Ideas and Styles in The Western Musical Tradition

Ideas and Styles in the
Western Musical Tradition

Ideas and Styles in the
Western Musical Tradition
FOURT H EDITION
D ouglass Seaton
FL O RI D A STATE UN I VERS ITY
New York Oxford

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Title: Ideas and styles in the \iVestern musical tradition I Douglass Seaton.
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Table of Contents
Preface • xv
1 Music IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY • 1

Music in the Life and Philosophy of Ancient Greece • 1
Music and tlte Doctrine of Ethos • 3
Characteristics of Music • 5
Greek Music Theory • 5
Music in Ancient Rome • 8
2 THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD • 12

The Growth of the Christian Church and Its Music • 12
The Je,,rish Heritage • 14
Diversification of Practice • 17
The Eastern Influence • 17
Local European Practices • 19
3 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CATHOLIC

TRADITION • 22
The Political-Cultural Situation at the Beginning of t he
Ninth Century • 22
The Ro1nan Liturgy • 25
The Divine Office • 27
Mass • 28
Aesthet ic Considerations Regarding the Chant • 31
The Musical Style of t he Chant • 32
The Music Theory of the Chant • 35
Later Developn1ents in the Liturgical Chant • 42
Tlie Trope • 43
Liturgical Drama • 45
v
v1 Table of Contents
4 SECULAR SONG AND INSTRUMENTAL

Music TO 1300 • 48
Secular Music before the Eleventh Century • 49
Latin Songs • 49
Epics and Minstrels • 50
Troubadours and Trouveres • 51
Gern1an Court Music • 55
Monophonic Songs in O t her Regions • 57
Italy • 57
Spain and Portugal • 57
Britain • 57
Instru1nents • 58
String Instruments • 58
Wind Instruments • 59
Percussion lnstrwnents • 59
Organs • 59
The Use of Instruments • 60
5 THE DEVELOPMENT OF P OLYPHONY • 64

The Significance of Polyphony • 65
Carolingian Polyphony • 65
Romanesque Develop1nents • 68
Free Organ11m • 68
Rhythmic Independence • 68
Florid Orgam,m and Discant • 69
Gothic Thinking and Style • 70
Notre Daine Polyphony • 73
Rhythmic Order in Organum: Leon in • 73
Perotin • 76
Cadences • 77
The Motet • 78
Late-Thir teent h-Cent ury Developn1ents • 80
New Developments in Rhythmic Notation • 80
Hocket • 82
Symbolic Values in Thir teenth-Century Polyphony • 82
6 Music IN THE F OURTEENTH CENTURY • 85

The Increasing Secularization of Culture • 85
Ars Nova • 88
Isorhythm • 90
The Roman de Fa11vel • 91
Table of Contents vn
Forn1 in Secular Song • 93

Guillau1ne de Machaut • 93
Ars Subtilior • 95
The Italian Trecento • 96
Cadence Patterns in t he Fourteent h Century • 97
English Polyphony • 99
Gymel and English Discant • 99
Secular Music: Rota • JOO
7 H UMANISM AND Music • 102

The Rise of a Humanist Worldview • 102
The Hundred Years' War and English Music on t he
Continent • 105
John Dunstaple • 106
The New Style on the Continent • 108
Guillaume Du Fay • 108
Gilles Bincl,ois • 11 1
Polyphonic Cadences • 11 1
The Idea of a New Music • 112
8 THE SPREAD OF NEW MUSICAL IDEAS

AND P RACTICES TO 1600 • 115
The Growth of the Ne,,r Styles in the North • 116
Johannes Ockeghem • 116
The Next Generation of Franco-Netherlands Composers • 117
Josquin des Prez • 118
The Ascendancy of the Northern Style • 122
Music for Social Use • 124
Regional Variants of t he Cosmopolitan Style in Secular
Music • 126
Tl,e Frenc/1 Chanson • 126
English Music • 128
German Music • 128
Spanish Repertoires • 128
The Italian Fratto/a and Madrigal • 130
The Poetic Model for Musical Expression • 133
9 INSTRUMENTAL Music IN THE SIXTEENTH

CENTURY • 136
The Place ofinstru1nents • 136
Instruments and Their Co1nbinations • 137
Consorts • 137
vn1 Table of Contents
Broken Consorts • 138

Plucked Instruments • 139
Keyboard Instruments • 139
Tablature • 140
Instruments and Vocal Music • 141
Instrumental Adaptat ions of Vocal Music and Genres • 141
Instru1nental Genres • 143
Dances • 143
Variations • 144
Instrumental Pieces in tlte Style of Improvisations • 145
10 THE REFORMATION AND Music • 147

The Background of the Refonnat ion • 147
The Music of the Lut heran Reforn1at ion • 148
The Calvinist Reformation • 15 1
The Reformation in England • 153
The Counter-Refonnat ion • 154
Palestrina • 154
Tomas Luis de Victoria and Orlande de Lassus • 155
Faith, Music, and the Power ofWords • 155
11 THE CLOSE OF THE SIXTEENTH

CENTURY • 157
Italian Music at t he End of t he Sixteent h Century • 157
Mannerisn1 • 160
The Italian Style in England • 161
France • 163
The Venetian Style • 164
The Significance of Late Hu1nanist Styles • 166
12 RATIONALISM AND ITS I MPACT

ON Music • 167
An Age of Reason • 167
Aest hetic Considerat ions • 169
The Doctrine ofAffections • 170
The Florent ine Can1erata • 172
Monody and t he Basso Continuo • 175
Concertat o • 178
Seconda Prat ka • 178
Expression ofNew Ideas in New Styles • 181
Table of Cont ents 1x
13 NEW GENRES AND STYLES IN T HE AGE

OF RAT IONALISM • 183
Three Styles • 184
The Creat ion of Opera • 184
First Experiments in Opera • 185
Orfeo • 186
Developments in It alian Opera • 188
Stylistic Trends • 189
Vocal Chamber Music • 190
Texture and Form • 192
Sacred Music • 194
The Sacred Concerto • 194
Oratorio • 195
Sevent eent h-Cent ury Instru1nent al Music • 196
11,e Fantasia • 196
The Sonata • 197
Sets of Variations • 198
Dance Music • 199
Improvisatory Instrumental Music • 200
14 THE LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY • 202

French Opera in the Sevent eent h Century • 203
Historical Context • 203
The Beginnings of Frenclt Opera • 204
Frenclt Operatic Style • 205
English Music in t he Seventeenth Centu ry • 207
11,e First Stuarts • 207
The Commonwealth • 207
11,e Restoration • 207
It alian Opera • 209
The Cant ata and Other Vocal Chamber Music • 2 11
German Musical Genres • 2 11
Lutheran Liturgical Music • 212
Keyboard Music • 213
Musical Drama • 213
The Development of instru1nent al Fonns and Idion1s • 214
Style Developments in Instrumental Music • 215
Fugue • 215
Suite • 216
Ensemble Sonata • 219
Concerto • 221
x Table of Contents
15 THE EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY • 226

The Late Rationalist Per iod • 226
Opera Seria-Handel and Others • 227
The Intern1ezzo • 230
Opera in France • 231
Handel and the O ratorio • 232
Gern1any • 234
Johann Sebastian Bach • 236
Bach's Early Career • 236
The Court of Weimar • 237
The Court of Ciithen • 238
The City of Leipzig • 239
Bach's Culmination of Stylistic Tradition • 241
16 NEW CURRENTS IN THE EARLY EIGHTEENTH

CENTURY • 245
New Directions in Thinking and Style • 246
The Development of t he Tonal Syste1n • 246
The Idea of the Galant • 248
In France • 248
011tside France • 249
French and Italian Operatic Co1nedy • 250
La Guerre des Bouffons • 251
The Empfindsan1er Stil • 252
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach • 253
Keyboard Instruments • 254
Song • 254
Structure in Early-Eighteent h-Cent ury Instru1nental
Music • 255
Developn1ents in Instru1nental Gen res • 257
17 THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE CLASSIC

STYLE • 261
The Enlighten1nent • 262
The Classic Outlook • 263
Musicians in Late-Eighteent h-Century Society • 266
Contrasting Careers for Musicians: Haydn and Mozart • 269
Franz Joseph Haydn • 269
Wolfgang Amade11s Mozart • 271
Comic Opera in the Early Enlightenment • 273
Opera Seria and Opera Reforn1 • 273
Table of Contents x1
Instru mental Gen res and t he Sonata Plan • 276

TheSymphony • 276
Tl,e String Qiiartet • 277
The Keyboard Sonata • 278
Tl,e Concerto • 279
The Divertimento • 279
The Sonata Form and Its Va riants • 280
Harmonic Plan • 280
Tl,ematic Plan • 281
011tline of Sonata Form • 281
Some Terminological Clarification • 282
Applications of tl,e Sonata Procedure • 282
Expression and Function • 284
18 THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY • 288

The Position of Haydn and Mozart • 289
Chamber Music • 290
Symphony • 291
Concerto • 293
Mozart's Mature Operas • 295
Opera Seria • 295
Singspiel • 295
Collaboration with Lorenzo Da Ponte • 296
A Finale in tlte Popular Theater • 298
A New Model for Expression • 299
The Enlighten1nent Beethoven • 301
Beethoven's Early Years in Bonn • 301
Beethoven's First Decade in Vienna • 301
Tlte Music of Beetltoven's First Vienna Period • 302
The American Colonies and the Early United States • 304
19 THE RISE OF THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT • 309

Philosophical Roots of Romantic Thought • 3 10
Politics, Economics, and Social Change • 311
The Concept of Organic Unity • 312
RomanticArt • 3 12
Tl,emes in Romantic Art • 313
Techniq11es of Romantic Art • 314
The Romantic Movement in the History of Musical Style • 316
Beethoven from 1802 • 3 17
Beethoven and the Artist as Hero • 317
Beetltoven's Heroic Style • 319
xn Table of Contents
Beetlto ven's Sketchbooks • 322

Beetltoven's Personal Life in His Middle Period • 322
Beethoven's Last Period • 323
Beethoven's Influence on Nineteent h-Century Music • 325
The Ron1antic Lied • 326
Franz Sch11bert • 327
Early-Nineteent h-Cent ury Italian Opera • 330
Gioacchino Rossini • 331
Opera in France • 332
Gern1an Ron1antic Opera • 333
The Social Context for Music in the Nineteenth Cent ury • 334
20 DEVELOPMENTS IN ROMANTICISM
TO 1850 • 338
The Context for Romanticism to the Middle of the Nineteenth
Century • 339
Composers' Lifestyles • 340
Composers' Literary and Artistic Activities • 340
Romantic Lyricism in Italian Opera • 342
Style • 343
Performance Practice • 344
Giuseppe Verdi • 344
French Grand Opera • 347
The Cult ofVirtuosity • 348
Son1e "Serious" Perforn1ers • 350
Lyricisn1 and Virtuosity-Chopin • 350
Salons and Drawing Roon1s • 352
Civic Musical Events • 354
Instrumental Genres in Romantic Music • 354
Piano M11sic • 354
Orchestral Music • 355
Romantic Musical Style • 358
Expansion of Sound Vocabulary • 358
Romantic Harmony • 359
Form in Romantic Music • 360
Recognition of the Musical Heritage • 361
The Midpoint of the Nineteenth Century • 363
21 THE SECOND HALF OF THE NINETEENTH

CENTURY • 366
The Ne,,r Gennan School • 367
The Artwork of the Future • 369
Table of Contents x111
Wagner's Music Dramas • 371

Wagner's Librettos • 372
Wagner's Musical Style • 374
Wagner in Social and Political History • 376
Late Romant icistn • 377
Austria • 377
France • 380
Italy • 382
Influences of t he New German Style • 382
Progressives in Vienna • 383
Richard Strauss • 385
Alexander Skryabin • 385
Realism in Late-Nineteent h-Cent ury Opera • 385
Exoticisn1 • 387
Late-Nineteent h-Century National Styles • 388
Bohemia • 388
Russia • 389
Nationalism in Other Countries • 391
The Situation at the End of the Nineteent h Century • 392
22 THE ARRIVAL OF THE TwENTIETH

CENTURY • 397
A Turning Point in Artist ic Ideas and Styles • 398
ltnpressionistn • 398
Claude Debussy • 400
Diffusion and Limits of Impressionism • 403
The Aesthetics of Ugliness • 403
Primit ivistn • 405
Expressionisn1 • 407
Arnold Schoenberg • 408
Alban Berg • 409
Advantages and Problems in Atonal Expressionism • 410
An Atnerican Original: Charles Ives • 410
23 MODERNISM AND THE PERIOD BETWEEN

THEWORLDWARS • 415
Modernisn1 • 416
A Period of Readjustn1ent • 417
The Twelve-Tone Method of Composition • 418
Schoenberg after 1920 • 420
Adaptations of tl1e Twelve-Tone Method • 421
Toward Serialisn1 • 423
xiv Table of Contents
Artistic Objectivity • 425

Neoclassicism • 426
France • 426
Stravinsky's Neoclassic Music and Ihougltt • 427
Germany • 429
New Tonal Theory • 430
The Influence of Regional Musics • 431
The Music of Socialist Realism in the Soviet Union • 434
The United States • 436
Jazz • 437
Incorporating Jazz into Traditional Genres • 439
TheAvant-Garde • 439
American Experimentalists • 440
24 FROM THE SECOND HALF OF THE TwENTIETH

CENTURY INTO THE TwENTY-f IRST • 444
History and Contemporary Music • 445
Co1nposers in Late-Twent ieth-Century Society • 445
Total Control • 447
The Explorat ion ofNewTimbres: Extended Techniques • 448
Electronic Music • 452
Computers • 454
The Performer • 454
Indeterminacy • 454
Indeterminacy, Performers, and Computers • 456
Aest hetic Issues • 457
Postmodernisn1 • 457
Postmodernisn1 in Music • 458
Postmodern Composer and Listener • 459
Diversity in Styles Based on the Western Tradition • 459
Juxtapositions and Fusions witlt Non-Western Musics • 460
Minimalism • 461
Mixed-Media and Performance-Oriented Music • 463
Jazz and Popular Music • 465
Jazz • 465
Rock Music • 466
Int o t he T,venty-First Century • 470
Appendix: Tin1eline • 472

Credits • 483
Index • 487
Preface
I WROTE THIS BOOK FOR UNIVERSITY- LEVEL MUSIC HISTORY

students-in fact, for my own students. For years they (and I \\l'ith them)
had struggled bravely but unhappily, reading music history textbooks
that provided enormous amounts of information, although the reasons
that anyone should care about any of that stuff never came through
clearly. What we \\l'anted, instead, \\l'aS a book that pursued a story: a
story about music, the contexts in which music has lived, and changing
ideas about music in the different cultures in the Western tradition from
antiquity to the present.
So this book explores music from the point of view of musicians'
ideals and values, their problems and needs, and their solutions to their
everyday practical situations. You \\l'ill find that it carries their story often
in their O\\l'n \\l'Ords and, even more important, by letting the musical
styles speak for themselves. This makes a fascinating study in its O\\l'n
right, because music enthralls us and because musicians' lives and
thoughts make for pretty interesting material. It also offers us insights
into people's experiences in different times and situations from our O\\l'n,
and understanding other people is an important part of becoming fuller
humans ourselves. Finally, the study of the history of music-both the
ideas that drive it and the means by '"hich it responds to those ideas-
makes us better musicians. And this is so, \\l'hether we are primarily play-
ers or singers, composers, or listeners.
Music in the Western tradition-and, of course, in other traditions
as well-is a form of expression and communication. All communica-
tion becomes more meaningful \\l'hen we become more a,\l'are of its mo-
tives and the foundations of its thought processes. Like any other area of
human experience and endeavor, music embodies and reflects the episte-
mological underpinnings of the culture in which composers created it. In
other words, music depends on and carries \\l'ithin itself the thought pro-
cesses of its time and place, the intellectual assumptions and the values
of the society in \\l'hich and for which it was made. That means that we
have a responsibility to approach any music with \\l'ell-informed minds
and ears. If '"e learn how to listen empathetically-accepting the episte-
molog ical frame\\l'Ork proper to the music that we are hearing-our mu-
sical experience will be both deeper and more sensitive. Equally, the
musical experience of \\l'Orks from different cultures (which may be
xv
xvi Preface
separated from our own by either geography or, as in this case, time)
brings us into d irect contact ,vith the mental processes and values of
others and thereby enriches our own thinking and our own human
spirit.
This applies to all our musical activities. Performers ,viii present
music more effectively if they know ,vhat purposes and values inform
their music. Composers ,viii enrich their imaginations by understanding
other composers' ,vays of musical th inking and ho,v they have created
solutions to musical problems. Listeners ,viii hear more sensitively and
alertly when they enrich their understanding with knowledge of the
social contexts and philosophical ideas from ,vhich the music arose.
We should approach the study of musical thinking from a historical
perspective for hvo reasons and, correspondingly, ,ve study two kinds of
music history. First, music is inextricably ,voven into the fabric of all
human activity; that is, history affects music and music affects history.
One can, of course, ,vrite a book that is primarily a cultural history of
music in Western civilization. The purposes for music-,vhether to ,vor-
ship, to glorify political powers, or to entertain the common citizen; the
sources of support for music-what people had the necessary peace and
leisure to enjoy it, who had the money to buy it; the philosophical foun-
dations for music-the emphasis on intellectual elegance or intense feel-
ing, the models by ,vhich musicians and listeners expected it to achieve
expressiveness; the art and literature surrounding music-the architec-
tural spaces ,vhere singers and players performed it, the poetry that they
sang; the technological achievements that facilitated music-the means
of reproducing scores, the invention of ne,v instruments: all these and
many more factors enhance and indeed are inseparable from the under-
standing of the music itself. Such factors come and go, reinforce or con-
flict ,vith each other at different times. This book ,viii identify some of
these forces that have shaped musical styles.
One might, alternatively, adopt a more technical vie,vpoint and
compose a history of musical style. Throughout the course of Western
history, musicians, like thinkers in any field, have responded to their past.
Such responses may be positive or negative; they may build on what has
gone before or reject it in favor of ne,v directions. Because ideas take time
to achieve their full development and because there is no one ideal style,
,ve commonlyvie,v the history of music (or history in general) as a series
of contrasting although typically overlapping cultures, each with phases
of conception, development, and maturity. We must acknowledge that
this directional vie,v of history belongs to a particular period in Western
thinking and that it is not necessary to music; some other cultures do not
vie,v human thought as requiring such for,vard motion or history as re-
quiring divisions into successive periods characterized by emergence,
attainment of full stature, and decline. Moreover, ,ve must not allo,v
our generalizations regarding period styles to obscure the complexity
and diversity of a period. Individuals differ, the characteristics of one
Preface xvii
century's music survive into the follow·ing centuries, and ideas that have
been underground reemerge. Neither should ,ve think that the value of
any music depends on its belonging to any particular period or phase
,vithin a period. Different types of music incorporate their own value sys-
tems, and we must not judge music of one type by the criteria that apply
to another. Further, the conception of a new,vay of th inking, the explora-
tion and building up of its possibilities, and its full mastery all have values
of particular kinds.
The history of music presented here takes a balanced approach be-
t\veen consideration of external influences on music and internal changes
,vithin the art itself. This book vie,vs music history through the convic-
tion that the cultural and philosophical contexts in wh ich music lives-
the ideas that surround it-interplay continuously with the styles of the
music itself. At a fundamental level, the manner in ,vhich people thought
and acted in any cultural period manifested itself in music in ways that
necessarily paralleled their other activities in scientific thought, religion
and politics, literature and art. For as long and as widely as those ,vays of
thinking and acting operate, we can speak of a historical culture or a co-
herent style period.
In keeping with a general tendency in music history, this book steers
away from references to historical periods by some unfortunately
common anachronistic and misleading catchwords. In general, time ref-
erences identify specific centuries or decades, ,vithout use of the no,v
antiquated n icknames that often simply mischaracterize music. For ex-
ample, the name "Middle Ages'' for music of the vast period between the
fall of Rome and the fifteenth century ,vould have had no meaning to
musicians of those many generations, and so I have discarded it. The
name "Classic'' for the music of the second half of the eighteenth century,
a term that in any case did not become applied to that music until the
nineteenth century, is largely replaced here by "Enlightenment," ,vhich
,vould have made sense in that time. The ,vord "Baroque,'' not used for
music until the twentieth century and then at best as a some,vhat forced
attempt to align music ,vith visual art, I have likew·ise replaced in appro-
priate contexts ,vith "Rationalist," a term that thinkers and musicians of
the seventeenth century understood to represent their culture.
If ,ve ,vant to understand the music of other times and cultures, we
must orient ourselves to their ideas about ,vhat sorts of things music
should do and ho,v it should do them. It makes sense on this basis to ap-
proach music through the conceptual models that musicians have ad-
opted to guide and to explain their music. As you will read, each of the
major periods in Western music history has had its own models; in the
centuries before the fifteenth, musical thinking and musical style focused
on cosmological, mathematical, and symbolic models, and in later times
they became literary models, in turn poetic, rhetorical, dramatic, and
narrative. Each of these conceptual frame,vorks gave ,vide-ranging unity
to the music of a cultural environment, and each allo,ved opportunities
xv111 Preface
for an impressive variety of explorations of a general way of thinking.

This book traces these ideas and the variety ,vithin each style.
Although ,ve may read about the ideas and styles of music in books
or discuss them in the classroom, ,ve must also experience them in music.
We may understand the ideas in a book about music, but ,ve ,vill truly
comprehend them only through hearing, performing, and studying the
music. When I first began to study music history, a wise teacher told me,
"The history of music is the music itself." I made myself a bookmark ,vith
that statement and put it in my music history textbook so that I would be
reminded of that truth every day. I still have that bookmark, no,v tucked
into my copy of this book.
After all, what w·e all ,vant to learn is w·hat creative musicians have
thought, felt, and expressed in their music. The best th ing that a book can
do is to lead you deeper into the music itself. So you should spend much
more time listening to and studying representative ,vorks than you do
read ing. Along the ,vay, the book ,vill suggest some music that you ,vill
,vant to hear, both epoch-shaping masterpieces and less monumental but
representative works. You ,vill be ,veil on your ,vay if you regard this
book as a supplement to music, rather than vice versa.
I have one last reminder about what this book does and does not
intend to do. It provides, as the title suggests, a look at some important
contributions to Western musical thinking. It intends to encourage you
to respond ,vith thoughts of your o,vn about the music that you make
and hear. But this book should not serve as a comprehensive historical
reference book about music; certainly many interesting events, fine com-
posers, and important musical ,vorks ca nnot be mentioned here. It is not
even a compendium of information that a musically cultured person
should know. I hope you ,vill find areas in ,vhich you ,vish to know more
and that you ,vill pursue them in more detailed studies as far as your in-
terest takes you. You may,vish to begin ,vith dictionaries and encyclope-
dias of music, larger and more detailed history books, or studies of
musical philosophy and theory; or you may prefer to go directly to spe-
cific books and articles on composers, instruments, genres, and so on.
Read widely, enjoy conflicting ideas, and form and refine your o,vn ideas.
Most of all, ahvays remember to keep the music foremost!
FEATURES OF T HIS BOOK
Along ,vith the main story in th is book you will find a number of add i-
tional features. Most important of these are the many 1nusic examples.
These should help to clarify aspects of musical styles that are much more
tedious to describe in prose. Sing and play them as you go. Feel free to
mark them up ,vith ,vhatever analytical cues help you-circling and la-
beling melodic details, dra,ving arrows to reinforce voice leading, adding
harmonic symbols, and so on.
Preface xix
The illustrations are of various kinds. Some of these provide artistic

contexts for the music, so that you will be able to see art that comes from
the same times as the music that you are studying. The captions accom-
panying the pictures ,viii start you out in thinking about what music
shares ,vith contemporary painting and sculpture. As you look and listen
closely, you may find more points of contact. Other pictures intend to
sho,v the appearance of instruments and musical notations that are now
unfam iliar. Still others place music in its performance settings, since
little or none of this music w·as intended to be experienced in the form of
recordings, much was not designed to be heard from concert stages, and
none had its original home in any ,vay in a classroom.
At the end of each chapter is a list of suggestions for further reading.
These are some of the standard, reliable, and most interesting books on
these topics-but only some, of course. You ,viii find here the main spe-
cialized texts on each historical period, as ,vell as composer biographies,
books on different genres, and so on. These ,viii lead you in turn to other
resources, and you will also ,vant to use references such as The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians or its online manifestation Grove
Music Online for detailed information. Also pursue the music journals
for recent research on the topics that interest you.
Maps appear from time to time throughout the book. We must not
forget that musicians lived and worked in the contexts of political and
cultural areas. Some of the maps will show you (or remind you of) the
extent of some of those territories. Others will help you to place or trace
the careers of various musicians.
Although this book does not intend to focus on mere dates in the
abstract, dates help us to keep our stories in order. The timeline should
help to establish temporal contexts, just as the maps show· geographic
contexts. The different columns of the timeline sho,v in synoptic fashion
some of the important political and cultural events contemporary ,vith
musicians' lives.
Finally, beyond the pages of the book itself, the coordinated website
,vill give you additional materials and tools. It includes study aids, in-
cluding chapter synopses, review and quiz materials, and suggestions for
further thinking and ,vriting. Most important, it also offers suggestions
(specific and general) of musical ,vorks to study in connection with the
ideas and styles discussed in this book.
WHAT Is NEW TO THIS EDITION

Readers and teachers ,vho have kno,vn the earl ier editions of Ideas and
Styles in the Western Musical Tradition ,viii find the same approach and
discursive style in this edition. The book has been enhanced and up-
dated, ho,vever. I have included some recent discoveries-most notably,
that of the earliest kno,vn example of a practical polyphonic composition,
xx Preface
dating from the tenth century, w·hich provides an excellent opportunity

for teachers to show· ho,v history can still change. Of course, recent
deaths of composers are included. The "Suggestions for Further Read-
ing" at the ends of the chapter incorporate books published in the five
years since the previous edition.
Some ideas get more nuanced treatments. The description of the go-
liards, for example, represents them as more serious contributors to mu-
sical life than did previous editions. The discussion of the frottola and its
related genres makes clearer the use of a repertoire of stock poetic
and musical designs. The treatment of the movements of seventeenth-
century keyboard suites takes into account the variety of tempos that
might govern different movement types. In dealing ,vith Romantic
music, I took opportun ities to refer to instances that reinforce the essen-
tial idea of the narrative or lyric "voice" for a work.
New information also finds its ,vay into this edition. In several cases
th is consists of the introduction of people other than composers who
contributed importantly to musical life. An example is Isabella d 'Este in
the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, in her time a leader not
only in music but also in culture generally. Like,vise, the figure of Fanny
Hensel as salonniere is more fully developed. Another ne,v personality
here is John Sullivan D,vight in late-nineteeth-century Boston, ,vhose
vie,vs and writings, for better or ,verse, po,verfully influenced American
thinking about the direction of musical life in "high'' culture.
The new edition also features notable changes in formatting and
design. Each chapter has a title page that summarizes the main ideas in
the chapter and show·s the organization of headings and subheadings.
For most paragraphs a keyw·ord no,v appears in the margin, dra,ving at-
tention to the local topic, and periodically the margins also serve as a
place for full-sentence quotations extracted from the main text, to em-
phasize an important thought. The longer quotations that have ahvays
formed an essential component of the text, allowing musicians to speak
in their o,vn voices to student readers, remain part of the main body of
the text but no,v ,vith marginal notes to dra,v attention to the h istoric
speakers' interests.
A CK N OW LED GM ENT S
This book has profited immensely from the contributions of many people
other than its author. Numerous classes of students worked with it in its
draft stages and its previous editions, patiently noting typographical and
factual errors and making suggestions. Many teachers who have used the
earlier versions provided useful comments, including especially my col-
leagues at The Florida State University, Elias Dann,Jeffery Kite-Po,vell,
Charles Bre,ver, and Denise Von Glahn, and our graduate teach ing as-
sistants ,vho have been willing to teach from the book and offer ideas.
My heartiest thanks go to all of them. For work on the nuts and bolts of
Preface xxi
this book over the past several years, I thank my graduate assistants:
Kurt Carlson, Emily Allen, Ryan Wh ittington, and Rebekah Taylor.
I extend my ,varm gratitude to colleagues ,vho have read the book
in typescript and offered wonderfully insightful and constructive
comments and suggestions: Daniel Dominick, Austin College; James
Grymes, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Jonathan Gibson,
James Madison University; Melanie Lo,ve, Vanderbilt University;
Virginia Boaz, East Texas Baptist University; and one anonymous
revie,ver.
The editorial support and assistance that I have received from
Oxford Un iversity Press has been outstanding. Richard Carl in,
Executive Editor, has been supportive and ahvays patient with the
occasionally grumpy author. His assistants, Meredith Keffer and Erin
Janosik, were ever reliable and efficient, as ,vas Simon Benjamin's man-
agement. Praise and gratitude go to the fine production team led by
Michael B. Kopf, Production Editor, including Susan Brown for copy-
editing and Linda Westerhoff for proofreading.
Finally, my thanks and my love to my wife, Gayle, for her ,visdom
and her encouragement, ,vhich make everything possible.
Music in Classical Antiquity
The music of antiquity serves as the basis for much in later musical
thinking. The Greek principle of musical ethos related music's power
over human character to features of style. Greek music theory related
acoustics to pitches in musical practice. The Romans later created an
in1portant framework for music in education.
Music IN THE LIFE A N D P HILOS OPHY

OF ANCI ENT GREECE
The culture of ancient Greece has provided the philosophical and intel-
lectual roots for much oflater Western culture. Time and again, thinkers The importance
have returned to the ideas of the great early philosophers to revitalize ofandrnt Gr~d::
music
and redirect contemporary imagination. This once led the philosopher
Alfred North Whitehead to speak of all later Western philosophy as a
series of footnotes to Plato.1 In the sense that it provides a model or stan- In tlit. st me that
dard, we refer to the culture of ancient Greece as "classic." U providts a modtl
Greek writers had much to say about music, and ,ve will find that or standard, wt
rt/tr lo lht. culturt.
their ideas have influenced Western music at several important stages in of ancient Gruce as
its history. Unlike Greek thought, however, ancient Greek music has not "classic."
1
2 CHAPTER 1: Music in Classical Antiquity
Example 1.1 One of the earliest p ieces of music that has survived from Greek
antiquity is a fragment of papyrus from ca. 230 BCE containing a few phrases
from a speech by the Chorus in Euripides's d rama Iphigenia at Au/is (ca. 407 BCE).
The complete sentence would read, "[Oh! may t here never appear] to me or to
my [child ren's children the p rospect] that t he rich Lydian women [and t he brides
of Phrygia will have, as t hey talk at their looms] together. Who [will p luck this fair
blossom] from her ruined country, [tightening his grip on my lovely t resses until
t he tears flow]?" Text from Euripides, Euripidis fabulae, vol. 3, ed. Gilbert Murray
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1913), lines 784- 92; music from Thomas J. Mathiesen, Apollo's
Lyre (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999), 113.
II II
mC• 1c e · moi mC· IC e · mois{i) p:> · lu· chru - i:oi Lu· dai
ta · de es al· 1e- I.as: Tis arraJ ta· nu· sas pat • l'i • dQS ol - lufmenasl .. .
survived in any significant quantity. The total repertoire consists of only

a few dozen examples, most of them fragmentary and dating from com-
paratively late. Ironically, the Greek philosophers had almost nothing to
say about their sculpture and architecture, many examples of w·hich still
exist, whereas they devoted a great deal of discussion to their music,
\vhich has nearly vanished (Example 1.1).
The \vritings of the time reveal that the Greeks had an active, vibrant
musical life. Music played an important role in a variety of social con-
Greek philosophers• texts. Musical art \Vas intimately connected to verbal art. Plato defined
definitions music as consisting of ,vords, harmony, and rhythm, \vhereas Aristotle
listed \vords, melody, and rhythm as the components of poetry. The epics
of Homer \Vere sung, as were the plays of Sophocles and Aeschylus. In
Music in ancient Greek Greece, as in all cultures, music accompan ied religious ritual. In addi-
experience tion, players and singers participated in musical competitions, events as
important as the Olympic athletic contests. Certainly there \Vas much
day-to-day music for work and home as \veil. The scarcity of surviving
ancient Greek music leaves the scholar all the more frustrated because
\vhat \Ve can learn from the philosophical and theoretical documents is
so fascinating.
The organized study of musical phenomena \Vas a lively concern in
Greek study of acoustics Greece. The Greeks understood the acoustic properties of musical tones
early, and Greek treatises attribute to the sixth-century BCE philosopher
and mathematician Pythagoras (of the famous theorem about right tri-
angles) the identification of the mathematical relationships underlying
the harmon ic series. They calculated in impressive detail the numerical
ratios that define musical intervals.
Music in the Life and Philosophy of Ancient Greece 3
Plato and Aristotle, the two major philosophers of the fourth cen-
tury BCE, had different vie,vs of music-vie,vs that have reemerged at
various times in the history of musical thought. Plato's roots ,vere in Complementar·y
mathematics and abstract thinking, his philosophical affin ity,vas for the phllosophkal views
ideal, and he vie,ved the sensible ,vorld as merely the shadow of a pure
and abstract Reality. For him, music derived its value from its reflection
of ideal forms, and its purpose ,vas to inculcate excellence rather than to
provide pleasure. Aristotle's background in biological studies led him to
take a more inductive and empirical approach than Plato, and he adopted
a more pragmatic view of music. To Aristotle music d id not reflect ab-
stractions but imitated human action (mimesis); he also allowed for
music to be pursued for pleasurable or practical ends.
Music and the D octrine of Ethos

One of the major contributions of Greek philosophy, shared by both
Plato and Aristotle, is the doctrine of ethos. Applied to music, this doc- Music's dhkal influence
trine is the belief that music can po,verfully affect human character and
behavior. Such beliefs may be found in many musical cultures, of course,
most clearly those in ,vhich music is related to shamanism. We shall see
that th is doctrine continued to be reflected in much later historical
periods.
The Greek thinkers applied the doctrine of ethos to music in a vari-
ety of ,vays. First, music could be related to spiritual life in the context of
religion. The gods of Olympus represented a variety of characters, and
the ,vorship of each ,vas necessarily suited to the specific deity. The Apollonian and Dionysian
Greeks made a major distinction between the ,vorship of Apollo, god of
the sun and of music and poetry, which ,vas characterized by discipline
and restra int, and that of Dionysus, god of fertility and wine, ,vhich was
typically emotional, even orgiastic, and, in consequence, as one might
,veil imagine, extremely popular. The German philosopher Friedrich
Nietzsche in the late 1800s established the use of the terms Apollonian for
art that is abstract and appeals to the intellect and Dionysian for art that
arouses strong emotions, but, as ,ve shall observe, the hvo inclinations
have operated in uneasy tension throughout our music history. The music
employed in ,vorship clearly reflected such d istinctions.
In secular life as well, music ,vas considered a major component of Somt Grttks bdit.vt.d that
education and character-building. Some Greeks believed that ennobling tnnobling music could
produce a noble and
music could produce a noble and virtuous character, whereas exposure virtuous characttr,
to lascivious music ,vould lead to a debauched life. Good music would whtrtas exposure lo
also serve to fortify the polis, or city-state. Characteristically, ,vhen lascivious music: would
ltad to a dtbauclitd lift.
Plato discussed the political organization of the ideal state in his Repub-
lic, he prescribed certain types of music and forbade others. To Plato,
the true value of music was its po,ver to educate one to virtue. Equally
characteristically, Aristotle believed that even impassioned and Diony-
sian music had value in inducing emotional release, or catharsis. He
recognized different social circumstances and was less concerned ,vith

restricting music to certain types but instead concentrated, for any
given situation, on applying music with the appropriate ethos.
The Greeks understood ethos to be rooted in both the ,vords of
Sources of othos songs and the specific aspects of musical style. One of the aspects of style
that contributed to musical ethos ,vas instrumentation. The lyre and kith-
ara, stringed instruments, ,vere associated with the cult of Apollo and
therefore, naturally, with more noble types of ethos; the aulos, a double-
barrel reed pipe employed in the Dionysian rites, consequently evoked a
sensual and less disciplined ethos (Figure 1.1). In similar fashion,
rhythms, that is, poetic meters, had their o,vn ethical force. Finally, the
particular melod ic configuration-placement of scalar intervals, char-
acteristic gestures, range, and so on-used in a piece, generally referred
to as harmonia (pl. harmoniai, often translated as "mode'' 2), also deter-
mined the piece's ethos. The harmoniai were generally named by asso-
ciation with different regions and cultures among the peoples of the
Greek ,vorld-Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, and so on. Aristotle (Politics)
regarded the Dorian harmonia as "steadfast and most manly in charac-
ter," the Phrygian as leading to ecstasy and emotion, and the Lydian
as suitable for children because it had the "capacity to contain both
elegance and educativeness." Plato (Republic) accepted Dorian and
Phrygian music but rejected the Mixolydian and Syntonolydian harmo-
niai as too mournful, ,vhereas he considered certain Ionian and Lydian
harmoniai "slack" and likely to induce softness and sloth.
Figu re 1.1 Music contest between Apollo and Marsyas, relief sculpture (320 BCE).
According to myth, the aulos player Marsyas challenged the god Apollo to a
musical compet ition. Apollo, playing t he lyre, defeated Marsyas and had him
skinned alive for his insolence. The myth illustrates the relative virtues of the
two most important Greek instruments.
Greek Music Theory S
Ch ar acterist ics of Music

Despite the paucity of musical documentation, we can determ ine some
characteristic aspects of Greek music itself. Of primary importance is Musical style
the connection of music ,vith w·ords. We have already noted the similar-
ity of Plato's and Aristotle's definitions of music and poetry, respectively,
and it is clear from the surviving music that the Greek musical archetype
,vas a sung text. One effect of th is conception was that musical rhythm
corresponded to the rhythm of poetic verse. We kno,v that the Greeks '111t Grttks de11tloped t.l1t
employed instruments in songs-the kithara, the aulos, and a ,vide vari- conupl that mtlodits
co,ui.sltd of di.scrtle pitches
ety of other instruments, including percussion-so singers ,vere un- and that lhtst could bt
doubtedly accompanied by instruments, and in some cases instrumental organi:ud sysltmatfoally.
interludes appear in surviving musical notation. No evidence survives,
ho,vever, to sho,v that complex textures were used; rather, the instru-
ments may have doubled the vocal melodies in monophonic texture or
varied from the vocal lines in their ornamentation of basic patterns, pro-
ducing the texture called heterophony. There is also plenty of evidence of
the use of instruments ,vithout voices, undoubtedly mostly improvised.
This would have been the case for the competitions of virtuoso instru-
mentalists and perhaps for dancing.
GREE K Music T H E ORY

Another major contribution made by the Greeks to Western music ,vas a
sophisticated theory of musical pitch organization constructed accord-
ing to acoustical principles. The Greeks developed the concept that mel-
odies consisted of discrete pitches and that these could be organized
systematically.
The fundamental scalar unit of Greek music theory ,vas not the
octave, as it has been in more recent Western theory, but the tetrachord,
four consecutive pitches spanning a fourth (Figure 1.2). The inner Tetrachords
pitches of the tetrachord (indicated in Figure 1.2 by filled-in note heads)
,vere not fixed but could subdivide the fourth in different ,vays, each
producing a different genus (pl. genera). In the diatonic genus the fourth
,vas divided into t\vo ,vhole tones and a semitone, ,vith the semitone
adjacent to the lo,ver of the outer two pitches; the chro1natic divided
the fourth into approx imately an augmented whole tone and hvo
diatonic chromatic enharmonic
o• • 0 o•• 0 o•• 0
L rourih _I L rourth _J L fourth _J
compare BC D E BC Ob E B Cl C~ E
Figure 1.2 The three genera of Greek tetrachords. The interval between t he
outer p itches is a perfect fourth in each case, and the inner tones are movable.
consecutive semitones; and the enharinonic employed a d ivision some-

th ing like a ditone (the interval equivalent to two w·hole tones) and t\vo
quarter tones. 3 (In all the diagrams, here modern letter names for notes
serve for comparison only; the Greeks sometimes did indicate pitches by
letter names, but not the same ones that ,ve use today, nor did they adopt
any absolute pitch; Figure 1.3.)
To account for melodies that extended beyond the range of a
fourth, the Greek theorists constructed a complete pitch spectrum,
Figu re 1.3 One form of Greek musical notation is preserved in the first Delphic
hymn to Apollo, inscribed on the marble wall of t he Treasury of t he Athenians
at the shrine of Apollo at Delp hi. The letters that indicate notes can be seen
between the lines of text.
Greek Music Theory 7
+ two conjunct tetrachords two co,tjunct tetrachords

0 0 • • 0 • • 0 0 • • 0 • • 0
L fourth _J L fourth _J L fourth _J L fourth _J
compare A2 82 C3 03 E3 f3 G3 A3 83 C4 04 E4 F4 G4 A4
'---- - - - octave - - - - - - ' ' - - - - - - - octave - - - - - - '
Figure 1.4 The Greater Perfect System.
+ 1hree conjonct tetrachords

oo • • o •• o •• o
L fourth _J L fourth __J L fourth __J
compare A2 82 C3 03 E3 f3 G3 A3 B,3 C4 04
Figure 1.5 The Lesser Perfect System.
placing several tetrachords end to end, producing a plan kno\vn as the

Greater Perfect System. They set the tetrachords consecutively so that The PorfectSystems
they formed hvo pairs of conjunct fourths (that is, the tetrachords share
one common pitch) separated by a \vhole tone. The addition of one
more \vhole tone at the end of the spectrum created a span of two oc-
taves (Figure 1.4) . The theorists also recognized a Lesser Perfect
System composed of three conj unct tetrachords and the added note
(Figure 1.5).
Another aspect of the Greek theoretical concept of pitch organization
\Vas the elimination ofredundancy by focusing on a single or characteristic
octave, just as we do today. Theorists recognized different ,vays to take an Scales
octave from the Greater Perfect System, each one producing an arrange-
ment of pitches within the octave to form a distinct tonos (pl. tonoi) or
scale (just as, for example, on a modern keyboard the diatonic w·hite-key
octave scale produces a major scale beginning on C or a natural minor
scale beginning on A). As many as fifteen different scales \Vere proposed.
Figure 1.6 sho\vs one octave each for the seven scales listed by the theorist
Ptolemy in the second century CE, ,vith their names. Like the harmoniai,
the tonoi were assigned names from various regions within the Greek
\vorld. The Dorian tonos, for example, ,vhich has the same pattern of tones
(T) and semitones (S) as the t\vo disjunct tetrachords in the middle of the
Greater Perfect System, uses the intervals S T T T S T T (assuming the
diatonic genus).• The prefix "hypo-" here means "lo\ver."
In Figure 1.6 the note that the Greeks called mese ("middle'') is un-
derlined in each scale. The mese had a governing role, in the sense that
the functions of the various notes of the scale \Vere determined by their
relationship to it. As Figure 1.6 sho\vs, the basic intervallic pattern of
consecutive pitches actually remains the same for all the scales, except
that everything shifts over by a step as w·e compare each scale to the next.
The functions of individual notes depend on the position of the mese as
it rotates through the octave.
Mixolydian tonos 0 • • 0 • • 0 0
Lydian tonos • • 0
• • 0 0
•
Phrygian tonos • 0 • • 0 0 • •
Dorian t.onos 0
• • 0 0
• • 0
Hypolydian tonos • • 0 0
• • 0 •
Hypophrygian tonos • 0 0
• • 0 • •
Hypodorian tonos 0 0 • • 0 • • 0
Compare major scale c D E F G A B c

Compare minor sea le A B c D E F G A
Figure 1.6 Greek tonoi compared .
The relation of these abstract theoretical constructs to actual Greek

music and specifically to the ethical effects attributed to musical modes
Modes by the philosophers is obscure. It is likely that the use of a particular
array of pitches with in the range of the characteristic octave (i.e., a par-
ticular tonos) produced certain melodic patterns or formulas-that is,
"modes"-that w·ould be common to all pieces employing the same
scale, ,vhich in turn ,vould determine the music's style (harmonia) and
consequently its ethos.
Greek pitch systems differed considerably from the one used in
Western music for the past few centuries and therefore m ight seem com -
Historical significance plicated or difficult for us to assimilate today. But the central point here
ofGrrrk theor-y is that the Greek theorists' explanations of music on the basis of a sys-
temat ic grouping of articulated pitches organ ized accord ing to their
acoustical relat ionships constituted a major contribution to the heritage
ofWestern musical thought. As we shall see, a later age in the West found
it possible to maintain an elaborate musical culture ,vithout such an ab-
stract theoretical foundation-as many non-Western societies have as
,veil. It is significant, however, that the eventual rediscovery of the Greek
theoretical heritage encouraged construction of a ne,v pitch system.
Music I N ANCIENT RoME

As political and military power moved from Greece to the Italian pen in-
sula in the last century BCE, Roman music, like much of the intellectual
and artistic culture of Rome, ,vas bu ilt on the heritage received from
Music in Roman culture Greece. The Romans apparently adapted the music of the Greeks to their
ow·n manner oflife. Instead of the ph ilosoph ical and theoretical pursu its
that seem to have interested the Greeks, the Romans ,vere more inclined
to develop music for the pleasure of the privileged class.
As a result, musical works became more grandiose and elaborate.
The Romans developed instruments to provide more volume and
Music in Ancient Rome 9
sometimes played them in huge ensembles. At the same time, increased

complexity in the melodies gave rise to a new emphasis on virtuosity.
This was supported by the influence of Asian styles that entered Roman
culture as a result of military conquest in the East.
Wealthy Romans employed professional musicians, including Tiu. Romans madt
;mportanl c.onlribut.ion.s
slaves, to entertain at all kinds of social events and adopted the Greek
to idtas about the way
practice of musical competitions. The stars of that time were idolized, music fit into t.lit
faw·ned over, and lusted after as much as rock stars of today. Patricians tducalfonal systtm.
also aspired to virtuosity. For example, the emperor Nero's reputed
concern for his skill as a musician and relative indifference to the crisis
in his capital led to the familiar expression "Nero fiddled w·hile Rome
burned."
As one would expect, the military conquests of the Roman armies
provided one special field for musical development, the field of battle. It
is not surprising that th is period produced notable developments in brass
instruments.
During the first several centuries the Romans did not contribute sig-
nificantly to the philosophy or theory of music, although they developed
and transmitted some of the older Greek ideas and ideals through the
early centuries of the Christian era. At the close of that period, how·ever,
the Romans made some important contributions to ideas about music in
connection with the \vay music fit into the educational system.
In the fifth century CE Martianus Capella outlined a program for
education based on seven "liberal arts." These \Vere arranged into hvo Musicandtholiberalarts
divisions: (1) the trivium, consisting of the three language arts, arsgram-
matica (grammar), ars rhetorica (rhetoric or style), and ars dialectica
(logic); and (2) the quadrivium, comprising the four mathematical dis-
ciplines, ars arithmetica (basic mathematics), ars geo1netria (plane ge-
ometry), ars 1nusica (music), and ars astro1101nia (astronomy). The
grouping might seem peculiar compared to modern curricula, in \vhich
\Ve treat music as closer to literature than to mathematics and natural
science. Capella assumed, ho\vever, that the study of music \vould deal
exclusively with harmonic proportions. Thought of in that way rather
than as an expressive art form, music takes a natural place bet\veen the
study of spatial relationships in geometry and the observation of the
regular motions of the stars and planets in astronomy.
More influential in the history of music than Martianus Capella was
the scholar Anicius ManliusSeverinus Boethius (ca. 480-524). Boethius Boethius'sviewofmusic
followed Capella's lead by writing treatises on the arts of the quadriv-
ium. In his De institutione musica (On the organization of music) he codi-
fied many of the ancient ideas about music. Like Capella, Boethius was
concerned only \Vith \vhat he called musica speculativa ("speculative" or
"reflective" music, from the Latin speculum, mean ing "mirror''), because
by its harmonic proportions music reflects mathematical principles. He
addressed the musicus (the true musician), who understood the
principles of music. Boethius saw no place in the liberal education for

musica practica, the domain of the mere cantor (literally "singer," but in-
cluding all performing musicians), w·ho had the talent to make beautiful
sounds but no understanding of the principles of the art.
Boethius's greatest contribution to musical thought ,vas a classifi-
Three types of nou,ica cation of music in three d ivisions. The most important of these ,vas
musica mundana (the music of the spheres), which was the product of
the regular rhythm ic motions of the sun, moon, stars, and planets.
Such harmon ious relationships, Boethius proposed, must produce mu-
sical tones, even though these tones could not be heard by human ears.
(Christian th inkers later reasoned that our inability to hear this heav-
enly music ,vas caused by the corruption of our senses through Adam's
sin.) The second type of music ,vas musica humana (human music), the
music that gave harmony to human existence. Human harmony ,vould
govern life by keeping everything in proportion, both individually and
in society; a personality or relationsh ip that was out of proportion
,vould be appropriately described as disharmonious and consequently
unmusical.
The lo,vest form of music, 1nusica instru1nentalis, incorporated all
sounding music, including singing. Thus, actual music sung or played
,vould present a concrete image of the order of the universe, a reflection-
following in the tradition of Plato-of a great principle or higher Reality.
When Roman culture collapsed, after the transfer of the imperial
capital to Constantinople and the sacking of Rome in the fifth century by
northern invaders, there ,vas little time or concern for the finer aspects
of life. Survival in a dangerously unstable ,vorld became a primary con-
L<>ss and survival cern. Many of the documents of Greek culture disappeared from vie,v,
fortunately preserved in the Middle East in the great libraries of Muslim
scholars, to reappear only centuries later. As Christianity spread, the
relics of pagan art were crowded out and later deliberately suppressed.
Therefore, we must next turn to the Christian culture.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER R EADING
For translations of some of the important discussions of music by the

,vriters cited in this chapter, see Oliver Strunk, ed., Source Readings in
Music History, rev. ed., Leo Treider, gen. ed. (Ne,v York: Norton, 1998);
and Andrew Barker, ed., Greek Musical Writings, vol. 1, The Musician and
His Art (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Un iversity Press, 1984).
Warren D. Anderson has ,vritten two studies of music in ancient
Greece, Ethos and Education in Greek Music (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1966) and Music and Musicians in Ancient Greece
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell Un iversity Press, 1994). Edward Lippman'sMusical
Thought in Ancient Greece (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964)
explores the philosophical issues. A ne,ver, magisterial survey of Greek
Suggestions for Further Reading 11
music and music theory is Thomas J. Mathiesen, Apollo's Lyre (Lincoln:

University of Nebraska Press, 1999).
1. Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology (New York:
Macmillan, 1930), 63.
2. The terms for mode in Greek writing vary. Harmonia can mean mode in a
general sense, more akin to "style." The term tropos (pl. tropoi) is also used in the
more technical sense, referring to a mode as a specific configuration of pitches.
3. Each of the genera could also have different shadings based on small differ-
ences in the placement of the movable pitches of the tetrachord.
4. Note that the names and the pitch arrangements do not correspond to later
usage, in which Renaissance theorists appropriated the Greek names for scales
derived from the ecclesiastical modes.
2
The Early Christian Period

After the fall ofRome the Christian church became the root ofthe gro111th of
Western n1usic. The church's musical practices and style came largely from
Je111ish sources. As the church spread and developed its 0111n repertoire, diverse
traditions en1erged across Europe.
THE GROWTH OF T H E CHRIST I AN

C HURCH A N D ITs Mus ic
Christianity rose just as the pow·er of Rome was passing its peak. It began
in a small corner of the Med iterranean, ,vhere a tiny band of Je,vs em-
braced the rabbi (teacher) Jesus's message that love of God and for one's
neighbor ,vas the principle that would redeem humankind, a principle
that challenged both rigid, legalistic interpretations of the law· of Moses
The rmergencr of and the imperialistic hegemony of the Caesars. This faith thus appeared
Christianit)' subversive to the po,verful leaders at the time, both in Jerusalem and in
Rome. Jesus ,vas executed for treason, and for three hundred years
Christians suffered persecution and martyrdom throughout the Roman
Tht history of Empire. In 313 CE the emperor Constantine, ,vho himself became a
Wtsltrn music for a Christian, issued the Edict of Milan, allo,ving religious freedom to
long ptriod btcomts Christians, and indeed he made Christianity the official religion of the
tlit l1islory of tht
music oft ht
empire. The church ,vas free to gro,v, and it became the dominant power
Christian rtligion. in Western culture. Because of this, it should not be surprising that the
12
The Growth of the Christian Church and Its Music 13
history of Western music for a long period becomes the history of the
music of the Christian religion.
Our understanding of music from the fourth to the n inth century is
also influenced by the fact that the historical evidence preserved from
those centuries comes substantially through the church. As the church's The Church's cultural
power grew·, it rooted out paganism and its cultural relics ,vith the same dominance
vigor that had been exercised against the church during its first three
centuries. Meanwhile, with Europe in political turmoil and general
learning on the wane, the church's reliance on scripture gave it a special
reason to preserve literacy, ,vhich pagan religion did not have. Moreover,
together ,vith architecture and the visual arts, music was an essential
medium of worship. And finally, Christian worsh ip ,vas really the only
cultural activity,vhose custodians had the ,vherewithal to maintain it.
It ,vas not to be taken for granted that music ,vould thrive in the
young religion, ho,vever. Some church leaders harbored serious qualms
about the po,ver that music could hold over the minds and hearts of the
faithful. Music had been important to the Greek and Roman religious
cults and therefore had dangerous associations ,vith paganism. The
belief in a musical ethos remained strong, manifesting itself in the musi-
cal philosophy of the church fathers. The dilemma contemplated by
St. Augustine (354-430) in his Confessions sums up the problem.
Remembering my tears that poured out at the Church's melody St. Augustine confesses
his struggles over whether
,vhen I first recovered my faith, and no,v being moved not by the
music should form part
singing but by the things that are sung about-w·hen they are sung of Chri&t:ian worship
,vith a fluid voice and the most suitable melody-I ackno,vledge
again the great usefulness of this custom. So I alternate bet\veen
the danger of sensual pleasure and the experience of the good effects
that music can bring. Not, indeed, rendering an irreversible judgment,
I am inclined to approve the custom of singing in the church, so
that, by delighting the ear of the weaker person, the soul might be
aroused to pious feeling. However, when it happens to me that I am
moved more greatly by the song than by ,vhat is sung, I confess that
I am sinning and deserve punishment, and then I would rather not
hear the singer.... But you, my Lord God, listen favorably to me.
Look and see and pity and heal me, in whose own eyes I have
become a puzzle-and this is my ,veakness.1
The sensuous pleasure derived from music threatened to distract him from
the ,vords being sung and turn his attention a,vay from the contemplation
of God. Nevertheless, Augustine recognized the po,ver of music to fire de-
votion, especially that of the ne,ver and ,veaker minds among the faithful,
and he recalled "my tears that poured out at the Church's melody ,vhen
I first recovered my faith." Indeed, Augustine bears an honorable place
in the history of Christian music; according to legend, at the moment of
Augustine's baptism by St. Ambrose of Milan, the t\vo men extemporized
one of the great hymns of the church, "Te Deum laudamus" (We praise
14 CHAPTER 2: The Early Christian Period
thee, 0 God). Thus, he w·avered "behveen the danger of sensual pleasure

and the experience of the good effects that music can bring."
Ultimately, of course, Christian musicians secured a place for music
in Christian life. Throughout the church's history, however, music has
developed within a state of constant tension in ,vh ich the imaginative
and progressive impulses of musical creativity are held in check to some
degree by severer concerns of religious conservatism.
THE JEWISH HERITAGE
The earliest Christians inherited their ,vorship and music practices from the
Jew·ish tradition of the apostolic church of the first centuries rather than
from pagan Hellenism.AlthoughJudaism did not have the kind of technical,
theoretical literature about music that the Greeks cultivated, it had as rich a
Music and Jewish musical tradition as any religion. The exhortations in the Psalms to praise
scripture God ,vith songs and musical instruments provide ample evidence of this.2
Psal ms98and O sing to the Lord a ne,v song,
150 drscribr the use
for he has done marvelous things! . ..
of voices and instruments
to praise God Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody!
With trumpets and the sou nd of the horn
make a joyful noise befo re the King, the Lord!
(Ps. 98: 1, 4-6)
Praise him ,vith trumpet sound;

praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him ,vith timbrel and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him ,vith sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashi ng cymbals!
(Ps. 150:3-5)
The power of music over the human m ind ,vas also part ofJe,vish ex-
perience. The first book ofSamuel reports the therapeutic effect of David's
harp playing on the troubled King Saul (1 Sam. 16:23) (Figure 2.1).
Jewish synagog ue worsh ip incorporated several types of ,vorship ac-
Jowish wouhip tivities, mostly based on scripture. These included prayer, readings and
teach ing, and the giving of alms. All these features ,vere carried over into
Christian pract ice.
The Je,vish religious musical repertoire comprised both scriptural
and nonscriptural songs. The scriptural so ngs included the psalms (from
the Book of Psalms) and other poetic passages from the religious w·rit-
ings, kno,vn as canticles. Since the Christian Old Testament retained the
Jewish scriptures, the psalms and canticles ,vere naturally retained as
,veil (Fig ure 2.2). The nonscriptural songs were hymns, a simpler and
TheJ e,vish Heritage 15
Fig ure 2.1 Anony-

mous, King David play-
ing the harp, from
West minster Psalter
(London, ca. 1200).
King David, to whom
many of t he Psalms are
attributed, was de-
picted not only with
t he harp but also with
a variety of ot her musi-
cal instruments. Here
he is also surrounded
by bells.
Fig ure 2.2 Manuscript

illumination showing
1il moni ammtm1a ,mm: QUta 11um1n11atmt. church singers at a
Citpomnnn m1m:n11111' fiiJ a111a111tfiln onia ti: lectern, singing from
anhlmt8!8f!U)o1'0ro8· ~Ollldtmmmnttumnua.
~o,u~onin_o.ln ~rmflnT ona fi1luta a scroll. The image
mauun:n!ll!Wl.J)na IT 0tum:111am11>atu gm decorates t he first letter
lllilsflOl!OUlt\Ormonu. . munm11Wur11111truffi ·
pm1s1wnabttroi::-- · ~muarftmirfur: o f Psalm 95, "Cantate
}.l.urOI!ll rftmnoanr t 1'ilmttinttoom111lfll:
mroior 1maa. tttbmit oisimrmirrla Domino canticum
):irt.mumudh mniio: ~O(!nitnulnlmrbt novum" (0 sing to t he
HVlll't!nn111!J!l!!l10llt Q.9!!118 tr.Ullll!lllH (l'ltl
ranrttflmtUmsau~ l'L _~D!allllt ~ Lord a new song).
1 , rauaronommfmai
•JJ!!Jmi111orrpratn11: ,n.
ISbUC!lllbHllOITIU
rll!ll)a. s wi:lll
' • JlOtlmrnt IDll/jltl!ll tr
!1!1!011imoumfmatt rt
J!mm,oonus.;q1tnaim ·
nt >Qlll ~nbt1llll! ,n ID·
;£. IUmmaplaltoaamo
nu nmul mo1111'8mum
1)1111! ft amQ>trtu brii:qia
110111111bttil1Tmmm.
):i.to11n1111 Qlbrm mm
rum mtulltnn:tpopu
10s mrqumnr. 8Ki:91Bi
.-2;
~~
more popular genre than the psalms and canticles. Vestiges of the Jew·ish
hymns and their music certainly survived into Christian repertoire, but
since they did not have biblical authority, they rapidly gave ,vay to ne,vly
composed hymns embodying the Christian faith.
The musical style of early Christian music ,vas derived from that of
Musical style Judaism. The texture of the music ,vas monophonic, although actual per-
and performance formance presumably involved doublings and heterophonic ornamenta-
tions. Rhythm ,vas not metered but controlled in general by,vord rhythms.
There ,vere three different means of performing. The simplest ,vas direct
performance, that is, solo or unison performance of the music throughout.
Also common ,vas responsorial singing, in ,vhich a solo singer or leader
performed verses of the text and the entire congregation answered each
verse with the following verse or ,vith a response or refrain. Common re-
sponses were the simple Hebrew words amen (an expression of affirma-
tion) and hallelujah (praise Yah,veh), but others were more extensive:
Psalm 136 iJJustrate-& Ogive thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
the use- of a responsorial for his steadfast love endures forever.
refrain
Ogive thanks to the God of gods,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Ogive thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
,vho alone does great wonders,
,vho by understanding made the heavens,
,vho spread out the earth on the ,vaters,
,vho made the great lights,
the sun to rule over the day,
the moon and stars to rule over the night,
for his steadfast love endures forever; ...
(Ps. 136:1-9)
Given the structure of psalms in paired verses, it was possible to divide

the singers into hvo groups and have them sing in alternation. Such per-
formance is termed antiphonal. Direct, responsorial, and antiphonal
singing continued in Christian musical practice.
The pitch organization ofJe,vish music ,vas different from that of the
Greeks and from our familiar scales. It relied on the principle of ,nodes,
Pitch structure-& classes of melodic configurations or formulas (Example 2.1). The basic
units ,vere not individual notes considered as abstract points in tonal
space, but instead melodic outlines or prototypes serving as patterns for
actual sung phrases. The manner of performance, sometimes referred to
as intonation rather than singing, arose from the fact that a pitched and
Diversification of Practice 17
Example 2.1 An ancient Yemenite Jewish melodic formula for the "Shema yis-
rael" ("Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone; Deuteronomy 6:4).
Shown here are t he opening and two phrase endings. The sustained p itch t hat
carries the bulk of t he text leads to an elegant close with t he fall of a minor t hird,
a natural interval for calling out. Adapted from Eric Werner, The Sacred Bridge: The
Interdependence of Liturgy and Music in Synagogue and Church during the First Mil-
lennium (New York: Columbia University Press, 1959), 342.
i M J-j--g l i !el
She . ma yis • ra • 'el a - do - nai
.J u
me· 'o
.J J-~
de
J .Jd
cho
,,----._ J
IJ .J .Q J .J .J J pJ .J .J j J J J I
ha - yom 'al le-vo-ve. cho
focused vocal tone carries more clearly than mere speaking. Stylized in- '111t baJic mtlodic units wt:rt
outlints or prolotypts
flections amplified the natural rise and fall of the voice and elucidated
strvfog as patltrn.sfor
grammatical and poetic structures. actual s ung phrasts.
In some cases the early Ch ristians may have adopted the existing
Jewish melodies themselves. More important, as w·e shall see, the principle
of melodic construction based on modal formulas became the basis for the
music of the church for at least the first ten centuries of its existence.
D I VERSIFI CATION OF PRACTI CE
In the centuries following the Edict of Milan, Europe gradually became

Christianized, but as the religious faith spread, its worship and musical prac-
tices diversified. Decentralization of political power led to the formation of
smaller, loosely organized dominions. Because the means of communication Fragmentation
w·e re slow· and unreliable, it was difficult to disperse any uniform repertoire or of Europe
style throughout the continent. Diverse interests, both religious and political,
w·ithin the church itself led to a variety of conflicting theological opinions as-
sociated with different spiritual leaders. Some positions were absorbed into
the dogma of the church; others were rejected as heretical. In this context it is
not surprising that the musical tradition ,ws extremely fragmented.
The E ast ern Influe nce

The strongest political, cultural, and musical center w·as the eastern por-
tio n of Ch ristendom, cen tered in the new capital of the Roman Empire
at Constantinople, or Byzan tium, to use its traditional name (modern
Istanbul). The emperor Constantine had made the city his imperial capi-
tal in 330, so that w·hile the Catholic Church remained centered around
the pope, the bishop of Rome, an eastern branch of the church grew' up in
Byzantium. This branch produced the modern Orthodox Church.
The relative stability of the Byzantine Empire, which for a thousand
years staved off one attack after another from the outside, permitted the
development of a highly sophisticated culture. In politics this manifested
itself in a system of court intrigue that led to the modern connotation of the
epithet Byzantine. In Byzantium the emperorJustinian (483-565) achieved
a monumental and intricate codification of the Roman imperial law. He
also ordered the building of the great church ofHagia Sophia (Figure 2.3).
Religious thinkers reveled in the pursuit of arcane details of theology.
Claurch
'I11t By.zanlJnt It should not be surprising that in this context the Byzantine Church
devtloptd a rtptrloire of developed a repertoire of elaborate, extended musical compositions. Par-
tlaboratt, tx-l tndtd
musical c.ompositio,u. ticularly impressive ,vas the huge repertoire ofperhaps a hundred thousand
or more hymns. There ,vere a number of special types of musical pieces
to ornament worship. Characteristic of the spirit of Byzantine music, the
kontakion (pl. kontakia) resembled a long, poetic sermon on a biblical text
(Example2.2). Each kontakion contains a prologue (prooi1nio11) and twenty
or more long stanzas, linked by a shared refrain. Equally grandiose is the
kanon (pl. kanones), a complicated, multisectional piece based on a series of
nine biblical canticles. For each canticle, a kanon provides a so-called ode
consisting of several stanzas.
Figu re 2.3 Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (earl ier Constantinople and Byzantium), the
greatest church of the Byzantine era. The massive structure was built in the reign
of the great emperor Justinian (r. 527-565), a time w hen Constantinople exerted
ecclesiast ical, political, and artistic domination over Europe. Following the Turkish
conquest of the city in 1453, Hag ia Sophia was converted to a mosque and the
minarets were added.
Diversification of Practice 19
Example 2.2 The opening of a Byzantine kontakion for Christmas by Romanos the
Melodist (fl. sixth century), showing the melismatic style of this genre. The text begins,
'Today the Virgin gives birth to the Almighty." Taken from Egon Wellesz, A History of
Byzantine Music and Hymnography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961), 401.
> I'\
7P ). J] J J j ) Ji j )i::J J Jj h. J J j
• nos
- j -
SC • · mc-ro · - n 1on h)' ·Pct ou - si - on
JiJ\J] J J j
,; • k1ei:
The style of the music could be as complex as the repertoire w·as ex-
tensive. The performance of these pieces was conceived as monophonic,
but they were by no means simple. The kontakia and kanones ,vere origi-
nally syllabic, but they developed an elaborate, florid style called kaloph-
onic (beautiful sounding), actually a number of different idioms for
embellishment associated with individual musicians. This impulse, of
course, still inspires some of the impressive melodic tendencies that we
admire in the music of Middle Eastern and Asian musicians.
By the eighth century, music theorists organized the tonal struc-
tures of Byzantine church music on the basis of a modal system; that is,
an actual piece of music was based on a given melodic formula. In this, it Byzantine music theory
resembled Jewish and other Eastern musical styles. The melodic formula
\Vas kno\vn as an echos (pl. echoi). The complete system incorporated
eight different echoi, classified in hvo series of four. In each series the
formulas were oriented, respectively, around the pitch centers D3, E3,
F3, and G3 (not, ho\vever, based on a system of fixed absolute pitch).
This system strongly influenced the thinkers \vho later developed a
music theory in ,vestern Europe.
Local Europ ean P ract ices

After the fourth century the churches and monasteries in the different
parts of Europe developed a number of local musical idioms. Before we
turn our attention to the great centralized musical repertoire that came
to dominate Christian music after the ninth century, a brief note of the
evidence of the diversity of the early church is in order.
The religious and musical tradition of Rome itself is commonly
termed Old Ro1na11. It continued as an oral tradition until the ninth Roman chant
century, when musicians began to develop a suitable notation that W'Ould

preserve it; consequently, a substantial quantity of Old Roman music is
available for modern scholars to study and compare to the related, but
significantly different, music of the later Catholic Church. By compari-
son, much less is kno,vn about the musical repertoires and styles of the
"peripheral" regions of northern and ,vestern Europe.
St. Ambrose, the fourth-century bishop of Milan, ,vas a musical
leader in the early church. He is credited with promoting the singing of
hymns as a means of strengthening faith and fortifying belief in the true
Ambroslan chant doctrines of the Christian religion. He actually composed the texts of
several great hymns, although he probably did not invent music for them.
The music and worship practice that ,vas used in Milan came to be called
A1nbrosian in his honor. Like the Old Roman, the Ambrosian repertoire
,vas eventually notated. Within the Italian peninsula other regional tra-
ditions have also left traces: the Beneventan in southern Italy and some
music associated ,vith Ravenna, which served by turns as both sacred
and secular capital for European and Byzantine leaders.
In Ireland, one of the first areas almost entirely converted to Chris-
tianity, there ,vas a Celtic musical tradition associated ,vith the monas-
Celtic chant teries that St. Patrick founded in the fifth century. It did not last past the
seventh century, and none of the actual music is known today.
Behveen the sixth and eighth centuries, singers in the Frankish terri-
tory, consisting of what is now ,vestern France and the Netherlands, also
Frankish or Gallican developed a local musical idiom, called Gallican. Of the various "peripheral"
chant styles, it ,vas undoubtedly the one ,vith the most influence on the Western
church's later, unified repertoire, but the lack of surviving music makes it
impossible to determine the nature and extent of the relationship.
The Christians living in the Iberian region (Portugal and Spain)
during the domination of the Moors from the eighth to the eleventh cen-
Mozarabic chant tury were kno,vn as Mozarabs. The surviving musical manuscripts of the
Mozarabic (or Hispan ic) tradition remain mostly undecipherable.
This diversity of regional, political, social, religious, philosophical,
and artistic forces characterized Europe follo,ving the fall of Rome. The
construction of a relatively unified European civilization from the
,vreckage of Greek and Roman culture was the achievement of the lead-
ers, thinkers, artists, and musicians from the sixth century on. Music
holds a proud position in that civilization.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
The discussion of music in St. Augustine's Confessions and some ,vritings

of other church fathers are translated in Oliver $trunk's Source Readings
in Music History, rev. ed., Leo Treider, gen. ed. (Ne,v York: Norton,
1998). For other sources of the early church's thought about music, see
James W. McKinnon, ed., Music in Early Christian Literature (Cam-
bridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1987).
Suggestions for Fu rt her Reading 21
On the Jewish musical tradition, see A. Z. Idelsohn, Jewish Music in

Its Historical Development (New· York: Schocken, 1967). The standard
study of Byzantine chant is Egon Wellesz, A History of Byzantine Music
and Hymnody, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1971).
1. Augustine, Confessions, text andcommentarybyJames). O'Donnell (New York:

Oxford University Press, 1992), vol. 1, 138-39; web reprint as The Confessions of
Augustine: An Electronic Edition, 10.33.50 http://w1\'\11.stoa.org/ hippo/ text!O
.html/. [Translation by DS]
2. The instruments named here are not the instruments that go by these names
in later periods of Western music history; they are merely the t ranslators' best
approximations of the instrument names in the original Hebrew.
3
The Establishment
of a Catholic Tradition
The music of the church was part of the project to establish a newly cultured
Europe. To accon1plish this, church and political leaders developed a general
plan for worship, including sacred n1usic. The need to teach the authorized
music ofthe church led to more precise forn1s of notation and a neiv approach to
music theory. Within the unified framework of church music, musicians found
opportunities for creativity by elaborating the liturgy.
T11e Political-Cultural Situation at T11e Musical Style of the Chant

the Beginning of the Ninth Century
T11e Music T11eory of the Chant
T11e Ron1an Liturgy
Later Developn1ents in the Liturgical
THE DIVINE OFFICE
Chant
l\1ASS THE TROPE
Aesthetic Considerations Regarding LITURGICAL DRAl\lA
the Chant
THE POLITICAL-C ULTURAL SITUATION

AT THE B E GINNING OF T H E N I NTH CENT U RY
One lofty ambition of the ninth century w·as the establishment of a

Europe unified on religious and political grounds. An important product
of that unification was the development of the musical repertoire com-
monly know·n as "Gregorian" chant. This repertoire takes its name from
Gregory I Pope Gregory I, who led the Roman church from 590 to 604. As far as
22
The Political-Cultural Situation at the Beginning of t he Ninth Cent ury 23
can be determined, Gregory did not actually compose any of the music.
His reputation derived from his consolidation of ecclesiastical authority
in Rome and the assertion of the church's pow·er in ,vorldly affairs. Pope
Gregory came from a political background and was a remarkably capable
administrator; he ,vas responsible for sending out missionaries ,vho
spread not only the Christian faith but also its musical practice through-
out Europe. Within the realm of ,vorship and music, Gregory's limited
contributions may have touched on the codification of parts of the ser-
vice and influenced the development of d istinctions behveen the priests,
,vith their pastoral duties, and designated singers, with responsibilities
for leading the music in worsh ip.
It is important to remember that the church's music belonged to a
tradition of oral practice. The earliest surviving manuscripts with rea- Tiu. cl1urch's music
sonably precise musical notation for the chant date from the end of the btlongt.d to a tradition of
oral pracliu.
ninth century. Like all oral traditions in music, the chant required con-
centration on a nucleus of fundamental melodic designs, although it
naturally varied from place to place, from generation to generation, and
to some extent from singer to singer.
The establishment of a single, universal body of church music actu-
ally came considerably later than Gregory I, beginning from the time of
Charlemagne (747-814). It arose as a natural corollary of the attempt to Charlemagne and the new
un ify the European continent politically, in a sense a propaganda move. empire
Charlemagne ,veil understood the need to base his secular po,ver on the
Cl Chat'lcmaq.e·s eo'l'li-'C
c:J &yuntine e,,..,irc
f '~mAtCH ,...de.. Mu'Slrri COl'IUOI
0 100 200 300 400 mi
0 200 400 600 km
Europe and the Mediterranean during the time of Charlemagne.

