CHAPTER 18 Remember Me: Personalizing the Motet in the Re-
naissance
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following was a characteristic of medieval art abandoned in the Renaissance?
a. profile portraiture
b. space organized in a succession of planes
c. use of landscape
d. the illusion of distance
2. Which of the following 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 answers shown here.
3. Which genre of vocal music was used in Renaissance church services?
a. Gregorian chant c. the hymn
b. the motet d. All the answers shown here.
4. Why does Renaissance music sound different from medieval music?
a. It has fuller harmonies. c. It has smoothly gliding lines.
b. It is performed a cappella. d. all of the answers shown here.
5. What best describes the texture of ideal Renaissance sacred music?
a. imitative c. monophonic
b. homorhythmic d. heterophonic
6. The fixed melody used as a basis for elaborate polyphonic writing in the Renaissance was called
a. word-painting. c. a cantus firmus.
b. a cappella. d. a saltarello.
7. What is a cantus firmus?
a. a chant sung daily
b. a chanson with religious overtones
c. the top line of a motet
d. a fragment of Gregorian chant or a secular tune used as the foundation of a polyphonic Mass
8. Which early Renaissance composer exerted a powerful influence on generations of composers who followed?
a. Guillaume de Machaut c. John Farmer
b. Josquin des Prez d. Moniot d’Arras
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 is in praise of
a. the Virgin Mary. c. chivalric love.
b. the English victory at Agincourt. d. 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 Gregorian chant in the top voice, then a freely composed melody
c. an isorhythm in the two bottom voices
d. a five-note ostinato figure
12. Musical ideas exchanged between vocal lines is called
a. imitation. c. a cappella.
b. cantus firmus. d. motet.
13. A sacred work with a Latin text that was used in the Mass and other religious services is the
a. motet. c. madrigal.
b. cantus firmus. d. chanson.
14. A setting in which all voices move together rhythmically is called
a. homorhythmic. c. polyrhythmic.
b. polyphonic. d. motet.
15. The preeminent composers of motets from the early Renaissance were from what part of Europe?
a. northern c. eastern
b. southern d. Italy
16. Renaissance painters
a. discovered the landscape.
b. created the illusion of distance.
c. focused on the physical loveliness of the world.
d. All answers shown here.
17. The sixteenth century has come to be regarded as the golden age of
a. the a cappella style. c. Gregorian chant.
b. monophonic singing. d. the symphony.
1. Medieval artists preferred to depict their subjects in profile rather than facing front.
2. Humanism was inspired by the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome.
3. The Renaissance motet is a sacred genre with a single Latin text.
4. The preeminent composers of motets in the early Renaissance were from Germany.
5. Josquin’s career centered exclusively in his native France.
6. Josquin did not use preexisting melodies in his sacred works.
7. Music performed a cappella is for voices only, without instrumental accompaniment.
8. Musical ideas that are exchanged between vocal lines is called cantus firmus.
9. Renaissance composers showed a greater interest in duple meter compared to their medieval counterparts.
10. Renaissance painters created the illusion of distance and focused on the physical loveliness of the world.
11. Leonardo da Vinci was a contemporary of Josquin.
12. Many composers wrote motets in praise of the Virgin Mary.
13. Humanism is characterized by independence from tradition and religion.
14. Polyphonic writing in the Renaissance relied on composing a new melody above a cantus firmus.
15. Polyphony is based on the principle of musical ideas exchanged between vocal lines.
ESSAY
1. How does Renaissance painting differ from its counterpart in the Middle Ages? How are these trends reflected in music?
2. What are the distinctive qualities of Renaissance sacred music? Support your answer with examples drawn from Josquin’s motet Ave
Maria . . . virgo serena.
3. Discuss the differences between the madrigal and the motet. Cite specific examples in your answer.