978-0393602517 Chapter 17

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CHAPTER 17

Glory Be: Music for the Renaissance Mass

OVERVIEW

Chapter 17 introduces students to music of the Renaissance Mass through Palestrina’s Pope

Marcellus Mass. We discuss Palestrina and his famous Mass within the larger context of the

Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation movements of the sixteenth century.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. To understand and recognize the musical portions of the Mass Ordinary and Proper

2. To understand the Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation and their respective

musical agendas

3. To understand Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass as representative of the a cappella style of

vocal polyphony of the later Renaissance

LECTURE SUGGESTIONS

1. Review the different text setting styles from Chapter 13 (syllabic, neumatic, and

melismatic). Display on the board the complete texts of the Mass Ordinary. Ask the class

how the lengths of the text might affect the text-setting choices of the composer. Which

Mass movements would we expect to be set syllabically (Kyrie, Agnus Dei)?

Melismatically (Gloria, Credo)? Which would we expect to incorporate repetition (Kyrie)?

Little repetition (Credo)? Play sections of the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo movements from

Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass to illustrate these points and ask students whether their

expectations were confirmed.

2. After reviewing the musical components of the Protestant Reformation and Counter-

Reformation styles, compare the musical qualities of a Lutheran chorale (e.g., Wachet auf

from Chapter 19) or Calvinist metrical psalm (e.g., the Old Hundredth) with the Gloria from

Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass. Ask the class how each contributes to the liturgical

agendas of the respective institutions.

3. Review the musical style of Josquin’s Ave Maria . . . virgo serena. After introducing the

musical elements of the Gloria from Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass, ask the class to

consider how Palestrina’s approach to sacred polyphony differs from Josquin’s. How does

Palestrina’s music foreshadow the recommendations of textual intelligibility raised by the

Council of Trent? How does Josquin’s motet conflict with the council’s stance on liturgical

music?

ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS

1. Recall Josquin’s use of word-painting in his motet Ave Maria . . . virgo serena. As you

work through the Listening Guide for the Gloria from Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass,

note any passages that incorporate word-painting. Pay special attention to any shifts in

texture, rhythm, melody (with respect to range and contour), and voice combinations.

2. John Calvin (1509–1564) and his spiritual followers called for a strict approach to music in

worship: only the singing of biblical texts, especially the psalms (often in unison and without

instrumental accompaniment), was appropriate for church services. Think about the

development of music in the Christian church since the Middle Ages. Does the Calvinist

approach promote or halt musical progress? (And how is musical progress defined?) How

does this approach resonate with the emergence of humanism in the Renaissance? Is there

ambivalence between musical progress and regression among today’s churches and religious

institutions?

TEACHING CHALLENGES

While listening to Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass, the class might miss passages that

emphasize clarity of the words. Highlighting in the score those passages with clear text

declamation and sharing it with the class may help to emphasize this important hallmark of High

Renaissance polyphony.

SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY

Vincenzo Ruffo: Missa quarti toni (Counter-Reformation Mass)

Tomás Luis de Victoria: Requiem Mass (Counter–Reformation Mass)

SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lockwood, Lewis, ed. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Pope Marcellus Mass. New York: W.

W. Norton, 1975. Lockwood’s edited score of Palestrina’s famous Mass includes a thorough

review of the work’s background, sources, reception, and context within Counter–

Reformation aesthetics and conciliar reforms.

Strunk, William Oliver, and Leo Treitler, eds. “Music and Religious Reform.” In Source Readings

in Music History. Rev. ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1998.This section (pp. 359–81)

provides primary source reading material on the theological directives of the Protestant

Reformation and the Counter-Reformation as they pertain to music.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Glory Be: Music for the Renaissance Mass (Chapter 17)

I. The Renaissance Mass

A. Reenactment of the sacrifice of Christ

1. most solemn ritual of the Catholic Church

2. liturgy (collection of prayers): two categories

a. Ordinary: fixed portions

b. Proper: variable portions

3. sung in Latin (except the Kyrie, which is in Greek)

B. Ordinary set to music

1. Kyrie

2. Gloria

3. Credo

4. Sanctus

5. Agnus Dei

II. The Reformation and Counter-Reformation

A. Reformation: Protestant movement

1. Martin Luther (1483–1546), Ninety-Five Theses 1517

a. Augustinian monk, launched Protestant movement

b. excommunicated by Catholic Church

c. believed in congregational singing, worship in vernacular

d. admirer of Josquin, encouraged use of polphony

B. Counter-Reformation: Catholic Church response

1. return to Christian piety, sweeping changes

2. Council of Trent (1545–1563) concerns

a. corruption of traditional chant, extravagant embellishments

b. objected to certain instruments in church

c. use of popular songs in Masses

d. secular spirit in sacred music

e. irreverent attitude of church musicians

f. complex polyphony obscured the text

3. Council’s general recommendations:

a. favored pure vocal style

b. respect integrity of sacred texts

c. avoid virtuosity

d. encourage piety

e. advocated return to Gregorian chant

C. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525–1594)