24 CHAPTER 3: The Establishment of a Catholic Tradition
Figure 3.1 The

Palatine Chapel of
Charlemagne at
Aachen. Aachen was
Charlemagne's capital,
and the chapel con-
tained his throne. The
architecture represents
the imposing, weighty
style of the ninth
cent ury.
support of the church, and w·hen the unpopular Pope Leo III ,vas threat-
ened, Charlemagnecametohisrescue. Leo in turncro,vned Charlemagne
Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day in 800.
Charlemagne made the cultivation of learning a major project of his
The Carol ingian administration. He gathered to his court at Aachen (Figure 3.1) leading
renaissance
scholars from other parts of Europe, notably the Anglo-Saxon scholar
Alcuin of York (ca. 732-904), ,vho headed up the projects of recovering
and preserving writings that had all but perished, as well as ,vriting his
ow·n treatises on the disciplines in the trivium. Under imperial sponsor-
ship, reading and writing spread through monasteries and cathedral
schools, for w·hich Alcuin prepared a curriculum. We call this resuscita-
tion oflearning the Carolingian renaissance, after Charlemagne (Carolus
Magnus in Latin).
The concern for a unified practice of sacred music is described in a
charming, if likely fictitious, anecdote about Cha rlemagne w·ritten in the
late ninth century by a monk at the abbey ofSt. Gall in S,vitzerland:
The Monk of St. Gall [Some clerics from Rome) plotted among themselves (since all
tells a story about the Greeks and Romans are ever consumed ,vith envy of Frankish
r~gulation of the chant
glory) ho,v they could so alter the chant that its un ity and harmony
m ight never be enjoyed in a realm and province other than their
ow·n. So ... everyone of them strove to sing, and to teach others to
sing, as differently and as corruptly as they could possibly contrive.
But the exceedingly clever Charles celebrated the feasts of
Christmas and the Epiphany one year at Trier and Metz and very
alertly and sharply comprehended the quality of the chants, ...
and then in the next year he follow·ed the same festivals at Paris
and Tours and heard nothing of that sound which he had experi-
enced the year before in the above-mentioned places. Thus he
discovered in the course of time how· those he had sent to different
places had come to differ from one another, and he conveyed the
matter to Pope Leo. . .. Leo, after recalling the cantors to Rome
The Roman Liturgy 25
and condemning them to exile or to lifelong confinement, said to

the illustrious Charles: "!fl send others to you, they, blinded by
envy like those before them, w·ill not neglect to deceive you.
Rather I ,vill attempt to satisfy your ,vishes in this manner: give me
hvo very intelligent clerics of your o,vn, in such a way as not to
alert my clergy that they belong to you, and they shall acquire,
God ,villing, the total proficiency in this skill that you seek."
It w·as done in this ,vay, and after a reasonable length of time
Leo returned the clerics to Charles perfectly instructed.'
Partly because of the importance of centering the Catholic musical

practice in Rome and partly because of the musical taste of Charlemagne
and his father, Pepin, the new ,vorship service and music were grounded
in the practice described in books sent north from Rome. Roman singers
also traveled as musical missionaries to teach the Roman melodies to
their Frankish colleagues. The compilation of the entire repertoire was
directed by Alcuin. Aachen was in Frankish territory, and in conse-
quence the final product appears to have assim ilated elements of the
Gallican practice. In support of the authenticity of this music over the
existing regional styles, the legend grew up that Pope Gregory I h imself
had composed the music under divine inspiration. 2
THE ROMAN LITURGY
The prescribed order for the conduct of worship is called the liturgy. An Liturgy
understanding of the Roman church's liturgy is essential for any under-
standing of its music, because the liturgy provides both the context and
the shaping plan for the musical expression of chant.
The Roman liturgy can be regarded as the largest unified artistic ex- Tiu. Roman lit.urgy can bt
perience possible because it encompasses the entire year and is reenacted rtgardtd as the largest
unlf,t.d arlist.ic txptrit.nct
as a great symbolic ritual each year in a subtly changing but never-ending pouiblt.
cycle. As a result, every piece of the chant has its particular place or
places with in space and time provided by architectural settings and
,vi thin a gigantic liturgical form. Each day in the liturgical year is un ique;
the form and content of its music are based on its relationship to the hvo The church year
greatest days in the church year-Christmas, ,vhich celebrates the birth
of Christ and in the Western church is fixed on 25 December, and Easter,
,vhich celebrates Christ's resurrection on a movable date in the spring-
and to other feasts (Figure 3.2).
The liturgical year begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas,
,vhich marks the beginning of the season of Advent, the period ,vhen the
church anticipates the coming of Christ. Advent is the first of hvo peni-
tential seasons in the liturgical year, which are traditionally marked by
prayer, self-examination, and fasting, as ,veil as by relatively austere music
and ,vorship. The celebration of Christmastide begins on Christmas Day
and continues for the next hvelve days (hence, the "Twelve Days of
Ash \Vednesday
All Sainrs'
Day
Holy Week
I-_. Easter
Michaelmas
Trinity Sunday
Corpus Chris1i
Figu re 3.2 The liturgical year, showing the seasons and some of t he maj or
festivals of the church.
Christmas''). Then follow·s Epiphany, the day when the church com-
memorates the visit of the Magi to the child Jesus, and its season, which
sign ifies the manifestation of Christ to the w·hole world. Epipha ny ends
w·ith the beginning of Lent, the second of the penitential seasons, which
consists of the forty days leading up to Easter. The last \veek before Easter
is kno\vn as Holy Week. Easter is the most important festival of the year,
since it marks the resurrection of Christ. The Easter season lasts seven
w·eeks and ends on the Sunday known as Pentecost (fifty days after
Easter) or Wh itsunday. On Pentecost the church celebrates the gift
of the Holy Spirit to the apostles (Acts 2). Then comes Trinity Sunday
and the long season of Trinity, continuing through the summer and fall
until the arrival of the first Sunday of Advent and the start of a ne\v
church year. There are numerous other fest ivals in the church, notably
St. Stephen's Day, the day after Christmas; Corpus Christi, the first
Thursday after Trinity Sunday; Michaelmas, 29 September; and All
Saints' Day, 1 November. Because the exact dates of Advent and Easter
change from year to year, the developers of the liturgical calendar had to
establish a complicated hierarchy of celebrations in cases w·hen hvo litur-
gical days fell on the same date.
The liturgical calendar may seem strange to modern students, but it
need not be thought of as totally foreign. Indeed, some of our familiar
secular holidays are based on the liturgical calendar. Mardi Gras (French
for" fat Tuesday"), the last day of the season of Epiphany, arose as a "last
The Ron1an Liturgy 27
fling" before the long season of fasting that begins ,vith Ash Wednesday,
the first day of Lent. Ash Wednesday is a church holiday (i.e., holy day);
Mardi Gras is emphatically not. Similarly, Halloween (All Hallows Eve)
is the night before All Saints' Day (or All Hallo,vs). All Saints' Day is a
church holiday; Hallo,veen probably has its roots in the Celtic pagan ob-
servance of the beginning of ,vinter.
The Divine Office

The Roman liturgy for each day provides hvo different settings for ,vor-
ship: a relatively private one kno,vn as the Divine Office, which is observed
by the cloistered community in a monastery or convent; and a public one,
the Mass. The Divine Office has its roots in the Jewish synagogue ser-
vices and early Christian night vigils from the centuries ,vhen the church
still suffered Roman persecution. A standardized plan for monastic ,vor- Divine Offic.c
ship, as for the governance of monastic life and ,vork in general, was es-
tablished by the Rule ofSt. Benedict. Benedict (ca. 480-ca. 547) set out
detailed regulations to order every aspect of the activities of the monks. n,e Btnt.dictint. Rufo
The rule prescribed eight services that articulated the day of study and prtscribtd tight servius
that articulatt.d the day
,vork, the Divine Office or Canonical Hours. The daily schedule ran ap- ofst.udy and work, the.
proximately as follo,vs: Divine. Offiu.
Matins (morning)-Shortly after midn ight (The ever-practical

Rule ofSt. Benedict suggests that "When they arise for the Divine
Office, they ought to encourage each other, for the sleepy make
many excuses.")
Private study and prayer
Lauds (praise)-Early morning
Prime (the first Hour)-After Lauds
Breakfast (if any)
Private study
Possibly Mass
Work begins
Terce (the third Hour)-Midmorning
Return to ,vork
Sext (the sixth Hour)-Noon
Return to ,vork
None (the ninth Hour)-Midafternoon
Dinner. According to the Benedictine Rule, there ,vould nor-
mally be only two dishes, and each monk would have a ration
of a pound of bread for the entire day. Only the infirm ,vere
allotted red meat.
Private study and prayer
Vespers (evening)-At dusk
Compline (complete)-Before bed
Bed. Nuns or monks retired relatively early, since once daylight
ended, light was expensive and rarely bright.
Worship was thus an important part of the monastic vocation. The

monks dedicated themselves not only to charitable ,vork but also to a
career of w·orship.
The named Offices (Matins, Lauds, Vespers, and Compline) are
called the Greater Hours, and their music is more extensive, more com-
plicated, and more important to music history than that of the numbered
or Lesser Hours (Prime, Terce, Sext, and None). The book containing
the music of the Offices is the A11tiphonary; that containing only the texts
Books of Hours is the Breviary. Ecclesiastical scribes prepared beautifully decorated bre-
viaries (also kno,vn as Books of Hours) forw·ealthypatrons; among these
are some of the most elaborate and famous examples of manuscript illu-
mination (Plate 7).
The musical content of the Offices centers on the singing of psalms;
Content o(thr Divine the number of these ranges from three for the Lesser Hours to nine at
Office Matins. The psalms are set off by nonbiblical pieces (the antiphons and
responsories) . Except for Matins, each of the Greater Hours climaxes
,vith a canticle. For Vespers the canticle is the Magnificat, or Song of
Mary (Luke 1:46-55, beginning "My soul magnifies the Lord"), and for
Compline it is appropriately the Song of Simeon, Nunc dimittis (Luke
2:29-32, "Lord, no,v lettest thou thy servant depart in peace"). There is
also a hymn in each Office. In addit ion to these elements there are
opening and closing formulas, brief passages from the Bible, and
prayers. The Offices include neither preaching nor Holy Communion.
The entire service does not last long, perhaps fifteen minutes for the
Lesser Hours and up to half an hour or a bit more for the Greater Hours
on major feast days.
Mass
The Mass is the most solemn service of the liturgy. Like the Divine Office,
the Mass originated in the Je,vish ,vorship practice, combining the syna-
gogue teaching tradition ,vith the celebration of Holy Communion (also
kno,vn as the Eucharist, from the Greek ,vord for "thanksgiving," or as
the Lord's Supper), derived from the rite of the Je,vish Passover. The
Main divisions Mass therefore has t\vo parts. The first part, the teach ing service or Fore-
ofthe Mass Mass, concludes after the sermon, if there is one, and the statement of the
Christian faith in the Nicene Creed (kno,vn in music as the Credo). The
second part consists of Holy Communion. In the early days of the church
the teaching service ,vas open to inquirers ,vho were not yet baptized
Christians, and they ,vere excused ,vhen the faithful prepared for the
Eucharist.
The essential structure of the Mass ,vas established in a more or less
unified pattern much later than that of the Offices, in fact, not until the
tenth century. The book that contains the music for the Mass is known as
the Gradual; the book that contains only the text is called the Missal. For
general use, the most important materials ,vere later collected from the
The Ron1an Liturgy 29
vast total repertoire into a smaller and more convenient Liber usualis (lit-
erally, "practical book'').
An important structuring principle in the liturgy is the division of
material into those parts of the text that alv.rays remain the same and
those that change according to the particular day in the liturgical year.
The former are called Ordinary and the latter are know·n as Proper. In the Ordinar·y and Proprr
Offices of Vespers and Compline, for example, the canticles are Ordi-
nary because these texts are sung every day; the psalms, w·hich change
according to the church calendar, are Proper. The same holds true for the
Mass. In this case the parts of the service that ,vere originally intended to
be sung by the entire congregation are ahvays the same, or Ordinary; the
Proper tended to be reserved for the choir and solo singers. The Mass
Proper is older and more closely tied to the texts of the scripture than the
Ordinary. In later periods in music history the term Mass often refers to
a musical setting of the five main components of the Mass Ordinary only,
for the practical reason that composers generally ,vrote only the Ordi-
nary and left the Proper, with its relatively limited usefulness, to the tra-
ditional chant or to the choirmaster's choice from the available repertoire
of composed pieces.
The complete Mass forms an effective artistic as well as religious ex- nu. Man l,as a cltar sl,apt
perience. Like most large artworks, it has a clear shape ,vith ,veil-placed with wtll·plaud climaxu
and distinctly arliculat~.d
climaxes and distinctly articulated segments. Its structure can be under- segnitnls.
stood in two main divisions-the teach ing service and the Eucharist-
and these are subdivided into hvo and threesmallergroupsofmovements,
respectively. The follo,ving discussion outlines this organization, noting
,vhich movements belong to the Ordinary and ,vhich to the Proper
(Figure 3.3).
Within the first half of the Mass the first subgroup of movements
forms a brief opening ceremony. This starts ,vith the singing of the Introit, Design of the Fore.Mass
or introductory psalm verse (originally an entire psalm), proper to the
day, framed by hvo statements of a brief piece known as an antiphon.
Then comes the first pair of movements of the Ordinary, the plea for for-
giveness Kyrie eleison (Lord, have mercy-the only part of the Mass sung
in Greek after Latin became the language of the Western church) and the
song of praise Gloria in excelsis (Glory to God in the highest). This part of
the service closes with the Collect, or prayer for the day, which is not sung
but read or intoned by the priest, the congregation responding "Amen."
The next portion of the Mass contains the instruction of the congre-
gation through scripture and sometimes a sermon. The Proper assigns
each day two scripture readings. The first reading is an Epistle selection
taken from the letters to early churches contained in the New Testament.
It is follo,ved by the singing of a responsorial Gradual (from the Latin
,vord gradus, meaning "step," because that is where the solo singer
stands), and an Alleluia, ,vhich frames a psalm verse. The Gradual and
the Alleluia, ,vhich have the most elaborate music of the Mass, form the
service's musical climax. Then the second reading, the Gospel, follo,vs.
30 CHAPTER 3: The Establishment ofa Catholic Tradition
by ca.400 added by ca. 800 added ca. 1000

For~ass Introit Psalm
KYRIE ELEISON
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS
(Collect)
(Epistle reading)
Gradual Psalm
Alleluia or Tract
Sequence
(Gospel reading)
CREDO IN UNUM DEUM
Eucharist Offertory Psalm
(Eucharistic prayers)
SANCTUS
(CANON)
(PATER NOSTER)
AGNUS DEi
Communion Psalm
(Postcommunion)
ITE MISSA EST
Figure 3.3 The design and historical development of the Mass. The seven
sections of the Mass Ordinary (including the Lord's Prayer and Benediction) are
shown in all capitals. The five highlighted sections are those usually composed as
the Mass since the sixteenth century. Items in parentheses are spoken or intoned
rather than sung.
After the Gospel there may be a sermon, but this is optional. The whole
first part of the Mass closes \Vith the singing of the Credo (I believe [in
one God)), the third musical movement of the Mass Ordinary.
The second half of the Mass begins with the offering of the Eucharis-
Design oft he Eucharist tic bread and wine. A musical Offertory is sung, follo\ved by the saying of
prayers and the T,venty-fifth Psalm. Then the priest prays a silent prayer
kno\vn as the Secret.
Between two prayers-the Preface, \vhich belongs to the Proper and
is intoned aloud, and the Canon, \vh ich is Ordinary and prayed silently
by the priest-comes the singing of the fourth musical movement of the
Ordinary, the Sanctus (Holy, holy, holy).
The actual partaking of Holy Communion forms the liturgical
The Holy Communion climax and conclusion of the Mass. The Paternoster (Our father-the
forms lht. lilurgic.al Lord's Prayer) is intoned, follo,ved by the singing of the Ordinary Agnus
climax and c.onclu.sfon
oft he Mass. Dei (Lamb of God). A Proper movement appropriately called Co1nmu-
nion is then sung. After the Communion come prayers, the Postco1nmu-
nion prayer, and finally the Benediction, wh ich is sung. There are only hvo
forms for the Benediction, so it can be regarded as belonging to the music
of the Ordinary, but it is so brief that it has rarely been included in
Aest hetic Considerat ions Regarding the Chant 31
compositions of the Mass. Curiously, it is one of these simple formulas,

"Ite, missa est" (Go, it is dismissed), that gave the service its name, in
Latin Missa and, of course, "Mass" in English.
Under special circumstances the form of the Mass may vary some- Spe cial forms ofth• Mass
w·hat. The Gloria is omitted during penitential seasons, and during Lent
the position usually occupied by the celebrative Alleluia is taken by a
somber movement called the Tract. An even more substantial variant is
the Mass for the Dead, or Requiem Mass, so named from the text of its in-
troit, Requie1n aeterna1n dona eis Do1nino (Give them eternal rest, 0 Lord).
AEST HETIC CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE CHANT
To understand any music, it is necessary to hear it, or at least to imagine

it, in the context for wh ich it was intended. This is perhaps even more
strongly the case for the chant than for other music in our cultural heri-
tage. The chant is distant enough in time from the music \Ve are accus-
tomed to hearing that it seems foreign. On the one hand, it is simpler than
the polyphonic music and stylized forms that govern more familiar styles;
on the other hand, its principles and the concepts on \vhich it is based are
quite sophisticated, although they differ from those of later music. 'Il,al mucl1 of t.llis music
apptars al fi rs I somewhat
That much of this music appears at first some,vhat austere should not
au.sit.rt should not s urprise
surprise us, since \Ve know that it belongs in the frame\vork of the liturgy. us, since we b1ow that it
We must remember that the church fathers, including St. Augustine, btlongs in I-lit framework of
,vere greatly concerned that the music should not distract from the ,vor- lht lil'urgy.
shiper's med itation on God. To ans,ver this concern, the music eschews Chant and worship
virtuosic display that would force the singer to concentrate on the prob-
lems of performing and seduce the listener's attention from the music to
the singer. Similarly, for cautious church authorities the spiritual rather
than physical focus of the service called for a style that did not encourage
a physical rhythm ic response such as clapping or toe tapping.
The early church fathers ,vere also particularly concerned that the
music not obscure the \vords of the chant. The style of the chant is not
merely adapted to the communication of its texts, ho\vever, but also
closely dependent on the text for its musical structure. On the one hand, The words in the chant
the monophonic texture of the music allo,vs the \vords to come through
un impeded, and, as our analysis ,vill sho\v, the rising and falling inflec-
tions of the speaking voice and the grammatical structure of language
actually define the music. On the other hand, the musical expression of
specific sentiments in the sung texts, wh ich became an essential assump-
tion for the Renaissance and later periods, \Vas not a priority in the chant.
The chant's monophonic texture and the suitability of the music for
singers of modest technical qualifications bear special significance. The
unity of the "community of believers" finds expression in the uniting of
voices in a single statement, especially\vithin the religious cloister, where
all the members of the monastery or convent participate in singing the
Divine Office. Thus, the chant's unification of worshipers' voices into a Unit)' and unison
single line both embodies this idea and facilitates it in practice; its simplic-
ity should not by any means be regarded as evidence of primitiveness.
Another aspect of the context in w·hich the chant \Vas sung is the ar-
Thewonhipspace ch itecture of the churches where it ,vas performed. During the Gregorian
and Carolingian periods, churches were still some,vhat ,veighty in con-
struction, embodying more solidity than lightness and reflecting firm-
ness of faith rather than soaring ecstasy. The music of the chant has a
corresponding sense of gravity and solemnity.
Purely physical aspects ofearly church architecture offered both prob-
lems and opportunities for music. Acoustically, the open space in the nave
or central body of the church presented a very "live" environment for
music, and hard stone and ,vood surfaces provided considerable reverbera-
tion. This meant that the chant's simple texture easily filled the space in
,vhich it ,vas sung; indeed, the sound in a resonant room could become
blurred in detail but produce an audible atmosphere similar in effect to the
incense ,vafted from the thurible in the Mass. The actual design of the
space and the placement or movement of singers could also be exploited in
the performance of the chant. Processions were, of course, a significant
part ofthe action ofworsh ip, and the division of the singers into t\vo groups
facing each other in the choir reinforced the effect of antiphonal singing.
T H E M U S ICAL STYLE OF TH E C H A NT
The chant is conceived as performed by unaccompanied solo and choral

male voices in unison, although undoubtedly in actual practice there
,vere other possibilities. In the earliest centuries all worshipers sang to-
gether. As the institution of the church developed, gender roles became
articulated, and the singing of the chant in public became largely a male
activity. Boys often sang with men, using octave doubling; and in con-
vents of nuns, assuming that a male choir ,vas not available, the ,vomen
could sing the services. The existence of documents by church authori-
ties banning instruments from churches implies that ad libitum perfor-
mance on instruments also took place.
Within the limits of unison singing, variety in sound arose from dou-
bling and from the contrast of direct, antiphonal, and responsorial per-
Chantscoring formance. Hymns and the chants of the Mass Ordinary were sung in
d irect fash ion. Psalms and the antiphons that framed and articulated
them were performed antiphonally. Responsorial chanting increased as
more elaborate music developed, and ,ve shall see that the solo portions of
responsorial pieces provided a fruitful field for musical experimentation.
We do not have reliable notational evidence of measured rhythm in
the style of the chant, but this does not mean that there was no rhythm in
Rhythm the music. The rhythm of the singing derived from that of the spoken
language. In Greek and Latin, dynamic syllable stress did not contribute
to grammar or expression. Syllables fell into the categories long and
short, and the linguistic phrase flowed smoothly from beginning to end
The Musical Style of the Chant 33
w·ithout the lumpiness that accents give to modern English and German.
As a consequence, the musical phrase also flo,ved smoothly, and the free-
dom of the rhythm from a mechanically regularpulse should be regarded
as a natural effect of the language itself.
An important concept in understanding the chant is that the basic
musical unit of the chant was originally not the note but the phrase. In the Melody
following discussion ,ve must constantly keep in mind that the idea of
single pitches as independent, abstract building blocks for the construc-
tion of musical pieces arose only after the chant repertoire was already well n,e basic musical unit
of lht. chant was originally
established. This ,vill not only help us appreciate the authentic character of not lht. note but the phrast.
the chant but also explain the nature of later musical composition.
The melodic style of the chant was, of course, ahvays guided by the
intention of vocal performance. The music proceeds gracefully, ,vithout
large leaps, and unfolds ,vithin a moderate range. The phrase shapes re-
flect the grammar and inflections of natural speech by rising and falling
to parallel the sound and sense of the texts. There are three distinct me-
lodic types used for different types of pieces.
The first and simplest melody type is formed by the recitation tones.
Used for readings and prayers, these formulas allow the singer to cover Recitation tone-&
long passages clearly and efficiently. They reflect speech patterns in a
simple sense. The pitch contour is almost completely monotone, broken
only by the use of a fe,v small up,vard or downward inflections at punc-
tuations in the text (Example 3.1).
Example 3.1 A recitation tone. The sentences used here for illustration come
from Isaiah 62:11, 63:1, and 63:7a. Most of the text is intoned syllabically on a
single pitch, here notated on C4. The flex provides a means of punctuation within
a verse, whereas the full stop gives a stronger conclusion for sentence endings.
In case of a question, the interrogation formula supplies an upward gesture to
correspond to the natural inflection.
,
c
Title.
E - cti -o J -
•
••
sa - f - ae pro1>he -t.:1e.
1-· • ··-
H;:iec di - cit
• •
06 -mi -nus De -us:
-
Di-
, Fle:r.
c. . . . = • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
ci - te ff - Ii - ae Sf - on: Ec -ce Sal -vii - tor tU - us v6 - nit: ec - oe 11~t -ces e - jus
, P11/I stop.
I
c• • •
I • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • •
•.
cum
•- 0. Quis est i - l>te. qui ve - nit de E - dom. 1in - c1is ve - sti - bus de
lmerrogatitm.
c . ,: I • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
R<> -sm?... l:iu-dcm D6 -mi ... ni su - per 6 - mni -1;,us quae fed -di . . dit n6 - bis Do - mi ...
, ,
Fi11al j(Jmwla.
c. •
• b• • • · II
nus DC - us n6 -s.1cr.
Psalm tone-& Next in simplicity are the psal1n tones. Employed specifically for sing-
ing the verses of the psalms, they can be applied to any psalm text. They
are not unlike the recitation tones, but they give a more exaggerated de-
piction of speech. The psalm begins ,vith a rising gesture called the ini-
tiu1n or intonation. This brings the voice to a pitch at wh ich the bulk of the
verse ,viii be chanted, called the tenor (from the Latin tenere, "to hold").
The punctuation in the middle of the verse produces another little me-
lodic gesture, the mediatio or 1nediant, which leaves the line suspended
again on the tenor. (In cases of clear punctuation before the mediant,
there is an optional dip from the tenor kno,vn as the flex.) The second half
of the verse begins on the tenor, and the verse concludes ,vith a descend-
ing figure, the termi11atio or termination. The second and succeeding
verses of the psalm start directly on the tenor, omitting the intonation.
Other chants have more freedom in their melodic construction,
More elaborate melodie-s ,vith a variety of phrase shapes and greater flexibility in contour. Most of
the phrases are arch-shape or descending curves, so that a grammatical
As we would t.xptcl phrase ending is indicated bya downward inflection. As,ve ,vould expect
from mu.sic rooltd in long from music rooted in long oral transmission, much of the repertoire de-
oral f:ra,umis.sion, much of
pends on the recurrence of archetypal phrases with characteristic begin-
lht.rtpt.rtoirt.dtpends on
lht.rtcurrtnce of ning, central, and ending functions, each phrase adapted as necessary to
arclittypal phrases. the ,vords of particular texts.
We have noted several times the essential connection behveen the
Text and musk text and music in the chant. It is also important to consider the manner
in which the syllables ,vere matched to the music (text underlay). The
simplest procedure is to move quickly through the text ,vithout chang-
ing pitch on any syllable; ,ve call such a setting syllabic. Syllabic text set-
ting naturally suits music intended to be sung by untrained singers or by
large groups such as entire congregations. It also provides the most effi-
cient ,vay of handling long texts; as a result, a long movement of the Mass
Ordinary, for example the Credo, is generally set syllabically. The oppo-
site procedure is melismatic; that is, a single syllable stretches through a
considerable amount of melodic motion. Pieces with short texts and
chants intended for soloists or trained choristers are more likely to be set
melismatically.
Forms The musical forms of the chant vary considerably. There are strophic
forms in the hymns, for example, ,vhere the text comprises a series of
identically structured stanzas sung to the same music. A related special
case is the singing of the psalm tones. A fe,v of the liturgical texts suggest
symmetrical musical forms. For instance, the complete text of the Kyrie
of the Mass reads as follo,vs:
Kyrie eleison Lord, have mercy

Christe eleison Christ, have mercy
The Music Theory of the Chant 35

The musical settings of th is text sometimes, although not alw·ays, adopt a

ternary, or ABA, structure.
Most chants have rather free forms. These are often motivically un i-
fied by the recurrence of variants of a few model phrases in irregular ar-
rangements, the natural result of the melodic formulas on w·hich oral
transmission of the chant depended, as we have already noted.
T HE Music T H E O RY OF THE CHANT
In the course of the centuries, liturgical music grew· in quantity and com- nu. church nu.dtd more
plexity. At the same time, the church recognized that teaching singers by tfficitnl waysoftc.a ching
sfogtrs to ma.J iu their
rote led to alterations of the sacred repertoire through the natural pro- txltn.s ivt rtpcrtofrt t.l,an
cess of oral transmission. When it became important in the eighth or simply through painstaking
mcmoriz:at.ion.
ninth century to develop a uniform liturgical and musical practice, ac-
curacy became a greater priority than it had been up to that time. More-
over, it w·as obvious that it ,vould be desirable to have more efficient ways
of teaching singers to master their extensive repertoire than simply
through painstaking memorization. Responding to these concerns and
needs, the musicians developed systems of theory and musical notation.
To gain control over such a vast body of material as the chant reper-
toire, church musicians needed some method of classification. This C lassifying melodies
meant that they had to examine individual pieces in detail and, conse-
quently, to identify separate pitches and their relationships. Fortunately,
some of the treatises and ideas of ancient Greek music theory, which
Arab scholars had preserved during troubled times in Europe, began to
come to the attention of European musicians. As we must remember,
Greek theory relied on specific identification of individual pitches. This
,vay of conceiving music helped to facilitate the creation of a ne,v pitch
system that ultimately developed into the theory of the church, or eccle-
siastical, modes.
An important early accomplishment was the defin ition of the psalm
tones. By carefully considering the melodies, and perhaps by regulariz-
ing some subtle differences between closely related variants, music theo-
rists identified nine basic formulas that were in use. The first eight were Nine Psalm tones
numbered and grouped in pairs according to their pitch configurations;
that is, psalm tones 1 and 2 share some elements of whole-step and half-
step arrangement, as do psalm tones 3 and 4, and so on. Those in each
pair differ in the placement of the tenor. The ninth psalm tone, named
Example 3.2 The psalm tones. The nine tones are shown with their components
identified. In some cases a tone has a number of different possible terminations,
but only one for each has been included here.
.. . -·... . - ..
lnton:uion TcnOf with Ocx Mcdi:lnt Tenor
~l&• • • I'1¥ • I• • • • •·
2 9: - ••••••. ••• - .. I• • • I - - ..
3 ~i.. • • • • • .. • • • --· . 1• - • .
4 113 . - • • • • •· ... I• • - .. . 1-···-· •·

.
5 ~8 . ....... .. . • •• ••
6 113 . - • • • • W• • • • . -.. • I······

7 lb9 •
:11 4 •
4 4 4 4
• •
4 4 4 1·
: • -- • . 1·
:- -- -- 1·
: -- •- -= -• .
s 115 • • • • • • • . • • • • •• 1• • • I* • • •·
the Tonus peregrinus ("pilgrim," or "wandering," tone), differs from

all the other psalm tones because it adopts a new· tenor after its mediant.
The psalm tones can be summarized in modern notation as show·n in
Example 3.2. This arrangement of the psalm tones into four pairs ,vas
undoubtedly influenced by the eight echoi of Byzantine chant (the echoi,
ho,vever, came in two groups of four). Thus, the formulation of the pitch
system combined the traditions of Greek classical theory with Judeo-
Christian practice.
By experience, singers discovered that the melodies of certain anti-
phons linked naturally ,vith some psalm tones and not ,vith others
Antiphons and modos (Example 3.3). Examining the details of the pitch patterns in the various
antiphons and comparing them to the eight numbered psalm tones, theo-
rists w·ere able to classify the antiphons in a system parallel to the psalm
tones. The melodic patterns came to be knov.rn as the modes, v.rhich were
used to classify any free chants in the repertoire (Example 3.4). (Of
The Music Theory of t he C h ant 37
Example 3.3 One of t he antiphons sung at Vespers on M ichaelmas. The text is

set in p redominantly syllabic st yle. The abbreviation at t he end- E u o u a e-
correspon ds to t he vowels in the words "Seculorum. Amen; always sung at t he
end of a psalm. The notes given with t hat abbreviation here cue the singers that
this antip hon requires that the accompanying p salm be sung to t he Tonu s pereg-
rinus (see Example 3.2).
c ~ .
-
I • '
• • · .._11- :r= . .. ()..- -· . •
Do ~i -ni , • 06- mi - 1m be -nc: -d:f - .:i - ic in ic -!lr ~ um. P. T. Al -k -hi -ill. f! 11 () u u r:.
Example 3.4 Alleluia for t he Mass on M ichaelmas, illustrating mode 8. As is typ i-

cal for Alleluias, t he text sett ing is generally melismatic, particularly at t he ends of
p hrases and especially at the jubilus that concludes the word "Alleluia." The aster-
isk indicates where the choir j oins the soloist. The abb reviation "ij ." ("t wo" w ritten
as a Roman numeral) t hus indicates that the first part of the Alleluia is su ng twice,
once by t he leader and then again by the choir, who cont inue to t he en d of the
line. At the verse (indicated by the sign .,//") the soloist sing s, w it h the choir join-
ing again on the final word. The Alleluia is t hen repeated.
c f .. ,.~ ,.. .,__~ ••· ••••• •• I •

I'!!· II
J I
'fl. Sancte Mi-cho·
I ~-.,•·
el Archong<- le.
•
<I::- fen-
I'!! • •
de nos in praC-li- o: ul non per- c- 11- mus
·r-_ P_ •_·_·- ,~ ~'"""'- 1~~,__l'!!__._··- ---~-~~-·~

__,--~ PSJI.
~ ·-
i1~ ire- m~ndo 3 j ~ di- ci-
••
o.
course, there ,vere also earl ier chants that did not so neatly follo,v the gen- 71,e mtlodic pattu ns came
to be k nown as thtmodts,
eral principles of the modes, and these either,vere left out of the system or wl1icl1were u.std lo classify
became modified and reg ularized as the system became established.) any fru cl1a nt.1 fo lht
The most important characteristics of a chant ,vere (1) its cadential rtptrlofrt.
tone, or final, (2) the tone around ,vhich its melod ic curves generally ori-
ented themselves (the equivalent of the tenor of a psalm tone, but more
heavily decorated by melodic motio n), or do1ninant, and (3) the melody's
general tessit ura, or ambitus (always an approximation). Like the psalm Traits of the church modes
tones, the modes were numbered and grouped in four pairs. Modes 1 and 2
Table 3.1 The Eight Ecclesiastical Mode s

Authentic Plagal
modes Final Dominant Ambitus modes Final Dominant Ambitus
1 03 A3 03-04 2 03 F3 A2-A3
3 E3 (4 E3- E4 4 E3 A3 82- 83
5 F3 (4 F3-F4 6 F3 A3 (3- (4
7 G3 04 G3-G4 8 G3 (4 03-04
share the same final, D, but differ in their dominant and their ambitus;
similarly, modes 3 and 4 share the final E, modes 5 and 6 both have F as
their final, and modes 7 and 8 close on G . The dominants and the ambiti
of the odd-numbered modes, the authentic modes, lie higher than those
of their even-numbered partners, called plagal. Table 3.1 summarizes
the characteristics of the eight modes.
Several features of the system are ,vorth noting:
1. The dominant of each authentic mode generally stands a fifth above
the final, except for mode 3. The dominant of each plagal mode lies a
third belo,v the dom inant of its corresponding authentic mode, except
for mode 8. This reflects a hesitancy about the pitches Band B-flat. The
pitch B ,vould produce an a,vkward tritone from F, ,vhereas the substi-
tution of B-flat would result in a tritone from E. In fact, singers ad-
justed the pitch in performance according to its context, but as a result
it seems to have been regarded as unsuitable for a dom inant. Conse-
quently, in modes 3 and 8, where consistency ,vould have called for B
as the dominant, C ,vas substituted.
2. The ambitus of each mode is given as an octave, but in practice the
melod ies often extend beyond that ambitus. Usually the extension
takes the form of a lo,ver neighbor to the final in the authentic modes
and of an upper neighbor to the given top note in the plagals. In cases
of very wide ranges, the mode can be considered a "mixed mode,"
combining authentic and plagal.
3. No standard of absolute pitch existed; therefore, the note names given
here indicate only relative pitch. A melody could be sung at a ny com-
fortable level.
Another step in making the singers' task easier ,vas to develop a
music notation so that they could learn and perform the chant accurately
AfuJic notation dt.vdoptd rather than having to memorize the music for the entire liturgical year.
lo htlp singtrs Itarn and For teaching pitches and intervals, music teachers and handbooks em-
ptrform the chant
accurattly. ployed letters or other signs that stood for particular tones. These seem
cumbersome for actual singing, ho,vever; graphic notations that could
/'2.<' Figu re 3.4 A music
J (.I ) ,( I •
'
,
" manuscript showing
£{.,{; i.1.., _;''''. b f,,.J' i,r,,·
N b neumes of the elev-
enth century. The Al·
r,p.f' ,1';1.PJ I 1,.,,..-• •....- ,r
t '
;;1' ff leluia shows simple
(' ...
t f rJ' ' 't>
- J' ! ff, pJ'c "ji ,,,,
~
,,
b~,. :
neumes for the verse
b "- · b ·p Pv£TroSA, .
and elaborate chains of
"" "!. .)t-"J ,. )/; )".r• ' . t,[' ';.r'
t lli LurA, · b ;!,, 'P :;< neumes for melismas
' j{' ,!;.'! 7 I . f',r'
1' ~. f I 1 •
~ .. · , .1.arn ,1unc tr]Jl:)n._m; prr.con1a ;<
such as on the jubilus.
••
(f.f ;I' If, Pr , f.P--' J / I ·
I X1 A.pn1 om1num
,rel. I, ?....r.· ,,,.r• .•../,p,~ ·rrt.r'
uw ann,'\- P"' )$("!'""· J b
r 1,J[,'·!' 1Pf;f /Pf,-: .r
,,lf!f r
, I{;/ c I I'
. ,/,, ./ ,,,.,J • JC "
(d.Cr.t. run[aru; rtona. 'l_u1fd.Oter1!$'Ull>W

u1uf
I I . I I I • I I f....f ,/ff.r
• a>nf"'lmmu.rtnag,,,a. pnmna. ' b
I
J))"!: If.,,..-• 1',t..l' . i I p I I I
•• JC• ffuam
bcac.-,,froni
'-' · ' ' -f'r·· ·•;h .,.--b ,J,Jr'·' 1,,r'-r·
· ·u........
' ,un-c;~1na..
·-
• • '"'- JC'
rffi •
(,f• ,,.,.- L ,I / 1• I
nn,ra,x;m fanccam r
6
'I I lf I
. - •
. I f I .r f I . I I ? 1.r'- (:
ccrflmna, Jnn1 .;na accerna. / J ••
• ::t-
/:f:,r' b ••JJf;
-
r-.-,~ (\,uoNrA,111. 05 f ....i.
M-A-COR. \T r u ffR.101'-_ . \
1
lli'i1r'"' rl ti•fp~t b,!•11'"
'
)i,.r;r,,};.r
•• b
'
depict a melody more intuitively filled this need better. Such graphic
forms could include upward, do\vn\vard, arched, \Vavelike, or zigzag
marks placed above the lines of text to remind the singers, \vho certainly
already kne\v the melodies ,veil, of the general direction of the melodic
line. These notations were called neu1nes (from the Greek ,vord meaning Notationinneumes
"gesture"), and that term continued to be used generically for the signs
that indicated pitches (Figure 3.4). The use of neumes seems to date
from about the eighth century, corresponding to the attempt to catholi-
cize the Roman chant.
The church musicians soon made progress in the accuracy of pitch
indication by using neumes of different sizes, placed at different heights
above the w·ords. Such heighted or diastematic neumes gave the singer not
only an idea of the direction of the melodic gesture but also a sense of the
scope of the gesture and of ho\v high or low a particular figure lay in the
total range. Even so, the indication remained vague.
Eventually the musicians scratched hvo straight horizontal lines in
the space \vhere the neumes were to be placed, one ind icating the note F
and the other the note C (i.e., middle C or C4, but remembering that
there was no standardization of pitch), and the deta ils of the melodic
Staff lines and clefs contour grew· clearer. Later the F line ,vas drawn in red ink and the Cline
in yellow· or green, an attractive predecessor of clefs. In the eleventh cen-
tury the add ition of t\vo more lines became common, and the use of
letter names at the left edge of the C or F lines completed the develop-
ment of the staff and clefs used for chant notation.
To indicate precise locations of pitches on the staff, the neumes
evolved from their old, rather cursive style to a form in which small
squares ,vith or without tails were placed on the lines and spaces of the
Quadratic neumes staff. These quadratic or square neumes could be combined ,vith one an-
and ligatu res other or with chains of diamond shapes, form ing compound neumes, or
ligatures. They might also have hooklike appendages (plica) or other or-
namental components (e.g., the quilisma, which looks rather like the
more familiar zigzag sign for a short trill).
The standardization of the four-line staff appears to have been the
accomplishment of a theorist and teacher named Guido of Arezzo, who
GuidoofAreuo ,vorked in the first half of the eleventh century. Guido also contributed
to music education a system for teaching sight-singing. He either discov-
ered or created a melody for a particular hymn, "Ut queant laxis,'' in
,vhich the first six phrases began on consecutively higher pitches, each
separated by a ,vhole tone except the third and fourth, which ,vere only a
semitone apart (Example 3.5). The syllables corresponding to those
pitches were Ut, Re-, Mi-, Fa-, Sol-, and La-; the entire pattern of six tones
Hexachord solmization formed a hexachord. Guido taught his students to read the notes of any
chant by thinking of the pitches and syllables of the hexachord. The
system is called solmization, after the fifth and third hexachord syllables.
Example 3.5 The first stanza of the hymn "Ut queant laxis," w hich Guido of
Arezzo u sed in explaining t he steps of t he hexachord. The first six phrases begin
on the steps of the hexachord, in ascending order. The text says, "In order that
your marvelous deeds while in servitude may resound, be absolved from the
accusation of u nclean lips, Saint John." The melody is in the second mode, and,
as in most hymns, the text is set mostly syllabically.
Hy mn i( • J • • I\,
2
• =
; •• • • • • ••
1Fl T que -ant ,a - X.IS
=
re - so - na - re Fi - bris Nii - ra ge - st6
iil: •• • • • i"i l'i • • •• • • ; • •• I

= ~ • • =
rum la - mu ~i tu - 6 - rum, S61 -ve pol -1 (1 -Ii IA - bi - i re - A -tum 1
• • ••
san -cte Jo - an -nes.
(It is still in use, of course, except that the first syllable is now· sung as do
instead of ut.)
The hexachord worked w·ell for the pitches from C3 to A3, but then a
problem arose. Guido solved this by having his students start w·ith that
hexachord, called the "natural" hexachord, and pivot on sol (G3) to a new·
hexachord, beginning there ,vith ut and thus extending the total range to
E4. The process of pivoting from one hexachord to another w·as called
mutation. To go still higher, one could apply mutation aga in on C4 to Hexachord mutation
produce a natural hexachord an octave above the first, reaching from C4
to A4, ,vhich was about as high as a chant ,vas likely to go. Reversing the
process, one could reach the bottom of the practical range by treating the
note C3 not as ut but as fa in a hexachord that ,vent down to G2, ,vhich
,vas called by the Greek letter name gamma (r).
A hexachord made by mutation from fa to ut produced a hexachord
that reached from F3 to D4. The importance of this F hexachord was not to
increase the range of the system; rather, its fa produced B i3. Because the
b ,vas ,vritten ,vith a curved body, it ,vas called b mollis (soft b), and thus
a hexachord ,vith ut on F3 was the "soft" hexachord. The B~3 w·as notated
,vith a square body and called b duru1n (hard b), so the hexachord based
on G was a "hard'' hexachord. Example 3.6 sho,vs the entire gamut, as Hard and soft
,veil as the four lo,vest hexachords.
The notes of the complete vocal range used in the chant could no,v
be identified as independent points in a scale beginning on G2 (r). Any The gamut
individual pitch ,vould be named by its letter name and the string of
hexachord syllables that could be applied to it. As ,ve can see from
Example 3.6, the pitch G3 w·ould be G sol re ut, and the pitch A3 ,vould be
A la mi re. The whole scale w·as named after the bottom note, gamma ut, Tiu. whole scale was
namtd aftu Ilit.bottom
shortened to gamut. Ultimately, the gamut ,vas extended at the top all the note, gamma ut_, sliorttnt.d
,vay to ES (e la). to gamut.
Guido or, more likely, someone among his successors concocted a
,vay to drill his sight-singing students by pointing to the joints of his left Guido's hand
hand. Each joint represented a pitch in the gamut. An illustration of the
Example 3.6 The gamut and the system of hexachords.
•• •
r A2 02 C3 03 E3 F3 G3 A3 Ol,3 Dq3 C4 04 E4 F4 G4 1\ 4 131,4 Dq4 Cl Dl El

111 re mi fa sol la
Namr<1l 111 re mi fa sol la
St,fi III I"(' mi fii t>OI Ii,
Hard 111 re mi fo sol la
CIC,
Figure 3.5 Guidonian

hand w ith "Lady ·.~.
...
'"
Music" (thirteenth cen-

tury). Such a diagram,
showing the position
of each pitch of the
gamut on the hand,
;..,(" , .<..t...
appeared in many .,.M
early treatises on
music. The tip of the
thumb represents
gamma ut. A double
-0 t:,L...-:
.
f{.1.~"
• llf('~ /
",.
~
ff, t:,.'
•...
loop around the joints
and tips of the fingers
.-
leads to e la at the top )1
of the middle finger.
•1
~
.."• --..".:
<
1 -.,.
...
\ .."'r
~
~ ~
~)
"Guidonian hand," show·ing the names of the notes in their places,

became a common feature of music theory handbooks (Figure 3.5).
1\vo important points should be stressed in this summary of the de-
velopment of chant theory: First, the concepts developed by the church's
singers and singing teachers have lasted to the t\venty-first century and
All tlane invtnlfons and have become so ingrained that ,ve take them for granted, a n impressive
dtvtlopmtnls usulttd achievement indeed. Second, all these inventions and developments re-
dirtcllyfrom the nuds of sulted not from acoustical or philosophical abstractions but d irectly
church musicians who
sougl1t to gain control ovtr
from the needs of church musicians ,vho sought to gain control over
lhtir music. their music. Both the concepts and the tools sprang from the creative
imaginations and intelligence of practical musicians constantly steeped
in music itself.
LATER DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LITURGICAL CHANT
As the body of chant literature became more or less established, musi-

Creativity within the cians in the church sought ne,v outlets for their creative impulses. In a
church's music situation in wh ich the repertoire was already codified and assumed to be
based on long-standing ecclesiastical authority, they therefore ,vorked
,vith the body of previously existing music and took as their task the am-
plification or glorification of the established chant.
Later Developn1ents in the Liturgical Chant 43
The church's music, as we have observed, had evolved by oral trans-

mission. For centuries the basic musical element had been the melody
as a line rather than discrete, abstract pitches. It was natural, then,
that musical composition should be based on the repertoire of familiar
melodies.
A model for composition under these circumstances already existed
in the literary technique know·n as the gloss. Authors and scholars com- Gloss
monly ,vorked from standard, "classic" texts, such as the scriptures or
,vritings of ancient authors, providing not entirely original literature but
running commentary on the given text. The nature of this commentary
varied from grammatical analysis to elaboration of arguments, addition
of details, and applications of principles. A gloss could be written as in-
terl inear entries ,vithin a book, marginal notes, or extended d iscussions
following brief statements extracted from the authority in question
(Plate 1).
The Trope
The musical application of the gloss principle to the chant produced the
trope, defined simply as the addition of words or music or both to amplify
an existing chant. More specifically, one might add ne,v ,vords to melis- Typos of trope
matic passages of a chant (Example 3.7), ne,v melismatic material to rela-
tively less complicated passages of text setting, or ne,vly invented
passages of ,vords ,vith their own music ,vithin an earlier piece. Added
,vords expand or define the preexisting text, possibly to reflect a ne,v
Example 3.7 One form of trope is the application of words to form a syllabic
version of music that might otherwise be sung melismatically, as in these
examples: (a) the first section of one setting of the Kyrie, untroped; (bl the same
Kyrie with its textual trope. The word •Kyrie" ("Lord") is replaced successively by
amplifying phrases: "Almighty Father, God, creator of all•; ·Font and origin of
good, compassionate and eternal light"; "May your mercy save us, good leader."
(a) =I • • ' ; •
.~
•
- . -:s; .. ••
~• ?
• ~ ...; ±
• c
II
• • , • •
'
. . . ""'· iij.
(b) =I • •
,.,-
•
., - • • • • • •
0 11\C"
f.(lm
s., .
. ,;
"\ 'i •,. . ""' "' ..

.
ri
"'
.
••
,;
'
. ..,..
. ...
,i
o, .
p;
"
. "'
. '
'
""'
..
lmt
..
.~
. "'
"" "'' .
•
= . • .
.
n~t
''
•ti: .
•or:
ni.i :
.....,:
:I~.
'
.
• • • • • • • • • • • ·- . k;
•
. ,oo.
II
theological understanding. The add ition of music, by contrast, affects

the expressive spirit of the piece, reflecting in the product a greater glori-
fication of God in divine w·orship, not unlike the addition of embroidery,
sculpture, or stained glass to decorate a church building and its furnish-
ings. It is important to note that this method of artistic creation, although
it might seem limiting to modern musicians, ,vas entirely characteristic
of the artistic intellect of those times. It suited perfectly the concepts
both of a universal, authoritative liturgy and of the use of existing me-
lodic lines as the fundamental components of music.
The practice of troping the chant began in about the ninth century
and continued to the twelfth. The earliest tropes appear to have been in-
troductory material to be placed before the main body of a chant, but
eventually the additions appeared throughout the chant.
A special application of the troping principle ,vas the Sequence,
Soquencos w·hich became a complete, independent movement v.rithin the Mass. The
term is derived from the Latin ,vord meaning "to follow''; w·hat it fol-
lo,ved ,vas the Alleluia of the Mass Proper. A ninth-century monk of the
Abbey of St. Gall, Notker Balbulus ("Notker the Stammerer"), w·rote
that he had d ifficulty in memorizing the long, untexted melismas (called
jubilus) that provided a flourish of praise at the ends of Alleluias. He dis-
covered that when w·ords were added to those melismas the notes became
easier to learn. He therefore set himself the task of composing poems to
be sung syllabically to the melismas. Such a new composition ,vas some-
times called prosa.
Creative musicians soon began to expand the Sequence texts into
elaborately structured poetry and even to provide entirely new music,
and thus they produced separate movements to follo,v the Alleluia as an-
other component in the Mass Proper. Seizing the opportunity to experi-
ment ,vith musical form in a way that could not be done w·ith the
established body of chant music, the composers developed an abstract
plan for the form of the Sequence by using rhymed pairs of lines that
shared music in the pattern A BB CC DD and so on. The Sequence thus
stands as a milestone in the history of musical form.
The writer and visionary Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), abbess
Hildegard ofBingon of the convent ofRupertsberg in Germany, excelled in the composition of
Sequences. Her Sequence texts are full of rich, mystical imagery, and her
music is often quite original. Hildegard 's ,vork is especially remarkable be-
cause she succeeded in a period in which music in general, and the music
of the church in particular, was almost exclusively the domain of men.
The number of Sequences gre,v rapidly, until eventually they num-
bered more than four thousand. This, of course, added significantly to the
already impressive bulk of material for the singers and planners of
the liturgy. Finally, all but four-"Victimae paschali laudes,'' attributed
to Wipo of Burgundy (ca. 995-ca.1050), for Easter; "Veni sanctespiritus,"
attributed to Pope Innocent III (ca. 1160-1216), for Pentecost; "Lauda
Sion,'' attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1225-1274), for Corpus
Later Developn1ents in the Liturgical Chant 45
Christi; and "Dies irae," by Thomas of Celano (thirteenth century), for

the Requiem Mass-were abolished in the reforms of the Council of
Trent (1545-1563).
Liturgical D ram a
Another result of the general practice of troping ,vas the development
of the liturgical drama. Church musicians' inclination to elaborate and
thereby bring more glory to the service led, in about the tenth century, to
the acting out of the sung texts.
The earliest instance of this took place in the text of the chants that
recount the Easter story. The biblical narrative and, following it, the The Eastrr p lay
music in question, took the form of a dialogue bet\veen the angels w·ho
guarded the tomb ofJesus and the ,vomen who came to anoint his body
on the third day after his burial. Although from the point of view· of pro-
claiming the authoritative Word of God it makes sense to have a single
reader read the complete text directly, the passage could be made more
realistic by assigning the performance to different singers representing
the separate interlocutors. By the end of the century, Ethehvold, the Tiu. East tr Gosptl
could bt made more
bishop ofWinchester, had ,vritten detailed instructions for acting out the
rtalislfo by as.signing the.
dialogue in the monastic Office of Matins on Easter morning (Plate 2). ptrformanct. to different
These constitute the first set of stage directions for a liturgical drama, sfogtrs rtprnt.nling tl1t
including costumes and props, blocking and gestures, and notes for the stparalt inttrloculors.
actors about the ,vay they should interpret the movement and the vocal
performance to convey emotion.
While the third lesson is read, four brothers robe themselves, one Bishop Ethtlwold providn
of whom dressed in an alb enters as if for another purpose and dis- a script and stage dirut.ion.s
for lht East tr drama.
creetly goes to the place w·here the sepulchre is, and sits there qui-
etly w·ith a palm in his hand. While the third response is being
sung, the remaining three come for,vard, every one dressed in a
cope, carrying thuribles with incense in their hands, and hesitantly
like people seeking something, come to the site of the sepulchre.
For these th ings are performed in imitation of the angel sitt ing in
the tomb, and of the ,vomen coming w·ith spices to anoint Jesus's
body. Consequently when the one sitting there sees the three near-
ing him, just like people straying about seeking something, he
begins to sing sweetly in a moderate voice:
Que1n quaeritis in sepulchro, 0 Christicolae? [Whom do you seek
in the tomb, 0 dwellers in Christ?]
When th is has been sung all through, the three reply in unison:
Ihesum Nazarenum crucifixu1n, 0 caelicola. [The crucified Jesus
of Nazareth, 0 dw·eller in heaven.]
He answ·ers them thus:
Non est hie, surrexit sicut praedixerat; ite, nuntiate quia surrexit
a mortuis. [He is not here, he has risen as he foretold; go, an-
nounce that he has risen from the dead.]
At his command the three turn to the choir, saying:

Alleluia, resurrexit Domin us, hodie resurrexit leo fortis, Christus,
jilius Dei. Deo gratias, dicite eia! [Alleluia, the Lord has risen,
today the strong lion, Christ the son of God, has risen. Cry
joyfully, thanks be to God!]
This being sung, the seated one as if calling them back sings the
antiphon:
Venite et videte locum ubi positus erat Dominus, alleluia. [Come
and see the place w·here the Lord ,vas laid, alleluia.)
Singing these words he rises and lifts the curtain, and sho,vs them
the place ,vith the cross gone but with the linen cloths in ,vhich the
cross was ,vrapped lying there.3
Creative musicians soon subjected other topics to similar treatment.
The desire to provide equally colorful and dramatic material for Christ-
mas led to plays about shepherds, wise men, and King Herod. Those who
developed sacred drama did not neglect the possibilities of Old Testa-
ment stories or the miracles and parables of Jesus, and eventually they
Other biblical plays turned to the lives of the saints. They expanded all this material ,vith ne,v
action and dialogue (in the vernacular as ,veil as in Latin) and found
space for attractive processions and for expounding the morals of the
stories. As the plays became more elaborate, the conservative authorities
,vithin the church rejected such extensive interruptions and texts that
manifested little or no reliance on the authority of the scripture or the
liturgy. The play Ordo virtutum, composed by H ildegard von Bingen for
the Rupertsberg convent, represents the 1norality play, not directly based
on a biblical story but illustrating how· the Christian virtues can conquer
Morality plays the devil. Eventually, the freer sorts of plays w·ere ordered out of the sanc-
tuaries, the acting ,vas taken over by the laity, and in church courtyards
and to,vn squares liturgical drama evolved into, or gave ,vay to, popular
mystery and miracle plays.
Substantial surveys of music history in the period discussed in this chap-

ter include Jeremy Yudkin, Music in Medieval Europe (Engle,vood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989); John Cald,vell, Medieval Music (London:
Hutchinson, 1978); Richard H. Hoppin, Medieval Music (Ne,v York:
Norton, 1978); and the magisterial older study by Gustave Reese, Music
in the Middle Ages (Ne,v York: Norton, 1940). Giulio Cattin, Music of the
Middle Ages I, trans. Steven Botterill (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1984), deals ,vith both sacred and secular monophonic
music. A brief and engaging history is Margot Fassler, Music in the Medi-
eval West (Ne,v York: Norton, 2.014).
The standard general reference for the chant is the Liber usualis (latest
edition, Ne,v York: Desclee, 1963). Will i Apel's Gregorian Chant (Bloom-
ington: Indiana University Press, 1958) provides a classic discussion of
the repertoire. A more recent treatment is David Hiley, Western Plain-

chant: A Handbook (New·York: Oxford University Press, 1995).
On liturgical drama, see 0 . B. Hardison, Christian Rite and Christian
Drama in theMiddleAges (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1965).
I. The Monk of St. Gall, from "Life ofthe Emperor Charles the Great," translated
byJames McKinnon, in Oliver Strunk, ed., Source Readings in Music History, rev.
ed., Leo Treitler, gen. ed. (New York: Norton, 1998), 182. For a different version
of the same story, told by a pro-Roman partisan, see John the Deacon, from "Life
of Gregory the Great," in the same volume, 179-80.
2. It is possible that the attribution of the chant to Gregory I partly reflects an
early confusion about which Gregory contributed importantly to the music of
the church. Arguments have been advanced to suggest that Pope Gregory 11
(715-731) and possibly Pope Gregory Ill (731-741) actually had greater impact,
but the scholars around Alcuin held Gregory I in especially h igh regard and con-
sequently misread the records available to them.
3. Reprinted from William Tydeman, The Theatre in theMiddleAges (Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press, 1978), 35-36.
Secular Song and Instrumental
Music to 1300
Musicians did not find music notation as necessary for secular songs as they did
for sacred music, so the earliest surviving written secular music does not appear
until somewhat later. The largest body ofsongs in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries is the music of the troubadours, trouveres, and Minnesinger, ivhose
work centered on the theme of courtly love. Musicians could draw on many
different instruments to accompany various musical activities, including singing
and dancing.
Secular 1\1usic before the Eleventh SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

