneous playing or Pérotin, Léonin’s successor in
singing. Also known as The Notre Dame School the Parisian style of discant, went
contrapuntal.
As the Cathedral of Notre Dame one better, composing organum
rose up on the Île de la Cité in Paris, triplum, and even organum
the discant style emerged, which quadruplum, for three and four
allowed the upper voice of organa voices respectively. Proclaiming
more freedom. The roles of the two their magnificence, the Bishop of
Harmony: singers diverged into that of the Paris decreed in 1198 that Pérotin’s
Three or more musical notes florid soloist and an accompanying four-voice works Viderunt omnes
sung simultaneously to voice holding long notes. This and Sederunt principes should be
create a chord. distinction was reflected in the performed on Christmas Day,
new titles of tenor (“one who holds”) St. Stephen’s Day (December 26),
and duplum (“second voice”). and again on New Year’s Day. ■
At this time, Léonin introduced
French sources a few decades a greater degree of rhythmic
after Sancte Bonifati martyr, gives organization to his compositions,
a snapshot of monastic musical regulating the flow of the meter in
life in England prior to the Norman an early form of “modal rhythm.” In
Conquest. Although the second its mature iteration, modal rhythm
volume contains 174 organa sets the line in motion according
(making it the first substantial
corpus of composed polyphony),
the notation assumes that the Pérotin, called Perotin Magister
(“Pérotin the Master”) by Anonymous
singer already has some knowledge IV, is believed to have lived from
of the repertoire. The unstaffed c.1160–1230. He is pictured here with
neumes do not give a precise church bells at Notre Dame de Paris.





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32 IN CONTEXT


TANDARADEI, FOCUS

Secular medieval music
SWEETLY SANG BEFORE
c. 1160 Festum stultorum
(Feast of Fools) appears in
Paris and Beauvais as an
THE NIGHTINGALE opportunity around Christmas
for clerics to indulge in a
parody of the liturgy.


LE JEU DE ROBIN ET DE MARION (1280–1283), c. 1230 Ludus Danielis (The
Play of Daniel) is written in
ADAM DE LA HALLE Beauvais as a liturgical drama
in Latin.

AFTER
Late 14th century The
annual cycle of Mystery Plays
(performances of biblical
scenes set to music) begins in
York and Wakefield, England.





iverse musical traditions
are known to have
D flourished in European
towns and villages in the Middle
Ages, as they did in the courts of
noble families, yet almost none
of this popular music survives in
notation. While the Church used
scribes to regulate and record its
own repertoire for posterity, much
secular music was passed on orally.
However, the lack of written
sources among common people is
not just the consequence of poor
literacy. For many dance musicians
and the singers of epics, a written
text would not have reflected the
skilful, improvisatory nature of their
profession, honed by generations
of hereditary entertainers.
Furthermore, by recording their
works in a manuscript, they
risked handing their cherished
repertoire to rivals.





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EARLY MUSIC 1000–1400 33

See also: Missa l’homme armé 42 ■ Water Music 84–89 ■ Musique de Adam de la Halle
table 106 ■ The Magic Flute 134–137 ■ Die schöne Müllerin 150–155
French musician Adam de la
Halle was born in the cloth-
working city of Arras in 1222,
and grew up learning about
music as part of his theological
education at the abbey of
Vaucelles, founded only a
century before. De la Halle’s
father expected him to enter
the Church, but he chose a
different path. After a short-
lived marriage, he enrolled at
the University of Paris, where,
among other things, he learned
the polyphonic techniques
that he would later apply to
popular musical genres.
De la Halle initially used
his verse to speak out against
the corrupt administration of
Arras but later entered into
noble service. It was in the
service of Charles of Anjou,
who became king of Naples,
Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion was (where oïl meant “yes”). Each of that he wrote Le jeu de Robin
performed in St. Petersburg, Russia, these languages had its own et de Marion. Halle died a few
in 1907. Its set design was recorded in bardic tradition: the south had the years later, sometime between
watercolor by Mstislav Dobuzhinsky. 1285 and 1288.
music of the trobador and female
trobairitz, while the north used
The sources of European secular the word “trouvère,” both of which Other key works
music tended to be found where may have come from the Early
popular styles aroused the interest French word trobar, meaning Date unknown Mout me fu
of the Church or nobility. The “to find or invent” (a song). An grief/Robin m’aime/Portare
(Great was my sadness/Robin
crusading knights of southern alternative root may be the Arabic loves me/Portare)
France found the highly developed word tarab, meaning “source of joy.” Date unknown A jointes
styles of instrumental and vocal One of the earliest troubadours, mains vous proi (Take my
music they encountered on William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, hand, I pray)
Crusades in the Holy Land was said to have sung “in verse
particularly appealing, this being with pleasant tunes” about his
a period of great cultural exchange experience of leading the so-called Le jeu de Robin et de Marion (“The
as well as of conflict and hostility. “Crusade of the Faint-Hearted” Play of Robin and Marion”) for his
into Anatolia (now Turkey) in 1101. fellow Frenchmen as part of a
Languages and influences His songs are clearly influenced Christmas celebration in Naples
Medieval secular music features by Arabic poetic conventions, in in 1284. The French noblemen had
distinct poetic identities linked to particular the popular song-forms taken refuge there after the island
regional languages. Two medieval of muwashah and zajal. of Sicily had overthrown the rule of
French languages emerged from Charles I of Anjou (Adam’s patron)
Latin: langue d’oc or Occitan in A play with music in a bloody Easter coup. The Jeu
Southern France and Northern The 13th-century musician Adam tells the story of a country maid
Spain (where oc meant “yes”); and de la Halle has been described as a who is wooed by a lustful knight
langue d’oïl, north of the Loire trouvère. De la Halle probably wrote yet remains true to her lover ❯❯





