...Josquin des Prez is regarded as one of the finest and most influential composers in the history of Western music. His level of writing, gave the Renaissance period a new level. Josquin des Prez was born around the year 1440 and dying in 1498, at 58 years old. Although, recent scholars indicates that he was born around 1450, before it was even recorded. Josquin des Prez is simply called Josquin, however he is also called in different names, pronounciation, in different countries. Study also indicates that Josquin des Prez didn't go to Italy until the early 1480's. Josquin's birth place is County of Hainaut, Belgium; although, they aren't possistive, as Josquin is considered a legal Frenchman. Josquin's ethnicity is French, a famous composer during the Renaissance. Also, there are a lot of unclear information about Josquin's life....
Words: 574 - Pages: 3
...The Misattributions of Josquin 10/16/2015 Ashley Sullivan There are many reasons to account for Josquin’s reputation as the finest composer of his time. He was one of the first composers to benefit from print culture. Printing gave Josquin the ability to achieve recognition that was previously denied from composers whose work was distributed only in manuscript, which was really expensive. In addition, Josquin’s unique style, which would have been considered arrogant in the era before his time, was instead praised due to the evolving movements of the Renaissance. These movements, including humanism and Protestantism both valued individualism which allowed Josquin to flourish with his distinctive and innovative style. Although he is so greatly admired, many of his works have been proven not to be authentic and misattributed. In the New Grove catalogue of Josquin’s works, out of 315 compositions 136 are thought to be misattributed to him. This has been a central problem in the authenticity and chronology of Josquin’s output and career. In this paper, I will try to bring light to certain errors in the documentation of Josquin’s career that have been assumed to be a part of his life which have caused confusion not only in his biography but also in his career. In order to accomplish this I will 1) Discuss Josquin’s background of his life and career; 2) Examine why Josquin is so popular and widely revered and how that affected the documentation of his life; 3) Explore one of...
Words: 2728 - Pages: 11
...Matona mia cara Orlande de Lassus Matona, mia cara, is a song during the Renaissance by Orlande de Lassus. Matona mia cara is a polyphonic madrigal where two or more different melodic lines are combined, which distributes melodic interest among all the parts. Matona, mia cara is an example of an imitation which is one method that composers use to give unity and shape to the texture. The song starts with a female which is a mezzo-soprano and at the same time there is a bass male singer. This song is of strophic form while the music within the stanza offers contrast the repetition also binds the song together. I would describe the tempo of the song as moderato. The song never really speeds up or slows down, with the ending being a very strong cadence. This is actually quite a dirty song when translated, when translated from the original translation to English the song goes as follows: “My dear Lady, I'd love to sing a song below your window. I'm a lancer, and a good lad. Please listen to me, for I sing well, and I love you greatly, as a Greek does his capon. When I go hunting, hunting with a falcon, I'll bring you woodcocks as fat as a kidney. Though I do not know so many elegant phases, and know nothing of Petrarch, or the fountain of Helicon, if you'll have me, I'm no laggard; I'll make love to you all night long thrusting like a ram.” This song contains what I believe 4 different voices as instrumentation, there are not any other instruments. I really enjoyed listening...
Words: 324 - Pages: 2
...The Renaissance The actual meaning of the word Renaissance is “rebirth.” This idea of rebirth definitely applies to the music of this period. The Renaissance came towards the end of the Middle Ages and spanned from 1400 to 1600. A central characteristic was the rebirth of humanism, which is a way of focusing the importance of human beings, their nature, and their place in the universe. During the Renaissance vocal music was more important than instrumental music, and composers during that period wrote music to enhance the meaning and emotion of the text. (Source: www.thinkquest.org) Renaissance composers often used word painting, a musical representation of specific human feelings of love,hate,fear etc Word painting was used in the madrigal, which is a piece that matches the word of the song with a musical setting.For example if the text had words like “rising,” “flying,” or “soaring” then the music would be fast upward scales. (Source: Jeremy Yudkin “Understanding Music”) The most famous composer that wrote such madrigals was Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Palestrina, according to most Renaissance scholars, was a master composer. He started out in 1554 performing Masses and sang in the Cappella Sistina. (Source: w3.rz-berlin.mpg) He was so famous that he was actually asked to rewrite the church’s main plainchant books, but had to follow the Council of Trent’s guidelines. His most famous Mass, Missa Papae Marcelli...
Words: 687 - Pages: 3
...The three Renaissance music pieces on Hunter's humanities website have many similarities in the way they sounded and were sung. All three musical works are examples of polyphonic structure. This means they had many sounds or voices that were sung simultaneously, traditionally in parts. They were the Ave Maria by composer Josquin des Prez, a poem “Fair Phyllis” by John Farmer, and The Sweet White Swan by Jacob Arcadelt. First, Josquin des Prez was considered a master of writing motets (Humanities). The motets are cappella pieces based on sacred Latin text, these are mostly associated with the Renaissance period sung without instruments (Sayre p.519). Josquin's Ave Maria is just one of his 100 cappella works; he has also written some 70 songs...
Words: 375 - Pages: 2
...setting of O rosa bella. He wrote music both secular (French virelais, Italian ballate and madrigals) and sacred (motets and Massmovements, some of them isorhythmic) in form. He is also the author of two treatises on music, Nova Musica and De Proportionibus (which expands on some ideas in Nova Musica). His theoretical ideas stem from the more conservative Marchettian tradition in contrast to those of his Paduan contemporary Prosdocimus de Beldemandis. Guillaume Dufay Dufay composed in most of the common forms of the day, including masses, motets, Magnificats, hymns, simple chant settings in fauxbourdon, and antiphons within the area of...