Century BRITAIN
Latin Songs Instrunients

Epics and Minstrels STRING INSTRUJ\1ENTS
\VIND INSTRUMENT S
Troubadours and Trouveres
PERCUSSION INSTRUJHENTS
Ger,nan Court 1\1usic ORGANS
Monophonic Songs in Other Regions The Use of Instru,nents
ITALY
48
Latin Songs 49
SECU L AR Music B E FOR E THE E LEVE NTH CENTURY
It is impossible to imagine that secular music did not exist during the
centuries w·hen the music of the church was in a process of evolutionary
ferment. Because of the unstable political situation in the centuries up to
the end of the first millennium, however, Europeans had little time or
peace for the creation of a notated and theoretically rationalized music
repertoire in the secular sphere comparable to the repertoire of the Stcular music up to lht. tnd
of the first milltnnium
chant. Furthermore, since few· people outside the church could read or
btlongs to tht oral or folk
had the resources to copy and preserve music in \Vritten form, the his- tradition.
torical record is naturally biased in favor of the music of the church.
Thus, although people undoubtedly sang and danced at all levels of soci-
ety from the peasantry to the upper class, this music belongs to the oral
or folk tradition. It can be known only indirectly by references in literary
descriptions, \vorks of visual art, artifacts of musical instruments, and
cautious reasoning from traces of it remaining in the European folk
music of today.
We can make a fe\v tentative generalizations. The nature of the spoken
language must have dominated song; that is, rhythms ,vould have been
metrically free and governed by speech rhythm, and melodies were prob-
ably modal in the sense that they follow·ed simple basic formulas con-
trolled by the rising and falling inflections of speech. The musical idiom Gutssrs about stylr
probably did not have the standardization of pitch relationships that de-
veloped in church music, ,vhere it w·as important to fit the parts of the
liturgy together ,vith musical consistency and to simplify the vast body
of melodies so that they could be learned precisely. Dance music ,vould,
of course, have differed from song in employing stronger and more regu-
lar rhythm ic patterns. The instruments used in this music ,vere relatively
simple by comparison to those of classical antiquity.
More cannot be surmised. Only after about the year 1000 is it pos-
sible to bring secular music into anything approaching the kind of focus
,vith ,vhich \Ve can view the music of the church.
L ATIN SONGS
In the eleventh and hvelfth centuries there arose a class of itinerant

dropouts from the discipline of clerical studies, literate but unaffiliated
,vith specific church institutions. These young men typically traveled
from place to place, making their living by their skills. They,vere kno,vn
as goliards because, apparently, they took as their "patron saint" a myth i-
cal character named Golias (Goliath). Their songs ranged in topics from Goliard•
moral to satirical, but not neglecting the amorous and the bibulous. Be-
cause they ,vere schooled and literate, some of their songs have been
preserved.
An important collection of this sort ofsong is the manuscript kno\vn
as Carini11a Burana (Bavarian Songs), wh ich dates from the th irteenth
SO CHAPTER 4: Secular Song and Instrumental Music to 1300
Example 4.1 The first verse of the conductus known as the · song of the Ass;
from a thirteenth -century Christmas play performed at Beauvais in northern
France. The text says, "From the east the donkey has come, beautiful and strong,
most qualified to bear its burden. Hey, Sir Donkey, hey!" The donkey apparently
carried the Virgin Mary in procession, and the stage d irections make clear that
this song was used as the donkey was led in.
•
18 J v F .Jl I F J J I F
0 . .,., .
ri • en 1is
D F DIF D
Ad • ~·en . ,., . ,·ii :·,
r·
si - nu$
IF v F pI
l)u1 • cher fo, •
Ii • bt1$
"
II
tis . si - mus Sar · d - nis ap - tis · si · mus. Hez. Sir As · ne hez!
century. It contains not only bawdy ballads but also moralistic poetry
and some sophisticated and touching love songs. Most are in Latin, but a
Carmina Burana few· are in southern German dialect. Unfortunately, Carmina Burana in-
cludes no music that we can read today; a few· of the poems have staffiess
neumes. From other sources that do contain readable music notation, \Ve
can see that the melodies bear a close resemblance to those their creators
had learned in the church. (Carl Orff, a twentieth-century German com-
poser and pioneer in music education, set a number of the Carmina
Burana songs for chorus, solo voices, and orchestra in a rousing style that
effectively evokes the character of the texts.) Another, more elevated
type of Latin song also flourished in the eleventh to the thirteenth cen-
turies. These songs express serious thoughts, and their literary style re-
flects the influence of the Latin of the church and the classical Roman
Conductus poetry studied in the trivium of the schools. These songs often have reli-
gious subjects; although they did not strictly belong to the liturgy itself,
some seem to have been used ,vithin the sacred service. They are some-
times referred to as conductus (related to the Latin root duco, meaning
"leading"), perhaps because they ,vere employed to accompany action or
a procession in the Mass or liturgical drama (Example 4.1). A special
type ,vas the planctus or lament; the oldest one kno,vn is on the death of
Planctus Charlemagne. The music for these songs is related to the musical style of
the chant. Because they adopted the rhymed and metered style of poetry,
their settings resembled the syllabic underlay and repetitive forms of the
hymn and Sequence more than the freer underlay and forms of the prose-
like movements of the liturgy.
E PICS AND MINSTRELS
An important poetic and musical genre was the popular epic sung to en-
tertain and inspire listeners of a \vide range of social classes ,vith stories
Troubadours and Trouveres 51
of heroes' escapades. The oral tradition of these long verse narratives, Epics
known as chansons de geste (songs of deeds), must extend back at least
into the Carolingian era of the ninth and tenth centuries. They were per-
formed by minstrels who passed them from one to another, undoubtedly
enrich ing and embellishing the stories with each resinging. The earliest
surviving written versions date from the eleventh century. The most
famous of these is the Chanson de Roland (So ng of Roland), w·hich tells
about the exploits of Charlemagne and his knights battling the Muslim
armies in Spain.
The chansons de geste use the vernacular rather than Latin, since
they w·ere addressed to an audience of unlettered listeners. They are
based on stanzas of varying numbers of ten-syllable lines, and musicians
probably sang them, as is usual for genres dependent on oral transmis-
sion, to melodic formulas, repeated for each line and adapted to meet the
particular needs of unusual lines.
The minstrels ,vho sang these tales ,vere men and ,vomen ,vho often
traveled from place to place, performing in court or a town square, wher-
ever an audience could be found. When they met, they exchanged reper- Minstr ols
toires, thus spreading the songs throughout Europe. The minstrels
cultivated a variety of skills in addition to singing, including tumbling
and juggling, from which they also became kno,vn by the alternative
French name jongleurs. Despite their popularity, they ranked as socially
inferior to merchants, craftsmen, and even peasant farmers.
T ROU BADOU R S A ND T ROU VE R ES
Beginning around 1100 a ne,v type of lyric poetry set to music arose in
the courts of the large area of southern France known as Aquitaine. The
aristocracy there found itself relatively at peace; sufficiently ,vealthy to
have leisure time; and educated enough to spend its efforts in artistic,
amorous, and literary pursuits. Some aristocrats turned their energies to
,vriting songs. In their own language, Provenc;al, or the langue d'oc (oc Songsofthefeudal
being the ,vord for "yes"), the men among these poet-composers were aristocracy
called troubadours (finders); the fem inine form-and a number of
,vomen aristocrats contributed to the repertoire, so ,ve also have songs
reflecting ,vomen's points of view·- is trobairitz. By the m iddle of the
t\velfth century such song,vriting at the courts had spread to the north of
France and to England, ,vhere the composers ,vere called by the French
name trouveres and ,vrote in the northern dialect, or langue d'oi"/ (oi"l being
the word for-you guessed it-"yes''). The common image of a trouba-
dour as a wandering m instrel is, of course, mistaken; the troubadours
belonged to the upper class of society and composed poetry and music,
,vhereas the minstrels belonged to the lowest social level and ,vere pri-
marily illiterate performers.
Probably the most famous trouvere is England's King Richard the
Lionhearted (1157-1 199). According to legend, he ,vas once imprisoned
52 CHAPTER 4: Secular Song and Instrumental Music to 1300
in a secret donjon in Austria and was rescued after being located by his
friend and fellow trouvere Blondel de Nesle (ca. 1155-1202), w·ho trav-
eled about singing one of Richard 's own songs until he heard the captive
king answ·er.
The can so of the troubadours and the chanson of the trouveres usu-
ally dealt ,vith themes offin' a111ors, or courtly love. The idea of courtly
love probably reflects the actuality that much of the audience for these
songs consisted of noble,vomen, and the topic provided a set of values
Courtly love different from those of the masculine stories of battle in the epic tale. It
has been suggested that courtly love, also kno,vn as courtoisie, provided
a model for young noblemen of some behavior other than violence. Elab-
orate and artificial rules under ,vhich the fin' am ors should operate come
to us in an extensive pseudoscholarly treatise titled Liber de arte honesti
a111andi et reprobatione inhoneste amoris (Book of the art of loving honor-
ably and the censure of dishonorable love), ,vritten in about 1185 by one
Andre le Chapelain for Marie the Countess of Champagne. In the highly
stylized courtly manners reflected and supported by the songs of trouba-
dours and trouveres, the love in question ,vas usually that of a young
knight for someone else's ,vife. The lover suffered, pleaded, and ventured
Pl1y-Jical co,uummalfon deeds of honor for tokens of recognition from the object of his passion.
of c-0urtly lovt was The ,voman in question ,vas to be served and honored in love, just as the
ptrl,ap-s nrore drt.a mtd
oftha11 lik<ly. knight's liege lord ,vas to be served in combat. Physical consummation of
the relationship was perhaps more dreamed of than likely because de-
spite frequent references to sexual intimacy, the songs often compare the
beloved with the Virgin Mary in her purity and chastity; intensity of
Song types desire ahvays took precedence over its fulfillment. A song might treat
courtly love from any one of a variety of viewpoints; typical formats in-
clude the lament (planh), a disputation about the fine points of courtly
love (tenso in the south and descort in the north), an amorous encounter
of a knight and a shepherdess (pastorela or pastourelle), and the parting of
lovers at dawn (alba, aubade; Figure 4.1). The trobairitz songs adopt
female personas, and so they give feminine perspectives, sometimes op-
erating in critical tension ,vith the usual roles assumed in the troubadour
texts. There ,vere also dance songs (balada, ballade), ,vhose lighthearted
texts generally took a some,vhat explicit seductive approach, mocking
the jealous husbands of the ,vomen involved.
We have stories of the lives of the troubadours and trobairitz in the
form of brief vidas that introduce their poems. These vidas provide some
biographical facts, but, equally important, they serve to establish the
"voice'' or lyric persona of the songs. As an example ,ve may take the vida
of Gui d'Ussel (ca. 1170-before 1225; Figure 4.2), '"ho gave up h is secu-
lar position in favor of church appointments and was forced to abandon
song,vriting:
lhe vida of Gui tdls Gui d 'Ussel was from Limousin, a noble castellan, and he and his
of his life and songs brothers and their cousin Lord Elias were lords ofUssel, wh ich is a
Troubadours and Trouveres 53
...--.-. ....,
:.
Figure 4.1 Gerard Leeu, Aubade, from L'lstoire du tresvai/lant chevalier Paris et la
belle Vienne, fl/le du dauphin. A troubadour sings an au bade in the garden below a
lady's w indow, accompanied by a minstrel. The narrative accompanying this pic-
ture tells how the young nobleman Paris and his m instrel entered the garden
during the night to sing in t he morning for the p rincess Vienne.
Figu re 4.2 Gui d'Ussel

riding a white horse in
an illumination from
t he manuscript includ-
ing his vida.
rich castle. And one of his two brothers ,vas named Lord Ebles and
the other Peire, and the cousin ,vas named Lord Elias. And all four
,vere troubadours. Gui found [trobava] good cansos, and Lord Elias
good tensos, and Lord Ebles bad tensos, and Lord Peire set to music
[descantava] all that the other three found.
Lord Gui became a canon in Brioude and Montferrand, and for
a long time he was in love with Lady Margarita d'Aubusson and the
countess of Montferrand, about ,vhom he made many good cansos.
But the papal legate made him swear that he ,vould never make
cansos. And thus he gave up song-making and singing.'
Gui turns up again in a more extensive story about the trobairitz Maria
de Ventadorn (1165-1221):
Maria de Ventadorn's Certainly you have heard of my Lady Maria de Ventadorn, how· she
vida ttl ls her story ,vas the most admired lady ,vho used to be in Limousin, and ,vho
and connects her to
Guid 'Ussel always did ,vhat ,vas best and protected herself from evil. And she
,vas ahvays led by good sense, and folly never made her commit an
unwise act. And God honored her with a beautiful, pleasing body,
,vithout artifice.
Lord Gui d' Ussel had lost his lady, as you have also heard in
his canso that says, "If you dism iss me, ,vicked lady, . . ." and so he
lived in great sorrow and in great sadness. And for a long time he
did not sing or make songs; for this reason all the good ladies of
that region were very sad, and my Lady Maria most of all, because
Lord Gui d' Ussel used to praise her in all his cansos. And the
Count of La Marche, ,vhose name ,vas Lord Uc le Brun, was her
knight, and she gave h im as much honor and love as a lady can give
to a knight.
And one day he ,vas courting her, and they,vere having a debate:
the Count de la Marche said that anyone ,vho was in love, once his
lady had given him her love and taken him as her knight and lover, as
he is loyal and faithful to her, ought to have as much rule and com-
mand over her as she over him; and my Lady Maria refused the lover
any rule and command over her. And Gui d'Ussel was at the court of
my Lady Maria and she, in order to make him return to his cansos
and his happiness, made a couplet in which she asked him ifit,vas
appropriate for a lover to have as much rule over his lady as she had
over him. And on this topic my Lady Maria provoked him to a tenso,
saying thus: "Gui d'Ussel, you give me much pain."2
About five thousand troubadour and trouvere song texts survive,

,vith music for about two thousand, mostly from the later, northern tra-
dition. The melod ies are relatively simple, and their pitch organization
Stylo of the songs resembles that of ecclesiastical sacred chant. There is no clear rhythmic
notation for the vast majority of the repertoire, but it is possible that the
Gern1an Court Music 55
songs ,vere sung ,vith a more metered rhythm than chant, since the texts
themselves were poetically metrical.
One of the most important contributions of the trouveres ,vas their
unprecedented exploitation of the possibilities of musical form. Just as
they adopted standardized approaches to their subject matter, they also
developed standard poetic designs and musical plans. The internal struc- Musical form
tu res of the stanzas of their songs often rely on recurring melodic phrases,
,vith clear reliance on the distinction behveen open-ended and conclu-
sive phrase endings. There eventually developed a somewhat standard-
ized stanza structure, consisting of an opening part, or frons, made up of
a pair of phrases that are then repeated to ne,v text (pes; plural pedes),
followed by a closing section, or cauda, of several more or less indepen-
dent phrases. We can illustrate the form ,vith the first stanza of a song by
Jaufre Rudel (fl. 1120-1 147):
frons pes 1 Quan lo rius de la fontana When the fountain's flo,v Jaufre Rudd's ...Quan
S'esclarzis si cum far sol, lo rius de la fontana..
becomes clear, as the sun does,
illustrates a t)'pical song
pes 2 E par la flors aiglentina, and the eglantine flo,ver verse design
appears
E-1rossinholetz el ram and the nightingale on the
branch
cauda Volte refranh ez aplana throws out, repeats, and
ornaments
Son dous chanter e-1afina his s,veet love song,
Be-ys dregz qu'ieu la rnieu by rights I should take up my
refranha. refrain.
The cauda may also incorporate, literally or in varied form, material from
the frons, particularly the second phrase of the pes.
GERMAN CouRT Music

Taking the troubadours as their models, the German courts also pro-
duced aristocratic poet-composers, called Minnesinger (from Minne, the
German word for "courtly love"). True to a general tendency of German Minnesinger
culture, their songs, or Minnelieder, lean to,vard a more sober outlook
than those of the troubadours. Many of the texts have explicitly religious
content.
The melodies of the Minnelieder tend to feature more angular con-
tours and melodic skips than those of the Provenc;al canso or French
chanson, but they also show some influence of the chant. As to rhythm, Song style
it is likely that German, which uses stress accents, produced a more regu-
larly metered music than French, ,vhich does not.
The predominant form in the lieder of the M innesinger was the AAB
design, kno,vn in German as Bar form. The first t\vo sections, ,vhich Bar
might have several phrases each, were called Stollen, and the third sec-
tion, w·hich also m ight have several phrases, ,vas called Abgesang. This
plan obviously resembles the characteristic form of troubadour and trou-
vere songs. The first stanza of the "Palastinalied," a crusader's song by
Walther van der Vogehveide (ca. 1170-ca. 1230), illustrates the form:
Bar fo rm in \Valther Stollen Nu airest leb' ich mir werde No,v at last life is meaningful
von dtrVogdwtide's tome,
PalaitinaJird
sit min sundic ouge ersiht since my sinful eyes have seen
Stollen !ant daz here und ouch die the holy land and the earth
erde
dem man vii der eren giht. that people honor.
Abgesang Mir'st geschehn des ich ie I have seen ,vhat I prayed for;
bat
ich bin komen an die stat I have come to the city
da got menneschlichen trat. Where God trod in human
form.
As in the French repertoire, to give unity to the entire strophe the

Abgesang m ight share some of the subordinate phrases of the Stollen,
particularly the cadential phrase. In the "Palastinalied," for example, the
last line employs the same music as the second lines of its two Stollen
(Example 4.2).
Some,vhat later (from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century), the
Minnesinger trad ition ,vas preserved and extended by the Meistersinger,
composers from the social class of craftsmen and merchants, who orga-
Meistersingor nized themselves into guilds. The Meistersinger constructed elaborate
rules and complex poetic and musical structures, unlike their much
more spontaneous forebears. In the nineteenth century Richard Wagner
,vrote about these musicians in his music drama Die Meistersinger von
Nurnberg, ,vhich explores the perennial tension behveen artistic prog-
ress and the conservative rules of the artistic establishment.
Example 4.2 Walther van der Vogelweide's "Palastinalied." The song illustrates
the Bar form, with musical rhyme between the second phrase of the Stollen and
the last phrase of the Abgesang.
-@• • - ;; • • ;::; -•• ; .;. • • • G;; • • .; ;,. • ; • ;:-; =11

N~• al - res• leb'_ i<:b inir_ _ werde- s.i1 min s11n • die_ <>11- ge tr siht_ _
Lani daz h(;re uni.I_ ou~h die_ _ tr - de_ dcm man vii dcr_ C - run_ gih1._
f- - - ;;
""'-
:. - •.,,,,- -
ich
;;
i•-
I
ich
;; -.........
•
bin_ _
;; •
ko .
;
meo -
~
•
s
; •
'"
;;
die_
:-. ...
$1'.:)I,
.
(b
•
g0<
- . • • • ...
men
.;
1)CS(;b
:s
;;
1; chen_ _
; ;;
11,11•
- • '• II
Monophonic Songs in Other Regions 57
MONOPHONI C SON GS I N OTH E R REG IONS
Italy
Beginning in the thirteenth century, there grew' up an Italian tradition of
popular spiritual songs called laude. These are more like folk songs than
the sophisticated artistic creations of the troubadours, trouveres, and
Minnesinger, although some of them show' the same basic principles of
form as the northern composers' works. The laude began as songs sung by Laude
bands of pilgrims ,vho roamed from place to place doing penance on
behalf of the rest of the sinful ,vorld and often performing self-flagellation.
They may have used the laude either as marching music or as accompani-
ment to the flagellation itself. In Germany such penitents were called
Geissler, and they developed their o,vn repertoire of songs (Geisslerlieder)
parallel to those in Italy.
Sp ain and Portu gal

The Spanish and Portuguese also began to write songs in their vernacu-
lars in the thirteenth century. The most important of these are the collec-
tion of Cantigas de Santa Maria. These cantigas date from the court of CanHgas
King Alfonso X ("the Wise," 1221-1284) of Castile and Leon in the
second half of the thirteenth century, a court that ,vas also familiar ,vith
the songs of the troubadours. They express the popular devotion to the
,vorship of the Virgin Mary, and many recount her miracles, although
their primary intention must have been to entertain the court. The ap-
pearance of accurate rhythm ic notation in the Cantigas de Santa Maria
makes them unique among the song types discussed in this chapter, pos-
sibly because of the Cantigas's late date.
It is possible that the cantigas owe some of their formal characteris-
tics to traditions derived from poetic-musical designs of Muslim Spain,
since they share some of their verse and refrain patterns ,vith Arabic
music. Since this music dates from later than some of the refrain forms
found in troubadour song, ho,vever, the reverse is possible. There may
have been some cross-fertilization.
Br itain
The British Isles had a long oral tradition of song before they produced
,vritten music. British musicians developed a wide variety of English
lyrics, both religious and secular in character. The bulk of surviving ma-
terial is some,vhat less sophisticated than the repertoire of the continen-
tal composers, but the songs compensate for this by the intensity and
sincerity of their texts and the simplicity and directness of their music.
Particularly popular in England was the carol. Carols ,vere originally
dance or processional songs, constructed in several verses that ,vere
introduced, separated, and concluded by a refrain called the burden.
Although some purely secular carols existed, most had religious or at least ca,ols
Carol.s wtrt auociattd moral texts. Often the texts combined English lyrics w·ith phrases in Latin,
wit.I, festivals, altl1ough reflecting their seriousness of tone. Many carols were associated ,vith fes-
tl1tfr conntclfon with
Claristmas camt laltr. tivals, although their connection ,vith Christmas in particular came later.
I NSTRUMENT S
Although specific scoring did not become a feature of musical practice

until much later, players could dra,v from a ,vide variety of instruments
in the music of these centuries. Most of the evidence of instrumental
performance comes from extramusical sources, such as depictions in
painting and sculpture and references in literature. The follo,ving discus-
sion gives only a brief overvie,v of the many instruments available to mu-
sicians up to 1400.
Musicians did not commonly espouse the modern idea of grouping
instruments according to families until the fifteenth and sixteenth cen-
turies. Instruments ,vere built singly and could be played in any combi-
nation that ,vas available and feasible. The only classification grouped
l,aut and bas instruments according to volume and function. Some instruments ,vere
loud, or haut (French for "high"), and belonged outdoors or in large
halls. Other instruments made a more delicate, soft sound and ,vere
called low, or bas (French for "lo,v"; Figure 4.3). They belonged to indoor,
more intimate spaces.
String Instruments
The distant successors of the ancient lyre or kithara varied a great deal.
Some were plucked ,vith fingers or a plectrum, often a bird quill. The
harp, whose ancestry goes back to ancient Egypt, appears in dra,vings
Harp and carvings from around the time of Charlemagne. Widely used to ac-
company the singing of narrative tales, the harp ranked as a royal instru-
ment in Ireland. As Arabic culture ga ined influence in Europe, another
Psaltery plucked instrument, the psaltery, became popular. The psaltery consisted
of a resonating flat ,vooden box, often triangular or trapezoidal, strung
,vith a number of slightly raised strings running parallel across its sur-
face. The psaltery ,vas also called canon, from the Arabic qanun. The
Lute Moorish 'ud became the European lute in the fourteenth century. At first
Figu re 4.3 Some combinations of instruments from a fourteenth -century

manuscript. Two hautcombinations are shown-trumpets and drums, bagpipe
and shawm-and one bas combination-vielle and harp.
Instru1nents 59
the lute was plucked or strummed ,vith a quill. The plucking technique
used ,vith these instruments did not, of course, lend itself to the perfor-
mance of polyphonic music.
Bowed string instruments thrived as ,veil. One, another Middle East-
ern export, was the rebec, a pear-shape instrument of which the neck ,vas
actually the narrow end of the body. It had three strings. The rebec sur- Rebec
vives today as a folk instrument in southeastern Europe. The French vielle
or German Piede/ had a flat-backed body, a solid, separate neck, and usually
five strings. A more complicated cousin of the vielle, the hurdy-gurdy or Vielle
organistrum, employed a rosined ,vheel and a crank instead of a bow to set
up the vibration in the strings and keys along the instrument's neck to stop
the strings. A particular feature of the hurdy-gurdy was the presence of Hurdy-gu,dy
sustaining drone strings. The earliest versions of this instrument appar-
ently required two players, one to crank the ,vheel and one to play the keys.
W ind In strument s
Wind instruments varied at least as much as the strings. Both the re-
corder, an end-blo,vn flute ,vith a ,vhistle mouthpiece, and the simpler
transverse flute ,vere used. Both types would have been made of a simple Recordor and flute
,vooden tube ,vithout such "modern" inventions as the metal keys that
began to appear in the sixteenth century.
Wind instruments with double reeds as vibrators formed the shawm
family. The sha,vms made a loud, penetrating sound with an aggressive Shawm
nasal tone produced by the reed and a flared bell. Their close relatives
remain common from the Middle East to India and East Asia today.
Bagpipes were also kno,vn as early as the n inth century, but they were
primarily folk instruments. Both shawms and bagpipes belonged to the Bagpipes
category of haut instruments.
Brass instruments ,vere apparently not used for composed or sophisti-
cated music. They were used by heralds and for military signals. Naturally, Brass instruments
they ,vere considered haut.
Percussion Instruments
Percussion instruments have ahvays existed and in an immensely ,vide
variety. Bells, cymbals, and drums ,vere ,videly used throughout this
period. The kettledrum came from the Arabian naker and ,vas used first Nakers
in military contexts. A popular combination, the pipe and tabor, often
accompan ied dancing. The tabor, a shallo,v cylindrical drum, ,vas hung Pipe and tabor
from the player's left arm so that it could be beaten ,vith a stick in the
right hand, ,vhile the left hand fingered the three-hole, end-blown pipe.
Organs
The organ dates back to several centuries before the Christian era. Still
rare in the time of Charlemagne, organs were given as magn ificent gifts
from the Byzantine emperors to w'estern kings. Their use in church music
dates back at least to the tenth century, and they spread rapidly during
Organs in church music the Gothic period, beginning in the late eleventh century. Smaller and
date back lo at ltast the more movable versions also existed and functioned in secular contexts.
ltnt.11 unt·u ry.
The positive organ stood on a tabletop or the floor and generally required
t\vo persons to operate it, one for the bello,vs and one for the keys. The
portative organ could be held bya single player, ,vho operated the bellows
,vith the left hand and played the keys ,vith the right.
THE USE OF INSTRUMENTS
Throughout these centuries, instruments other than the organ belonged

to the realm of secular rather than sacred music. The church fathers op-
posed instrumental music in principle, partly because, without ,vords,
music seemed to them no more than idle entertainment and partly be-
cause of the association of instrumental music ,vith immoral or licen-
tious activities. When they inevitably encountered the biblical references
to instruments, they interpreted them as mere allegories. For example, in
the twelfth century the theologian Honorius of Autun offered the fol-
lowing gloss on Psalm 150:
Honorius explains the Praise hi1n with the ty1npanon and chorus [i.e., timbrel and dance).
refrrcnces to instruments The tympanon is made from skin that has dried and become firm,
in Psalm ISO
,vhich signifies unchangeable flesh, made strong against corrup-
tion. Therefore praise God because he has made your flesh, once
fragile, to be firm and because it will no longer be subject to
corruption....
Praise hi1n with the well-sounding cymbals. Cymbals shine and
resound after they have been forged in the fire. This signifies the
bodies of the saints who, after they passed through the fire of adver-
sity, will glisten as the sun and resound eternally in praise of
God....
Indeed, through various instruments are signified different
orders of those who praise God in Church. . . . The trumpets are
preachers; the psalterium those ,vho perform spiritual deeds, such
as monks; the kithara those who chastise themselves, like hermits
and solitaries. The tympanum is those ,vho have died to their faults,
such as martyrs; and the chorus those living harmoniously in the
common life, like the canons regular . . . . By these instruments
every spirit, that is everything ,vhich has spiritual life, praises God;
instruments of that sort will resound during the everlasting nup -
tials of the Lamb, Alleluia.>
This does not mean that instruments ,vere never played in the church.
Indeed, from the vigorous and repeated censorship of instruments by
the authorities, ,ve can only conclude that they must have been used at
least sometimes.
The Use of Instruments 61
Even when a piece seems clearly intended for instrumental perfor-

mance, w·hich is rare, music before the late sixteenth century never speci-
fies the instruments to be used or the ,vay in which they are to be
combined with each other or ,vith voices. Most likely, musicians simply
adapted the music to w·hatever instruments ,vere at hand and could
manage the notes. Performances of the same piece must have varied
considerably.
Instruments took a variety of roles in vocal music. Players undoubt-
edly doubled singers' parts in some performances, and they may have
accompan ied voices heterophonically, either in an ornamental reading
ofa melody or in a simple statement of a line while the singer embellished.
They may have played drones to support singers, keep them on pitch, and Instruments and vocal
give richness of sound to the music. Although most of the written music music
seems to have been conceived for voices, instruments could substitute

for singers when instruments ,vere available and singers were not. In-
strumentalists may also have provided preludes, interludes, or postludes
to vocal pieces. These may have been notated in the manner of refrains
,vithin songs or simply improvised by the players.
There survives a small quantity of music actually intended specifi-
cally for instrumental performance, the repertoire of dance music
(Figure 4.4). The most important type of dance ,vas the estampie. The Dance musk
estampie, ,vhich might be provided with ,vords for singing, ,vas designed
as a series of paired, parallel phrases called puncta (sing. punctum). In this
it resembles the form of the liturgical Sequence, of course, suggesting that
musicians applied the same manner of formal thinking to both sacred
and secular repertoires. A notable feature of the es tampie ,vas the use of a Es tampie
harmonically transient or open (in French, ouvert; in Italian, aper to)
ending on the first statement of each punctum and a stable or closed (in
French, clos; in Italian, chiuso) ending for its repetition (Figure 4.5). Oprn and dosed cadencrs
The matter of determining instrumentation for performances of
instrumental music or of vocal music ,vith instruments may seem frus-
trating, if not futile. In fact, the problems of devising instrumentations Devjdug ;,ul'r'umtnlations
for early music provide delightful challenges to the modern player's for tarly music provides
dtligl1tful challtngts lo tire.
creativity. Today's musicians might, of course, produce historically in- modern playtr's crtat.ivity.
authentic or musically unfortunate scorings. But for players ,vho can
discover the historical possibilities, learn the techniques of the mechan-
ically relatively simple instruments, and exercise good musical taste and
Figure 4.4 Dancers accompanied by a vielle, drums, and portative organ.

Figure 4.5 The •

"huitieme estampie
real" (eighth royal es-
tampie) in manuscript.
The beginning of the
first ending of each
punctum is marked by
a short vertical stroke
and a dot. At the long
vertical stroke the mu-
sician returns to the
beginning of the line
and then skips over the
first ending and pro -
ceeds to the second
ending.
I
I -·~
,
l_ ,,..~... .-'t~-!;r~'
an understanding of the principles of the music itself, there may be many

w·onderfully effective w·ays to perform the music. The possibility for vari-
ety is one attractive feature of the early music repertoire.
Hendrick Van der Werf, The Chansons of the Troubadors and Trouveres
(Utrecht: Oosthoek, 1972), is an excellent study, as is Elizabeth Aubrey,
The Music of the Troubadours (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1997). Robert Briffault, The Troubadours (Bloomington: Indiana Univer-
sity Press, 1965), gives a historical survey. An introduction to the Min-
nesinger repertoire, the music itself, and analytical commentary can be
found in Ronald Taylor, TI1e Art of the Minnesinger, 2 vols. (Cardiff, UK:
University of Wales Press, 1968).
On early instruments, see Curt Sachs, TI1e History of Musical
Instruments (Ne\v York: Norton, 1940); Jeremy Montagu, The World of
Medieval and Renaissance Instruments (Woodstock, NY: Overlook, 1976);
and David Munrow·, I11stru1nents of the Middle Ages and Renaissance
(London: Oxford University Press, 1976).
Suggestions for Fur ther Reading 63
For a good discussion of performance, see Christopher Page, Voices

and Instru1nents of the Middle Ages (Berkeley: Un iversity of California
Press, 1986). Timothy J. McGee's The Sound ofMedieval Song: Orna1nen-
tation and Style According to the Treatises (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1998) applies contemporary documents to performance problems.
Practical matters are d iscussed in Ross W. Duffi n, ed.,A Perfonner's Guide
to Medieval Music (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000).
I. Jean Boutiere and A. H. Schutz, Biographies des tro11badours: Textes proven-

fa11x des XI Ile et XI Ve siecles (Paris: Nizet, 1964), 202. [Translation by OS]
2. Ibid., 212-13. [Translation by OS]
3. Reprinted from James McKinnon, "The Church Fathers and Musical Instru-
ments" (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1965), 239-40.
5
The Development
of Polyphony
Composers first created polyphonic music by adding new contrapuntal lines
to chant to produce organum. From the tenth to the thirteenth centuries mu-
sicians worked out solutions to the construction of independent lines, the
rhythmic coordination ofparts, and the articulation of cadences. The motet
developed as the most sophisticated polyphonic genre. Especially important
in this music ivere composers based in Paris, working in both cathedral and
university.
The Significance of Polyphony PEROT IN

CADENCES
Carolingian Polyphony
Rornanesque Developrnents
The Motet
FREE ORGAN UM Late-Thirteenth- Century
RHYTHl\1IC INDEPENDENCE
Develop1nents
NE\V DEVELOPl\lENTS I N
FLORID ORGANUJl,1 AND DI SCANT
RHYTHMIC NOTATION
Gothic Thinking and Style HOCKET
Notre Danie Polyphony Syrnbolic Values in Thirteenth-
RHYTHl\1IC ORDER IN ORGANUl\1: Century Polyphony
LEON IN
64
Carolingian Polyphony 65
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF P OLYP HONY
Among the most notable musical achievements of the ninth to the thir-
teenth centuries W'aS the development of counterpoint. The possibilities
of polyphonic texture allo\ved music to represent some of the character-
istic tendencies of the other arts during the course of the Carolingian
(800-1000) and Romanesque (1000-1150) periods. These tendencies- Polyphony and arsthetic
vaJurs
an increase of mass and, in later phases, the proliferation of decoration-
,vere particularly clear in church architecture, which will suggest several
comparisons to the music of this era.
The development of composed polyphony, resulting in the displace-
ment of pure melody by multivoiced net\vorks of sound, is a distinctive
achievement of Western music. Much ,vas gained in the creation of
polyphony: first, a new sense of depth in the musical texture, and second,
increased possibilities for symbolic expression through explicit harmon ic
relationships. At the same time, the coordination of contrasting lines lim- Advantages and
ited certain elements ofstyle. Rhythm could no longer respond as flexibly disadvantages
to subtleties in the rhythms of oral language, and singers could no longer

ornament their melodies so freely.
The practitioners of early polyphonic music referred to it as orga-
num, that is, organized music, in contrast to the freer style of cantus
planus, or plainchant. They constructed it by adding a ne\v line of music Organum
in simultaneous performance ,vith the existing chant, ,vhich thus
became the cantus .firmus (fixed song; pl. cantus .firini). Because it \Vas Cant-us 6rmus
built on the foundation of chant melody, organum resembles conceptu-
ally the traditional architecture of a church, ,vhich ,vas constructed on
a standard cruciform foundation . Musical writers of the period explic-
itly recognized the architectural structure of music built on this prin-
ciple. Johannes de Grocheo, ,vritingaround 1300, described the cantus
firmus as
that part on ,vhich all the others are based, just as the parts of a Grocheo on the c.antus
house or of a building are placed on their foundation .... thus one firmus
song is built upon another in the manner of the roofs and covers of
houses. 1
Since polyphonic music adds to the existing chant, \Ve may properly
regard it as a manifestation of the principle of the trope, ,vith which it Since polyphonic music
developed almost simultaneously. The idea oftroping by means of super- adds lo I-lit txisling cl1ant,
wt may properly regard it
imposing material on an authoritative text does not differ in essence
as a maniftslalion oft.lit
from inserting textual or musical phrases into a chant; in organum the principlt of tht.lropt.
trope is applied simultaneously rather than sequentially.
C A R OLIN GI A N POLY PHON Y
The practice of polyphonic singing evolved from the simple doubling of

the chant in octaves or other intervals. It is likely that the first singers of
66 CHAPTER 5: The Development of Polyphony
polyphony began from the recognition that men and boys w·ould gener-
ally sing the chant in parallel octaves. By the ninth century they had
codified this practice and expanded it to include parallel doublings in the
Parallel organum other perfect intervals, the fourth and fifth. (The use of the fourth and
fifth might also have been inspired by the sound of singing in a large,
open sanctuary, ,vhere the acoustics reinforced the lo,ver partials of the
vocal pitch, creating the effect of parallel voices.) We refer to this simple
style as parallel organu1n.
The main surviving sources for this practice are two books dating
from about 900, Musica enchiriadis (Music handbook) and Scolica enchi-
riadis (a commentary on the handbook in the form of a question-and-
answer session behveen student and teacher), wh ich give rules for
Music manuals improvising parallel organum. They instruct the singers to begin ,vith
the first note of the chant (the melody referred to as vox principalis), find
the note a fourth or fifth belo,v, and then sing the melody in parallel, be-
ginning on those two pitches (the added lo,ver voice becomes the vox
organalis). Either or both of these lines may be further doubled at the
octave, producing three or four voices.
Parallel organum does not have the effect of true, independent
polyphony; it merely adds harmonic color and depth to the line, as
the overtones of the organal voice combine ,vith those of the princi-
pal voice. (We shall hear something similar later in impressionist
music ,vith sliding, nonfunct ional, tertian harmonies.) In add ition to
the simple use of parallel motion, however, the sources allo,v the pos-
sibility that the voices ,vill begin in unison, with the vox organalis
rema ining stationary until the vox principalis has reached the fourth
or fifth above and then proceeding parallel to it and returning to the
unison for the cadence of the phrase (Figure 5.1). We refer to the
Figure 5.1 Organ um from a ninth-century manuscript of the Musica enchiriadis.

The notation used here simply places the syllables of text on spaces correspond-
ing to t he steps of the diatonic scale. The first word, "Rex" (king), is sung by both
voices in unison. While t he p rincipal voice rises stepwise to the fourth, the orga -
nal voice continues on t he initial p itch; t hen the two p roceed in parallel unt il t he
end of the phrase, when they merge again.
Carolingian Polyphony 67
relationship of a moving voice to a stationary one as oblique motion.

This procedure already represents an important innovation, since it Obliqucmotion
provides for temporary dissonance leading to consonance and im-
plies the concept of harmonic resolution. It takes the first step in the
direction of genu ine counterpoint. In fact, the term counterpoint is
derived from the Latin phrase for this kind of homorhyth mic rela-
tionship of parts, punctus contra punctum (point against point, i.e.,
note against note).
Until recently, w·e knew· from the tenth century only these text-
book illustrations of organum. Then, in 2013, a student at the Univer-
sity of Cambridge, Giovanni Varelli, published an article that showed a
brief but fully notated two -voice antiphon that proves that composers
created practical music in this style. 2 A companion piece, written
simply as chant, closely resembles the cantus firm us of the example of
oblique organum in the Musica enchiriadis, suggesting that the
unkno,vn composer of the ne,vly discovered organum kne,v that ,vork.
The scribe of this piece used an experimental notation different from
that of the Enchiriadis texts, ,vhich in turn was superseded in the next
century (Fig ure 5.2).
• Fig u re 5.2 The o rga ·

,~h,--. ..,.,P..b-ru..1.7 , r• nal set ting of the anti·
l ..,,._w,-.,.- e,ftae ,('......,~y,f, • ~ phon ·sancte Bonifati
•
"""'"'-·r--..r--c:ol-s-,~·--
..Ur.Re,,.....rK"en,omi"'~
f-,,..r,-lJ,cl..,. •
martyr" from t he tent h
century. The p rincipal
• ~"'"' ...rp...-i(~ur- d,~,_J.,::.,l,fupsta.; voice is on top, repre-
V,,.J... .k'..wwr.-,.,#_~---~[q sented mostly by hori·
-.r-"""'S"~ - - ,l,...,.,~ ..;1,....,1* ")'..! zontal lines, whereas
..,.....,..,.1,.. ~r...rr.s..f,J~.,~.r.
,.-~-~
t he lower, o rganal
..J~.L'S"',-rfi-kf?."-·1w voice is shown below
..... ... ....,...,,.......-.;
r--, J-.,,.._-.Jr-Jnr.,.,.,L..r.....lw,;;--. - in small o symbols. The
connecting lines help
t he singers to coordi·
l.1e1J.1~n,,1n.· Ju.-r1,51-,U~T£JUIWill nate the movement of
t he parts. Small letters
'
JU'~O~ / ' ~ • f COLI T\i"'.klnic at t he left edge of the
\fVSEV.\1
1· page serve as clefs to
• = 1' eP~r·r .i\.N ident ify p itches, but
;' _.,.~~-~ :,j~~-:,..~IS\f~ r'Jt._
A .,. - here a, b, c, etc., repre ·
... 1.1. •~ • .~r.. L· sent t he notes we now
'\. ~
.,.- ~-
. .~ .
;i..n.J
.. .
":.~ \J',..fr-_;11}. , , ~, ... , _ r-
.. . "
call C3, 03, E3, etc., so
t he first pitches sound
as E3 in the principal
voice and C3 in t he
o rganal part (keeping
in mind, however, that
there was no conven ·
tional absolute pitch).
ROMANESQU E DEVELOPM E NTS
Free O rganum
In "free"organum, c.onlrary The next stage in the development of polyphony occurred in about the
molfon bdwttn voicts took
eleventh century. At this time musicians explored the possibilities of inde-
an ~.q ua I place with paralltl
and oblique motion. pendence of melodic direction between the voices in a style sometimes
called "free" organum. Contrary motion between voices took an equal
place \Vith parallel and oblique motion. The parts still maintained the
mostly note-against-note rhythm ic lockstep, but they\vent their O\Vn ,vays
,vith true melodic independence, controlled by the necessity of producing
mostly perfect consonances. The parts occasionally crossed, and the vox
Adorganum principalis increasingly tended to become the lo,ver of the hvo parts. The
facitndum main treatise that gives instructions for this kind of singing is titled Ad
organum faciendu1n (On making organum, ca. 1100; Example 5.1). The
The \ Vinchrstrr Troprr most important collection of this music is the Winchester Troper (ca.
1000), so named because it represents the practice at Winchester Cathe-
dral in England. The extension of the ,vord trope to include polyphonic,
simultaneous composition shows how closely related organum ,vas to
the monophonic trope.
By the twelfth century, parallel motion had come to seem limiting,
and contrary motion became a common feature in polyphonic composi-
tion. Obviously, ho,vever, the singing of melodically free organum was
much more demanding than parallel organum. This accounts for the
,vriting do,vn of the music in manuscripts such as the Winchester Troper.
For the same reason, such singing had to be restricted to trained soloists,
and thus polyphonic music for the next two centuries focused on the
solo portions of responsorial chants.
Note-against-note organum provided for the music of the church a
feeling of expansiveness comparable to that which the ne\vly attained
vertical height of the vaulted, stone-and-masonry roof of Romanesque
architecture gave to the church building (Figure 5.3). At the same time,
the addition ofvoices produced a degree of massiveness similar to that of
the heavily reinforced walls that supported the vaulting.
Rhyth m ic I ndep enden ce

The next ne,v idea in the development of polyphony ,vas to give the
contrasting voices rhythmic as well as melodic independence.
Example 5.1 The trope for a Kyrie (cf. Example 3.7b), set in free organum, from
the t reatise Ad organum faciendum. The lower voice carries the original melody,
while the upper one creates counterpoint to it in perfect intervals. Although
there are a few successive notes in parallel, the clear p reference here is for con-
trary motion between the voices.
..
IB • :
.
: : • : : :
.
• • : :,,. .. :.
Cunc- Ii
'° lt ns: se ni
"" De
"' Onl ni • l()f: etc.
Ron1anesque Developn1ents 69
Figure 5.3 Santiago

de Compostela in
northwestern Spain
was one of the most
important centers for
religious pilgrimages.
The Romanesque
cathedral there
(1028-1211) illustrates
the high, rounded
vaulting of the archi-
tectural style of the
time. Santiago de
Compostela was a
major site for the
development of the
melismatic style of
organum.
Composers accomplished this most notably at the abbey of St. Martial

at Limoges in south-central France and at the pilgrimage cathedral of
Santiago de Compostela in northw·estern Spain in the t\velfth century.
In this style the chant melody chosen to serve as the foundation of the
composition moves in relatively slower note values, ,vhile the ne,vly
composed organal voice proceeds more rapidly, ,vith a proliferation of
shorter notes. We might compare this to the interaction of sculpture
,vith architecture in the Romanesque cathedral. As we have just noted,
the ,veight of the vaulted roof required massive support. To give rhyth-
mic articulation and variety to the surfaces of the massive church
,valls, craftsmen cultivated a ne\v blossoming of sculpture; armies of
saints lined the \Valls, and biblical scenes unfolded in the semicircular
space, or tympanu1n, above the cathedral door. The impulse to deco-
rate a bare surface, \vhether in cathedral architecture or in the music
of sacred ritual, \Vas strong in the m ind of the Romanesque artist.
Florid Organum and Discant

Often many notes in the organal voice, or duplum, stand against each
note of the chant line. In such compositions the chant, because of its
Tenor long-held notes, came to be know·n as the tenor (from the same Latin
term used for the repeated tone of a psalm tone, but no,v used in an
entirely new musical context to mean the "holding" part). To distin-
guish this style from earlier note-against-note organum, we can identify
Florid organum it as florid organum or melismatic orga11u1n. The significance of this ne,v
style is that it provided not only rhythmic variety but also harmonic
freedom. In general the voices in florid organum are coordinated har-
monically by combining in perfect consonances at major structural
points, such as at the change of notes in the tenor. Bet\veen these points
any vertical simultaneity might occur, including dissonances. Thus, the
idea of harmonic cadence by means of resolution from the tension of
dissonance to the relaxation of consonance had already been developed.
Unfortunately, since the musical notation of the time still suited the
more flexible rhythm of the chant, there did not yet exist any method for
notating the more precise rhythms required to coordinate the parts in
There did not ytt txi.st any
mtthodfor notating lht t\velfth-century polyphony. This leads to considerable difficulty in in-
more prtcise rhythms terpreting this music, because the only available notational means of
rt.q uirtd lo coordinate lht
indicating the exact coincidences in the voices was by alignment in
parts in twtljth·unt·ury
polyphony. score format, and ,ve cannot always see clearly today ho,v the parts
should be combined.
In a second approach to polyphonic texture in this repertoire,
composers paired a chant voice ,vith a duplum in such a ,vay that the
t\vo moved in more nearly equal rhythm. This procedure, in ,vhich
each voice ,vould have a simple or compound neume for each syllable
of text, produced a style called discant to distinguish it from the florid
Disc.a nt organum. In discant, the juxtaposition of neumes of unequal numbers
of pitches might produce rhythmic combinations of one note against
t\vo, three, or more; of t\vo against three; of three against four; and so
on. To compensate for this added complexity, the harmony in discant
tended to be more li mited to perfect consonances than in florid
organum.
GOTHI C THI N KING AND STYLE
The next stages in the development of polyphony correspond to the so-

called Goth ic period in cultural history, lasting from about 1150 through
The crucial c.onupl in the follo,ving century. To understand the nature of musical thought at
Gothic thinking is this time, it is helpful to keep in mind some other manifestations of the
organizat.ion, ordtring,
or c.oordination.
characteristic ,vays of thinking in that era. The crucial concept here is
organization, ordering, or coordination.
The Gothic spirit spread ,videly throughout Europe, but it is useful
to observe it in Paris, ,vhere thinkers and artists-and the institutions
Paris that they established-manifested it clearly and in multiple ,vays. By the
late twelfth century the French kings (the Capetian dynasty, ,vho made
Paris their capital) had consolidated the feudal system so that, unlike
Gothic Thinking and Style 71
other parts ofEurope, there existed a relatively centralized French realm,

coordinated from the capital city. Thus the political organization had a
pyramidal structure conceived in layers, \Vith the monarch at the top
supported by a number of less-po,verful nobles and so on, do\vn to the
mass of relatively po,verless peasants.
The desire to order learning produced the institution of the univer-
sity. The teaching masters of Paris formed the university there by joining
together to coordinate their disciplines and establish high standards for
scholarship. The university gre,v gradually; an important step ,vas the The Sorbonne
endowment in 1253 by the cardinal Robert de Sorbon of a resident col-
lege of theology ,vith a clear set of organizing statutes. The university as
a whole, ,vhich became known as the Sorbonne, consisted of four facul-
ties, concerned, respectively, ,vith the liberal arts, law, medicine, and
theology.
During the hvelfth and thirteenth centuries the works of Aristotle,
generally unknown in ,vestern Europe for centuries, began to reemerge
there. They had, in fact, been preserved by Arabic scholars, and as Euro-
pean communication ,vith Arabic culture increased, both in the Middle
East during the Crusades and in Spain, the Western world claimed Greek
philosophy as its o,vn heritage. Important among Aristotle's contribu-
tions to philosophy was the idea that knowledge should come through
reasoned discourse rather than by faith. The scholars in the twelfth- and Scholasticism
thirteenth-century university found that this ne\v understanding chal-
lenged much of their learning. Modeling their work on Aristotle, they
adopted a new approach to their studies, the dialectical resolution of
contradictions by means of debate; it became known as scholasticis1n.
Among the scholars at Paris in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
,vere such famous thinkers as Peter Abelard (1075-1142) and Thomas
Aquinas. Abelard's Sic et non constitutes a landmark in the history of
thought because it applied the techn iques of critical thinking to resolv-
ing opposing opinions in matters of religious fa ith. Aquinas's Sum1na
theologica attempted to find a ,vay to coordinate the secular liberal arts
and the things of this world ,vith the ,vorld of faith and the divine. The
scholastics inevitably threatened the authority of the church, but the
force of Aristotle's influence and the strength of their philosophical ar-
guments could not be ignored. The church had to adapt, and to a large
extent it did so successfully. It could no longer claim absolute s,vay over
the thinking of its followers, ho\vever, and consequently the rise of secu-
lar culture, including music, accelerated rapidly from the twelfth century
onward.
In the second half of the t\velfth century the style of architecture we
call Gothic developed, and one of its greatest examples, the Cathedral of
Notre Dame, rose in Paris (Figure 5.4). One of the main characteristics
of the style is the increase of height and up\vard direction of the eye.
Instead of the rounded arches of the Romanesque cathedral, the Gothic Gothic architecture
arches and roof vaulting no,v rose to a point in the center, which directed
Figure 5.4 The Cathe-

dral of Notre Dame in
Paris. The building
(begun 1163 and com-
pleted in the early
fourteenth century)
saw the development
of rhythmically or-
dered polyphonic
music in the Gothic
period. The architec-
ture of the cathedral,
its structure clearly
ordered by lighter
decoration in the
higher levels, demon -
strates the same sort of
Gothic artistic thinking
as Notre Dame
organum.
most of the ,veight do,vn,vard and thereby reduced the outward pres-
sure on the ,valls. Flying buttresses took most of the remaining out\vard
force. The pillars and ,valls no longer needed to be so sturdy and mas-
sive, so builders reduced them to a relatively fine skeleton. They greatly
enlarged the ,vindo,vs, increasing the light inside the edifice, and this
also lessened the feeling of ,veight. The use of stained glass provided
decoration and visual rhythm (in the sense of patterned subdivision of
space as the eye moves across the image) in the vie,v from the interior,
and the exterior ,vas ornamented ,vith biblical sculptures as ,veil as gro-
tesque and functional gargoyles to carry rainwater away from the
building.
With its tremendous height, the Gothic cathedral ,vas articulated in
vertical layers, ,vith the decorat ion generally growing more and more
finely detailed to,vard the top. The juxtaposition of stylistically articu-
lated levels can be seen on a smaller scale in the three arches over the
large ,vest doors of Notre Dame. Each of these arches really forms a
series of concentric arches (sometimes called "orders") decorated with
its o,vn sculptured frieze. Such ordered layering became particularly
significant for the development of music, as ,ve shall see. Like other
Gothic cathedrals, Notre Dame gre,v over a period of many years
(indeed, more than most of its contemporaries). As a result, its style is far
from un ified but, instead, reflects the changing ideas, tastes, and person-
alities of generations of builders from the late hvelfth to the early four-
teenth century.
Notre Daine Polyphony 73
N OTRE DAME POLYPHONY
Rhythmic Order in O rganum: Leonin

The next important stages in the evolution of musical thinking '"ere
\\l'Orked out by composers associated \\l'ith the Cathedral of Notre Dame.
The first composer of polyphonic music '"hose name '"e kno,\l'was Leon in
or, in Latin, Magister (Master) Leoninus (fl. 1169-1201). Although his Lion in
music \\l'as intended for use in the church, his title indicates that he came
from the university community. Leonin produced a collection of organal
settings of solo portions of the responsorial chants-that is, the parts of
the liturgy (both Mass and Office) sung by trained solo singers-for the
major festivals throughout the church year. These polyphonic portions
'"ere substituted for the corresponding chant passages, and they alter-
nated \\l'ith the regular chanting for the choral segments of the movements
in which they \\l'Ould be sung. Leonin's collection was known as the
Magnus liber organi (Great book of organum), and it is represented in
'"hole or in part in four different manuscript books of Gothic polyphony,
preserved in libraries in Wolfenbiittel in Germany (two exemplars known
as Wl and W2), in Florence (F; Figure 5.5), and in Madrid (Ma). The
music was apparently composed in the second half of the h\l'elfth century.
The music of this repertoire marks a definitive change from the florid Arcl1ittdurt. providtd
a modti for wr"ittrs
organum of St. Martial and Santiago de Compostela. Specifically, it
txplaining how the upper
begins to sho,\I' the application of determinate rhythmic relationships to voius ofpolyphonic mu.sic
the melodic lines, greatly clarifying the coordination of the polypho nic should bt proport.iontd lo
the It.nor.
parts. Again the analogy '"ith architecture provided a model for \\l'riters
explaining ho," the upper voices of polyphonic music should be propor-
tioned to the tenor. The some,\l'hat later scholar Jacobus of Liege '"rote,
Indeed, '"ho \\l'Ould sing polyphonically without a tenor, just as '"ho Jacobus ofLiCgr desc-ribes
\\l'Ould build \\l'ithout a foundation? And as a building must be pro- organ um as an
architectural structure
portioned to its foundation, so that the building is made not
according to the \\l'Orkman's '"him but according to the demands of
the foundation, so the singer of polyphony should not perform his
notes according to his '"him but according to the demands and pro-
portions of the notes of his tenor and in harmony with them. 3
This coordination of the voices is accomplished by means of a system
known as the rhythmic ,nodes. A composer trained at the university Rhythmic modrs
\\l'Ould certainly have studied the principles of poetry, and it is therefore
not surprising that such a composer \\l'Ould turn to the '"ell-kno,\l'n orga-
nization of long and short syllables grouped in metrical feet. To compre-
hend the striking ne," sound of this music, '"e must understand the basic
principles of the Notre Dame system of rhythmic modes.
To apply poetic metrical patterns to music, the Notre Dame musi-
cians presumed that a long note, or long (Latin longa, often abbreviated L
and notated as a square note head \\l'ith a tail descending from the right),
\\l'Ould be twice the duration of a short note, or breve (Latin brevis,
Figure 5.5 A page of

the Magnus fiber organi
in the fine Florence
manuscript (F).
abbreviated Band notated as a simple, square note head). The alternation

oflong and short notes produced "trochaic" (LB, LB, LB, etc.) or "iambic"
(BL, BL, BL, etc.) rhythms. More complex metrical feet, consisting of
three durations, w'ere simulated by the use of an extralong long equal to
three breves, called "perfect'" to distinguish it from the hvo-breve or "im-
perfect" long, and an "altered" breve twice as long as a normal ("recta," or
correct) breve. This allowed for the "dactylic" rhythm (LBB, LBB, LBB,
etc.) and the "anapestic" rhythm (BBL, BBL, BBL, etc.-this latter pat-
tern appears to have been contrived to create a neat, scholastic symme-
try rather than used in any act ual music), where the long ,vas perfect and
the second of the hvo breves ,vas altered. If this seems a,vk"Ward and arti-
ficial, it is, altho ugh with practice musicians can get used to the need to
read both longs and breves ,vith hvo different values for each. The system
accomplished what the singers required, a rationalized notation for the
practical coordination of polyphonic parts in counterpoint. Two other
patterns ,vere added, the "spondaic," plodding along in perfect longs, and
the "tribrachic," ,vhich tripped quickly in groups of three regular breves.
Notre Dame Polyphony 75
Table 5.1 The Six Rhythm ic Modes

Mode Metrical model Modal notation Modal notation
1 Trochee LB (L imperfect) J ),
2 lamb BL (L imperfect) )\ J
3 Dactyl LBB (L perfect, second B J. )\ J
altered)
4 Anapest BBL (second B altered, L )\ J J.

perfect)
5 Spondee LL (both perfect) • J.

6 Tribrach BBB (all rectal )\ .h ),
The six rhythmic modes ,vere numbered (like the ecclesiastical

modes). They are summarized and clarified in modern notation in
Table 5.1.
It ,vorks ,veil to notate this music in modern notation in 6/8 time,
and that has become the usual way to transcribe the Notre Dame reper-
toire. In the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries the convention was to
indicate each mode by a particular ligature pattern. Thus the singers
learned that a three-note ligature followed by a series of t\vo-note liga-
tures w·ould require rhythmic mode 1, a simple series of t\vo-note liga-
tures indicated mode 2, and so on. A series of individual longs naturally
meant mode 5.
The application of these relatively fixed rhythm ic patterns gives an
unprecedented physical energy to the music. A modal pattern ,vould
generally be maintained throughout a substantial passage or a whole or-
ganum. Some variety was attained by momentarily combining short
values into long ones (extensio modi, extending the mode) or subdividing
values into shorter ones (Jractio modi, breaking up the mode).
If the different modes ,vere sung simultaneously in different poly-
phonic voices, the rhythms ,vould automatically be coordinated ,vith
each other. In practice, certain combinations ,vere more likely than
others. For example, modes 5 and 6 coordinate ,veil with any of the other
modes, and mode 2 coordinates better ,vith modes 3 and 4 than mode 1
,vould. A further feature of the system is the grouping of modal units into
phrases articulated by rests. Such a phrase ,vas called an ordo (pl. or- Ordo
dines), a term that reminds us of the importance of the concept of order
in Gothic art.
In the Magnus liber organi, the syllabic portions of the chant were gen-
erally set with very long, unmeasured notes in the tenor, over ,vhich the
duplum could elaborate in more or less strict modal rhythm. The drone-
like notes of the tenor, difficult for a single singer to sustain, might have
76 CHAPTER 5: The Development ofPolyphony
Example 5.2 Excerpt of a passage in discant style from the Not re Dame reper-
toire (on the t hird syllable of the word · immolat us").
etc-.
been shared by several singers who could take turns breathing, or they
might have been taken or at least supported by an instrument; an organ
W'Ould suit the situation perfectly. When the chant became melismatic,
Discantclausula the tenor had to be accelerated in the interest of efficiency. This produced
a section in discant style, known as a clausula (again indicating the liter-
ary tra ining of these musicians; Example 5.2). A discant clausula de-
manded modal rhythm in both voices; commonly the tenor adopted
mode 5, \vhereas the duplum moved in one of the quicker modes.
Perotin
Around 1200 a new' figure appeared on the Notre Dame scene, a man
named Perotin (Magister Perotinus, in Latin, fl. 1198-1236), who
expanded and elaborated Leonin's project. A ,vriter in the thirteenth
century who, by virtue of the fact that the surviving copies of his \vork do
not give his name, has come to be known to musicologists as Anony-
mous IV identifies the great Notre Dame composers and relates their
contributions to styles and genres.
Anonymous IV reports Master Leonin, reputed to be the best organum composer, ... created
the accomplishments the great book of organum [Magnus liber organi] from the Gradual
of the Not:re Dame
composers and Antiphonary in order to enhance the divine service; and it was
in use up to the time of Perotin the Great, who abbreviated it and
made many better clausulas or puncta, for he ,vas the best discant
composer, and better than Leon in ,vas; but th is should not be said
about the subtlety of organa, etc.
But this same Master Perotin composed the best quadrupla, such as
Viderunt [and) Sederunt, with an abundance of the beauties of har-
monic skill; and beyond those, numerous very renowned tripla, such
as Alleluia, Posuit adiutorium, Nativitas, etc.
Notre Daine Polyphony 77
And he devised three-voice conductus, like Salvatoris hodie; and

t\vo-voice conductus, such as Dum sigillum sum1nus patris; and
simple conduct us along ,vith several others, such as Beata viscera,
Justitia, etc. 4
As ,ve learn from this account, Perotin's achievements included the
expansion of the t\vo-voice texture to three and even four parts, creating
organum triplu1n and organum quadruplu1n. In th is style the tenor main- Pfrotin
tained unmeasured long notes, while the upper t\vo or three voices gen-
erally shared the same modal rhythm. Because these organa were
intended for male voices, the organal lines (duplum, triplum, and qua-
druplum) encompass the same range, often crossing each other. Some-
times they exchange parts with each other in turns; such voice exchange
extends a passage to hvo or three times its length ,vithout actually re-
quiring the composition of new· music. In Perotin's monumental organa
trip la and quadrupla the combination of long, dron ing tenor notes, the
dense polyphonic w·eb of the organal voices, and the hypnotically repeti-
tive modal rhythms produce a magnificent effect; sung in a Gothic
cathedral they could be positively over,vhelming.
Perotin's second major contribution was the composition of ne,vand
more complex discant clausulae to be inserted as substitutions for
Leonin's in the music of the Magnus liber organi. As ,ve might expect
from Perotin, these substitute clausulae included three-part as ,vell as
t\vo-part scorings. Other stylistic developments also emerged in the Substitute clausula
clausulae. The fragment of chant melody used in the tenor might be re-
peated ,vithin the clausula. This gives the effect of variations above the
repeated tenor melody, and it increases the sense of musical un ity. For
similar reasons, composers used ordines of the same length throughout
the clausula, especially in the tenor, dividing the clausula into a series of
short phrases of equal length. The upper voices might follow the same
procedure, but composers also began to stagger the ordines in the differ-
ent voices, ,vith the result that the parts would not have simultaneous
rests, and the music thus maintains a continuous momentum. These ex-
periments ,vith rhythmic and melodic repetition were the forerunners of
remarkably complicated musical structures in follo,ving generations.
Cadences
The construction of cadences in polyphonic compositions reached an
important stage in the th irteenth century. At this time it became conven-
tional to create a sense of finality by moving the voices in contrary, step-
,vise fashion to the last note. In t\vo parts the cadence required the voices Cadences by contrary
to converge from a third to a unison or to separate from a sixth to an motion
octave (indicated in Example S.3a-b as a 3-1 ora 6-8 cadence). It is,vorth

noting that ,vith mathematically correct Pythagorean tuning, minor
thirds and major sixths sound quite d issonant by comparison to the
equal-tempered versions of those intervals that ,ve generally use today.
Example 5.3 Two- and three-voice cadence forms: (a) 3-1 cadence from end of a
substitute clausula "Regnat"; (bl 6 -8 cadence from end of a conductus ·Ave virgo
virginum·; and (c);.; cadence from end of a conductus ·Ave virgo virginum."
(a)
(b)
std • la
In three parts the outer parts formed the 6-8 cadence, ,vhereas the inner
part paralleled the upper one at a fourth. This gave a 1·~progression and
produced the perfect consonances of fifth and octave as the last harmony
(Example 5.3c). The expression of cadential feeling in this fashion by
contrapuntal contrary motion formed the basis for a variety of later de-
velopments and eventually (in the sixteenth century) led to the creation
of the powerful authentic cadence.
THE MOTET
The next stage in the development of polyphonic genres in the thirteenth

century ,vas the addition of texts to the melismatic upper voices of the
discant clausula. This might surprise today's musicians, but it ,vas per-
fectly reasonable from the point of vie,v of the composers of that period.
By the same thought process that led to the textual troping of melismata
in the chant, musicians naturally seized on the dupla and tripla of these
Mu.sicia,u .stiz~.d on lht fragmentary clausulae as material on ,vhich to exercise further creative
unlcxttd dupla and t:ripla imagination. The modal rhythms of these melismatic lines, having, after
of clau.sulat as maltrial on
wllicl1 Io t.xtrci.sc furt.l1tr
all, patterns corresponding to poetic feet, lent themselves to the applica-
creative imagination. tion of words that would fit them syllabically, and the ordo controlled the
length of the poetic line. The result ,vas that the clausula, originally only
a fragment of a liturgical movement, became a complete, self-contained
setting of the new text or texts. The piece thus produced was known as a
TheMotet 79
motet (from the French mot, meaning '\vord"). The voice immediately
above the tenor was called motetus, obviously a Latin derivative. A motet
takes its name from the text incipits-the first word or words-of each
of its voices, ,vorking from the top voice to the tenor.
The motet,vas thus polytextual, ,vith two or three (rarely four) sepa-
rate melodic lines and as many contrasting sets of words. Two objections
immediately come to mind: (1) the conflict of different texts makes them
un intelligible in performance, and (2) the motet deviates from the au-
thoritative text of the liturgical tenor. Neither of these issues escaped the
church fathers, of course. They ,vere, ho,vever, somewhat deflected by Motet as trope
the general acceptance of troping as a compositional technique; the first
motet texts simply offered glosses on the texts of their tenors. Further-
more, the idea of musical expression in the creative imagination of that
era did not insist on the close correspondence behveen musical gestures
and text content that ,ve are accustomed to in later music. Indeed, it is
hardly likely that musicians who worsh iped and sang daily in such a sty-
listically diverse arch itectural setting as the Cathedral of Notre Dame
,vould be distressed by the contrasting modal rhythms, overlapping or-
dines, and babel of texts distributed among the voices in the thirteenth-
century motet.
Before long the motet became separated from its liturgical context,
as composers began to set texts that ,vere entirely free of sacred intent. In
some cases the text ,vriters even used this genre, born in the church, to
attack the church. Although at first the texts ,vere in Latin, later ones Motet texts
employed the vernacular; the tenor and motetus might be in Latin and
the triplum in French, and one text might have sacred content whereas
the other ,vas a thoroughly secular love song. Naturally, composers did
not merely rely on the existing repertoire of discant clausulae for long:
they found more freedom and flexibility in composing ne,v music for the
texts of the upper parts. Ultimately they began to compose ne,v tenors,
designed ,vith an ear to,vard their potential to serve the harmonic needs
of polyphony; since such a part would have no liturgical text to name it,
it might be called "neuma" or simply "tenor." Presumably it ,vould have
been played on an instrument rather than sung. In this form the motet,
although remaining an artistically sophisticated genre, expanded from
the church to the milieux of the court and the university, so that the
genre reached all intellectual circles. The practice of replacing sacred
Latin words ,vith amorous French ,vords in a motetus or triplum part,
like the possible juxtapositions of simultaneous Latin and French texts
in the upper parts of a single motet, demonstrates the close intert\vining
of the sacred and secular ,vorlds.
Perotin and his successors in the thirteenth century also ,vrote free,
nonliturgical polyphonic pieces ,vith only one text and no sacred tenor.
These songs, called conductus like the earlier monophonic religious songs
in Latin (see Chapter 4), some,vhat resemble the style of discant in two,
Polyphonicconductus three, or four voices. Sometimes they were strophic and other times
through-composed. A common device in the conductus \Vas to signal
the close of a primarily syllabic setting with an extensive melismatic pas-
sage kno,vn as a cauda (Latin for "tail"). Because of its close resemblance
to the polyphonic conductus, a three-part motet in ,vhich the motetus
and triplum shared the same text, as sometimes happened, is called a
conductus 1notet.
L ATE-THIR T E ENTH-CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS
It became a common stylistic feature in the th irteenth-century motet for

the triplum to move quickly in short note values, the motet us to proceed
a bit slo\ver, and the tenor to march beneath in stately longs. In a simple
form, the distinction would be effected by a triplum in rhythm ic mode 6,
a tenor in mode 5, and a motetus in any of the other modes. This ele-
gantly layered ordering serves the musical function of differentiating the
lines more clearly for the listener. As time ,vent on, composers wanted to
squeeze even more syllables into the line than the breve would allow, so
that by midcentury they had created the independent value of the se1ni-
breve (SB), written as a diamond or lozenge shape.
A particularly progressive composer in this style ,vas the Frenchman
Pierre de la Croix, also kno\vn by his Latin name, Petrus de Cruce
Petronlan motet style (fl. 1270-1300). In his motets the triplum often pattered along quickly in
strings of rhythmically undifferentiated semibreves, as many as six to the
breve (obviously requiring a free interpretation of the prefix "semi-").
From a literary point of vie\v, this practice meant that in the Petronian
motet the rhythm ic effect of the triplum \Vas more like prose than poetry.
It also forced a general increase in the common duration of all the note
values, a kind of rhythmic inflation that continued for several hundred
years. The thirteenth-century semibreve is actually the same note that
,ve now ,vrite as a \vhole note-the shortest note of Pierre de la Croix's
time is the longest note that ,ve generally see in the music of the period of
common practice.
New D evelopments in R h ythmic Notat io n
The motet presented a ne,v and thorny problem for the music theorists of
the late thirteenth century: since the upper voices were syllabic and one
could not write syllabic texts under the compact little ligatures that ind i-
cated modal rhythms, how were rhythms to be specified? The solution
came from the theorist Franco of Cologne, ,vho wrote an important trea-
tise on the problem, titled Ars cantus mensurabilis (The art of measurable
Franconian rhythmic song), shortly after the middle of the thirteenth century. Franco em-
notation ployed four basic duration signs: a double or duplex long (DL), the usual
long and breve, and the semibreve. The regular duration of the breve
,vas no,v called one te1npus (time); three tempora made up a perfection.
Late-Thirteenth-Century Developments 81
Figure 5.6 Some examples of the effect of the dot of perfection in Franconian
rhythmic notation.
,• • , = 0·
I t f' I o·
, •• • , •
0
r1tf'
,• • • , = 0·
1 ,. r r 1 °·
, •,
•• • • 0
rit f' IO•
,• • • • , = 0
r 1,. r r 1 °·
, • •· . • , : D •
I t f' I • f' I f' .
The principal difficulty, of course, v.ras to indicate where longs ,vere to be

imperfect (nvo tempera instead of three) and where breves were to be
altered (two tempera instead of one). Franco accomplished this by
means of a little vertical line or a dot bet\veen notes, indicating the
division bet\veen perfections (Figure 5.6). (Because semibreves related
to breves just as breves d id to longs, the dot of division could also be used
to separate one temp us from another.)
It is easy to see ho,v important Franco's system was. Any rhythms
could now be notated with in the basic triple frame,vork of perfections
and tempera. Composers ,vere not limited to establishing and ma intain-
ing a particular mode, and the free rhythmic groupings of semibreves in
Petronian triplum lines tended to be superseded by more precisely speci-
fied rhythms. In fact, as the reader has probably already guessed, the dot Franco's rhythm rank-s as
one of lht great
of division is the distant progenitor of the later bar line. Franco's inven-
accomplishnumU in tlit
tion certainly ranks as one of the great accomplishments in the history of history of music thtory.
music theory.
A practical result of the ne,v rhythm ic notation ,vas the possibility
that it offered for making the coordination of lines clear ,vithout ,vriting
the parts vertically in score format. Since the parts in a motet were rhyth-
mically differentiated-the tenor moving slo,vly, the triplum rapidly,
and the motetus moderately-the slower-moving parts in scores up to
this time had needed to be stretched over more space than their notes
required to keep them aligned ,vith the faster parts. This ,vas a consider-
able w·aste because parchment and even paper were extremely costly.
When it became possible to notate the rhythms of the voices ,vithout
ambiguity, they could be ,vritten separately as parts, each filling only the
space it needed. Commonly the triplum would be ,vritten on the left- ChoirbooL:: format
hand side of a page, the motetus on the right-hand side facing it, and the
tenor in a single line across the bottom of both; or if the triplum moved
much more quickly than the motetus and contained many more notes, it
might occupy an entire page, ,vhile the motetus and tenor shared the
facing page. This is kno,vn as choirbook format (Figure 5.7).
Figure 5.7 The motet

"Porta preminentie/
Porta p enitentie/
Portas" in choirbook
format . The texts of t he
t riplum (Gate of the
preeminent) and mo-
tetus (Gate of peni-
tence) are conceived as
t ropes of t he tenor,
"Portas ."
.!.... I ,
@§ht, u111tn1 err

, I . . ., i
b l!\ ~ fuii µ,un-
Hocket
A special device developed in the later th irteenth century ,vas the break-
ing up of a line between two voices by having them alternate notes and
rests. Th is curio us and even amusing technique was called hocket (from
Hocket the Latin ,vord for "hiccup," hoquetus). It ,vould provide a moment of
lighter and rhythmically sparkling texture ,vithin the normal polyphonic
style. Hocket continued to be used in the fourteenth century, but it ,vas
practically nonexistent thereafter until the twentieth. (We can find some
interesting recent parallels in a passage in the fourth movement of Hector
Berlioz's Sy1nphoniefantastique and in some of the music ofAnton Webern.)
SYMBOLI C VALUES I N THIRTEENTH- CENTURY

POLYPHONY
Let us consider ,vhat is expressed by the polyphonic music ,ve have been
discussing. It should be obvious that the composers of polyphonic music
up to the thirteenth century did not concern themselves primarily,vith the
Symbolic Values in Thirteenth-Century Polyphony 83
expression of the meanings and moods of literary texts. This is not to say
that the music expresses noth ing. It reflects the general understanding of
music's place in human experience. We have seen that thinkers in the tenth
to the th irteenth centuries did not consider music to belong to the same
category of thought as language and literature, the trivium of the liberal
arts, at all. It belonged instead to the quadrivium, along with the mathe-
matical disciplines and astronomy. Naturally, then, music would be expres-
sive of the ordering inherent in mathematical experience.
We might say that music was expressive in a symbolic sense, as a
reflection of the properties of numbers and the stars. The relation of
numbers to polyphony is obvious. Harmonic proportion governed the
placement of the perfect consonances on structurally important parts of
the ordo. Rhythm ically, the music coordinated arrays of contrasting
nu. art ofcomposilfon
measured durations among the various parts. The art of composition was wast.lit art ofl,andling
the art of handling numbers. numbtrs.
To the imagination in the period of scholasticism and Goth ic art,
numbers symbolized the order of the universe. Boethius had regarded
musica instrumentalis as the audible reflection of musica mundana. In
Christian thought divine perfection \Vas reflected in the beauty of num-
bers and, consequently, in the perfect consonances and rhythm ic per-
fections of music.
In his Divine Comedy the Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
framed a \vorldvie\v of his time, intensely concerned ,vith evil and good,
hell and heaven, Satan and God, follo\ving an elaborately constructed
plan based on careful ordering and intricate numerical proportions. On
his ascent to Paradise, Dante hears for the first time the music of the
spheres. He says (Paradise, canto 1),
When the Great Wheel that spins eternally Dante dc-scribc-s musk as
the expression of order
in longing for Thee, captured my attention
by that harmony attuned and heard by Thee,
I saw ablaze with sun from side to side
a reach of Heaven: not all the rains and rivers
of all of time could make a sea so \vide.
That radiance and that ne\v-heard melody
fired me \vith such a yearning for their Cause
as I had never heard before.
And Beatrice explains to him that the temporal order is, or ought to be
regarded as, a reflection of the divine:
"The elements
of all things,'' she began, "\vhatever their mode,
observe an inner order. It is this form
that makes the universe resemble God.''5
Thus music's symbolic representation ofboth natural and divine order,

proportion, and harmony constituted the essence of its expressiveness
84 CHAPTER 5: The Development ofPolyphony
(Plate 3). This conception underlies Thomas Aquinas's eloquent charac-

terization of music as "the exaltation of the mind derived from things
eternal bursting forth in sound."
SUGGESTI ON S F OR F U RTHER R EADI NG
See the general surveys cited in the Suggestions for Further Reading for
Chapter 3. The polyphonic music of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fif-
teenth centuries is surveyed in F. Alberto Gallo, Music of the Middle Ages II,
trans. Karen Eales (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985).
For an extensive treatment of the notation of early polyphony, see
Willi Apel, The Notation of Polyphonic Music 900-1600, 5th ed. rev.
(Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1961) . Carl Parrish,
The Notation of Medieval Music (Ne\v York: Norton, 1959), gives a less
detailed survey. William Waite, The Rhythm of Twelfth-Century Polyph-
ony: Its Theory and Practice (Ne,v Haven, CT: Yale Un iversity Press,
1954), discusses the interesting rhythmic problems of interpreting early
polyphony, but its theories are not universally accepted.
Franco of Cologne's treatise Ars cantus mensurabilis is excerpted in
Oliver Strunk, Source Readings in Music History, rev. ed., gen. ed. Leo
Treitler (Ne,v York: Norton, 1998).
I. Johannes de Grocheo, Concerning Music (De musica), translated by Albert

Seay (Colorado Springs: Colorado College Music Press, 1973), 27, 29.
2. Giovanni Varelli, "Two Newly Discovered Tenth-Century Organa," Early
Music History 32 (January2013), 277-315.
3. Jacobus ofLiege,Speculum musicae, book 7, edited by Roger Bragard (American
Institute of Musicology, 1973), 9 [translated by DS]. Although Jacobus (orJacob, or
in French Jacq ues de Liege) was ,vriting in the early 1300s, his use of the architec-
tural image here applies to all rhythmically measured cantus firmus polyphony.
4. Anonymous IV, De mensuris et discantu, in Edmond de Coussemaker, ed.,
Scriptorum de musica medii aevi novum seriam, vol. I, 342 (Paris: Durand, 1864).
[Translated by DS]
5. Dante Alighieri, The Paradiso, verse rendering by John Ciardi (New York:
New American Library, 1970), 26-27.
6
Music in the Fourteenth

Century
Social, political, and theological factors led to increasing secularization
in fourteenth-century Europe. French and Italian musicians worked out
more sophisticated rhythmic notation and styles, as well as standard-
ized, conventional forms. Vernacular literature emerged and with it a
larger repertoire ofsecular song. By the late fourteenth century the
complexity of the styles led to mannerism in some advanced pieces.
The Increasing Secularization Ars subtilior

of Culture
T11e Italian Trecento
Ars nova
Cadence Patterns in the Fourteenth
lsorhyt/1111 Century
T11e Ron1an de Fauvel English Polyphony
GYJl,IEL A ND ENG L IS H DI SCAN T
For1n in Secular Song
SECU LAR1'1US I C: ROTA
Guillau1ne de Machaut
THE INCREASING SEC ULARIZATION OF CULTURE
The Western w·orld was shaken in the fourteenth century by a series of

cataclysmic events that contributed to the collapse of the world order
that had governed the previous six centuries. Perhaps most important for
musical developments, the church ,vas rocked to its very foundations,
85
86 CHAPTER 6: Music in the Fourteenth Century
and artists, w·riters, and composers increasingly directed their attention

to secular spheres as w·ell as to the needs of sacred life.
After centuries of great pow·er in both the religious and the secular
arenas, the Roman church ,vas threatened both politically and theologi-
cally. The monarchs in the north had become stronger, and their rule had
gro,vn more ambitious. Both Edward I of England (r. 12.72.-1307) and
Philip IV "the Fair" of France (r. 12.85-1314) realized that the exclusion
of the church's assets from the tax base reduced the po,ver of the secular
government. The church's assets grew steadily, progressively reducing
civic fiscal resources. The kings insisted on their right and need to tax the
church's wealth, but naturally the pope, Boniface VIII (r. 12.94-1303),
asserted the freedom of the church from secular law and the ultimate
Cballongos to the primacy of ecclesiastical authority. Within the church challenges came
church from theologians such as John Wyclif(ca. 1330-1384) and Jan Hus (ca.
1369-1415), ,vho criticized such abuses of ecclesiastical power as the
selling of indulgences, by,vhich the ,vealthy could give money or land to
the church in return for a quicker passage to heaven, and the selling of
church offices (simony). Finally the church could no longer ,vithstand
N
l
I
SWEDEN
\
HO LY ROMAN
EM PIR E
POLAND
BOHEMIA
••
~
.__
HUNGARY
POR~ ~
SPAIN
0 100 200 ml
0 100 200 )00 km
Some musically important cities in the fourteenth century.

