Chapter 16: Remember Me: Personalizing the Motet in the Renaissance
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Why is Renaissance painting considered more realistic than medieval painting?
a. Renaissance painters used more vivid colors.
b. The subjects of Renaissance paintings were often ordinary people doing ordinary tasks.
c. Renaissance painters discovered a perspective that made it possible to see the whole
simultaneously.
d. Renaissance subjects were more consistently religious.
2. Which of the following best characterizes humanism?
a. thinking centered on human issues and individuality
b. inspiration from the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome
c. independence from tradition and religion
d. all of the answers shown here
3. Which genre of vocal music was included in Renaissance church services?
a. Gregorian chant c. hymn
b. motet d. all of the answers shown here
4. The Renaissance is regarded as the golden age of singing for voices alone without instrumental
accompaniment, which is called:
a. imitation. c. cantus firmus.
b. a cappella style. d. polyphony.
5. Which of the following best describes the texture of ideal Renaissance sacred music?
a. imitative c. monophonic
b. homorhythmic d. heterophonic
6. A fixed melody used as a basis for elaborate polyphonic writing during the Renaissance is called:
a. word-painting. c. a cantus firmus.
b. a cappella. d. a saltarello.
7. Which early Renaissance composer exerted a powerful influence on generations of composers who
followed?
a. Machaut c. Farmer
b. Josquin d. Hildegard
8. The dominant composers of the early Renaissance came from:
a. Italy. c. England.
b. northern Europe. d. Spain.
9. Josquin’s Ave Maria . . . virgo serena is an example of the:
a. Mass. c. chanson.
b. motet. d. madrigal.
10. The text of Ave Maria . . . virgo serena concerns:
a. praise of the Virgin Mary.
b. praise of the English victory at Agincourt.
c. praise of chivalric love.
d. praise of the Archangel Michael.
11. What is the musical basis of Josquin’s Ave Maria . . . virgo serena?
a. a popular cantus firmus heard throughout the entire work
b. a preexisting Gregorian chant for the Virgin in the top voice and then a freely composed
melody
c. an isorhythm in the two bottom voices
d. a five-note ostinato figure
12. During the Renaissance there was a growing reliance on:
a. unquestioning faith and mysticism. c. the church.
b. reason and scientific inquiry. d. ancient Asian cultures.
13. A sacred work with a Latin text for use in the Mass and other religious services is called a:
a. madrigal. c. motet.
b. cantus firmus. d. chanson.
14. A musical setting in which all voices move together rhythmically is called:
a. polyphonic. c. homorhythmic.
b. monophonic. d. polyrhythmic.
TRUE/FALSE
1. Religious belief became more personal during the Renaissance.
2. Renaissance painters preferred symbolism to realism.
3. Music for the Christian church was sung primarily by professional male singers trained from
childhood.
4. An a cappella choir is accompanied by the organ.
5. One of the reasons for the success of the Renaissance motet was its free use of vernacular
languages.
6. Josquin’s career centered exclusively in his native France.
7. Josquin does not incorporate a cantus firmus in Ave Maria . . . virgo serena.
8. Renaissance painting is considered more realistic than medieval art because Renaissance painters
used more vivid colors.
9. The motet is a secular work with a Latin text.
ESSAY
1. Describe the impact of humanism on Renaissance painting and sacred music.
ANS:
Answers will vary.
PTS: 1 DIF: 3 REF: Essentials: pp. 77–81
TOP: Renaissance Spirit MSC: Conceptual
2. How does Josquin highlight different emotional aspects of the text in Ave Maria . . . virgo serena?
ANS:
Answers will vary.
PTS: 1 DIF: 2 REF: Essentials: p. 81
TOP: Renaissance Motet MSC: Applied