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34 SECULAR MEDIEVAL MUSIC


Robin. The titular characters identify the piece as pantomime etiquette between a knight and
perform the bulk of the music, in (drama of spoken text with songs). an idealized lady, based on the
monophonic songs that de la Halle Halle’s comedy knew no limits—he principles of allegiance and fealty
created by setting his own lyrics poked fun at the church and its that defined a noble life. De la
to tunes in a popular style. corrupt clerics, at the people of Halle’s Robin and Marion played to
Some have called it the “first Arras, where he lived and worked, this idea, as a depiction of a knight
comic opera,” although modern and even his own family and life. trying to woo his love, but was
audiences might more readily also influenced by the French
Chivalric tales pastoral storytelling tradition.
The songs of both trobadors and Trobador verse has survived
Henry of Meissen performs at court
in the Codex Manesse (1300). The trouvères—have their roots in the well: there are more than 2,000
musician was called Frauenlob (“praise medieval culture of fin’amor (courtly extant poems composed by more
of women”) for his chivalric songs. love)—the chivalric code of than 450 known poets. However,
transmission of the musical
accompaniment for these songs is
patchy, with barely 10 percent of
the poems having their associated
melodies relayed in notation.
Trouvère activity in northern
France began with the 13th-century
poet Chrétien de Troyes, about 70
years after the first trobador in the
south. The number of surviving
trouvère songs is similar to that of
the southern corpus, but more than
60 percent of trouvère songs have
music—albeit without precise
information concerning rhythm.

Southern Europe
While trobadors and trouvères were
a distinct group of courtly poets
writing in specific poetic genres,







When I see the lark
Set flight for joy
toward the sun …
It’s a marvel that my heart
Does not melt with
longing at the sight.
Bernart de Ventadorn













