What to hand in for Encounter 3?—

• Part I: A one-page summary of your presentation notes and a bibliography in MLA format with at least six sources (due on the day of the presentation).
• Part IIa: Blackboard Collaborate meeting with Doc to talk about your paper topic choices.
• Part IIb: Final paper topic choice (composer & work) with a “starter” bibliography (minimum 7 entries).
• Listening: Nothing to hand in for the listening assignment. The Renaissance Quiz will test you on this material.

Readings—

• Burkholder, J. Peter, A History of Western Music, 10th edition
• Chapter 5—Polyphony through the Thirteenth Century, p. 102-105
• Part Two: The Renaissance, pp. 134-135
• Chapter 7: Music and the Renaissance, pp. 136-158
• Chapter 8: England and Burgundy in the Fifteenth Century, pp. 159-179
• Chapter 9: Franco-Flemish Composers: 1450-1520, pp. 180-204
• Burkholder, J. Peter, Norton Anthology of Western Music, 8th edition, Vol. 1 (NAWM)
• NAWM 23 & 32-45, pp. 134-138 & 190-276
• Fenlon, Iain, ed., The Renaissance
• Chapter VIII, “The Habsburg Courts in the Netherlands and Austria 1477-1530”
• Also available in Encounter Readings for Encounter 3 in the Assignment Resources module.
• Hewitt, Helen, ed., Canti B (RESERVE)
• Macy, Laura, “Speaking of Sex: Metaphor and Performance in the Italian Madrigal.” The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Winter 1996), excerpts from pp. 1-34.
• Available in Encounter Readings for Encounter 4 in the Assignment Resources module.
• New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (library copy or Grove Music Online)
• “Chanson” article (Part 2. 1420 to about 1525)
• Strunk, Oliver, Source Readings in Music History, 1st ed. (RESERVE)
• Bardi, Giovanni de’, Discourse on Ancient Music and Good Singing, pp. 290, 293-299
• Available in Encounter Readings for Encounter 4 in the Assignment Resources module.
• Tomlinson, Gary, ed., Strunk’s Source Readings in Music History, Vol. 3: The Renaissance (RESERVE)
• “Johannes Tinctoris, From Liber de arte contrapuncti, Chapters 23, 24, 29, 31 & 32,” pp. 125-129
• Also available in Encounter Readings for Encounter 3 in the Assignment Resources module.
• Weiss, Piero and Richard Taruskin, Music in the Western World: A History in Documents (RESERVE)
• Music at Church and State Festivities in the Early Renaissance, pp. 81-83
• Josquin des Prez in the Eyes of His Contemporaries, pp. 97-100
• Madrigals and Madrigalism, pp. 143-145
• These readings also available in Encounter Readings for Encounters 3 & 4 in the Assignment Resources module.

I. Group Presentation 3
Josquin & the Franco-Netherlanders—16th Century Madrigal & Song

• Group I—NAWM 44, Josquin, Ave Maria ... virgo serena—Friday, October 9
• Group II—NAWM 42, Josquin, Faulte d’argent—Wednesday, October 14
• Group III—NAWM 47, Arcadelt, Il bianco e dolce cigno—Monday, October 19
• Group IV—NAWM 56, Weelkes, As Vesta was from Latmos Hill descending—Wednesday, October 21
• Group V—NAWM 54, Le Jeune, Revecy venir du printans—Friday, October 23

Each group will give a 10-minute Powerpoint presentation on their assigned piece. Ideally, you will play the piece for the class, talk about the piece, and then play it again at the end. Each presentation will cover whatever seems most important, but be sure to include the following items:

Questions for every group:

• Who is the composer?
• Where would this music be performed?
• Who would perform it? Who would be there to listen? Who would not be there?
• Who would benefit or profit from the performance?
• What function would this work serve in the performance context?
• What is the genre?
• How does this work compare with other works in the same genre?
• What features of this work are unique or unusual?
• What style is used?
• How does this work use the elements of music?
• Describe how this work uses melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, texture, color (timbre), form, text setting, and so on.
• What scale (mode) is this work based on?
• Which elements are typical of the style? Which are not?
• Describe the form (sections, phrase relationships, and so on).
• The use of text depiction and text expression gradually increases during the Renaissance, especially in secular music. Identify specific techniques used to depict or express the text.
• What performances practices would be used in singing and/or playing this piece?