The Increasing Secularization of Culture 87
the pressures. Philip went so far as to capture and humiliate Boniface

and soon w·as able to impose his ow·n ,viii and force the election of his
favorite as Pope Clement V (r. 1305-1314).
Clement ruled from Avignon in France rather than from Rome, as
did h is successors for seventy years from 1309 until 1378 (the so-called
Babylonian captivity). This reflected their subjection to the French
cro,vn and scandalized the rest of the church. Even after 1378 the situa-
tion did not improve, because the church d ivided into factions, each
electing its own pope, until three rivals claimed the office. This Great Schism
Schism ,vas intolerable, because the popes blatantly tried to manipulate
powerful princes by threats of excommunication. When no one kne,v
,vhich of the bickering popes represented the true church, it ,vas difficult
to maintain faith at all. The schism lasted until 1417, when the church
fathers met in the Council of Constance and resolved the issue. By then,
ho,vever, the mortar of faith that had held together the edifice that was
the truly Catholic Church was eroded beyond repair.
Utterly devastating ,vas the onslaught of the Black Death beginning
in 1348. The Italian ,vriter Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) described
the horrors of the disease in the introduction to his Decameron:
In the beginning there appeared, on men and ,vomen alike, either
in the groin or under the armpits, certain inflammations, of ,vhich
some gre,v like a common apple, others like an egg, in some cases
larger and in others smaller, which the common people named
"buboes" [gavoccioli]. And from those aforementioned t\vo parts of Boccaccio dtscribts ""
the body, in a short space of time, th is deadly so-called bubo began bubonic plague
to appear and spread over every part of it. And after that, the char-
acter of this disease began to change into black or bluish splotches,
,vhich appeared in many people on the arms and the thighs and on
every other part of the body, in some cases large and sparse, and in
some minute and dense. And just as the buboes had been at the
beginning, these were also a sure sign of coming death .
. . . not only did fe,v recover, but also almost all died ,vithin the
third day from the appearance of the aforementioned symptoms,
some sooner and some later, and mostly ,vithout any fever or other
complication.1
Without modern drugs the plague is fatal in 75 percent of cases. The
cause of the bubonic plague was unknow·n, which made it the more fear-
some; in fact, it was transmitted to humans through rats and the fleas
that infested them. The plague entered Europe with returning crusaders
and traders from the east and spread like ,vildfire, especially in the cities,
,vhich had gro,vn rapidly over the preceding centuries. W ithin a few
years several ,vaves of the plague had wiped out at least a third of the total
population of the continent (some histories place the death toll much
higher).
Rract:ions to the Social catastrophes often lead to reevaluation and change in cul-
plague tural life, and the situation in the fourteenth century exemplifies this.
The psychological and spiritual reactions to this horror v.rere extreme in
Social cat.ast:rophts t\vo directions. Those who believed that the plague represented a d ivine
ofttn ltad to retribution for the general evils of society (and especially for the abuses
rttvalualfon and
cl1ang~ fo cultural lift. in the church) turned to more intense and devout faith. In others fatal-
ism led to indulgence in the most excessive hedonism. Artists found
plentiful inspiration in both the sacred and the mundane.
The decl ine of the church and the rise of secular culture led to the
creation of literary masterpieces in vernacular languages rather than
Latin. Dante's Divine Comedy was the first monumental literary work
,vritten in the vernacular. Among Dante's successors secular topics soon
attained the same stature he had established for sacred ones in his essay
Vrrnacula r literature on heaven and hell. The sonnets of Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) to
his beloved Laura 6vho became a victim of the plague of 1348) estab-
lished a poetic form and later provided models to poets and texts to com-
posers. They demonstrate that for literary art the secular w·orld had
become as noble as religious experience. Boccaccio wrote his Decameron
in the guise of a hundred tales and fables told by a group of young, edu-
cated Florentines for their o,vn diversion, after they fled to the country
to escape the plague. The stories often have earthy subjects and vie,v-
points that demonstrate the vigor of secular life. In the second half of the
century Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1343-1400) ,vrote his Canterbury Tales, a
similar collection to Boccaccio's. That the poet poked fun at the vain and
courtly airs of the nun or at the fat, self-indulgent monk who neglects the
rule of his order to spend his time hunting sho,vs ho,v far public disdain
of the pious had gone. Like Boccaccio, Chaucer did not hesitate to ex-
plore the earthly side of human experience.
ARS N OVA
The fourteenth century seemed to mark a ne,v level of progress in music,

specifically in the realm of the measurement of musical time. This was
embodied in the ,vork of Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361), whose career
included diplomatic activities as secretary and adviser to several kings of
France, as well as an ecclesiastical appointment as bishop of Meaux.
PhilippedeVitry Educated in the liberal arts at the University of Paris, Vitry became the
greatest music theorist of his time. He has been credited ,vith the devel-
opment of the ideas in the treatise A rs nova (The ne,v art, ca. 1322-1323),
,vhich has lent its name to the entire century in French music (although
the attribution has been questioned). By contrast, the music of the thir-
teenth century came to be called ars antiqua.
The Ars nova treatise contributed a brilliant and rad ically ne,v
approach to the thorny problem of notating the complex rhythms that
Ars nova fourteenth-century composers continually produced. To achieve the so-
lution, it ,vas first necessary to reject the fundamental assumption of the
ArsNova 89
preeminence of triple rhythm, an assumption not only deeply entrenched

in both principle and practice but also sanctioned by its symbolic value
as a sign of divine perfection. Once this conceptual leap w·as made, how·-
ever, an entirely original, magnificently effective rhythmic notation
became possible. The system is called mensuration, ,vhich simply means
measurement.
The new· approach to rhythm most significantly gave parity to duple
and triple groupings and divisions of all the duration signs. Thus, a long The mensural systom
could be divided equally into either hvo breves or three; a breve could be
divided into two or three equal semibreves; a semibreve could comprise
hvo or three minims (M, notated as a diamond-shape semibreve note
head ,vith a stem). The proportional relationship behveen longs and
breves ,vas referred to by the old term mode, and the relat ionship of
breves to semibreves ,vas called temp us (time). If the relationships ,vere
three to one, the mode and tempus were regarded as perfect; if the rela-
tionships ,vere two to one, mode and tempus ,vere regarded as imper-
fect. The relationship of semibreve to minim was called prolation and
classified as either greater (in Latin, major, three M's to one SB) or lesser
(in Latin, minor, hvo M's per SB). To indicate the mensuration, Vitry
proposed a system of signatures. A circle indicated perfect tempus,
,vhereas a half circle indicated imperfect tempus. A dot was added in the
center of the signature to show greater prolation. Today, of course, ,ve
,vould refer to perfect time and greater prolation as compound triple
meter, perfect time and lesser prolation as simple triple meter, imperfect
time and greater prolation as compound duple meter, and imperfect time
and lesser prolation as simple duple meter (Figure 6.1). We still use
the open half circle to indicate duple simple meter; ,ve call it "common
time." Once determined at the start of a piece, the mensural proportions
• ••• lll
0 • ••• l l ll ll
• • • l l l l l l
c • • • l l l l
Figure 6.1 The system of mensural notation, showing signatures and t he rhyt h-
mic combinations each indicates. In order, these are perfect t ime w ith greater
prolation, perfect time with lesser prolat ion, imperfect time with greater prola-
t ion, and imperfect t ime w ith lesser prolation.
remained constant unless a change ,vas indicated in the music. This

could naturally be done by a change of mensuration signature, but for
brief passages of change to or from triplets, red ink ,vas used. W ith its
variety of note shapes, signature designs, and colors, the rhythmic nota-
tion of fourteenth-century music manuscripts produced some of our his-
tory's most visually attractive scores (Plate 4).
It is important to stress the epoch-making significance of the leap of
creative imaginat ion that made mensural notation possible. To abandon
To abandon tht
domination oft ht the dom ination of the number 3 in musical rhythm required a degree of
numbtr 3 in musical intellectual boldness that is hard to overestimate. It also depended on
rhyt.lun rtqufrtd a
the decline of ecclesiastical authority and on an increasing tendency to
dt'gru.of inltllut.ual
boldntss that is hard to
vie,v music as an autonomous realm rather than a reflection of spiritual
overtsl'imalt. or philosophical ideas.
The mensural system fostered the development of a ne,v musical
style and technique. It effects a perfect balance between the dominance
of triple rhythm in the ars antiqua, with its artificial modes and a,vk-ward
rules, and the dominance of duple rhythm from the sixteenth to the
hventieth centuries, ,vhich demands "extraneous" dots to indicate triple
Musical possibilitie-& values. The ars nova rhythmic notation is absolutely unbiased toward
either 3 or 2, and it made possible the coordination of the most interest-
ing, intricate, subtle, complex rhythmic combinations in Western music
up to the hventieth century.
I S O RHYTHM
The persistence of delight in numerical combinations already noted in

our discussion is evidenced by an elaborate organizational process that
composers applied to the motet and motet like compositions in the four-
teenth century: the device of isorhythm (from the Greek prefix iso, mean-
lsorhythm ing "the same"). This term applies to the technique by ,vhich the
composer organized a line of polyphonic music, usually the tenor, into
repetitions of a fixed series of rhythmic values. Motet tenors during the
th irteenth century had, as discussed earlier, used repetitive ordo
rhythms, creating short, reiterated rhythmic figures. We have also ob-
served composers using simple repetitions to extend tenor melod ies bor-
ro,ved from the chant.
In the ars nova, ne,v complexities were explored. The durational
values of the tenor part ,vere laid out in several iterations of a single, often
extensive statement called the ta/ea (the Latin ,vord, meaning "segment,"
Taloaandcolor is the root of our ,vord tally). The pitch content could also be set out as
several repetitions of a melodic pattern, called color. The talea and color
might have different numbers of units, thereby demonstrating mathe-
matical relationships in sound. For example, Vitry set up his motet
"Garrit gallus/ ln nova fert/ Neuma" with a tenor of seventy-two notes,
the talea consisting of hvelve durations and the color of thirty-six pitches.
In this piece the talea is stated six times and the color twice. The tenor of
The Roman deFauvel 91
Example 6.1 The isorhythmic design of the tenor of the motet ·Garrit gall us/ In
nova fert/ Neuma," attributed to Philippe de Vitry: (a) the color, or pitch content of
the tenor line; (b) the ta lea, or rhythmic pattern for the tenor; and (c) the tenor
part of the motet.
(a) ~ - • .. . . • ....
• •
.. . . • • •
. -. - •
-
(b) 0· r· r·
,,,---..__
0· r· r· 0·
• . 0·
O~· • . - · 11
(c) f ~ ·u l IJ. ... Ir· rr 1°· 1-· I

I
0· IJ r· Ir,. II• Ig .1-· -· 1
f ~ ·u l. Ir· IJ. J IO' ,-. I

II
II• 11, Ij, J. 1J ... 1·Q·1-· -· I
repeat
the second half of the motet is thus identical to that of the first half
(Example 6.1).
All kinds of symbolic number relationships could be contrived.
Naturally, such mathematical subtleties might not be evident to the un- Symbolic expression
initiated listener; the performer of the tenor, of course, would soon
n,e int:rfoatc musical
become aw·are of the talea in counting the rhythm of the part. The intri- structure was not inltndtd
cate musical structure ,vas not intended to be obvious but ,vas an expres- to bt obviou.s but was
an txprtSJfon oft lit
sion of the composer's love of, and skill in handling, proportion and
composer's love of, and
order. On an abstract and perhaps subconscious level, the isorhythrn sk.i ll in handling,
,vould give unity and coherence to a large musical construction. proportion and ordtr.
THE ROMAN DE FAUVEL
A major source of ars nova motets (and some earlier music as ,veil) is a
satirical compilation of music and poetry, the Roman de Fauvel (ca. 1316),
put together by the poet Gerve de Bus with additions by Chaillou de
Pestain (both fl. early fourteenth century). The Roman de Fauvel corn- TheR0111a11d,Fauvrl
prises a series of stories about an imaginary horse or ass named Fauvel;
the name is an acrostic derived from the initial letters of the six vices-
Flattery, Avarice, Villainy, Variability, Envy, Laxity (Figure 6.2.). The text
mocks many of the evils and hypocrisies of the fourteenth century,
- --..............-· rw
~ ~ - tcr/}c. '11-m:
'
.19. IU(l<j\- f'utc,,. )\)111' 1l1~tc!
,,.
'•
~
l
•
• [)'; aR; "1r ~ \l""": mau- t'w 'l!
1<;,116 '11IOlr Ul!U;tl~
~";-fJf'vti6 on_r ~~1umr'us....--< e ouPll nu1 anrlrt, ~ 11•• M~
' '.. Jb'4 er 11111 uurfPtTJCTltlrl
_ & ___ -- ·
e au'n-fllie
_,..,,
t" &"~' % nt~
• • A.. •••• _...,,._ "' " I"!,
Figu re 6.2 A pag e from t he Roman de Fauvel. Masked revelers are shown here
p laying drums, vielle, handbells, and cymbals.
sparing neither the clergy nor the political pow·ers. To say that the texts
are irreverent w·ould be an immense understatement; no holds are
barred. The extent of disrespect to which the church is subjected ind i-
cates the low· esteem into wh ich it had fallen, but the nobility fares little
better. (In an altered form, the name of Fauvel survives today in the
English expression "to curry favor." The French phrase itriller Fauvel-
"to curry Fauvel"-and the Old English currayen Pavel became popular
expressions to describe seeking ga in by hypocritical flattery.)
The Roman de Fauvel comprises more than three thousand lines of
French poetry, and interpolated among them is a variety of Latin and
Guillaun1e de Machaut 93
French music. There are monophonic pieces, including Latin liturgical The Roman dt. Fauvd
chant, Sequences, and conductus, as well as French trouvere-style and as music anthology
more popular songs. In addition, there are thirty-four motets ,vith Latin,
French, or mixed texts, in a variety of styles. They range from the earliest
ars antiqua motet type in t\vo voices through contemporary styles, ,vith
t\venty-three three-voice and even one four-part piece. Several of the
more advanced pieces are attributed to Philippe de Vitry himself. Thus
the Ro1na11 de Fauvel constitutes a representative musical anthology of
polyphonic styles from an entire century or more.
F oRMINSECULAR S ONG
The composers of the fourteenth century ,vrote many polyphonic love

songs, extending the tradition of the troubadours and trouveres. Since
for these songs they did not employ cantus firmi but freely composed all
the voices, the composers developed the structural procedures of their
predecessors to create several standardized designs, known in French as
formesfixes (fixed forms). The three main formes fixes are all based on Fo,mesfix••
stanzas having the simple musical plan aab. A second common charac-
teristic was the additional presence of a refrain, for which both text and
music remained the same at each appearance.
The most easily explained of the formes fixes, that of the ballade,
simply consisted of stanzas in aab form and a recurring refrain. Thus, Ballade
indicating the refrain by the letter C (the use of the capital letter shows
that the words as ,veil as the music return in the refrain), ,ve outline the
musical form of a three-stanza ballade
a a b C a a b C a a b C.
Another popular form was the virelai. Unlike the ballade, the virelai
began ,vith a statement of the refrain (A), and it employed the same
music for the refrain as for the end of each stanza (a). As a result, a virelai Virelai
in three stanzas took the form
A b b a A b b a A b b a A.
A bit more elaborate than the ballade and the virelai ,vas the rondeau.
The refrain of the rondeau had t\vo parts (AB) and shared both of its
melodic sections with the embedded aab stanza. This two-part refrain Rond<au
preceded and follo,ved the single stanza, and its first line also interrupted
the stanza, giving the form
AB a A ab AB.
GUILLAUME D E MACHAUT
The most famous and most accomplished composer of the ars nova ,vas
Guillaume de Machaut (ca. 1300-1377). Like Vitry, he ,vorked as secretary
to a king, in Machaut's case KingJohn of Bohemia, and at the end of his life
held a religious position, as canon at the great Gothic cathedral at Rei ms.
GuiJJaumr de Machaut Unlike Vitry, Machaut ,vas not a theorist but a reno,vned poet. Some of
his secular poetry and music seems to have been the product of a rela-
tionsh ip Machaut had ,vhile he ,vas in his sixties ,vith a young girl named
Peronne, ,vho ,vas also a poet. The t\vo ,vrote love letters and sent each
other poetry for several years.
Machaut ,vrote a great deal of poetry not set to music, as well as
many songs. In this sense he belongs to the trouvere tradition, and he
demonstrated his genius in masterfully constructed monophonic and
Secular s-ongs polyphonic songs in the formes fixes. In his Remede de fortune, a long
courtly love poem, he interpolated representative songs ,vith music,
demonstrating in masterful examples the development of types from
monophonic trouvere song up to the modern forms in two, three, and
four voices.
Machaut composed twenty-three motets, most for three parts. They set
both Latin and French texts, and they treat both sacred and secular topics.
Motets They often manifest elaborate designs and ingenuity in the use of iso-
rhythm. Even more than the polyphonic ballades, rondeaux, and virelais,
therefore, the motets seem to have been intended for an unusually sophis-
ticated audience; they sho,v Machaut as a connoisseur's composer.
Machaut's most famous composition is his Mass known as the Messe
de Notre Dame, the earl iest surviving compilation of the complete poly-
Messe de Notrr Dame phonic Mass Ordinary by a single composer. Earlier examples exist of
paired Mass Ordinary movements, such as Kyries ,vith Glorias, and of
composite Masses; but the Machaut Mass stands alone in the fourteenth
century as a multi movement assemblage by one composer, and it is also
the longest Mass cycle of the period. The Messe de Notre Daine is partly of
Although Machaul the type called a plainsong Mass; except for its Gloria and Credo, Machaut
prrstnls his Mass as a used a chant melody of an appropriate liturgical movement as tenor for
complttt Ordinary, H each polyphonic movement. Thus, although the composer presents his
dots not form a
tlitmatically unif,td or Mass as a complete Ordinary, it does not form a thematically unified or
cont.inuou.s work. continuous ,vork.
One immediately notable feature ofMachaut's Mass is its density. It
is scored in four voices rather than the more common three. This can also
be observed in his secular,vorks. The ne,v part is a contratenor, occupying
Cont:ratenor the same general range as the tenor. Tenor and contratenor interact; they
often cross and also have complicated musical relationships.
The shorter texts of the Mass Ordinary-Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei,
and the closing formula Ite, missa est-are set in motet style, ,vith faster-
moving duplum and triplum over steadier tenor and contratenor. Machaut
employed isorhythm in a number of passages in these movements, often
in elaborate fashion and sometimes in all four parts at once. The longer
texts of the Gloria and Credo are, for practical reasons, simpler and more
nearly homorhythmic.
Ars Subtilior 95
Machaut is a remarkable figure, who holds a place of honor as h igh in

the history of literature as in that of music. His significance to our under-
standing of the musical situation in the fourteenth century lies in the
range of his compositions. Because he w·orked ,vith equal mastery in
both sacred and secular styles, he stands as an excellent representative of
the balance and tension that existed between the sacred and secular
sides of life in his time.
ARS SUBTILIOR
French composers in the late fourteenth century explored, or rather ex-

ploited, the possibilities of ars nova technique to their limits. This was
especially so among a number of composers ,vith connections to the
papal court in exile in Avignon. Avignon's po,ver and wealth bred cor-
ruption and greed, but, as had been the case with Byzantine culture al-
ready in earlier centuries, it also encouraged both extravagance and
subtlety in art. Composers created ,vorks of extreme elaborateness and
intricacy. Thus the style, sometimes called ars subtilior (more sub tle art), Ars subtilior
represents a stage that might appropriately be characterized by the term
man11eris1n. Mannerism is a recurring phenomenon in the history of Afanntrfsm is a
music (as ,veil as of other arts) that occurs to,vard the end of the life span rtcurring phtnomtnon
in wl1icl1 crtativt artists
of a style, when creative artists seem to have attained such great facility sum lo havtaHaintd
,vith the tech niques of the style that indulgence of technique becomes an such grt.a l facility with
end in itself. lht lt,c hniquts of lht
stylt that indulgtnct of
One manifestation of mannerism in the fourteenth century ,vas the
ltchniqut btcomts an
exploitation of the notational possibilities of the mensural system. Com- tnd in it.stlf.
posers used every device of the ne,v art to ,vork out ,vhat would be the
most complex rhythm ic relationships bet\veen voices in polyphonic tex-
ture prior to the t\ventieth century. In extreme cases the music becomes Rhythmic mannrrism
very d ifficult to perform, and the proportions are almost impossible to
hear. In certain cases the rhythmic notation, with its circles and semi-
circles, dots and lines, various note shapes, and contrasting ink colors,
seems to have been as important visually as aurally. Music was occasion-
ally notated on staves dra,vn in concentric circles, and in one famous
case in the shape of a heart (Baude Cordier's "Belle bonne"-a love song,
of course; Plate 4).
At the same time, composers tested the limits of chromatic harmony
and dissonance. By the second half of the century the old modal vocabu-
lary of eight pitch classes (counting the alternative B-flat and B-natural)
had expanded to include the other pitches of the chromatic scale. As long
as the music reached an ultimate perfect consonance, composers could
try almost any amount of intervening dissonance. The imperfect conso- Harmonic mannerism
nance of the major th ird functioned as a tolerable temporary sonority for
use on rhythm ically strong beats, although its acceptance at final ca-
dences remained more than a century in the future.
THE ITALI AN T R ECENTO
Polyphony got a late start in Italy. It arose suddenly in a relatively sophis-

ticated form in the fourteenth century, or trecento, as the Italians call it.
There had been no practice of composed organum in sacred music to es-
tablish a foundation in Italy for the kinds of developments that took
place in France. When polyphonic composition did finally appear, it re-
Trecentopolyphony mained generally within the secular sphere. Characteristic of Italian
music in the trecento, as in the rest of music h istory, its grace resides pri-
marily in melody, ,vhich, although often elaborate, constantly maintains
its vocal character. Italian composers of the trecento did not indulge in
either the rhythmic intricacies or the harmonic contortions of their
Francosco Landini French contemporaries. The most prominent among them ,vas Francesco
Landini (ca. 1325-1397), a blind organist and songwriter, praised in the
literary works of his contemporaries, including Boccaccio.
Italian trecento music is represented in a beautiful manuscript
known as the Squarcialupi Codex. This elegant anthology, prepared in
the fifteenth century, is not always completely reliable in its musical text,
but it preserves more than 350 examples of w·hat its compiler must have
considered the best or most representative music of the trecento.
One of the leading forms in this repertoire ,vas the madrigal, not to
be confused with the more familiar sixteenth-century type of madrigal,
Trecento madrigal w·hich ,ve shall encounter later. Trecento madrigal poetry dealt with pas-
toral or amorous topics and w·as organized into hvo or three stanzas of
three lines each, plus a refrain or ritornello (from the Italian w·ord for
"return'') of two lines, often in a contrasting meter. This produced a mu-
sical structure comparable to that of the ballade in France or the Bar in
Germany. The madrigal ,vas set in a texture of hvo voices without a tenor,
both parts carrying the same text and sometimes interacting in
question-and-ans,ver style or hocket or even in momentary passages of
imitation.
A second common form, the ballata, developed later than the madri-
gal and d iffers from it in both texture and form. The ballata ,vas scored in
three lines, a relatively elaborate vocal melody above hvo lo,ver parts,
tenor and contratenor, that moved in somewhat slo,ver rhythm and may
Ballata have been played on instruments. This texture is sometimes known as
cantilena (Example 6.2). The form of the ballata sho,vs the influence of
the French formes fixes. It consists of a two-line refrain called ripresa, a
verse made up of hvo piedi of hvo lines each and a volta using the same
music as the ripresa, follo,ved by the return of the ripresa. Its form might
be outlined thus:
ripresa piedi volta ripresa

AB cdcd ab AB
The ballata resembles the French virelai (not the ballade, inconveniently
for modern students).
Cadence Patterns in the Fourteenth Century 97
Example 6.2 Cantilena texture in the first verse lines of a ballata by Andrea
Stefani (fl. ca. 1400). The highest part carries the text and employs a much more
active style than the lower ones. The lower parts represent instrumental lines.
The text reads, "She has a blond head and hair of gold." Note that the hemiola in
the penultimate measure was notated by a change to red notes, indicated here
by dotted brackets.
El • l'l ii c.a • p(t- blllln · fA_ d'o·n'> Ii ta · pd • • b.
-
.. ----~
----
.
-. ,---------,
~
Another popular type of song,vas the caccia. The Italian ,vord means
"chase" or "hunt," and the texts portrayed outdoor life in realistic fash-
ion. The texture involved t,vo equal voices supported by a lo,ver part in
slo,ver motion. Often the vocal lines depicted the sounds of the hunt Caccia
,vith onomatopoeic syllables and appropriate musical gestures. The
name of the genre also had a punning meaning, because the upper parts
,vere constructed in canon so that the second voice actually "chases" the
first through the piece. In France a similar composition ,vas known as
chace, and the English later used the term catch for a popular type of
song. The thoroughgoing polyphonic imitation in the caccia presented a
ne,v problem for the composer: instead of composing the voices succes-
sively above the tenor, as had always been the case in cantus firmus-style
polyphony, one had to construct the imitative lines simultaneously to
prevent harmon ic disaster. Naturally, the low·est voice w·ould then have
to be written last rather than first. The tenor, born from the authority of
the music of the church, could no longer be conceived as the fundamen-
tal and most important voice in the texture; it had become merely an
accompan iment to the vocal melodies above.
The rapid growth of secular culture in Italy, mentioned earlier in dis-
cussing the literary,vorks of Petrarch and Boccaccio, ,vas thus paralleled
in music. By the sixteenth century Italy ,vould become the center of Italian secular culture
European musical culture. First, however, a general upheaval, already
begun in the fourteenth century, completely reshaped the careers and
the ideas of artists and musicians and, indeed, created one of the great
divides in the history of Western culture.
C ADENCE PATTE RNS I N TH E F OU RT EENTH CENT U RY
At this point it is helpful to pick up a thread we first discovered in the

music of the ars antiqua, the development of the cadence, to see ho,v this
harmonic aspect of counterpoint evolved in the fourteenth century.
Composers continued to use the 6-8 (or 3-1) and the cadences in the 1-!
fourteenth century, but ,vith ne,v characteristics (Example 6.3). Musi-

cians had by now come to favor the effect of the half step, leading-tone
motion to the fi nal from belo,v, which gave a much stronger cadential
feeling than the modal w'hole steps from the lo,ver seventh scale degree.
L•ading tones Thus, ,vhere the seventh note of the mode lay a ,vhole tone below the
final, it ,vas raised chromatically to produce a leading tone. This was par-
ticularly true of the modes ,vith finals D and G; the F modes naturally
have a leading tone, ,vhereas the situation in the E modes is complicated
by the occurrence of a half step above the final. In some cases the penul-
timate tone in the inner part of a three-voice cadence ,vas also sharped,
producing a" double leading tone" cadence.
These chromatic alterations were not necessarily notated but could
Muska ficta be applied by performers according to conventional principles. Such ad-
justments, known as musica ficta, were also applied in other situations, to
avoid melodic and harmonic tritones, for example. Modern editors of
Example 6.3 Ars nova cadences: (a) 6-8 cadence with leading tone supplied
by musica ficta, from the end of Macha ut's virelai "Plus dure que un dyamant";
(bl~ - ~ cadence wit h double leading tone, from Machaut's motet "S'il estoit nulz
qui p laindre/S'amou rs tous amans j oir/Et gaudebit cor vestrum"; (c) three-voice
double-leading-tone cadence with escape tone, from Landin i's ballata "Non avra
ma' pieta."
En _ _ 3 111
'
(b) ~ .. II
• (,qxt;J re.
"
~ S'a- • mours k foil- ·-
uo,, -
liln guir.
(vei;lrum.)
(c)
"·
English Polyphony 99
early music commonly indicate the appropriate places for such altera-
tions by placing accidentals above the notes.
The cadence, v.rith or ,vithout the double leading tone, w·as also com-
monly ornamented in the top line by a step down from the leading tone
to the tone belo,v and then a skip up to the resolution on the final note.
The best term for this type of cadence is escape-tone or under-third ca- Escape-tone cadonce
dence. (It is sometimes called a Landini cadence, after the Italian com-
poser Francesco Landini, but this is misleading both because many
composers used this ornament and because Landini himself did not do
so consistently.)
ENGLI SH POLY PHONY
Before leaving the fourteenth century, w·e must take note of some pecu-
liarities of polyphony in England during this period. Musicians in the
British Isles had adopted French styles in the thirteenth century; indeed,
one of the great sources of the Notre Dame repertoire, the manuscript
Wl, came from St. Andrew·s in Scotland. The genres of conductus and Polyphony in Britain
motet are represented among the "Worcester fragments" (so named be-
cause this type of composition seems to have been centered in Worces-
ter), ,vhich date from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Another genre appearing in the Worcester fragments, the ro11dellus,
exploits the principle of voice exchange as the basis for somew·hat ex-
tended compositions. We have already encountered the use of voice ex- Rondollus
change in Notre Dame organa of the Perotin style, but the technique
became especially developed in England. In the rondellus all the parts
have the same material, but segments of this material are presented in
rotating orders in the various voices so that each idea is passed around
among them. There might also be an independent bottom line consisting
of a repeated phrase called pes (Latin for" foot"; pl. pedes).
Gym el and English Discant

English musical style differed from Continental music in its use of simple
rhythms and homorhythmic texture, a taste for the imperfect conso-
nances of the third and sixth, and reticence about the free use of disso-
nance. Musicians exploited these tendencies in t\vo special types of
polyphonic singing used in England. The simpler of these was gymel, in Gymel
,vhich an improvised second voice ,vas expanded from an existing part in
the course of a polyphonic composition (Example 6.4), usually (at least
in earlier examples) requiring the other polyphonic parts to drop out.
(The improvisation required singers to employ the technique of"sight-
ing," in ,vhich they mentally visualized their notes on the staff with the
notated line.) The other type of English polypho nic singing, kno,vn as
English discant, employed three voices in predominantly homo rhythmic
Example 6.4 Excerpt from a sacred song composed in gymel style, ·1esu Cristes
milde moder."
N¢U · C bl~ · SC us brou · t¢ thal man • kin
de • re l>o\l • IC nocJ ro, lif.
Englishdiscant texture (Example 6.5). In English discant the cantus firmus characteris-
tically lies in the middle voice; the counter, w·hich runs below it, may form
octaves, sixths, fifths, thirds, and unisons v.rith it; the third voice rides
above the cantus firmus and has a tendency to parallel it at the fourth. An
unusual but characteristically English sound results ,vhen the cantus
firmus in the middle is paralleled by the counter at the lo,ver third and
the upper voice at the fourth, producing consecutive ! sonorities. In such
contexts, the imperfect intervals no longer seem merely subsidiary to
perfect ones but are clea rly valued for their s,veet sonority.
Secular Music: Rota

Little strictly secular music has survived from England in the fourteenth
century. The most remarkable example is the famous rota "Sumer is
Tue "Sumercanon• icumen in." The rota resembles the rondellus, except that instead of be-
ginning together, the upper voices have staggered entrances, producing
canonic imitation. "Sumer is icumen in" contains four canonic upper
lines and hvo bottom lines that relate by voice exchange. The resulting
Example 6.5 The end of the Christmas carol "Angelus ad virginem," set in English
discant style. The melody is in the middle voice. The text reads, "You are made
the gate of heaven, remedy for w rong."
I" I" r-.-1 I 1~ 1 r I r f ·r Lr? F:

por . 1u « . li fll!C . 111 C$1, me . •fa • l!.I cri . mi - num,
~ • ~-r:,,.~
.,
I ' I
polyphonic construct is extremely sophisticated for its time (perhaps as

early as the end of the thirteenth century). It is also note\vorthy for the
constant presence of thirds in its harmonic structure, ,vhich gives it a
strikingly advanced sound. The same music also exists ,vith Latin sacred
,vords (Perspice christicola-"Observe, Christians"), an example of the
free flo\v bet\veen the religious and secular spheres at this time.
The English predilections for straightforward, easily follo,ved
rhythms and for the richness of the imperfect consonances reveal a mu-
sical aesthetic based more on empirical, sensual values than on symbolic,
intellectual principles. This would have considerable influence, as we English harmonic taste
shall see, on the future of music throughout Europe.
For theArs nova treatise, see the translation by Leon Plantinga in Journal of
Music TI1eory 5 (1961), 204-23. Other fourteenth-century treatises, in-
cluding the discussions of the ne\v notation in France byJean de Muris and
of the some\vhat different Italian system by Marchetta da Padua, as well as
the conservative attack on the new notation by Jacobus of Liege, are ex-
cerpted in Oliver Strunk, Source Readings in Music History (Ne,v York:
Norton, 1998).
Gilbert Reaney, Guillaume de Machaut (London: Oxford University
Press, 1971), is a good biography of th is important composer.
1. Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron, vol. 4 of T11tte le opere di Giovanni Boccaccio,

ed. Vittore Branca (Milan: Mondanore, 1976), 10-11. [Translation by DS]
7
Humanism and Music

The decline of ecclesiastical authority, the rediscovery of ancient thinking,
and the printing press led in the fifteenth century to a movement of rebirth in
western European learning. The Hundred Years' War brought English harmony
to the continent. The new spirit of humanism in culture also manifested itself in
music, as it was expressed in 111orks of con1posers mostly based in the court of
Burgundy.
The Rise of a Hu1nanist The 1\Je1v Style 011 the Continent

Worldview GUILLAUME DU FAY
The Hundred Years' War GILLES BINCHOIS
and English 1\1usic on the POLYPHONIC CADENCES
Continent
The Idea of a New Music
JOHN DUNSTAPLE
THE RIS E OF A H U MANIS T WORLDVIE W
Thinkers and artists responding to the increasing secularization of cul-

ture in the fourteenth century produced new perspectives on life, ideas,
and art. Turning away from the dominant w·orldview· of the preceding
centuries, they increasingly freed the imagination from authority, spe-
Humanism cifically from the dogma of the church. They held a ne\v conviction that
solutions to problems and the achievement of personal fulfillment could
come from human intellect and effort rather than only from divine rev-
elation or grace. This ne,v movement is referred to as humanis1n.
By the fifteenth century the role and power of the church had de-
clined sharply. Even after the Council of Constance had mended the
102
The Rise of a Hu1nanist Worldvie,v 103
Great Schism in 1417, the church never entirely regained its authority,
although it staved off the inevitable crisis of the Reformation for another
century. Despite its continued political and economic importance, the
church had lost its domination over the manner of thinking in Western
culture; the period of reliance on ecclesiastically sanctioned authority
for understanding had come to an end.
No longer satisfied to build their ideas on the foundation ofscripture
and the authority of the church, the humanist artists and thinkers of the
fifteenth century returned to the pre-Christian civilizations of Greek
and Roman antiquity for models and for confirmation that a European
culture could look to authorities other than the Christian religion. In the lnflurnce of Classic.a l
fourteenth century Petrarch, for example, had already sought out and antiquity
rediscovered important documents of the classical philosophers and

\'lriters. By the fifteenth century many ancient treatises circulated in
translation. Sculptors and architects began to model their ,vork on the
statues and temples of Greece and Rome. In this sense the humanist
movement could justifiably be considered a "renaissance,'' or rebirth of
classic culture, in relation to which the intervening period seemed a
"middle'' or" dark" age.
Especially influential \'las the reemergence in the fifteenth century of
the ,vorks of Plato. As \'le noted in discussing Gothic thought and the Plato's high tr Rtalily was
lo bt pursued out.sidt. lht.
scholastics, Plato had been eclipsed in the t\velfth and thirteenth centu-
divfot revelation of
ries by Aristotle. But with the patronage of the Medici family, ,vho ruled Chrisl'ianity, wit.l1in
the city of Florence, Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) translated all Plato's humank-i nd it.ulf.
\vorks into Latin, and readers studied them avidly throughout Europe.
The pursuit ofa h igher Reality, a goal clearly derived from Plato's thought,
became an important quest for the follo,ving generations. This higher
Reality ,vas to be pursued outside the divine revelation of Christianity,
\'lithin humankind itself. Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494), another
Florentine, penned an "Oration on the Dignity of Man," citing in his ar-
gument fora view ofhumanity as a great miracle not onlyJudeo-Christian
scripture but also ancient classical and Arabic sources. The purpose of Virtll
philosophy and art for the humanists no longer consisted in winning sal-
vation after death, but in virtu, personal success and honor achieved
through the cultivation of one's O\'ln talents and personal fulfillment in
this life. In 1434 the architect Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) ,vrote,
addressing the young men of his family,
But if anyone wants to investigate diligently \vhat most exalts and Alberti instructs his
increases families and what maintains them at a h igh level of honor young rdat:ivrs about
vaJurs
and of happiness, he \viii clearly perceive that men most often bring
about each of their ow·n good conditions and each of their bad ones;
nor, indeed, will he attribute to any material thing such power that
he would ever judge virtu to be worth less than fortune \vhen it
comes to gaining praises, greatness, and fame.1
104 CHAPTER 7: Humanism and Music
In consequence of this belief that persons are the masters of their O\Vn
fate, there gre\v up a new and pervasive optimism about humankind itself.
People began to take a skeptical vie,v of received ,visdom. They
started to place empiricism above authority, and firsthand observation
The importance became the principle ofkno,vledge and art. As a result, long-held beliefs
of observation
about the nature of earth and heaven collapsed. Christopher Columbus's
conviction that the earth ,vas round so overpowered the old-fashioned
assumption that one could fall off the edge that he staked his life on it in
the attempt to establish a new route to the Orient. The astronomical
observations of Copernicus (1473-1543) shattered the crystalline heav-
enly spheres in ,vhich the stars and planets had been supposed to rotate
around the earth.
The humanist artists also looked at their ,vorld in an entirely ne,vway.
Instead of seeing things as symbolic of divine order and objects as mate-
rial for glorification of the house and word of God, they vie,ved the ,vorld
as they experienced it. In the fourteenth century the visual arts had al-
ready become more realistic. The fourteenth-century Italian painters, par-
ticularly Giotto di Bondone, learned to give their figures shape and depth
(Plate 5). They began to paint the textures of skin and clothing in a sensu-
ous manner, so that the vie\ver could imagine the feel of the surface.
Artists also recognized the importance of an approach that relied on
direct, individual observation of nature. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519),
in h is Treatise on Painting, wrote,
Wonardo da Vind offers Since yo u kno,v, painter, that you cannot be good if you are not a
advicr to contemporar-y
universal master at imitating by your art all the qualities of the
painters
forms that Nature produces-which you will not kno,v ho,v to do if
you do not see and portray them in your m ind-therefore, when
you are ,valking through the countryside, turn your judgment to
various objects, and look by turns at one thing and then another,
making a selection of various such objects, culled out from those
that are less good.2
He also stressed careful observation and accurate portrayal of people in

real life:
Take delight in watching studiously those ,vho talk together with ges-
tures of their hands. Ifyou are personally acquainted ,vith them, get
close to them and hear ,vhat leads them to make such gestures as they
do .... Pay attention to those who laugh and those who cry, observe
those ,vho shout ,vith rage, and like,vise all the conditions of our
minds. Observe social manners and note that it is not appropriate ...
for a master to act like a servant, nor a little child like an adolescent or
like\vise as an old man ,vho can barely support himself; do not make
a peasant's gesture like one that should belong by custom to a noble-
man, nor the strong man's like the weak one's, nor prostitutes' ges-
tures like those of honest ,vomen, nor men's like women's. 3
The Hundred Years' War and English Music on the Continent 105
In addition, painters in the fifteenth century employed a significant

new· approach in their \vork, the use of proportions to reflect visual per-
spective rather than symbolic organization. For earlier artists and vie\v-
ers the sizes of figures had established their hierarchical rankings, and
the persons depicted did not necessarily seem to relate to one another in
actual space. In humanist paintings people sa,v figures that related as Pers pective in art
equals even though they appeared for the moment in different sizes be-
cause of their situations in different planes. Settings provided realistic
contexts for figures rather than extraneous ornament. Balance and sym-
metry of planning, not an ecclesiastically grounded cosmology, no,v ful-
filled the artist's human urge to create order.
Perhaps most influential of all for music, people in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries took a new interest in literature because in ,vriting
one might find a means of self-expression. Responding to the demand for Printing
more and more copies of books, around 1450 Johannes Gutenberg
(ca. 1395-1468) developed the technique ofprinting from movable type.
The Venetian printer Aldus Manutius (1449-1515) produced editions of
the Greek and Latin philosophers, poets, and dramatists, as \veil as of the
great Italian literature. The spread of literature increased the rate of lit- n,espnad oflittralurt.
eracy and, in turn, the possibility for original thought in response to what incrtast.d lht. ralt of
liltracy and, in turn, t.lit
had been ,vritten in the past. Leading thinkers and educators gave up the pouibility for original
earlier conception of the trivium, in ,vhich the language arts ,vere re- thouglll in r~spo,ut to wl1at
garded as primary studies (grammar school); instead, they conceived a had bttn wrilttn in the
past.
ne\v grouping of disciplines kno,vn as studia humanitatis (humanities)
that included not only grammar and rhetoric but also poetry, history,
and moral philosophy. At the same time, they regarded literature as The humani ties
closer to music; the modern conception of music as belonging to the
same class of endeavors as literature, as opposed to the mathematical
discipli nes of the quadrivium, has its roots here, although music (like the
visual arts) d id not yet fully enter the circle of the humanities. As we
shall see, musicians became deeply committed to words as the new· basis
for musical composition.
THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR AND E NGLI SH Music

ON THE CONTINENT
In 1337 King Edward III of England asserted his claim to the French
throne of Philip VI. This precipitated the beginning of the Hundred
Years' War, \vhich lasted from 1338 until 1453. The fighting laid w·aste to
much of France, and even during periodic truces bands of momentarily
unemployed mercenary soldiers lived off the land, pillaging farms and
towns. For a number of years much of France was under English control. English occupation in
The French finally found a rallying figure in Joan ofArc, and their deter- France
mination was only intensified by her capture and execution by the

English in 1431. Still, the ,var dragged on for more than hvo decades.
Such a political upheaval ,vould not normally be conducive to a great
flow·ering of the arts; there is little leisure or money to spare ,vhen pa-
trons of the Muses become follo,vers of Mars. Yet in an unexpected ,vay,
the Hundred Years' War affected the development of musical styles, be-
cause it carried musicians from one region to another, effecting a
cross-fertilization that might not have occurred otherwise.
The English brought their music to France ,vith them, and the char-
acteristic sound of English polyphony became popular ,vith the Conti-
nental composers. In 1441-1442 a French poet, Martin le Franc, ,vrote
in his Le Champion des da1nes about the music of his countrymen before
and after the influence of the English:
Martin le Franc comparrs Tapissier, Carmen, Cesaris
Frrnch and English musk Not so long since did sing so well
That they amazed all of Paris
And everyone ,vho there did dwell.
But their discant did not possess
A melody of such delight-
They tell me, ,vho can bear witness-
As G. Du Fay and Binchois ,vrite.
For they now have a novel ,vay
Of making brisk, sweet combinations
In music soft, or loud and gay,
In ficta, cadences, mutations.
They have put on the countenance
Of Englishmen, like Dunstable.
So that a ,vondrous elegance
Makes their song glad and notable.4
The "countenance of Englishmen"-le Franc uses the French phrase
co11te11a11ce angloise-must have meant the English concentration on the
imperfect consonances and avoidance of dissonance, also termed pa11-
English harmonic style conso11a11ce. These mellifluous sonorities, so unlike the complicated har-
monies ofthe French mannerists of the late fourteenth century, conquered
and held the ears and imaginations of the French, ,vhereas the English
Englisl1 harmony arm ies attained only a temporary grasp of the land.
c.onqutrt.d and htld I-lit t .a rs
and imaginat.ion.s oft ht
Frtnch, whereas lht English J ohn Dunstaple
armies attained only a
ltmporarygrasp oft ht The composer John Dunstaple (or Dunstable, among various other spell-
land.
ings dating back to his ow·n time, ca.1390-1453) may have gone to France
,vith the English regent in Paris, the Duke of Bedford; at least his music
crossed the Channel at th is time. Dunstaple was the most gifted and skill-
John Dunstaple ful musician England had produced up to his time. He ,vas probably edu-
cated in the great tradition of the liberal arts, because he appears to have
been active in other disciplines of the quadrivium, as a mathematician
and astronomer. His great motet "Veni sancte spiritus/ Veni creator spiri-
tus" proves that he mastered the French techniques of cantus firmus
The Hundred Years' War and English Music on the Continent 107
Example 7.1 The tenor of Dunstaple's isorhythmic motet ·veni sancte spiritus/
Veni creator spiritus." The colo r is a 22-note excerpt from the plainchant hymn
"Veni creato r spiritus," whereas the talea consists of 11 durations occupying
15 measures. After each two statements of the ta lea, the rhythm is altered
mensurally, so that it accelerates in the proportions 3:2:1.
16
jf- I - I - 1·i· r··1;. r±±ttw·Idil@l.QlJQJll -1,afr[.J.II ~

11
)I
ffl.!I • I • ie· i e· Io-.JJr .. I.;. 11·· I 0

• I
11· I • 1"· I Ie·
0
•
,,
-m- - - I"·
..
flf -f - IF' IF' IJ JIr-Sf-lF-tri· If" 1-1r Ir· IF-J
"
composition as v,relJ as the esoteric mathematical intricacies ofisorhythm

and proportion (Example 7.1). At the same time, he had such control of
the harmony that even in the older forms he could maintain the S,\l'eet
English sound. Besides the beauty of the harmonies, the English melod ic
style did not employ the often long phrases, sinuous contours, and com-
plex rhythms typical of the French ars nova but tended to,\l'ard a simpler
phrasing, more attuned to the natural rise and fall of spoken language.
Musicians on the Continent must have found this "s,\l'eetness" that
Martin le Franc noted in the panconsonant style and elegant melodic
designs ofDunstaple and his countrymen appealing because of the ne\\l'
humanist willingness to adm it sensuous attractiveness as at least the
equal of symbolic mean ing in judging the value of music. Given time to
pursue the implications of human ist ideals, the French composers
might, of course, have turned in th is harmonic direction on their ow·n.
As it happened, however, just as humanist ideas filtered into France from
across the Alps, English armies and their music invaded from across the
Channel and presented them ,\l'ith a sound that responded to the needs
of the burgeoning cultural movement. This happy coincidence produced
a rapid revolution, w·hich le Franc could aptly describe as "putting on the
countenance of Englishmen."
T H E NEW STYLE ON THE CONT I NENT
The composers w·hom le Franc cites as representatives of the "novel \Vay" of

composing \Vere associated by patronage with the territory of Burgundy,
\vhich included a large area of ,vhat is no\v northeastern France and the
Low Countries. Their style has often been called Burgundian for this
reason, although their travels and the dissemination of their music also
spread their ideas in France and Italy. The dukes \vho ruled Burgundy
\Vere related to the French royal family but generally avoided direct in-
volvement in the Hundred Years' War, preferring to play the English and
lhe Burgundian court French against one another to their O\vn advantage. Because they did not
deplete their resources in militaristic adventurism, they were able to cul-
tivate a fabulous court, a center for music and other arts (Plate 6) . The
elaborate and affected styles of dress that we often associate \vith the
noble lords and ladies of fairy tales-peaked hats ,vith veils and shoes
\vith long, curled toes-stem from this period. At one especially lavish
court banquet a huge pastry shell \Vas presented, from \vhich two dozen
musicians played; hence came the" four-and-hventy blackbirds baked in
a pie" of the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song ofSixpence.''
But the legacy of the Burgundian dukes went far beyond fairy tales
and nursery rhymes. They gathered to the protection of their court at
nu. Burgundian dukts Dijon some of the greatest artists and musicians of the fifteenth century.
gathtrtd lo thtir c.ourt al The duke of Berry, brother to Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy
Dijon somt of the grtalul
art.ist.s and musician.soft ht (r. 1364-1404), commissioned a breviary that ranks as one of the art
fiftuntl1 unt·ury. masterpieces of the time, the so-called Tres riches heures du due de Berry
(1413-1416), \vhich opens ,vith illustrations by the brothers Limbourg
representing the months of the year. The miniature paintings depict
scenes of everyday life in nature, using beautiful color and amazing atten-
tion to detail. The religious pictures throughout the book also incorpo-
rate everyday scenes and depict specific locations \vith in the Burgundian
territories (Plate 7).
Guillaume D u Fay
Most important of the musicians ,vith ties to Burgundy was Guillaume
Guillaume Du Fay Du Fay (formerly often spelled Du fay; 1397-1474). Du Fay was a singer
and churchman rather than a courtier; he ,vas affiliated \vith the cathe-
dral at Cambrai from the time he ,vas a boy chorister. He must have been
\veil educated, and he certainly traveled widely. He spent considerable
time in Italy, including several different periods of service as a singer in
the papal choir in Rome. W hile he \Vas in Italy, he also came to kno\v
some of the great noble patrons of the arts.
Sacred music is prominent in Du Fay's output, but the ,veakening of
the centripetal force of the church in the face of humanistic trends is also
evident in these \vorks. Du Fay followed Dunstaple, \vriting motets in
the cantus firmus style that made use of isorhythm and mathematical
proportional relationships but also employed the ne\v sonorities of
The New Style on the Continent 109
imperfect consonances. By this time four-part texture was common, and Four·pa.rt texture
the four voices were know·n as superius, contra tenor altus (or simply altus),
tenor, and contratenor bassus (or bassus), Latin versions of the Italian terms
Four· part vojcing
w·e still use. The addition of the contratenor bassus below· the fixed tenor demonstrates that ll1t.
w·as a great advantage to composers, because it allowed freedom to create symbolic value oft.l1t
harmonic sonorities from the low·est voice up. Th is new· voicing demon- cant us firm us as a
foundat.ion gave way
strates that the symbolic value of the cantus firmus as a foundation gave lo tl1t desire.for apptaling
w·ay to the desire for appealing vertical sounds. vtrlfral sounds.
One of Du Fay's masterpieces in the fifteenth-century manner of
handling cantus firmus-based composition is the magn ificent motet
"Nuper rosarum flores/ Terribilis est locus iste," composed for the ded i-
cation of the dome of the cathedral in Florence (Figure 7.1). Du Fay laid Nuper rosarum flores
out his motet tenor in four isorhythmic segments with mensural changes
at each new· statement, in the proportions 6:4:2:3, recognizing the spe-
cific occasion by using numbers that correspond to the proportions of
the Temple of Solomon, \vhich is referred to in the scripture readings
from the Proper of the Mass for the ceremony (see I Kings 6). The use of
a chant tenor (taken from the Mass for the Ded ication of a Church) and
the application of isorhythmic technique look back\vard to the great
Figure 7.1 The great cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence was begun in
1294, but the late-thirteenth -century builders of the body of the cathedral had
left unsolved the problem of supporting the unprecedentedly huge dome that
had been called for. The brilliant architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) solved
this problem with great ingenuity, and the construction was completed in 1436.
Guillame Du Fay composed his motet "Nu per rosarum flores/Terribilis est locus
iste," likewise an impressive demonstration of structural proportions, based on
the biblical description of King Solomon's temple in Jerusalem, for the cathedral's
dedication.
trad ition inherited from previous centuries. The harmonic language,

based on the pervasive sound of thirds, is progressive.
Du Fayw·orked in another new· style in church music that also show·s
the increasing independence from the older type of cantus firmus poly-
phony, using a paraphrased chant melody as the top voice in a polyphonic
setting. In this type of piece the chant is handled freely, often w·ith added
notes to grace the simple, existing line. Two low·er parts, moving in
slow·er rhythm than the upper melody, but both at approximately the
Cantllrna style same pace, accompany the top voice. The distinction in style betw·een
these accompanying parts and the melody in the top voice might even
suggest performance of the low·er lines by instruments, although scoring
in these pieces remains an open question. The texture is that of the can-
Humanism had obviously tilena style used in the secular Italian music of the preceding century.
made sub tit inroads
into even lht. sacrtd Humanism had obviously made subtle inroads into even the sacred
rtptrloirc. repertoire.
The composers of the so-called Burgundian school, including Du
Fay, also adapted the principle of English discant, but they no\v placed
the chant in the topmost line. They transposed the cantus to a relatively
high pitch and arranged a bottom voice to accompany it in sixths and, at
cadences especially, at the octave. The singers \vould then simply impro-
vise a middle voice by singing from the chant line but a fourth lo\ver, so
that the \vhole texture produced a polyphonic succession of and ~ !
Fauxbourdon verticalities. The technique was called fauxbourdon (false bass). The
composer could avoid pure homorhythm by giving the lo\vest voice a
certain degree of independence, and he commonly paraphrased the
chant melodies in a subtle fashion. Fauxbourdon verses were typically
used in alternation \vith chanted verses of hymns to provide variety, a
manner of performance known as alternati1n.
The gradual veering aw·ay from the ecclesiastical authority ofliturgi-
cal practice and the creation of a purely manmade order is further evi-
denced in the cantus firm us Mass. Unlike the plainsong Mass ofMachaut,
composers in the fifteenth century began to rely on a single cantus firmus
for all the movements of a single Mass Ordinary. They thus underm ined
The.canlus firm us the liturgical integrity of the Mass in favor of purely musical unity.
.M ass undtrmintd tht
Sometimes they would take the cantus firmus for all the movements
liturgical inttgrity oft ht
Mass in favor ofpurdy
from some ecclesiastical melody, but Du Fay realized that once a com-
musical unity. poser no longer felt it necessary to use a chant melody belonging to each
particular liturgical item, there was no absolute need for a sacred cantus
firmus, and he thus employed secular tunes. He w·rote one of h is most
famous Masses on the tenor of his own secular chanson "Se la face ay
pale'' (If I have a pale face). Another unifying device Du Fay employed
\vas to begin all the movements of the Mass \vith the same opening idea,
a motto or head 1notive.
Du Fay \vrote fine secular music as \veil as sacred. Among these
\vorks are chansons in the traditional formes fixes and cantilena texture.
Du Fay's secular works Often there are extensive untexted, virtuosic passages in the melodic top
The New Style on the Continent 111
voice, wh ich suggests the use of instruments along w·ith the singer, as w·ell
as in the low·er voices. The forms are often more expansive than those of
the earlier composers, because the sections tend to have several poetic
lines each. What is really new· about them, how·ever, as in Du Fay's sacred
w·orks, is their harmony, w·hich exploits the imperfect consonances.
Gilles Binchois
The Binchois mentioned by Martin le Franc w·as Du Fay's contemporary
Gilles Binchois (ca. 1400-1460). Unlike Du Fay, Binchois \v-as not a
cleric (Figure 7.2), although he may have been trained as a choirboy, and
so he left relatively little sacred music. He \v-as, in fact, a soldier in his
early life, and he became a prominent musician in the Burgundian ducal
court. His chansons are particularly noteworthy for the gracefulness of
their melodies.
Polyphon ic Cadences
One stylistic move that would have important effects later in the history
of music \v-as experimentation ,v-ith the polyphonic cadence. Composers
still commonly used the 1-~ cadence, but in the fifteenth century they
also tried other possibilities (Example 7.2). They found that they could
bring the harmonic combination of the second and seventh degrees of
the mode in the penultimate harmony into closer correspondence \v-ith
the lo\v-er partials in the overtone series, and thereby make a particularly
attractive sonority, by placing a bass note a fifth belo\v- the second degree
Fig ure 7.2 Guillaume

Du Fay and Gilles
Binchois, portrayed in
a manuscript of Le
Champion des dames,
in which they are
praised by Martin le
Franc as the finest
composers of the new
fifteenth-century style.
Du Fay is depicted in
ecclesiastical robes
w ith an organ, whereas
Binchois, who excelled
in secular music, is
dressed as a court ier
and has a harp.
Example 7.2 Fifteenth-century cadence forms: (a) octave-leap cadence from

Binchois's chanson "Triste plaisir"; and (b) authentic cadence in three voices from
Du Fay's · ou tout m'estoie abandone."
(a) O'
heuJ · le $OY • e.
.~ - ii.·
,,
(b) -·· - -•·. -·-· o·
.• ~1!. ....... ,.._ -
_,_
....,,
(i.e., a major third or tenth below· the raised seventh). This produced a~
verticality just before the second and seventh opened out to the octave
Octave-leap cadence on the final. In three voices this presented the problem ofw·hat to do w·ith
the bass voice on the last note, and one solution ,vas to carry it up an
octave to make the fifth of the concluding harmony. This is sometimes
called the octave-leap cadence (Example 7.2a).
The bass could, of course, also rise a fourth or fall a fifth to the final
as the stepw·ise upper parts moved ouhvard, tripling the final at the ca-
dence. This bass motion w·as more likely to occur, however, in a four-part
setting, where the altus now commonly sustained the fifth of the mode in
both cadential harmonies, and, of course, the final harmony still con-
tained only perfect intervals, that is, octaves and fifths (Example 7.2b).
Authentic cadence What thus evolved from the old t\vo-part contrapuntal cadence is the
authentic cadence in four voices. We must not forget, how·ever, that the
t\vo basic cadential voices moving out\vard to the final continuously
maintained their dominance over the feeling of cadence throughout the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Good voice leading at ca-
dences continued to rely on this procedure until the hventieth century.
T H E IDE A O F A NEW Music
Although the new spirit and style in literature and painting had its roots
in Italy, spreading from there to the rest of Europe, the self-consciousness
of a new· period of ideas and style in music came from the north. The
music theorist Johannes Tinctoris (ca. 1435-1511), w·ho \\l'aS born and
educated in northern France but spent much of his maturity in Italy, no-
tably asserted in 1477,
Astonishingly enough, there does not exist anything composed, Tinctoris extols the new
except \\l'ithin the last forty years, that, in the opinion of the style in musk
learned, is \\l'Orth listening to. 5

He also identified the roots of the ne," music in 1473 or 1474, w·riting,
As things stand at the present time, the abilities of our musicians
have increased so w·onderfully that there appears to be a ne," art,
'"hose fount and origin, so to speak, \\l'aS regarded as being among
the English, of '"hom Dunstaple stood forth as the head; and con-
temporary v.rith him in France '"ere Du Fay and Binchois. 6
In the \\l'Orks of these composers, therefore, the human ist sense of cul-
tural rene,val found a musical style in ,vhich attractiveness and clarity of
sound opened up ne," possibilities.
This period of Burgundian leadership ,vas one in which older and
Burgundy wa.s in a position
ne,v values and styles coexisted, and it ,vas extremely important in the to providt. lht ntxu.s for
history of Western music. During a period of turmoil in France, inltraclfon among French
Burgundy ,vas in a position to provide the nexus for interaction among advanctd c.ompositional
tuhniqut, English sonoral
French advanced compositional technique, English sonoral beauty, and btauty, andlt.alian
Italian humanism. Early-fifteenth-century polyphony provides an out- humanism.
standing example of how music history incorporates both the interac-
tion of music with general political and cultural history and continuity
and change in musical ideas and styles.
There are several excellent surveys ofmusic in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. 1\vo of the most comprehensive are Leeman L. Perkins,
Music in the Age of the Renaissance (New York: Norton, 1999), and the
older Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance (Ne,v York: Norton,
1959). Useful textbooks include Allan Atlas, Renaissance Music: Music
in Western Europe 1400-1600 (New York: Norton, 1998), Ho,vard M.
Bro,vn, Music in the Renaissance (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall, 1999), and Richard Freedman, Music in the Renaissance (Ne,v
York: Norton, 2.013).
Excellent studies of individual composers are Margaret Bent,
Dunstable (London: Oxford University Press, 1980), and David Fallows,
Dujay (London: Dent, 1982.).
1. Leon Battista Alberti, 1 libri della famiglia, edited by Ruggiero Romano and
Alberto Tenenti (Turin: Einaudi, 1969), 4. [Translation by DS]
2. Leonardo da Vinci, Treatise on Painting [Codex Urbinus latinus 1270], t rans-

lated and annotated by A. Philip McMahon, vol. 2, Facsimile (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1956), fol. 32. [Translat ion by DS]
3. lbid., fol. 125r-v. [Translat ion by DS]
4. Tra nslation by DS.
5. From his Liber de arte contrapuncti [Book on the art of cou nterpoint], in
Johannes Ti nctoris, Opera theoretica, vol. 2, ed ited by Albert Seay (n.p.: Ame rican
Musicological Society, 1975), 12. [Translation by DS]
6. From his Proportionale musices [The proportions of music], in E. de
Coussemaker, Scriptorum de musica medii aevi, vol. 4 (Paris: Durand, 1876), 154.
[Translat ion by DS]
8
The Spread ofNew Musical

Ideas and Practices to 1600
In the sixteenth century a cosmopolitan n1usical style emanated fron1
northern France and the Netherlands. This style spread to other parts
ofEurope, where composers developed their own modifications, based
on regional needs and predilections. The increased demand for music for
social milieux led to a greater flowering of secular ivorks than in previ-
ous centuries. Under the influence of humanism and the groivth of
printing, poetry became the new dominant model for musical
expression.
T11e Gro1vth of the New Styles in the Regional Variants of the

1\Jorth Cos,nopolitan Style in Secular Music
JOHANNESOCKEGHEM THE FRENCH CHANSON
THE NEXT GENERATION OF ENGLISH MUS IC
FRANCO-NET HERLANDS GERMAN ~1USIC
COMPOSERS
SPANISH REPERTO I RES
JOSQU I N DES PREZ
THE ITALIAN FROTTOLA AND
T11e Ascendancy of the Northern MADRIGAL
Style T11e Poetic i\1odel for Musical
Music for Social Use Expression
115
116 CHAPTER 8: The Spread of New Musical Ideas and Practices to 1600
THE GROWTH OF THE N EW S T YL ES IN TH E N ORTH
Although the composers of the period ofBurgundian leadership planted

the seeds of new ideas and a ne\v musical style, the development of the
style to its maturity belongs to the north\vestern region of Europe that
comprises modern Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and part of
northern France. After 1453, \vhen it ,vas no longer a battleground for
French and English armies, this region ,vas better able to cultivate the
arts than it had been during the war. By the end of the fifteenth century
composers from this region dominated musical style all over Europe,
and their leadership lasted until ,veil into the sixteenth century. These
composers may be grouped together as a Franco-Netherlands school,
although, of course, their music manifests a variety of local and per-
sonal traits.
Johannes Ockegh em
The musical patriarch of these composers ,vas Johannes Ockeghem (ca.
1410-1497), a singer, composer, and director at the French royal court.
He knew and may have studied ,vith Binchois; he also knew Du Fay. His
o,vn pupils and imitators were legion.
Ockeghem often follo\ved the tradition of cant us firmus composi-
tion, particularly in some of his Masses. His motets sometimes also em-
ployed paraphrased chant material in the upper voices. The chansons, of
,vhich ,ve have about twenty, frequently rely on the formes fixes of the
previous century.
Ockeghem's fascination ,vith the arcane aspects of compositional
Canon dots not mtan a technique can be observed in his use of canon. In this case the term does
roundlikt c.omposit-ion but not mean a roundlike composition, as it generally does today, but goes
gots back lo Us origfoal
mtaning of a rult or back to its original denotation and simply means a rule or instruction for
imtruction for rr.alizing realizing several parts from only one that is notated. Such an instruction
stvtral parts ofonly ant might produce contrapuntal imitation, but that ,vas only one of the aspects
that is notaltd.
of the canon in the middle and late fifteenth century. For example, the
canon could tell the performer to sing a given line back'Ward at the same
time it w·as sung fonvard (per 1notu contrario, "by contrary motion"; also
called cancrizans, "crab motion''), to omit rests in the derived part, or to use
rhythm ic augmentation or diminution. The only limit on the possibilities
,vas the ingenuity of the composer. Ockeghem's masterpiece of canonic
,vriting is his Missa prolationum, in which pairs of voices sing identical me-
Puzzle c.anons lodic material simultaneously under different mensural signatures. Often
the canons ,vere given as verbal conundrums, ,vith the result that the per-
former ,vould have to puzzle out the riddle first and then solve the musical
problem. This sort of musical game playing fulfilled the natural desire for
intellectual challenge in a ne,v \vay that superseded the ars nova's reliance
on calculated isorhythmic treatment of a given tenor.
In his more for,vard-looking pieces Ockeghem abandoned preexist-
ing material and conventional forms in favor of a freer, more empirical
The Gro\\<th of the Ne,v Styles in the North 117
1
N
I
flore(ICC
~
Tomis deViet.or'Q
luis.
• Gulbume Ou fay
Henrich k.wc
~cs Atadc:t
• luc;;a H:imi110
Hmd
Tom" Li.is de V..:tori.t
0 100 200 300 mi