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EARLY MUSIC 1000–1400 35


lesser entertainers were manifold, is the main surviving source of Medieval instruments
and their activities were varied. In goliard song. The title ménestrel
southern Europe, a musician might (minstrel) meanwhile refers to Many of the instruments
go by the title of joglar or joglaresa, one who is a “little minister,” in associated with European
medieval music have their
while their northern counterparts service perhaps at court, or to roots in North Africa, Central
were called jongleurs. The skillsets a city. Armed with finely honed Asia, and the Balkans. These
of these musicians encompassed musical skills and a claim to a included the lute (a string
feats of dexterity, fluency in any patron’s protection, a minstrel instrument with a back
instrument required for dancing, might hope to escape some of shaped like the shell of a
singing songs of love and heroes, the opprobrium that was often tortoise), the rebec (a spoon-
or simply playing the fool. Yet, levelled at a jongleur. By the shaped bowed instrument),
in spite of the joy they brought, 14th century, however, the term and the shawm, the precursor
itinerant entertainers were not ménestrel was increasingly used of the oboe. The European
only on the lowest rung of the social in France as a term to describe all tabor (drum) is akin to the
order but were also outside of the urban musicians—many of whom Indian tabla while nakers
protection of the law. One example played in taverns or on the streets. were related to the Asian
of joglar song is the work of Martin naqqara (kettledrums). The
Codax (c.1250), written in the style Songs in German English word “fanfare”
of cantiga de amigo, a genre that The genre of courtly love extended probably derived from Arabic
anfar, meaning trumpets.
told stories from a woman’s point all the way from Latin Europe to the Early poets often
of view. Codax, for example, evoked German-speaking peoples, where accompanied themselves on
the emotions of a woman left on the the Minnesinger sang songs about the vielle, a bowed string
shore in Vigo (a fishing town in chivalric romances. Like his French instrument supported on the
Galicia, Spain), waiting for her counterpart, the Minnesinger was collarbone. A vielle could have
beloved to come home from sea. normally welcome in noble houses anywhere from three to six
as a social equal, and examples of strings passing over a flat
Tavern players early Minnelieder (“love songs”) bridge, or string support. This
Another type of medieval musician suggest that trouvère songs were favored a harmonic style of
at this time, the goliards, had a lot in known in Germany. By 1200, the playing with many strings
common with traveling musicians, style asserted a stronger identity sounding at once—unlike the
but were, in fact, unemployed characterized by the work of Walther arched bridge of the modern
clerics known for playing bawdy von Vogelweide—but, compared to violin, which allows individual
songs in taverns that satirized the works from Spanish and French strings to be sounded, thus
favoring melody.
society at all levels. The Carmina traditions, few Minnelieder survive
Burana Manuscript (c.1200–1300) with contemporary melodies. ■

Europe’s secular
music-makers








Musicians fitted
into distinct
categories that
were defined by Troubadours Poets and Jongleurs Low-born Goliards Traveling Minstrels Musicians
songsters who were former
itinerant storytellers,
composers who performed
who initially performed
social status songs for the nobility that jugglers, and acrobats, clerics. They often sang for the nobility and later
and their typical were inspired by the who also danced bawdy and satirical verses on street corners and in
audience. culture of courtly love. and sang. in Latin “a cappella.” public taverns.


US_032-035_Adam_de_la_Halle.indd 35 18/04/2018 15:23

36


MUSIC IS A SCIENCE


THAT MAKES YOU LAUGH,

SING, AND DANCE


MESSE DE NOTRE DAME (c. 1360–1365),
GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT









he 14th century was one compositions based on one melody
IN CONTEXT of the most turbulent and text, with other voices bringing
T periods of medieval history. in different words and melodies).
FOCUS The “Little Ice Age,” which began Each of Vitry’s motets, only 12
Polyphony and the around 1300, resulted in crop of which survive, displayed
notation revolution
failures and famines, including different aspects of a technique
BEFORE the Great Famine of 1312–1317, known today as isorhythm (from
c. 1320 The Tournai Mass is and the Black Death killed up to the Greek for “same rhythm”),
the first known Mass that uses 60 percent of Europe’s population. which aimed to give structure
polyphony—“many sounds.” Such extreme social, economic, to extended compositions.
and environmental upheaval shook
c. 1350 The Toulouse Mass religious certainties. Scholars,
assembles polyphonic such as the French scientist-cleric
Mass movements arranged Nicole Oresme (c.1320–1382), began
from existing motets (short, to envision a more complex
unaccompanied choral pieces). universe than the faith-based
view of the natural world. Music,
AFTER already embracing polyphony,
1415–1421 The Old Hall was also influenced by this way
Manuscript contains several of thinking and exploded into
polyphonic settings of the new metrical complexity when
Kyrie to suit the English Oresme’s fellow Frenchman, the
fashion for elaboration of mathematician-composer Philippe
that section of the Mass. de Vitry (1291–1361), devised a
1440s Missa Caput is an early precise method to notate rhythm.
Mass by an English composer A new order of rhythm
using a cantus firmus (“fixed The new style became known
song”) around which other as Ars nova after de Vitry’s treatise
melodies are based. It includes Ars nova notandi (“The New Art
a bass voice below that of of Notation”), published in 1322. Musicians illuminate a 1316
the tenor—one of the first Vitry composed vocal pieces to manuscript of Le Roman de Fauvel,
compositions with a bass part. demonstrate the novel notation a French poem by Gervais du Bus,
which is interspersed with some
in the form of motets (polyphonic of the first Ars nova music.





