Glossary

Western classical music	The classical music that is part of American culture has its roots in the history and traditions of western European civilization. Its development proceeded through distinct yet overlapping historical periods, each period reflecting characteristics growing out of, yet different from, that which preceded it. These cumulative changes are sufficiently identifiable to be treated as specific periods of development in the history of Western music which scholars have labeled medieval (A.D. 200-1450), Renaissance (1450-1600), baroque (1600-1750), classic (1750-1820), romantic (1820-1900), and modern (1900 to the present). These dates must be considered approximate, allowing for the overlap of musical styles, composers, and influences.



Cultural context	Western music was influences by Greek music theory, not Greek practices-that is, by doctrines and descriptions rather than Greek music itself. The Greek scholars wrote about the nature of music, its place in the universe and in society, and its materials and principles of composition. They examined its effects on people and particularly tried to define the relationships between music and mathematics, morality, poetry, education, and character or personality. The Greek writers began our vocabulary for discussing and describing music.



Church influences	The history of Western practice is traced from the beginning of the Christian era. The liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church and its music were borrowed and adapted from the Jewish synagogue services: the singing of hymns and psalms, prayers, the position of the cantor, and responsorial, or antiphonal, singing. The Roman Catholic Church dominated the history of Western music for its first 1400 years. This time is frequently divided into the medieval period, or Middle Ages (up to the early fifteenth century), and the Renaissance (from about 1450 to 1600). The liturgy of the early Western churches was varied, as local churches at first were relatively independent. The main musical style of religious music was the chant. The most significant musical reform came under the papacy of Pope Gregory I at the end of the sixth century. Gregory established an order for the liturgy, assigning particular items to the various services throughout the year. An outgrowth of this reform was the beginning of a uniform repertoire of chant for use by churches in all countries. Pope Gregory became associated with reforms that became standard practice for centuries and the music was so highly regarded that this repertoire became known as Gregorian chant. Gregorian chants are the earliest examples of Western classical music. These relatively short pieces were used in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church.



Historical periods	Western European and American classical music and much of American vernacular music are part of a musical tradition that can be traced to the theoretical writings and teachings of ancient Greek scholars. This period extends from the time of Pythagoras in about 500 B.C. to Ptolemy, around A.D. 200, and includes Aristotle and Plato. The Roman Catholic Church dominated the history of Western music for its first 1400 years. This time is frequently divided into the medieval period, or Middle Ages (up to the early fifteenth century), and the Renaissance (from about 1450 to 1600).



Chant	The liturgy of the early Western churches was varied, as local churches at first were relatively independent. The main musical style of religious music was the chant. The most significant musical reform came under the papacy of Pope Gregory I at the end of the sixth century. Gregory established an order for the liturgy, assigning particular items to the various services throughout the year. An outgrowth of this reform was the beginning of a uniform repertoire of chant for use by churches in all countries. Pope Gregory became associated with reforms that became standard practice for centuries and the music was so highly regarded that this repertoire became known as Gregorian chant. Gregorian chants are the earliest examples of Western classical music. These relatively short pieces were used in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. A chant was sung in Latin by a priest or a cantor, by the men and boys of the choir, or by the congregation. Originally, these chants were performed without instruments, although by the thirteenth century instrumental accompaniment was sometimes used. A chant is monophonic in texture, of relatively short duration, and sung in an unhurried manner. Its rhythm is fluid, reflective the natural inflection of the mainly unmetered text. Its accents are compatible with the accents of the text, that it, without a regular accent and without a strong metric feeling. Originally, these chants were not notated. Manuscripts containing notated chants date from the ninth century, and many were done in beautiful calligraphy. The composers of Gregorian chants-mostly priests, monks, and none-are unidentified in these manuscripts. The shape of a chant melody is fairly flat, is mostly stepwise, and encompasses a small range. The scale patterns of Gregorian chants are derived from a system of church modes (scales) that preceded the major-minor tonal system. The church modes give the chants their oriental, mystical quality. Chant was functional music. It was an aid to worship rather than music that people would passively listen to. The several thousand chants make up a significant body of literature in Western music. Many have been used as bases for other types of musical compositions, such as the polyphonic settings of the mass and sacred motets prevalent during the sixteenth century.



Text settings	Syllabic and melismatic - A text is treated in a syllabic manner, with one note to each syllable of text; in a florid, melismatic manner with several and sometimes many notes to a single syllable; or frequently in a combination of these two treatments.



Cantus firmus	The chant that was used as the basis for polyphonic composition-either a motet or a section of the mass. It was also known as fixed melody. Because the cantus firmus had no liturgical function, it was frequently sung in the vernacular or played on an instrument. The popularity of the motet spread throughout western Europe. The cantus firmus continued to be borrowed not only from the chant repertoire but also from popular songs of the day.



Notation	a system of visual symbols-was developed to reinforce the singer’s memory of a chant melody learned from oral tradition. Notation was also developed to specify pitches so that melodies for chants would be uniform throughout the far-flung Roman Catholic Church. Notation was a great aid in the teaching of polyphonic music. An important region for the development of notation was northern France, and the first known composers of notated polyphony were Leonin and Perotin.



