Holborne Pavane And Galliard
Illustrate the features of Holborne’s ‘Pavane and Galliard’ that are typical of the late Renaissance period.
Holborne’s work Pavane ‘The image of melancholy’ and Galliard ‘Ecce quam bonum’ appeared in a collection of music released in 1599, towards the end of the Renaissance period. The lack of specified instrumentation is a perfect example of its date (although it would most likely have been performed by a ‘broken consort’, a mixed group of wind and string instruments). As one would expect from a Renaissance piece, the texture is largely polyphonic, punctuated by moments of chordal homophony (bars 9 to 10 of the Galliard). Integrated into the polyphonic texture are short imitative fragments, extremely characteristic of the Renaissance
period. For example, in the Pavane, the descending phrase in bar one of the treble viol is repeated across the bar line into bar two in the first bass viol, then again in the second treble viol in bar 4 beat 2. Holborne also uses pedal points, such as the second bass viol part in bars 34 to 39, another feature of the Renaissance period. As one would expect from the late Renaissance period, Holborne mixes the use of modality (in this case, the Dorian mode, more evident in the Galliard than the Pavane) with a more functional tonality, and example being the Bb’s apparent in bars 14 and 15 of the Galliard. Typically of the period, the Pavane, modulates to closely related keys: in the first strain alone the music moves from the tonic key of D major to the dominant of A major in bar 10 and the sub-dominant of G major in bar 11. The use of frequent suspensions in this piece is also a common sight amongst other pieces of the period: in bar 3, the first treble viol has a 7-6 suspension resolving in bar 5, and in bar 4, the second treble viol has a 4-3 suspension resolving in bar 5. The largely stepwise, conjunct melodic lines are also a typical feature of the late Renaissance period: there are rarely leap larger than a fifth, with the occasional use of an octave (eg. bar 31, first bass viol). The second bass viol adopts characteristics of a Baroque bass line, frequently jumping fourths and fifths in accordance with the chord, often adopting longer note values than the other parts. Similar to vocal music of the period, there is little overlapping of parts, and therefore narrow melodic ranges (the first treble viol has the range of a ninth in the Pavane, reduced to a seventh in the Galliard). The inversion of melodic lines, a technique of melodic writing in the late Baroque period, is evident in bars 17 – 19 of the Pavane. As one would expect from a Pavane and Galliard, the first piece is written in duple time, and the second in triple time. The use of hemiolas, a frequently used technique of this time is evident in the Galliard, bars 4 – 5, and bars 9 – 10. The more extensive use of dotted rhythms in the Galliard is another feature of the period, and this develops into rhythmic imitation across all parts, for example in bars 1-2 and 5-6. So too are Holborne’s use of cross-rhythms, which are a result of the dotted rhythms previously mentioned. A frequently used rhythmic feature of the Baroque period is syncopation, which Holborne uses (eg. bar 19 of the Pavane, first treble viol).
Holborne’s work Pavane ‘The image of melancholy’ and Galliard ‘Ecce quam bonum’ appeared in a collection of music released in 1599, towards the end of the Renaissance period. The lack of specified instrumentation is a perfect example of its date (although it would most likely have been performed by a ‘broken consort’, a mixed group of wind and string instruments). As one would expect from a Renaissance piece, the texture is largely polyphonic, punctuated by moments of chordal homophony (bars 9 to 10 of the Galliard). Integrated into the polyphonic texture are short imitative fragments, extremely characteristic of the Renaissance
period. For example, in the Pavane, the descending phrase in bar one of the treble viol is repeated across the bar line into bar two in the first bass viol, then again in the second treble viol in bar 4 beat 2. Holborne also uses pedal points, such as the second bass viol part in bars 34 to 39, another feature of the Renaissance period. As one would expect from the late Renaissance period, Holborne mixes the use of modality (in this case, the Dorian mode, more evident in the Galliard than the Pavane) with a more functional tonality, and example being the Bb’s apparent in bars 14 and 15 of the Galliard. Typically of the period, the Pavane, modulates to closely related keys: in the first strain alone the music moves from the tonic key of D major to the dominant of A major in bar 10 and the sub-dominant of G major in bar 11. The use of frequent suspensions in this piece is also a common sight amongst other pieces of the period: in bar 3, the first treble viol has a 7-6 suspension resolving in bar 5, and in bar 4, the second treble viol has a 4-3 suspension resolving in bar 5. The largely stepwise, conjunct melodic lines are also a typical feature of the late Renaissance period: there are rarely leap larger than a fifth, with the occasional use of an octave (eg. bar 31, first bass viol). The second bass viol adopts characteristics of a Baroque bass line, frequently jumping fourths and fifths in accordance with the chord, often adopting longer note values than the other parts. Similar to vocal music of the period, there is little overlapping of parts, and therefore narrow melodic ranges (the first treble viol has the range of a ninth in the Pavane, reduced to a seventh in the Galliard). The inversion of melodic lines, a technique of melodic writing in the late Baroque period, is evident in bars 17 – 19 of the Pavane. As one would expect from a Pavane and Galliard, the first piece is written in duple time, and the second in triple time. The use of hemiolas, a frequently used technique of this time is evident in the Galliard, bars 4 – 5, and bars 9 – 10. The more extensive use of dotted rhythms in the Galliard is another feature of the period, and this develops into rhythmic imitation across all parts, for example in bars 1-2 and 5-6. So too are Holborne’s use of cross-rhythms, which are a result of the dotted rhythms previously mentioned. A frequently used rhythmic feature of the Baroque period is syncopation, which Holborne uses (eg. bar 19 of the Pavane, first treble viol).