Showing posts with label Renaissance Listening Journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Renaissance Listening Journal. Show all posts

Palestrina: Pope Marcellus Mass

Author

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594, Italian)
  • worked as an organist and choirmaster at various churches, including St. Peter's in Rome
  • was appointed to the Sistine Chapel Choir even though he was married
  • wrote over a hundred Masses
  • Wikipedia Article

About the Piece

(much of thedescription comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)

  • Genre is Mass
  • 6 voices (SATTBB)
  • clear text setting
  • mostly polyphony
  • frequent splitting and recombining of the 6 voices into groups
  • text is Latin
  • very "clean"; never strays too far from polyphony
  • some words are held in decently long melismas, but not too many

Purpose

  • sacred
  • Gloria, for the Mass Ordinary

Reflections

I also like this style. Palestria's simplicity when necessary and complexity when interesting makes for a great overall musical feel. Unfortunately, this piece is still a little bit difficult for the congregation to sing; it would have to be a choir. For this reason, I'm not sure it was "good" for the church, even if it is beautiful.

Josquin: Ave Maria...virgo serena

Author

Josquin des Prez (c. 1450-1521: French)
  • served in several courts in Italy
  • later in life, returned to France to serve as provost at the collegiate church of Condé
  • at least 374 works are attributed to him
  • Wikipedia Article

About the Piece

(much of the description comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)

  • Genre is motet
  • 4 voices (SATB) in varied settings, including imitative polyphony, dialogue, and homorhythm
  • text language is Latin
  • frequent texture changes from homorhythm to imitative polyphony
  • voice groupings also change, from 4 independents to 2 pairs to all voices together
  • chant used as melodic basis
  • lots of imitative counterpoint (sometimes all four parts follow in succession)
  • ends with all voices unified in homophony
  • still mostly in fifths, sounds hollow

Purpose

  • sacred
  • honors the Virgin Mary
  • part of the Mass Proper

Reflections

This piece is beautiful. I love the open, hollow feeling the sound has to it; I can imagine this would sound great in a stone cathedral. The text is not perfectly understandable, but the important parts are. The general overall feel of the piece is really one of intense reverence.

Farmer: Fair Phyllis

Author

John Farmer (1570-1601, English)
  • was active in the 1590s in Dublin, Ireland
  • organist and master of the choirboys at Christ Church
  • one of the less well-known composers of the English Madrigal School
  • Wikipedia Article

About the Piece

(much of thedescription comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)

  • Genre is English madrigal
  • 4 voices (SATB)
  • changing textures, but mostly homophonic
  • text is in English
  • word painting
  • lighthearted text

Purpose

  • entertainment, inspired by Italian madrigals

Reflections

Part of me is excited about finally hearing a piece in English (having an untrained musical ear, I thus far in my life have mostly enjoyed music for its text). But this text isn't very deep, and I actually think I prefer the counterpoint in the previous work to the homophony (mostly) in this work.

Monteverdi: Ecco mormorar l'onde

Author

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643: Italian)
  • father was a doctor, apothecary, and surgeon
  • published eight books of madrigals
  • ordained as a Catholic priest in 1632
  • Wikipedia Article

About the Piece

(much of thedescription comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)

  • Genre is Italian madrigal
  • Written in 5 voices (SSATB)
  • alternation of voice groups, from low to high in playful exchange
  • opens with the bottom 3 voices
  • imitative counterpoint
  • natural images (although they don't mean anything unless you have a translation)
  • parallel thirds
  • no clear melody, counterpoint throughout
  • ends with slow notes

Purpose

  • entertainment

Reflections

In general, I really like the concept of counterpoint in music. It does seem to muddle the text quite a bit, but that doesn't really matter when the piece is in a language that I can't understand anyway. Anything in much more than 5 voices, though, would probably start to confuse me.