14th-16th Centuries Counterpoint

The homophonic passages usually found in fifteenth-century motets to be sung at the culmination of the mass, the elevation, play a paradoxical role in modern scholarship. On the one hand, these passages serve to identify the liturgical function of the motets and the cycles surrounding them; on the other hand, they are hardly ever analyzed in detail, not only because their homophonic austerity seems to be of little interest, but also because they defy normal analytical procedures. To explain what happens when ‘nothing’ happens, this paper gathers a repertoire of contrapuntal-harmonic stock formulas distinguishable as clausulae, gymel, and tabula naturalis progressions. These progressions can be seen working in very different ways in elevation motets. To imagine composers with these polyphonic complexes at their disposal is to imagine theoretical and practical ways beyond a simple dichotomy between ‘counterpoint’ and ‘harmony’. In the discussion of elevation motets, questions of compositional design, of theoretical context, of performance, and of cultural context coalesce.

Con este volumen presentamos un nuevo tratado de teoría musical del Renacimiento español, escrito en 1465 por el catedrático de Teología de la Universidad de
Salamanca Pedro Martínez de Osma. Alumno de Alonso de Madrigal "el Tostado" y maestro de Antonio de Nebrija, Pedro de Osma fue un activo renovador del pensamiento aristotélico en el Estudio salmantino, prolijo escritor y polemista en estos años del despertar humanista en Castilla, acabando sus días con una condena eclesiástica por sus atrevidos postulados reformistas.
Este nuevo tratado musical viene a enriquecer el conocimiento de unas décadas hasta hoy poco tratadas por la falta de fuentes, demostrando cómo en Salamanca, a mediados de siglo, se vivía un rico ambiente intelectual a propósito de los temas musicales, tanto teóricos como prácticos, digno de la secular tradición propia del Estudio salmantino, en consonancia con los debates que en esos años florecían en otros centros intelectuales europeos.
With this volume we present a new treatise on music theory of the Spanish Renaissance, written in 1465 by the professor of Theology at the University of Salamanca Pedro Martínez de Osma. A student of Alonso de Madrigal "el Tostado" and teacher of Antonio de Nebrija, Pedro de Osma was an active renovator of Aristotelian thought in the Salamanca Study, prolific writer and polemicist in these years of the humanist awakening in Castile, ending his days with an ecclesiastical conviction for its daring reformist postulates.
This new musical treatise enriches the knowledge of a few decades until now little treated due to the lack of sources, demonstrating the rich intellectual life in mid 15th-century Salamanca regarding musical subjects, both theoretical and practical, worthy of the centuries-long tradition of the Salamanca Study, in line with the debates that flourished in those years in other European intellectual centers.

For a complete annimated score video of this work containing the original manuscript, modern score, and translation, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcOtQNR8lzE

This is a pedagogical edition of Baude Cordier's' famous piece of augenmusik, "Belle, Bonne, Sage" from the 14th century. Find herein complete explanations of all parts of the piece (pictorial, poetical, musical, formal, etc.). Complete translations of all texts are provided along with an explanation of translations methodology and problems. Complete high-resolution graphics of the two sources are included.

The motet Laudate Dominum de caelis, copied in Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Ms. Cappella Sistina 42 c. 1509-12, is distinctive in Brumel's output, bearing many of the hallmarks of the so-called 'Milanese' style. This article addresses its sources, style, and technical construction in the context of some of Brumel's other motets and of Joshua Rifkin's recent research on the French-court motet around 1500, as exemplified by the motets of Josquin and Mouton. Analyses of local contrapuntal structures and of the motet's overall form offer a view of Brumel's working methods. These considerations lead to a picture of the motet as a product of Brumel's engagement with a French-court motet repertory in the first decade of the sixteenth century.

A performance and critical edition of Agricola's two voiced polyphonic setting of "Gaudeamus omnes", Introit for the Feast of the Assumption. For two different recordings and video-scores of the piece see the links below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZnRmQ-B2Zc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxK8zd2hLEM

Only the incipit "Gaudeamus omnes in domino" appears with Agricola's music. The Introit text set to the chant cantus firmus used in this transcription is the text for the Introit for the Feast of the Assumption (also Gaudeamus omnes in domino).