• Group I—How is your motet organized? That is, what defines a section, and how do we move from one section to another? What is the relative proportion between imitative sections and homorhythmic sections? Where do you find clear examples of “points of imitation”? What types of imitation are used?
• Groups II, III, IV, & V—How is your chanson or madrigal organized? That is, what defines a section, and how do we move from one section to another? What is the relative proportion between imitative sections and homorhythmic sections? Where do you find clear examples of “points of imitation”? What types of imitation are used?

• an article from the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Oxford/Grove Music Online)
• relevant materials from the Readings list above, especially the article by Laura Macy
• a period history (a comprehensive book covering the history of music in a particular era)
• a book or article on Renaissance performance practice
• a scholarly journal article on your topic
• books/ebooks that deal with your topic

One designated group member will email me the Powerpoint document on the day of the presentation.

Thinking about Elements of Music

• Melody—high or low? moves by step or leap? wide or narrow range? regular or uneven phrase lengths? melodic shape and contour?
• Texture—how many things going on simultaneously? monophonic? polyphonic (with imitation?)? homophonic (homorhythmic or melody & accompaniment?)?
• Rhythm—clear beat or not? meter? tempo? rhythmic patterns? syncopation? how does time pass?
• Color—specific instrumental colors? high, medium, or low register? interesting color combinations? overall color? articulation (legato, staccato, etc.)? attack, sustain, and decay characteristics?
• Harmony—diatonic or chromatic? scale type? stable or unstable? simple (triads) or complex chords? consonant or dissonant?
• Dynamics—loud or soft? accents? sudden or gradual changes?
• Form—repetition? contrast? return? variation? overall shape? specific forms?

II. Final Paper Preparation

IIa. Meeting with Doc

Hint: Don’t all wait till Thursday, October 8!

IIb. What to hand in

• one dictionary/encyclopedia entry (New Grove or Grove Music Online required)
• one scholarly journal/periodical article that deals with your topic as specifically as possible (no reviews, please!)
• one book that deals with your topic as specifically as possible
• one non-music (art, architecture, history, etc.) book or scholarly article
• one period history (a book on the music of a specific era—for this unit, look for titles likes Music in the Renaissance, Renaissance Music, etc.)
• score for the work you have chosen
• recording of a period performance for the work you have chosen

Listening Assignment 3

La contenance angloise & the Burgundians—Josquin & the Franco-Netherlanders

Study Questions

The best way to do well on quizzes, exams, and other assignments in this course is to know the assigned listening well. Listen to each work below as often as you can, study the scores, and learn what the NAWM notes say about each one. For each work you want to be able to answer the following Study Questions:

• What is the genre?
• What is its form?
• What is the name of the style in which it is written?
• How does this work use the elements of music? What features of the work are typical of the style? What features are not?
• To answer this, look at the ways these works use melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, texture, color (timbre), form, text setting, and so on
• How does the work compare with other works in the listening assignment (especially those in the same genre)?
• What features of the work are unique or unusual?
• For this encounter:
  • Pay special attention to stylistic changes that take place as we move from early Renaissance works of Du Fay and Binchois to the mid-Renaissance works of Josquin, both in general and within each main genre.
  • What is imitative polyphonic texture, when does it first emerge, and in which works and genres do we hear it most clearly?
  • Pay special attention to the similarities and differences between the three main genres of the early Renaissance: Mass, motet, and chanson (or other secular works).
  • For each cyclic Mass, what technique is used to link the movements of the Mass? How does each movement use pre-existing material?
  • For each motet, how is the work organized? What defines a section, and how do we move from one section to another? What is the relative proportion between imitative sections and homorhythmic sections? Where do you find clear examples of “points of imitation”? What types of imitation are used?
  • For each chanson, pay special attention to the style features that help you distinguish Burgundian and Josquin chansons (see the list below under Notes on the Early Renaissance Quiz).