1. Italian composer, organist, and choirmaster

2. worked at St. Peter’s in Rome

3. pure a cappella style, typical of late Renaissance

4. clear vocal declamation of text

5. output: mostly sacred, over 100 Masses

D. Palestrina and the Pope Marcellus Mass

1. all-male a cappella choir

a. soprano, alto, two tenors, two basses

b. soprano: boy soprano or male falsetto

2. Gloria: hymn of praise

a. restrained, serene, celestial

b. opening line chanted by officiating priest

E. Listening Guide 6: Palestrina, Pope Marcellus Mass, Gloria (published 1567)

1. six-part choir, a cappella

2. monophonic opening

3. homorhythmic and polyphonic textures follow

4. focus on clarity of the words

5. full, consonant harmony

Part 2: Classroom-Ready Activity 1

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

This group activity provides students the chance to engage with Renaissance social singing as

explored in Chapter 15. Together, students recompose the scenario and text of Farmer’s Fair

Phyllis to reflect a shared experience of their contemporary world in a way that fosters

interaction among social groups.

INSTRUCTIONS

Have the class form groups of three or four students and allow the groups about five minutes to

summarize the scenario of Farmer’s Fair Phyllis on the worksheet provided. Ask the groups to

share their summaries with the rest of the class. Play the example and ask the groups to discuss

ways in which the music of the madrigal expresses the scenario and the text. Ask the class to

consider how the discovery of these connections is changed or enhanced through a group

experience as opposed to an individual one; relate this idea to the collaborative experience of

madrigal singing in the Renaissance.

Next, instruct the students to collaborate within their groups to create a new scenario and text

of the madrigal based on the connections among the text and music discussed previously. The

new madrigal should reflect a contemporary experience. Students should consider what kinds of

situations and turns of phrase have currency among the members of their groups. Emphasize

that Renaissance madrigals in large part reflected the life experiences of the nobility. What kind

of scenario/text reflects the demographics and experience of the students? After the groups have

completed the exercise, have them recite their new poems aloud, explain the scenarios, and

highlight the musical correspondence to the new text.

Student Worksheet

Name:

Farmer: Fair Phyllis

Fair Phyllis I saw sitting all alone,

Feeding her flock near to the mountain side.

The shepherds knew not whither she was gone,

But after her [her] lover Amynthas hied.

Up and down he wandered, whilst she was missing;

When he found her, oh, then they fell a-kissing.

1. Summarize the scenario in your own words:

2. How does the music reflect the text?

3. Recompose the text of the madrigal to reflect a contemporary experience:

Fair Phyllis:

New madrigal:

Fair Phyllis I saw sitting all alone,

Feeding her flock near to the mountain side.

The shepherds knew not wither she was gone,

But after her [her] lover Amynthas hied.

Up and down he wandered, whilst she was

missing;

When he found her, oh, then they fell a-kissing.

4. Summarize the scenario of the new madrigal:

Part 2: Classroom-Ready Activity 2

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

This group activity illustrates the compositional mastery of Josquin des Prez as evidence that

Renaissance composers became increasingly concerned with investing their sacred music with a

sense of personal expression in the spirit of humanism. In this exercise, students have the

opportunity to explore Josquin’s creative approach to word-painting in his motet Ave maria . . .

virgo serena.

INSTRUCTIONS

Chapter 17 depicts Josquin as an example of a Renaissance composer mapping a personal

identity onto a musical composition. One of the ways Josquin achieves this effect is by paying

close attention to the words and ensuring that the music of his motet Ave Maria . . . virgo serena

reflects the meaning and message of the text. This motet celebrates the five main events of

Mary’s life (the conception of Mary and her birth, the Immaculate Conception of Jesus, the

Purification [presentation of Jesus to the Temple], and her Assumption), bookended with a call to

prayer (“Ave Maria”) and a final personal plea to the Virgin (“O Mater Dei, memento mei”).