Furthermore, Agricola only set down as semibreves each of the first 38 notes of the "Gaudeamus omnes in domino" chant. This transcription, following the example of Edward Learner's edition, reconstructs the remaining tenor notes. This edition differs from Learner's in that it uses the Introit chant for Assumption from Cambrai, Bibliotheque Municipale [F-CA], MS B-12, fol. 49r-v (c. 1500), rather than a British version from the Sarum rite.

______________________________

Gaudeamus omnes in domino,
diem festum celebrantes sub honore Mariae Virginis:
de cujus assumptione gaudent angeli,
et collaudant filium dei.

Let us all rejoice in the Lord
celebrating this day the feast in honor of the Virgin Mary,
in whose solemnity the angels rejoice,
and praising the Son of God.

This essay examines instances of strikingly dissonant cadences in fourteenth-century French song. These dissonant clashes result not from a lack of dissonance “control” in medieval music, but rather from a deliberately employed musical figure that can be found especially in otherwise consonant settings. The history of this musical figure can be traced from the Ars nova across the age of prima prattica counterpoint and into the seconda prattica. At the core of this gesture is the progression from dissonances through imperfect consonances to perfect consonances. Thus, the rhetorical purpose of the dissonance is to intensify the final arrival at a perfect interval. Four case studies will track this figure in pieces by Machaut and his contemporaries. The case studies are augmented by reflections on various historiographic and methodological aspects: medieval three- and four-part counterpoint, strategies and theories of dissonance treatment in the fourteenth century, attempts at a Figurenlehre avant la lettre, and the song repertoire of Machaut’s contemporaries.

For a live recording see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AWnLR2cd7Y

Johann Heinrich Buttstett (1666-1727) is an under-recognized composer of the late 17th and early 18th century. His works were influential on the oeuvre of Johann Sebastian Bach, who transcribed a number of Buttstett's works into his own notebooks. Buttstett's fugal design is somewhat unique and idiomatic, often using rhythmically motoric themes with numerous repeated notes and fugal forms that have two distinct expositions.

Here is a performance edition of his quirky fugue in g-minor. The performance edition is based on the registrations of and performance by Jordan Alexander Key.

A study and critical edition of Agricola's two voiced polyphonic setting of "Gaudeamus omnes", Introit for the Feast of the Assumption. This is intended for teaching various 14th and 15th century mensuration signs and their modern translations and persisting problems.

For two recordings and video-scores of the piece see the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZnRmQ-B2Zc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxK8zd2hLEM

Only the incipit "Gaudeamus omnes in domino" appears with Agricola's music. The Introit text set to the chant cantus firmus used in this transcription is the text for the Introit for the Feast of the Assumption (also Gaudeamus omnes in domino).

Furthermore, Agricola only set down as semibreves each of the first 38 notes of the "Gaudeamus omnes in domino" chant. This transcription, following the example of Edward Learner's edition, reconstructs the remaining tenor notes. This edition differs from Learner's in that it uses the Introit chant for Assumption from Cambrai, Bibliotheque Municipale [F-CA], MS B-12, fol. 49r-v (c. 1500), rather than a British version from the Sarum rite.

______________________________

Gaudeamus omnes in domino,
diem festum celebrantes sub honore Mariae Virginis:
de cujus assumptione gaudent angeli,
et collaudant filium dei.

Let us all rejoice in the Lord
celebrating this day the feast in honor of the Virgin Mary,
in whose solemnity the angels rejoice,
and praising the Son of God.

Despite the frequently critiqued prolixity in much of his oeuvre, Alexander Agricola (1445/46-1506) crafted music comprehensible enough to elicit great praise from numerous contemporaries. What is then inherently praiseworthy in this abstruse music? In his Salve Regina I, Agricola crafts a musical argument for his garrulity, the thesis of which aims to clarify and justify the virtue of his style. While Agricola employed cantus firmus conventions to provide formal scaffolding, he also imbues discursiveness with comprehensibility through rhetorical techniques, such as inflection of cadence, clearness of imitation, phraseology of text, and varied implementation of cantus firmus. Articulating the micro-structure of his music, these components are then couched in the discourse of the classical argument: an introduction, confirmation, and refutation of a thesis. In Agricola’s Salve Regina I, motet becomes a medium for the exhibition and logical justification of his musical thesis of abstract polystylism.

A transcription of Alexander Agricola's office hymn to the Virgin Mary, "Ave maris stella." Note the canonic inner tenor voices. This is one of Agricola's unicum.

