skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Showing posts with label
Renaissance Listening Journal.
Show all posts
Showing posts with label
Renaissance Listening Journal.
Show all posts
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.
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.
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.
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
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.