Dufay
– Burgundian composer. Missa l’homme arme combines secular cantus firmus with sacred genre (no problem with that). Created 4 part harmony (addition of the contratenor). Chords are less linear. Because he could travel, he became a synthesis of many different styles
Gullaume de Machaut
Complexity of music typical of the ars nova. Emphasis in top voice. Use of formes fixes. Messe de Notre Dame the first unified mass setting of the complete Mass
Josquin
Greatest Franco-Flemish composer. Allows music to influence text (text-painting). Wrote both sacred and secular music. Very influential on later composers.Freedom of text—direct relationship between text and music. The text drives the music
Text blends with musical phrasing
Relatively syllabic
Declamatory rhythms
Points of imitation
Sacred text
Four voices
Polyphony and homophony
Wrote a mass encoded with someone’s name (Missa Hercules dux Ferrariae)
Susato
fluid interchange between vocal and instrumental genres in the renaissance. Instrumental works in consorts (groupings of similar instruments)
Palestrina
– wrote music that conformed to characteristics suggested by the Vatican Council (clear text-setting, no secular influences). High-point of renaissance polyphony. Changes texture for emphasis (full chorus on most important words and phrases), homorhythmic text setting.
Gabrieli
– worked at St. Mark’s in Venice. Church design allowed for splitting of performers into smaller groups in different parts of church. Beginning of baroque musical ideal (the contrast between groups).Use of multiple choirs
Prelude music (intonazione, toccare)
Organ usage
Monteverdi
first great baroque composer. Wrote madrigals in both old and new styles. Wrote first great opera, Orfeo. First composer to specify instruments in the orchestral score for Orfeo. Word-painting in madrigals (madrigalisms)
Also wrote Coronation of Poppea
Corelli
First composer to make a career selling printed music. First composer to write only instrumental music. First composer whose works remain played and studied after his death. Importance of trio sonata genre. Great instruments helped improve string-playing techniques in Italy. 1st composer to not write any vocal music
1st composer to rely exclusively on publication
1st composer whose works are still performed and studied long after his death
Purcell
– one of the great composers of his era, and one of the best English composers of all time. Wrote for the court, but also stage works. Dido and Aeneas unusual because it is sung all the way through. One of the first important English operas. Ground bass aria, but with unusual bass-pattern (5 measures long).
Burgandy
Important cultural center
Allegri
Miserere (Psalm 51)
• Performed once a year—Easter
• In pope’s chapel (Sistine chapel)
• Singers in the choir not allowed to share music
• Mozart broke the monopoly—went home after hearing it and wrote it all out
Cori spezzati
split choirs that sing off of each other, sound reverberates
A cappella
Originally meant “in the chapel style” (meaning there wasn’t another part for the organ)
contrafactum
to take secular songs and give them sacred text
Madrigal
secular vocal polyphony, text drives the music very directly—“madrigalisms”
(all english Madrigals end with the Phrase “Long live Oriana”)
Dalcroze Eurhythmics
teaches concepts of rhythm, structure, and musical expression using movement. It focuses on allowing the student to gain physical awareness and experience of music through training that takes place through all of the senses, particularly kinesthetic.
Florentine Camerata
chamber group in Florence

• Met and discussed Greek Drama—decided that everything was sung in Greek Drama
• Invented Opera (means work or piece)—staged drama in which everything was sung
• Wrote for solo voice (as opposed to the madrigal groups)
• Morality plays and liturgical dramas