Enjoyment of Music – MUL 2010 (Fall 2008) - Warfield

Review Sheet # 3 - Renaissance Music

This review sheet covers materials presented in Wright, Listening to Music, 5th ed., Chapter 9, which will be tested in the near future in MUL 2010.

The following concepts and terms in boldface (as well as a few others not specifically listed, but indicated in these review questions) will be included on the first of the three large mid-term tests. You should know all of these terms, including their (1) spelling, (2) definition, and (3) be able to use them correctly in speaking and writing about music.

Dictionary definitions may be found in glossary section of your textbook or in the publisher-sponsored web site that supports your textbook.

Additionally, you should know by sound the two music examples (Listening Guides, p. 98 & 105) that support this portion of the textbook.

    General Overview

  1. What are the rough dates of the Renaissance, and what are the eras on either side of it?
  2. What is "reborn" in this era, i.e., what forgotten culture, knowledge, or writings become important in this era? What is humanism?
  3. How does the relationship between church and state, i.e., sacred and secular forces, change in the Renaissance? What effect does that have on professional musicians in this era?
  4. How are the arts (in general) in the Renaissance different from their predecessor forms in the Medieval era?
  5. What two basic types of music were made in the Renaissance, and how was the relationship between them changing, and why is that so?
  6. From what region or country did the most important composers in Europe (during the Renaissance) come?
  7. What are the most important stylistic traits of Renaissance music? (What is the "ideal" of Renaissance music?) What do the terms a cappella, imitation, and point of imitation mean, and how are they important in describing the music of this era?

    8. CHAPTER 9

  8. What is a motet, and what are its most important stylistic traits (how do you know it when you hear it)? How is it related to the mass (or is it)? Which parts of the mass were usually set in polyphony by composers in the Renaissance?
  9. Who was Josquin dez Pres, what sort of a career did he have, and how was his career different from the careers of Medieval composers?
  10. What is different about the way in which Josquin sets text, especially when compared to the manner of Medieval composers?
  11. Who was Martin Luther and what religious movement is associated with him? What are the basic differences between his beliefs and those of the Catholic Church, and what effect might this have on the music of the late Renaissance?
  12. What is the Counter-Reformation? What was the Council of Trent, and where did it meet? What was discussed in Trent, and what effect did that have on sacred music of the late 16th century?
  13. What is the primary problem with polyphonic settings of the mass and how did Palestrina "solve" that problem? (i.e., What was sacred music like before and after Palestrina, and why was this change made?)
  14. Why is there more secular music in the Renaissance (than in the Medieval era)?
  15. What effect does music printing have on the dissemination of music in this and subsequent eras?
  16. What is a Madrigal and who might have sung or listened to this sort of piece? How is a madrigal different from other kinds of music, e.g., what is the usual source of a madrigal's text, how is that text set, and what sorts of performers would be needed to sing madrigals? What is word painting and how is it used in a madrigal?
  17. How did the madrigal reach England? What was Musica transalpina and how were its contents made accessible (understandible) to the English?

    18. Listening Guide (p. 98, Josquin)

  18. What kind of piece (genre) is this, and who composed it?
  19. When and where might this piece have been sung?
  20. What are the primary musical traits of this piece, e.g., texture, rhythm, melodic characteristics, language, etc.? (How do you know it when you hear it?)
  21. How does this composer use the text to shape the musical form?
  22. What is imitation, where is it used in this piece, and which voices participate in the imitation?
  23. What are some musical ways in which the most important sections of the text are emphasized in this piece? (e.g., Tracks 11, 13, 15 & 17)

    24. Listening Guide (p. 105, Weelkes)

  24. What kind of piece (genre) is this, and who composed it?
  25. What are the primary musical traits of this piece, e.g., texture, rhythm, melodic characteristics, language, etc.? (How do you know it when you hear it?)
  26. How is the text of this piece emphasized, i.e., what are some examples of word painting in this piece?

NB. See the textbook, p. 69, for a list of style traits of Renaissance music.