0 100 200 300 400 soo km
Some musical centers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and some com·
posers active there.
technique. This had been tentatively tried by some of his predecessors,

but through his efforts it gre,v into the style of the future. Particularly in
motets Ockeghem used a texture of four or five voices, all employing es-
sentially the same melodic style; there is little attempt to relate the con-
trapuntal lines to each other. The voices all sing the same text, presenting Equal-voice polyphony
it one grammatical phrase at a time, so that the result is a through-
composed structure. The risk in such a style is lack of coherence in either
textural or formal terms. Musical unity arises from the grammatical
sense of the ,vords, of course, and from the fluid melod ic ,vriting that
elides one phrase section into another so that choppiness is always
avoided. Typical for Ockeghem is the use of dense scoring in a relatively
low register. (Ockeghem himself was a bass.) The somber thickness of
the sound combines with the seamless, continuous flow· of the lines to
give the music a character that some listeners describe as mystical.
The Next Generat ion of Franco-Neth erlands Comp osers

The generation that follow·ed Ockeghem included an impressive number
of h ighly skilled composers. These men produced a great body of music,
establishing a cosmopolitan style that reached out across much ofEurope
118 CHAPTER 8: The Spread ofNew Musical Ideas and Practices to 1600
and yet at the same time creating d istinctive styles of their ow·n w·ithin
that framew·ork.
Younger than Ockeghem and more progressive in compositional
style ,vas Jacob Obrecht (1457/ 58-1505). In several respects Obrecht's
Jacob Obrecht ,vorks are typically clearer for the listener than Ockeghem's. The textures
in his music are more transparent, partly because there are frequently
passages ,vhere not all the available voices sing at once and partly because
these textures do not concentrate as much on the low registers. The me-
lodic lines are more sharply defined; the phrases are more strongly di-
rected and lead to more frequent cadences. As a consequence, the
structural sections are shorter and more easily grasped than Ockeghem's.
Obrecht also integrated the lines ,vith each other by occasional passages
in ,vhich a gesture introduced in one voice is then imitated in another.
Each of these style traits became characteristic of the music of the period.
Both ,videly traveled and widely adm ired, Heinrich Isaac (ca.
1450/ 55-1517) excelled in a variety of genres and styles. Isaac ,vorked
in Florence, where he served not only the church but also Lorenzo (the
Magnificent) de' Medici, and in Austria and Germany under the pa-
Htinr kh Isaac tronage of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. His output includes
music for the Mass, both Ordinaries and Propers, motets, secular songs
in French, Italian, and German, and textless pieces that might either be
played by instruments or adapted to w·ords at the discretion of local
performers. His style man ifests the traits of the northern tradition
from ,vhich he came, but he also adapted the local idiosyncrasies of the
different places and genres in ,vhich he ,vorked. The great respect in
,vhich Isaac ,vas held is indicated by the fact that he was commissioned
by the cathedral of Constance to undertake the massive project of com-
posing polyphonic settings of the Proper movements of the Mass for
the significant festivals of the liturgical year. This impressive undertak-
ing, expanded w·ith some additional music, produced three volumes
under the title Choralis Constantinus, completed and published only
after Isaac's death.
J osqu in des P rez

The most influential of Ockeghem's successors, and one of the most ,videly
respected composers in Western music, ,vas Josquin des Prez (ca.
1450/ 55-1521). A native of northern France,Josquin traveled to Italy and,
like Du Fay, entered the most elevated circles of Italian culture. The cities
in which he ,vorked included Milan, ,vhere he served the po,verful Sforza
family; Rome, where he sang in the papal choir; and Ferrara, ,vhere he
Josquin's career and status became 1naestro di cappella (music director) to the Este family. Behveen
the periods of ,vork in Rome and in Ferrara, Josquin spent some time in
France, probably including a term at the royal court in Paris. He spent the
last years of his life in the Netherlands region, ,vhere he held a church post.
His contemporaries considered Josquin the master composer of the
The Growth of the New Styles in the North 119
current style. Martin Luther v.rrote, "Josquin is master of the notes, w·hich ''Josquin is ma.slt'r of lht
must express what he desires; on the other hand, other choral composers notes, which must txprtss
wl,at ht dtsirts; on the
must do ,vhat the notes dictate." His genius in music,vas likened to that of othtr hand, ot.litr cl,oral
Michelangelo in architecture, painting, and sculpture. He w·as apparently composers must do what
lht nolts diclalt."
a strong-w·illed artist, because the agent of one of his prospective patrons
advised hiringJosquin's talented contemporary Isaac, ,vho w·as "able to get
on ,vith his colleagues better and composes ne,v pieces more quickly."
"Josquin," the agent reported, "composes better, but he does it when it
suits him and not ,vhen one ,vishes him to."
Certainly Josquin had an unprecedented mastery of scoring and
harmony. The sound ideal for the Franco-Netherlands composers was
that of an unaccompanied vocal ensemble in four, five, or occasionally
six or more equal parts. Josquin's compositions achieve transparency of
texture by holding each voice part to a particular range. The ranges of Josquin'.s style
adjacent voices relate approximately as the ambitus of corresponding au-
thentic and plagal modes; that is, the tenor has about an octave begin-
ning a fourth or fifth above the bottom of the bass range, the alto lies
about an octave above the bass, and the soprano sings about an octave
above the tenor. There is little crossing of parts to confuse the listener's
ear. In addition, Josquin absorbed something of the sound of Italian
music, ,vhich featured simple, clear vertical sonorities rather than the
more complex contrapuntalism of the north. He achieved an exceptional
balance behveen harmonic clarity and melodic flow.
Josquin's handling of harmony ,vas highly polished. The imperfect
consonances were accepted anyw·here except at final cadences, so that
!
the rich ~ and sonorities were heard throughout. Equally important,
dissonance ,vas treated ,vith great care. Dissonances were restricted to
suspensions and passing tones on rhythmically w·eak beats.
Josquin not only achieved perfect control of these aspects of the
Franco-Netherlands style but also thoroughly integrated the contrapun-
tal lines and matched the musical structure precisely to the text. The
techniques he developed became those most idealized throughout the
entire follo,ving century.
The problem of vert ical coherence among the parts in polyphonic
texture was solved by pervasive use of contrapuntal imitation, com-
monly called fuga. For each text phrase the composer constructed a me-
lodic idea that could be carried through all the voice parts in turn. This Textu.res-fuga and
point of imitation ,vould conclude and give ,vay to another. Thus the con- familiar style
trapuntal lines were audibly related to each other. To provide contrast for
the passages in fuga, or for special emphasis, some phrases might be set
homorhythmically in the manner called familiar style, with the voices de-
claiming the w·ords simultaneously.
Each point of imitation generally concluded ,vith some form of ca-
dence corresponding to the punctuation of the text. Josquin ,vas exposed
to the Italian tradition of reciting poetry to simple musical accompan i-
ments, with improvised vocal parts based on the natural articulation of
the language, and his polyphonic music manages to share important

Musical punctuation principles with that practice. Strong grammatical divisions, such as the
ends of sentences, might be expressed by the authentic cadence progres-
sion and a rhythm ic caesura; weaker punctuations could be handled by a
more transitory conclusion, such as an incomplete cadential progression
or the elision of text segments by allo,ving a new point of imitation to
begin before the preceding one had concluded. The result of this ,vas a
sectional plan in which more and less sharp divisions ,vere interspersed
at the same rate as in spoken or ,vritten language, which gave an overall
sense of balance behveen continuity and articulation in form.
The importance of the text to the composer cannot be overempha-
sized. As just discussed, both the melodic ideas and the structure of the
music derive from the text. Josquin ach ieved more naturalness than did
his predecessors in making the melodic points of imitation reflect the
\Vordsandmusic ,vords. Rhythm and melodic inflection in the music always respect the
sound patterns of the spoken phrase. Such abuses of the text as rests
between syllables of a word or at inappropriate places in the phrase are
carefully avoided. In some instances Josquin, and composers ,vho fol-
lo,ved his lead, also generated melodic ideas by depicting the meanings of
the words-a mention of height or rising motion evoked an up,vard ges-
ture in the melodic pitches, for example-but these devices are relatively
subtle. Some ,vriters in the sixteenth century referred to the thoroughgo-
ing sensitivity to the relation behveen ,vords and music as 1nusica reser-
vata, perhaps "reserved" in the sense that it was addressed to connoisseurs
,vho ,vould appreciate such subtleties. This principle of composition
opened a fruitful field for later generations.
In his Masses Josquin also provides models for compositions based
on sources other than the text itself. Since the composer had to set the
Ordinary of the Mass again and again, he ,vould soon exhaust the me-
lodic inspiration the words could provide. Thus, he would look else-
Josquin's Masses ,vhere for ideas. In some cases this meant simply taking points of
imitation, as an earlier composer might have taken a cantus firmus, from
the chant repertoire; this method produced the Missa Pange lingua,
based on the melody of Thomas Aquinas's important hymn. Of the hvo
Missae I:ho1nme arme, based on a vernacular song that was also used in
this ,vay by numerous others, one is similarly contrived; the other set-
ting uses the tune as a tenor cantus firmus in the traditional fashion,
,vhile allo,ving gestures of the song to pervade the other voices as well.
Some,vhat more esoteric was the derivat ion of melod ic material from
solmization. The Missa La sol fa re mi takes its melody from a musical
pun on a favorite phrase of one ofJosquin's patrons (Lascia fare 1ni, Ital-
ian for "Leave it to me") (Example 8. 1). The process of soggetto cavato
("subject carved out'') could produce musical readings of any ,vords by
matching the vowels ,vith those of the hexachord syllables; Josquin
turned the name of his patron Duke Ercole of Ferrara into the Latin
"Hercules dux Ferrariae'' and then "carved out" the vo,vels to get the
The Growth of the Ne,v Styles in the Nort h 121
Example 8.1 The opening of the "Christe eleison" section from Josquin's Missa La
sol fa re mi. The voices enter in fuga (im itative counterpoint), taking the p itches la,
sol, fa, re, mi in the natural hexachord in soprano and tenor and in the hard hexa-
chord in alto and bass. The syllables, which might be sung in rehearsal but not, of
course, in performance, form a musical pun on the motto "Lascia fare mi" (Leave
it to me).
• - ~
Clui • · siee · • le - ,
- Chri •
""' .s 77
St('.
-
e ·
-
6 ,,
le • i
U'
son
Chri •
- - -
Ch.ti •
- - - - -
ctiri
... <ii "'

Chri • SIC
,.A
ste e
.
•
- ', j • S()l'I
- F-----
?FI:= ~=
SIC ¢ • - 1 ¢ - i - son.
hexachord syllables re ut re ut re fa mi re to provide the cant us firmus for

another Mass (Example 8.2).
A further technique that Josquin and his contemporaries used for
obtaining musical material w·as simply to appropriate substantial sec-
tions of an existing piece, adjusting the notes, reordering segments, and
making any other changes necessary to underlay the Mass text. This was
called cantrafactum (compare the word counterfeit) or parody (from the
Greek prefix para-, meaning "akin to," and the root aeidein, mean ing "to
sing"), but it did not have the modern connotation of an inferior imita- To parody a work of
anot.l1tr c.ompostr could be
tion or mockery. In fact, to parody a ,vork of another composer could be rtgardtd as a mt.ans of
regarded as a means of paying homage to him. Josquin's Missa D'ung paying liomagt to him.
Example 8.2 Soggetto cavato in the opening of Josquin's Missa Hercules dux
Ferrariae. The vowels of the Mass's t it le, e u e u ea i e, here provide the source for
the first eight notes of the superius part by way of the corresponding solmization
syllables: re ut re ut re fa mi re.
UI re "' re
Ky . . ,; .
'
11 ~
- - - -
Ky ri ·C
-. - -
Ky ,i . c
~
-
7
m, re
..
aultre amer and Missa Malheur me bat parody chansons by his respected
predecessor Ockeghem. Naturally, when a motet or secular song was
parodied to create music for a Mass, the original intimate relation be-
hveen ,vords and music disappeared. By ,vay of compensation, the com-
poser of the parody generally contributed increased musical complexity,
perhaps by more thorough use of imitation or by the add ition of one
more voice part to the texture.
THE A SCENDANCY OF THEN ORTHE R N S TYLE
During the last hvo decades of the fifteenth century and the first hvo of
the sixteenth, composers ,vho came from northern France and the Lo,v
Countries not only achieved the most polished manner of composition
but also spread it through the whole of Europe. A typical composer's bi-
ography includes a youthful period of training in the north followed by a
sojourn in Italy. In maturity composers might rise to the peak of the pro-
fession in either of those hvo places or might travel still farther to serve
as musicians to noble patrons in some other region ,vho wished to have
the best of contemporary musical culture at their own courts. The ca-
Adrian \Vlllaert reers of both Isaac andJosquin represent this itinerary,vell. The younger
composer Adrian Willaert (ca. 1490-1562) went from the Netherlands
by ,vay of a fine training at the royal court in Paris under Jean Mouton
The Ascendancy of the Northern Style 123
(before 1459-1527) to Italy, w·here he follow·ed Josquin's trail to Rome,

Ferrara, and Milan and then became maestro di cappella at the great
Basilica of St. Mark in Venice, arguably the most prestigious director-
ship in sixteenth-century Europe.
The ascendancy of the northern region in music means more, how·-
ever, than merely that these composers had more success and fame than
those of other nations. The compositional technique practiced byJosquin's
contemporaries and perfected by him came to be the basis for all the styles
of the following generations through the sixteenth century. As the tech- Zarlino's lst.it.ulfoni
nique ,vas taken over by Willaert, it was codified in turn by his pupil (also harmoniclit
a later director at St. Mark's) the Italian Gioseffo Zarlino (1517-1590), in

his treatise Le istitutioni harmoniche (Harmonic institutions, 1558), which
became the classic composition text of the century. The strength of the
northern style, w·hich \Ve must no\v call the cosmopolitan style of that
time, can be explained on several different grounds.
In the preceding chapter we noted that the empirical appeal to the
senses rather than to symbolism justified the adoption of imperfect in-
tervals as consonances. It also caused the minimization of dissonance in
a panconsonant harmonic syntax. For similarly empirical reasons, the
symbolic preeminence that triple rhythm had carried up to the four-
teenth century, ,vith its implication of divine perfection, steadily yielded
to the more natural, "human," duple rhythms of the heartbeat, respira-
tion, and walking.
An interesting comparison might be made between the develop-
ment of perspective in painting by fifteenth-century artists and the
equal-voiced texture of Franco-Netherlands polyphony (Plate 8; com-
pare Plate 3 and Plate S). As noted previously, the relative size of figures
in earlier art typically indicated their comparative importance and had
\Vilh lht.riseofhumanism,
nothing to do with the way they might interact in actual space. This cor- art.i sts no longtr wisl1td
responds to the hierarch ical rhythms of the cantus firm us, motetus, and lo txprtu symbolic:
rtlatio,u in an abstract
triplum in a thirteenth- or fourteenth-century motet. With the rise of
view; t.lity wanttd lo show
humanism, artists no longer \vished to express symbolic relations in an lht world from lhtfr own
abstract view; they \vanted to sho\v the \vorld from their O\Vn vie,vpoint. viewpoint.
In perspective painting, figures are understood to be the same size even
though they appear foreshortened according to their distance from the
observer. They might potentially relate to one another as equals, despite
their momentary situation in d ifferent visual planes. The ne\v equal-
voice texture adopts a comparable approach. The different voices occupy
different spaces, but they are of equal value, and the listener's attention is
free to hear the entire texture or to pass among them as they take up
points of imitation.
We have also emphasized the importance of the text in music. Among
other things, this forced the abandonment of the polytextual, cantus
firmus-based type of motet, in \vhich the texts could not be understood. Nrw approaches to the
motet
From the late fifteenth century on, the term motet denotes a setting of a
Latin, sacred (or at least serious) text other than the Ordinary of the
Mass. The freedom from the cantus firm us allo\ved clear declamation and
flexible interpretation of the \vords, so that the rich poetry of the human-
ist ,vriters could be fully appreciated in music. The following generations
of the sixteenth century became fascinated to the point of fixation ,vith
the possibilities for relating music to literary texts and explored this rela-
tionship in a variety of facets.
Music FOR Soc1AL UsE

Among the effects of new economic and social conditions on music was a
rapid increase in the demand for secular repertoire. The growing power
and \vealth of the nobility and the urban merchant class gave them at least
equal footing\vith that of the church for patronage of the arts. Equally im-
portant, the invention of an efficient method of printing had the same
Music printing effect on music as it had already had on literature. The first publication of
music from movable type was released by Ottaviano Petrucci ( 1466-1539)
of Venice in 1501. This publication, Hannonice musices odhecaton A
(Figure 8.1), consisted of a collection of Franco-Netherlands-style chan-
sons. (The Greek term odhecaton means "one hundred songs," but actually
there ,vere only ninety-six.) It is significant that the Odhecaton, as it is
sometimes kno,vn, contained secular music. The needs of churches did
not suddenly change; they could still be met by manuscript copies, as they
had in the past. Petrucci sensed that there ,vas a large new market for secu-
lar part-songs, and his guess turned out to be accurate. OdhecatonA had to
be reprinted in 1503 and 1504; the sequels, Can ti Band Canti C, appeared
immediately. Soon other printers follo,ved Petrucci's example, making
--v-- ~ -~ -~
--- -···-·- -·----~~--~--=-~
-----··-
-·--
--::-~-=~---~
----- ---- --- -·-
---
_---··---
-_-- _·--
-~.- . --- ·- ---·---
Figure 8.1 The soprano and tenor parts of Josquin's four-part sett ing of the
chanson "Bergerette savoyenne" (Shepherdess of Savoy) as they appear in
Petrucci's Odhecaton A.
Music for Social Use 125
music available to less-,\l'ealthy households throughout Europe; most im-

portant among these '"ere Pierre Attaingnant (ca. 1494-1552) in Paris
and Tylman Susato (ca. 1510/ 15-1570) inAntv.rerp. The demand for more Tiu. dtmand for more music
music for this commercial market immediately affected composers by refor this commercial mark.ti
orienting their efforts toward secular genres. In addition, their composi- immtdiattly afft.cttd
compoltrs by rtoritnl'ing
tional styles now· had to respond to the abilities, tastes, and imaginations of Iht.fr efforts toward st,cular
a new class of singers, primarily amateurs seeking domestic amusement. gtnrts.
Music v.ras regarded as so important a leisure occupation for the edu-
cated classes in the sixteenth century that one appeared uncouth if one
could not participate in musical d iscussions and diversions. Baldassare Music and sodaJ status
Castiglione (1478-1529) described the ideal Italian aristocrat in II
cortegiano (The courtier) in 1528. He recommended that the courtier
learn to sing a part in polypho nic songs, know· something of string in-
struments, and particularly be able to sing ,vith the accompaniment of
the lute. He also stressed that this noble paragon should be sufficiently
skillful that he could sing or play, as he did everything, ,vith a certain
sprezzatura, or nonchalance, that ,vould suggest he could toss off the
most difficult tasks with careless ease.
The courtier should make music to pass the time [not as if it were Castiglione explains how
his profession) and as ifhe ,vere pressed to do so, and not in the the courtier should make
music
presence oflo,v-class people, nor for a large cro,vd. And although he
knows ,vell and understands ,vhat he is doing, in th is again I ,vould
,vant him to dissimulate the study and the effort that is necessary in
order to do all things ,vell, and to make it appear that he himself
places little value on that accomplishment, but by performing ex-
cellently, make all the others value it greatly. 1
In his A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke (1597),

the English composer, theorist, and music publisher Thomas Morley
(1557/ 58-1602) began ,vith a humorous, quasi-dramatic dialogue be-
t\veen t\vo brothers (probably not noblemen but up,vardly mobile mem-
bers of urban society), one of ,vhom has been so embarrassed by his
ignorance of both music theory and practice that he has resolved to study
the art before he presents himself again in polite society.
POLYMATHES: Stay, brother Philomathes, ,vhat haste? Whither Morley represents music's
go you so fast? place in an educated
young person's social
PHILOMATHES: To seek out an old friend of mine. skills
POL: But before you go I pray you repeat some of the discourses
,vhich you had yesternight at Master Sophobulus his banquet,
for commonly he is not ,vithout both ,vise and learned guests.
PHIL: It is true indeed, and yesternight there ,vere a number of ex-
cellent scholars, both gentlemen and others, but all the propose
,vhich then ,vas discoursed upon ,vas music.
POL: I trust you were contented to suffer others to speak of that
matter.
PHIL: I W'Ould that had been the W'Orst, for I was compelled to dis-
cover mine ow'n ignorance and confess that I knew' nothing at
all in it.
POL: How' so?
PHIL: Among the rest of the guests, by chance master Aphron
came thither also, '"ho, falling to d iscourse of music, \\l'aS in an
argument so quickly taken up and hotly pursued by Eudoxus
and Calergus, t\\TO kinsmen ofSophobulus, as in his o,"n art he
'"as overthro,"n; but he still sticking in his opinion, the t\\TO
gentlemen requested me to examine his reasons and confute
them; but I refusing and pretending ignorance, the whole com-
pany condemned me of discourtesy, being fully persuaded that
I had been as skilful in that art as they took me to be learned in
others. But supper being ended and music books (according to
the custom) being brought to the table, the mistress of the
house presented me '"ith a part earnestly requesting me to
sing; but '"hen, after many excuses, I protested unfeignedly
that I could not, every one began to \\Tonder; yea, some \\l'his-
pered to others demand ing ho," I '"as brought up, so that upon
shame of mine ignorance I go now to seek out mine old friend
Master Gnorimus, to make myself his scholar. 2
It '"as for such amateur musicians as these that the sixteenth-century
composers produced myriad secular compositions, ranging in content
from ribald rhymes to sophisticated sonnets and in musical style from
lively, popular dance tunes to complicated intellectual masterpieces.
R EG ION A L VARIANTS OF THE COSMOPOL ITAN

STYLE IN S ECULAR Music
After the peak of its influence in the early decades of the sixteenth cen-
tury, the international style of the northern composers became a point of
departure for a variety of regional substyles in secular genres. The music
of the composers '"ho rema ined in the Lo," Countries did not change
rapidly, and therefore it soon became more conservative than that of
other areas. Their chansons retained the smooth, panconsonant, poly-
phonic flo," and continuously unfolding rhythm of the motet.
The French Ch anson

In France a special kind of approach to sung texts affected the composi-
tional style of the chanson. As illustrated by the '"orks of Paris court
composer Claudin de Sermisy (ca. 1490-1562), the French focused on
Parisian chansons the clear and accurate declamation of the poetic syllables (Example 8.3).
In attempting to treat the '"ords '"ith perfect clarity, the composers fa-
vored familiar-style treatment, '"ith all voices articulating the syllables
Regional Variants of the Cosn1opolitan Style in Secular Music 127
Example 8.3 The first p hrases of a chanson by Claudin de Sermisy. The

characteristic dactylic rhythm is heard at t he opening. Notable is t he effect-not
uncommon in t he fifteenth and early sixteent h centuries-of an aut hentic
cadence produced w ithout what became the conventional bass movement; t he
tenor act ually supplies t he cadent ial bass note while the bass rests (see measures
5 and 9). The cross-relation in measure 4 is not a misprint. The text: ·say yea or
nay w ithout fear, for neither w ill fail to be p rofitable for me."
- ~- -·- ' --
' Ok
- ·-
. tt$ $:In~ peu, '
Ou ' 'y 'Ou
l '(lu •
- ,- - ·-
' n,n . ' c"
II)'> nul <tes
• l)k
v
. - - ---
lt$ s:·ms pl."!.l r ou l '(lu • y Ou ni!n
- - -""-
ny, c" nul
.
---.-- .
• l)ic:
I
. le~ ti:m:, p~•r
' OU rou . )' ... ' '
ncn
I
. oy,
I
c,,
!})
- -
- ·- I
-- - ·-
'
Oic . tc~ c,, n11J
:,:m:;
"'"' OU l'ou • y OU l:H:O • 11)',
""
• - •i>
-~ -•·.
• .,' I
m'i!$t _ q,,, fi . . . bit.
d ~ l l,X
"'° "'
,
. .
d.:1ix m: m·~ c1uc

- - p,o . -
fi l;I
-
. ·• .... ...
bk.
'
- ·- - -c,.
.
nu.I des deux ne m't$l . 'fi . . . ble.
"""-""' "'
'
I I - ·- 1-
dcux nc m·~ quc p,o fi • II.I • • b l¢,
simultaneously. A simplified or schematic realization of the natural

speech rhythms of the language determined durational values. With
poetic texts of consistent line construction, this yielded predictably pat-
terned phrases and therefore in some cases a dancelike character. So
many French chansons began ,vith a dactylic (long-short-short) rhythm
that this rhythm ic gesture became a recognizable trademark of the genre.
Another technique in sixteenth-century French chansons, the use of
musical onomatopoeia, recalls the fourteenth-century caccia and chace. Onomatopoeia
Particularly notable for this device is ClementJanequin (ca. 1485-1558),
,vho asked his singers to create clever and amusing sound effects. His "La
guerre" illustrates a battle; "Le chant des oiseaux" is a catalogue of differ-
ent birdsongs.
English M usic
After the end of the Hundred Years' War, England drew' back across the
English Channel and became some\vhat isolated from the development
of the cosmopolitan musical style on the Continent. We have relatively
little secular music from England at this time, although it \Vas certainly
Henryv111 cultivated at the court; Henry VIII himself composed some songs.
Carols continued to be popular. The English style continued to have the
sw'eetness of melody and harmony that had distinguished it in the four-
teenth and first part of the fifteenth centuries. English composers did not
pursue the sensitive treatment of text or the structural coherence of the
French and Netherlandish music of Josquin's time and later; the use of
im itation to relate the contrapuntal lines to each other occurs less perva-
sively. In addition, English music is much more likely to break into ex-
tended melismas than the music on the Continent.
German Mu sic
The song practice of Germany appears more closely bound to the past than
that of other areas. As mentioned before, the monophonic tradition of the
Meistersinger courtly Minnelied \Vas continued by the urban Meistersinger, who formed
themselves into a musical guild like the well-established craft guilds and
W'ith rigorous dedication preserved in their lieder the old form of the Bar.
The most famous of the Meistersinger, Hans Sachs (1494-1576), pursued
the profession of master shoemaker in Niirnberg, while also composing a
large output of words and music. Nearly three centuries after his death he
reappeared as the central character of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von
Nurnberg.
In their secular polypho nic compositions, also called lieder, German
Polyphonic liedor composers tended to stick to a rather old-fashioned style. They com-
monly relied on a preexisting tune in the tenor voice, presented in rela-
tively slow-moving note values (Example 8.4). In numerous cases there
\vas a pair of voices i n canonic im itat ion. Three-part scoring was still
common, although a freely composed, added bass line gave the harmony
Quodlibet independence from the cantus firmus. A popular device ,vas to combine
several different popular song melodies into a single composition to pro-
duce a quodlibet (Latin for '\vhatever you like").
Span ish Repert oires

Fifteenth-century polyphony in Spain was at first dom inated by the
Burgundian and Netherlandish musicians and style, as ,vas the case
else\vhere in Europe. To\vard the end of the fifteenth century a sign ifi-
Ferdinandand Isabella cant flo,vering of Spanish music took place. Beginning \Vith their O\vn
sizable territories, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of
Aragon, ,vho married in 1469, unified the entire region that no,v forms
the nation of Spain, both politically and religiously, driving out the
Regional Variants of the Cosn1opolitan Style in Secular Music 129
Example 8.4 The opening of the polyphonic setting of the lied "lch stuend an
einem Morgen" by Ludwig Sen fl (ca. 1486-ca. 1543). Only the tenor cantus firm us
bore the text in the original source.
I I • • •
' ' I
• I I ' • •
... ... ()
M or ... heim lich

.
' ' ' '
I
•
• an ei • ocm Ort.
Muslim Moors and the Jew·s by military force and persecution. In add i-
tion to underw·riting Columbus's voyage that culminated in the discov-
ery of the New· World, they '"ere avid patrons of music, ,vith substantial
musical establishments.
On the one hand, sacred music under the Reyes Cat6licos (Catholic
Rulers), as Ferdinand and Isabella were called, follo,"ed essentially the
models of the Netherlands motet and Mass. The secular genres that de-
veloped, on the other hand, had distinctive forms. One of these was the
romance, a strophic part-song that takes its name not from any amorous
content but from its narrative or storytelling texts. The romances com-
prised series of stanzas in poetic quatrains, set strophically, ,vithout a re-
frain. More complex in structure ,vere the canci611 and the villancico. The Spanish seculargonros
canci6n began ,vith an estribillo, or four- (or sometimes five-) line refrain,
alternating with stanzas (coplas) that began with h\l'O pairs of lines set to
the same music, called mudanz a, and continued ,vith a vuelta of four lines
that returned to the estribillo's music. The form might be outlined
estribillo cop la estribillo cop la
mudanza vuelta mudanza vuelta etc.

ABCD ef ef abed ABCD ef ef abed etc.
In other,vords, it resembles the fixed form of the French virelai. The can-
ci6n tended to be standardized in its form and treated serious, courtly
topics, ,vhereas the villancico had a similar structure but treated it more
freely and generally dealt with rustic and lighter texts. In some cases the
villancico melodies may have been taken from or modeled on the tunes
of popular songs.
One of the most important composers of the period ,vas Juan de!
Encina (1468-ca. 1530), ,vho, in addition to his musical activities, ,vrote
Juan del Encina poetry and plays, serving both secular and religious patrons. His travels
took him to Italy and even to the Holy Land, but he spent the later part of
his life in Spain, serving the church. He produced romances, canci6nes,
and numerous villancicos, mainly in the first part of his career. Many of
the villancicos appeared in his eglogas (plays), ,vhere the actors not only
sang but also danced them.
The Italian Frottola and Madrigal

In fifteenth-century Italy there ,vas a practice of singing or declaiming
poetry to the lute or other instrumental accompan iment. Like other im-
provised singing practices, such performances ,vould have followed the
declamation of the texts in a stylization of natural poetic rhythms, em-
ploying formulaic melodic contours. By the time of the advent of the
Franco-Netherlands style, Italy already had an extensive secular song
repertoire, including a number of different forms, ,vhich may have gro,vn
from this improvised tradition. In these songs, often grouped collectively
under the name of one form, the frottola (pl.frottole), the poets and com-
posers used vernacular poetry and dealt ,vith amorous or satirical topics.
Frottola The musical settings, straightforward and syllabic, used fam iliar style,
,vith orientation to,vard the top voice, resembling a composed version of
improvised performances. Musicians may have sung frottole as part-
songs for several voices or performed them with a singer on the highest
part and instruments taking the lo,ver parts, as ,veil as in the form of
vocal solos accompanied by lute. Characteristically, the rhythms were
strongly patterned in the manner of poetic meters, and consequently
they resembled dance music. The harmony,vas simple and diatonic.
The songs employed a variety of structural patterns, ,vhich ,vould
allow singers to select their preferred melodies in singing different poems
in standard forms. The oda (ode) used strophic form in a series of verses
,vithout a refrain. The specific frottola type, also called barzelletta, adopted
a design in ,vhich refrain and verses shared music in a pattern not unlike
that of the fourteenth-century virelai or ballata and the Spanish canc{on.
The stra1nbotto1 setting more serious texts, simply had eight lines ar-
ranged in four couplets. The sonnetto (sonnet) follo,ved the Petrarchan
model of fourteen lines-two quatrains and hvo tercets. Native compos-
ers naturally dominated in this repertoire, but Josquin did not disdain to
try his hand at it ,vhen he ,vas in Italy. The old spiritual lauda, no,v given
Regional Variants of the Cosmopolitan Style in Secular Music 131
a polyphonic texture, provided a religious counterpart of the frottola,

similar in style but generally a bit less lively, as suited its content.
A leading figure for this repertoire was Isabella d'Este (1474-1539),
daughter ofJosquin's patron in Ferrara, w·ho married the Duke of Milan
and eventually acted successfully as regent there. Isabella not only sang lsabolla d 'Estc
and studied several instruments but also became a pow·erful patron of
music. (She also exerted international influence on fashion in ,vomen's
clothing in her time.) She supported the two most important frottola
composers, Marco Cara (ca. 1465-1525) and Bartolomeo Tromboncino
(1470-after 1534).
In the second quarter of the sixteenth century there arose in Italy n,e tmtrgence of tire.
one of the great genres of social music making, the madrigal. The madri- madrigal dtptndtd on the.
convtrgtnctofthru.
gal ,vas sophisticated vocal chamber music and a high-class art form, de- dijftrtnt factors: t.lit
veloped after the more popular frottola. The emergence of the madrigal polyplionic: chanson stylt
depended on the convergence of three different factors: the polypho nic brought by tht nort.litrn
composers to llaly, tlit
chanson style brought by the northern composers to Italy, the demand demandfor music: to be.
for music to be used in social contexts by,vell-to-do, educated amateurs, ustd in social conltxls by
and the cultivation of excellent poetry by the Italian human ist ,vriters. well·IO·dO, e.d ucate.d
amateurs, and the.
The sonnets of Petrarch from the fourteenth century, held up by the in- cultivation oftxulfonl
fluential Cardinal Pietro Bembo (1470-1547) as a model for the aspira- podry by tht Italian
tions of Italian literary art to the high levels of Latin, inspired humanist humanfst writus.
poets of the sixteenth century to imitate and excel the father of Italian
vernacular love poetry. Bembo not only helped to establish a high liter-
ary culture in the Tuscan vernacular of northern Italy but also explored
the expressive potentials of style in poetry, just as the madrigal compos-
ers did in music.
In the first stage of the history of the madrigal, immigrant northern
composers took up Italian poetry and graced it ,vith their own musical
style. The madrigals ofJacques Arcadelt (ca. 1507-1568), a Flemish com-
poser who for a time led the papal choir in Rome, provide good examples.
These madrigals are simple and restrained, using almost exclusively syllabic Early madrigal styles
text settings and diatonic harmony. They employ Franco-Netherlands
compositional principles, although, like the contemporary Parisian chan-
son, they are inclined to use familiar style rather than fuga, which gives
them a more defined rhythmic sense. The music reflects carefully the dec-
lamation, grammatical structure, and verse structure of the poetry. Its gen-
erally diatonic idiom and natural vocal lines obviously were intended to
meet the needs of amateur performers. Somewhat more complex are the
madrigals that Adrian Willaert composed in Venice at approximately the
same time that Arcadelt ,vas writing.
By the middle of the century the madrigal had increased in expres-
sivity and complexity. Poets began to explore a more impassioned poetic
tone than earlier in the century, and composers matched them ,vith in-
creased musical sophistication. The leading composer of this more so- Mid.century madrigals
phisticated stage in the madrigal was Cipriano de Rore (1515/ 16-1565),
Willaert's immediate successor as maestro di cappella at St. Mark's.
In this second period of the madrigal's development, melodic gestures

and rhythm increasingly imitated images of gesture and motion in the
poetry. Harmonic evocation of moods grew· more common. The general
resolution of the church modes into the broad classes of major and minor
began to take place, and composers recognized the optimistic expressive
tendency of the major and the depressed character of the minor modes.
They also exploited chromaticism for expressive reasons.
Madrigal composers especially cultivated word painting, follow·ing
Aristotle's dictum in the Poetics that art should consist of a 1nimesis (imi-
Expression in the tation) of life. Standard conventions, such as the use of high and lo,v
madrigal notes for any mention of high and lo,v, formed only the most obvious
instances. The melodic gestures ,vould also reflect speech inflections, as
in the common "sighing" device of hvo-note descending intervals fol-
lo,ved by rests for the Italian word ahi1ne (alas). Rhythms naturally fol-
lowed the rhythms of the poetic text, but rapid or slo\v movement could
also suggest animation or lassitude. Harmony came into play as \veil,
\vith major harmonies expressing either happiness or hardness and
minor ones expressing sadness or softness. Different cadence types
might suggest either different types of punctuation at phrase ends or ex-
pressive distinctions. Texture, too, could be involved, as in the reduction
of the polyphony to a single soprano voice for the \vords so/a 1ni lasci (you
are leaving me alone) in Rore's madrigal "Dale belle contrade d 'oriente."
Every element of musical style, in other \vords, could serve the composer
and delight observant musicians and listeners.
In some cases the word painting ,vas reserved to the readers of the
parts, as when short note values, requiring black note heads, served to
express darkness, or when hvo successive semibreves on the same pitch,
by that time dra\vn as round rather than diamond-shape notes, appeared
Visual images \vhen the text mentioned the lover's eyes. This "eye music" (sometimes
called by the German name Augenmusik) obviously would mean nothing
to an audience, but madrigals were addressed to their singers, and an
audience ,vas not really anticipated.
A look at Rore's madrigals makes it clear that performers who sang
these pieces at sight \vith any degree of the sprezzatura that Castiglione
demanded of the courtier must have ,vorked hard at their musical skills.
In addition, if,ve imagine the madrigal as a genre most directly intended
for sight-reading by skilled amateurs, then the experience of singing one
must have made for a sort of intriguing interplay behveen the composer,
\vho applied the expressive and \Verd-painting devices, and the singers,
\vho enjoyed the challenge of d iscovering them in the moment.
Upper-class women, ,vho regularly joined in the singing of madri-
gals, had to be just as musically skilled as men. They must have learned
singing and sight-reading as their male counterparts did, so that they
could participate in the social life of the aristocratic and cultured classes.
\\!omen and the madrigal Given the social mores of the time, women typically did not perform in
public once they reached adulthood and (usually) married, but they d id
The Poetic Model for Musical Expression 133
not stop participating in music ,vithin the home. As we would expect at

the time, fe,v ,vomen became composers, but one remarkable ,voman,
Maddalena Casulana (fl. 1566-1583), published three volumes of mad-
rigals, becoming the first woman to have her compositions printed. The
dedication of the first book, to the noble patron Isabella de' Medici
O rsini, makes a point of saying that the composer intended
to demonstrate to the world (to the extent that it is granted to me to Maddal ena Casulana
do so in the profession of m usic) the vain error of those men who argues that women can
be equal to men
believe themselves so much the masters of the high gifts of the in-
tellect that they think that ,vomen cannot have them likew·ise.3
And indeed her madrigals themselves show· considerable ability and

imaginatio n.
THE POE TIC MODEL FOR MUSICAL EXPR ESSION
We have several times emphasized the importance of texts for compos-

ers in the era of h umanism. It is no exaggeration to say that one cannot
u nderstand what is going o n in a piece of sixteenth-century music unless
one first u nderstands the text. The aesthet ic by ,vhich this connection
manifested itself can be approp riately identified as poetic. This is most Poe tic aesthetics
obvious in the Italian madrigal, but it applied to all kinds of music. By
im itating the rhythmic and inflective patterns of the text, the musical
points of imitation reinforce the deligh t in beautiful sou nd patterns that
make poetry musical. The periodizatio n of the musical structure accord -
ing to the lines of the text sim ilarly lends the music a pace that im itates
that of poetry. Most of all, the employment of musical m imesis of ,vord
meanings captures in the most vivid and concrete fash ion the idea of the
poetic image.
Zarl ino, mentioned earlier in this chapter, made this clear in Le
istitutioni harmoniche, laying out explicitly the principles for the applica-
tio ns that we have observed in the music. He cited Plato as his authority
for the principle that
the harmonies ought to accompany the ,vords. For this reason: Zarlino in structs
Although it ,vas said . . . according to Plato's opinion, that melody is composers on how music
should relate to the sung
made up of speech, harmony, and rhythm, and that in such a com- text
bination one of these things should not take precedence over a n-
other, nevertheless he places speech before the other parts, as the
principal thing, and the other t\vo parts as those that serve it.
He also stressed that word meanings are to be reflected in harmony

and choice of mode:
For ifin speech . .. matters may be dealt with that are happy or sad,
or serious and also ,vithout any serio usness, or similarly chaste or
lascivious, it follo,vs that ,ve must also select a harmony and a
rhythm suitable to the nature of the matters that are contained in

the speech, so that from the combination of these things, mixed
together ,vith proportion, there ,viii result a melody suited to the
subject matter.
. . . One will know· best ho,v to do this when he has paid atten-
tion to what I have w·ritten ... and has considered the nature of the
mode in which he ,vants to ,vrite his song. He should do his best
to accompany each ,vord in such a way that, ,vhere it denotes
harshness, hardness, cruelty, bitterness, and other similar things,
the harmony will be similar to it-that is, some,vhat hard and
harsh, but in such a manner that it is not offensive; likewise, ,vhen
any of the ,vords expresses ,veeping, sadness .. . grief, sighs, tears,
and other similar things, that the harmony ,viii be full of sadness.
And both declamation of the words and grammatical sense must

also be considered. The composer
should be sure to suit the words of the speech to the melod ic figures
in such a manner, ,vith such note values, that nothing barbarous is
heard-as in a case ,vhen a long syllable in the vocal line has to be
declaimed on a short note, or, on the other hand, a short one has to
be declaimed long... .
. . . Like,vise, one should be careful not to separate any parts of
the speech from each other with rests, as some not very intelligent
people do, as long as the clause or any part ofit is not finished in
such a way that the sense of the ,vords is complete. And one should
not make a cadence-especially one of the main ones-and not
put in a rest longer than that of the minim, if the sentence is not
complete.'
The significance of these principles for the history of music aesthet-
ics is enormous; it brought about one of the great dividing points of
music history. The aesthetic break that took place around the fifteenth
century was deeper than that behveen any of the periods that follo,ved,
until our own era. Whereas until the fifteenth century polyphony was
governed by numbers and religious symbolism, after the fifteenth cen-
tury it ,vas governed by ,vords and literary models. The earlier compos-
ers were architects in tones; the modern composer became a musical
n,e ...arlitr compostrs wtrt poet. When music gave up its mathematical affiliations for poetic ones, it
architt.ct.s in touts; became no longer symbolic but expressive. It no longer mirrored the per-
lhtmodtrn compostr
btcamt a mu.sical pott. fection of divine order but embodied the experience of humankind. It
became, in short, humanist.
So long-lasting was this ne,v outlook that the link behveen literature
and music persisted until the hventieth century. Th is complementary re-
lationsh ip produced a great variety of aesthetic interpretations, but never
behveen about 1500 and 1900 ,vas the fundamental assumption aban-
doned that, as the English ,vriter Henry Peacham (ca. 1576-1643) put it,
• • u • ,.
music 1s a sister to poetry.
SUGGESTI ON S FOR F U RTHER R EA DING
Excerpts from the ,vritings of Morley a nd Zarlino can be fou nd in Oliver

Strunk, Source Readings in Music History, rev. ed., general ed. Leo Treider
(Ne,v York: Norton, 1998). See also Thomas Morley, A Plain and Easy In-
troduction to Practical Music, ed.Alec Harman (New York: Norton, 1973);
and Gioseffo Zarlino, Le istitutio11i har111oniche, Part 3, The Art of Counter-
point, trans. Guy A. Marco and Claude V. Palisca (Ne,v Haven, CT: Yale
University Press, 1968), and Part 4, 011 the Modes, trans. Vered Cohen and
ed. Claude V. Palisca (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1983).
An important book on secular vocal music in this period is James
Haar, ed., Chanson and Madrigal, 1480-1530 (Cambridge, MA: Har-
vard University Press, 1964). Alfred Einstein, The Italian Madrigal, rev.
ed. (Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, 1971), is a standard
,vork. A more co ncise survey is Jerome Roche, The Madrigal, 2nd ed.
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990).
OnJosquin d es Prez, see Ed,vard E. Lo,vinsky and BonnieJ. Blackburn,
eds., Josquin des Prez: Proceedings of the International Festival-Conference
Held at the Juilliard School at Lincoln Center i11 New York City, 21-25 June
1971 (London: Oxford University Press, 1976), and Richard Sherr, ed.,
The Josqui11 Co1npanion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).
1. Baldassare Castiglione, II libro de/ cortegiano, ed. Ettore Bonora (Milan:

Mursia, 1984), 117. [Translation by DS]
2. Thomas Morley, A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music, ed. Alec
Harman (New York: Norton, 1973}, 9.
3. Original ltalian in Beatrice Pescerelli, 1 madrigali di Maddalena Casulana
(Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 1979), 7. [Translation by DS]
4. Gioseffo Zarlino, Le istit11tione harmoniche, facsimile of the 1558 edition (New
York: Broude Brothers, 1965), 339-40. [Translation by DS]
9
Instrumental Music
in the Sixteenth Century
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it became common to build and play
instruments in homogeneous consorts. Consorts consisted of recorders,
crumhorns, shawms, cornett and sackbuts, and viols. Plucked string instru-
ments, such as the lute, developed tablature notation. Instrumentalists played
music composed for voices or modeled on vocal genres, dances, variation sets,
and improvisationlike pieces.
T11e Place oflnstru,nents lnstrun1ents and Vocal Music

lnstru1ne11ts and Their lnstrun1ental Adaptations of Vocal
Con1binations i\1usic and Genres
CONSORTS
lnstrun1ental Genres
BROKEN CONSORTS DANCES
PLUCKED INSTRUMENTS VARIATIONS
KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS INSTRUME N TAL PIECES IN THE
Tablature STYLE OF IMPROVISATIONS
THE PLACE OF I NSTRU MENTS
From a philosophical point of vie\v, instrumental music might seem to

occupy an uncomfortable place in the music of the humanists. Since the re-
lationship of ,vords and music dominated fifteenth- and sixteenth-century
thinking in both aesthetics and composition, instrumental music might
136
Inst ruments and Their Combinations 137
have been pushed into the background as a kind of aw·kw·ard stepchild of

vocal music. As in any age, however, musicians did not let mere philoso-
phy hamper their imaginations or quell their creative urges. Players took As in any age, musicians
did not ltt mtre pl1ilosophy
out their instruments every day w·ithout stopping to w·orry about how
hamptr lhtir imaginations
music achieved its beauty, structure, or expressive value in the absence of or qutll lhtir crtalivt urges.
w·ords. Interesting developments took place in the w·orld oftextless music
that influenced the future in manyw·ays.
I NSTRUMENTS AND THEIR COMBINATIONS
The classification of instruments into haut and bas types continued from
the previous centuries. New· in the sixteenth century was an incipient
sense of planned scoring. The homogeneous sound of vocal a cappella Homogeneous ensembles
music w·as reflected in the grouping into choirs of instruments of a single
type but different sizes and ranges. This system still affects the w·ay com-
posers think about timbres and plan instrumentation.
C onsorts
Builders constructed matched sets of instruments, form ing a chest or, in
actual performance together, a consort. One could purchase a chest of
recorders, for example, that w·ould allow· the playing of four-part compo-
sitions for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.
There were hvo types of double-reed instruments. One \Vas the ven-
erable sha\vm family, generally used outdoors and in situations in wh ich a
big, imposing sound ,vas appropriate. The courts of the nobility typically Double-recd instruments
included several sha,vm players, ,vhose duties would include performing
for all sorts of ceremonies and for dancing. The other type of double-reed
instrument, much softer and more suitable for indoor playing, was the
fam ily of cru1nhorns (from the German krumm, meaning "crooked''). The
crumhorn differs from the sha,vm in three prominent respects: its bore is
cylindrical rather than conical; its reed is enclosed inside a wooden cap
rather than being held directly in the player's mouth; and the end is not
broadly flared but, instead, curves outward in a graceful arc (Figure 9.1).
All in all, the types of w·ood\vinds and the variety of tone colors
available ,vere considerable. The schreierpfeife resembled shawms but had
capped reeds. There \Vere also hvo major types of bass reed instruments,
belonging to the type \vith a tube that folded back on itself, a group
known as kortholts (from the German for "short \vood"). One ,vas the
dulcian or curtal, a simpler predecessor of the modern bassoon. The
other, known as the racket, had its length compacted inside a small cylin-
der held between the player's hands. The transverse flute continued to be
used, of course, up to the present time.
Prominent in the brass and lip-vibrated class is the sackbut, prede-
cessor of the modern trombone. The sackbut had a narro,v bore and a Brass
138 CHAPTER 9: Instrumental Music in the Sixteenth Century
Figu re 9 .1 A set of crumhorns.
gently flared bell and consequently made a much softer tone than the
trombone does. Often combined in consorts with alto, tenor, and bass
sackbuts w·as the cornett (in Italian, cornetto; in German, Zink). As its
name suggests, the cornett w·as, at least at first, simply a small an imal
horn; holes were drilled along its length so that it could be fingered like a
recorder, shav.rm, or crumhorn, and a cup mouthpiece w·as placed at the
small end. Later cornetts w·ere made of ,vood. The sound of the instru-
ment is restrained, not at all like the brassy brilliance of the modern
trumpet. It was used to accompany choral music because its sound
seemed ,veil matched to the sound of the voice.
The period's bowed string instruments, the viols, also came in chests.
Viols Viols differ from the instruments of the modern violin family in several
important respects; in fact, they are related to the guitar in certain ,vays,
because they have six strings, a fretted fingerboard, and a flat back. In ad-
dition, the shoulders of the viol are much more sloped than those of the
violin, viola, and cello. The treble viol sat upright on the player's lap. The
larger ones ,vere held between the player's legs and consequently were
kno,vn in Italian as viola da ga1nba or "leg viol" (Figure 9.2). A double bass
viol, called violone in Italian, was also used, and it is the ancestor of the
modern double bass. In the second half of the sixteenth century the violin,
,vith its more penetrating tone and greater flexibility, came into use.
Broken Consor t s
Although much music ,vas played by homogeneous consorts of instru-
ments, there was also the possibility of a mixed or "broken" consort
Instruments and Their Combinations 139
Figure 9.2 Treble, tenor, and bass viols. (Charlie Ogle, violadagamba.com.)
comprising instruments of vario us families, ,vithin the constraints of

the haut/ bas dichotomy. The players ,vere practical, and the indication
of specific scorings simply was not a component of the period's musical
style. By the end of the sixteenth century in England, ho,vever, there Players were practical, and
the indical'ion ofsptcific
,vas a standard broken consort grouping, which included one or more
scorings was not a
recorders, both plucked and bowed string instruments, and a keyboard compontnl ojlht ptriod's
instrument. musical style.
Plucked Inst r um ents

Musicians played a variety of plucked string instruments. The lute and Lutes
all its relatives ,vere now plucked ,vith the fingers of the right hand rather
than ,vith a plectrum, as in the past. This made possible the performance
of polyphonic music by a single player. Large, low-pitched lutes, or
archlutes, included the theorbo and chitarrone. The vihuela, ancestor of
the modern guitar, dom inated the scene in Spain.
Keyb oard Inst r uments

This ,vas the period in which keyboard instruments other than the organ
arose. Mechanically simplest of these, the clavichord had strings that
,vere touched by metal tangents attached directly to the backs of the keys.
The clavichord has a small, intimate tone. The harpsichord is more practi- St:ring keyboard
cal as an instrument to be played for an audience or in ensembles. Each of instruments
its keys activates a jack, wh ich holds a plectrum made of quill. The result
is a relatively brilliant and strongly articulated sound. The virginal, a
small, boxlike harpsichord with strings running at right angles to the
keys, was popular in England. The organ, of course, continued to be used
in the church, but the harpsichord largely replaced it in secular contexts.
T ABLATURE
In the sixteenth century singers usually read their music from part-books,
w·ith individual singers each having their ow·n lines, as modern instru-
mental ensemble players generally do, rather than the full score that to-
day's choral singers use. Consort music also employed this arrangement.
For solo playing, such as on the plucked strings, part-books w·ere, of
course, impossible, and score notation w·as impractical. Musicians there-
fore developed a special notation, called tablature, particularly for lute
and vihuela players.
Rather than giving the player a graphic picture of the musical sound
(like the pitches on a staff) or a symbolic indication of the tones (such as
the note shapes that indicate duration), tablature instructs the player
w·here to place the fingers. (Modern guitar chord d iagrams employ the
Playing from tablature same principle but w·ith much less precision.) The basic principle of tab-
lature was to show· the reader a picture of the instrument's six strings as
six horizontal lines and assign a letter or number to each fret on the neck
of the instrument. The player stopped the string at the fret correspond-
ing to the letter or number placed on that line and plucked that string.
Rhythm w·as indicated by stems and flags placed above the tablature
(Figure 9.3). Tablature is, of course, eminently practical, but it is extremely
difficult if not impossible to imagine simply by looking at the notation
w·hat the music sounds like. One must play the music to reveal the musi-
cal lines and their polyphonic interplay.
R ,ttr,,t, " •
•
r r rt r -r - .•r r r
t t rr
~~J·~~m -6+-l
--J ·-
- ~-o---
?--·- i - -. -
..... -
, - 'J···
. -
. .
.
-
J-e
•
• --f>-il
f7-~ ,-1·IJ :
.-~--rf_r--,t-r__r_~_. . . .
+ . -+--.
= I = ~--~-__ r_r
--- ~i-•·+--09·-+_e--&-+---~---:-i.=·-;:=-====::::°tl·-=-=:;_:;:_+-9+--9-"i)~JH,~'-1
-.-;:rE.H-f.-:-i-,-
---+---+<~_::_ " i-J e +o , o~
., .,.,. -& e i •, ....
--~-·--~~-...;-1-1-....;'
.
, .. ·J 2J3 ., e .,
rr r
- - ~.....- i - -
Figu re 9.3 A ricercar for lute, notated in tablature (Francesco da Milano, Jntavola-
tura de viola overo /auto. Naples, 1536).
Instrumental Adaptations of Vocal Music and Genres 141
Keyboard players also employed a form oftablature. However, they

sometimes read from a two-staff score or, occasionally, from a larger
score show·ing each of the polyphonic parts (partitura).
I NSTRUMENTS AND VOCAL Music
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it appears to have been appropri-

ate in some circumstances to perform vocal w·orks v.rith instruments. The
instruments might simply double parts as they were sung. This allow·ed Voices with instruments
those without vocal gifts to participate in secular, domestic music
making. In churches, although the a cappella sound remained the ideal,
the choral lines could sometimes be supported by the organ, sackbuts,
and other suitable instruments.
Sometimes, in polyphonic vocal music, instruments played some
lines while singers took others. This might happen simply because play-
ers ,vere available and vocalists were not, and details such as the absence
of a singer should not deter the performance of a vocally conceived com-
position with, for example, only a viol on the bass line. As w·e have re-
marked before, numerous pieces seem to call for the combination of solo
voice and instruments, although such a scoring is not specified. These
,vould include the cantilena-style chansons of the Burgundian compos-
ers, the Italian frottole of the early sixteenth century, and some of the
sixteenth-century French chansons. As the sixteenth century continued,
composers conceived more pieces specifically for combined voices and
instruments, so that we have a ,vealth of music for solo voice and lute;
some songs for voice and keyboard; and, especially from England, con-
sort songs for singer ,vith viols.
I NSTRUMENTAL ADAPTATIONS OF VOCAL Music

AND GENRES
The richness of the vocal music literature invited instrumentalists to

adapt that music for their own use. They certainly played from the sing-
ers' part-books to supplement their o,vn repertoire. To adapt the music
to their instruments or make it more attractive, they composed tran-
scriptions of vocal pieces. This ,vas especially common among lute and
keyboard composers and players.
For original works the composers took the vocal genres as their
models. The instrumental ricercar (from the Italian for "to seek out," cog- Instrumental genres
nate ,vith "research") imitated the motet in treating contrapuntal points basrd on vocal rnodds
of imitation one by one in a succession of dovetailed periods (Example 9.1).

Modeled on the French chanson, the canzona used familiar style and
even the characteristic opening dactylic rhythm of the vocal genre. Of
these t\vo types, the ricercar was generally more complex and serious,
w·hereas the canzona was livelier and more lighthearted.
Example 9.1 The opening of an instrumental ricercar by Adrian Willaert,

adopt ing the style of t he vocal motet or Netherlands chanson. The texture is
fuga, here based on a simple, scalar point of imitation. Willaert's clefs are also
t hose conventionally used in t he sixteenth century for SATB a cappella vocal
scoring.
- - - -
'
·I •....,. -1
'
etc.
.
- -- 0
- ' •
'
.- 1-
---.
English musicians developed a specific and peculiar adaptation of a
vocal source in instrumental music. Apparently composers especially
liked a particular phrase from the Missa Gloria tibi trinitas of one of their
greatest native sons, John Taverner (ca. 1490-1545), the phrase that set
the w·ords in nomine from the statement "Benedictus qui venit in nomine
Domini" (Blessed is he w·ho comes in the name of the Lord) in the
In nomine Sanctus. Transcriptions of the passage and new· pieces using the melody
as a cantus firmus became so numerous that they amount to an entire
genre of instrumental pieces known simply as In 110mine.
The grounding of much instrumental music in vocal style and vocal
genres reflects how far advanced vocal music \Vas beyond instrumental
music. The words themselves had solved basic problems of musical sense
and structure for vocal music. By adapting the vocal genres to their O\Vn
use, instrumentalists took advantage of the musical structures at wh ich
By adapting I-lit voe.a l
genrts to t.l1tfr own use, composers of vocal w·orks had previously arrived. This approach created
instrumtntalisls took ne\v problems, ho\vever. The sense of musical ideas generated by ,vord
advantagtoflht music.al meanings or by the natural diction of phrases and sentences d id not nec-
sl'rucl'urts at which
composers of vocal works essarily carry over convincingly into abstract tone-patterns in instru-
l1ad previously arrived. mental ricercars and canzonas. Even more perplexing ,vas the difficulty
Instrun1ental Genres 143
of achieving structural coherence ,vithout a text, because the through-

composed approach to form threatened to leave instrumental music
merely ,vandering from one musical point to another ,vithout the logical
connections that words supplied in vocal genres.
I NSTRUMENTAL GENRES
Dances
Dance became not only a social activity but also an art form to a greater
extent than it had been previously. For public ceremonies, in ,vhich the
upper classes displayed their ,vealth and prestige, the steps and patterns
,vere increasingly formalized. Castiglione, in his discussion of the ac- SodaJ dancing
complishments and manners of the perfect courtier, however, argues
that in public the nobleman dancer should not show off the virtuosity of
professional dancers but, instead, should demonstrate the same grace
and sprezzatura ,vith ,vhich he plays music or sings:
Sir Federico laughed; then he continued, "There are some other Castiglione instructs the
courtier on the proper
exercises that one may perform both in public and in private, such
approach to dancing
as dancing; and I think the Courtier should be careful, when danc-
ing in the presence of many and in a place that is full of people, that
he preserves a certain dignity, tempered, ho,vever, ,vith a lightness
and airy s,veetness of movements. And even though he may feel at
his lightest and that he has great time and measure, he should not
indulge in that fast footwork and those double rebatti1ne11ti that ,ve
admire so much in our Barletta [a dancer and musician ,vho enter-
tains the speakers in Castiglione's dialogue) but that might be less
appropriate for a gentleman. Privately in his chambers, as ,ve are
no,v, I think that th is might be permitted, and to dance morescas
and branles, as ,veil, but not so in public, unless he is masked, ...
because to be masked brings ,vith it a certain amount of freedom
and licence, wh ich among other things allo,vs a man to choose the
form in ,vhich he feels most capable, and to employ diligence and
elegance in the main intention of the th ing that he wants to demon-
strate, and a certain nonchalance (sprezzatura) .. . , which greatly
increases the grace." 1
By the late sixteenth century publishers produced published books of in-
structions for the various dances of the time, so dancers today can recon-
struct the dances' steps along with the music. The most famous and A rbeau•s Orchlsograpllit
influential dance manual was by Thoinot Arbeau (pseud. of Jehan
Tabourot, 1520-1595), Orchesographie et traicte en forine de dialogue, par
lequel toutes personnes peuve11tfacile1ne11t apprendre etpractiquer l' honneste
exercice des dances [Orchesography and treatise in dialogue form, by
,vhich everyone can easily learn and practice the honest exercise of danc-
ing). Arbeau gives music examples, detailed descriptions of different
dances, and draw·ings of dancers, presenting all this in a humorous d ia-

logue beh\l'een a dancing master (named Arbeau) and an aspiring stu-
dent. Dancing is important to social life, as Arbeau says, because
Arbeau points out the As for fencing and tennis, \\l'Omen don't like to attend those, for fear
importance of dancing that they could be injured by a broken epee or a mis-hit ball . . .. In
in courtship
addition, since dances are practiced in order to get to kno,\I' whether
lovers are healthy and physically '"ell-d isposed, at the end they are
allowed to kiss their mistresses, so that they can touch and smell
each other, to see whether they have S\\l'eet breath and to see if they
smell bad, as they say, "like spoiled mutton." 2
As it had been in the past, dance music remained an important type
of purely instrumental music. Such pieces might be either practical ones,
actually intended to accompany dancing, or independent pieces created
using the patterns of dance music in a stylized fashion. (The latter ap-
proach is not different in concept from Chopin's in his composition of
\\l'altzes, polonaises, and mazurkas for the piano.)
A popular dance type in France during the fifteenth and sixteenth
Basse- danse centuries \\l'as the basse danse; it \\l'as also common in Italy, '"here it was
called bassadanza. Th is \\l'aS a smooth, gliding dance for couples, gener-
ally using some form of triple rhythm (Plate 9).
Dances often come in pa irs that match a slower dance \\l'ith a faster
Dane.~ pairs one. In Italy the bassadanza was replaced by the slo,\I' passamezzo, often
paired \\l'ith a vigorous fast dance called saltarello. In France the slo,\I'
dance came to be known as pa vane, '"hereas the more animated one was
the gaillarde. The passamezzo and pavane most commonly used duple
meters, '"hereas the saltarello and ga illarde had compound meters and
exploited hemiola. These dances \\l'ere also popular in England as pavan
and galliard.
lnst:rumtntal musicians The pairing of pieces in this fashion is significant because it demon-
began todt.a l wUh tht strates that the instrumental musicians had begun to deal \\l'ith the prob-
problem ofshapt and lem of shape and direction in a multisectional musical construction.
dirtclfon in a
mult.ist.c t.ional musical Variety and contrast are provided by the different rhythm ic characters of
c.onstruction. the dances, while their order offers a sense of for,\l'ard motion and climax.
Variations
Another popular instrumental type '"as the variation set. Performers
often improvised ornamentation in playing music, and exceptional play-
ers and teachers created numerous manuals on ho," to embellish music in
Variation practices different styles. Like,\l'ise, composers often treated song tunes or dances
in series of variations. Because dances typically had standard phrase
lengths corresponding to the prescribed sequences of steps, it \\l'aS not so
much their tunes that served as the basis for their variations as it \\l'aS their
harmonic plans or conventional bass patterns. The techniques of varia-
tion naturally exploited the idiomatic capabilities of the instrument for
w·hich the set w·as composed and the virtuosity of the composer or
performer.
The variation set also manifests the need of instrumental composers
to come to grips with problems of coherence and variety that composers
of vocal music did not have to solve. In a series of variations the t\vin
principles of unity and contrast are both applied effectively. A master
composer could produce a sense of large-scale shaping by organizing
many short variations into groups and employing a rhythmic or textural
crescendo to\vard the end of the set.
Instrumental Pieces in the Style of Improvisations

It is important to keep in mind that in this period players improvised
much instrumental music, in all sorts of settings, perhaps even more
than they played from notes ,vritten on a page. Pieces in improvisatory
style also formed another class of instrumental compositions. The rise of
virtuoso technique, especially on lute or vihuela and on keyboard instru-
ments, led to the creation of many such ,vorks. These pieces might bear lmprovisationliko pieces
titles such as fantasia, reflecting the untrammeled freedom of the imagi-
nation exercised in the composition, or toccata (Italian for "touched,"
usually referring to the keys of a harpsichord or an organ), implying that
the piece featured facile fingering. The term ricercar also appears for such
improvisational pieces, as well as for the polyphonic, "vocal" type dis-
cussed earlier. The Spanish called such compositions tiento (from tentar,
"to feel out").
Players often used such improvisatory pieces to introduce more
structured instrumental or vocal pieces. Such a piece might be called in- lntroductorypiocos
tonazione, w·hich suggests that its purpose ,vas either to provide the pitch
for a performance or to check the intonation of the instrument itself
before starting another, more formal number. Other common titles,
such as prelude and prea1nbulum1 simply indicate that the piece ,vas to be
played before something else.
Naturally, there ,vas relatively little concern for principles of musical
form ,vithin these improvisatory pieces. Nevertheless, the combination
of such a free introduction \Vith another, more systematically con-
structed piece constitutes an important contribution of instrumental
composers and players to the development of musical form after the six-
teenth century.
For discussions of period instruments, see the Suggestions for Further

Reading for Chapter 4. On early keyboard music, see Willi Apel, The
History of Keyboard Music to 1700, trans. Hans Tischler (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1972). A helpful manual for performers isJeffery
T. Kite-Po\vell, ed., A Performer's Guide to Renaissance Music (Ne\v York:
Schirmer Books, 1994).
Investigations of performance problems include J. A. Bank, Tactus,

Tetnpo, and Notation in Mensural Music from the Thirteenth to the Seven-
teenth Centuries (Amsterdam: Annie Bank, 1972); Andrew· Hughes,
Ficta in Focus: Manuscript Accidentals 1350-1450 (Rome: American In-
stitute of Musicology, 1972); and How·ard Mayer Brow·n, Embellishing
Sixteenth-Century Music (London: Oxford University Press, 1976).
1. Baldassare Castiglione, II libro de/ cortegia110, ed. Ettore Sonora (Milan:

Mursia, 1984), 115-16. [Translation by DS)
2. Thoinot Arbeau, Orcl,esographie traite e11forme de dialogue par lequel toutes per-
so1111es peuve11t facilement apprendre et pratiquer l'l,onm!te exercice des danses
(Landres: Dominique Gueniot, 1988), 2. [Translation by DS)
~10
The Reformation and Music

The Reformation of the Christian church in the sixteenth century
created denominations with diverse musical concerns and styles.
Lutheranism promoted music in the common language, centered on
chorales. Calvinism restricted sacred music to poetic translations of the
Psalms in simpler styles. The Church ofEngland created a repertoire
of English service music and anthen1s. Responding to the Protestant
movement, the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation led to both
conservative and progressive approaches.
The Background of the Reforrnation T11e Counter-Reforn1ation

The Music of the Lutheran PALESTRINA
Refor,nation TOMA S LUIS DE V ICTORIA AND
ORLAN DE DE LASS US
T11e Calvinist Reforn1ation
Faith, Music, and the Power of
T11e Refor1nation in England Words
THE BACKGROUND OF THE REFORMATION
The turmoil that had roiled the church for centuries finally came to a
crisis in the sixteenth century. The institution of the church had some-
how· held together despite its leaders' obvious abuses of money, political
power, and morality. However, these abuses could last only as long as
thought v.ras founded on the authority that the church claimed. The rise Humanism and the
of humanism and the emphasis on independent thought inevitably led to church
doubts and arguments that w·ould challenge the church itself. Scholars
147
148 CHAPTER 10: The Reformation and Music
In t.lit compttilfon bttwt.en w·ho read the classics in the original languages also read the Bible in the
1
aut.lior"ity and lht. scl1olar s original Hebrew· and Greek and discovered ideas there that contradicted
own nading and re.ason,
lht. laHu t.vtnhrnlly
received doctrine. In the competition bet\veen authority and the schol-
prtvailtd. ar's O\Vn reading and reason, the latter eventually prevailed.
The immediate cause of the Catholic Church's do,vnfall ,vas the sell-
ing of indulgences, ,vhich allo,ved ,vealthy sinners to ease their journey
to heaven in the next life by paying money to the church in the present
life. Martin Luther (1483-1546) read the Ne\v Testament letters of the
apostle Paul and found in them the doctrine that no amount of human
Martin Luther merit could offer salvation, only the grace of God could. Luther exposed
indulgences as the basest kind of extortion, serving to fill the coffers of
Rome rather than to promote salvation. Luther's posting of his famous
Ninety-five Theses on the door of the collegiate church at Wittenberg in
1517 turned out to be the point of no return in the church's slide from
absolute po\ver.
The Reformation also had roots in the ambitions of various major
and minor political entities in Europe. The papacy had long been a prize
held alternately-during the Great Schism, simultaneously-by Italy
and France. The northern and eastern parts of Europe, as,vell as England,
naturally resented th is trend and, reasonably, saw in it a form of foreign
Politics and Reformation political oppression. Thus, when the theological attack on the Roman
church came, it quickly found support among the general populace in
these spiritually disenfranchised areas. The bloody German Peasants'
Revolt was a product of political frustration combined \Vith the Refor-
mation's spiritual inspiration (Plate 10). Henry VIII, unable to obtain
from the pope an annulment of a fruitless marriage, declared spiritual
independence from Rome in the 1534 Act ofSupremacy and made him-
self head of the Church ofEngland.
Consequently, both the Roman church and the reformed church
,vere quickly fragmented. There ,vere follo,vers of Luther in Germany
and Scandinavia; groups led by Jean Calvin (1509-1564) and Swiss re-
former Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) in S,vitzerland, the Netherlands,
Each dtnominat.ion had its Scotland, and parts of Germany; and pockets of more radical Anabap-
own ;dtas about music, tists in many areas. For the history of music this meant the growth of a
wl1icl1sprangjrom tht
variety of practices and musical styles and repertoires. Each denom ina-
t.lieological positfon and
music.al inclinations ofits tion had its o,vn ideas about music, which sprang from the theological
leadership. position and musical inclinations of its leadership.
THE MUSIC OF T HE LUT HER AN REFORMATION
Martin Luther did not originally intend to divide the church but to
reform it from ,vithin. He had come from the Roman Catholic tradition
Luther and music and never doubted the value of music in religious life and liturgy. A music
lover and amateur musician himself, he played the lute and the flute. He
also strongly endorsed the use of music in the education ofyoung people.
Luther's main concerns about ,vorship itself ,vere the church's exclusion
The Music of the Lutheran Reformation 149
of the common person through its emphasis on secretive, mysterious

rites; its vast and complicated liturgy; and its stubborn insistence on the
use of Latin rather than the language of the people. To respond to this
concern, Luther contrived a new liturgy in 1526. He modeled the
Deutsche Messe (German Mass) on the Gregorian liturgy and music but
simplified it and translated it into the vernacular. Even th is w·as intended
not as a replacement for the Latin Mass but only as an alternative to it for
use in smaller churches.
Luther promoted hymns for congregational and devotional singing.
These hymns in the Lutheran tradition are known as chorales. The cho- Chorales
rale actually consists of a strophic text and a corresponding melody.
Luther took on the task of writing some chorale texts, his most famous
being "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott" (A mighty fortress is our God). He
may have composed the music for th is and some other chorales. He also
had an important musical collaborator in the composer Johann Walter
(1496-1570). Published collections of Reformation chorales appeared
as early as 1524. In German music the chorales took on an importance
similar to that ofthe chant in music prior to the Reformation (Figure 10.1) .
The chorale melodies ,vere sometimes brand-ne,11 compositions by
the reformed composers. Lutheran theological concerns produced no
quarrel with the Latin tradition of sacred music, and the need for a large
quantity of music on short notice also led to the borrowing or adapta-
tion of Gregorian melodies now, of course, with German words. The Chorales ascontrafacta
Latin Easter Sequence, "Victimae paschali laudes," for example, was
,. .
=Iit;_ ~ c ~ c,) ~ 9 : og
<!)nJ111111 11>lr f•llm lobtn fd,,on/Orc
he ii-ii o ~ n ;.#:
•
·=
~
l:ttnm mngD i!l4rltn ron/ro "'flt Of<
ft-~+ 0 ' I
0 f
• Ir• lit eon n, 111,<1,t/ \'n04a4l1
~-t+JJ, 5: ;
Fig ure 10.1 Two pages from a German chorale collection of 1533. As the
woodcut indicates, the music shows the first stanza of a Christmas chorale: "We
should p raise Christ, the son of the spotless maiden Mary, as far as the sun shines
and reaches to all ends of the earth." The chorale was adapted from the
Gregorian hymn "A solis ortus cardine; sung at Lauds on Christmas morning.
Example 10.1 The Lutheran chorale · christ lag in Todesbanden" (Christ lay in bonds
of death) paraphrased the p lainchant Sequence for Easter ·victimae paschali laudes"
(Praise the paschal victim): (a) the opening phrase of ·vict imae paschali laudes"; and
(b) Stollen 1 of the Bar form in a polyphonic setting of · christ lag in Todesbanden" by
Johann Walter. The chorale melody lies in the tenor; the other parts are derived from
it by paraphrase. The text: "Christ lay in bonds of death, given for our sin."
<ai JIH ..-• . • . - .. ·-· - - . -..

