Andrew Garces
Take Home Essay Exam
October 3rd, 2018
The ancient Greeks were very proficient in all fields of arts and science including music. They used music in both entertainment and ritualistic purposes. Many songs were actually poems being sung by the Greeks usually in a monophonic texture. Vocal music was held in high regard with Aristotle’s argument that it can only be produced by a creature with a soul. Instrumental music was viewed in a lesser light as practicing musicians were excluded from the elites due to peoples suspicion of instrumentalists. However, music education to the Greeks were a sign of a good citizen. However there were opposing views on the governments control over music. Plato believed music needed to be regulated and Aristotle believed music had the power to effect the character of the soul. He believed music created discord and harmony within a persons soul and how certain tonoi influence human behaviour. Greek music theory was based around mathematics and liberal arts. Octaves, fourths along with the fifth are considered the music of the spheres due to their perfect mathematical relations discovered by Pythagoras in the 6th century B.C.E. This idea of perfectionism carries into the Renaissance due to their mysticism and concepts that come it. Many thought music to be a very spiritual related phenomenon. Greek terms peek their way into medieval music theory such as the Greater Perfect System, tonoi, and tetrachords. The Greater Perfect System is similar to a gamut in the sense that it encompasses the range of notes used in a song within a certain parameter, the greater perfect system spans two octaves. Tonoi are a means of organizing melodies very much like modes from medieval theory but vary in concept. Tetrachords are a chain of four notes with the interval of the last and first note is a perfect fourth. These terms are seen in music in the Medieval and Renaissance eras because in those eras composers believed the Greeks had it all figured out and in a way they did, at least some important basic principles still used and taught in modern day music.
Organums were plainsongs that incorporated polyphony! Yes the emergence of polyphony came hand in hand with the organum. Seen to be as a practice for improvisation there slowly became growing inclination to embellish existing plainchant as they were only monophonic. Organums were written in a call and response where the soloist (polyphonic voice) would answer the choir which was in unison. The polyphony was not typically anything crazy just the use of perfect intervals such the fifth, fourth and octave. Parallel organums were the first to emerge in which all notes move together in perfect intervals. Then came oblique which was when one note stayed the same and the other would move away. Later came contrary where the two voices moved in two different direction. With the development of contrary movement in polyphony came the composition technique of counterpoint which was a way of composing melodies in relations with one another affixed to a set of rules. This spurred of the idea of melodies being more independent than they used to. In the 12th century we see the development of the different organums such as melismatic organum in which the chant (tenor) were very slow and long notes, and the duplum was very busy. Discant organum was when the 2 voices crossed a bunch relatively moving at the same speed. The Notre Dame organum was elaborate in the top voice was very busy and the bottom were long sustained notes. An example of an organum is Viderunt Omnes, composed by Leonius and colleagues. An early stage organum in which the choir were monophonic and the soloist was the duplum. Perfect intervals were always used to start and end a phrase. This early stage organum was mainly focused on text at the time thus it being not as busy as many of the later ones. As organums evolves they became less about the text and more about the melodious content. This displeased the church for music was used mainly for the text and they began to fear that followers would begin to lose faith.
3. The period of time between the 14th and 17th century of Europe is commonly known as the Renaissance, a time of growth and development. Though many advancements occurred in all types of fields such as science, math, and literature, this was also the setting for musical innovations such as the madrigal. An italian word that is derived from the words mother and addressed poem roughly. It is a secular, polyphonic composition for vocal music and is unaccompanied by instruments. The number of voices can vary from two or eight, but most commonly seen with three or six voices. There are two types of madrigal’s, the Italian and English. The Italian madrigal uses three or more voices and in its early stages in history the composition was seen to be chordal. As time progressed the compositions became more based around counterpoint, a way of composing melodies in relations with one another affixed to a set of rules. Using poetry as lyrics there was a burst of influence and revival of literary artist’s works through word painting, a method of composing music that reflects what the text describes. For example, Pietro Bembo used Petrarch’s poetry and requested his colleagues to capture the emotion Petrarch is attempting to convey. In the late 16th century madrigals were translated into English. The Italian madrigals tend to be more homophonic and chordal while the English madrigals were usually bounded to counterpoint. Italian madrigals also tended to be more serious in nature using word painting to convey the text’s meaning, English madrigals were more jolly and laid back. Thomas Weelkes was an English composer and organist who published madrigals and vocal anthems. He later became an alcoholic and was famous for being known as a drunken pottymouth. This shows how English madrigals were typically more light-hearted in nature than Italians, though they were different they both came from the same root and developed in their own significant way.
4. The Protestant Reformation is the most punk rock part of classical music and is an interesting part of history. It is when people broke away from Western Christianity into a bunch of different sects such as Lutheran, Catholicism, Anglican, Reformed and Anabaptist. This revolt was initiated by Martin Luther, a German Professor/composer/priest/monk. He rejected many ideas the church had to offer and wrote his famous Ninety-Five Theses, which was a list things he believed the church was wrong or guilty of. Luther believed in the power of music and its ability to spread the message much like a sprinting press. Soon, Lutheranism came to be as well as many other religions as reformed religion of western Christianity. Lutheran chorales a strophic german hymn containing a four part harmony with the congregation and soprano singing the melody. Although many chorales used chants they replaced the traditional Gregorian chant of Western Christianity. A prominent composer of the Protestant Reformation was Jean Calvin. Jean Calvin was a voice only composer, he wrote only sacred music in unison psalm singing with no instrumentals. The church wasn't happy with the reformation as they were gradually losing members and influence in society. Another composer was Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, a choirboy from rome. Was a master of the choir in many churches and was known for his composing sacred music and secular madrigals. Palestrina used techniques such as flawless rhythmic flow, controlled use of dissonance, seamless part writing and equal voice polyphony. Though the reformation spurred a movement in music the Roman Catholic Church was distressed by the reform. They held a Counter Reformation meeting called the Council of Trent in which they discussed the doctrines of faith and the churches faults and began to purge many practices used by the roman Catholic Church. The Council of Trent’s effect on music were the elimination of plainchants that were added to the liturgy, text was made comprehensible and averted the use of secular sources.