Music History 1 Listening Study

Listening Exam - Music History 1

Epitaph of Seikilos
Song (epigram)
First Century C.E.
* sung in Greek

Brief song inscribed on a tombstone dating from the 1st century C.E.
The singer is accompanied by a lyre or other plucked string instrument
The music follows the rhythms of the text (melody)
The poem sung is an ‘epigram’ (a short verse that makes a pointed remark)
Uses vocal notes of the diatonic Iastian tonos
There are major 3rds that begin or end the last 3 phrases (bright sounding)
There is a rising fifth at the opening

Mass of Christmas Day
(Gregorian Chant Mass)

Introit: Puer natus est nobis (unto us a child is born)

- sung in Latin
Sung portion of Mass begins with Introit
Proper chant antiphon Form of text - antiphon, one psalm verse, the Lesser Doxology, and repetition of the antiphon producing the form ABB’A
In mode 7
Introduced to Mass between 4th and 7th centuries
Introits psalm verse followed recitational formula
Sung during entrance procession of those conducting the mass

Gradual: Viderunt omnes (all have seen)

- sung in Latin
Melody is in mode 5
Proper chant
Exemplifies responsorial psalmody
Soloist sings opening phrase then is joined by choir
In Middle Ages it had ABA form, but in modern practice the repetition Is often omitted

3 Wipo of Burgundy: Victimae Paschali laudes (Christians, to the Paschal victim)
(CA. 995 - CA. 1050)

Type of work: Sequence written in Latin
From the first half of the 11th century

Widely used and associated with Easter
Text describes Jesus’ resurrection and the redemption that Christians believe
Possible that Wipo wrote text and music but also possible piece was attributed to Wipo and written by someone else.
Wipo was an eminent clergyman
Sequences from 9th through 11th centuries typically follow the form A BB CC
This sequence is about Jesus rising from the dead and the ancient calumny that Jews were responsible for his death
Reflects the predilection of Frankish writers

Benart de Ventadorn: Can vei la lauzera mover (When I see the Lark Beating)
(?CA. 1130 - CA. 1200)

* written in French
Canso: a strophic song about love
This canso has seven eight-line stanzas and the closing four-line envoi sung to the second half of the melody, emphasizing the melodic closure
Song of courtly love
The poetry is metrical
Troubadour song
Language of the poem is in Occitan. This language was spoken in what is now southern France
Recording features voice without accompaniment

Adam de la Halle: Le jeu de Robin er de Marion: Song - Robins m’aime (Robin Loves Me)
The Play of Robin and Marion
(CA. 1240 - ?1288)

written in French one voice - monophonic
Adam de la Halle was a trouveres
Robins m’aime is from a Musical Play
Song was written - CA. 1284
Monophonic rondeau in the form ABaabAB
The singer sings the refrain and verse, then is joined on the refrain by male voice and instruments (vielle, a bowed string instrument, and gittern, a plucked string instrument)

Walther von der Vogelweide: Palastinalied (Nu alrest lebe ich mir werde) (now for the first time i live worthily)
(?CA. 1170 - ?CA. 1230)
English title of song - Palestine Song

* one voice (monophonic)
Written in - ?ca. 1228 written in German
Walther was a Minnesinger
Text describes seeing the Holy Land (it is not known whether Walther actually traveled there)
Considered a crusade song
Type of song - Minnelied
Poem is in Middle High German and has 12 stanzas
Melody form - AAB - Scholars of German poetry call this AAB structure ‘bar form’
Vocal line is joined by a rebec (a bowed string instrument) and the lute playing sometimes in unison with the voice
The instruments sometimes play in heterophony and sometimes in improvised polyphony.
Instruments play before and between stanzas starts out with instruments then single male voice comes in

Cantigas No. 159: Non sofre Santa Maria (holy mary does not allow) from Cantigas de Santa Maria

* 2 voices
* written in Galician-Portugese
CA. 1270 - 90
This cantiga is a song in honor of the Virgin Mary
Song is about miracles Mary performed to keep the faithful from harm
Melody is simple and bouncy
Overall form - A bba A
Type of song - Cantiga
In this recording the singing is accompanied by nakers (a small drum of the Middle Ages) beating a lively pattern and a rebec (a bowed string instrument) varying between phrases of the melody, a drone, and improvised counterpoint, joined on the refrains by a pipe and lute

Leonin (FL. CA. 1150S - CA. 1201): Viderunt omnes (all have seen)

* 2 voices
Type of song - organum duplum
Written second half of the 12th century
Leonin is a musician associated with the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris
Leonin was a canon at the cathedral
The setting of the Gradual (vedierunt omnes) from the Mass of Christmas Day is found in this manscript
This is a 2 voice setting of Viderunt in the Notre Dame repertory
Polyphonic
2 voices one of the voices sounds almost drone like
First responsorial chant in the Mass for Christmas Day
Only solo portions are in polyphony with choral portions remaining in plain chant
Alternation between monophony and polyphony
The lower voice is called the tenor because it holds the chant
The upper voice is called the duplum
Opening passage is in organum
Has organum and discant sections
2 tracks for this song track 57 - pure organum section - the organum had long sustained notes in the tenor - was appropriate for parts of the original chant that were syllabic or neumatic track 61 - discant clausula section - where the original chant was highly melismatic, it was necessary for the tenor to move along more quickly in discant style so that the whole piece would not be unduly lengthened