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EARLY MUSIC 1000–1400 37

See also: Magnus liber organi 28–31 ■ Missa l’homme armée 42 ■ Missa Pange
lingua 43 ■ Canticum Canticorum 46–51 ■ Monteverdi’s Vespers 64–69


(“even more subtle art”). Ars nova
had become established and
went on to form the basis for the
development of rhythmic notation
in Western music.
Certain disciples of the
new art are preoccupied Changing the Mass
with their measured De Vitry’s ideas found perhaps
dividing up of beats … We their greatest flowering in the
forbid these methods. music of Guillaume de Machaut,
Pope John XXII a 14th-century composer and Guillaume de Machaut
poet. Machaut used the same
isorhythmic techniques in his own Born in the Champagne
motets and in the Kyrie, Sanctus, region of France around 1300,
Agnus Dei, and Ite, missa est Machaut spent much of his
movements of his Messe de Notre life in and around the nearby
Dame, the first known setting of city of Reims. After taking
Vitry took a series of notes in the polyphonic music for a complete holy orders, in 1323 he joined
tenor voice (called the color) and Mass cycle by a single composer. the household of John of
applied a rhythmic pattern (called As well as using isorhythm to Luxembourg, King of Bohemia,
a talea) to it. The talea (rhythm) unify elements of the Mass, traveling with him around
was usually shorter than the color Machaut also employed a plainsong Eastern Europe and Italy as
(melody) so it might require several cantus firmus (“fixed song”) as a his chaplain and secretary.
cycles of the talea to equal one linking melody for each movement, Through King John, Machaut
acquired lucrative benefices
repetition of the color. from which other melodies develop, as canon of the cathedrals at
The Church was not enamored and added a contratenor to raise Verdun in 1330, Arras in 1332,
of Ars nova, and Pope John XXII the number of voices from three and in Reims in 1337.
condemned it in a decree of 1323. (the traditional number) to a richer After King John’s death
The clergy were alarmed by the and more expansive four. at the Battle of Crécy in 1346,
style’s role in the secularization Machaut secured his artistic Machaut found further
of the once purely sacred motet, heritage by carefully managing his patronage from Bonne of
which was now appropriated as a own output, collecting his works Luxembourg, the second
way to comment on events of the in manuscripts that he compiled daughter of King John the
day. The satirical poem Le roman during his lifetime. Besides Blind, and Charles II, King
de Fauvel (c. 1316), for example, his importance as a composer, of Navarre in Spain. The
contains 130 musical works, Machaut was one of the greatest composer’s final years were
including five motets by de Vitry. French poets of the medieval spent in Reims, overseeing
Despite the religious opposition, period, producing extensive poetic the compilation of his works.
the precision of the new notation narratives in the form of lais (lines He died in 1377 and was
buried in Reims cathedral.
opened the door to experiments of verse with eight syllables) and
in rhythm and meter. These can dits (verse without music). He
be heard in the intricate and also developed shorter poetic Other key works
shifting rhythms of the songs of genres with repeated phrases,
the Italians Matteo da Perugia or refrains, such as the ballade, c. 1330s Douce dame jolie
(virelai)
and Philippus de Caserta and the rondeau, and virelai, which became c. 1340s Rose, liz, printemps,
French composer Baude Cordier popular vehicles of expression verdure (rondeau)
(all working around 1400), in a style for poets and composers of c.1340s Voir dit
that is now known as Ars subtilior subsequent generations. ■





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RENAISSANCE






















1400–1600























































US_038-039_Chapter_Opener_Renaissance.indd 38 26/03/18 1:00 PM

RENAISSANCE






















1400–1600























































US_038-039_Chapter_Opener_Renaissance.indd 39 26/03/18 1:00 PM

40 INTRODUCTION




Missa Rex seculorum is Franco-Flemish Thomas Tallis’s
written as a cantus firmus composer Josquin 40-part motet
Mass in the influential Desprez sets music to Spem in alium, is
English style, attributed the Ordinary of the composed, featuring
either to John Dunstaple Mass in his Missa eight choirs of five
or Leonel Power. Pange lingua. voices each.