In some cases, additional Study Questions below will draw attention to particularly interesting, unique features of particular works. These Study Questions, NAWM scores, and recordings together will help you prepare for the Early Renaissance Quiz. They require no written report.

Notes on the Early Renaissance Quiz

The Listening/Score Excerpts portion of the Early Renaissance Quiz will be in two parts. In the first part you will see two score pages, one from a Burgundian chanson (by Du Fay or Binchois) and one from a Josquin chanson. You must figure out which one is earlier (Burgundian) and which is later (Josquin) and suggest a possible composer and date for each one. Finally, you will identify style features that enable you to tell them apart—

• Number of voices (not singers—the number of parts in the score: three? four or more?)
• Rhythm (are the rhythms simple or syncopated and complex? are there similar rhythms in all voices or is the cantus more active than the lower voices?)
• Texture (treble-dominated? imitative? chordal?)
• Relationship of words and music (text setting? melismas? good declamation? text depiction & expression or not?)
• Cadences (medieval cadences? Landini cadences? authentic cadences?)
• Form (formes fixes—rondeau, ballade, or virelai? through-composed?)

Before you listen, read Part 2 of the New Grove “Chanson” (see Readings above) as well as the sections in Chs. 8 and 9 of the Burkholder textbook that have the word “Chanson” in the heading (pp. 167-171, 182-184, 194-196, and 199-200) to learn about changes in the chanson during the 15th century. Challenge yourself to identify these features when looking at the score and listening. For all NAWM works, you really want to read the NAWM notes, listen to the recording, and follow the score.

La contenance angloise & the Burgundians

Early Renaissance Motets and Masses by English and Burgundian Composers

A1) NAWM 33—John Dunstable, Quam pulchra es (motet)

A2) Du Fay, The Virgin & the Temple: Chant & Motets CD (RESERVE)—MCD D854V

• Du Fay, Nuper rosarum flores (motet)—track 1
• Alternate Recording: See Encounter Listening in the Assignment Resources module.

A3) NAWM 37b—Guillaume Du Fay, Missa Se la face ay pale (cyclic Mass)

• Gloria
• Alternate Recording: See Encounter Listening in the Assignment Resources module.

Study Questions on A1-A3:

1. How do these works differ from the Ars Nova (late medieval) motets and Masses you listened to for Encounter 2? Which do you prefer to listen to? Why? How do the “Source Reading” boxes on Burkholder pp. 148, 150, and 160 help you to understand the changes that took place?
2. What features of Dunstable’s Quam pulchra es (NAWM 33) are unusual for a motet written in this time period?
3. How does the first Weiss & Taruskin Reserve reading (see BlackBoard) on Music at Church and State Festivities in the Early Renaissance help you to better understand Du Fay’s motet, Nuper rosarum flores (A2 above)?
4. What is especially unusual about Du Fay’s treatment of the cantus firmus in the Gloria from his Missa Se la face ay pale (NAWM 37b)? (Read Burkholder’s notes in NAWM if you need help.) What is the overall effect of this feature? At the end, does the music actually sound like a dance (or at least a secular song)?

The Burgundian Chanson

B1) NAWM 34—Gilles Binchois, De plus en plus (Burgundian chanson—rondeau)

B2) NAWM 35—Guillaume Du Fay, Resvellies vous et faites chiere lye (Burgundian chanson—ballade)

B3) NAWM 37a—Guillaume Du Fay, Se la face ay pale (Burgundian chanson—ballade)

B4) The Garden of Zephirus CD (Blackboard RESERVE)

• Du Fay, Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoy (Burgundian chanson—rondeau)
• See Encounter Listening in the Assignment Resources module.