Words: 958 - Pages: 4
...representation of both strength and youthful human beauty. The next item that I see is a large painting. Upon closer inspecting I see that it is The Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt by Peter Paul Rubens. Rubens painted The Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt in 1616. He was a true Baroque era artist. Rubens use of dramatics and visual diagonal to broaden the sense of immediacy and movement and redirected attention downward into the center of action truly represent the Baroque era style of art. As we search deeper into the chamber we continue to find more and more fascinating items from such a unique and interesting time in human history. In a dark corner of the chamber we have discovered a rare find, the manuscript of Missa de Beata Virgine by Josquin de Perez. Missa de Beata Virgine is a musical set of the “Ordinary of the Mass”. It is believed to have been composed around...
Words: 1219 - Pages: 5
...Tatayana Riley Tatayana Riley “Two very different Cultures and ways of life, both having a tremendous impact on the world today.” “Two very different Cultures and ways of life, both having a tremendous impact on the world today.” Medeavil Times Vs Renaissance The comparison of their musical influences on our lives. Medeavil Times Vs Renaissance The comparison of their musical influences on our lives. Music has, since the beginning of time, been a part of our lives and forever will it be. Music is something that is subject to ongoing change. Have you noticed that musicians are always changing their image, their style their tone? As we dive deep into the past of music there are many periods on the timeline where musical styles vary. Two of those periods and maybe the most memorable are the middle ages, always referred to the as the Medieval times and the Renaissance Era. These are two very different times in our history but they also have some similarities. Let us further explore and explain just what separates the medieval times from the renaissance. More specifically we are going to compare Gregorian Chant and The name the Middle Ages is used to describe Europe between the fall of Rome and the beginning of the Renaissance. Many people call this the dark ages because around this time over 2 million people were killed due to an illness they called the “Black Death”. Those 2 million people made up about 30 percent of the continent’s population. Although there were...
Words: 598 - Pages: 3
...Pope Gregory I is generally believed to have collected and codified the music known as Gregorian Chant, which was the approved music of the Church. Much later, the University at Notre Dame in Paris saw the creation of a new kind of music called organum. Secular music was performed throughout Europe by the troubadours and trouvères of France. And it was during these "Middle Ages" that Western culture saw the appearance of the first great name in music, Guillaume de Machaut. The Last Supper by Tintoretto The Renaissance Generally considered to be from ca.1420 to 1600, the Renaissance (which literally means "rebirth") was a time of great cultural awakening and a flowering of the arts, letters, and sciences throughout Europe. With the rise of humanism, sacred music began for the first time to break free of the confines of the Church, and a school of composers trained in the Netherlands mastered the art of polyphony in their settings of sacred music. One of the early masters of the Flemish style was Josquin des Prez. These polyphonic traditions reached their culmination in the unsurpassed works of Giovanni da Palestrina. Of course, secular music thrived during this period, and instrumental and dance music was performed in abundance, if not...
Words: 1263 - Pages: 6
...century and early sixteenth century differed vastly from the ones preceding them in the late middle ages: “The years [circa] 1480-1520 witnessed an explosion in quantity and stylistic variety in motet production. Motets from this time period may have three to six voices; texts can be from the Old Testament, New Testament, liturgical rites, books of hours, or newly composed sacred or humanistic (sometimes secular) poetry.” This explosion can be attributed to the Renaissance and, in correlation in the religious realm, the Reformation in the Catholic Church. A few composers important composers transformed the styles of the early fifteenth century to those at the end of the Renaissance, one of whom was Johannes Ockeghem. Johannes Ockeghem, or Jean de Ockeghem, was one of the most renowned composers of the Franco-Flemish generation of 1450-1520 A.D. He took components of traditional music and combined it with the newer elements of the Renaissance. Ockeghem was born sometime between 1410 and 1430 A.D. before the beginning of the Renaissance in 1450 A.D., although the specific date is still unknown. He wrote both sacred and secular music, including 14 masses, 21 chansons and less than five motets. Ockeghem was famous for a variety of reasons, but he is most famous for his additions to imitative counterpoint in the religious sector of Renaissance music. Ockeghem worked under “three successive monarchs (Charles VII, Louis XI, and Charles VIII).” Although a very important composer, many of Ockeghem’s...
Words: 1222 - Pages: 5
...Section one: 10 lecture questions 1. Why did composers of early polyphony use chant as the basis for their new compositions? * Chant was believed to have originated from Gregory the Great, who received it directly from God. * C., 800 Charlemagne mandated the standardization of chant repertoire in his kingdom. * Given the long tradition, including chant in new sacred music legitimized the new composition. 2. Why is Paris an important site for the notation of polyphonic music? * Paris was home to a preeminent university * University members were smart and innovative * Acoustical reverberation in gothic architecture necessitated the rhythmic organization of music. * Rhythmic notation was devised to help coordinate singers. 3. How did Notre organum say something new and old at the same time? * N.D organum used official sanctioned melodies as the basis for new compositions, thus paying respect to God, church, authority , and musical tradition.(OLD) * N.D organum added voices to preexisting chants. * N.D organum composers rhythmicized these added voices. Renaissance 4. How does the sound of Renaissance music differ medieval music? * Sacred Music: * Imitative polyphony is used * sacred music and secular music is sung in vernacular * Rhythms are more uniform 5. What is Mass ordinary and what makes it special? * MO is text that remains the same in every mass * It is the part of mass that does not...
Words: 1738 - Pages: 7
