Study 05/11 5. Medieval and Renaissance Music with 12 free online flashcards. Review key terms, definitions, and concepts with this interactive flashcard deck.
What are the approximate dates of the Medieval and Renaissance periods?
The Medieval period is approximately 500–1400, and the Renaissance approximately 1400–1600. These boundaries are approximate because musical styles changed gradually.
What are the defining traits of plainchant?
Plainchant, or Gregorian chant, is sacred vocal music with one melodic line, usually sung in Latin. It is normally unaccompanied, rhythmically flexible, and organized by church modes.
What is melismatic text setting?
A melisma sets one syllable to many notes. By contrast, syllabic writing uses one note per syllable, while neumatic writing uses a small group of notes per syllable.
How did Hildegard expand monophonic sacred song?
Hildegard’s music is monophonic but often uses wide vocal ranges, soaring gestures, expressive text setting, and elaborate melismas.
What is organum?
Organum added a newly composed voice to a preexisting chant. The chant, often called the tenor or cantus firmus, provided a structural foundation.
What changed during the Ars Nova?
The Ars Nova introduced greater rhythmic flexibility and more precise notation, allowing rhythms more complex and independent than earlier rhythmic modes.
Why is Machaut’s Messe de Nostre Dame significant?
Guillaume de Machaut’s Messe de Nostre Dame is one of the earliest complete polyphonic settings of the Mass Ordinary by a single named composer.
Which movements make up the Mass Ordinary?
The Mass Ordinary comprises the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. These texts remain largely consistent from day to day.
What characterizes a Renaissance motet?
A Renaissance motet is generally a sacred polyphonic work using a single Latin text, often from Scripture, a liturgical prayer, or a text honoring a saint or the Virgin Mary.
What is imitative counterpoint?
Imitative counterpoint occurs when one voice introduces a melodic idea and other voices enter successively with the same or a modified idea.
What sonorities distinguish Renaissance polyphony?
Renaissance polyphony often combines independent melodic lines with fuller sonorities based on consonant thirds and sixths. Its dissonances are carefully controlled.
What is word painting?
Word painting is a technique in which musical gestures illustrate the meaning of words, such as “rising,” “falling,” “running,” or “weeping.”