B5) The Art of Courtly Love CD set (RESERVE MCD E12a)—CD2, track 14

• Hayne van Ghizeghem, De tous biens plaine (Burgundian chanson—rondeau)
• Alternate Recording: See Encounter Listening in the Assignment Resources module.

B6) The Spirits of England and France, Vol. III CD (Blackboard RESERVE)

• Binchois, Amoreux suy (Burgundian chanson—rondeau)
• See Encounter Listening in the Assignment Resources module.
• Alternate Recording: The Art of Courtly Love CD set (RESERVE MCD E12a)—CD2, track 14.

Study Questions on B1-B6:

1. What style features do you hear in these Burgundian chansons? Use the list above (under Notes on the Early Renaissance Quiz) to guide your choices. Do these correspond with the features attributed to these songs in the textbook?
2. What are the most significant similarities and differences between Burgundian secular music (group B) and Burgundian sacred music (group A)?

Josquin & the Franco-Netherlanders

The Mid-Renaissance Cyclic Mass

C1) NAWM 39—Jean de Ockeghem, Missa prolationum (cyclic Mass)

• Kyrie

C2) NAWM 45—Josquin Des Prez, Missa Pange lingua (cyclic Mass)

• Pange lingua chant melody (see Encounter Listening)
• a) Kyrie
• b) Credo, “Et incarnatus est”

Study Questions on C1-C2:

1. Compare the Ockeghem Mass movement with the Josquin Mass (consider texture, text setting, rhythm, treatment of pre-existing material, and so on). Based on your knowledge of the transition from early to mid-Renaissance style, which one seems more modern?
2. Listen to the “Pange lingua” chant melody (it’s short—see Encounter Listening in the Assignment Resources module). How does Josquin use specific phrases from this tune in the Kyrie of Missa Pange lingua.

The Mid-Renaissance Motet

D1) NAWM 40—Henricus Isaac, Puer natus est (motet)

D2) NAWM 44—Josquin Des Prez, Ave Maria...virgo serena (motet)

• Highly recommended alternate Recording: RESERVE MCD J83m—Josquin, Motets & Chansons—track 1
• Also available in Encounter Listening in the Blackboard Assignment Resources module.
• Alternate Recording: Naxos Music Library 8.553428—Josquin, Missa L’homme armé—track 1

D3) Josquin, Motets & Chansons CD (RESERVE)—MCD J83m

• Josquin, Absalon, fili mi (motet)—track 2
• Also available in Encounter Listening in the Blackboard Assignment Resources module
• For a performance at “original” pitch see the Capella Reial de Catalunya recording in Encounter Listening (Blackboard Assignment Resources module)

Study Questions on D1-D3:

1. How does the Isaac motet use the chant melody on which it is based, the Introit from the Mass for Christmas Day? Identify similarities and differences between this Isaac motet and the two Josquin motets.
2. Both of the Josquin motets are probably mature (middle period) works. Can you find examples of text depiction or expression in either of these motets? Pay special attention to the last 2 minutes of Absalon, fili mi. (Text and translation on Blackboard—You’ll have to follow the words here!).
3. How do the descriptions of Josquin in your textbook (“Source Readings” box on p. 195) and in Reserve readings from pp. 97-100 in Weiss & Taruskin see BlackBoard) help you understand Josquin and his music better?

Study Questions on A1-A3, C1-C2, and D1-D3:

1. What specific features make Josquin’s music stand out from the music of his predecessors and contemporaries? To your ear, does his music sound more beautiful, rich, effective, etc., than the music that came before him?
2. The Reserve reading (see Encounter Readings in BlackBoard) from Vol. 3 of Strunk’s Source Readings in Music History by Johannes Tinctoris, from Liber de arte contrapuncti, may prove a difficult read (the footnotes help!), but Tinctoris explains some very specific techniques concerning consonance and dissonance. According to Tinctoris, why does this new music sound more consonant than medieval music?