Ave virgo virginum (Hail, virgin of virgins)

written in Latin theme - Mary
Late 12th or early 13th century
Is a conductus - this is a rhymed, metrical, strophic Latin poem on sacred or serious topics, set either monophonically or in polyphony conductus are different from discant clausulae in that the tenor line is newly composed rather than borrowed
Notre Dame polyphony (has a polyphonic setting - 3 voices, the tenor, the duplum, and the triplum) all 3 voices sing the words at the same time this poem is addressed to the Virgin Mary, praising her and seeking her assistance
AAB form
Text setting is mostly syllabic, with a short melisma in the outer voices the poetry uses a trochaic meter

Motet on Dominus: Fole acostumance/Dominus - (foolish custom)

(21b) - French text in duplum
French text was substituted for the Latin one
Motet from the 13th century all based on the same chant melody, the melisma on Dominus from the Gradual Viderunt omnes, which we have seen set in discant style by Leoninus or his colleagues, by 2 anonymous composers, and by Perotinus when set with text, the duplum can also be called the motetus the text for the duplum is a trope on the words of the chant from which the tenor is taken, in this case the verse of Viderunt omnes the words of the motetusreflect on the meaning of the chant text and of the holiday it celebrates, the nativity of Jesus
2 voices - tenor - duplum - is polyphonic inspired by conflict with or within the church - the poem is an attack on envy, deception, and greed. only connection to the original chant is through the sound

Adam de la Halle: 3 part motet on omnes
De ma dame vient / Dieus , comment porroie / Omnes
Adam - (CA. 1240 - ?1288)

Motet (sung in French)
CA. 1260s - 1280s - 13th century motet tenor uses the melisma on “omnes” from the Gradual Viderunt omnes, transposed down a fifth the motetus or duplum begins the refrain from Adams monophonic rondeau - Diex, comment poroie, transposed and closes with another borrowed refrain the triplum also takes lines from other settings piece uses new notation from known as Franconian after Franco of Cologne which indicates a precise rhythm for each note has 3 voices - tenor, motetus (duplum), and triplum teiplum moves most rapidlybut duplum n triplum move faster then the tenor the upper voice almost never has the same rhythm for 2 successive measures giving the music constant variety the poem in the triplum is the voice of a man who describes his pain in being seperated from his lady the motetus is in the voice of a lady who is searching for a way to send word to tell him that he should come to her
2 lovers express their anguish of being apart - (courtly love)

Sumer is icumin in - (The summer Has Come In)

6 part polyphony written in Middle English
CA. 1250
Considered an entertainment piece text is a celebration of Summer sung in Latin
Form of piece - Rota (and the rondellus) the bottom 2 voices create a small rondellus which is a form where the voices begin together then exchange parts (ex. Pes 1 ab, Pes 2 ba)
The 4 voices above the bottom 2 voices join in a ROTA, a round or perpetual canon at the unison - each voice sings the same music but enters at a different time, the first together with the Pes and the others at 2 measure intervals

Guillaume de Machaut: Mass of Notre Dame (Mass of Our Lady): Kyrie eleison
Machaut - (CA. 1300 - 1377)

CA. 1364 sung in Greek
Type of piece - Mass (Mass ordinary cycle)
4 voices - contratenor, tenor, motetus, triplum written for performance at a Mass for the Virgin Mary that was celebrated each Sunday in a chapel of the Cathedral at Reims
Machaut was a canon iisorhythmic movement contratenor is mostly isorhythmic with a talea of 12 measures and the upper voices are partially isorhythmic over the same span has occasional use of a hocket (two or more voices fill in one another’s silence to make a composite melody
Harmony reflects the mode of the chant (mode 1 on D)
Kyrie - lord have mercy - christ have mercy - lord have mercy
Form - AAA BBB CCC
4 voices - contratenor, tenor, motetus, and triplum

Kyrie:
Polyphony (Kyrie 1)
Chant
Polyphone (Kyrie 1)

Christe:
Chant
Polyphony (Christe)
Chant

Kyrie:
Polyphony (Kyrie 2)
Chant
Polyphony (Kyrie 2)

Gherardello de Firenze: Tosto che l’alba (caccia)
Firenze - (CA. 1320 - CA. 1362)

Song style - Caccia
Caccia is a 14th century Italian genre that combines virtuosity-for both the composer and performer-with humor written mid 14th century two upper parts form a canon at the unison, the second voice singing exactly the same melody and text as the first voice but entering several measures later
They are accompanied by a freely composed, un-texted tenor in relatively long notes
3 voices - tenor, secundus, primus caccia - means “hunt” referring to second voice chasing after the first the song is about a hunt

Francesco Landini: Non avra ma‘ pieta
Landini (CA. 1325 - 1397)

Type of piece - Ballata
Written last quarter of the 14th century
Italian manuscript
3 parts - cantus, tenor, and contratenor