An Outline of The History of Western Music Grout ... - The Reel Score

d) Polyphonic virelais, rondeaux, & ballades
(1) Called "formes fixes" (fixed forms) - text & music have particular patterns of
repetition that are determined by poetic structure
(2) Here Ars Nova technique shows most clearly
(3) Exploited the new duple meter
(4) Made top part (Cantus) the principal voice supporting it with tenor and triplum
(and rarely a fourth voice)
i) ballade or cantilena style
ii) with the treble voice carrying the text dominates the 3 part structure
iii) while the lower two voices are most often performed instrumentally
(5) While still extensive use of 5th and pungent dissonances the use of 3rd & 6th
and their orderly succession distinguish him from predecessors
(6) Lyrical melodic line in the solo voice
e) Mass
(1) His Messe de Notre Dame was one of the earliest polyphonic settings of the
Ordinary
(2) Clearly regarded the five divisions of the Ordinary as one musical composition
- rather than separate parts
f) Summary
(1) Typical of 14th century composers in that his sacred compositions were only a
small portion of his total output
i) production of sacred music declined as the prestige of the church
weakened and the arts became more secularized
ii) church had second thoughts about using elaborate musical settings in
services
C. Italian Trecento (1300) Music
1. Developed differently than French music because of Italy's different social & political
climate
a) France had monarchy, Italy collection of city-states
b) French monarchy developed increasing power & stability, Italian city-states each
had own political, cultural & linguistic traditions & alliances
2. General Musical Trends
a) Composers associated with the church & trained in counterpoint & notation wrote
refined secular music for elite circles
b) Polyphony in 14th Century Italian church music was largely improvised
c) Principal centers of trecento music
(1) Central & norther part of Italian peninsula
(2) Bologna, Padua, Modena, Milan, Perugia, & Florence
d) Florence
(1) A particularly important cultural center from the 14th through 16th century
(2) Location for two celebrated works of literature
i) Boccaccio's "Decameron"
ii) Prato's "Paradiso degli Alberti"