Vic- ii . mric pas - cha - Ii lau - des
11
. • . • •
(b) .
- - ,- . r , I
ChriSI l3l< ;. To . des . ban . . . .
• C1iri$t_ _
•
L,g ;. To .
A
¥ Chris• 1,g ;.
A
.
.
- io-<1.-::. • ' .
'
- ..
Chtist
Christ
Lsg
l3l<
F-
in
in To -
b:lll.
- .
des - ban
.
-
.
•
. . . <kn.
:1:....
ru,
-·
un - ~ r
A
•
.
~
~
dc:r,..
~
Onn . . . . '
<kn, flir ... . . . ser $.iiJ1d 3.: -. - -. g, b,:n,
•
-
¥
. . I
dt'S - ban . d<n. rur un . SUnd ge . ge . bcn. _ _
"'
-
•
-- 1
To - des . ban
F
. den.
- fiir
.
un .
"'
-
Siind ge
--
. ,,.. . ben.
~
etc.
- . .
• rur
-
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•
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•
. .
•
$\Ind
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Si.ind. ll'O
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Mn.. ffir un • set Slb\d _ _ __ g.e • gc - ben.
contrafacted in th is fashion to create the Lutheran chorale "Christ lag in

Todesbanden" (Christ lay in bonds of death) (Example 10.1); the Advent
chorale "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" (Now come, the nations'
savior) came from the Latin hymn "Veni, redemptor gentium" (Come,
redeemer of the people). In their search for melodies the chorale w·riters
also turned to vernacular secular songs. The lied "Innsbruck, ich muss
dich !assen" (Innsbruck, I must leave thee), already set in h\l'O different
The Calvinist Reformation 151
polyphonic versions by Heinrich Isaac, received a sacred text beginning

"O Welt, ich muss d ich !assen" (0 w·orld, I must leave thee).
Although the chorales ,vere monophon ic, composers soon arranged
them in polyphonic settings. Follo,ving the tradition of the secular poly-
phonic lied, some of these had the chorale melody in the tenor voice, sur-
rounded by other free parts. Alternatively, the chorale melody appeared Polyphonic chorale
in the topmost voice and the other voices matched it in familiar style, sett;ngs
,vhich is know·n as cantional setting. Such pieces easily suited perfor-
mance by congregation and choir, ,vith the congregation singing the
melody,vhile the choir provided the full polypho nic texture. For trained
singers in choirs composers created settings in motet style, comparable
to the Latin motets of the cosmopolitan tradition that continued in the
Catholic churches of the time. In such a chorale 1notet, the points of imi-
tation were derived from the consecutive phrases of the chorale. Each
phrase ,vas then treated separately in fuga or familiar style, ,vith a peri-
odic structure like that of the motet.
THE CALVINIST REFORMATION
In S,vitzerland, France, the Netherlands, and Scotland, the Reformation

looked primarily to Jean Calvin for its authority. Unlike Luther, Calvin Jean Calvin
,vas not musical. In fact he ,vas suspicious of music, having the same sort
of reservations about its popishness that the early Christian fathers had
expressed to,vard the pagan associations of music in their own time. Like Unlike Lulhtr, Calvin was
the early church leaders, too, Calvin laid greater emphasis on the ,vords not m&uical.
of church music than on the music itself. Moreover, Calvin generally ob-
jected more strongly to the elaborate Roman liturgy than did Luther,
and he aimed to create a ,vorship service more oriented to,vard preach-
ing than toward prayer, praise, and the Eucharist.
Calvin considered banishing music from the worship service alto-
gether, but he ultimately compromised by allowing the congregation to
sing monophonic psalms. No polyphonic singing ,vas allo,ved in church,
and nonscriptural songs ,vere banned altogether. Thus the Calvinist Refor-
mation did not produce a body of new hymn texts comparable to the cho-
rales of the Lutherans. Instead, the Huguenots, as Calvin's French follo,vers Metric.a l Psalms
,vere commonly known, created rhymed, metrical translations of the bibli-
cal psalms into vernacular poetry. These ,vere sung to tunes often adapted
from such sources as the chant, secular music, or Lutheran chorales.
Although only unison singing ,vas permitted in public worship,
simple polyphonic settings ,vere permissible for private devotional use
in Calvinist homes. As the Lutherans had Johann Walter, Calvin's
movement found a musical leader in the Frenchman Louis Bourgeois
(ca. 1510-1561). Bourgeois set many of the psalm melodies, treating Louis Bourgrois
them like the French chansons of the period, syllabically in simple
rhythms and in predominantly familiar style (Example 10.2). There
,vere also some more sophisticated, motetlike arrangements.
Example 10.2 The beginning of Psalm 43 in a familiar-style setting, from the

Premier Jivredes pseaulmes (1547) by Louis Bourgeois, ·vindicate me, 0 God, and
defend my cause against an ungod ly people." The characteristic dactylic opening
rhythm of the Parisian secular chanson also appears in many metrical translations
of the Psalms.
" • •
- -.
. ,,
•J
•• ven .
"' nw>y. Pl\."11 ,. (Ille · rel De '
m()y, Set
" - ·- ~-
~ . moy.- - p,\'tl ,. ,, - De
- Sei
• "' vcn
"' que- rel
.
moy,
~ veo . moy. pm, ,.

' que-
' rel . le moy. '
Re De Sei
- "'
.
: ~
&
. . .
Re veo . ll'IIOY, pn.~ ,. I
q"~ · rel . , I
(le $c1 .
"'
In())',
• •
·--
. ' I I '
• Sfle\lr. JXlr u mer • <:y, tre fa gem t:iulse et cru · el · le:

•
- gnror. par mer • ----- Coo .

- -
la Sct'lt faulsc . le:
•
ta C)'. tl't'
. ". cru - cl b
.- ,
,J
- gncur, par 1a mer -ey, Coo . u-e lo gent (uulS<: .... . el . le:
- - ,-
et
...
•
· g.neut J'Klr mer • <:y. Con . fa g«it foul~ Chi· el . le:
t:i t1\"'
"
The psalms and their music appeared in published form in collec-

Psalte.s tions called psalters. The psalters spread this repertoire ,videly. The first
Calvinist collection was published in 1539 in Strasbourg, and the first
published collection of all 150 psalms appeared in Geneva in 1562, com-
prising polyphonic settings in familiar style by Claude Goudimel
(ca. 1514/ 20-1572). In the meantime an important collection called
Souterliedekens ("little psalter songs") was released in the Netherlands in
1540. In Germany there ,vere already vernacular psalm settings (includ-
ing some monophonic ones by Hans Sachs), and the first complete
Lutheran psalter dates from 1553, but the French psalms in translation
became much more popular and helped expand the chorale repertoire. As
the Calvinist movement spread to the British Isles, psalters appeared in
English; the collection of Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins, kno,vn
simply as "Sternhold and Hopkins" (1562), is a classic of the genre.
The Calvinist psalters are the forerunners of all modern hy mnbooks
in America. The Pilgrims brought with them the Ains,vorth Psalter
The Refonnation in England 153
(1612, Amsterdam), and the first psalter printed in America ,vas the
famous Bay Psalm Book, published in Massachusetts in 1640. Many of PsalteuinAmerka
the tunes of the early sixteenth century are still used today; certainly the
best kno,vn of all must be the tune called "Old Hundredth," to which
almost all American Protestants sing a common paraphrase of the Lesser
Doxology (in Latin, "Gloria Patri"), "Pra ise God from ,vhom all bless-
ings flow·."
THE REFORMATION I N ENGLAND
As mentioned earlier, the Reformation in England arose from motiva-

tions as much political as theological. Henry VIII rejected the political
authority of Rome, including the right of the pope to uphold or annul an
English king's marriages, and finally took to himself spiritual as ,veil as
secular authority in his realm.
The religious history of England during the Tudor period is one of
alternation behveen Reformation austerity in the Calvinist manner and
returns to the Roman church. In 1534 Henry VIII separated the English The Church of England
church from the Roman, and after his death reform continued in the
name of his young son Edward VI, ,vho ruled from 1547 to 1553 and
died before his sixteenth birthday. There follo,ved a return to Roman
Catholicism under Queen Mary, ,vho had strong Catholic ties, since she
,vas the child of Henry's first marriage and the ,vife of King Philip II of
Spain. She, in turn, died in 1558. Her sister, Elizabeth I, achieved the
final separation of the Anglican from the Roman church.
The English liturgy resembled the Roman but ,vas translated and in
some ,vays reformed. It included only t\vo daily services derived from Anglican wouhip
the Divine Office, Matins (combining elements from the Roman Matins
and Lauds) and Evensong (from Vespers and Compline). These might be
composed musically as either Great Services, if the composer treated the
setting in elaborate polyphonic and melismatic style for more sophisti-
cated choirs and special occasions, or Short Services, if the music was
simple, syllabic, and in predominantly familiar style. Both types are rep-
resented in the music of Thomas Tallis (ca. 1505-1585) and his musical
partner William Byrd (ca. 1540-1623), ,vho together held a royal
privilege or exclusive license for music publishing in England under
Elizabeth I. The Communion Service, ,vhich corresponds to the Roman
Mass, is less important for music than the Roman Mass or the Anglican
Matins and Evensong.
In English music a polyphonic setting for performance by the choir
is called an anthem (a corruption of antiphon). A full a11the111 employs a Anthems
cappella choral voices in a through-composed setting ,vith phrase-by-
phrase polyphonic treatment of the text, in the same manner as the Latin
motet. A verse anthem opposes solo singers accompan ied by organ or
other instruments against the choir.
THE C OUN T E R - R E F ORMA TION
The reformers' successes finally forced the Roman Catholic Church to

attend to the sad state into v,rhich some ofits activities had declined. The pro-
cess of reform from \Vithin the Catholic Church is kno\vn as the Counter-
The Council of Trent Reformation. Pope Paul III called the College of Cardinals together at
Trent (in northern Italy) to revie\v and reform all aspects of the life of
the church. The Council ofTrent lasted eighteen years (1545-1563), and
of course music \Vas only one of the many items on its agenda.
The particular musical concerns of the Council of Trent were the
same ones that had \vorried the early church fathers and the contempo-
rary Protestant reformers. They d iscussed the complexity of the liturgy,
secular styles and practices that had crept into worsh ip through the cen-
turies, the use of instruments in the service, and the obscuring of the li-
turgical words both by careless singers and by composers \vho neglected
\vords in favor of elaborate music.
One clear action that the council took \Vas to strip the Sequence out
Sequences of most Mass Propers. Of a total of more than four thousand Sequences,
they left only four, "Victimae paschali laudes'' for Easter, "Veni sancte
spiritus" for Pentecost, "Lauda Sien" for Corpus Christi, and "Dies irae"
for the Requiem Mass.
Concerns about the details of musical style generated considerable
debate. The most conservative cardinals seriously wished to forbid all
polyphonic music in the church, turning the calendar back eight centu-
Counter.Reformation ries. Fortunately, more musical heads prevailed. The council produced
musical St)''lt: no precise legislation of a style, but some general principles emerged:
sensualism, gratuitous elaboration, and virtuosic techn ique ,vere to be
avoided, and, above all, the words \Vere to be made more distinct.
The actual effect of this reconsideration of music and these guide-
lines ,vas the espousal, informally at least, of the Franco-Netherlands
panconsonant motet style as the particular style of Roman Catholic
The Franco·Ndhtrlands church music. Ideally, the music was to be sung a cappella or with discreet
panconsonant mold stylt support from the organ. There ,vould be no highly expressive d issonance
btcame. lht. parlkular stylt
ofRoman Catholic:
or sensual, dancelike rhythms, and melodic lines would be singable by
churc.h music. nonvirtuoso choristers. Most of all, a syllabic text underlay and familiar-
style texture \vould clarify the ,vords.
Palest r ina
The model composer of the music of the Counter-Reformation \Vas
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (ca.1525-1594), \vho \vorked at St. Peter's
Palostdna'sstyle in Rome. He adopted the Franco-Netherlands technique and \vorked it
into a rich, highly polished language, \Vith minimal dissonance and gently
pulsing rhythmic flo\v that seems to ,vrap the listener in a blanket of mysti-
cal peace. So masterful \Vas Palestrina's handling of the style that his name
later came to be practically synonymous \vith the art of sixteenth-century
counterpoint.
Faith, Music, and the Power of Words 155
Indeed, Palestrina's reputation was such that he became the subject

of a popular legend. According to an often-repeated but unlikely story,
Palestrina deserves credit as the savior of polyphonic music in the
Catholic Church at the Council of Trent. It is said that, as the council The Palestdna"myth•
w·as debating the fate of polyphony, they heard Palestrina's Missa Papae
Marcelli (Mass for Pope Marcellus). The clarity of its text and beauty of
its music convinced them that banning polyphony not only was unnec-
essary but also w·ould eliminate a force of great beauty and po,ver from
,vorship. As with all myths, the truth embodied in this story is not in the
facts but in ,vhat it points out about Palestrina's style.
Tom as Luis de Victoria and Orlande de Lassu s

Palestrina represents the conservative side of the music of the Counter-
Reformation. There was, however, a more impassioned type of Catholic
faith, ,vhich guided the Spaniard Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) to
found the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, ,vho adopted an aggressive mis-
sionary program and took as their particular responsibility the expan-
sion of human kno,vledge. For a musical interpretation of this experience
,ve can turn to the works of the Spanish composer Tomas Luis de Victoria
(15 48-1611). Victoria studied in Rome ,vith Palestrina, but his style is Victoria's style
much more expressive or madrigalistic than Palestrina's. The rhythms
are less smooth, for instance, and chromatic and dissonant harmonies
highlight the intensity of emotion in the ,vords.
Another important Catholic composer, Orlande (or Roland) de
Lassus, or, as he styled himselfin Italian, Orlando di Lasso (ca. 1532-1594),
,vas the last great Netherlands composer to follow the well-,vorn path to
Italy and then north again. He composed copiously and with great fluency Lassus was the last great
in the secular styles of his native region and Italy, and, after serving in Ndhtrlands c.ompostr to
follow tire wtll·wOrn path
Munich, in that of the German lied. His motets ,vere gathered into a monu- to Italy and then north
mental collection under the title Magnum opus musicu1n. Among his other again.
sacred ,vorks are Masses and motet-style settings of the stories of the Pas-
sion of Christ from all four Gospels. Lassus's sacred music seems more ag-
gressive than Palestrina's; its stronger melodic profiles and greater variety
and contrast sho,v perhaps less spirituality but more spirit.
F A ITH, Music, AND TH E POWER OF WORDS
Each of the special sets of musical concerns of the different denomina-

tions of Christianity that appeared in the sixteenth century inspired a dif-
ferent approach to composition. Although some of the reformers (and
counter-reformers) supported music more enthusiastically than others,
the production of important musical ideas and repertoires in each move-
ment demonstrates the power of music as a force in religious experience.
As in the secular realm, the importance of words to sacred music can
hardly be overstressed. Whether they ,vere principally concerned ,vith Words and sacred music
the intelligibility of ,vords in Latin (the Council ofTrent) or in vernacular
languages (the northern reformers), v.rith the danger of music as a distrac-

tion from the sacred ,vords or as a sensual pleasure (Calvin), or ,vith the
attempt to find the right musical style to set the proper tone for the ,vords
of worship (Palestrina) or make the specific sense more vivid (Victoria
and Lassus), theologians and composers inevitably found their attention
focused on texts.
Hov.rever, the ,vords presented to the composers of sacred music not
only problems but also opportunities and inspiration. The English com-
poser William Byrd, a Catholic who w·rote music for both Roman Catho-
lic and Anglican services, expressed the problems and the joy of sacred
w·ords in the dedication to his Gradualia of 1605-1607:
\Villiam Byrd 6nds For even as among artisans it is shameful in a craftsman to make a
artistic inspiration in
rude piece of ,vork from some precious material, so indeed to sacred
rdigious texts
w·o rds in w·hich the praises of God and of the Heavenly host are
sung, none but some celestial harmony (so far as our powers avail)
,viii be proper. Moreover in these words, as I have learned by trial,
there is such a profound and hidden po,ver that to one thinking
upon things divine and diligently and earnestly pondering them, all
the fittest numbers [i.e., tones) occur as if of themselves and freely
offer themselves to the m ind which is not indolent or inert.'
An important study of the music of the Lutheran Church is Friedrich

Blume, Protestant Church Music (Ne,v York: Norton, 1974). On English
Reformation music, see Peter LeHuray, Music and the Reformation in
England, 1549-1660 (London: Oxford University Press, 1967).
The classic study of the Palestrina style is Knud Jeppesen, The Style
of Palestrina and the Dissonance, 2nd ed., trans. Edward Dent (London:
Oxford University Press, 1946).
For concise biographical and critical discussions and good bibliogra-
phies for Byrd, Lassus, Palestrina, and Victoria, see The New Grove High
Renaissance Masters (Ne,v York: Norton, 1984), which presents updated
versions of the articles from The New Grove Dictionary ofMusic and Musi-
cians (London: Macmillan, 1980). Some good individual studies are Paul
Netti, Luther and Music, trans. Frida Best and Ralph Wood (Philadelphia:
Muhlenberg, 1948); Jerome Roche, Palestrina (London: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 1971); Jerome Roche, Lassus (London: Oxford University Press,
1982); Edmund H . Fello,ves, William Byrd, 2nd ed. (London: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1948); and John Harley, William Byrd: Gentleman of the
Chapel Royal (Aldershot, UK: Scalar Press, 1997). Important studies of
Byrd's ,vorks are Joseph Kerman, The Masses and Motets of William Byrd
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981), and Oliver Neighbour,
The Consort and Keyboard Music ofWilliam Byrd (London: Faber, 1978).
1. O liver Strunk, ed., Source Readings in Music History, rev. ed., general ed. Leo
Treider (New York: Norton, 1998), 378.
The Close of the Sixteenth
Century
Composers at the end of the sixteenth century exploited musical
techniques in complex 1vays that produced mannerist styles; this is
particularly evident in the Italian n1adrigal. At the century's end
English composers took up Italian models. The French developed a
mannerist approach in artificially measured poetry and music based on
academic theories. Musicians in Venice experin1ented in new ways 1vith
specified scorings and dynamics.
Italian Music at the End of the France

Sixteenth Century
The Venetian Style
Manneris1n
The Significance of Late Hu1nanist
The Italian Style in England Styles
ITALIAN Music AT THE E ND OF THE SIXTEE NTH

C ENTU RY
The madrigal continued to be the most important genre for Italian secu-
lar music in the late sixteenth century. Palestrina and Lass us each com- Late Italian
posed many excellent examples. Palestrina's madrigals resembled his maddgals
sacred music in holding to a conservative style. Lassus, w·ho also contrib-
uted to the repertoire of French chansons and German lieder, excelled in
a wide variety of styles; his madrigals are more lively and colorful in their
treatment of the text than Palestrina's.
157
158 CHAPTER 11: The Close of the Sixteenth Century
Follow·ing the advances made by Rore (discussed in Chapter 8),

Luca Marenzio (1553-1599) brought to its peak the use of texts as the
inspiration and shaping force for the madrigal. In his w·orks one can dis-
ln Martn zio's works cover a clear textual reason for practically every musical detail.
one can discovtra cltar
As an example, w·e can take the madrigal "Scaldava ii sol," a picture
tex-l'ual reason
for practically evtry of siesta time on a hot Italian summer afternoon, expressed in verse by
musical ddail. the poet Luigi Alamanni (1495-1556):
Scaldava ii sol di mezzo giorno The sun at noon burned the bo,v
J'arco
first two voices lead to the pitch "sol" (C in the soft hexachord) 011 the word
"sol"; bow figure in melodic line for the curve in the lion's back
Nel dorso del Leon suo albergo in the back of the Lion, its beloved
caro. refuge.
major harmony for the beloved refuge (possibly an inn called "The Lion"?or
a reference to the sign Leo in the zodiac, governing the periodfro1n 23 July to
23August?)
Sotto'l boschetto piil di frondi Under the bush, thick ,vith leaves,
carco
many repetitions ofshort notes
Dormia'l pastor con le sue the shepherd slept along ,vith his
greggi a paro. flock.
long, slow notes and harmonic stasis for the sleeping shepherd
Giaceva ii villanel de J'opra The peasant stretched out, free

scarco from ,vork,
long, slow notes for stretching out; rapid notes and imitation suggest the
usual busyness of the peasant, but slowing rhythms and fa1niliar style then
indicate the end of his work; plagal cadence
Vie piil di posa che di spighe desiring repose more than meager
avaro. ears of corn.
slow notes for repose; quicker, dotted rhyth1ns for the ears of corn; authentic
cadence
GJ'augei, le fere, ogn'huom The birds, the beasts, all men hide
s'asconde e tace. and are silent.
rapid scalar figures for birds; octave drop in each part for hiding; voices
drop outfor silence
Sol la cicala non si sente in pace. Only the cicada does not feel at peace.
Italian Music at the End of the Sixteenth Century 159
single note for the idea "sol[o}" ("alone" or "only"), then most voices have
pitches that would be "sol" (in natural or soft hexachord); dotted figure and
rapid notes for cicada's song; authentic cadence
Some ofMarenzio's most effective madrigals set the ardent and sensuous
love poems of his contemporary Torquato Tasso (1544-1595). Some
music historians today consider Marenzio's work the culmination of the
madrigal style.
The theatrical entertainments performed in the Italian courts gener-
ated important poetic material for composition. During the sixteenth
century these entertainments included plays, often elaborately staged. It
became common to provide between the acts of plays a brief d iversion in
the form of an intermedio (pl. intermedi) or entr'acte. These usually por- lnkrmedi
trayed ancient heroic or pastoral stories in pantomime and dance, v.rith
polyphonic musical accompaniments and songs. Pastoral plays v.rith
music also became popular as embellishments to grand state occasions,
noble weddings, and the like. They were particularly popular and lavish
in the city of Florence. Everyw·here they ,vere taken seriously as artistic
,vorks; the verses of such important poets as Tasso and Battista Guarini
(1538-1612) served as texts for many of the madrigalists.
The increasing sophistication of composers ,vas paralleled by the in-
creasing virtuosity of singers. Singers of polyphonic compositions, like Virtuoso singrrs
players of instruments, commonly improvised embellishments, or "divi-
sions," in their musical lines. When individual singers performed ,vith
lute, keyboard, or a consort ofviols, they had even freedom to demonstrate
their vocal abil ity. Notable for their vocal feats were several gifted women
,vho sang at the ducal court of Ferrara in the last decades of the sixteenth
century; the most famous of these virtuosas ,vere Lucrezia Bendidio Notable for lhtir vocal
(1547-after 1584), Laura Peverara (ca. 1550-1601), and Tarquinia Molza ftals were stvtral gifttd
(1542-1617). The music ,vritten for the Ferrarese ,vomen by the court womtn who sang at lht
ducal court ofFtrrara in
composer Luzzasco Luzzaschi (1545-1607) sho,vs that they excelled in lht.last dtcadts oflht
extremely rapid passagework over impressively wide vocal ranges. sixtunlh century.
Still another aspect of Italian style of the sixteenth century ,vas the
diversification of vocal ensemble pieces into various specific genre cate-
gories. In contrast to the madrigal, which tended to be compositionally
complicated and more serious, the Italians had the canzonetta, ,vhich was
lighter in mood, likely to be for a smaller group of voices, and simpler to
sing. The balletto, a dance song, featured lively, strongly metrical rhythms Secular voe.al genres
and a recurring refrain, ,vhich often used the nonsense syllables fa la la. A
villanella was a popular song, characteristically employing a much less
sophisticated type of poetry than the madrigal. It ,vas commonly satiri-
cal or amorously suggestive in its content, mocking the madrigal's loftier
intentions (compare the Spanish villancico, discussed in Chapter 8). The
villanella ,vould be deliberately simple and even crude in technique;
familiar-style texture in only three parts ,vas normal, as ,vas the deliber-
ate use of such musical faux pas as parallel fifths for humorous effect.
MANNERISM
As was the case in the fourteenth century, some artists at the end of the
sixteenth exaggerated their expressive techn ique to the point of manner-
Latc·Si.xtrenth··Crntury ism, and composers were no exception. In the visual arts, mannerism was
mannerism manifested to evoke a particularly powerful response through exaggera-
tion and distortion that departed from the earlier humanist ideals of
moderation and purity of design. These features are particularly notice-
able in the works of the painter El Greco (1541-1614), w·hose career is
associated with the deeply spiritual religious inspiration of post-Counter-
Reformation Spain, where Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) and Saint
John of the Cross (1542-1591) had their mystical visions (Figure 11.1).
In literature there was a comparable style in the impassioned amo-
rous sonnets of Tasso, which carry the genre beyond the subtlety and
refinement of Petrarch to express strongly sensual attraction and unbri-
dled ardor (Figure 11.2). Perhaps the closest English parallel \V'Ould be
Figure 11.1 El Greco

(1541-1614), Christ
Crucified. El Greco's
work exemplifies late-
sixteenth -century
mannerism in painting.
The figure is elongated
and distorted, convey-
ing the tortured yet
ecstatic figure of Christ
more effectively than
would a purely realistic
depiction. Rather than
Jerusalem, t he painter
has placed the Spanish
city of Toledo in the
background.
The Italian Style in England 161
Figure 11 .2 In t his painting, known either as Allegory of Music or simply The

Musicians (ca. 1595), Michelangelo da Caravaggio (1573-1610) seems to suggest
the rich sensuality and surfeit of expression that we hear in some late-sixteenth ·
century music.
the metaphysical and amorous sonnets of John Donne (1572-1631),

likewise full of extravagant imagery.
Mannerism in music found its most forceful expression in the highly
idiosyncratic madrigals of Carlo Gesualdo (ca. 1561-1613), Prince of
Venosa. For Gesualdo the actual mean ings of the words became less im- Carlo G~sualdo
portant than the generally w·rought-up feelings of the speaker. He par-
ticularly seized on the expressive potential of chromatic harmony, and
he selected highly passionate (although not always poetically polished)
texts to give himself the opportunity to explore the most striking melo-
dies and harmonic progressions. Gesualdo's w·orks often use chromatic For Gesualdo lht actual
vocal lines that are difficult if not impossible to explain ,vithin the old meanings of llu. words
syntax of the modes, and they abound in unusual successions of harmo- btcamt lts.s important
than t.l1tgcntrally
nies, especially those that create cross-relations between the parts wrouglal·up fulings
(Example 11.1) . The madrigals of Gesualdo pressed the harmonic rules of tl1t sptaker.
of composition as laid do,vn in Zarl ino's Le istitutioni harmoniche to their
limits. Nevertheless, Gesualdo did not explicitly abandon the principles
of preparation and resolution of dissonances.
THE ITALIAN S T YLE IN ENGLAND
After its long period of isolation from the developments of musical style
on the Continent, England was suddenly brought up to date by the 1588
publication by Nicholas Yonge (d. 1619) of a collection of translated
Example 11.1 Gesualdo's madriga l "Belta, poi che t 'assent i" demonstrates the
extent to which mannerist chromaticism could reach. The text: "Beauty, since you
are leaving, as you take my heart take also my torment s."
~
A
Bel • 1.$. poi

-·
'
t'as • sen • tL
.
.
0
Co· me
' ' '
pot • tiil cor.
-
'"' "'
-• -·- -
~ -
Bel • ta. -
poi
''"
-
t'as • st't'I • ti. Co· me
"'
q",
J)Of • ( II
...
cor.
A • •
..,
" '!"
Bel • t.i,
- ... --·
~
poi t'as • sen • ti.

..
Co· me
ff
- . ff -
por • tiil
..
c;or,
•
''". . "'
. ,- . ~ - =e ,--,1=
~ ,.. ,be t'as • t1en • Ii. Co· me
"" po< . Iii.I tor, por • lln ....
.. -
'
d..e
- ~-.
t'as • sen • ti.,
. - -- Co • me me
-
p<)f •
•
1iil cor,
-..
• .., . tai' tor' • men
.
. ti .
- .
..
1ai IOMnc:n • ti.
A
"°'
..
•J
por-tni 1or-men . ti. ~"' "
por-1ai ,., . me, .' ti,
• i . ~4' \4' ,;
I.lit l<)r· m~ · II,
~ <>
• t:1i
... q• v
l<)r • men -Ii,
O "'q• ... u
por • t;u tor • m~
R"
- Ii.
"'"..
A
. ' ' '
y . '
, men . Ii, . por, 1a i l(M'•mtn, tL
p()r•l:)1 l (H' • IJICtl
"·
-
.
• tai tOf~ncn • Ii por-tai 10, • men • 1i.
Italia n madrigals titled Musica transalpina. The English composers took

Englis h madrigals up the Italia n genre ,vith alacrity. They were abetted in th is by the simul-
taneous flo,vering of Tudor poetry, because this ,vas, of course, the era
that produced Shakespeare. English publishers released numerous
books of sophisticated madrigals, as well as the lighter Italian types of
music, adapted into English as canzonets and balletts, through the re-
mainder of the Elizabethan period and even for several years thereafter.
An important anthology of contributions by t\venty-three madrigalists,
The Triu1nphs of Oriana (1601), prepared under the leadership of the
composer Thomas Morley, shows ho,v highly esteemed this type of com-
position had become. Each of the texts includes a passage in praise of
Oriana (a pseudonym for either Queen Elizabeth or Queen Anne of
France 163
Denmark, the w·ife ofJames VI ofScotland, depending on various politi-

cal allegiances at the time).
A particular expressive mannerism in English polyphony of this
period is the simultaneous cross-relation. To express intense feeling the
English composers characteristically called for the sounding of a pitch in
its natural and its sharped or flatted form. The result is the bizarre clash
of an augmented or diminished un ison or octave. This procedure
stretches the rules of consonant counterpoint, of course. It is explained
from a theoretical point of view· by the observation that in these cases the
higher version of the pitch is presented in a line that leads upw·ard, w·hile
the lower version proceeds dow·nw·ard. Thus the momentarily grating so-
nority is justified by the strongly directed linear motion.
FRANCE
In the late sixteenth century the French produced a mannered approach

to the direct treatment of poetic syllables in music that \Ve have already
noted in their secular chansons and in the Calvinist psalm settings. The
principal exponent of this approach was the poet Jean-Antoine Bau
(1532-1589), \vho established an Academie de poisie et de musique (Acad-
emy of Poetry and Music) in 1570. Ba,f attempted to apply ancient Greek
and Latin meters to the French language to create avers 1nesuree a!'antique
(poetry measured in the style of Antiquity), a some\vhat artificial plan
that can sometimes produce a stilted result quite unlike the natural
French language. The task of setting this verse to music fell to the compos-
ers of the Academy, among ,vhom was the talented Claude Le Jeune
(1528-1600). The strict application ofBai'f's principles, making long syl- Musiquemesur~c
!ables twice as long as short ones, produced a musique mesuree in \vhich all
the voices moved together homorhythmically (Example 11.2). This could,
of course, have been deadly dull, but because the syllable lengths do not
predictably add up to consistent musical groupings, the effect is of freely
changing meter, and some of the settings achieve a graceful elegance.
The creation of academies to exert rational control over different
fields of endeavor became a characteristically French tendency. We shall
observe this again in the seventeenth century.
A uniquely French genre ,vas the vaudeville (from voix de ville, mean-
ing "to,vn voice"), or city song. The vaudeville ,vas a kind of simple, Tue vaudeville
strophic song, performed either by vocal ensemble or, perhaps more com-
monly, by solo singer and lute. (The sixteenth-century vaudeville has
none of the connotations the word carries in the tradition of American
popular theater entertainment.) Vaudevilles \Vere commonly used for
dancing.
The vaudeville ,vas superseded by the more sophisticated air de cour
(court song), \vhich first appeared in 1571 and continued into the seven-
teenth century. The airs de cour often adopted the musique mesuree Air de cour
approach to rhythm. The scoring called for solo voice \vith lute.
Example 11.2 The first stanza of Claude Le Jeune's chanson ·si le lien se voit def-
fait," in musique mesuree. The text: "If t he bond is broken that connected me to
t he happy time when I could look my fill at t hat beauty who holds me [captive)."
Le Jeune's meter signature merely specifies t he general relationship between
half- and quarter-note values, not the number of beats per measure.
• s;
- r= Ii · en def. foil
- p F f- n- ,
m'a - tn . cha l'heur • eux
le se voit Doot joor
~ 'Si , 'Ii ,. voit '

def. foil '
· en D"m m'a • t:i • cha l'hcur • eux joor
~ #~ ~ G
.. a
- -' - ~
l? ~ a
- •
- ....::,
• -Que -
I
1U1ll et 1.i.111 je re. gar . doy CC$ · IC beau . ,,

I
qui me tien1...
A .
.
~. '"'' ... Que ' '
jc re· gar . d,y Ccs • I<' bc:iu • 1C_
-..:....,
qui me 1i.-n1...
.. ._ ___
!Alli
~ ~ ... ' -
~
.. l? a A • ,._ L a a
THE VENETIAN STYLE
Before leaving the sixteenth century, w·e must take note of a special de-
velopment associated particularly \Vith the city of Venice. During the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Venice developed into one of the most
important commercial cities in Europe. As the northeastern port of
Italy, it w·as a major point on land and sea trade routes behveen Europe
and the East. An oligarchy, Ven ice \Vas governed not by individual no-
In Vtnice lht. arts blemen but by a council made up of members of the \vealthy merchant
const.ihd~.d mort a civic class. The city rapidly became both extremely rich and, compared to
priviltgt than a loo/for other Italian cities, secure. In contrast to the practice in other cities, the
lht stlj-indulgtnct or
stlj-aggrandiz~mtnt of arts constituted more a civic privilege than a tool for the self-indulgence
t.lit nobility. or self-aggrandizement of the nobility.
One of the great musical centers of Europe in the sixteenth century
,vas Venice's Basilica of St. Mark. We have already met some of its cele-
brated maestri di cappella: Willaert, Rore, and Zarlino. The basilica has
several galleries, in \vhich were placed separate organs; it became the
focus for the development of a special type of scoring that used multiple
Polychoral musk choirs antiphonally to create a stereophonic effect (Figure 11.3). This
polychoral technique, sometimes called cori spezzati ("spaced-out choirs"),
,vas not entirely new, of course, since it followed the venerable practice of
The Venetian Style 165
Figure 11. 3 The

basilica of St. Mark in
Venice, begun in 1063,
was the site of impor-
tant experiments in
polychoral composi-
tion in the sixteenth
century. The galleries
had space for two
different organs and
different vocal or in·
strumental ensembles.
antiphonal singing in the church; nor ,vas it necessarily limited to St.

Mark's. It gained popularity, ho,vever, from its use by Willaert, who also
applied it in the secular realm by carrying it over into some of his madri-
gals. By the end of the century the polychoral style had become ,veil
established.
St. Mark's organists Andrea Gabrieli (ca. 1532/ 33-1585) and his
even more talented nephew Giovanni Gabrieli (ca. 1554/ 57-1612) mas-
tered the polychoral technique. They generally used broad, simple rhyth-
mic gestures and a good deal of familiar-style scoring to support and
clarify the musical dialogue. The separate choirs join at some moments, Experiments in scoring
particularly at the conclusion of a piece, to give a massive dynam ic and dynamics
climax. Giovanni Gabrieli carried the polychoral design into his 1597
canzonalike, eight-part instrumental piece headed "Sonata pian' e forte,"
,vhich is also notable for having the first occurrence of specific indica-
tions of dynamic contrasts throughout a musical ,vork. (The term sonata
here, by the way, is not yet established as the designation of a particular
genre; Gabrieli probably thought of the work as a canzona and simply
meant the heading literally: "played soft and loud.") The forte and piano
indications refer to passages w·here both four-part choirs play together
(forte) or either choir plays alone (piano). This ,vork also pioneered in
the scoring of specific instruments, calling for one ensemble made up of
a cornetto and three sackbuts and another including a violino and three
sackbuts.
THE SIGNIF I CANCE OF LATE HUMANI ST STYL ES
The development of a ,vide variety of national, local, and individual styles

in the late sixteenth century may be regarded as evidence that the dom i-
nant principles and techniques of the period had reached a point of crisis.
The ideal of a highly polished musical lingua franca that had permitted
the cosmopolitan style in music to be lauded as "ars perfecta" had given
,vay to the experiments and exploitations of particular aspects of the style
Lalt·Jixtunlh·unhAry by individual composers or schools of composers. They had inherited an
compostrs left lht. music of
elegant and refined cosmopolitan language. Although their ideas were
tl,dr lime fo a riot of
idiosyncral'ic: extremely imaginative and their composition was skill ful, they certainly
inltrprtlalions. left the music of their time in a riot of idiosyncratic interpretations.
As ,ve begin to examine the music of the seventeenth century, ho,v-
ever, we shall discover that the new approaches of these composers com-
prised the seeds of an altogether ne,v style. The Italian madrigalists'
desire for a greater intensity in musical expression, the French academ-
ics' insistence on clarity through simple texture and strictly text-based
rhythm, and the Venetian abandonment of the ideal of homogeneous
sound in favor of contrasts in scoring and dynamics ,vere harbingers of
essential elements of a new musical language.
The music of the late sixteenth century is discussed in the general studies
listed in the Suggestio ns for Further Reading for Chapter 7. For the late
madrigal, see also the Suggestions for Further Reading for Chapter 8.
'I\vo sources focusing on the English madrigal are Edmund H. Fellowes,
The English Madrigal Co1nposers, 2nd ed. (London: Oxford University
Press, 1948), and Joseph Kerman, The Elizabethan Madrigal (New' York:
American Musicological Society, 1962). For cori spezzati, ,vith a collec-
tion of polychoral music, see Anthony F. Carver, Cori spezzati, 2 vols.
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988).
Biographies of individual composers include Denis Arnold, Marenzio
(London: Oxford University Press, 1965); Glenn Watkins, Gesualdo:
The Man and His Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991);
Egon Kenton, The Life and Works of Giovanni Gabrieli (Rome: American
Institute of Musicology, 1967); and Denis Arnold, Giovanni Gabrieli and
the Music of the Venetian High Renaissance (London: Oxford University
Press, 1979).
Rationalism and Its Impact
on Music
The rationalist understanding of music that developed around the
beginning of the seventeenth century explained musical expression as
a way to move the listener's passions or affections. Aesthetic thinking
treated music as an art of rhetorical communication. The camerata in
Florence developed n1onody or homophonic texture, supporting a single
melodic line with basso continuo accompaniment. The scoring ideal
shifted toward concertato, the use of contrasted forces. Intensity of
passion led to the harmonically free seconda pratica.
An Age of Reason Concertato

Aesthetic Considerations Seconda Pratica
The Doctrine ofAffections Expression of New Ideas in 1\Jeiv
Styles
The Florentine Ca,nerata
Monody and the Basso Continua
AN A GE OF REASON
Around the beginning of the seventeenth century thinkers building on

the humanism of the preceding centuries developed an approach to
philosophy know·n generally as rationalism. To the philosophers of the
seventeenth century it w·as essential that reason supersede received
167
168 CHAPTER 12: Rationalism and Its Impact on Music
To the pl,ilosopl,ers oft ht authority not only from the church but also from antiquity or any other
se-vtnlunlh c~nlury ii was
source. Rene Descartes (1596-1650), in his 1637 Discourse on Method,
es.stnt.ial that rtason
.tuptrstdtrtuivtd
systematically pursued the rigorous application of reason in the service
authority not only from tht of philosophical understand ing, rejecting both received opinion and the
churcl, but also from
evidence of fallible human senses, explaining that
antiquity or any ot.litr
souru. for a long time, I had noticed that, w·here customs were concerned, it
Roussrau commits is sometimes necessary to follo,v opinions that one kno,vs to be very
himself to rrasoning uncertain ... ; but because at this point I ,vished to devote myself ex-
without any misleading
prrsuppositions clusively to the search for truth, I thought it necessary to do exactly
the opposite, and that I should reject as absolutely false anything
about ,vhich I could imagine the least amount of doubt, in order to
see ,vhether, after that, nothing at all remained that I could believe to
be entirely indubitable. Accordingly, because our senses sometimes
fool us, I ,vanted to assume that nothing actually existed in the form
in ,vhich they made us imagine it. And because there are people ,vho
make mistakes in reasoning, ... judging that I ,vas subject to error, as
much as anyone else, I rejected as false all the arguments that I had
previously accepted as demonstrations. And finally, considering that
all the same thoughts that ,ve have ,vhen we are a,vake can also come
to us when ,ve sleep, without a single one of them being true, I re-
solved to pretend that all the things that had ever entered into my
mind were no more true than the illusions of my dreams.
Descartes forced himself to abandon the authority of the church and
scripture and of earlier philosophy and even the evidence of his o,vn
senses-every presupposition except reason itself:
And observing that this truth: I am thinking, therefore I exist, ,vas so
strong and so sure, that all the most extravagant assumptions of the
skeptics ,vere not capable of shaking it, I judged that I could accept
it, without scruple, as the first principle of philosophy that I was
seeking.•
A d ifferent sort of rationalism, rooted in the premise that only material

th ings are real, led the Englishman Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) to
develop a political philosophy that viewed social organization as a means
of mutual protection against the purely selfish instincts of human indi-
Rationalist political viduals. Hobbes concluded that a strong absolutist monarchy was justi-
philosophy fied not by the divine right of kings but because it ,vas the most effective
means to ensure social stability.
It ,vould be an exaggeration to th ink that rationalism constituted the
sole philosophical vie,vpoint of the seventeenth century. The French
philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) offered a vie,v of the human con-
dition that argued for faith, not reason, as the way of spiritual fulfillment.
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) attempted to synthesize reason and em-
piricism, human intellect and human will, and Nature and God.
Aesthetic Considerations 169
A EST HETIC CONS IDE RATIONS
The musical period from about 1600 to about 1750 has come to be know·n
as the Baroque era. This is a some\vhat unfortunate name. The term, bor- The Baroque in art
ro\ved for music from art h istory, was originally applied to the arts ,vith
a derogatory implication: it means overly ornamented, d istorted, bi-
zarre, eccentric, or even grotesque. Like the term Gothic used for the
period beginning in about 1150, it reflects the vie\vpoint of a later gen-
eration that had different aesthetic values. Some seventeenth-century
art, literature, and music certainly manifests a strain of exaggeration and
lavish ornamentation. We find such characteristics, for example, in some
of the paintings of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-16 40), with their w·omen
voluptuous to the point of fatness, surrounded by chubby cherubs or
cupids (Plate 11). The expansive richness of some of the verbal pictures
in John Milton's (1608-1674) Paradise Lost (1667) leave a similarly
ornate impression, as in th is description of the angel choirs of heaven:
... all Milton's ParadiJe L-osl
The multitude of Angels ,vith a shout reprrsents angels singing
in he-aven in exaggeratedly
Loud as from numbers ,vithout number, sweet ornamental podry
As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heav'n rung
With jubilee, and loud Hosanna's filld
Th' eternal Regions: lowly reverent
Towards either Throne they bow, and to the ground
With solemn adoration down they cast
Th ir Cro,vns in,vove ,vith Amarant and Gold,
Immortal Amarant, a Flo,vr ,vhich once
In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life
Began to bloom, but soon for mans offence
To Heav'n remov' d where first it grew, there gro,vs
And flo,vrs aloft shading the Fount of Life,
And where the river of Bliss through midst ofHeavn
Row·ls o're Elisian Flo\vrs her Amber stream;
With these that never fade the Spirits Elect
Bind thir resplendent locks in,vreath' d with beams,
Now in loose Garlands thick thro\vn off, the bright
Pavement that like a Sea ofJasper shon
lmpurpl' d ,vith Celestial Roses smil' d.
Then Crown' d again thir golden Harps they took,
Harps ever tun' d, that glittering by thir side
Like Quivers hung, and \Vith Pr~amble sweet
Of charming symphonie they introduce
Th is sacred Song, and ,vaken raptures high;
No voice exempt, no voice but \veil could join
Melodious part, such concord is in Heav'n.
(Book 111, lines 344-71) 2
Interior design, perhaps the most extravagant of all the arts in the
period, featured sculpture and painting that cro,vded ,valls and columns
,vith a riot of figures. Often these figures hardly seem able to stay in their
places but are so cro,vded that they emerge into the room and intrude
into the vie,ver's space.
The artists of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries w·ould
not have identified these "baroque" qualities as their aesthetic purpose,
ho,vever. Indeed, it would be a gross misrepresentation to characterize
Variety in all the art of the time as sharing these traits. The quiet domestic scenes
srvtntrtnth··C rntury painted by Jan Vermeer (1632-1675) and the intense visions of Rem-
artistic style
brandt va n Rijn (1606-1669) contrast markedly with the extravagant
,vorks of Rubens. The styles of the French comedic dramatist Moliere
(Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, 1622-1673) and tragedians Pierre Corneille
(1606-1684) and Jean Racine (1639-1699) could hardly be said to re-
semble the style of Milton in any ,vay. Like artists of all times, those of
th is period thought of themselves as "modern." They must have seen
more variety among their styles than later h istorians, ,vhose purpose
,vould be to impose some order on this century and a half.
If required to identify a particular,vay in ,vhich their aesthetic inten-
Art.ist.s oft.lit era would tion had turned a,vay from that of their predecessors, the artists of the
havtst:rtued a rationalist so-called Baroque era probably ,vould have stressed a rationalist under-
understanding ofhow lhtir
work should ajftcl the
standing ofho,v their,vorkshould affect the observer, reader, or audience.
obstrvtr, rtad.-r, or Unlike the artists of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, they in-
auditnu. tended not simply to depict or imitate (Aristotelian mimesis) reality in
an aesthetically satisfying manner but to impose a particular state of
Rationalism in arsthetics mind on the aud ience. The quality of the work of art depended on ho,v
strongly it affected the observer or listener. To sense the importance of
th is, one need only vie,v Gianlorenzo Bernini's sculpture of the ecstasy
of St. Teresa of Avila for the Cornaro Chapel in the Church of S. Maria
della Vittoria in Rome. The figure is totally abandoned to the moment of
religious transport; feeling is experienced as physical (even sexual)
rather than purely spiritual (Figure 12.1).
THE DOCTRINE OF AFFECTIONS
In the seventeenth-century view of human experience states of mind

,vere kno,vn as affections, passions, or humors. The rationalist Descartes
Alfectionsorpassions explored these passions in his 1649 treatise The Passions of the Soul. He
described affections as static, not much like the fluid feelings that ,ve
no,v call emotions. He identified six basic passions: love, hate, joy, sorro,v,
,vonder, and desire; any others must be compounded from these. We can
get some idea of the ,vay in which the affections were understood from a
treatise by the French painter Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) titled
Mithode pour apprendre adessiner !es passions (Method for learning to
depict the passions), in which Le Brun illustrates set facial expressions
corresponding to different passions (Figure 12.2) .
The Doct rine of Affections 171
Figu re 12.1 The

hallmark of
seventeent h-centu ry
art is t he representa-
t ion of consuming
passion, as in the
sculpture The Ecstasy
of St. Teresa for t he
Cornaro Chapel
(1645- 1652) by
Gianlorenzo Bernini
(1598-1680). St . Teresa
abandons herself to
passion as an angel
pierces her heart with
t he arrow of divine
love.
Figure 12.2 Charles Le Brun, who became painter to t he king and head o f t he
Academie des Beaux-Arts during the reig n of Louis XIV, held enormous authority
over t he style and p ractice of t he visual arts in France during t he p eriod of ratio -
nalism. He wrote about how to po rtray t he passions, and he p rovided simple
sketches an d some finished drawing s t hat illustrate his instructions. Here are
Le Brun's drawings (left) Love and (rig ht) Sadness.
Descartes gave a physiological explanation for the passions that

seems quaint today, based as it is on the application of rationalist argu-
Physiologic.al mrchanics ment in total disregard for any scientific study of anatomy. In his theory
of the passions Descartes said the affections depended on bodily fluids know·n as humors
(hence the use of this term as a synonym for affections), w·hich controlled
one's state of mind according to whether they ,vere ,vatery or th ick and
,vhether they rose to the head or flo,ved downward. Particularly impor-
tant for aesthetics ,vas the belief that external stimuli could alter the con-
A ralfonalisl work of sistency of the humors and, consequently, the passions. Thus, a rationalist
art ought lo providta ,vork of art ought to provide a stimulus that ,vould change the humors to
st.intulus t.l,at would change produce the intended affection; a painting, a poem, or a piece of music
lht lnonors to product tht
inltndtd afftction.
should not merely depict a joyful occasion or figure but make the vie,ver,
reader, or listener feel joy.
This doctrine of the affections clearly has something in common
,vith the Greek doctrine of ethos. They are not the same thing, ho,vever,
any more than the doctrine of the affections is identical to the humanist
idea of mimesis or to the understanding of emotional expression in later
centuries. The doctrine of ethos insists that through the ,vork the artist
changes the character of the audience, ,vhereas the doctrine of the affec-
tions some,vhat more modestly grants the artist power only over the au-
dience's current state of mind.
Generally then, if we refer to the period of music history from 1600
to 1750 as baroque, ,ve should do so ,vithout intending to criticize the
music as gaudy or overly ornamental. Baroque has become merely the
conventional term for all the music of that era, much of ,vhich is not par-
Baroqur has btcomt ticularly "baroque'' at all. If ,ve w·ish to think of the music according to its
mtrtly t.lit c.onvtnlional place in general cultural history, we might refer to it as the music of the
ltrmforall t.litmusic
oftl,at era, much ofwhich period of rationalism. If we ,vish to use a general term to capture the
is not parlfoularly aesthetic views of the period, we might call it the period of affective ex-
"baroque" al all.
pression. In any case, it is important to keep in mind that the era lasted
for a long time and, like other periods, actually includes a wide variety of
different styles, some that thrived simultaneously and others that arose
by historical evolution.
THE F LORENTINE CAMERATA
In the 1570s in Florence there was a group of intellectuals, including

some musicians, ,vho met in the home of Count Giovanni de' Bardi
(1534-1612) to discuss the art and philosophy of the ancients and their
application to contemporary culture. They are known as the camerata
(from the Italian word camera, "a room," since they met in a private room
rather than a public place; the English cognate is, of course, comrades).
Among these men ,vas Vincenzo Galilei (late 152.0s-1591), a lutenist
and singer (and, incidentally, the father of the great scientist Galileo
Galilei) ,vho, in a treatise titled Dia logo de/la musica antica e de/la moderna
(Dialogue on ancient and modern music, 1581), presented a critique of
The Florent ine Can1erata 173
the sixteenth-century polyphonic technique, based on aesthetic grounds,

developed from the theories of the Greeks. He objected to polyphonic
text settings because he felt that they created confusion rather than clar-
ity in interpreting the affections (he commonly used the phrase concetti
dell'anima, or "conceptions of the soul") that the words intended to ex-
press. He wrote that
if the practice of music ... w·as introduced to mankind for the Vincenz.o GaliJei argues
for a new approach to
purpose and aim that all the ,vise alike agree in saying-which is
musical expression
that it originated, firstly, for no other reason than to express ,vith
greater effectiveness the conceptions of their soul in celebrating the
praises of the gods, of the genii, and of the heroes, . . . and, secondly,
to impress them ,vith equal force into the minds of mortals for their
profit and comfort-then it ,vill be clear that the rules observed by
the modern contrapuntists as inviolable laws, as ,veil as those
others that they so frequently use by choice and to demonstrate
their know-ho,v, will all be directly opposed to the perfection of the
best and true harmonies and melodies. ...
. . . the nature of the low sound is one thing, that of the high
another, and that of the intermediate ... is different from the one
and the other of these. Similarly ... fast motion has one property,
slo,v another, and moderate ... is far from the one and from the
other of these. Now, these two principles being true, ,vhich they
certainly are, it can easily be concluded from them ... that singing
in consonance in the manner that the modern practitioners use is
inappropriate. For consonance is nothing other than a mixture of
high and low sound, which (as you have already understood)
strikes the sense of hearing inoffensively, or delightfully, or most
s,veetly.
Galilei continued by arguing that although the polyphonic style may

sound elegant, it does not genuinely convey the passions to the hearer:
There is nobody ,vho does not regard the variety of these [i.e.,
Zarl ino's) observances as excellent and necessary means to the
simple delight that the sense of hearing takes in the variety of
harmonies. But for the expression of conceptions they are perni-
cious, for they are useful for nothing except to make the ensemble
varied and full, and this is not ahvays, indeed is never, suited to the
expression of any conception of the poet or orator.... Consider
each rule of the modern contrapuntists in its own right, or, if you
,vish, all of them together. They intend nothing but the delight of
the sense of hearing-if it is possible to call that true delight. There
is no book at hand for them that speaks, nor that thinks or ever
thought, of such an invention as the means by ,vhich to express the
conceptions of the soul and to impress them ,vith the greatest
possible effect on the minds of the hearers.
He further ridiculed the mimetic manner of dealing ,vith poetic texts:

Lastly I come, as I promised, to the treatment of the most impor-
tant and principal part of music, and this is the imitation of the
conceptions that are dra,vn from the words . . . . Our practical
contrapuntists say, then, or hold to be certain, that they have ex-
pressed the conceptions of the soul in suitable fashion and have
imitated the ,vords, ,vhenever, in setting to music a sonnet, a
canzone, a romanzo, a madrigal, or any other text in ,vhich there is
found a line that says, for example, "Bitter and savage heart, and
cruel desire," ,vhich is the first line of one of Petrarch's sonnets,
they have made many sevenths, fourths, seconds, and major sixths
among the parts ,vhen they are sung, and created by means of
these a rough, harsh, and graceless sound in the ears of the
hearers.... At other times they will say they are imitating the
,vords when among the conceptions of these there are any mean-
ing "to flee'' or "to fly,'' ,vhich they ,viii declaim ,vith as much
speed and ,vith as little grace as anyone can imagine. And in texts
that have said "to disappear," "to be reduced,'' "to die,'' or actually
"exhausted," they have made the parts break off instantaneously
,vith such violence, that instead of inducing any of these
affections, they have moved the listeners to laughter, and at other
times to contempt.... When they have said "alone," "nvo,'' or
"together," they have made a solo, two, or all together sing ,vith
unusual elegance.
Finally, Galilei offered his o,vn principles for musical expression:
Then they ,vonder that the music of their time does not create any
of the notable effects that ancient music created; ,vhere, on the
contrary, the former is so far from the latter and so deformed-
indeed its opposite and its mortal enemy, as has been demon-
strated and ,viii be demonstrated even more. They ,vould, rather,
have more to be amazed about if it did create any [such effects),
since it possesses no means to enable it to think of them, much less
achieve them, its purpose being nothing other than the delight of
the sense of hearing, and that of the other kind [a ncient music)
being the production in another person . . . of the same affection as
in one's self.
. . . ifthey,vant to understand the ,vay [to express the affections
in music), I am happy to sho,v them ,vhere and from whom they can
learn, without much effort or nuisance-indeed, ,vith the greatest
enjoyment-and here it is. When for their amusement they go to
the tragedies and comedies that the buffoons act, they should
sometimes give up their unrestra ined laughter, and instead be so
gracious as to observe in what manner one peaceful gentleman
speaks ,vith another-,vith ,vhat kind of voice as regards highness
Monody and the Basso Continua 175
and lowness, with what volume of sound, ,vith ,vhat sort of accents
and gestures, ho,v he declaims with regard to speed and slowness of
motion. They should pay a little attention to the difference that
occurs among all these cases: ,vhen one of them speaks to one of
his servants, or one of these ,vith another; they should consider
,vhat happens when a prince is discoursing with one of his subjects
or vassals, ,vhen ,vith a supplicant ,vho is making an entreaty; how
an enraged man speaks, or an excited man; how the married
,voman; how the young girl; ho,v the simple child; ho,v the clever
prostitute; ho,v the man in love ,vhen he talks to his beloved in
order to get her to give in to his ,vishes; how those who lament; ho,v
those ,vho shout; ho,v the timid man; and ho,v those ,vho exult
,vith happiness. J
What Galilei proposed, therefore, ,vas that in order to express the affec- 'Du. ntM•1 rationalist
tions of the speaker, the music should imitate not the poetic images atst.litlic for music
followtd lht modti of
themselves but the manner in ,vhich an actor spoke in assuming a par- oratory rath~r than t.l,at
ticular role and creating a particular affection. This approach led to a ofpotlry.
ne,v, rationalist aesthetic for music, follo,ving the model of oratory rather
than that of poetry. The ne,v composers adapted to their musical compo-
sitions the principles they found in the already well-developed and
familiar study of rhetoric. They discussed musical forms as if they paral- Musical rhetoric
leled the sections of a public speech, and they classified musical gestures
as "figures" in the same fashion that one ,vould list the figures of speech
(simile, metaphor, hyperbole, and so on).
From his correspondence ,vith the Roman scholar Girolamo Mei
(1519-1594), Galilei learned that the music of the ancient Greeks was
not polyphony but monody (from the prefix mono-, plus the root aeidein,
meaning "to sing"). This fit in ,vell ,vith Galilei's o,vn reservations about
the conflicting melod ic gestures among the voices in a polyphonic com-
position. Moreover, Gali lei already had experience ,vith the Renaissance
lute song. He proposed that the new music should consist of a single Monodic texture
vocal melody line with accompaniment by lute or keyboard instrument,
a compromise behveen return ing to bare monophony and the confusing
complexities of counterpoint. Thus, out of an aesthetic theory came the
justification for the idea of ho1nopho11ic texture.
MONODY AND THE B ASSO CONTINUO
By the time Galilei wrote his treatise, there ,vere several models in
the polyphonic repertoire that already approached the homophonic
conception. The traditions of solo singing included the polyphonic Proc.dentsfo,monody
cantilena-style settings of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century songs and
the practice of declaiming poems or singing frottole to familiar-style ac-
companiment played on the lute or other instruments. Of course, in the
flexible performance practice of the time, practically any polypho nic
piece could be taken up by one voice and instruments, whether or not

that W'aS the original intention.
The solo song tradition that Galilei knew' best was that of the Italian
sixteenth-century aria, a simple formula ic setting for voice and lute (or
similar accompaniment) in familiar style that ,vas used to sing poetic
Strophic arias texts in a variety of standard forms. Since Italian poetry employed lines
of conventional lengths, mostly seven or eleven syllables, the singer
could repeat the melodies of these arias for stanzaic poems in strophic
fashion. The melodies might also be transferred from text to text, be-
cause they did not attempt to interpret ,vord meanings. The aria formu-
las generally had a simple harmonic style, sometimes no more than an
alternation among a fe,v ~ harmonies, and clear, declamatory rhythmic
character. Singers and players ,vould have improvised variations in the
repetitions of the phrases according to their taste and skill.
Galilei himself ,vrote some arias, but he ,vas not a distinguished
composer. The composer ,vho most deserves credit for putting the cam-
erata's ideas into practice in the solo song is Giulio Caccini (1551-1618),
,vhose collection Le nuove 1nusiche (Ne,v music, published in 1602) dem-
L, nuov< mu,ich< onstrates the full potential of monodic song. Caccini's preface to Le nuove
musiche makes clear that his aim ,vas ,vhat Galilei had espoused, "to move
the affect of the soul." Caccini expressed concern with the accurate per-
formance of his songs and thus left us a document that explains some of
the ornamental figures of early Baroque performance practice: free
melismatic passaggi; the accento, a run up to a note from a third below; a
dynamic shaping of a single sustained note that he calls esclamatione; the
trillo, at that time a rapid reiteration of a pitch; and the gruppo, ,vhich is
equivalent to the later trill on hvo adjacent notes (Example 12.1).
The songs of Le nuove musiche are of hvo sorts. There are several
strophic arias, continuing the trad ition of the sixteenth-century genre.
Monodic madrigals There are also madrigals in monodic style. The madrigals o,ve to the
Example 12.1 Vocal ornaments of the early seventeenth century from Caccini's
Lenuovemusiche: (a) trillo; (b) gruppo; (c) ribattuta di gola; and (d) cascata.
(d) i, F'
·MJ
Monody and t he Basso Continua 177
polyphonic Italian madrigal a free form derived from the divisions of

the text. Of course these through-composed songs are more likely than
the arias to interpret the w·ords; they are also more inclined to apply a
florid, virtuosic style that is impossible when the same music must suit a
number of different verses equally ,veil.
The most important new aspect of these monodic madrigals and
arias is the nature of their accompaniment. Caccini took pains to ex-
plain the some,vhat ne,v notation he used for h is lute accompaniments
(a function later more commonly assigned to a keyboard player). He Bassocontinuo
gives only a bass line, with numbers to ind icate to the player what inter-
vals above those notes are to be filled in to flesh out the supporting part
(Example 12.2). This practice, ,vhich dominated music throughout the
entire Baroque period and continued into the n ineteenth century, is
kno,vn as basso continua or thoroughbass. (It is so pervasive that the
German music historian Hugo Riemann ,vas inclined to label the period
the "basso continue era.'')
This approach to ,vriting accompaniments ,vas not a ne,v invention
of Caccini's. It evolved from a shorthand of church organists who often
assisted choirs by playing along with the Jo,vest line of the vocal parts,
doubling the bass ,vhen it ,vas present, the tenor ,vhen the bass dropped
out, and so on. This ,vas called basso seguente (follo,ving bass). To be still
more helpful, the organist might supply other details, such as the top
line, the entrances of points of imitation, or important notes of the har-
mony. The numbers were added to bass lines beginning in the 1590s, al-
though they remained optional, so a basso continue part might be either
.figured or un.figured.
Example 12.2 Aria no. 7 from Giulio Caccini's Le nuove musiche (1602), showing
Caccini's figures in the basso continua part. The text of this first stanza: · immortal
eyes, glory and splendor of love, arm yourself w ith flames and beams of gold.
Here is my heart.•
ch'im • mor • 1.1 • Ii O't • mor glo • ri:ic splcn • de> • . ..

..,
•
~
6 11 # 10 14
· 1n:1 • l~·vi d1 fiam•ni'i: lfau · rd sin Ii Ec·.:o'il mio oo · rt Ee • c<i'il mio c<i ...
II # 10 14 11 # 10 6 11 11 10
The basso continua part might be played on a single instrument that

could perform chords, such as a harpsichord or organ or a lute or theorbo.
Continuo scoring To highlight the bass line, however, it eventually came to seem more ef-
fective to double that part on a linear bass instrument. At first the viola
da gamba and the violone were probably the most common companions
for the keyboard or lute in continua bass playing. By the end of the period
the cello had generally supplanted the viol. Wind instruments such as
bassoons or trombones could also play continua bass lines.
The basso continua represents a significant step in a new· direction. It
produced a polarized musical texture behveen melody and bass lines
,vith independent functions. The bass line provided a harmonic founda-
tion and consequently gave up some of the melodic flo,v that it had shared
,vith the other parts in polyphonic music. Meanwh ile, the top-voice
melody became freer to undertake rhetorical expressive figures and vir-
tuosic ornamental gestures.
CONCERTATO
Essential to the style of seventeenth-century music is a new sound ideal.