For a recording and score video see the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hE0rMPcBvo

Con este trabajo estudiamos el manuscrito 2044 conservado en la Biblioteca de Reserva de la Universitat de Barcelona, datado a principios del siglo XVI, una colección miscelánea de nociones de teoría musical, ejemplo de lo que se conoce como “apuntes de estudiante de música”. Gracias a este tipo de documentos es posible profundizar en el conocimiento de los contextos de aprendizaje musical a fines de la Edad Media, la transmisión de la teoría musical y la teoría de la práctica, y el papel de la imprenta en este proceso que enriqueció y a la vez unificó las prácticas musicales hispanas en tiempos de los Reyes Católicos.

We discuss the Ms. 2044 preserved in the Biblioteca de Reserva of the University of Barcelona, from the beginning of the sixteenth century, a miscellany of notions of musical theory, and an example of what is known as "student notebook". Thanks to this type of documents it is possible to deepen the knowledge of the contexts of musical learning in the late Middle Ages, the transmission of musical theory and the theory of practice, and the role of the musical press in this process that enriched and unified Hispanic musical prac-tices in the time of the Catholic Monarchs.
http://www.epccm.es/index.php?journal=epccm&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=427

This motet is the second "Salve Regina" motet composed by Alexander Agricola.
For a recording and score-video of Salve Regina II see here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoQLA3BXvQs

For a transcription of his first Salve Regina see here:
https://www.academia.edu/21795600/Alexander_Agricola_Salve_Regina_I_Brussels_Bibliotheque_Royale_MS_9126_fol._138v-143r_
For a recording and score-video of Salve Regina I see here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3B-j3fUbqc

"Salve Regina II" is not only based off the classical "Salve Regina" (solemn tone) chant. The tenor of this piece is derived from Walter Frye's (d. 1474?) Marian motet, "Ave Regina".

For information and a video-score on Frye's motet see the link here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH43f-yd9oA
For a transcription see here:
https://www.academia.edu/31933857/Walter_Frye_-_Ave_Regina_tenor_for_Agricola_Salve_Regina_II_-_Full_Score.pdf

________________________


Ave Regina (Latin text):

Ave Regina coelorum mater Regis angelorum.
O Maria flos virginum velut rosa, velut lilium.
Funde preces ad filium pro salute fidelium.
O Maria flos virginum velut rosa, velut lilium.


Hail Queen (English translation):

Hail, Queen of heaven, Mother of the King of angels.
O Mary, flower of virgins, like the rose, like the lily.
Pour out prayers to the Son for the salvation of the faithful.
O Mary, flower of virgins, like the rose, like the lily.

________________________


Salve Regina (Latin text):

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevæ,
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos
misericordes oculos ad nos converte;
Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.


Hail, holy Queen (English translation):

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
Our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To you do we cry,
Poor banished children of Eve;
To you do we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate,
Your eyes of mercy toward us;
And after this our exile,
Show us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving,
O sweet Virgin Mary.

En 1482, el músico y teórico Ramos de Pareja, publicaba en Bolonia el primer tratado musical impreso de un autor español, titulado Musica practica. Ramos, nacido en Baeza unos cuarenta años antes, debió cursar estudios en la Universidad de Salamanca, donde viviría los turbulentos años finales del reinado de Enrique IV de Castilla, antes de que le sucediese en el trono su hermanastra, la infanta Isabel. Una sucesión complicada por la Este artículo presenta un nuevo tratado musical español del siglo XV escrito por Pedro Martínez de Osma, catedrático de Teología en la Universidad de Salamanca. De esta obra se tenía noticia por referencias coetáneas debidas a su colega Ramos de Pareja, pero hasta ahora no se había identificado. Este texto, escrito en 1465 y conservado en la Biblioteca Nacional de Nápoles, permite obtener nueva información de un periodo muy poco ex-plorado en cuanto al pensamiento musical en España, precisamente por la ausencia de fuentes documentales. Analizando su contenido se detalla el ambiente reformista y pre-humanista que se vivía en esos años en el Estudio salmantino y se perfila la corriente de pensamiento que, pasando por Ramos y otros autores en torno al 1500, llevarán al flore-cimiento de los insignes autores del quinientos, en especial Francisco Salinas. Palabras clave: Pedro Martínez de Osma, Universidad de Salamanca, Ramos de Pareja, teoría musical, Renacimiento español, Humanismo.

