Week 4: Lecture 4: More Music From the Renaissance

Listening

Recall the definition of a Mass from Week 1:

main worship service of the (Roman) Catholic Church and the music composed for it
two types of texts
- texts used most every day = Ordinary
  - Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei
- texts used for special occasions = Proper

Guillaume Dufay, “Kyrie” from the L’homme arme Mass (Kyrie/Mass)

First listen to L’homme arme (pre-existing secular song), performed by the Oxford Camerata [Listen on YouTube]

Here is the text and translation (License: CC BY-SA)

L’homme armé doibt on doubter.

On a fait partout crier

Que chascun se viegne armer

D’un haubregon de fer.

L’homme armé doibt on doubter.

The armed man should be feared.

Everywhere it has been proclaimed

That each man shall arm himself

With a coat of iron mail.

The armed man should be feared.

Now listen to how Dufay uses this tune as the basis for his “Kyrie”: Performed by the Hilliard Ensemble [Listen on YouTube]

Here is the text and translation:

Kyrie eleison.

Christe eleison.

Kyrie eleison.

Lord have mercy.

Christ have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

IN YOUR DISCUSSION POST: Think about the musical element you hear as the most prominent (pick only one!) and write a brief description (a sentence or two) that describes that element in the context of each piece.

Remember that musical elements include the following:

Melody (pitch)
Rhythm/beat/meter
Timbre / tone color (Instrumentation, including the human voice)
Texture (monophonic, polyphonic)
Harmony (more than one sonority sounding simultaneously. Here you can think about whether the simultaneous sonorities sound consonant or dissonant to your ear.)

Josquin Desprès, “Agnus Dei” from the Pange lingua Mass (Agnus Dei/Mass)

You can remind yourself of the original hymn studied in week I: [Listen on YouTube] (0:00–0:28 only)

Now listen to how Josquin uses this hymn as the basis for his “Agnus Dei”: [Listen on YouTube]

Here is the text and translation:

Pange, lingua, gloriósi

Córporis mystérium,

Sanguinísque pretiósi,

Quem in mundi prétium

Fructus ventris generósi

Rex effúdit géntium.

Sing, my tongue, the Saviour’s glory,

Of His Flesh, the mystery sing;

Of the Blood, all price exceeding,

Shed by our Immortal King,

Destined, for the world’s redemption,

From a noble Womb to spring.

Be prepared to share one observation about this performance in class (nothing written).

Johannes Ockeghem, “Kyrie” from the Missa prolationum (Kyrie/Mass)

Listen to Ockeghem Kyrie: Performed by the Clerks’ Group [Listen on YouTube]

Here is the text and translation:

Kyrie eleison.

Christe eleison.

Kyrie eleison.

Lord have mercy.

Christ have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

FOR DISCUSSION: Think about the musical element do you hear as the most prominent (pick only one!) and write a brief description (a sentence or two) that describes that element in the context of the piece.

Remember that musical elements include the following:

Melody (pitch)
Rhythm/beat/meter
Timbre / tone color (Instrumentation, including the human voice)
Texture (monophonic, polyphonic)
Harmony (more than one sonority sounding simultaneously. Here you can think about whether the simultaneous sonorities sound consonant or dissonant to your ear.

Reading

Who is Dufay?

Du Fay, Guillaume (real name, Willem Du Fayt)." Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, edited by Nicolas Slonimsky and Laura Kuhn, vol. 2, Schirmer, 2001, p. 946. Gale eBooks.

Who is Josquin?

Josquin Desprès - Oxford Reference

Who is Ockeghem?

Ockeghem, Johannes - Oxford Reference