Polyphony	Music with more than one melody sounding at the same time and having equal emphasis but not necessarily starting and stopping at the same time I scalled polyphony. Any familiar song performed as a round, such as “Row, Row Your Boat,” is polyphonic.



Renaissance	The Renaissance in Europe was the golden age of a polyphonic choral music created by the first significant group of great composers, a group that included Jospquin des Prez, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and Giovanni Gabrieli. This was also an age of humanism, optimism, and reform. Artists and scholars expanded their interests into secular society, and patronage of the arts began to shift from the church to the courts. Developments that were important in shaping Western culture occurred during the Renaissance. The art of printing books, perfected by Gutenberg in the fifteenth century, soon led to the dissemination of printed music and books about music.



Music genres	Choral music is intended for more than one singer to a part-for example, a choir of sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses (SATB). Choral music is of course vocal, but the specific term usually refers to solo pieces or ensemble works in which there is one singer to each part. Three choral genres that became established by the end of the Renaissance were the mass, the motet, and the madrigal. The part of the liturgy that has produced the most important sacred music literature is the mass, particularly the music from the Ordinary of the High Mass. The motet is a sacred polyphonic composition, usually sung in Latin without accompaniment (a cappella). It is a choral genre intended to be sung by choirs of trained singers, rather than by congregations. During the Renaissance, a motet usually had from four to six independent melodies, in contrast to the more common three-part melodies of thirteenth motets. The Renaissance madrigal typically is in four or five parts with one singer to a part; thus it is considered vocal chamber music. A madrigal is a secular composition, reflecting the growing independence of the arts from the church. In the vernacular, the poetic text is about love, a pastoral theme, or some other secular topic. The music, usually more metrical and lively than a motet, combines elements of ancient modal scales with the harmonies of modern major tonalities and combines polyphonic and homophonic textures. Madrigals, which flourished in Italy and England, were sung at court festivals, social gatherings, and meetings of learned societies. Because the madrigal did not have to adhere to the strictures of the church, composers were more free to experiment with bold harmony, pictorial and expressive writing, or even the baroque notion of a solo part contrasting with a harmonic bass line or with a chordal background. Instrumental music-music for drums and other percussion instruments, lyres, and various kinds of flutes-had an important part in many liturgical dramas by the twelfth century. During the medieval and Renaissance era, instrumental music typically was more metric, livelier, and less polyphonic than sacred liturgical music, and it was probably created not for its own sake but for its important role in accompanying singing and dancing. The harp, lyre, psaltery, and viele were instruments in common use in the Middle Ages. Instruments common in the Renaissance were recorders, viols, shawms, krummhorns, cornets, and lutes. For the most part, Renaissance instrumental music modeled itself after the vocal style, and it was common to have an instrument either double or substitute for a vocal part. In the sixteenth century, instrumental music had developed to the point that composers wrote pieces specifically for instruments, and the first instrumental genres evolved: the ricercar and the canzona. Although the stylistic distinction between these genres is blurred, the ricercar was generally written for keyboards or an instrumental ensemble and was modeled after the polyphonic motet; the less sober canzona was similar to the madrigal or the French chanson. It usually was entertaining, fast moving, metric, and contrapuntal in a light and easy manner.



Reformation	In 1517, Martin Luther began a reform that was to separate the Christian church into two major divisions: Catholic and Protestant. This reform had a dramatic impact on the history of music. In the Calvinist version of this reform, congregations sang texts, particularly psalms, that adhered rigidly to the Bible. Psalm singing involved rhymed metrical translations of psalm texts that were published in psalters. In 1534, the Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church, paving the way for even more church music to be sung in the vernacular. The anthem, sung in English, became the Anglican counterpart of the Latin motet.



Master composers	One of the earliest known composers is Hildegard of Bingen, a nun, theologian, mystic, poet, writer on medical and scientific matters, and composer of 77 religious songs, numerous chants, and a lengthy music drama. Three of the greatest composers that were widely influential in the developmental of Western classical music were Josquin des Prez, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and Giovanni Gabrieli. Josquin des Prez was a successful court musician and composer, particularly in Italy. Music of his music was published in printed collections. Josquin used the motet to create his most innovative and influential works. His mark of genius was his ability to combine the intricacies of polyphonic composition with emotional expression. In so doing, he was able to transcend the limits of the musical language of his time. Palestrina spent his entire professional life as a choirmaster and composer in Rome. His music is primarily sacred. His music is characterized by its purity (detached from secular influences) and its appropriateness to the formal ritual of the Roman Catholic liturgy. It serves as the model of the nest in sixteenth-century imitative counterpoint, capturing the essence of the conservative elements of the Counter Reformation. Giovanni Gabrieli was the organist and choirmaster at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice from 1585 until his death. He was also an exemplary composer of sacred works for multiple choirs and for combination of voices and wind and string instruments. Gabrieli’s role in history places him at the border between two historical eras. He was a master of the older polyphonic Renaissance style, yet his use of contrasting sonorites foreshadowed essential qualities of the baroque era to follow.

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