In opposition to the (at least theoretical) model of the homogeneous
sound of an a cappella vocal ensemble that dominated the previous period,
composers no,v favored a scoring that featured contrasting timbres. The
term commonly applied to this sort of scoring is concertato, or, in English,
ExploUing contrast concerted. The use of the term apparently began as a way of indicating that
in scoring a vocal piece ,vas doubled in performance by instruments; a motet or
madrigal might be "concerted" ,vith organ or viols. As ,ve noted earlier,
the exploitation of contrast in scoring was a particular hallmark of the
Venetian composers of the late sixteenth century. It is not surprising,
therefore, to find the first appearance of pieces actually called "concertos"
in Giovanni Gabrieli's 1587 publication of some polychoral settings for
multiple choirs and instruments by his uncle Andrea. From the beginning
of the seventeenth century the term concerted implies any use of contrast-
ing voices or instruments ,vith separate functions, from solo songs ,vith
keyboard continua accompaniment to large, multimovement instrumen-
tal ,vorks ,vith one or more soloists and orchestral ensemble.
SECONDA PRATICA
One of the important factors in the break between the previous and ne,v
musical styles was their d ifferent approaches to dissonance. It will be re-
membered that the ideal in the sixteenth century ,vas the panconsonant
treatment of harmony codified in 1558 by Gioseffo Zarlino in his Istitu-
tioni harmoniche. Zarlino prescribed a very cautious handling of disso-
nant tones, limiting them to unaccented passing tones and suspensions.
The late-sixteenth-century mannerists had carried the style to its limit
by exploiting chromaticism but had not explicitly abandoned the
Seconda Pratica 179
principles of the panconsonant harmon ic language. At the turn of the

century, however, the very premises of the style '"ere challenged.
In 1600 the theorist Giovanni Maria Artusi (ca. 1540-1613) pub-
lished a vituperative attack on some recent madrigals by the rising com-
poser Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). In his essay, subtitled Delle The A.rtusi-Montrverdi
itnperfezioni della moderna 1nusica (On the imperfections of modern controversy
music), Artusi provided score examples that showed several different

passages from Monteverdi's music in w·hich various striking and (ac-
cording to the rules of Renaissance counterpoint formulated by Zarlino)
totally impermissible dissonances occurred, including accented passing
tones and neighboring tones as ,veil as the unprepared dissonances, ap-
poggiaturas, and escape tones (Example 12.3). Monteverdi, at the time
maestro di cappella to the duke of Mantua, responded briefly to Artusi
five years later in an after,vord to his Fifth Book of Madrigals addressed to
"studious readers." He wrote simply,
Do not be surprised that I am giving these madrigals to the press Montevrrdi justifies
,vithout first responding to the attacks that Artusi has made against the irregular use of
dissonance for intensr
a fe,v minor details of them; for, being in the service of His Most musical expression
Serene Highness of Mantua, I am not master of that time which
such a th ing would require of me. I have, nevertheless, ,vritten the
reply to make it kno,vn that I do not create my things by chance,
and as soon as it is rewritten it ,vill emerge into the light, bearing on
the front the title Seconda Pratica, o Perfezioni della Moderna Musica
[Second practice, or Perfections of modern music). At th is, perhaps,
some ,vill be aston ished, not believing that there is another practice
besides that taught by Zarlino; but they may be sure that, as far as
the consonances and dissonances are concerned, there is also
another consideration, different from the established one, which,
to the satisfaction of both reason and sense, justifies modern
composing. And this I have ,vished to say so that this term "second
practice" in the meantime may not be taken over by anyone else,
and also so that the ingenious may in the meantime consider other,
secondary things having to do ,vith harmony, and believe that the
modern composer builds on the foundations of truth.'
He never published the promised reply, but his defense was amplified by
his younger brother Giulio Cesare Monteverdi (1573-1630/ 31) in 1607
in an essay included as an appendix to a set of Claudio's pieces called
Scherzi musicali. This essay explains that d issonances forbidden by the
older style-pri1na pratica (first practice) or stile antico (old style)-are
justified in the new music by the affections suggested by the words. This Dissonancr and rhetoric
principle is defended on the basis of the ancient Greek authors, ,vho in-
cluded \\l'Ords as an integral component of music, and by appealing to the
precedent of the expressive madrigals ofRore, Marenzio, Gesualdo, and
others. Artusi had, of course, omitted the \\l'Ords from the examples he
had published (although he actually did anticipate this defense).
Example 12.3 Three dissonant passages that Artusi singled out in Monteverdi's madrigal "Cruda Amari Iii"
(Cruel Amaryllis). Artusi did not specify what the texts were that the music expressed in these instances.
(a) The AS and the FS in the soprano are unprepared, and AS fa ils to resolve p roperly. The text here says, "Ahi
lasso!" (Alas!). (b) The bass enters on 82 to form an unprepared diminished twelfth against the F4 in the
tenor. The text here in all three parts is ·amaramente" (bitterly). (c) The occurrences of B approached by skip
against the bass C3 would have been unacceptable according to the rules of harmony in the sixteenth
century. (Artusi mixes up Monteverdi's two tenor parts after the second measure here, but this does not
affect his criticism.) The text here says "ma dell'aspido sordo" (but of the stealthy asp).
(a)
-" - (b) A
- -
~ ~
,,
~
A
t -
A
~~ ,= ' ' I
A
,.,..---...._
,=
A
I ' I ' ' I
(c) ~
. . . . - - - . . _;, .
• r r • I
.
•
• . . . -,, -(!}
"
- -
-
• r r ' r r •
A
- -
' .. .
I '
Thus this new harmonic style, to be called seconda pratica or stile

moderno, operates on the fundamental premise that the text or expres-
Secondapratica sive intention controls the details of the music. It can be perceived w·her-
ever the harmonic syntax of the former style is disrupted. Consequently,
a decisive difference between the music of the prima pratica and that of
the seconda is the treatment of harmony. Not surprisingly, in view of the

rationalist emphasis on rhetoric as the model for expression, applications
of nonharmonic tones in music were explained as "figures'' of musical
discourse.
EXPRESSION OF NEW IDEAS IN NEW STYLES
As suggested earlier, the rupture in philosophical perspectives, cultural

values, and artistic and musical styles that took place in the fifteenth cen-
turyw·as much greater than the one that we have been observing in around
1600. The close relation bet\veen literary and musical art is common to
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century aesthetics. What changed was the
manner in ,vhich this relationship ,vas understood and employed in
music.
The change from the human ist to the rationalist musical style re-
flects fundamentally a change in aesthetic thought. Instead of attempt-
ing to reflect poetic sound, structure, and imagery in music, the rationalist 17,e undtrslanding of
the musical atsthttfrs
composers sought to induce certain po,verful affections in their listen-
changtdfrom a podic_,
ers. The understanding of the manner in ,vhich this ,vas to be achieved mimdic modti lo a
changed from a poetic, mimetic model to a rhetorical one. rhttorical out.
The sound of the music ,vas affected in several ways. The homopho-
nic texture of an expressive solo line and basso continuo accompaniment
replaced the polyphonic style. The concerted sound ideal of timbral con-
trast rather than homogeneity dominated the ne,v music. The panconso-
nant sonority of earlier music ,vas superseded by the seconda pratica's
free use of dissonance to increase the affective force of the composition.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER R EADI NG
An excellent overvie,v of this period in music history can be found in

Friedrich Blume, Renaissance and Baroque Music (New York: Norton,
1967). Surveys include Manfred F. Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era
(New York: Norton, 1947), no,v some,vhat dated; Lorenzo Bianconi,
Music in the Seventeenth Century, trans. David Bryant (Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press, 1987); Claude V. Palisca, Baroque Music,
3rd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1991); David Schulen-
berg, Music of the Baroque (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2.001); and
Wendy Heller, Music in the Baroque (Ne,v York: Norton, 2.014).
Detail on the Florentine camerata may be pursued in Claude V.
Palisca, The Florentine Camerata: Docu1nentary Studies and Translations
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989). The preface to Caccini's
Le nuove 1nusiche is available in Oliver Strunk, Source Readings in Music
History, rev. ed., general ed. Leo Treitler (Ne,v York: Norton, 1998), and
in the excellent edition of Le nuove musiche by H. Wiley Hitchcock
(Madison, WI: A-R, 1970).
Giulio Cesare Monteverd i's amplification of Claudio Monteverdi's

seco nda prat ica is included in Strunk, Source Readings in Music History.
Biographies of Claudio Monteverdi are Leo Schrade, Monteverdi: Cre-
ator of Modern Music (New York: Norton, 1964), and Denis Arnold,
Monteverdi, rev. 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990).
1. Re ne Descartes, Discours de la metl,ode, in CEuvres philosophiques, vol. 1,

1618-1637, ed . FerdinandA lquie (Pa ris: Garnie r Freres, 1963), 602-3. [Tra ns-
lation by DS]
2. John Milton, The Complete Poetry ofJohn Milton, ed. John T. Shawcross (New
York: Anchor, 1971), 307.
3. Vince nzo Galilei, Dia logo della musica antica e della moderna (Florence, 1581:
facsimile edition New York: Broude Brothers, 1967), 81, 85, 88-89. [Translation
byDS]
4. This note is reproduced in many places and can be seen in facsimile in the major
editions ofMonteverdi's madrigals. See, for exa mple, Claudio Monteverdi, II quinto
libro de madrigali, ed. Karin Jacobsen and Jens Peter Jacobsen (Denmark: Egtved,
1985), facsimile 6 and transcription o n pp. xiii-xiv. [Translation here by DS]
New Genres and Styles
in the Age of Rationalism
The seventeenth century developed new styles associated with the
categories of church, chamber, and theatrical music. The opera, which
arose around 1600, featured the most progressive traits and worked out
effective theatrical conventions. Chamber music occupied a n1iddle
ground, ranging.from old1ashioned madrigals to quasi-dramatic
works. Church music, inclined generally toward conservatisn1, stretched
toivard the theatrical in the oratorio. Composers ofinstrumental music
transformed their predecessors' models in the fantasia, canzona, dance
suite, and variation forn1s.
T11ree Styles THE SACRED CONCERTO

ORATORIO
The Creation of Opera
FIRST EXPERIMENTS IN OPERA Seventeenth-Century lnstru111e11tal
ORFEO
1\1usic
THE FANTASIA
Develop1nents in Italian Opera
THE SONATA
STYLISTIC TRENDS
SET S OF VARIATIONS
Vocal Cha1nber 1\1usic DANCE l\1USIC
TEXTURE AND FORM IMPROVI SATORY INSTRUl\1ENTAL
Sacred Music MUSIC
183
184 CHAPTER 13: New Genres and Styles in the Age of Rationalism
THR E E S TYLES
In 1649 the Italian musical scholar Marco Scacchi (ca. 1600-1662)

w·rote in a letter to a German composer a list of musical styles that ,vere
current in the first half of the seventeenth century. He subsumed all the
different types of vocal music under three general headings: stylus
ecclesiasticus (church style), stylus cubicularis (chamber style), and stylus
Seventeenth-centurystyle theatralis (theatrical style). Each had its own place, and each possessed
categories its own compositional characteristics. Naturally, the church style was
the most conservative of the three and the theatrical style the most pro-
gressive. A good deal of variety was possible ,vithin each classification,
ho,vever, and cross-fertilization among the styles was recogn ized. In the
current chapter,ve shall consider the music of this period under Scacchi 's
headings, although not in the same order in ,vhich he treated them.
T H E C R EATION OF O PERA
In earlier eras of music history, music had been combined ,vith drama in
the service of religion-in the ancient Greek dramas, for example, and in
liturgical drama. The more these dramatic types became independent of
religious connections, ho,vever, the more they focused on action and
speech rather than music.
Composers in the sixteenth century had ,vritten 1nadrigal dialogues in
the form of conversations between characters; for example, the poet may
Quasi.dramatic madrigals speak to his o,vn heart or to the god of love (Amor, Cupid). Sometimes
the distinction behveen the interlocutors ,vas reflected by a division of the
singers into hvo groups. There ,vere also madrigal comedies, series of poly-
phonic ensemble songs that traced a brief comic story. The action in such
musical dramas naturally unfolded solely in the imaginations of the sing-
ers and listeners, because an ensemble of singers cannot, of course, sensi-
bly act out a single speaker's role on the stage. Such a drama is closer to a
radio play than to a staged production in a theater. Orazio Vecchi 's
I.:Am.fiparnaso (1597), the most famous madrigal comedy, was published
,vith ,voodcut illustrations to help the singers visualize the action.
In addition, the intermedi and pastoral dramas provided texts for
Theatric.al productions many madrigalists. These productions formed one component of the
lavish celebrations and entertainments put on for Italian princely courts
in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. With singing, danc-
ing, and marvelous scenery and special effects, they set the stage, so to
speak, for the early development of opera.
The Florentine camerata, ,vith its intense interest in the art of an-
cient Greece as ,veil as a lively local theatrical tradition, predictably gave
lhe c.amerata and Greek much attention to the Greek drama. From Rome, Girolamo Mei in-
drama formed the Florentines that he believed the Greeks had sung their dramas
throughout. No,v the achievement of the monodic texture provided a
practical solution to the problem of singing actors. Taking their subject
The Creation of Opera 185
matter from the Greek stories that w'ere already commonly used in the
pastorals, the Florentine composers experimented ,vith a ne,v type of
musical drama, sung and acted throughout, and created the opera.
First Experiments in Op era

The first opera may have been a production titled Dafne, which ,vas created
in 1594 and staged in 1598. The libretto ,vas ,vritten by the poet Ottavio
Rinuccini (1562-1621), and the music ,vas primarily the ,vorkofthe com-
poser and singer Jacopo Peri (1561-1633). Unfortunately, only fragments The earliest operas
of Dafne have survived. In 1600, ho,vever, on the occasion of the wedding
of Maria de' Med ici of Florence to Henry IV of France (an extravagant oc-
casion, also commemorated in paintings by Rubens; see Plate 11), Peri and
Rinuccini teamed up again and created the first genuine opera that sur-
vives intact, Euridice. Appropriately, it recounts the story of Orpheus, the
great singer of Greek myth, and ho,v through the po,ver of his music he
attempted to recover his dead wife, Euridice, from Hades. Peri probably
sang Orpheus's role himself. (Caccini, one of the more competitive per-
sonalities in music history, soon joined the operatic movement. He man-
aged to force a few numbers of his own composition into Peri's Euridice
and also brought out a complete setting of the same libretto.)
It is fortunate for music history that Peri wrote about his composi-
tion in a fore,vord to the opera when it ,vas published the next year. He
explained that in Dafne and Euridice he had abandoned the former lyrical
style of singing and adopted a more speech like style. This new declama- Recitative
tory style, ,vhich Caccini called stile rappresentativo, is now generally
called recitative. Peri identified its rhythms as fall ing between those of
natural speech and those of singing. In examining the music, ,ve find that
the melodic inflections are similarly guided by considerations of affec-
tive speech more than by mean ing. The texture is, of course, basso con-
tinuo homophony.
One of the most striking features of Peri's music, to ,vhich he de-
voted considerable attention in his fore,vord, is the way in which he used
harmony (Example 13.1). The bass line ,vas given the responsibility for
underscoring the stresses in the text, W'hich it accomplishes by the timing
of harmonic changes. The harmonies between the vocal line and the bass
are often freely dissonant, which creates a sense of for,vard motion Ptri acl1it:vtd a typt of
stc.onda pral'ica bast.d not
through the phrase between one stressed, consonant harmony and the
dirtclly on tmol-ional
next. Thus Peri achieved a type of seconda pratica based not directly on ltn.s ions but on tire nalurt
emotional tensions but on the nature of speech itself. ofsp«ch itstlf.
Emilio de' Cavalieri (ca. 1550-1602), the director ,vho staged the
first performance of Peri's Euridice, can also claim some of the credit for
the early development of opera. His sacred, some,vhat idealized drama
Rappresentatione di anima e di corpo (Representation of the soul and the
body) ,vas produced in Rome in 1600. It might be regarded as the first
opera, since its libretto ,vas actually set to music throughout, but its
Example 13.1 Part of Orpheus's appeal at the gates of hell in Peri's Euridice.
The seconda pratica is particularly evident in the dissonances that are left by
leaps of diminished fifths. Orpheus says, "Alas, that at dawn my eyes' sun has set.
Miserable one! At that very hour when I believed that I would warm myself in its
lovely beams, death extinguished the beautiful light."
• ..
' Ohi Ohi rnc!
' I
che s(1 l'au · ro · ra. Guin -
II Sol_ _ de· gl'oc · <:ht mic · i. Mi se - rol
-- I
"
-
Mi SC· ro! en su qucl · l'o · r:i Che sc:il-dar • mi a' bei
"
6
17
-. .. .. ....____, v
I
' rag . gi ;. m; CTC • dt . I, Mor . •• spen . se ii bcl lu . me•
17
.
I ,
I I
II II
- 0
allegorical nature diminishes its dramatic character. Its score deserves

recognition as the first printed score with figured bass. Cavalieri claimed
for himself the invention of the stile rappresentativo; his dialogue does
not show the true recitative style, however, but is relatively lyrical and
measured in its rhythm. Cavalieri also did not explore the advanced har-
monic possibilities of the seconda pratica for affective expression.
Orfeo
The first true masterpiece of opera ,vas Monteverdi's Orfeo, composed in
Mantua in 1607. In this, his first opera, the composer demonstrated that
The Creation of Opera 187
he could be as skillful and imaginative in an extended dramatic w·ork as

he could be expressive and experimental in the madrigal. He and his Montevrrdi's Orfto
librettist, Alessandro Striggio (ca. 1573-1630), adopted the same Greek
story that Peri had used in Eu ridice, but Monteverdi achieved a more ef-
fective reconciliation of the dramatic usage of the recitative stylew·ith the
need for purely musical interest. As a matter of fact, much of the design of
Monteverdi's Orfeo seems to have been modeled on Peri's opera.
Monteverdi expanded the plan, how·ever, in both breadth and depth.
The opera opens w·ith a brilliant, fanfarelike "Toccata" for an instru-
mental ensemble, a model for the later opera overture and for the use of
instrumental pieces to help articulate dramatic action. Orfeo is also one Dramatic scoring
of the earl iest examples of specific instrumentation indicated by a com-
poser. Monteverdi assigned particular instruments throughout the
opera for particular expressive purposes. The songs and dances of the
shepherds are accompanied by strings and recorders. The messenger's
new·s and Orpheus's lament are accompanied by the dark, hollow· sound
of an organ ,vith ,vood pipes. By contrast, for the underworld Monte-
verdi called for cornetts and trombones, ,vith continuo accompaniment
by the regals, a reed organ ,vith an aggressive, buzzy timbre.
Some important dramatic choices that ,vere to become normative
for opera through the next three centuries are already established. The
composer used recitative to carry the dramatic action and dialogue.
Closed songs in symmetrically conceived forms set the general mood; in
the early seventeenth century these commonly took the form of strophic
or varied strophic songs, sometimes ,vith instrumental ritornello pas-
sages bet\veen the stanzas. The occurrence of dance rhythms indicates Vocal styles and dramatic
that dancing ,vas part of the staging. A strikingly symbolic moment functions
occurs ,vhen the messenger brings Orpheus the ne,vs ofEuridice's death.
The bridegroom and his friends have been celebrating ,vith songs and
dances, but the messenger says, "Pastor, lasciate ii canto" (Shepherd,
leave off singing); significant beyond the specific moment in this opera,
the line suggests that moments of high drama require a style that allows
a more heightened rhetorical expression than tuneful songs, and her fol-
lowing recitative and Orpheus's famous lament take place in intense rec-
itative ,vith both ,vord painting and the affective use of dissonance.
One important song in Orfeo is Orpheus's "Possente spirto," ,vhich
he sings to enchant Charon, the guardian of the entrance to Hades.
Monteverdi set the strophic text as a set ofvariations over a repeated bass
line, and he published it with t\vo versions of the solo vocal part, one
highly ornamented (Example 13.2). This gives us some insight into the
performance practices of singers in that time. The successive stanzas of
"Possente spirto" also employ a series of changing instrumental accom-
paniments, suggesting Orpheus's mythical mastery over music. Striggio
,vrote Orpheus's appeal following the long-established rhetorical prin-
ciples for a persuasive speech; ,ve can easily identify the address to the
listener (called exordiurn), explanation of the central issue (narratio),
Example 13.2 A fragment of Orpheus's aria ·Possente spirto" from Monteverdi's

Orfeo, showing both simple and ornamented versions of the vocal line. The text
claims that any place where Euridice is possesses so much beauty that it becomes
paradise.
1an
-------------
-----------
tnn ·
.
• I
' • )(?; - z., ;1 . ru • di . . . so ha
"
. - - . 00,
"''
= - -
I
~ ~ ~ . ......
~li::::i::;i "
'
~ ~
· lc-2 · UI ii pa-ra-di - - - . . . . SO ha SC . co.

J
,~ ,
- &F-o 0
I.J 0
positive arguments for the speaker's intention (confirmatio), dismissal of

contrary arguments (confutatio), and conclusion (peroratio). Montever-
di's strophic variatio ns continue to the central moment, \vhen Orpheus
1l1t. rlatlorical approach to becomes most personal, \vhere the form breaks free of the constraints of
mu.s ical txprtssion tnabltd the repeating bass. Thus the ne\v, rhetorical approach to musical expres-
t.lat c.ompostr to err.a lt
powtrful dramal'ic: sion enabled the composer to create powerful dramatic moments in the
momtnll in optra. ne\v genre, opera.
D EVELOPMENT S IN ITALIAN OPERA
Opera soon spread to still more cities in Italy. The smaller courts com-
peted \vith each other in staging operas as lavishly as their finances
\vould allow. T\vo major cities in particular pursued d istinctive direc-
tions, guided by their O\vn characters.
In Rome, naturally, librettists and composers explored subjects from
Opera in Rome sacred rather than ancient Greek sources. Cavalieri 's Rappresentatione di
anima e di corpo had anticipated this tendency. A prominent example
from a slightly later stage \Vas Sant'Alessio (1632), the life of Saint Alexis,
by Stefano Landi (1587-1639).
In 1637 the city of Venice, with its tremendous \vealth and charac-
teristic sense of commercial enterprise, became the first city to open a
Developn1ents in Italian Opera 189
public opera house that sold tickets and operated on the basis of profit.
Venice soon had several competing theaters. This was an almost unique Public opera houses
situation in the seventeenth century; only Hamburg (another commer-
cial port city, w·hich might appropriately be considered the Venice of
Germany) follow·ed this lead. Monteverdi, who moved to Venice in 1613,
became one of that city's leading opera composers.
Stylist ic Trends
Italian opera composers gradually developed some noteworthy stylistic
conventions and music-theatrical devices for their genre. First among
these w·as the tendency to concentrate increasingly on solo singing.
Choruses, ,vhich had featured prominently in the early operas of Peri
and Monteverdi, gradually exited the stage. The hvo styles of solo sing-
ing, parlando dialogue and lyrical song, diverged more and more.
Monteverd i's last opera, I.: incoro11azio11e di Poppea (The coronation of
Poppea, first produced in 1643, the year of the composer's death), em-
ployed free and rapid shifts from one style to another for rhetorical effect,
even ,vithin a single sentence. In the works of his successors, ho,vever, Venrtian operat:k
beginning with those of Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676) and even more dev~lopments
in the case of the operas ofAntonio Cesti ( 1623-1669), the styles became
increasingly compartmentalized into extended passages of recitative,
each leading to a separate, closed aria. The recitative became rapid and
not especially melodic. With lyrical contours and musically conceived
form, the aria momentarily arrested the action, providing rhetorical ex-
pression and musical gratification (Figure 13.1).
Figure 13.1 Seventeenth-century opera was more a matter of rhetorical expres-

sion of the affections than true drama. The characters in this scene from an opera
performance painted by Pietro Domenico Olivero express simple affections by
standard rhetorical gestures: the young girl, sorrow; the father, haughty stern -
ness; the young man, humble petition.
Example 13.3 The seventeenth-century bel canto style in an aria by Barbara

Strozzi. The text begins, "Do not be sad, my heart."
Non ti do · l~r. mio cor,_ no. no. non ti do • let roio_ cor
..
Tiu. re.citalive-aria We can sensibly regard this pattern as implementing Descartes's
progrts.sfon impltnrtnls
thinking about the passions. A stimulus, here in the form ofw·hatever the
Dtscartes's thinking about
t.li t passions.
recitative says, arouses an affect expressed in the follow·ing aria.
There ,vere hvo principal aria styles. The so-called be! canto (beauti-
ful singing) type used generally syllabic settings and relatively slo,v
motion (usually in triple meter), which gave the singers the opportunity
to let the vocal sound resonate (Example 13.3). The contrasting type, a
florid style featuring rapid coloratura passages, sho,ved off the perform-
Aria type-& er's vocal agility. The structures of these arias also became some,vhat
standardized into two patterns. One model ,vas the variation, either in
strophic form or ,vith a melody unfolding over a short ostinato bass for-
mula. The other was the symmetrical ternary design, wh ich, as we shall
discover, later evolved into an elaborate, large-scale scheme.
Like the chorus, instrumental pieces became less and less impor-
tant, ,vith the exception of the curtain-raising piece. In Sant'.Alessio
Landi had raised the curtain with a structure that achieved ,vide success,
a hvo-part plan comprising a slo,v, homo rhythmic opening follo,ved bya
fast, canzona-style section.
In the middle of the century the plots of some of the operas became
rather complex. Subplots, sometimes involving comic characters, min-
gled with the main action. This trend jeopardized the dramatic integrity
of the libretto, to be sure, but it offered greater entertainment value.
Also important to the entertainment value of opera ,vas the compo-
Staging nent of sheer spectacle. Designers and builders contrived fabulous sets,
including onstage w·aterfalls and fountains, back-lighted scenery, and
fire-breathing monsters (Figure 13.2). Machinery made possible almost
instantaneous scene shifts, gods descending from the clouds, and the
like. When ,ve remember that these machines were operated by manual
labor, ,ve must admire the ingenuity of their designers. On the other
hand, the use of open flame lighting accounted for a large number of the-
ater fires in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
V O CAL CHAMBE R M US I C
Marco Scacchi included in the category stylus cubicularis, or chamber

style, all secular vocal music other than opera. He identified ,vithin this
category three different types, according to their scoring.
Vocal Chan1ber Music 191
Figure 13.2 A set design from the production of Antonio Cesti's II pomo d'oro
(The golden apple) in Vienna in 1666. The monster whose mouth forms the gate
to Hades spouts flame from its nostrils (all three of t hem) and ears, and Hades
itself is depicted as a fiery city inside the mouth. The boatman Charon is ready to
ferry the dead across the river Styx.
The first type of chamber music consisted of the vocal ensemble Catrgorirs of vocal
song in the tradition of the sixteenth-century madrigal, intended for a chambrr music
small group of singers, presumably singing one to a part and \vithout in-
strumental assistance. Such pieces continued to be composed, pub-
lished, and sung after 1600, of course.
Claudio Monteverdi's books of madrigals had no accompaniment
through most of Book 5. Beginning \vith the last six numbers of Book 5,
ho\vever, basso continuo accompan iment \Vas provided, and it ,vas added
for a reissue of Book 4. Such pieces \vould fall into Scacchi's second sub-
category, solo or ensemble ,vorks ,vith continuo, as \vould, of course, the
monod ic solo arias and madrigals of Caccini's Nuove musiche.
The third subcategory of chamber music comprised pieces \vith
additional independent instrumental parts in the concertato manner
(Plate 12). Such parts might function as accompaniment to the voice,
but they served particularly useful to provide introductory or interlude-
like sinfonias and ritornellos, and to make pictorial or affective contribu-
tions in quasi-dramatic songs. A masterpiece of this type is Monteverdi's
(1624) dramatic madrigal "II combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda,"
published in Book 8 (1638). In setting to music Torquato Tasso's touch-
ing story of the tragedy of the crusader Tancred, \vho unknowingly fights
and kills his beloved Clorinda, Monteverdi employed not only the t\vo
characters and a narrator but also a string ensemble that depicts the
action and, through the use of written-out, measured tremolos that
Monteverdi called stile concitato (agitated style), the affective experience
of the characters (Example 13.4).
Example 13.4 Stile concitato in Monteverdi's "Combattimento di Tancredi e

Clorinda."
St tings
•
Testo -
B.c.
-------
.. _ ;.._ ______...____
... ... ..... .... ... ... ... ..... ..... ..
1( • "'' . .. e 1:1 ven • dtt • 1a poi e fa vet, • dtt • 1:·, poi I'm, • ta ri •
-
,.,
.
, v, """• vvv, v -
On· tk scm-p,':'11 fc-rir scm-p<al fr· rir s..->tn· 11<31-la
-
r r
f~• ·la
Textu re and Form

In the stylus cubicularis the composer ,vas more likely to be concerned
,vith problems of musical coherence than in the stylus theatralis, ,vhere
the action provided a strong sense of direction and a counterfoil to the
music. This resulted in special treatments of both texture and form.
The purely monodic texture of the ne,v music offered more clarity
than the interwoven sound of polyphonic music. On the other hand, mo-
Duets nodicsinging left a significant gap in musicalinterest. It therefore became
popular to compose and sing duets ,vith basso continue accompani-
ment, where hvo voices could provide sufficient contrapuntal interaction
to maintain interest yet preserve a degree of clarity.
Composers cultivated a variety of forms as ,veil. As ,ve have noted,
Caccini's Nuove musiche had incorporated two different forms: the mad-
rigal, wh ich adopted a free form controlled by the text, as its polyphonic
predecessor had; and the aria, a simple strophic song. Also common was
Vocal Chamber Music 193
Example 13.5 Standard bass patterns of the seventeenth century: (a) romanesca;
(b) ruggiero; (c) chaconne; and (d) passacaglia.
!J: ~ .. Q
..
(a)
-
a It if
0 • 0
(c)
:r I r· ir· ir· ir· :iI
or
'A r· if r iFoa :11
(d) -9: ~& II .. i•,• i·,- .. :11

or
::!}~& n .. h .. :ii
the use of free melodic variation over repeated ostinato bass formulas
(Example 13.5). Some of these bass lines lasted an entire strophe; t\vo Reprating bass patterns
popular ones \Vere the ro1nanesca and the ruggiero. Such forms are called
strophic variation. Alternatively, the bass might be shorter, lasting only a
fe,v measures. 1\vo types of pieces that use this procedure are the
chaconne and the passacaglia. A common bass ,vas the descending minor
tetrachord (t\vo \vhole steps do\vn\vard followed by a half step), which
might be disguised by octave transfer or by chromatic passing motion.
n,e dt.sctnding minor
This became a standard device for indicating the affect of sadness, and it ldrachord is somtt.imts
is sometimes called the lamento bass. calltd tlit lamento bass.
Early in the seventeenth century the term cantata (sung) was ap-
plied to solo vocal pieces in strophic variation form and sometimes to
those in other forms as well. Soon this designation came to mean a mul- Cantata
tisectional ,vork using contrasting singing styles and, as we shall see,
took on quite different implications.
1\vo interesting composers of vocal chamber music in the seven-
teenth century,vere the singers Francesca Caccini (1587-1645?), daugh-
ter of Giulio, and Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677), ,vhose adoptive father
collaborated as a librettist ,vith Monteverdi. Their w·orks include not Women composers
only various types of songs and cantatas but also larger projects, includ-
ing, in Francesca Caccini's case, the music for court entertainments and
one surviving opera. Clearly by this time opportunities had increased
for female musicians to develop their abilities alongside men, quite a
change from earlier eras, when the most sophisticated musical tra ining
,vas dominated by the church and far more accessible to boys than
to girls.
SACR E D Music
In his threefold classification Scacchi subsumed all church music under
the category stylus ecclesiastic us. As in the case of chamber music, how·-
ever, theorists recognized several different types of this music.
The first three actually belong to the sixteenth century but contin-
Sacrodstylos ued into the seventeenth and even the eighteenth. The primary ecclesias-
tical style was the polyphonic, a cappella, Netherlands-style motet and
Mass. In this type of music the counterpoint w·as still strictly controlled
by the rules of panconsonance laid out by Zarlino. This style might also
have been know·n as prima pratica, stile antico, or, perhaps more com-
monly, stylus gravis (Latin, "serious style"). It became so thoroughly
identified with sacred music that the sound of this harmonic and contra-
puntal manner in a secular piece could serve as an allusion to the church
and sacred matters. A second subtype of the ecclesiastical style w·as the
polychoral scoring of the Venetian tradition. A third group w·as made up
of works in the polychoral style but w·ith concertato instruments. Scacchi
takes for granted that this music still uses the harmonic language of the
stile antico.
The Sacred Concerto

The final and most progressive type of church music identified by Scacchi
w·as the sacred concerto. In this type composers applied the modern style
to the creation of motets; in other w·ords, the sacred concerto developed
from the polyphonic motet in the same w·ay that vocal chamber music
In t.litsacrtd cone.trio ,vith basso continuo arose from the sixteenth-century madrigal. The first
c.omposers applitd tht
composer to publish monodic pieces under the designation "concerto"
modern style to tht
crtalfon ofmolds.
,vas the Italian Lodovico Grossi da Viadana (ca. 1560-1627), ,vhose
Cento concerti ecclesiastici (One hundred church concertos) appeared in
1602. These concertos-motets for one, hvo, or three voices ,vith an un-
figured basso continuo-still employ the simple conservative harmo-
nies of the stile antico. Because of their harmonic restraint, they
constitute only a tentative step into the new period.
In 1613 Monteverdi left Mantua for Venice to assume the duties of
maestro di cappella at St. Mark's Cathedral, follo,ving in the footsteps of
Willaert, Rore, and Zarlino. He composed equally brilliantly in all styles,
of course, but it seems highly significant that the hero of the seconda prat-
ica should be brought to the most prestigious church music directorsh ip
Montrvtrdi'.s sacrrd musk in Europe. He had proved his mastery of the stile antico in a parody Mass
based on a motet by the early-sixteenth-century Netherlands composer
Nicolas Gombert (ca. 1495-ca. 1560), but his other sacred music did not
neglect the affective possibilities of the stile moderno, and Monteverdi
thus brought sacred music definitively into the seventeenth-century ra-
tionalist aesthetic. For example, his setting of the Office ofVespers, pub-
lished ,vith the Mass in 1610, employs the monod ic texture with basso
continuo and demands extreme virtuosity from the solo singers.
Sacred Music 195
In the north the new· style in sacred music found its leading composer
in Heinrich Schlitz (1585-1672), w·ho w·orked primarily in Dresden.
From 1609 to 1612Schlitz visited Venice to learn from Giovanni Gabrieli,
and he \\l'ent to that city aga in in 1628-1629 to absorb the newer manner
of Monteverdi. He established a synthesis that combined the monodic Sacred concerto in
style and affective aesthetic of the Italians \\l'ith the German language and Germany
taste. Schlitz's most important music is sacred, including both Lutheran

and Roman Catholic \\l'Orks. His three collections of Symphoniae sacrae
(Sacred symphonies) pay homage to Gabrieli's Sacrae symphoniae. While
Germany \\l'as embroiled in the Thirty Years' War, he \\l'as compelled to
'"rite for more limited forces and produced Kleine geistliche Concerten
(Little sacred concertos) \\l'ith equal success.
Among Schlitz's sacred music are some quasi-dramatic, multimove-
ment works: an Easter oratorio, a Christmas oratorio, Die sieben Worte
Jesu Christi am Kreuze (The seven words of Jesus Christ on the cross),
and the Passions accord ing to Matthew, Luke, and John. These works
reflect the apparently irresistible influence on church music of the love
that the musicians and audiences of that time held for the theatrical.
O ratorio
The oratorio developed from the motet and sacred concerto, as an out-
grow·th of the musical settings of biblical texts in dialogue. It thus
emerged as a natural development resembling the rise of the liturgical
drama from the principle of the trope. We canno t easily distinguish the Emergence oft ho oratorio
moment at w·hich the first fully developed oratorio appeared. Writers
refer to such pieces variously as motet, dialogue, concerto, cantata, and
historia. As the composers' imaginations led them to develop the interac-
tion between characters and to portray dramatic events in music, these
pieces no longer fit conveniently into the liturgy. Musicians performed
them in a prayer hall adjoin ing the church sanctuary, w·hich ,vas called
oratorio and gave its name to the genre sometime around 1640.
The stories of the oratorios come from the Bible, especially from the
Old Testament, which contains many exciting dramatic episodes.
Modern poets filled in details and invented ne,v dialogue to add length
and interest. If the text was in Latin, as ,vas the case in the early oratorios, Typos of oratorio
the ,vork ,vas an oratorio latino; ifit,vas in Italian (or another language in
another country), it was an oratorio volgare. The oratorio latino generally
tended to use prose, incorporating the ,vords and follo,ving the style of
the Bible, ,vhereas the oratorio volgare commonly used poetic verse. It
became typical to divide the action into t\vo large sections, like the acts
of a play or opera.
The action ,vas not staged as in opera but ,vas narrated by a singer
known as testo (text) or historicus, and this became a crucial distinction
between opera and oratorio. Although most of the singing fell to the nar- Musical roles in oratorio
rator and the solo singers ,vho took the lines of the individual characters
Theoratorio allowtd more in the story, the oratorio made greater use of chorus than did opera be-
variety and contrast cause the mechanical difficulties of bringing a chorus onto an operatic
in vocalsound than tht
opera did_, partially stage did not inhibit the creator of the oratorio. Thus the oratorio allow·ed
comptnlalingfor what the more variety and contrast in vocal sound than the opera did, partially
oratorio lack,t d in compensating in this way for '"hat the oratorio lacked in costumes, stage
cost·u mts_, stagt design, and
movtmtnl-.
design, and movement.
The oratorio became popular among devout lay Christians, espe-
cially in Rome. It could even serve as a substitute entertainment during
Lent, '"hen the opera houses '"ere closed in deference to the penitential
season.
The composer most responsible for the early establishment of the
oratorio '"as Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674), who w·orked primarily in
Giacomo C.arisslmi Rome. His '"orks '"ere mostly composed for a society of devout laymen,
the brotherhood of the Sanctissimo Crocifisso (Most Holy Crucifix) at
the elite, upper-class Church of San Marcello. Such societies '"ere one
result of the aggressive Jesuit movement in the period follo,"ing the
Counter-Reformation.
SEVENT E EN TH- C E NTURY I NSTRU M ENTA L Music
In his list of musical styles Scacchi did not include purely instrumental
genres at all. Nevertheless, the early seventeenth century '"as an impor-
tant period for the development of instrumental music, w·hich steadily
gained importance in musical life. Several instrumental genres '"ere at a
crucial transitional stage between the forms that they had had in the six-
teenth century and more stabilized forms in the late seventeenth cen-
tury, and significant changes took place.
The rich variety of instruments available to composers in the early
Prattorius's Syntagma seventeenth century is displayed in the three-volume book Syntag1na mu-
mu.d cum
sicum by the German composer, theorist, and organist M ichael Praetorius
(1571-1621). Praetorius also suggested imaginative '"ays of using instru-
ments in performances of sacred vocal music to create contrasts of
scoring.
It is ofprimary importance to observe that the early seventeenth cen-
tury maintained the types of instrumental music employed previously.
Application of nt:w ideas A number of new factors in musical thinking came together, ho,"ever, to
in existing genres d irect those older forms along ne," paths. These include the doctrine of
the affections, the concertato principle, the new harmonic language, and
ideas about abstract musical form.
The Fantasia
Around the turn of the century composers must have begun to realize
that the ricercar, '"hich had been the most advanced instrumental genre
of the sixteenth century, had an inherent problem. In taking the motet as
its model, it adopted a free form consisting of a series of interlocking
Seventeenth-Century Instrumental Music 197
sections based on various points of imitation; but w·hereas a motet made

sense of the free form through the meaning in its text, the textless ricer-
car risked giving the impression that the music \\l'andered aimlessly from
one point to the next.
The solution to this problem, ach ieved in ricercars and other, similar
\\l'Orks such as the keyboard fantasia, was to concentrate on working out
one point of imitation, or subject, through an entire piece. Besides pro- Cohrrence in the rk~rcar
viding unity to the piece, this use of one predominant idea conformed to and fantasia
the aesthetic assumption that a single affect should govern an entire

piece or movement. To provide variety, the composer might alter the
subject at each ne," polyphonic exposition, or presentation of the subject
in the different voices, by such techniques as rhythmic augmentat ion or
dim inution, and accompany it by several different countermelodic ideas
in turn. The pervasive use of a single subject (in this early period usually
limited to a single tonal area) gave coherence to extensive compositions.
An early master of this type of keyboard fantasia \\l'aS the Amsterdam
composer and teacher Jan Pieterszoon S,\l'eelinck (1562-1621), organist
at the famous Oude Kerk (Old Church).
The Son at a
The canzona developed along '"hat '"e might consider the opposite path
to that of the ricercar. Endangered by the same potential undirectedness
as the ricercar, the canzona tended to fall apart into short, contrasting
sections that maintained interest more through contrast than through
un ity. The result \\l'as the rise of the sonata (meaning "sounded," i.e., Multi movement sonatas
"played"; compare cantata), \\l'ell represented in the \\l'Ork of the violinist
Biagio Marini (1594-1663). Ultimately, the divisions beh\l'een the sec-
tions of the sonata resulted in the formation of clearly distinguished
movements, each conveying a distinct affect. These were related by con-
trasting tempos, generally the alternation of slo," and fast. The individ-
ual movements later gre," to have their O\\l'n internal forms.
Although the ricercar and fantasia continued as thoroughly contra-
puntal types, the sonata \\l'as more modern and adopted the texture of
one or a small number of melodic parts accompanied by basso continuo
(Figure 13.3). For the same reason that the chamber vocal duet was pop- Trio sonata
ular, the texture of t\\l'O solo instruments and continuo thrived in the
sonata. This texture is commonly called trio texture, and a sonata that
employs it is a trio sonata.
Especially in Italy the violin family of instruments, '"hich could
more easily handle the demands of a florid, idiomatically virtuosic (here
'"e might appropriately use the term baroque) style, began to replace the
viols in the seventeenth century. Most trio sonatas call for t\\l'O violins, Sonatascoring
keyboard, and cello. Other combinations of instruments are also possi-
ble, such as recorders, flutes, and oboes on the upper lines and bassoon
on the bass part.
198 CHAPTER 13: New Genres and Styles in the Age ofRationalism
Figure 13.3 Keyboard instruments, with t heir role of playing basso continua in
all sorts of music, grew immensely in importance during t he seventeent h
century. This harpsichord was made by the important bu ilder Andreas Rucker in
Antwerp in 1640.
Set s ofVariation s
The construction of sets of variations offered composers a simple but
effective way to achieve both unity and variety in musical form during
Partita this early period in the growth of instrumental music. Such sets w'ere
often called partita, since they comprised many partes. Variations
sometimes explored the possibilities available in ornamenting a given
melody. Another type of variations borro,ved the same harmonic for-
mulas used for vocal dance songs in stroph ic variat ion form, such as
the roma nesca and ruggiero. Still another type, especially suited for
Lutheran church organists, employed a chorale melody as a cantus
firmus, stated either straightfor,vardly or with melodic embellishment,
around ,vhich other parts ,vove the series of variat ions. Such a practice
naturally produces a chorale partita. Early examples appear in the 1624
collection Tabulatura nova (New tablature) by the organist Samuel
Scheidt (1587-1654), ,vho served the court at Halle in Germany. This
collection also contains variation sets based on secular melodies. (The
title Tabulatura nova refers to the appearance, unusual at that time, of
polyphonic par ts ,vritten out in open score to sho,v clearly the contra-
puntal interplay of voices. I n fact, ,vhat is ne,v about Scheidt's notation
is that it is not tablature at all.)
Seventeenth-Century Instrumental Music 199
Dance Mu sic
Like their predecessors in the sixteenth century, composers in the seven-
teenth produced much dance music and stylized pieces based on dance
music. The individual dances tended to adopt a binary form w·ith t\vo
halves roughly equal in length and separated by a strong cadence, each
half commonly repeated.
The practice of pairing slo\v and fast dances \Vas gradually extended
to more movements, forming a suite. Suites loosely follo\ved a simple
plan of contrasting tempos and rhythmic characters, thus producing
contrasting affects, although all the dances share the same key. There Suite
might be a free piece by \vay of introduction, sometimes labeled prelude.
The opening dance movement ,vas no\v the allemande, in duple rhythm
at a moderate tempo and with a characteristic anacrusic beginning.
There follo\ved a courante, using triple or compound rhythms. The ,vord
courant in French can mean running or flo,ving; sometimes, particularly
in France, the dance ,vas grand and majestic, whereas in Italy the corre-
sponding corrente tended to be fast and gayer. After this pair there ,vould
often be a sarabande, featuring triple meter with a distinctive durational
stress on the second beat of the measure and, increasingly over the course
of the century, a very slo,v tempo. The sarabande ,vas originally an
import from Latin America, and at one time the Spanish banned the
dance because of its supposed lascivious nature. The remainder of the
suite was flexible and might include various other dance types. Among
these the gigue eventually emerged as the favorite choice for the final
movement, since its fast compound rhythm lent a brilliant touch to the
end of a suite. The rational planning of the multimovement shape of the
suite-particularly the ordering of allemande, courante, sarabande,
gigue-became more or less standard in Germany after about 1650 be-
cause of the influence of the keyboard suites ofJohann Jacob Froberger
(1616-1667), ,vhich ,vere published ,vith the movements in this order
(although Fro berger himself preferred to place the gigue before the sara-
bande). In France and England there ,vas more flexibility in the ordering
of movements. In Italy the suite idea ,vas used in the various movements
of the sonata but ,vas not much pursued as an independent type.
One possibility in the suite ,vas to have the movements share some
fundamental musical idea so that they constituted a manifestation of the
theme-and-variations principle. The dance suites in Johann Hermann
Schein's (1586-1630) important collection Banchetto musicale (Musical
banquet, 1617) illustrate the variation process. The allemande ,vas given Unity in the suite
a regular duple statement follo\ved by a strict variation in triple meter. In
addition, the variation principle ,vas employed more flexibly in a general
sharing of the allemande's motivic material by the pavane-galliard pair
and the courante that constitute the remainder of the suite. A conse-
quence of this is that the term partita, ,vhich could identify a variation
set, sometimes also denoted a suite.
Improvisatory Instrumental Mu sic

Improvisatory types of pieces continued to be used during the seven-
teenth century, especially by keyboard players. These improvisatory
pieces often bore the title "toccata" or "prelude." In such w·orks the free,
virtuosic passagew·ork might be paired with contrapuntal sections
Toccata resembling fragments of ricercars or canzonas. The toccatas of Girolamo
Frescobaldi (1583-1643) illustrate how different effects can be achieved
TOCCATA PRIMA
,,...__ ~
-
q ..,.
t '-..../
-e
'--../ l!I ~ • , .... .l!l
' I
~
-
j
.. • I
'-........./
.
•
E iffi t
ru , ,, .._'
, ,
., y tr
t
.
• "'"" - .#
I ~ I
. . •
~ -
I I I ,
I I ,......... I
I I '--'
, ~ '
.
~
Ii ' . ~
' I
•
.. '
~
~· • le
Figure 13.4 Frescobaldi's 1637 publication of keyboard p ieces was engraved in

calligraphic style that embodies visually the florid, ornamental style of the toc-
cata. The structure of the staff, usage of clefs and signatures, and p lacement of
accidentals had not yet become standardized in their modern forms.
by h\l'O contrasting approaches to improvisatory playing, since some

pieces or passages adopt a flamboyant, florid style (Figure 13.4), w·hereas
others consist of slow-moving, contemplative, harmonic changes.
A standard history of opera is Donald J. Grout, A Short History of Opera,

4th ed., ,vith Hermine Weigel Williams (New York: Columbia Univer-
sity Press, 2003). The early history of opera is outlined in Robert
Donington, The Rise ofOpera (London: Faber & Faber, 1981) .
A translation of Peri's preface to Euridice can be found in Strunk,
Source Readings in Music History.
The authoritative work on the oratorio is Ho,vard E. Smither, A
History of the Oratorio (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1977-1987), of wh ich the first volume deals ,vith the period under con-
sideration in this chapter. A good biography ofSchiltz is Basil Smallman,
Schutz (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).
Peter Allsop, 'Die Italian "Trio" Sonata: Fro1n Its Origins until Corelli
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1992); David D. Boyden, The History of Violin
Playing from Its Origins to 1761 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990); Robin
Sto,vell, The Early Violin and Viola: A Practical Guide (Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press, 2001); and Willi Apel, The History of Key-
board Music to 1700 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1972), all
give valuable information on the development of instrumental music in
the early seventeenth century, as ,veil as discussions of repertoire and
performance issues.
The Late Seventeenth Century
Over the course ofthe seventeenth century composers worked out distinct
national approaches to opera in France and ltaly. England's musical history
followed a course shaped by periods oflavish aristocratic support, interrupted
by the conservative Commonivealth in mid-century. German con1posers
developed the sacred concerto and an important repertoire of organ music in the
framework ofLutheranism. in the realn1 of instrumental n1usic the fugue, suite,
sonata, and concerto generated n1usical structures that coordinated multiple
elements ofstyle, including melodic ideas, harmonic plans, and scoring.
French Opera in the Seventeenth Ger1nan Musical Genres

Century LUTHERAN LITURGICAL MUSIC
HISTORICAL CONTEXT KEYBOARD MUSIC
THE BEGINNINGS OF FRENCH MUSICAL DRAJ1,1A
OPERA
The Develop1nent of Instrun1ental
FRENCH OPERATIC STYLE
Forn1s and Idio1ns
English i\1usic in the Seventeenth STYLE DEVELOPJHENTS IN
Century INSTRUMENTAL i\1USIC
THE FIRST STUARTS F UGUE
THE COi\1MON\VEALTH SUITE
THE RESTORATION ENSEJHBLE SONATA
Italian Opera CONCERTO
The Cantata and Other Vocal

Cha1nber 1\1usic
202
French Opera in the Seventeenth Century 203
FRENCH OPERA I N THE SEVENTEENT H CENTURY
H istorical C ontext
The musical situation in France in the second half of the seventeenth
century differed from that of other countries and periods. Byway of his-
torical background it is important to note that in the Thirty Years' War
France had succeeded in asserting its integrity against the Hapsburg
Holy Roman Empire. The efforts of the French prime minister, Cardinal Absolutism in France
Richelieu (1585-1642), established the idea of the modern nation-state
and centralized the government under the absolute rule of King Louis XIII
(r. 1610-1643). After Louis's death there ,vas a decade's delay before his
son came of age, during which Louis XIII's ,vife, Anne of Austria, acted
as regent, aided by her prime minister, Jules Mazarin (1602-1661), an
Italian. Louis XIV took the reins of government in 1653 and ruled until
1715. He strengthened the absolutist monarchy and cultivated a brilliant
court life in his new palace at Versailles (Figure 14.1). Of course music
had an important place in the court, and its development was po,verfully
affected by the political situation.
Within the area of cultural affairs the French kings took up the trad i-
tion of academicism that ,ve have already noted with Ba"if's Acadbnie de
poesie et de musique. In the seventeenth century official academies were Acadtmi"
founded under royal sponsorship. The first was the Acadimie fran~aise,
Figu re 14.1 Louis XIV's magnificent palace at Versailles naturally included an

opera theater.
204 CHAPTER 14: The Late Seventeenth Century
set up in 1635 under Richelieu to study and cultivate the belles lettres. Its
greatest figures were the dramatists Corneille and Racine, who brought
the genre of stage tragedy from the Greek models to the present. There
follo,ved in 1648 anAcadbnie royale de peinture et de sculpture, and, under
Louis XI"V, a ,vhole series of ne,v academ ies, for dance, graphic arts, the
sciences, music, and architecture. The Academie royale de musique was
established in 1669. The purpose of these academies ,vas to establish and
maintain high intellectual and artist ic standards and a French national
style. In practice, the result ,vas partly to shape all these activities ac-
Seven Ir.en lh·unhAry cording to the court's own interests and tastes and partly to maintain an
French music ttndtd to bt intellectual, rationalistic manner in French art. As a result, seventeenth-
more.Apollonian t.l1an that
ofot.litr nations al t.lit sa,nt century French music tended to be more Apollonian than that of other
limt. nations at the same time.
France had a special tradition of court entertainment in the form of
the ballet de cour, ,vhich fulfilled the same function as the lavish court
entertainments that had given rise to the opera in Italy. The ballet of the
early seventeenth century ,vas not a stage production performed by pro-
fessionals but a participatory art form ,vith the courtiers themselves as
Ballet the dancers. Following a quasi-dramatic plan, the ballet combined dance
,vith instrumental music, spoken narrative and dialogue, airs and en-
semble singing, and all the trappings of dramatic spectacle: costumes,
sets, and machines. In several d ifferent ballets, including a spectacular
ballet of 1653, the Ballet de la nuit, the young King Louis XIV ,vas pre-
sented as the sun, the allegorical center of the universe; the nickname
"Sun King" stuck ,vith him because it seemed to reflect not only his glory
but also the ,vay in which French society radiated from the royal court
and the manner in ,vhich the nobility revolved around its center. The
ballet exerted a powerful influence on the development of opera in
France; the fact that it occupied the place that opera sought to invade led
to the inclusion of a considerable quantity of dance in French opera when
it did arise.
The Begin nings of French Opera

Not surprisingly, opera first appeared in France during the Italian Mazarin's
premiership. He brought several operas from his homeland for perfor-
mance at the French court in the 1640s. The French did not find the Ital-
ian style congenial to their taste, ho,vever, and soon attempted to produce
a national operatic style of their own.
The librettist Pierre Perrin (ca. 1620-1675) criticized the Italian
manner in his preface to the Pastorale d'Issy of 1659, ,vritten by him and
French critique of composed by Robert Cambert (ca. 1628-1677). The Italian opera was
l tallan opera too long, he claimed, its recitatives monotonous, its poetry stilted, and
the ,vords of the arias unintelligible; furthermore, the Italian castrati
(men ,vhose beautiful boy voices were preserved by surgery) "horrified
,vomen and made men snicker." Perrin ,vas granted the royal privilege to
French Opera in the Seventeenth Century 205
establish the academy for music, ,vhich meant that he held a monopoly
on opera in France.
Perrin soon lost the academy to the Florentine expatriate composer
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687). Lully had come to Paris in 1646, and
he rose rapidly to prominence through h is skills in both art and politics.
He was, in fact, perhaps the most successful schemer and manipulator Jean-Baptiste Lully
among all the major composers in the history of music. Lully's po,verful
influence largely dominated French music in the second half of the sev-
enteenth century and even beyond.
From 1653 Lully served as instrumental composer to Louis XIV. As
a member of Louis's orchestra known as the Vingt-quatre violons du roi
(the King's twenty-four strings), Lully gre,v frustrated ,vith existing per-
formance practices, including general lack of discipline and the inclina-
tion of the players to embellish their o,vn parts freely, ,vithout regard for
the ensemble. In 1656 he established the rival Petits violons (Little
strings), ,vith first sixteen and later hventy-one players. With this group Performancr standards
Lullyset ne,vstandards for discipline and ensemble. The simplicity of his
style appealed naturally to French aesthetic taste, and the hvo groups
,vere reconciled in 1664.
In the meantime Lully also served in the ballet. He ,vas a dancer
from 1653, when he danced beside Louis in the Ballet de la nuit, until
1663, and he became superintendent of music in 1661. With the comic
plaY'vright Moliere (1622-1673), Lully created comedies-ballets behveen
1663 and 1672 (Example 14.1). These productions combined the trad i- Comidir&·baJJrts
tions of the Italian pastoral operas and the French ballet de cour and laid
the ground,vork for a fully developed French type of opera. When he
bought the license for the Academie de musique from Perrin in 1672,
this position and several royal patents gave Lully practically complete Lully's authority fo mu.d e
control of musical life in France, so that his authority in music took on an took on an absolutist
characltr in its own right,
absolutist character in its o,vn right, the reflection of Louis's absolute the rtjltdfon ofLouis's
power in France. absolultpow~r fo Franu.
The culmination of Lully's musical style came in the operas that he
called tragedies lyriques, on ,vhich he collaborated with the librettist
Philippe Quinault (1635-1688). These productions, ,vhich follo,ved the Tragfdirs lyriques
classical plan of five acts, adapted classical mythological plots replete
,vith laudatory references to the great nation of France and its king. They
took from the French ballet tradition a considerable quantity of dancing,
more participation of the chorus than the Italian opera of the same
period, and lavish machinery and sets.
French Operatic St yle

The music of the solo singing in French opera tends to make the distinc-
tion behveen the recitative and the aria less obvious than in contemporary
Italian opera. The recitative does not patter along so rapidly, and in good French vocal stylos
French tradition it is carefully measured according to the requirements of
Example 14.1 In 1665 Lully and Moliere collaborated on a comedie -ballet titled
L'Amour medecin (Love, the doctor), performed at Paris and Versailles. Here, Music
sings to Comedy and Dance in praise of King Louis XIV: "From his labors, greater
than one can believe, he comes to relax sometimes among us. ls there greater
glory? Is there sweeter happiness? Let us three join with incomparable ardor to
delight the greatest king of all kings on earth." The agrement signs and changing
meters are typica l of the style.
De scs tnt • \'3 UX. plus graOOS qu'oo 1)(' ~u1 croi -re. ii sc vicnl de - las·
• . . .
:!!:
.
• ser. que-1 • que • IOis par • mi nous. E.54-il de plus '
grnn-de gJoi-re'!
. '
Est - ii bon~ eur plus
. .
- , I . ' I -
- ' - . - - +._ -
• dome:"?
'
U • nis ·sons· 1\0us
' '
10\lS ll\li.S
'
d'1.11\e at • deur ,.,., ' . ' . .
.- " ""'
. .
~
- ' '
a • • • -
~
p@ •
,,.., ' ' .
- ck 1>laite plos gr:it1d Roi detousks du de.
'" b
toill.
"'""
. '
d iction. As a result, the scores often show· flexible barring. The airs derive
their style more from the simple air de cour than from the Italian aria, and
they often employ the binary form used for dances. Although they are
more metrically regular than the recitative, they are still simple and gener-
ally syllabic.
Instrumental music in Lull ian opera had the usual functions of ac-
companying singing and articulating the dramatic action, and naturally
it also supplied dance accompan iments. An influential contribution to
the history of instrumental form ,vas the French overture, in ,vhich com-
posers found a particularly satisfactory manner of treating the opening
Overture of a large-scale musical ,vork. The overture began with a slow and stately
passage in homorhythmic style, generally featuring dotted rhy thms, fol-
Io,ved by a faster, lighter, commonly fugal section and perhaps a brief
return to the opening style at the end. FollovJing the practice of the
Vingt-quatre violons du roi, French string orchestral ,vriting is in five
parts and thus ,veightier and more imposing than Italian scoring, wh ich
English Music in the Seventeenth Century 207
typically has only four or even as few' as three parts. The French also pre-
ferred plenty of wind instruments; they had a particular liking for the
nasal double-reed sound.
ENGLI SH Music I N THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
The First Stuarts

In the first half of the seventeenth century the Stuart kings James I and
Charles I ruled in England. In the field of church music the Anglican Ser-
vices and the full and verse anthems of the Tudor period continued to
develop. The secular vocal repertoire moved from polyphonic madrigals
toward accompanied solo song. In instrumental music keyboard dances
and variations and ensemble fantasies predominated. The English court Masqu••
had a tradition somewhat comparable to the Italian court productions
and French court ballet in the masques, aristocratic entertainments W'ith
recitatives, songs, choruses, dances, and costumes, \vhich celebrated the
royal or other noble patrons for \vhom they ,vere created and ,vho some-
times performed in them. The \vriters of the words for masques included
such leading literary figures as Ben Jonson (1572-1637) andJohn Milton.
One of the great architects of the period, Inigo Jones (1573-1652), de-
signed sets, stage mach inery, and costumes. The composition of the music
\Vas generally a collaborative venture, \vith different composers contrib-
uting songs and dances. Because of the court's interest in the masque, like
that of the French court in the ballet, and because England also had a
thriving theater, masque pieces and incidental music for plays \Vere espe-
cially cultivated, and opera did not make an immediate impression.
The Co mmon,vealth
During the period of Cromwell's Common,vealth (1649-1660) the Pu-
ritan ideals of the Roundheads deeply affected the English arts, espe-
cially music. The musical influence of the flamboyant court cultures of
the European continent \Vas severely limited. Because musical establish- Puritan conservatism
ments of the Cavalier court and church \Vere disbanded, domestic music
held a significant place, and the smaller, simpler genres, such as song,
appear more prominent in the music history of the period. The theater,
\vhose morals the Puritans considered highly suspect, ,vas aggressively
suppressed. Musical concerts, however, \Vere not banned, and under that
guise plays could be given \vith a great deal of inserted music. The result
seems a bit artificial and patch,vorklike in retrospect, but such hybrids
kept English theater alive.
The Restorat ion

After the Stuart Restoration ,vith the accession of Charles II to the
throne in 1660, music was revived in both court and church. Composers
resumed the earlier English traditions of secular masques and sacred
Services and anthems, and they began to feel in earnest the influences of
Italian and French styles.
Church composers developed a Restoration style for the anthem.
The choral sound that emerged during this time has a distinctive English
character, in ,vhich concentration focuses on clear, idiomatic declama-
Sacrrdmusk tion of text in a predominantly homophonic texture. In verse anthems
the solo sections generally resemble the simpler, declamatory French
style rather than the ornate Italian manner. In this music we still occa-
sionally hear the expressive simultaneous cross-relations inherited from
the English composers of the late sixteenth century.
Henry Purcell (1659-1695), the leading English composer in the
Henr'y Purcell last part of the century, ,vas born just in time for the Restoration and
,vorked as both a royal and a church musician, holding the posts of com-
poser to the king's violin ensemble and of organist at the royal court and
at Westminster Abbey. In his short life he served three kings: Charles II,
James II, and William III.
Optra did not btcomt Opera did not become a truly native genre in England. Venus and
a truly native gtnrt
Adonis (1685) by the composer John Blo,v (1649-1708), although it was
fo England.
fully composed in music, ,vas called a masque and included court partici-
pants. Purcell's masterful short opera Dido and Aeneas (1689), written for
Musk.al theatrr a girls' school, is atypical. More representative is the "semiopera" The
Fairy Queen (1692), in ,vhich an abbreviated and adapted spoken version
of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream provides the framework
for a series of brief, unrelated masques. This certainly seems like a curi-
ous mishmash by modern standards, but the ,vork has the virtue of com-
bining the art of England's greatest plaY'vright ,vith that of one of its
finest composers. Purcell's music in these theatrical compositions sho,vs
his love of the English choral anthem, perhaps some influence of the
French in the approach to declamation in recitative, and a gift for the
Italian style of operatic solo singing. Especially note,vorthy are the arias
constructed as variations over a repeating ground bass, a type at ,vhich
Purcell ranks with the greatest of all seventeenth-century composers.
Composers in the ages of court patronage had much to do that was
temporary and practical. They produced many fine occasional pieces,
,vhich unfortunately are not suitable for our common performance situ-
Occasional musk at ions in the t\venty-first century. Such ,vorks include Purcell's odes and
welcome songs to celebrate such events as royal arrivals, ,veddings, and
birthdays. They combine solo and choral settings ,vith much fine music
but have texts that often relate closely to the specific occasions for which
they ,vere composed. We can, ho,vever, enjoy listening to excerpted
pieces from them or imagining ourselves in the role of the original audi-
ence. The odes for St. Cecilia's Day, honoring the patron saint of music,
are more practicable.
Purcell's instrumental ,vorks include keyboard and ensemble pieces.
The polyphonic fantasy or fancy for viols still had a public, and Purcell
,vas the last composer to cultivate that genre. The Italian sonata with
Italian Opera 209
basso continue was increasing in popularity, and he led his countrymen

in publishing works in that genre and style.
ITALIAN OPERA
Toward the end of the seventeenth century Italian opera developed a

sharply defined style. Its general characteristics are often associated v.rith
the southern city of Naples, although theyw·ere by no means exclusive to
composers w·orking there. The leading composer of the Neapolitan opera,
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725), came to Naples from Rome, and al-
though he did not create the style, his works represent its culmination.
The change of approach during the century is striking. Largely be- Oporaserla
cause of the efforts of the librettist Apostolo Zeno (1668-1750), the plots
w·ere tightened up, the mixture of serious and comic material w·as sorted
into separate scenes, and eventually, to raise the literary level of the
genre, the comedy disappeared, leaving the genre \Ve kno\vas opera seria.
A thinning and sorting process also took place in the music. The
standard orchestral opening number, kno\vn in Italy as sinfonia rather
than overture, usually w·as the only purely instrumental element, as
dancing declined. The sinfonia consisted of three rather independent The opera sinfonia
movements in contrasting styles and tempos, ordered fast-slo\v-fast.
Composers forsook the use of choruses almost entirely, as they also did
most ensemble singing, so that the opera became a chain of alternating
recitatives and arias.
The style ofrecitative became simpler, employing rapid, free rhythms
and limited melodic contours. Most of the recitative \Vas supported only Typos of recitative
by the basso continue, which tended to play at a slow harmonic rhythm;
this type \Vas called simple recitative (in the nineteenth century it came
to be known as secco, or" dry"). The entire string ensemble might be used
for special effects, giving the scoring kno\vn as accompagnato. Segments
of recitative in wh ich still more passion \vas to be expressed, as often oc-
curred at the end of a recitative passage, might shift into arioso style, v.rith
more melod ic interest and generally a more measured and fluid continue
motion than in the simple recitative.
The arias gre\v increasingly florid and virtuosic. As a consequence of
the rationalist commitment to maintaining the governing affect by mu-
sical means throughout a piece, each aria normally adopted a particular
affective style based on characteristic melodic-rhythmic figures. Thus a
"rage" aria might have \vide-ranging scales and arpeggios, a heroic aria
could employ trumpetlike motives, a mournful one would use chromatic
motion and "sigh ing" slurs, and so on.
By the end of the century the closed form adopted by most arias was
ternary form. This led to the full-fledged da capo aria structure. In this
plan an aria had t\vo large, contrasting parts, the second follo\ved by a
return to the first, indicated simply by the marking "da capo." The first Da capo aria form
part opened \Vith an instrumental ritornello in the main key, establishing
the aria's affective content. A section for the solo singer follow·ed, setting
out the first half of the aria's text, then departing from the opening key
and proceeding to another. In this contrasting key came a return of the
instrumental ensemble with ritornello material. Then follov.red a second
solo section that repeated the text of the first solo section, modulating
back to the main key. Finally the part closed ,vith a return to the ritor-
nello, again in the main key. The second large part, containing the second
half of the aria text, ,vas predominantly the province of the singer and
featured further key contrast. In outline, the form operated as follo,vs:
Theda capo aria achitvts Part 1 Part 2 Part 1

thtc.oordinalion of d.c.
maltrials to err.a te a
musical design that Text A Text A TextB
oprratts on stveral ltvtls Rit. 1 Solo Al Rit. 2 SoloA2 Rit. 3 Solo
simullantously. Main Ne,v Main Other
key key key key(s)
Importantly, this arrangement of the various elements achieves the coordi-

nation of textual and thematic material ,vith a harmonic plan and scoring
to create a musical design that operates on several levels simultaneously.
This became an increasingly important process through the eighteenth
century.
Free embellishment of the musical line by solo performers ,vas in-
herent in the performing trad ition of this time, especially so in the da
capo aria. Vocalists had to ornament the return of the first large part of
the piece to the limit of their skills, although ,vithin the sense of the
music and the w·ords. These singers undoubtedly possessed impressive
Vocal virtuosity technical virtuosity. The greatest of the singers ,vere the castrati, who
grew to great physical strength and imposing size and presence ,vithout
their voices changing into the usual masculine register. The castrati
often took the heroic roles in the Italian opera, to the shock or amuse-
ment of audiences from other nations. They mastered vocal technique,
but later, as they and the music that suited their voices and style went out
of fashion, their skills were no longer taught.
With the practice of improvised embellishment, we naturally find
composers and critics complaining of tasteless self-indulgence on the part
of many a prima donna and primo uomo. An amusing satirical treatise on
the subject, n teatro alla moda (The fashionable theater) by the composer
Benedetto Marcello ( 1686-1739), indicates that opera was often controlled
by the singers, their protectors, the special-effects cre,v, and the animal
trainers, rather than by the librettist and composer, ,vho, in turn, kne,v
nothing of each other's business. Addressing the composers, he wrote,
Benedetto Marcello The modern composer of music ,viii not need to have any notion of
mocks the abuses of the rules of good composition, apart from a few un iversal principles
l tallan opera
of practice... . Before putting hand to the opera, he will call upon
Gern1an Musical Genres 211
all the ladies of the company, whom he will offer to serve according
to their genius, i.e., w·ith arie senza bassi, with furlanette, w·ith riga-
doons [the forlana and rigaudon ,vere popular Italian and French
dance types, respectively), etc. all with violins, bear, and supernu-
meraries in unison....
He will serve the impresario for the smallest of pay, remember-
ing the thousands of scudi that the virtuosi cost him, and for that
reason will be content ,vith less than the lowest of these receives,
provided he is not ,verse off than the bear and the supernumeraries.
In ,valking ,vith singers, especially castrati, the composer ,vill
always place himself at their left and keep one step behind, hat in
hand....
If the modern composer should give lessons to some virtuosa
of the opera house, let him have a care to charge her to enunciate
badly, and ,vith this object to teach her a great number of d ivisions
and of graces, so that not a single ,vord will be understood, and by
this means the music will stand out better and be appreciated. 1
At its best, ho,vever, the Italian opera of the period offers glorious vocal
music based on the evocation of po,verful passions.
THE CAN TATA A N D O T H E R VO C AL C HAMBE R MUS IC
Composers continued to develop vocal chamber music in the late seven-

teenth century. The most sophisticated type ,vas the cantata. As the genre Cantatas
evolved, it tended more and more to form a series of articulated move-
ments, alternating recitatives and arias. The texts became like monodra-
mas for solo voice with basso continue, possibly obbligato instruments,
or even small orchestral ensembles. As ,ve would expect, the forms of the
arias duplicated those of the opera. Cantatas had their greatest success in
Italy, but they also ,von popularity in all the other nations of Europe.
Smaller vocal pieces also existed. Simple strophic songs or one-
movement, closed-form arias had a market especially among middle-class
amateur musicians (Figure 14.2). These pieces generally do not pretend Songs
to the status of h igh art, but there are occasional delights among them.
Lute-accompanied settings eventually yielded their place to those ,vith
basso continue. In France the air was still cultivated. England had some
fine songs from Purcell and other composers. The German burghers'
,vives and daughters sang continue-lieder and Arien that characteristi-
cally extolled moral virtues.
G E RMAN MUS I CAL G E NRES
In the second half of the seventeenth century, Germany, still recovering

from the political fragmentat ion and economic devastation of the Thirty
Years' War, ,vas more influenced by French and Italian music than
Figure 14.2 Gabriel