C.1430 C.1515 C.1570


C.1460 1568 1572








Guillaume Dufay Italian composer and Spanish composer
composes the Mass diplomat Alessandro Tomás Luis de
L’Homme armé, Striggio premieres Victoria writes his
employing the third his motet Ecce first collection of
interval in the scale to beatam lucem in motets while working
create a sweet sound. Munich, Germany. in Rome.


he cultural movement plainchant melody. Echoing medieval times was being
known as the Renaissance the Renaissance trend toward challenged, and in 1517 Martin
T emerged in Italy as early increasing secularization, he Luther triggered the Reformation.
as the 14th century. However, a started to use secular melodies Much of northern Europe converted
distinctively Renaissance style of instead of plainchant as a basis for to the Protestant Church, which
music did not manifest itself until his Masses, which were in a richly had a very different attitude to
some years later. It first flourished expressive polyphonic style. He and music for their services, preferring
in the Netherlands, at the court other composers at the Burgundian simple hymns and melodies for
of Philip the Good of Burgundy court, including Gilles Binchois, the congregation to sing rather
(1396–1467). The composers there, Johannes Ockeghem, and one of than polyphonic Masses sung only
although Franco-Flemish by birth, the finest composers of the early by the choir. Such music became
were cosmopolitan by nature. The Renaissance, Josquin Desprez, did the foundation of a distinctly
leading light of the Franco-Flemish not restrict themselves to sacred Germanic musical tradition.
school, Guillaume Dufay, inspired music and also wrote secular The Reformation had, however,
by the Ars Nova polyphony that motets and chansons. provoked a reaction in the Catholic
he had heard while in Italy, found world—the Counter-Reformation—
a way to break with the medieval New challenge in which the Church defended
style and began to redefine The Franco-Flemish school of some of its practices while
Renaissance music. polyphony dominated the music examining and reforming others.
One of Dufay’s innovations of the early Renaissance, but in One of the things that came under
was his use of the cantus firmus, the 16th century, things changed scrutiny was the music for church
the technique of composing dramatically. The power that the services. Many in the Catholic
a polyphonic piece around a Catholic Church had wielded in Church were uncomfortable





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RENAISSANCE 1400–1600 41




William Byrd composes Venetian composer Thomas Weelkes
Great Service for use on Giovanni Bassano pens O care, thou wilt
state occasions at publishes his four-part despatch me as part
Her Majesty’s Chapel collection Ricercate, passaggi of his most famous
Royal at Hampton et cadentie, to be played in work—his collection
Court Palace. the style of an étude. of madrigals.






C.1580–1590 1585 1600


1584 1597 1604








Giovanni Pierluigi da Italian organist John Dowland’s
Palestrina writes the Giovanni Lachrimae uses
Canticum Canticorum, a Gabrieli uses dissonance to
collection of motets based loud and soft conjure an
on excerpts from the dynamics in Sonata atmosphere of
biblical Song of Songs. pian’ e forte. melancholy.


with the complex polyphony that In England, it was adopted by either in consorts of instruments,
had become fashionable, as so composers such as Thomas such as viols or recorders, or for
many voices singing different Tallis and William Byrd. solo keyboard instruments, such
lines of melody made the words as the harpsichord. Thanks to
unintelligible. Composers were Instrumental music the development of a mechanical
told to moderate their style, It was not just church music that technique for printing, sheet music
precipitating the adoption of a was changing. By the end of the was readily available, and the new
relatively simple polyphony that 14th century, traveling minstrels style spread through Europe.
avoided the sometimes dissonant had all but disappeared thanks Madrigals, for small groups of
harmonies that occur in polyphonic to the ravages of the Black Death. singers, became a popular form
music and emphasized the clarity They gravitated instead to the of home entertainment, especially
of the words. This clearer and aristocratic courts, where they in Italy and England.
sweeter-sounding style characterized provided entertainment, singing However, composers and the
what came to be regarded as the chansons and playing instrumental public were experimenting with
musical “High Renaissance.” music for dancing and for civic another form by the end of the
Among the first composers to ceremonies, such as the installation 16th century, and a dramatic new
adopt the style was Giovanni of a new Doge in Venice. style was heralded by the works
Pierluigi da Palestrina, who wrote In a more secularized society, of Giovanni Gabrieli in Venice. The
numerous motets and Masses for instrumental music became last great works to be composed
churches in Rome. Composers from popular not only in the courts in the Renaissance style were
across Europe gravitated to Italy but also among an increasingly Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Officium
to absorb the new sound, before educated middle class, creating defunctorum and John Dowland’s
taking it back to their native lands. a demand for music to play at home, Lachrimae, fitting ends to an era. ■





