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For the Mid-Term How does medieval music differ from music of the 18th and 19th centuries? How did Pythagorean ideas influence the development of medieval music? Defend the idea that the early history of polyphonic music in the West was a continuous process of elaboration of Gregorian chant. Then explain in what ways this was not the case. What is “medieval” about the phenomenon (not the name) of “isorhythm”? In what ways did the musical formes fixes and the poetry composers set in those forms reflect a medieval sensibility? For the Final N.B. In addition to the six essay questions, you will be asked to supply the birth and death dates of up to seven of the capital-letter composers in the list of Terms. How does Du Fay’s music differ from Machaut’s? Which aspects of Ockeghem’s music reflect a medieval ideal? Which aspects reflect a Renaissance ideal? Josquin is now considered by many music historians to have been the most important composer of the sixteenth century. What did he do that would justify this assessment? It is often said that the “simple” forms of the early sixteenth century (e.g., frottola, Parisian chanson) pointed the way to the future of musical development. What is the rationale for such a statement? Why was Lassus’s achievement of developing a “rhetoric” of music so important for the future? Gesualdo’s music was so “advanced” that nothing comparable to it was to be heard in the Western tradition until after Wagner. Why, from a historical point of view, is it considered a “dead end”? |