This article presents a new fifteenth-century Spanish music treatise written by Pedro Martínez de Osma, Professor of Theology at the University of Salamanca. This text was known through contemporary references by his colleague Ramos de Pareja, but had not been identified until now. Written in 1465 and preserved at the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III in Naples, the text provides new information from a very little explored period in Spain in terms of music philosophy, precisely because of the lack of documentary sources. By analysing its content, the author explains the reformist and pre-humanist climate that characterized those years in Salamanca, and outlines the school of thought that would allow distinguished theorists of the sixteenth century century to flourish in the wake of Ramos and other composer-theorists around 1500, especially Francisco Salinas.
https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CMIB

A scroll realization of Johannes Mittner's "Osanna" 5-voice mensuration canon from the Sanctus of his Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarae. For a recording of the Sanctus with the Osanna, please see the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCe7WGoJVLI

Perhaps Walter Frye's most famous piece, "Ave Regina" was a significant work during the early Renaissance. Its idiomatic english style (called Contenance Angloise) helped ignite the transition to tertian polyphony in Burgundy during the first half of the 15th century.

Frye's "Ave Regina" appears in 13 difference sources, (only one of which is English), demonstrating its staggering popularity on the continent. Surpassing his two other widely popular shorter works, "Tout a par moy and "So ys emprentid", Ave regina also appears with notation in three paintings from the period. Frye's "Ave Regina" is quoted by musical theorists and rearranged and plagiarized by later composers. Its tenor was borrowed by Obrecht for a motet and mass of the same title; Alexander Agricola in turn borrowed Obrecht’s borrowed tenor as the basis for his Salve Regina II.

It is in ballade form and may have originated with an English text. Whatever its original form however, Frye’s "Ave regina" played an important part in establishing the taste for the song-motet in Burgundy during the 15th century.

For a recording and score-video of Frye's "Ave Regina" see here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH43f-yd9oA
____________________

Ave Regina (Latin text):
Ave Regina coelorum mater Regis angelorum.
O Maria flos virginum velut rosa, velut lilium.
Funde preces ad filium pro salute fidelium.
O Maria flos virginum velut rosa, velut lilium.

Hail Queen (English translation)
Hail, Queen of heaven, Mother of the King of angels.
O Mary, flower of virgins, like the rose, like the lily.
Pour out prayers to the Son for the salvation of the faithful.
O Mary, flower of virgins, like the rose, like the lily.

Cambrai, juni 1485. Een geestelijke uit Bergen op Zoom zoekt emplooi in een van de rijkste, meest gecultiveerde kerkelijke instellingen van Europa: de Notre Dame van Cambrai. De kapittelakten vermelden: “25 juni 1485. Vandaag wordt iemand uit Berg toegelaten als onder-vicaris (‘petit viaire’). De zangmeester belooft dat hij hem graag zal onderrichten en hem voortgang zal laten boeken bij het zingen op het boek.” Uit de kapittelakten blijkt dat musiceren de belangrijkste taak was van een ‘petit viaire’. Falset-zangers (‘sopraan vicarissen’) werden bijvoorbeeld gewaarschuwd dat ze, mochten ze hun stem verliezen, op staande voet zouden worden ontslagen. Naast zes koorknapen, die een zelfstandig polyfoon ensemble konden vormen, onderhield de kerk een koor van tussen de dertien en vijftien lagere geestelijken, waartoe ook de anonieme clericus uit Zeeland zou gaan behoren.

Der Aufsatz ist in folgendem Band erschienen:
Maren Goltz/Bernhard Schrammek (Hrsg.): Johann Steurlein 1546-1613. Amtsdiener, Komponist und Poet zwischen Tradition und Innovation (Ortus Studien Band 15), Ortus Musikverlag Beeskow 2014

In diesem Aufsatz untersuche ich die motettische Passionsvertonung Johann Steurleins auf die Frage hin, welche Werkzeuge ein Komponist der Zeit hatte, eine solche ausführliche Passionskomposition im Rahmen der zur Verfügung stehenden Mittel dramaturgisch zu gestalten. Besonders der Umgang mit den Möglichkeiten der modalen Stimmdisposition scheint dabei ein persönliches Charakteristikum der "Deutschen Passion" Steurleins zu sein, in der nicht länger - wie etwa in Antoine de Longuevals vorbildhafter "Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Matthaeum" - der traditionelle liturgische Passionston das gerüst für die musikalische Architektur bildet.