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42


NOT A SINGLE PIECE OF


MUSIC COMPOSED BEFORE

THE LAST 40 YEARS …

IS WORTH HEARING


MISSA L’HOMME ARMÉ (c.1460),
GUILLAUME DUFAY






rom Franco-Flemish layering of voices. Following the
IN CONTEXT composer Guillaume Dufay lead of English musicians, who had
F onward, the harmonic already embraced the use of third
FOCUS language of music begins to sound intervals, Dufay allows the music
New harmonies
more familiar to modern listeners. to dwell on the interval’s sweet,
BEFORE Earlier composers had followed the less hollow sound. This extended
1430 Englishman Leonel harmonic ideals worked out by the the harmonic vocabulary and
Power composes Alma ancient Greek philosopher and created room for more voices. ■
redemptoris mater, possibly mathematician Pythagoras, based
the first Mass to use an on the “perfect” consonance of
identified cantus firmus—a octaves and fourth and fifth
“set song”—as the basis for intervals. Dufay’s innovation was
its melodic framework. to use chords featuring the third
interval in the scale as a harmony
1430 Rex seculorum is written note (mi in the sol-fa singing scale,
as a cantus firmus Mass in the following do and re). Historically,
English style, either by John the harmony of third intervals had
Dunstable or Leonel Power. been seen as somewhat dissonant,
to be used sparingly.
AFTER
1570 Italian Giovanni Secular sounds in church
Palestrina publishes a five- Dufay’s masses made much use of
voice setting of the Mass on the cantus firmus technique, which
the L’homme armé melody. built a piece around an already
existing melody, such as a well-
1999 Welsh composer Karl known sacred composition or a
Jenkins incorporates the plainchant. In L’homme armé,
L’homme armé folk song into Dufay chose a popular French folk Master of melody Guillaume Dufay
the first and final movements song with a distinctive melody that stands beside a portable organ in an
illumination from the 15th-century
of his Mass The Armed Man. lent itself well to a polyphonic poetic work, Le champion des dames.

See also: Micrologus 24–25 ■ Magnus liber organi 28–31 ■ Missa Pange
lingua 43 ■ Canticum Canticorum 46–51 ■ St. Matthew Passion 98–105







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RENAISSANCE 1400–1600 43


TONGUE, PROCLAIM


THE MYSTERY OF THE



GLORIOUS BODY



MISSA PANGE LINGUA (c.1515), JOSQUIN DESPREZ








osquin Desprez, born in Desprez’s contemporary, the
IN CONTEXT France around 1450, was Italian printer Ottaviano Petrucci,
J an early beneficiary of the perfected a method for printing
FOCUS printing press. Until the invention music in three passes: the staves,
Dissemination of music
of the technology in the mid-15th followed by notes, and then the
BEFORE century, music was copied out by words. Petrucci’s first publication,
c.1415–1420 The largest hand, by professional copyists. Odhecaton, a selection of nearly
collection of 14th-century According to the 16th-century 100 secular pieces, mostly by
Italian music, the Squarcialupi Swiss music theorist Heinrich Franco-Flemish composers,
Codex illuminated manuscript, Glarean, Desprez “published his including Desprez, Alexander
is compiled in Florence. works after much deliberation Agricola, Antoine Busnois, and
and with manifold corrections.” Jacob Obrecht, appeared in 1501.
1457 The Codex Psalmorum, This care and attention made To meet the challenge of a first
produced in the German his compositions a favorite in the collection of polyphonic music for
city of Mainz, is the first emerging music publishing market. the Mass with underlayed text,
printed book to contain Petrucci chose to devote his Misse
music, although the notation (1502) to works solely by Desprez.
is handwritten.
A late Mass
AFTER Missa Pange lingua was one
c.1520 English printer John of Desprez’s final compositions,
Rastell produces the first Now that Josquin is dead, taking its central melody from
music where the staves, he is putting out more works a hymn for the Feast of Corpus
notes, and text are printed than when he was alive! Christi written by the 13th-century
in a single impression. Georg Forster Italian friar and theologian Thomas
German composer (1510–1568)
1710 The Statute of Anne, Aquinas. The work was not ready
enacted in Britain, gives in time for Petrucci’s final book
authors copyright over their of masses in 1514, but it survived
printed work for the first time, in manuscript form and was
a right finally extended to finally published in 1532. ■
music composition in 1777.
See also: Messe de Notre Dame 36–37 ■ Missa l’homme armé 42 ■
Canticum Canticorum 46–51 ■ St. Matthew Passion 98–105







