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Renaissance polyphony / Fabrice Fitch.

by Fitch, Fabrice, author.

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Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Music -- 16th century -- History and criticism.

Counterpoint -- History -- 16th century.

Music -- To 1500 -- History and criticism.

Counterpoint -- History -- To 1500.

9780521899338 (hardback)

0521899338 (hardback)

9780521728171 (paperback)

0521728177 (paperback)

Cambridge introductions to music.

xx, 273 pages : illustrations, music ; 25 cm

Introducing Renaissance Polyphony. A musical Renaissance? ; A starting point: the Missa Caput ; Overview -- Making polyphony : sources and practice. Polyphonic manuscripts: choirbook format ; Polyphonic prints: partbook format ; Extemporized polyphony ; From composed to extemporized polyphony (or vice-versa?) -- Makers of polyphony. Renaissance attitudes towards music: theory and practice ; Singer-clerics before 1500 ; A sense of corporate identity ; Singers or composers? ; Composers in the age of print ; Instrumental ensembles and soloists ; Women and polyphony: cloth and court -- Pitch : an overview. The gamut: measuring musical space ; Species and modes ; Measuring musical space with syllables: the hexachord ; Contrapuntal practice: polyphony and modal classification ; The cadence (clausula) ; Cadence and mode ; A short note on musica ficta ; Signature flats and expanded hexachords ('conjunctae') ; Enhanced chromaticisms ; An even shorter note on dissonance treatment -- Voice-names, ranges, and functions. What clefs mean (and what they don't) ; Cadential function and the principal voice-types ; Registral tiers: the English Caput Mass and the contratenor bassus ; From four voice-ranges to chiavette ; Another look at cadence -- Mensural notation, duration, and meter. The four prolations ; Mensural usage and musical style ; Tempo and proportions -- Genre, texts, form. The genre problem ; Words and music -- 'Cantus magnus' : music for the Mass. The Mass cycle ; Propers, requiem masses, and other liturgical forms -- 'Cantus mediocris' : the motet. A snapshot of the motet repertory: the Medici Codex ; Stylistic markers ; Motets for private and public devotion ; Penitential music ; Occasional motets ; Towards the motet of the later Renaissance -- 'Cantus parvus' : secular music. Formes fixes: Ockeghem, "Ma bouche rit" ; Strophic song: Senfl, "Lust hab' ich g'habt zur Musica" ; Epigram: Lassus, "En un chateau" ; Descriptive and narrative songs: Flecha, "La bomba" ; Instrumental music: Tye, "Sit fast" and "O lux" ; Madrigal: Cipriano, "Da le belle contrade" -- Scoring, texture, scale. Scoring: fifteenth-century experiments and beyond ; Texture types: polyphony with and without cantus firmus ; Varietas: texture types and the role of imitation ; English exceptionalism: the Eton Choirbook and beyond ; Pervasive imitation and its aftermath ; 'O che nuovo miracolo': scale as exploration -- Understanding musical borrowing. Chant paraphrase and cantus firmus ; Masses: from cantus firmus to model ; The aesthetics of borrowing: the model as analogy ; Homage, exchange, and competition: the L'Homme armé story ; The Mass cycle and 'peak borrowing' circa 1500 ; The imitation mass and the listener ; The limits of borrowing -- Canons, puzzles, games. Playing with syntax: cadence ; Playing with material: hexachord games and ostinato ; Playing with pitch ; Fugal canon ; Non-fugal and enigmatic canons ; Puzzles and Augenmusik ; Playing with numbers -- Performance practice: a brief introduction. What the sources don't tell us: aspects of pitch ; Tempo and modern performance practice ; Scoring and texting, voices and instruments: a historical overview ; 'The past is a foreign country': strategies of de-familiarization.

"This engaging study introduces Renaissance polyphony to a modern audience. It helps readers of all ages and levels of experience make sense of what they are hearing. How does Renaissance music work? How is a piece typical of its style and type; or, if it is exceptional, what makes it so? The makers of polyphony were keenly aware of the specialized nature of their craft. How is this reflected in the music they wrote, and how were they regarded by their patrons and audiences? Through a combination of detailed, nuanced appreciation of musical style and a lucid overview of current debates, this book offers a glimpse of meanings behind and beyond the notes, be they playful or profound. It will enhance the listening experience of students, performers and music lovers alike"--

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