Medieval and Renaissance Music: Gregorian Chant & Polyphony
Medieval and Renaissance Music
Gregorian chant is monophonic singing, without instrumental accompaniment, in Latin and used in the Catholic liturgy. Pope Gregory I unified the chants across Europe.
The Mass always has the same structure. The chants of the Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei) are unchanged. The singing itself varies depending on the text of the liturgical year, or according to the festivities of the saints (Introitus, Graduale, Alleluia, Offertorium, and Communio).
The melody of Gregorian chant has a limited range and often moves stepwise. The structure is governed not by music but by the text. There are three styles:
- Syllabic: each syllable carries a note.
- Pneumatic: one syllable carries three or four notes.
- Melismatic: one syllable of text has more than four notes.
The pace is not reflected in notation; the duration of notes depends on the rhythm of the text. Gregorian chant may be sung in three ways:
- Solo: the priest or cantor sings.
- Responsorial: alternating solo and chorus.
- Antiphonal: alternating choir and community choir, or half choir and half choir.
Ars Antiqua and Ars Nova
Ars Antiqua: A school of composers in Paris, including Leonin and Perotin, was the center of polyphony, which expanded throughout Europe.
Ars Nova: Polyphony became increasingly sophisticated and took on a more modern and popular style.
Polyphonic Forms
Organum: To the Gregorian melody, a lower voice is added, forming intervals of fourths or fifths. The voices move in parallel motion.
Discantus: The Gregorian melody and the added voice move with contrary motion.
Florid Organum: Each note of the Gregorian melody corresponds to several notes of the added melody.
Conductus: A work for two or three voices (triplum, duplum, and tenor), each newly created.
Motet: A composition in three or more voices, based on a Gregorian tune used as the tenor, over which two or three voices sing different melodies and rhythms.
Mass: The sections of the Mass receive regular polyphonic treatment, especially in more solemn celebrations.
Ballade, Virelai, and Rondeau: Secular polyphonic vocal pieces.
Other Vocal Forms
Madrigal: A free polyphonic composition (4-5 voices), used in Italy and England, with a poetic text to describe or represent contrapuntal ideas. It could have polyphonic and homophonic sections.
Chanson: A French polyphonic song in free form. It can include instrumental accompaniment, and the melody is usually in the highest voice.
Villancico: Initially a literary and musical form, later secular and religious in character, with popular themes.
Texture
Polyphonic contrapuntal texture dominates, but it is combined in the same work with homophonic texture. In the late period, polyphonic texture with accompanied melody became more common.
Instruments
Chordophones
- Plucked string instruments: lute, hurdy-gurdy, theorbo, harp.
- Bowed string instruments: viola da braccio, viola da gamba.
- Keyboard string instruments: spinet, virginal, harpsichord, clavichord.
Aerophones
- Woodwind instruments: recorder, bagpipes.
- Brass instruments: cornetto, trumpet, sackbut, crumhorn, serpent, bombard.
Percussion
- Idiophones: rattles, tambourines.
- Membranophones: drum, tambourine.
Chorale and Anthem
Chorale: A homophonic polyphonic piece in German that can be sung by the whole congregation because its writing is simple.
Anthem: Polyphonic music, often homophonic, with English text.
Council of Trent
Before the Council of Trent: Religious music, with Franco of Cologne establishing fixed modal notation and providing a natural rhythm, melody, and harmony, using softer consonant intervals than in previous times. The contrapuntal polyphony extends from 4 to 6 voices.
After the Council of Trent: The papal chapel in Rome set the guidelines for the new church music.
Mass: Palestrina and Victoria achieved a balance between polyphony and understandability of the Latin text.
Motet: It abandons the pluritextuality and isorhythm of Ars Nova; in this new era, the genre is only religious.
Composers
Franco-Flemish School: Guillaume Dufay, Johannes Ockeghem, Clément Janequin, Orlande de Lassus.
English School: William Byrd, John Dowland.
Italian School: Johannes Ciconia, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Andrea Gabrieli, Giovanni Gabrieli, Carlo Gesualdo.
Spanish School: Juan del Encina, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Francisco Guerrero, Cristóbal de Morales, Antonio de Cabezón, Luis de Milán.