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44


HEARE THE



VOYCE AND




PRAYER





SPEM IN ALIUM (c. 1570), THOMAS TALLIS




he composition of the great mission from the Medici court in
IN CONTEXT 40-voice motet Spem in Florence, bringing with him the
T alium by Thomas Tallis parts for his recent compositions
FOCUS marked a pinnacle of early English for 40 or more independent voices.
Large-scale choral music
Renaissance choral music and These were musical manifestations
BEFORE was an inspired response to a of influence and power, and some
c. 1500 French composer continental challenge. In 1567, the wondered what the result might
Antoine Brumel writes a composer Alessandro Striggio had be if an English composer were
Mass in 12 parts, Missa Et arrived in England on a diplomatic to attempt such a composition.
ecce terrae motus, known They turned to Tallis, who had
as the “Earthquake Mass.” been the foremost court composer
under four monarchs—Henry VIII,
1568 Alessandro Striggio’s Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.
motet Ecce beatam lucem for Tallis’s Roman Catholic patron,
40 voices with instruments Thomas Howard, Fourth Duke of
is performed in Munich. Norfolk, commissioned the work.
AFTER A long choral tradition
1682 Heinrich Biber composes The English had long excelled
his Missa Salisburgensis in 53 at choral music. In the 15th century,
parts arranged in six choirs of John Dunstable established the
singers, strings, recorders, contenance angloise (“English
cornetts, and sackbuts, with manner”), a distinctive, richly
two ensembles of trumpets harmonic polyphonic style.
and timpani, and at least Flemish music theorist Johannes
two organs—probably the Tinctoris described Dunstable
largest work in the Colossal as “the fountain and source” of
Baroque style, the name musical innovation.
given to large-scale, poly- A generation before Tallis,
choral works. A chapel choir sings from sheet Robert Fayrfax was the leading
music displayed on a lectern in the English composer and a favorite
frontispiece of Practica musicae by of Henry VIII. He was the organist
the Italian music theorist Franchini and Master of the Choristers at
di Gaffurio, published in 1512. St. Albans Abbey from 1498 to 1502





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RENAISSANCE 1400–1600 45

See also: Messe de Notre Dame 36–37 ■ Missa l’homme armé 42 ■ Missa Pange lingua 43 ■ Canticum Canticorum 46–51 ■
Great Service 52–53 ■ St. Matthew Passion 98–105


and composed the complex five- statement of the Nunc dimittis
voice Mass O quam glorifica for chant running through the work
his doctorate in 1504. adds to its impact.

Masters of sacred music An extraordinary response
In the early 16th century, John The Duke hearing of the Thomas Tallis was a member of the
Taverner emerged as a significant song [Spem in alium] took his Chapel Royal when Striggio visited
composer of English sacred music chain of gold from of his neck and unfurled his multipart scores.
after his appointment in 1526 as and put it about Tallis his The Italian’s works were in the
Master of the Choristers at Thomas neck and gave it him. polychoral style, with voices
Wolsey’s newly founded Cardinal Thomas Wateridge grouped into self-contained choirs
College, Oxford (the future Christ Letter (1611) that came together in a grand
Church). There he composed three sound at crucial points in the score.
six-voice Masses, Corona spinea, Tallis’s response in his motet
Gloria tibi Trinitas, and O Michael. Spem in alium was quite different:
The tenor part from the “In nomine it dipped back into the soaring
Domini” section of the Benedictus sound of Taverner’s and Sheppard’s
of his Gloria tibi Trinitas became music to create an unmistakably
widely used by other composers as Protestant monarchs. He was the English piece. The 40 voices of
the basis of vocal and instrumental choirmaster at Magdalen College, Spem in alium seldom gather in the
arrangements. This was the origin Oxford, for three years, and then, same groupings, but each follow
of the English fantasia genre known from 1552, a Gentleman of the their own paths. One voice may
as In nomine, which was popular Chapel Royal under Edward VI maintain a steady pace on the beat
until the late 17th century. and Mary I. He died on the eve but will have a counterpart that
Taverner moved back home of Elizabeth’s succession in 1558. achieves something similar in
to Lincolnshire after Wolsey’s Much of Sheppard’s Latin-texted syncopation, adding a scintillation
downfall and produced little more church music survives. His to the steady voice. Like a gradual
music. John Sheppard was perhaps responsory Media vita for six murmuration of birds, the voices
more adept at tailoring his output voices is a Lenten work of gather, separate, and finally
to the tastes of Roman Catholic and monumental status: the slow assemble to exhilarating effect. ■