You may need to take the time to explain the significance of these events for students who are

unfamiliar with this subject. Assign a group of two or three students to each of the seven verses

and instruct the groups to listen for any word-painting as they follow along with the text. Much

of the word-painting involves rhythm, melodic contour, and musical texture. Because these are

details that students are asked to listen for in Listening Guide 5, playing the example for the class

and encouraging your students to use the information in the listening guide as clues for finding

word-painting will help. Here are some examples of text painting in each stanza:

▶ Stanza 1 (call to prayer): “Ave Maria” = chant fragment

▶ Stanza 2 (conception of Mary):

▶ “solemn joy” = transition from paired voices to four-voice homophony

▶ “heaven” = ascending movement

▶ “rejoicing” = polyphony; solo alto

▶ Stanza 3 (birth of Mary): “luminous rising light” = descending movement (“lucifer” in the

Latin text denotes the morning star [Venus], which sets [disappears] as the sun rises)

▶ Stanza 4 (the Immaculate Conception [of Jesus]): “fertility without a man” = voice pairs

(broken union)

▶ Stanza 5 (Purification): “true virginity, unspotted chastity” = homorhythm in new triple meter

(uncluttered texture, clear harmonic movement, triple = trinity [holy])

▶ Stanza 6 (Assumption): “our glorification” = shift to triple meter (holy)

▶ Stanza 7 (final personal plea): “O Mother of God, remember Me” = strict homorhythm

(absence of polyphony = direct, intimate, and sincere communication)

These are by no means the only examples of text painting; your students may surprise you with

the creativity of their interpretations! Allow several minutes for the groups to discuss and

complete the worksheet before asking groups to share their ideas. You may also want to provide

access to the score for reference.

Student Worksheet

Name:

Josquin des Prez: Ave Maria . . . virgo serena

Note the word-painting references in your assigned stanza. Pay close attention to the melody

(contour and range), rhythm, texture, and distribution of voices in your assigned passage.

Stanza 1 (call to prayer):

Hail Mary, full of grace

The Lord is with you, gentle Virgin

Text painting:

Stanza 2 (conception of Mary):

Hail, whose conception,

Full of solemn joy,

Fills the heaven, the earth,

With new rejoicing.

Text painting:

Stanza 3 (birth of Mary):

Hail, whose birth

Was our festival.

As our luminous rising light [lucifer lux oriens]

Coming before the true sun.

Text painting:

Stanza 4 (Immaculate Conception [of Jesus]):

Hail, pious humility,

Fertility without a man,

Whose annunciation

Was our salvation.

Text painting:

Stanza 5 (Purification):

Hail, true virginity,

Unspotted chastity,

Whose purification

Was our cleansing.

Text painting:

Stanza 6 (Assumption):

Hail, famous with all

Angelic virtues,

Whose assumption was

Our glorification.

Text painting:

Stanza 7 (final plea to the Virgin):

O Mother of God,

Remember me.

Amen.

Text painting:

Part 2: Listening Quiz

Name:

1. Kyrie (0:00–0:27)

What is the texture of this excerpt?

a. Homorhythmic

b. Homophonic

c. Polyphonic

d. Monophonic

2. Hildegard of Bingen: Alleluia, O virga mediatrix (0:00–0:25)

What kind of text setting is featured prominently in this excerpt?

a. Melismatic

b. Syllabic

c. Neumatic

d. Strophic

3. Farmer: Fair Phyllis (0:00–0:13)

This excerpt is an example of a

a. Chant

b. Round

c. Motet

d. Madrigal

4. Josquin: Ave Maria . . . virgo serena (3:04–3:55)

Which of the following best describes the musical style of this passage?

a. Completely homorhythmic with text declamation in long notes

b. Imitative voice pairs in duple meter

c. Homorhythmic texture in triple meter with clear text declamation

d. Monophonic interspersed with homophonic passages

5. Machaut: Ma fin est mon commencement (0:00–1:23)

Which of the following signals that this piece is a chanson (rondeau) by Machaut?

a. Syncopation

b. Simple meter

c. Refrains

d. Polyrhythm

6. Josquin: Ave maria . . . virgo serena (03:57–end)

What kind of message does this musical passage express?

a. Jubilation

b. Confusion and chaos

c. Misery and defeat

d. Personal plea of remembrance

7. Palestrina: Pope Marcellus Mass, Gloria (0:09–2:43)

Which of the following best describes the musical style of this passage?

a. Homorhythmic with some polyphony

b. Mainly monophonic with melismatic text setting

c. Polyphonic with lots of imitation

d. Round

8. Farmer: Fair Phyllis (0:00–0:13)

What kind of textural interplay do you hear in this excerpt?

a. Homorhythm followed by imitation

b. Polyphony mixed with monophonic passages

c. Monophonic passages answered by homorhythmic passages

d. Imitation followed by a round

9. Palestrina: Pope Marcellus Mass, Gloria (0:00–0:45)

This piece represents the later Renaissance style of vocal polyphony known as

a. A cappella

b. Protestant Reformation

c. Ars nova

d. Chanson

10. Hildegard of Bingen: Alleluia, O virga mediatrix (0:00–0:45)

The meter of this excerpt is best described as:

a. Duple (simple)

b. Nonmetric and free

c. Triple (simple)

d. Duple (compound)

CHAPTER 18

Performing Grief: Purcell and Early Opera

OVERVIEW