The Mid-Renaissance Chanson & Other Secular Genres

E1) NAWM 38—Antoine Busnoys, Je ne puis vivre (Chanson—virelai)

E2) NAWM 41—Henricus Isaac, Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen (German Lied)

E3) NAWM 42—Josquin Des Prez, Faulte d’argent (Chanson)

E4) NAWM 43—Josquin Des Prez, Mille regretz (Chanson)

• Alternate Recording: Naxos Music Library 8.550880—French Chansons—track 2
• Highly recommended alternate Recording: RESERVE MCD J83m—Josquin, Motets & Chansons—track 8
• Also available in Encounter Listening in the Blackboard Assignment Resources module.

E5) Josquin, Motets & Chansons CD (RESERVE)—MCD J83m

• Josquin, El grillo (Italian frottola)—track 7
• Josquin, En l’ombre d’ung buissonet (Chanson)—track 11
• Both recordings also available in Encounter Listening in the Blackboard Assignment Resources module.

E6) Josquin, Renaissance CD (RESERVE)—MCD J83r

• Josquin, Allegez moy (Chanson)—track 9
• Josquin, Basiés moy (Chanson)—track 19 (NOT track 20)
• Both recordings also available in Encounter Listening in the Blackboard Assignment Resources module.

Study Questions on E1-E6:

1. What style features do you hear in these Josquin chansons? Use the list above (under Notes on the Early Renaissance Quiz) to guide your choices. Do these correspond with the features attributed to these songs in the textbook?
2. What are the most significant similarities and differences between Josquin’s chansons (group E) and his sacred music (groups C and D).
3. Which genre sounds most modern (in Renaissance terms!): Mass, motet, or chanson? Which sounds most conservative? What features would be considered modern or conservative in 1510?

Study Questions on B1-B6 and E1-E6:

1. Using the list above (under Notes on the Early Renaissance Quiz) to guide your choices, what are the most important stylistic differences between Burgundian (early Renaissance) and Josquin (mid-Renaissance) chansons? Which features stand out most in each group—e.g., treble-dominated or imitative texture? long or few melismas? use of instruments or a cappella? authentic or medieval cadences? text expression (or not)? and so on.

Extra Credit Listening Ideas—

• MCD E12a—The Art of Courtly Love, CD2
• Further Burgundian chansons on CD2, tracks 10-11, 13, 16, & 20-22
• Du Fay motet on CD2, track 17
• MCD D854V—Du Fay, The Virgin & the Temple: Chant & Motets
• Further Du Fay motets on tracks 2-4
• MCD B219—Dufay, Missa Ecce ancilla Domini CD
• MCD M489—The Medieval Experience (Monks & Troubadours), CD3
• Further English motets by Dunstable on CD3, tracks 1-3
• Du Fay motets on CD3, tracks 4-7
• Binchois motet on CD3, track 8
• Binchois Mass movement on CD3, track 9
• Motets by Josquin and Obrecht on CD3, tracks 10 & 11
• Josquin’s Missa L’homme armé super voces musicales on CD 4, tracks 1-5
• MCD D489 1998—Development of Western Music recordings (DWMA), 3rd edition, Volume I, CD2-CD3
  • DWMA 50—Guillaume Du Fay, Vergene bella (Italian Song)—CD2, track 20
  • DWMA 53—Guillaume Du Fay, Missa L’homme armé, Agnus Dei (Mass movement)—CD3, track 1
  • DWMA 55—Johannes Ockeghem, Missa Prolationum, Kyrie (Movement from Cyclic Mass)—CD2, track 24
  • DWMA 59—Heinrich Isaac, Zwischen Perg und tieffem Tal (Lied)—CD 3, track 4
• MCD J83m—Josquin, Motets et Chansons
• Josquin motets on tracks 1-4; Josquin chansons on tracks 5-13
• MCD J83r—Renaissance (The King’s Singers)
• Josquin motets on tracks 1, 4-5, 10, 14-15
• Josquin chansons on tracks 2-3, 6-9, 11-13, 16-20

Naxos Music Library

• 8.553458—Dufay, Chansons, especially tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, & 17
• 8.553087—Dufay, Missa super L’homme armé (Mass & motets)