Thomas Tallis Little is known of Tallis’s early life, was also one of the first to
but by 1532 he was the organist set English words to psalms,
of Dover Priory, on England’s canticles, and anthems.
south coast. After the priory’s Centuries later, his setting of
dissolution three years later, he Psalm 2 was used by Vaughan
worked at the church of St. Mary- Williams for his Fantasia on a
at-Hill in London, Waltham Abbey, Theme of Thomas Tallis (1910).
and Canterbury Cathedral, before Tallis died peacefully at
becoming a member of the choir home in 1585. It is thought he
(“Gentleman”) of Henry VIII’s was around 80 years of age.
Chapel Royal, where he later
became the organist. Other key works
Queen Elizabeth granted Tallis
and William Byrd a patent to print 1560–1569 The Lamentations
music in 1572, and in 1575 they of Jeremiah
jointly published Cantiones sacrae, 1567 Nine psalm settings for
a collection of Latin motets. Tallis Archbishop Parker’s Psalter.







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THE ETERNAL






FATHER





















OF ITALIAN MUSIC







CANTICUM CANTICORUM (1584),


GIOVANNI DA PALESTRINA































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US_046-051_Giovanni_da_Palestrina.indd 47 27/03/18 4:49 PM

48 SIMPLIFICATION OF POLYPHONY


he Protestant reformer instrumental brilliance of Roman
IN CONTEXT Martin Luther influenced Catholic music. Its simple appeal
T sacred music not only in spoke directly to many who felt
FOCUS the new Protestant churches, but alienated by the Church’s love
Simplification of polyphony
also, as a result of the Counter- of wealth and lavish ritual.
BEFORE Reformation, in Roman Catholic Popular, accessible music
c. 1540 In the motet Inviolata, rites. The Council of Trent, an became a potent vehicle for
integra et casta es Maria, the ecumenical meeting of senior spreading ideas and rallying
Italian composer Costanzo members of the Church in the support and was also the hallmark
Festa uses canonic Flemish northern Italian town of Trent of services in the new reformed
style to great effect. Festa was between 1545 and 1563, issued church. Luther and the French
much admired and imitated guidelines for sacred music that Protestant reformer John Calvin
by Palestrina. restrained dissonance, curbed encouraged the singing of hymns
excessive ornamentation, and to tunes that everyone knew.
1545 Franco-Flemish refined liturgical polyphony. The
composer Nicolas Gombert composer who responded most Old traditions
publishes Musae Jovis, a exquisitely to this new call for This emphasis on simplicity was in
deliberately archaic piece, as purity was Giovanni da Palestrina. sharp contrast to Roman Catholic
a tribute to Josquin Desprez. practice. The less educated would
New demands have had the greatest difficulty in
AFTER Luther was an accomplished singer following the Masses in a cathedral
1610 Claudio Monteverdi and loved music, which, together or ducal chapel of the time. This
returns to polyphony and with the power of the printing was a problem that the Roman
the stile antico (“old style”) press to disseminate his ideas, was Catholic churchman, humanist,
with Missa in illo tempore. key to the success of his reforms. and scholar Bernardino Cirillo
In 1524, his first published hymn, recognized. In 1549, he wrote:
c. 1742 J.S. Bach performs his “Ein newes Lied wir haeben an” “In our times musicians have put
arrangement of Palestrina’s (“We’re raising a new song”) was a all their work and effort into the
Missa sine nomine (1590). street ballad about the death at the composition of fugues (where the
stake in Brussels of two adherents voices make staggered entries), so
to Protestant reform. Set to a that while one voice sings ‘Sanctus’
familiar tune, it was far removed another has ‘Sabaoth,’ and yet one
from the rich polyphony and more sings ‘Gloria tua.’ Howling,

Giovanni da Palestrina Probably born in the Italian dedicated his Missa Ecce
town of Palestrina in 1525, sacerdos magnus to Julius in
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1554. The next year he gained
had strong family connections to a place in the papal choir at the
nearby Rome. After his mother’s Sistine Chapel and went on to
death when he was about 11, he hold several top musical posts.
became a chorister at the city’s His music includes madrigals
Santa Maria Maggiore church. and more than 105 masses and
In his late teens, Palestrina 50 motets.
returned to his hometown to
become the organist at the Other key works
cathedral. When the Bishop of
Palestrina, Cardinal Giovanni 1562 Missa Papae Marcelli
Maria del Monte, was elected 1570 Missa brevis
Pope Julius III in 1550, the 1572 Missa Tu es Petrus
composer went back to Rome as 1584 Pulchra es (motet)
director of the Capella Giulia: he 1590 Stabat Mater (motet)







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