MUSC 114: The Art of Active Listening
Salisbury University: FALL 2009 | T & Th 9:30am – 10:45am
Dr. Robert A. Baker

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ONLINE LECTURE (in two parts)

Complete (read, listen and make notes) before Tuesday 29 September.

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READING:

Between 22 & 28 Sept, read the following:

Ch. 8 pp. 76-90

Ch. 9 pp. 93-101

 

While reading, take notes as you would if you were in class.

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LISTENING:

To support the above reading, listen to the following four links and take note of the
brief explanations and questions below each.

EARLY SACRED MUSIC:

1.

Composer: Guillaume Dufay (1397-1474)
Title: Vasilissa,ergo gaude
Year: ca. 1450
Genre: MOTET
(Track 7 on your CD#1)

Notice that this motet is for four human voices and instruments. Can you hear all four
singers individually? It’s extremely difficult to hear them separately, but we can focus
on one at a time as the piece progresses.

This type of piece is one of the earliest examples of POLYPHONIC TEXTURE. Each singer
has his/her own melody, sometimes complimenting other melodies, sometimes contrasting,
which makes for a very dense and thick texture.

2.

Composer : (Giovanni Perluigi da) Palestrina (1525-1594)
Title: Missa Aeterna Christi Munera: Kyrie
Year: ca 1570
Genre: MASS
(Track 10 in your CD#1)

Notice that this Mass is for voices only, and the activity is much less thick and active than
the Dufay motet above. This style that began to prevail by the end of the 16th century (late 1500s)
was more acceptable to the leaders of the Catholic Church during the Counter-Reformation.
What was the reason for this?

EARLY SECULAR MUSIC

3.

Composer: Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Title: Zefiro torna
Yaer: ca. 1632
Genre: MADRIGAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6tJWY2Vaz4

Notice how the bass (the lowest musical line you can hear) begins the piece? Lock your ears
onto this and follow it. Does it stop or change?
Notice the voice parts (there are two). Do they remain the same constantly, or are they changing?

Answers:

The bass line remains exactly the same until 4:48, then soon resumes to the end! This is called a “GROUND BASS”: a bass melody that constantly repeats.
In contrast, the voices are changing frequently, and provide an interesting counterpart to the repetitive ‘ground bass’ below.

(If you would like to read a translation of the Italian into English, go to: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Italian-Language-1584/italian-madrigali.htm)

4.

Composer: Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623)
Title: Come sirrah, Jack, ho!
Year: (ca. 1600)
Genre: MADRIGAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6mQltwfP8Y

This piece (and hundreds like it, in nearly all the European languages) was intended to be sung
in informal surroundings, such as public houses (pubs, or bars), and often these works had rude,
crude or political lyrics. As you can guess, madrigals were a popular form of entertainment outside
of religious worship.

This particular English Madrigal is about the pleasures of smoking, but clearly set in a rather silly way;
the singers clearly are aware of this.
:)

[end of Online Lecture]