Based on A History of Music in Western Culture, Mark Evan Bonds

1. THE
EMERGENCE OF
RENAISSANCE
VOCAL STYLE
Chapter 4

2. Consonance and Dissonance:
The difference between Medieval and Renaissance
music
• Tinctoris – rejected this
anti-empirical tradition and
tried to make mathematics
conform to his ideas of
consonance of the third: a
major third could be
reduced to 5:4 and a
minor third to 6:5
• Pythagoras – number and
reason defines a
consonant interval, which
can be expressed by
mathematical ratio: octave
(2:1), fifth (3:2) and fourth
(4:3)
• Thirds did not count, even
thought they “sounded”
consonant

3. MOST
IMPORTANT
STYLISTIC
ELEMENT:
Acceptance of
tradition vs. new
methods of critical
thought

4. Contenance
angloise =
panconsonanc
e
• A new kind of sonority in which the
music is dominated by intervals of
THIRDS, FIFTHS, and SIXTHS
• John Dunstable (~1390-1453)
• Gilles Binchois (1400-1460)
• Guillaume Du Fay (~1397-1474)
• Johannes Ockeghem (~1420-1497)

5. Dunstable:
Quam pulchra es (<1430)
All three voices are:
1. equal in weight
2. original (new) material
3. have same rhythmic
profile
4. combining to form triads
that move in blocks
5. overwhelmingly
consonant
6. have a texture similar to
polyphonic conductus

6. FAUXBOURDON
Guillaume Du Fay
Fauxbourdon – an unnotated line running parallel to the notated top line, usually at
an interval of a fourth below. Resulting texture is rich in thirds and sixths.
Conditor alme siderum is an excellent example of this technique.

7. DU FAY:
CONDITOR
ALME
SIDERUM

8. Du Fay:
Nuper
rosarum
flores
Written for consecration of the dome of the cathedral
of Florence, 1436
Established the cantus firmus as the basis of a
composition
Du Fay states the cantus firmus in two voices, based
on different isorhythms – they move at different
speeds
Two-voiced canonic cantus firmus structure may
relate to the novel structure of Brunelleschi’s dome –
an inner frame supporting a separate outer skin

9. THE MUSIC
ITSELF SPEAKS
DUFAY: NUPER ROSARUM FLORES

10. Josquin des
Prez (c. 1450-
1521)
• His motet Ave Maria virgo serena was
one of the most widely admired musical
works of its time
• Probably written 1470s-80s – the
“Mona Lisa of Renaissance music” – text
is not liturgical
• Direct connection between words and
music more than any other time
• Martin Luther regarded him as the
greatest of all composers

11. Josquin’s
Ave Maria virgo serena
• Text treatment – single text with direct connection between
words and music
• Texture – pervading imitation, in which a series of musical
ideas are stated imitatively between all voices through entire
piece – beginnings of counterpoint!
• Cadential structure – point of imitation where a voice
cadences while other voices go on – this moves the music
forward, called paratactic form
• Mode – written in the eight-mode system in use since
Medieval times
• Melody – conjunct motion, meaning stepwise progressions
with only occasional leaps of more than a fifth
• Rhythm – organized around a steady pulse, the tactus
(Latin for “touch”)
• Harmony – perceived to be a by-product of voice leading,
not as an end in its own right
• White notation – standard long notes are not filled in, hence
not “black,” but “white” – this was practical, since it eliminated
the time required to fill in the notes, saved ink, and saved wear
and tear on the paper

12. JOSQUIN:
AVE MARIA
VIRGO SERENA