The way in which fifteenth century musicians viewed – or rather heard – counterpoint was radically different from the way we generally do today. For us counterpoint means the creation of a musical exercise according to a strict set of rules, on paper. For them counterpoint was primarily sung and heard, constructed without the aid of a vertically aligned score and in many cases ‘sung on the book’ (improvised on a melody from a chant-book).

The treatise De preceptis artis musicae, written around 1470 by one 'William the Monk' is arguably our most complete account of fifteenth century practices of sung counterpoint. In this paper I will present a pedagogic itinerary, derived from this treatise and a comparison with extant compositions, for teaching two- and three-voice counterpoint. From singing in simple parallel thirds and sixths, called gymel, we may progress through discantus in contrary motion to free two-voice counterpoint. The vertical combination of different gymels gives us different possibilities to improvise simple types of three-voice counterpoint, known chiefly as fauxbourdon.

One of the objectives of teaching extempore counterpoint is to provide students with a ‘historically informed’ way of hearing Renaissance music. Students become aware of the musical grammar of this music, understanding the choices a composer has made in combining and adapting contrapuntal techniques. This type of hearing is eminently suited as a balance to a ‘modern’ way of approaching these compositions, as ‘fixed objects’ in the shape of a score-transcription or even a recording. 

The presentation will be accompanied by a small workshop for the students of the Israel Conservatory of Music. The results of this workshop will be presented during the presentation as illustrations.

... | Ayuda. "Ars non inveniendi": riflessioni su una "Straw-man fallacy" e sul "contratenor" quale paratesto. Autores: Pedro Memelsdorff; Localización: Acta musicologica, ISSN 0001-6241, Vol. 81, Nº 1, 2009 , pags. 1-22. © 2001-2010 ...

Link: https://www.esm.rochester.edu/integral/33-2019/morgan/
This article confronts assumptions about how suspensions function and demonstrates how Renaissance suspensions differ from their tonal counterparts. This is primarily due to an additional component in Renaissance suspensions, the perfection phase, which comes immediately after the resolution phase. The difference in the metric structure of Renaissance and tonal suspensions is particularly significant in cases of ternary meter. A corpus study that makes use of the Humdrum Renaissance Dissonance Classifier provides empirical support for the importance of ternary suspensions and their relevance to our understanding of how compositional style changed over the course of the Renaissance. This article also examines dozens of treatises and counterpoint textbooks to highlight some issues with the way that Renaissance suspensions are generally taught and have been taught for centuries.

El cambio de siglo en torno al año 1500 destaca en la actividad musical española por la importante producción de tratados teóricos impresos. Con un carácter eminentemente práctico, estos tratados incluyen entre sus diversos contenidos relaciones de consonancias para varias voces de contrapunto, características en la producción española, a los cuales se ha venido a sumar novedades como el hallazgo de unas tablas manuscritas de combinaciones para tres y cuatro voces, en un ejemplar del tratado Musica practica de Franchino Gafurio conservado en la Biblioteca de la Universidad de Salamanca, encabezados a nombre de Juan de Urrede. Estas tablas representan el conjunto de ejemplos de consonancias en polifonía más completo de los conservados hasta el momento en los textos españoles del periodo, y complementan y se suman a los ejemplos ya conocidos de estos tratados. Estudiando estos testimonios en conjunto y relacionándolos con la producción teórica europea contemporánea, se pueden comprender como pruebas de un escenario de práctica polifónica vocal improvisada especialmente sofisticada en España ya en el siglo XV, basada en unas sonoridades complejas diferenciables de otras técnicas más rígidas como el fabordón, en uso no obstante en determinados contextos litúrgicos. Escenario que será confirmado y descrito con detalle en los tratados posteriores del siglo XVI. Presentamos un estudio comparado de este tipo de tablas teórico-prácticas, en las diversas fuentes que las presentan, y a partir de este análisis proponemos un modelo de rica práctica polifónica influida por la recepción de determinados tratados teóricos y prácticas europeas, pero enraizada en la práctica y conocimiento autóctono, demostrada por la producción de los tratadistas españoles.

Paolo da Firenze,Johannes Ciconia,e l'interrelazione di polifon?ae trattatistica in font! del primo Quattrocento* ... Alla luce dell'immenso er?pido sviLUPPO d?lia codicologia musicale degli ultimi anni ... In tal senso, questo studio si propone di riesaminare la struttura, e ...