Metsu (1629-1667), The
Music Lesson or The
Virginal Player (ca. 1661).
Teacher and pupil here
represent the aspira-
t ions of the well-to-do
bourgeois class to mu-
sical competence and
the opportunity for
musical enjoyment
within the home.
influential on the music of those countries. The French and Italians had
never looked to Germany for musical leadership, but German composers
often imitated the styles of music developed in France and Italy, and they
traveled to those countries to learn the latest musical techniques, as w·e
have already seen in the case ofSchiitz.
Luth eran Liturgical Music

In northern Germany at this time there arose ideas and styles that ,vere
peculiar to the region. The dom inance of Lutheranism there formed an
environment for ,vhich musicians created a musical culture quite differ-
ent from those of the Catholic-dom inated regions.
The music of the Lutheran Church occupies an impressive place in
the history of the development of vocal music in seventeenth-century
Sacred concortos Germany. In addition to chorale arrangements, solo pieces, and ensem-
bles for several voices ,vith basso continuo, the sacred concerto devel-
oped into a sophisticated multimovement construction. The leading
composers of this repertoire were Dietrich Buxtehude (ca. 1637-1707),
,vho served as organist in Liibeck in the far north of Germany, and Johann
Pachelbel (1653-1706), ,vho ,vorked in central Germany and ,vas there-
fore more influenced by Italian styles, including the Venetian polychoral
trad ition. The largest of their works combined sections for full choir;
passages for one, hvo, or sometimes three solo singers; and instrumental
ensemble or basso continuo accompaniment. The repertoire of chorale
German Musical Genres 213
melodies sometimes provided thematic material, and chorales could appear

as cantus firmus (generally in the top voice) or in imitative treatment.
Keyboard Mu sic
In the field of keyboard music the German church organists, among
them Buxtehude and Pachelbel, entered their heyday in the seventeenth
century. The needs of the Lutheran service led to the cultivation of cho- n,e nttds ofthe Lutheran
rale settings for organ. To introduce congregational chorale singing they strvict. ltd lo lht.
employed the chorale prelude, a statement of the chorale melody as a cultivation ofchorale
stltings for organ.
cantus firmus, supported by independent material devised to produce an
affect in keeping ,vith the chorale text. A successful manner of handling Organ chorale settings
this type of composition ,vas to integrate the cantus firmus with the rest
of the texture by setting the main melody in relatively long notes in one
line-commonly the soprano or tenor-and introducing each of its
phrases by motives from the chorale presented in imitative texture in the
other parts. This technique is kno,vn as Vori1nitation (fore-imitation, or
pre-imitation; see Example 14.2). As already mentioned, chorales could
provide the basis for variations in the chorale partita, a type especially
cultivated by Georg Bohm ( 1661-1733) of Liineburg, ,vhere Johann Se-
bastian Bach gained some of his early experience. An elaborate fugal set-
ting of chorale-derived subjects produced the chorale fantasia or chorale
fugue. All such works based on preexisting melodies fall into the classifi-
cation ofgebunden (bound) forms.
Of course the organists also explored genres that ,vere frei (free).
Among these were the descendants of the no,v-familiar improvisatory Free organ pieces
preludes and toccatas. These often combined with fugal composition,
either by alternation of virtuosic sections ,vith more rigorous imitative
contrapuntal ones or by the pairing of separate movements in the t\vo
contrasting styles. Such pieces d id not form part of the church service,
but organists commonly played them before or after the ,vorship itself.
Organ music developed considerably in the hands-and perhaps
just as importantly the feet-of Buxtehude. Exploiting the resources of Buxtehude's style
his magnificent instrument in Liibeck, he composed remarkable pas-
sages for the organ pedals. Instead of serving principally to provide me-
lodically uninteresting, continuolike bass lines, the pedals in Buxtehude's
,vorks sometimes have flamboyant, virtuosic solos, and they can partici-
pate contrapuntally in the complete texture by taking up the same me-
lodic materials that appear in the manuals.
Mu sical Dram a
Germany's native musical drama in the years around 1700,vas the Singspiel,
a type that employed spoken dialogue and a vocal style more like that of
song than that of the elaborate aria. The princely courts mostly preferred Singspiel
to import Italian opera. As mentioned earlier, Hamburg followed Venice
Example 14.2 A chorale prelude on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her" (From
heaven on high to earth I come) by Dieterich Buxtehude. The chorale appears as
cantus firm us in the upper part, but each phrase is anticipated in Vorimitation by
t he lower three parts, which present it in diminution .
.
-
., - - -
•
.
~ 1
i r i tJr L-t!r 1
,~:rcb[ tJr r r rr i ";.rr
.....::
..
•.
-
., F I
•
E .
~ r· DU- r r·· l I '['../ ~ r I i j· 6: r ... ~
r r rr
!J8!i! . .
II
-1 ·I
' -
c,
•
- - '
I
• I•
..
r r· -v 1· ]" • r L
--
J er r i U i L- ::C ;zr- .J_ U 1
'
~
-
••
••
in opening a public opera theater in 1678. The most important composer

there w·as the music director Reinhard Keiser (1674-1739), whose stage
w·orks in both Italian and German are the best of the period.
T H E D EVELOPME NT OF I N STRU M E NTAL

F ORMS AND IDIOMS
In the course of the seventeenth century the increasing interest in in-

strumental music independent ofvocal contexts or models led musicians
lnstrumont alidioms to develop idiomatic styles associated ,vith individual instruments. The
violin family was fully developed and became the usual core of instru-
mental ensemble groupings. (In France, however, the viols continued as
The Developn1ent oflnstrun1ental Forms and Idioms 215
the favored string instruments, often preferred because of their closer

similarity to the sound of the human voice.) Players achieved a tech-
nique that allow·ed the performance of lines vastly exceeding the range,
flexibility, and speed limits of earlier melodies based on vocal ideals. In
turn the singers' techniques began to imitate those of instruments, and
in much of the vocal music of the period the tables turned so that music
for voices adopts an instrumental idiom.
The concertato ideal led to the exploitation of a ,vide variety of in-
strumental colors. Most of the orchestral instruments began to approach O rchestral forces
their modern forms, although they all continued to evolve over the next
couple of centuries. Composers freely employed recorders and flutes,
oboes and bassoons, trumpets and timpan i, as well as strings and key-
board instruments. Also available ,vere horns (still associated ,vith the
hunt), trombones (often used to support choral singing in churches), and
various other instruments, from the old viols and lute to the mandolin.
Style D evelop ments in Instrumental Music

The rise of instrumental music also required musical structures that
,vould maintain attention through a balance of un ity and contrast and
,vould have a satisfactory coherence and overall form. These goals were
reached in d ifferent ways in various genres. To generalize, ,ve can offer
several broad observations. The rationalist idea of the domination of a Rationalism and style in
movement by a single affect created a high degree of un ity ,vithin any instrumental music
movement, because the affect should be produced by concentration on

one expressive musical figure, ,vhich ,vould give focus and also provide
an insistent rhythm and melodic motive throughout the movement.
Contrast arose from the exploration of concertato scoring or by the
so-called terraced dyna1nic changes that imitated concertato effects by
juxtaposing forte and piano dynamics. Of course, musicians also used
more subtle dynamic effects in performance, although these do not yet
appear notated in scores.
A most significant and far-reaching d iscovery ,vas that musical
shape could be created by departure from and return to a main key area.
Further, these departures and returns could be articulated by melodic Key p lans
events and scoring changes. These procedures at last compensated for
the absence of the coherence provided to vocal music by a text. We now
turn to a consideration of the application of these ideas in various instru-
mental genres.
Fugu e
In the first half of the century the use of a single subject throughout an
imitative polyphonic ricercar or fantasia had already anticipated the
fugue. In instrumental fugues by the end of the century (and, by exten-
sion, in vocal ones as ,veil) composers increasingly gave their pieces' sub-
jects a progressively sharper profile in both rhythm and pitch contour
Fugue subjects than the smooth, lyrical material of the motetlike ricercar. In addition to
giving the subject a stronger musical design, this profile also lent a clearer
affect to the fugue as a w·hole. Manipulation of the subject in the course
of the piece took a variety of forms. Inversion of the pitch contour was
common. Somewhat less frequent, but not by any means rare in the later
part of the period, w·as the use of rhythmic augmentation or diminution.
With regard to the harmonic design of the fugue, one important step
w·as the normalization of the tonal answer, ,vhereby the second voice, en-
tering at the fifth scale step from the first, could be adjusted so that it
stayed within the main key rather than immediately establishing a ne,v
Tonal focus key of its o,vn. The exposition no,v served not only to introduce the sub-
ject and the various polyphonic voices but also to establish the harmonic
center for the fugue.
Once the key center was asserted, the fugue could depart from it,
Devdopment in thr fugue achieving for,vard motion and tension. The modulation might use free
material or fragmentary motives from the subject in an episode. Having
arrived on a ne,v pitch level, the fugue could attain temporary stability at
that point by a return of the subject or an entire exposition. This process
could be repeated in several stages, ultimately resum ing the key area of
the opening. Thus the fugue possesses simultaneous unity and variety, as
,veil as harmonic departure and return, comparable in its way to that of a
ritornello-form movement. At the conclusion composers learned to
increase the cadential climax by stretto, rapidly overlapping imitative en-
tries of the subject. They also reinforced the sense of harmonic stability
through the use of a pedal point.
It is impossible to overemphasize that fugue is not a form or even in
the strict sense a genre. Although the separate keyboard fugue perhaps
comes to m ind most readily ,vhen ,ve speak of fugue, the term applies
equally to ensemble music for instruments or voices. Fugue is, in fact,
simply a procedure or set of techniques that can be used in ach ieving a
Fugue is a proctdur~ or stl satisfying musical product in contrapuntal texture. The devices dis-
ofttchniquts 11,at can bt
cussed briefly here represent the most common means by wh ich compos-
ust.d in achieving a
satisfying musical product ers worked out problems of musical construction in imitative polyphonic
in cont:rapunt.al ltxturt. pieces or movements. They may be present or absent in any ,vork identi-
fied as a fugue or in many,vorks, movements, or passages that do not bear
such a designation.
Su it e
As ,ve have seen, stemming from the previous practice of pairing slo,ver
and faster dances, the suite ,vas the first multimovement genre in instru-
mental music. In German suites from about the middle of the seven-
teenth century on, the appearance of dances in the order allemande,
courante, sarabande, and gigue became normative, although by no
o,ganbationofthesuite means universal. The advantage to that sequence ,vas, of course, that it
provided contrast bet\veen adjacent movements, as ,veil as progression
The Developn1ent of Instrumental Forms and Idio1ns 217
from slow·er to faster movements. Composers might insert other move-

ments. One such movement was the prelude, w·hich was not in dance
style; it might be in the free manner of the improvisatory solo prelude or
it might imitate a French opera overture. If the suite did adopt the usual
plan, the other movements most often came after the sarabande. They
might include additional allemandes or courantes, bourrees, gavottes,
minuets, or a number of other dances.
Unity was provided over the entire span of the suite by the use of a
single key throughout. To the composers and writers on music in the period
of rationalism, the different dances, with their proper rhythmic styles,
embodied different affects. The German theorist Johann Mattheson Dancesandalfects
(1681-1764) gave a list of the affects of the dances in his Der vollko1nmene
Capell1neister (The complete music director, 1739): The affect of the
minuet w·as "moderate gaiety"; that of the gavotte, "jubilant joy"; of the
bourree, "contentedness''; of the courante, "hope"; of the sarabande,
"ambition''; and of the gigue, a variety of passions ranging from anger to
flightiness.
Of course suites could be composed for any medium. In the early
seventeenth century the solo suite for lute w·as common. As time passed,
the harpsichord began to dominate the genre. Even other solo instru-
ments, such as any of the bow·ed string instruments, could be given
suites. With the rise of French opera, the practice of excerpting dances
from stage ,vorks to make multimovement orchestral suites developed,
and before long composers began to ,vrite original suites for orchestra.
Since these usually started with an overture, the French term ouverture
,vas sometimes applied to the entire suite.
All the standard dances unfolded in binary form, a plan that had al-
ready begun to appear in the previous century. Each dance ,vas con-
structed in hvo main parts, and each part ,vas repeated. The first part Binarydan«for m
moved a,vay from the main key center and cadenced in a related but con-
trasting area. The second half began at that point and cadenced in the
opening key again. This practice is of immense significance because it
represents the beginning of the principle of tonal departure and return,
tension and relaxation that came to underlie the development of musical
form for the next hvo centuries.
France, ,vith its elaborate tradition of court dances, exerted a par-
ticularly strong influence on the structure and style of suites throughout
Europe. In France the term ordre sometimes substituted for the w·ord
suite. The ordre might incorporate not only the standard types but also The ordre
free pieces, and the scope of the genre increased to take in large numbers
of movements. The French composers were also fond of identifying their
pieces by people's names (real or fictional) or describing them by titles
indicating affective content, rather than simply by dance nomenclature.
The French school reached its climax in the keyboard ordres of
Franc;oisCouperin "le grand" (1668-1733). Thegreatestmemberofafamily
of important musicians, Couperin served both the church and the royal
court of France and authored an important treatise on keyboard playing,

I.:Art de toucher le clavecin (The art of playing the harpsichord, 1717).
Among the topics discussed in this treatise is the use and proper perfor-
mance of the embellishments, or agriments, that the French applied to
Agr,m<nts the notes of the music. They indicated these agrements by a w·ide variety
of signs written above, below, or adjacent to the notes of their other\vise
generally simple-looking melod ic lines. The question of gout, or good
taste, was a matter of great concern in regard to ornamentation, as in all
matters of French music, art, and life in general at this time. Books of
keyboard pieces frequently included tables of agrements and discussions
of their proper use (Figure 14.3).
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Figu re 14.3 Part of the table of agrements in the first book of Couperin's Pieces
de clavecin (Paris: Foucault, 1713), showing how each sign is to be interpreted in
performance.
The Development of Instrumental Forn1s and ldion1s 219
Another fine composer of suites, closely contemporary with Fran-

~ois Couperin, ,vas Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729).
Like Couperin, and indeed many musicians of the period, she came from Elisabeth.Claude Jacquet
a family of talented musicians, and she profited from an environment de la Guerre
that ,vas unusually supportive of ,vomen. A prodigy as a performer and

recognized as one of the greatest keyboardists in France, she composed
elegantly structured suite movements, including preludes in improvisa-
Jacqutl dt la Gutrre actt.d
tory style and additional dances beyond the standard four. She also com- as an ;mporlanl patron of
posed an opera (the first French woman to do so), as ,veil as cantatas and music_, liosting c.onurts
in htrliomt, tl1rougl,oul
other short vocal pieces, and sonatas. In addition, she acted as an impor-
history a vital conl'r'ibut'ion
tant patron of music, hosting concerts in her home, throughout history a of womtn lo music and
vital contribution of women to music and musical life. musical lift.
Ensemble S onata
In Italy the suite did not catch on as it did in the northern countries; in-
stead, the most important multimovement instrumental genre was the
sonata. As ,ve have noted, the genre evolved from the fragmentation of
the canzona into separate movements. The term sonata identified any
,vork in contrasting movements, usually for one or more instruments
,vith basso continuo and later for keyboard solo. The sonata presented its Musical issues for the
o,vn peculiar set of challenges and re,vards. Among these were the devel- sonata
opment ofidiomatic instrumental ,vriting, the sustaining ofpurely musi-

cal interest, the achievement of musical shape based on un ity and
contrast, and the evocation of a convincing expression.
The archetype for instrumentation in the sonata ,vas scoring for one
or t\vo violins and basso continuo, although composers had a wide vari-
ety of combinations of linear instruments available, and performers
could play the chordal parts in the basso continuo on d ifferent keyboard
or plucked string instruments. The violin's idiom offered a ,vide range Scoring
and impressive flexibility, as well as more access to chromatic harmony
than the wind instruments of the time. As we have already noted, the
most popular and effective combination ,vas the trio sonata scoring ,vith
t\vo upper parts and continuo (four players in all) because this created
textural interest through the interplay of the upper lines. A sonata for
solo melodic instrument and continuo constitutes a solo sonata (three
players).
The Italian musicians recognized two classes of sonatas, the sonata
da ca1nera, or chamber sonata, and the sonata da chiesa, or church sonata.
The terms clearly refer to t\vo originally intended uses of such pieces, and
the types differed in style accordingly.
The sonata da camera ,vas the Italian interpretation of the suite
principle-a suite in all but name. It comprised a set of dance move- Sonata da camera
ments, often including an allemanda, a corrente, a sarabanda, and a giga,
and perhaps a prelude at the beginning. The sonata da chiesa differed
from the sonata da camera in not employing dances, although in some
Sonata da chiesa cases the rhythmic idioms of the dances and their binary forms are nev-
ertheless evident in the music. Fugal writing is much more likely to turn
up in the church sonata than in the chamber sonata.
Although the sonata da camera, because of its use of dance styles,
w·as unsuitable for performance in church, the sonata da chiesa could
certainly be played in a secular setting. Thus, in both function and style,
the da camera and da chiesa types overlapped to some degree, and many
sonatas do not fall clearly into one category.
As the stylistic features of seventeenth-century music stabilized to
some degree, the outstanding composer in the genre of the sonata ,vas
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), ,vho had been trained in Bologna, then
Arcangelo Corelli the leading center for violin playing. Corelli ,vorked in Rome for some
of the great musical patrons there, including the church San Luigi dei
Francese; Queen Christina ofS,veden, for ,vhom he directed academies,
as concerts ,vere commonly called; and Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, with
,vhom Corelli formed a close personal friendship such as ,vas practically
unknown between noble patrons and composers in any era. His pub-
lished sonatas include five sets of twelve sonatas each: opp. 1 (1681) and
3 (1689) comprise trio sonatas da chiesa; opp. 2 (1685) and 4 (1694),
trio sonatas da camera; and op. 5 (1700), solo sonatas da chiesa and da
camera. Opus 5 is important because an ornamented version ofits violin
parts was published in 1711, giving evidence of the virtuoso practice of
the time. Corelli achieved a stellar reputation, and in the later eigh-
teenth century he was regarded as the first composer to belong to the
"mo dern " era.
What made Corelli 's music so effective ,vas that it established a ne,v
harmonic syntax. Analysis of his sonatas reveals that he employed a re-
markably li mited repertoire of harmon ic plans for phrases, although
Corellian harmonic ,vith equally remarkable variety in their particular elaborations. The es-
progrossions sential element is the pervasive pairing of the t\vo upper lines in coun-
terpoint of thirds and sixths, leading to cadential unisons or octaves.
These intervals are frequently obscured because of their embellishment
in a variety of ways by the application of d ifferent figures; one of these,
the chain of suspensions, seems almost a cliche in Corelli 's ,vorks.
Below the fundamentally parallel motion of the upper li nes, the con-
tinuo bass ,vorks in contrary motion. Because there is a limit to the
,vays in ,vhich this voice leading can be handled in the approach to a
cadential unison or octave, Corell i's music plays the same fe,v harmonic
patterns over and over. To be sure, his imagination saves these patterns
from growing t iresome, and the convincing counterpoint produces har-
monic cadence formulas that give the music an unprecedented sense of
for,vard direction (Example 14.3). These progressions-and it is no,v
for the first time that the ,vord progression becomes genuinely appropri-
ate to describe ho,v harmony ,vorks-seemed so strong that they ,vere
adopted as natural and inevitable by follo,ving generations. Soon they
The Development of Instrumental Fonns and Idion1s 221
Example 14.3 A typical Corellian approach to a cadence, from his sonata da

chiesa, op. 3, no. 5 (mvt. 2, mm. 13-14). The top system shows the music as Corelli
wrote it. The lower staves show reductions to a simple chain of suspensions and
to the underlying progression of descending parallel thirds, respectively.
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.
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6
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became the basis of an entire theory of harmony, but that belongs to a

later chapter.
C oncerto
In the late seventeenth century composers began to exploit the concertato
principle in adapting the ensemble sonata for performance by a larger or-
chestral ensemble, thereby producing the concerto. The German composer
Georg Muffat (1653-1704), ,vho had trained under Lully and later ab-
sorbed Corelli 's style in Italy, described in the fore,vord to his Auserlesene
Instrumental-Music (Selected instrumental music, 1701) several different
,vays of playing his concertos, depending on the availability of ensembles,
ranging from a trio (that is, three players) to a large, mixed group:
If you are lacking string players, or ,vant to try out these concertos Muffat lists multip le
,vith only a few, you can form a complete little trio, with everything options for concrrtrd
scorings
that is necessary at any time, out of the three following parts:
Violin I concertina, Violin II concerti no, and Basso continua and
Violoncello concertina.... Then it is to be observed that, besides
piano and forte, at T. (Tutti) all the players should play forcefully,
but at S. (Solo) softly and gently. . . .
If, how·ever, still more players are available, you ,viii ,vant to
add to all the aforementioned parts the three other ones, namely,
Violino primo, Violino sec undo, and Violone or Harpsichord of the
concerto grosso (or large choir), and to assign to each part, as your
numbers and good judgment dictate, either one, hvo, or three
players....
When among your musicians there are some who are able to
play and modulate the French oboe or sha,vm agreeably, you can
get the best effect by using hvo of these instead of the hvo violins,
and a good bassoon player ... to form the concerti no or little trio in
certain of these concertos.2
Muffat's instructions give us a good impression of the flexibility and
practicality that governed scoring choices in these years. More impor-
tant, Muffat describes something like a sonata in which, from time to
time, the parts are doubled, tripled, or quadrupled by additional players,
Types of concortos w·ho then drop out and return according to directions in their parts. The
small solo group, ,vhich plays throughout, is called concertino, and the
full ensemble, ,vhich reinforces certain passages, is the tutti (all) or con-
certo grosso (big concert). Other composers identify the complete group
as ripieno (full). The ,vork is then called "concerto" or "concerto grosso."
Another option is to have only a single solo player with intermittent sup-
port from the ripieno, in which case the concerto is a solo concerto. There
,vere also ripieno concertos, ,vithout soloists but exploiting various com-
binations w·ithin the full ensemble. It is important to note that the size of
the orchestra seems to range up to a dozen or perhaps, at the most, twenty
players. These concertos ,vere intended for the private homes of the
,vealthy or for use in churches or other religious institutions, not for the
large concert halls of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Naturally, a composer would ,vish to take advantage of the concer-
tato alternation of soloistic and full sound to create a logically organized
musical form. The Bolognese composer Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709)
pioneered in this. The concerto, as his ,vorks more or less standardized it,
typically had three movements, alternating fast, slo,v, and fast tempos.
For the first and third movements Torelli developed a rational, systematic
plan byw·hich the contrast of tutti and solo sections could be coordinated
Ri tornello form w·ith other elements of musical design. The ripieno played harmon ically
stable ritornello passages, and the soloist or concertino group supplied
modulatory episodes ,vith more virtuosic melodic material. The first and
last ritornellos ,vould, of course, be in the home key; the other ritornello
or ritornellos took place in contrasting keys. The structure of a simple
movement would follo,v an outline such as this:
Ritornello Ritornello Ritornello

Ripieno Solo Ripieno Solo Ripieno
Main key Contrast key Main key
The Developn1ent oflnstrun1ental Forms and Idio1ns 223
Clearly, the large-scale da capo opera aria of Alessandro Scarlatti applies Tiu aria is tsstnlJally a
the same ritornello plan to the vocal genre, making the aria essentially a concerto movtmtntfor
voice (or vice vtrsa).
concerto movement for the voice (or vice versa).
The most prolific master of the Italian concerto ,vas Antonio Vivaldi
(1678-1741) ofVenice. Vivaldi presumably learned to play the violin from Antonio Vivaldi
his father, a musician at St. Mark's Basilica. He studied for the priesthood
and was ordained, but ill health and his musical vocation kept him from
an active pastoral career. From 1704 he worked as a teacher, composer,
and music director for the Ospedale della Pieta, one of several orphanages
that Venice maintained to care for girls, including the illegitimate female
progeny of the sailors ,vho put in to port there. Here abandoned or or-
phaned girls became fine musicians, so much so that the institution
became much sought after as a music school for the training of the daugh-
ters of ,veil-to-do Venetian families. The Ospedale della Pieta fielded a
large orchestra of from hventy to hventy-five players. Vivaldi composed
many concertos for the concerts they presented. In fact, he left more than
five hundred concertos. He composed much other music, too, both church
music and operas. (He also traveled all over Europe to produce his operas,
much to the frustration of his employers at the Ospedale.) Nevertheless, it
,vas Vivaldi's concertos that made his lasting reputation.
Vivaldi built on Torell i's foundation. Although they maintained the
same structural basis, the individual movements of his concertos were
longer and more elaborately developed than those of his predecessor.
The slow movements in particular are unprecedentedly sophisticated.
Perhaps most important, ho,vever, ,vas Vivaldi's approach to the com-
position of the ritornellos. He invented material that ,vas perfectly suited
to tile tonal function demanded of it. A typical Vivaldi ritornello opens Suiting style to form
,vith a bold, memorable gesture that focuses closely on the main key. Then
that key is reiterated through some strong motivic material, and finally the
tonal center is hammered home by clearly defined Corellian cadential pat-
terns. The sharp definition of the material and tile strength of its grip on
the key allo,ved Vivaldi to abbreviate the ritornello at subsequent appear-
ances, thereby tightening the form. This principle of inventing tllematic or
motivic material for a specific purpose in relation to harmonic structure
became crucial in the eighteenth century. The employment of a variety of
melodic and figurational ideas in the same movement, rather than concen-
trating on a single affective figure throughout, led aw·ay from the rational-
ist rhetorical aesthetic and toward ne,v possibilities for musical style.
The appeal of the concerto to the taste of the time was natural. It
embodied the principle of contrast that was essential to musical thought
in the period. Its soloistic flair suited the taste for dynamic, rhetorical
expression. And it indulged the contemporary appetite for ornamenta-
tion and for virtuosic display. It also satisfied the desire for a large, ratio-
nally articulated artistic design based on both unity and contrast. As the
opera ,vas the period's vocal genre par excellence, the concerto was the
ideal instrumental genre.
1\\l'o fine books on French music and musical life in the seventeenth and
early eighteenth centuries are R. M. Isherwood, Music in the Service of the
King: France in the Seventeenth Century (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University
Press, 1973), and James R. Anthony, French Baroque Musicfrom Beaujoyeulx
to Rameau (New York: Norton, 1978).
For essays on genres and other topics in seventeenth-century English
music see Ian Spink, ed., The Seventeenth Century, vol. 3 of The Blackwell
History of Music in Britain (Oxford: Black\\l'ell, 1992). For particular
genres see Edward J. Dent, Foundations of English Opera (Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge Un iversity Press, 1928), and Christopher Dearnley,
English Church Music, 1650-1750 (London: Barrie &Jenkins, 1970). The
most comprehensive study of Purcell is Franklin B. Zimmerman, Henry
Purcell: His Life and Times, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1983). More detail on Purcell's works can be found
in Peter Holma n, Henry Purcell (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994),
and Martin Adams, Henry Purcell: The Origins and Development of His
Musical Style (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995).
For the history of Italian opera see the Suggestions for Further
Reading for Chapter 13. A biography ofAlessandro Scarlatti is Edward J.
Dent, Alessandro Scarlatti: An Introduction to His Operas (Berkeley: Uni-
versity of California Press, 1979). Marcello's II teatro al/a moda is ex-
cerpted in the original Oliver Strunk, Source Readings in Music History
(New York: Norton, 1950), but not included in the revised edition.
On church music in Germany see Friedrich Blume, Protestant Church
Music (Ne\\l' York: Norton, 1974). An excellent study of Buxtehude is
Kerala J. Snyder, Dieterich Buxtehude, Organist in Lubeck (Ne\\l' York:
Schirmer, 1987).
The follo,\l'ing books discuss the various genres and forms of instru-
mental music in the period: Alfred Mann, The Study ofFugue (New York:
Norton, 1965); William S. Ne,\l'man, The Sonata in the Baroque Era, 3rd
ed. (New York: Norton, 1972); Arthur Hutchings, The Baroque Con-
certo, 3rd ed. (London: Faber, 1973). Studies of important instrumental
composers of the era include Wilfred Mellers, Franyois Couperin and the
French Classical Tradition (London: Faber, 1987); Philippe Beaussant,
Franyois Couperin, trans. Alexandra Land (Portland, OR: Amadeus,
1990); Marc Pincherle, Corelli: His Life, His Music, trans. H. E. M.
Russell (New York: Norton, 1968); Peter Allsop, Arcangelo Corelli: New
Orpheus of Our Times (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999); Marc
Pincherle, Vivaldi: Genius of the Baroque, trans. Christopher Hatch (Ne\\l'
York: Norton, 1957); Walter Kolneder, Vivaldi, trans. B. Hopkins
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971); and H. C. Robbins
Landon, Vivaldi: Voice of the Baroque (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1996).
Suggestions for Fu rther Reading 225
I. Benedetto Marcello, from II teatro al/a moda, in Oliver Strunk, ed., Source
Readings in Music History: The Baroque Era (New York: Norton, 1965), 165-68.
2. Georg Muffat, Auserlesene mit Ernst- und Lust-gemengter Instrumental-Music
[1701], in Denkmiiler der Tonkunst in Osterreich, ed. En,rin Luntz (G raz:
Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1959), 8-22. The text was originally
published in German, Italian, Latin, and French. [Translation here by DS]
=
The Early Eighteenth Century

The opera seria came to its full maturity in the first half of the eighteenth
century. Handel created outstanding examples for English audiences. Rameau
extended the French theatrical tradition. Comedy emerged as a separate entity
in the operatic intern1ezzo and the ballad opera. Faced with dwindling
audiences for opera, Handel turned to the oratorio with great success. Bach,
meanwhile, pursued a more local career in German courts and cities, producing
culn1inating pieces in n1any genres.
T11e Late Rationalist Period Johann Sebastian Bach

BACH'S EARLY CAREER
Opera Seria-Handel and Others
THE COURT OF \VEI1'1AR
The lnter1nezzo
THE COURT OF COTHEN
Opera in France THE CITY OF LEIPZIG
Handel and the Oratorio BACH'S CULMINATION OF
STYLISTIC TRADITION
Ger111any
THE LATE RATIONALI ST P ERI OD
In the third decade of the eighteenth century there began to appear

changes in musical thought and style that supplied the roots of a ne\v era.
Yet through the middle of the century several prominent composers con-
tinued to explore the musical styles based on rationalism, and their con-
tributions rank as masterpieces of the period.
226
Opera Seria-Handel and Others 227
For the most part, these composers did not create new' genres.
Instead, they explored and expanded the types of ,vorks already estab- Culmination of
lished by the end of the seventeenth century: in vocal music the opera, rationalism in music
oratorio, sacred concerto, and cantata; in instrumental music the fugue,

suite, concerto, and sonata. They brought these genres to high levels of
sophistication, polish, and intensity. This by no means implies that they
lacked originality; each had a strong personal style that he stamped on
the no,v well-developed forms of this period, and each is clearly recog-
nizable in his music.
As ,ve have observed, the musical accomplishments of the previous
eras ripened into a mannerist stage in ,vhich composers seemed to take
such delight in the techniques of the style that techn ique became an end
in itself. It is not entirely appropriate to apply the term 1na1111erist to these
late rationalist composers, although their compositional techn ique was
often impressive in its o,vn right. Only in some of the late works of]. S.
Bach do ,ve find something like mannerism in its true sense, but there
the genuineness and profoundness of commitment to affective content
give the music a sincerity that prevents its seeming merely to revel in
technique.
OPERA SERIA-HANDEL AND O T H ER S
With the works of Alessandro Scarlatti the opera seria had reached a
stage of stylistic stability, but the genre remained extremely popular
among the European aristocracy through the eighteenth century. Italian
composers continued to ,vrite in this style, of course, and they and others
spread it to centers outside Italy.
Among these composers the best kno,vn today is George Frideric
Handel (1685-1759). Unlike most musicians of that time, Handel did
not come from a particularly musical fam ily, but his talent and desire led
him a,vay from the professional career that his father had hoped he ,vould
follow. As a youth he abandoned his university studies and ,vent to
Hamburg, ,vhere he learned about opera under Reinhard Keiser and
began to compose his own operas. At the age of hventy-one he traveled Handel in Italy
to Italy, as ,vas only natural for a budding young opera composer, to
absorb the Italian style firsthand. There he met Corelli and soaked up the
influence of Alessandro Scarlatti, polishing his style not only in opera
but also in sacred music, secular cantatas, and instrumental genres. He
also succeeded in getting operas of his o,vn composition produced in
some of the major Italian theaters.
By 1710 Handel had established a considerable reputation and ac-
cepted the offer of the position of music director at the elector's court in
Hanover. He immediately got permission to spend the 1710-1711 opera
season in London, ,vhere, there being no strong national operatic trad i-
tion, Italian opera seria ,vas a lively fad. He had tremendous success,
making a great impression on the English, as London in turn did on him.
228 CHAPTER 15: The Early Eighteenth Century
Handel's move to London After resuming his place in Hanover for a year, he obtained a second
leave of absence and returned to England, w·here he stayed for the rest of
his career. In 1714 Queen Anne of England died and the elector of
Hanover succeeded to the English throne as George I, so Handel was
once again the subject of his former patron.
The German composer continued for a number of years to have a
fine career in offering Italian opera to English audiences. His output in
Handd 's operas the genre totals forty operas. The greatest of these and the one most
likely to be heard today is Giulio Cesare (1724), a loosely historical treat-
ment of the story of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. From 1720 to 1728
these w·orks '"ere produced under the patronage of the king himself,
through the Royal Academy of Music, an institution \\l'ith a name obvi-
ously adapted from that of the opera in Paris.
Handel's operas sho\\l' both mastery of the conventions of the Italian
Handd's arias opera seria and imaginative handling of those conventions. Many of the
arias are fine representatives of the standard da capo structure; some
modify the form in original \\l'ays, ho,\l'ever, varying the predictable struc-
tures. Sometimes the motivation for these variants seems to be simply the
elimination of excessive repetitions, but they are also often responses to
specific dramatic situations.
The music in Handel's arias demonstrates the effectiveness of the
affective aesthetic. Each aria portrays the character's passion sharply, by
Each Handtl aria porl'rays all the rhetorical devices available to the style. Tempo and rhythmic
lht.characltr's paufon style, melodic activity, harmony, and the choice of scoring all come into
sharply, byall lht
rhttorical dtvius available play. The aria thus serves to make clear to the audience the precise feel-
to lhtstylt. ing of the character at a particular moment in the opera's action.
After a decade and a half, however, the English audience began to
find the opera seria distant and artificial. Because of the gro,\l'ing eco-
nomic and cultural force of the English merchant class in urban settings,
the theater became a locus of social d istinctions bet\veen the nobility,
,vith its old-fashioned, Continental manners, and the burgeoning bour-
Reaction against geoisie. In the opera seria the language was foreign, the mythological and
operaseria classical plots ,vere not as fam iliar to the increasingly nonaristocratic
musical public, and the unnaturalness of the castrato voice encountered
the same objections from the English that the French had raised several
decades earlier. The great satirist Joseph Addison had already attacked
the Italian opera style in 1711 in the famous journal Spectator, when
Handel first went to England. He found the elaborate stagings ridiculous
and the librettos contrived and circumlocutory.
In 1728 the Royal Academy of Music failed as a result of poor man-
agement of both financial and personnel matters. At that moment there
also happened to be available an alternative form of entertainment to
,vhich the audiences flocked: The Beggar's Opera, concocted by the Eng-
lish dramatist John Gay (1685-1732) and the German composer and
theorist Johann Christoph Pepusch (1667-1752), ,vho spent most of his
Ballad oprra career in England. It was the first of the new genre ballad opera, wh ich
Opera Seria-Handel and Others 229
combined spoken dialogue with simple songs accompan ied by basso

continuo. Ballad opera offered a variety of appeals to London's urban
class: the plots, often featuring political satire, and characters were taken
from contemporary life; the words ,vere in the vernacular; the music was
simple and the tunes catchy; and, of course, it did not use castrati. Much
of the music ,vas actually borro,ved or parodied from existing popular
songs (Example 15.1).
Handel could hardly give up his o,vn style to ,vrite simple ballad
opera tunes. Between 1729 and 1734 he and a partner collaborated in
running a Ne,v Royal Academy, but this also failed. For three more years
he continued to pursue success in the field of opera. Now, however, the
remaining operagoing public ,vas d ivided between Handel's theater and
a rival company, the Opera of the Nobility, ,vhich featured the Italian
composer Nicola Porpora (1686-1768). Handel composed a few· more Declincofthefadfor
operas, but it was clear that the aristocratic enthusiasts for Italian opera Italian opera
in England were no longer so ardent, and their willingness and ability to
support it were waning. The competition eventually drove both compa-
nies to the verge of bankruptcy. Porpora sa,v ,vhich ,vay the ,vind was
blowing and fled back to greener pastures in Italy. Handel, ho,vever, was
by this time a naturalized citizen and felt England to be his true home.
The opera in Hamburg, ,vhich had thrived at the turn of the century,
had originally featured opera in German, ,vhether ne,vly composed in
that language or translated. Over the first decades of the eighteenth cen- Opera in Germany
tury it became more and more ltalianized, and in some operas arias sung
in Italian intermingled with pieces in German. At the same time, comic
German characters were inserted into serious operas to lend popular
appeal. The result ,vas a mixture of incompatible styles that could please
no one for long. The popularity of the opera there declined, and since the
opera ,vas a commercial venture rather than one sustained by the private
patronage of a prince, the enterprise ,vent bankrupt and closed in 1738
after sixty years of activity.
One of the centers of opera in Germany was Dresden. Porpora spent
some time there after the debacle in London, although he worked mostly
Example 15.1 In this air from The Beggar's Opera the highwayman Macheath is
confronted by Lucy and Polly, each of whom believes that she is married to him.
The tune here was parodied from a popular song, "Have you heard of a frolick-
some Ditty."
Mncheath
-¥~ 1J lr r r r J J 1JJ JrJr 1r r r r 0: 1

! low h:1p • P)' ct,uld I be wilh ct • lh<:r, Wei'\' t'o • thcr de:1r Cli:.r • mcr a • W:t)'! Hui-
II
while yoo 1hus tcaz,e me 1-0 • b'¢ - 1he1. To nd • I.her a Word wi.11 I $3)'.
in Italy. Among the most admired opera seria composers in Italy and
Germany in the eighteenth centurywasJohannAdolfHasse (1699-1783), who,
like Handel, left Germany for Italy to study in his formative years. He
served as music director to the elector ofSaxony in Dresden behveen 1730
and 1763 (with some extended periods in Italy during those years) and thus
became to Germany rather like Handel was to England. His work is closely
associated with that of the most prominent opera librettist of the time, the
Vienna court poet Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782), who achieved a kind of
final polishing of the conventions of opera seria dramaturgy.
The Metastasian opera libretto extolled rationalism and the absolut-
Metastaslan librettos ist political system in a highly stylized dramatic structure. Dialogue
took place in simple recitative, leading to a character's expression in an
aria of his or her affect of the moment. Characters ,vere allotted numbers
of arias according to carefully developed schemes of theatrical hierarchy,
Tht tmpl,asis on solo
and typically each aria was placed so that the character could immedi-
arias ralhtr than
foleractfon bttwt.en ately make an effective exit. Such conventions seemed stiff and artificial
characters in tn.stmblts to later, more naturalistic critics; yet each convention had its basis in
arose inevitably from tht
reason, and the emphasis on solo arias rather than interaction behveen
atst.l1tlic in which
rhetorical txprtssion was
characters in ensembles arose inevitably from the aesthetic in ,vhich rhe-
I-lit modti for music. torical expression ,vas the model for music.
It is important to understand that in this period the opera was as
Oprra as performance much the performance and the event as the score. Librettists and com-
event posers commonly ,vrote ne,v material for each ne,v production of an
opera, supplying ne,v arias to suit the character interpretations of ne,v
actors or revisions to the story. The more modern idea of the opera as a
fixed ",vork" of art did not apply here, so any opera m ight have appeared
in shifting forms . The goal ,vould not be to render the opera "correctly"
but to stage and perform it effectively.
The opera on the Continent remained the property of the aristoc-
racy, so Hasse ,vas never confronted ,vith the sort of crisis that Handel
experienced in London. At the end of his life Hasse went to the brilliant
court of Vienna, ,vhere a ne,v era in the history of musical style ,vould
soon reach its climax.
THE INTE RME ZZO
As already noted, under the influence of the librettist Apostolo Zeno the
Italians had dropped comic episodes from their operas at about the turn of
Comedy as intrrmission the century. In the first part of the eighteenth century, comic relief,vas pro-
piece vided by entirely separate works performed behveen the acts of the opera
seria. Such a comic musical entertainment ,vas called an intennezzo.
The standard opera seria had three acts; as a result, the intermezzi usu-
ally had hvo. Their plots were simple, set in the present day, and often slap-
Action and music stick. The characters and action derived from the stock comic situations
in the intrrmtuo used in co1n1nedia dell'arte, a popular Italian street theater genre that had
thrived in the sixteenth century. Usually the story revolves around a clever
Opera in France 231
young \\l'Oman '"ho gets the better of a dominating but often bumbling old
man. The literary style of the texts was deliberately unsophisticated. The
music of the intermezzi included simple recitatives, da capo arias, and en-
sembles for the solo singers. The solo parts \\l'ere in true Italian operatic
style, not at all like the songs of the English ballad opera; they could demand
skillful singers. A distinctive feature of the intermezzo \\l'as the employment
of the bass voice; basses d id not generally appear in opera seria. (The taste of
the time found the idea of a bass singing music in the Italian operatic idiom
inherently ludicrous.) Accompaniment for the intermezzo was provided by
a reduced orchestra in a simpler style than in opera seria.
Intermezzi \\l'ere sometimes concocted by pasticcio (patchwork)
from several existing works, and many are anonymous. It \\l'as not
unusual for fine composers to write these comic dramas themselves,
ho,\l'ever; Hasse, for example, made a contribution to the genre. The most La strva padrona
famous and historically important intermezzo is La serva padrona (The
maid mistress, 1733) by Giovann i Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736). W ith
just two singing characters (and one mute actor), La serva padrona pro-
vides a small but excellently crafted representative of the genre's main
characteristics.
OPE R A I N F RANCE
It is impossible to exaggerate the length of the shadow cast by the colossal

figure of Lully over French opera through the first half of the eighteenth
century. Evidence of this influence can be found in the operatic career of the
French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764). Rameau began as a Jean-Philipp• Rameau
composer of keyboard pieces in the tradition of Couperin and established
himself as a theorist \\l'ith his important Traite de l'harmonie (Treatise on
harmony, 1722). His real ambition \\l'aS to succeed in the field of opera, but
he \\l'aS at first unable to make any headway. He '"as severely handicapped by
his reputation as a theorist because the public \\l'as deeply suspicious of
music that might be academic and dull. Moreover, in Paris one needed in-
fluential friends in high places to get ahead. When Rameau \\l'as nearly fifty,
he finally received the support of the greatest musical patron in France, the
fabulously \\l'ealthy and powerful Alexandre-Jean-Joseph Le Riche de la
Poupliniere. As La Poupliniere's household music master and composer,
Rameau gained the opportunity to produce his first opera, Hippolyte et
Aricie, in 1733. This opera was follo,\l'ed by the tremendously successful
exotic opera-ballet Les Indes galantes (The elegant Indies) t\\l'O years later,
securing his position. Rameau continued to compose operas, operas-ballets,
and later comedies-ballets, raising the operatic genres to a ne,\I' level ofquality
unmatched by his immediate predecessors.
Rameau had his detractors, ho,\l'ever, '"ho launched against him one
of the greatest polemical attacks in the history of music. They held up French operatic debates
Lully, now dead fifty years, as the standard for French opera and became
known as Lullistes. They claimed that Rameau's works \\l'ere dense in
texture and academically abstruse. Rameau and his supporters, the

Ramistes, insisted that his music mainta ined rather than deserted the
ideals of Lully. From a t\venty-first-century perspective his ,vriting cer-
tainly sounds like it continues the Lullian tradition ,vith considerable
grace and richness and with the addition of the progressive harmonic
syntax of the post-Corellian era. Ironically, in a later operatic argument,
,vhen the conservative French felt their national style threatened from
the outside, Rameau became the hero of the great French trad ition.
HAN D E L A N D THE ORATORIO
Once it became clear to Handel that he could no longer expect to continue

his career primarily as a composer of Italian operas, he turned his attention
Handel '.s sacrrd musk to a ne,v field ,vith greater promise, the oratorio. Before coming to England,
Handel had written Latin church music, both sacred and secular cantatas in
Italian, oratorios in Italian and German, and even a fe,v German sacred
concertos (no,v lost). During his first t\vo decades in England he ,vrote oc-
casional English anthems in the style of his adopted country. Thus he ,vas
,veil equipped to undertake a major turn in his oeuvre to,vard the oratorio.
Oratorios appealed strongly to the tastes of the rising English bourgeois
The appeal of the oratorio audience. They did not have the artificialities of the opera, especially the use
of castrati and the complicated sets and stage machinery. They ,vere ,vritten
in the vernacular, and the subjects, instead of coming from ancient Greece
and Rome, ,vere taken from the Bible, a source intimately familiar to the
English public. They had over opera the further advantage that they featured
the chorus, dra,ving on the already popular English choral tradition.
Handel's o ratorio .storir& Handel's oratorios usually take their stories from the dramatic narra-
tives of the Old Testament, including the heroic story ofEsther (originally
a masque, revised as an oratorio in 1732), the captivatingly human charac-
ters ofKingSaul and David (Saul, 1739), the epic saga of the Exodus (Israel
in Egypt, 1739), the tragedy of Samson (1741), the excitement of Israel's
battles for independence (Judas Maccabeus, 1746), the judgment and glory
of Solomon (1749), and the moving tale of Jephtha (perf. 1752), already
used by Carissimi. The best kno,vn of Handel's oratorios, Messiah (1742),
is atypical in that it has no dramatic plot line as such. There ,vere nonbibli-
cal topics, as ,veil, such as Semele (1744) and Hercules (1745).
In some ,vays the oratorios resemble the opera seria. They adopt the
three-act plan of the opera, and they use solo recitat ives for dialogue
Deployment of forces in and arias for the great affective expressions of ind ividual persons. Their
the oratorio overtures typically employ the format of the French overture, ,vith its
slo,v and stately opening follo,ved by a faster, fugal second part. The
participation of the chorus is the hallmark of the English oratorio, ho,v-
ever, and the chorus is used much more than in the contemporary Ital-
The partfripalion oft ht ian oratorio. Handel modeled his oratorio choruses on the magnificent
choru.s fs lht. hallmark of
English choral anthem style. The choruses provide affective commen-
the English oratorio.
tary (Example 15.2), participate in the action as masses of people such
Handel and the Oratorio 233
as arm ies, and even offer narration. In the use of madrigalistic pictorial-
ism, the chorus can set the scene ,vith a v ividness that compensates for
the absence of staging and actual scenery.
The performers ,vere draw·n from hvo main sources. The solo singers Oratorio singeu
came from the theatrical and opera stages. Castrati did not normally
appear in the English oratorio (some of the male roles were handled by
Example 15.2 In the third part of Handel's oratorio Solomon the king and his
musicians entertain the Queen of Sheba with a sort of masque illustrating differ-
ent passions. Here the chorus evokes sadness.
• •
...
" .-
v
" .- -
v
- ·- . .
• Or.lw 1?e ti:':lr fn'lm 11(,pe . lt!l;~
•
-- . . .
• • I I I I I
'!;'
Or.·, w ,h, te2r f,mn h<lp.' . lt!l;!: k>v~. from h(l1>e . . . ....
- ..
" . . '
... .. ' I
.. .d J Lr-J J~ ll I d .<>.
0 0
'• •
..,
•
•
- Drnw
•
lh, k a.r from
.,.
I
hope
.
. k~
I
k"'t'.
.
I
from
. -.,. .,
•
----
~
. . . . .
-- ~
ks,
lo~-c. from
.
""" k>w.
"""' k>w.
k!S dr.,w
•
. '"'"' o - ' ~
. ' ' ' '
lo~-c. from . t.car from bopc .
""" "" k>w.
'"'
dr.,w
.
o..w
' _, '""
-
~
. I
' } J,
.. •• I )
'
'J ;J ; IJ j '
'
•
I I
(continued)
Example 15.2 (continued)
• . __,,__ .
~
A I
- .
A •
Drnw th< tear from hope . less IO\'C,
. . .
~ I I . .
. . . .
A •
hop,
""- IO\'¢, from hope less love.
. . . .
~ __..,
1Jt.e tear from hope . . . lo"e,
A ' ,.--,
. '"'
ll less love, draw
' '
the 1e:1r fr()lll !,ope . ,....
.. . . . '
~
' r ' ' I I
tear from hope . from hope . . . Jo,•e, draw

'"" .. "'"
IO\'¢,
9A ' • I
..
,J
~ ~ I
. ' I
'
.
'
.. . . .
. . . ~· l
' '
\\l'Omen, ho,\l'ever), and basses took serious leading roles. Excellent choruses
could be dra\\l'n from the English church choirs; the choir for the first per-
formance of Messiah combined the choirs of h\l'O Dublin churches.
Intermezzi could not, of course, provide variety beh\l'een the acts of
Organ conc~rtos the oratorios. Handel found an interesting parallel, however. He him-
as intrrmission self performed as soloist in concertos for the organ and orchestra, a
entertainment
genre that he pioneered. In his last years, after he became blind, he
simply improvised the solo sections.
GERMANY
Although the many German courts of the eighteenth century largely re-
sembled those of Italy-with private instrumental ensembles, church
music, and operas-another musical world also existed. This \\l'as the
civic music program, operating in the cities and tO\\l'nS that \\l'ere not the
The job of Kantor domains of dukes, princes, and electors. Such cities employed to,\l'n
musicians for various functions, including grand ceremonial occasions;
often took the responsibility for music in the city churches; and governed
schools in wh ich music was taught. To take charge of the management of
these programs, the municipal authorities employed a Kantor. Many fine
composers, directors, and teachers found employment under this kind of
public patronage. Probably the most prom inent and successful of them
all \\l'aS Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767).
Georg Philipp Telemann As a young man, Telemann \\Tent to the city of Leipzig to study la,\I'. He
soon became a prominent musical figure in the city, starting a collegium
Germany 235
Figure 15.1 A collegium musicum, sometimes associated w ith the city's univer-
sity, provided a forum for the performance of seventeenth - and eighteenth-
century secular concert music in many German towns. Today many universities
have early music ensembles known as "collegium musicum."
musicum for his fellow students (Figure 15.1), later taking on the director-
ship of Leipzig's opera house, and serving as a church organist. His promi-
nence understandably rankled the Kantor there, Johann Kuhnau
(1660-1722). After Telemann left Leipzig, he held h\l'O court positions, in
Sorau and Eisenach. From 1712 he \\l'Orked as director of music for the city
of Frankfurt, and in 1721 he accepted a similar position at the great city of
Hamburg, arguably the most prestigious such post in Germany. When
Kuhnau died in 1722, the Leipzig city fathers eagerly recruited Telemann,
and although he \\l'aS not free to take the job, he succeeded in using the
offer as a bargaining chip to enhance his role in Hamburg. He added the
directorship of the Hamburg Opera to his \\l'Orkload from 1722 until it
closed in 1738.
Telemann's works include a few operas, but the strongest impres-
sion one gets from an overview of his output is the sense of the immense
demand on the Kantor for practical music. In meeting his church obli-
gations he produced more than a thousand sacred cantatas, a substan-
tial number of oratorios, and other sacred music. For various occasions
and general use there are choral and solo vocal pieces. Telemann's in-
strumental music includes French-style orchestral overtures, concer-
tos, sonatas, and keyboard pieces. In all this music the style leans a,\l'ay
from intense affectiveness and contrapuntal complexity, concentrating
on directness, simplicity, and transparency. This not only explains ho,\I'
Telemann succeeded in generating such a vast quantity of music but
also reflects his sensitivity to a change in musical taste that anticipated
the rise of a ne," aesthetic.
JOH ANN SEB ASTIA N BACH
The composer in w'hose work the art and techn ique of the music of ratio-
nalism and the affective aesthetic attained its consummation W'aS Johann
Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Bach worked within locally constrained
conditions, at a time W'hen many other composers w'ere already turning
to new ideas and styles.
Like that of all composers in the periods in W'hich the patronage
system operated, Bach's music ,vas inextricably bound to the practical
Bach's historical position situations in wh ich he worked. Thus we can understand some aspects of
his creativity in terms of his biography. At the same time, however, Bach
seems to have felt a special vocation to produce the most thoroughly de-
veloped ,vorks possible in nearly every genre (except opera) of the era of
,vhich he would see the end. For that reason he stands out among even
the fine composers ,vith ,vhom he ,vas contemporary.
Bach 's Early Career
Bach came from a family that produced many musicians-so many, in fact,
that in the part of Germany W'here his family lived and ,vorked the name
"Bach'' and the profession "musician'' became almost synonymous-and
Tho Bach family to a large extent his career follo,ved a rather routine trajectory. He ,vas the
son of a town musician in the small town ofEisenach. Both of his parents
had died by the time he ,vas ten, and he lived for the next five years ,vith
his brother, an organist in the tow'n of Ohrdruf. At fifteen he ,vent to
Li.ineburg, where he sang in the choir of the Michaeliskirche (Church of
St. Michael) in return for a free education at the school attached to that
church. In Li.ineburg the young Bach must have taken advantage of Georg
Bohm's presence to learn the best of the great German organ tradition. He
also traveled to Hamburg to hear another important organist, Johann
Adam Reincken (1643-1722; Figure 15.2).
Bach's first positions At eighteen Bach began his professional career as a musician. After a
fe,v months as a minor court musician in Weimar, he found a church or-
ganist's position in the to,vn of Arnstadt. In 1704 he took a leave of ab-
sence to go to Lubeck to hear Buxtehude's music, staying three times as
long as he had permission to. The situation in Arnstadt was unhappy in
various ,vays, and in 1707 he left for a similar job at Mi.ihlhausen.
The music that Bach ,vrote during these first years consists, as ,ve
,vould expect, mostly of organ pieces for his o,vn use, and he ,vas recog-
Bach's early music nized throughout his career as a brilliant organ virtuoso. He experi-
mented ,vith the gebunden genre of organ pieces based on chorale
melodies, and his skill as a player is abundantly evident from his free
pieces such as toccatas and preludes. He was also competent in fugal
,vriting, although the fugues of this period seem some,vhat loose com-
pared to those he crafted later in his life. At Mi.ihlhausen Bach also had
occasion to ,vrite sacred concertos (or, as they are more commonly but
less accurately known, "cantatas") for special liturgical occasions. These
Johann Sebastian Bach 237
Fig u re 15.2 The organ bu ilt by t he g reat builder Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753),
a close contemporary of Bach, for the Johanniskirche in Zittau. The instrument was
built in 1738-1741 but lasted o nly a few years, becoming a casualty of the Seven
Years' War between Austria and Prussia in 1757. This engraving by Johann Daniel de
Montaleg re shows that the organ had three manuals (as well as pedals, which one
cannot see in the picture). It had forty-four stops, operated by the stop knobs at the
sides of the manuals. The design of t he case, surmounted by sculptured angels and
musical instruments, represents the ornamental style of the period.
w·orks sho,v that he already had a well-developed style in choral and solo
vocal writing.
The Court ofWeimar

In 1708 Bach progressed to a new· style of musical life, taking an appoint-
ment at the court of the duke in Weimar. H is main duties ,vere aga in as
organist, and he must have played chamber music as w·ell. In 1714 he was Bachas court musician
promoted to the position of Konzertmeister, which gave him the
authority over (and responsibility for) instrumental performances at the

court. Italian sonatas and concertos became available to the Weimar
court orchestra, and Bach copied and transcribed w·orks of Vivaldi, in
the process becoming familiar \Vith the latest Italian instrumental style.
He soon began to \Vrite original \vorks in the Italian manner, including
trio sonatas for the two manuals and pedals of the organ. At Weimar
Bach also \vrote a number of cantatas.
Although in general Bach's music was practical and intended to sat-
isfy the immediate needs of his job, he launched a project in Weimar that
shows another side ofhis musical personality. Th is \Vas the Orgel-Buchlein,
a collection of chorale arrangements for the organ, based on a systematic
A little book for the organ organization coordinated to the liturgical calendar. These settings were
intended to incorporate affective interpretation of the chorales' content
in their figuration, together with the most polished contrapuntal tech-
nique. Of the projected 164 pieces in the set, Bach completed only 46.
Although unfinished, the Orgel-Buchlein constitutes the first of numerous
systematic compilations of pieces Bach made that embody the essence of
particular styles and genres.
The Court of Coth en

Bach left the service of the duke of Weimar in 1717 for the court of the
very musical prince at Cothen. Here Bach served for six years as Kapell-
meister and, because Prince Leopold was a Calvinist, his duties ,vere in
Duties at COthen the secular rather than the sacred sphere. In the realm of vocal music
Bach composed occasional secular cantatas at Cothen but not works for
the church. He ,vrote a good deal of his chamber and orchestral music
during this time, including concertos (he assembled the ,veil-known col-
lection of six Brandenburg Concertos to represent h is ,vork in th is area
,vhen he ,vas seeking to move again) and at least hvo of his orchestral
suites (Ouverti.iren) in the French style.
From the Co then years there is also a considerable quantity of key-
board music. H is eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784),
,vas old enough to begin to study music, and Johann Sebastian put to-
gether a graded series of pieces that would teach both musical principles
Teaching pieces and performance technique. His Clavier-Buchlein (Little keyboard book,
1720) for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach includes little dance pieces, early
versions of the inventions and sinfonias, and some of the preludes and
fugues that \Vere incorporated into the first book of the Well-Tempered
Clavier in 1722. Later came a similar collection of easy pieces, the Anna
Magdalena Bach Notebook, named for Bach's second wife.
In these didact ic collections, which still provide music for study by
beginning keyboard students today, Bach took the opportunity to create
In his didactic colltclfons
systematically arranged anthologies of model pieces. The inventions and
Bach crr.a ttd systtmalfoally
arrangtd anthologits sinfonias are organized according to all the usually practicable keys in
ofmodtl pfrus. the unequal temperaments of the time (those with no more than four
sharps or flats), from C major up the scale to B m inor. When he came to

the preludes and fugues, Bach adopted the still-ne,v idea of a tuning that
w·ould accommodate all keys ('\veil-tempered'' tuning) and wrote one
pairing in each of the twenty-four major and minor keys of the chromatic
scale. Each piece has a unique affective character and compositional
style, and at the same time the pieces are arranged in an abstract pattern
to form a clearly planned ,vhole.
The City of Leip zig

In 1723, after the city fathers of Leipzig failed in their efforts to recruit as
Kantor either Telemann or several of their other choices, they settled on
Johann Sebastian Bach. His Cothen prince's interest in music had ,vaned,
so Bach accepted the Leipzig position, ,vhich he retained until his death.
His responsibilities there ,vere numerous and varied. He ,vas associated Bach moves to Leipzig
,vith the St. Thomas Church and School, where he taught Latin as well as
music, and he supervised the music for four churches and special music
for civic occasions (Figure 15.3).
The church music in Leipzig was a complicated affair. At the smallest
church a unison choir of boys led the service. At the next larger church a
four-part choir sang simple settings ofchorales. At the hvo largest churches Church music in Leipzig
t
"
•
Figure 15.3 The St. Thomas Church and School where Bach worked for much of
his career were the subject of this pencil drawing by the nineteenth-century com·
poser Felix Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn helped launch the revival of Bach's music,
and he led the campaign to construct the Bach monument, also shown here.
there ,vere either elaborate polyphonic motets or full-scale concerted can-

tatas, s,vitching back and forth behveen the hvo churches on alternate
Sundays. Thus Bach had to produce a cantata every,veek. His immediate
concern ,vas to compose a repertoire of these cantatas to update the choir
Two hundrr.d sacrtd library. He did this fairly regularly over the first years of his tenure in
can tat.as by Bach have
Leipzig, turning out several complete cycles for the entire liturgical year.
survivtd.
He completed hvo of these cycles in 1723-1724 and 1724-1725, another
from 1725 to 1727, a fourth in 1728-1729, and a final one over several
years beginning in 1729. T,vo hundred cantatas have survived, but a
number have been lost.
The musical force for the cantatas included solo singers, a small choir,
lhe forc,~s for Bach's and orchestra. Bach pleaded ,vith the authorities for three singers on each
sacred cantatas of the four parts (although at times, at least, he may have had only one per
part), and he intended generally from one to three players on each or-
chestral instrument, giving a choir of twelve and an orchestra of around
hventy. The instrumentalists came partly from the school and partly
from the city band. The copying of vocal and instrumental parts in itself
generated a constant need for skilled musical labor, and the Bach family-
,vife and children-pitched in, as well as Bach's music students.
The typical plan for a cantata included six movements: an opening
chorus, a solo recitative, and an aria or a duet, all sung before the sermon;
then another recitative, another aria or duet, and a chorale in the second
Design of the cantatas half of the service. Other movements m ight be added. The first movement
is sometimes an elaborate arrangement of a chorale (often the same cho-
rale that concludes the cantata) in concerted style. The poetry for the free
or "madrigalistic" movements and recitatives of the cantatas (i.e., those
not based on the chorales) ,vas by contemporary poets; hvo of the most
important ,vere the Leipzig authors Erdmann Neumeister (1671-1756)
and Christian Friedrich Henrici (1700-1764), ,vho wrote under the
pseudonym Picander.
In addition to cantatas, Bach's sacred vocal music includes motets
based on either biblical or chorale texts, Latin Mass settings (still used in
some German Lutheran churches at that time), and oratorios. The
so-called Christmas and Easter oratorios ,vere constructed from canta-
tas and are not in the usual dramatic vein of oratorios.
Bach's greatest oratorios are the Passion oratorios based on the
Gospel narratives ofJohn (1724) and Matthe,v (1727). We should think
of them as belonging to Good Friday in the liturgical cycles ,vith the
The Passions Sunday cantatas. They combine the scriptural texts with chorales and
free, meditative arias, duets, and choruses. Bach adapted the free texts for
the St. John Passion from the poetry ofB. H. Brockes (1680-1747), ,vhich
Handel also set; those for the St. Matthew Passion came from Picander.
The narration is taken by a tenor in the role of the evangelist or Gospel
author, and it and the dialogue are sung in recitative. The chorus is used
for crowd scenes (turba) and the disciples, as ,veil as for reflective chorales
and madrigalistic choruses. The solo singers also provide comment and
reflection in arias and duets. The musicians for the St. Matthew Passion
include tw·o separate choirs and orchestras, as ,veil as solo singers.
In 1729 Bach added to his busy schedule the directorship of the col-
legium music um that Telemann had founded. This allo,ved him to turn Secular music
again to secular orchestral and chamber music. He used works from
Cothen, but he also composed ne,v pieces, including t\vo more orchestral
suites, concertos for the harpsichord, and sonatas. He led the collegium
musicum until 1737.
Bach 's Culmi nat ion of Stylistic Tradition

By about 1730 Bach must have seen clearly that the aesthetic and style
embodied in his music ,vere soon to be replaced by a ne,v kind of musical
thought. In 1737 one of Bach's former students, Johann Adolph Scheibe,
voiced ,vhat many other listeners might have thought about Bach's
music. He began by recognizing Bach's skill as an organist:
He is an extraordinary artist on the harpsichord and on the Scheibe comments on
organ.... H is facility is astonishing, and one can hardly understand Bach and his music
ho,v it is possible that he can make his fingers and h is feet cross
each other, extend, and manage the ,videst leaps so singularly and
nimbly, ,vithout mixing in a single ,vrong note or contorting his
body by any such vigorous movement.
But Scheibe then continued by criticizing Bach's music as too complex
and too contrapuntal. He objected in particular to its density in both
melodic style and texture, ,vhich he found incompatible ,vith the modern
,vish for a "natural" style:
This great man ,vould be the wonder of entire nations, ifhe had
more charm, and ifhe did not detract from the natural in his pieces
by a bombastic and muddled style, and obscure their beauty by
excessive artifice. Because he judges according to his fingers, his
pieces are extremely difficult to play; for he requires that the singers
and instrumentalists do ,vith their throats and instruments what-
ever he can play on the keyboard. This, ho,vever, is impossible. All
the ornaments, all the little embellishments, and everything that is
considered as belonging to performance style, he expresses ,vith
actual notes; and this not only takes a,vay from h is pieces the
beauty of the harmony, but also makes the melody thoroughly un-
intelligible. All the voices must work ,vith each other, and with the
same difficulty, and one cannot distinguish any principal voice
among them. In short, he is in music what Herr von Lohenstein
[the German ,vriter Daniel Casper von Lohenstein (1635-1683),
,vhose style by the 1730s would have seemed very old-fashioned,
dense, and overblow·n] ,vas in poetry. Bombast has led them both
aw·ay from the natural to the artificial, and from the exalted to the
obscure; and in both of them one admires the tedious \\l'Ork and an
extraordinary degree of effort, w·hich, ho,\l'ever, is applied in vain,
since it strives against Nature. 1
For Scheibe and, as we shall see, for many people in the eighteenth cen-
tury, the high-flown rhetoric of the rationalist aesthetic no longer ap-
pealed. Rather, the ne," generation had begun to look for clarity and a
natural type of expression.
By the 1730s Bach had composed in all the major contemporary
genres except opera, for '"hich he had never had a need in the profes-
sional positions he held. At Leipzig his available practical repertoire nO\\I'
gave him a substantial library, and he had thoroughly learned the ins and
outs of the musical organization for ,vhich he ,vas responsible. All these
factors help to explain a number of special ,vorks and collections that he
Bachas paradigmatic produced during the 1730s and 1740s. Bach deliberately intended these
composer to serve as paradigmatic models of musical styles, laid out accord ing to
clear governing plans, following in the pattern that he had set for himself
in the Orgel-Buchlein and the Well-Tetnpered Clavier. (The second book of
the Well-Tempered Clavier actually belongs to this period.)
The first of these paradigmatic collections comprises the four parts
Clavieriibu ng of the Clavierubung (Keyboard practice). The first part is a set of six
partitas (suites) for harpsichord, collected and published in 1731. The
second part (1735) combines representative harpsichord pieces in t\vo
contrasting national styles, a French overture and dance suite placed
side by side,vith an Italian concerto. The third part (1739) represents the
German organ heritage in a collection of chorale preludes framed by a
great prelude and fugue. The fourth part (1741-1742) is a set of thirty
variations, the so-called Goldberg Variations, of wh ich every th ird one is
a canon at a particular interval, that is, at the unison, the second, the
third, and so on.
Bach's great paradigmatic vocal masterpiece is the so-called B-minor
Mass. He assembled the ,vork in about 1747-1749 from pieces that he
B-minor Mass had composed earlier. We cannot regard the B-minor Mass as a liturgical
,vork, partly because the Lutheran Church did not use the full Latin
Mass and partly because it is too huge to be practicable. Rather, it col-
lates movements in the various styles of sacred vocal music, from the
old-fashioned stile antico to the most brilliant concertato scoring. The
layout of the traditional Mass serves as Bach's grand frame,vork, but
even within individual sections the subdivisions are logically and sym-
metrically conceived.
Three sets of chorale-based organ pieces also belong in the category
Lateorganchoralos of Bach's paradigmatic collections. The first is a group of eighteen cho-
rales mostly composed in the Weimar period but assembled in around
1747 to demonstrate a variety of approaches. The second is a set of six
chorales arranged from cantata movements and published in 1748 or
Example 15.3 The complicated "royal theme" from Bach's Musical Offering
includes three components: a conventional minor-key fugue-subject opening
consisting of the m inor triad with its chromatic outer neighbor tones, a descend-
ing chromatic scale, and a cadential formula.
1749 by Schiibler. The third collection w·as w·ritten on the occasion of

Bach's election in 1747 to the Society of the Musical Sciences and consists
of five canonic variations on the Christmas chorale "Vom Himmel hoch."
In 1747 Bach paid a visit to h is second son, Carl Philipp Emanuel
Bach (1714-1788), w·ho was employed as harpsichordist to the flute-
playing Prussian king Frederick II (Frederick the Great) at the royal
court in Potsdam, near Berlin. On that occasion J. S. Bach was given a
fugue subject, purportedly invented by Frederick, on \vhich to improvise
at the piano (Example 15.3). After his return to Leipzig Bach ,vrote out Tli<Mu,ical Offering
the three-part ricercar he had improvised; added a six-part ricercar, a trio
sonata for flute \vith violin and continua, and ten canons, all based on the
"royal theme"; and dedicated the set of pieces to the king under the title
Musical Offering.
Following the idea of a monothematic collection that he had already
used in the "Vom Himmel hoch'' variations and the Musical Offering,
Bach began his most technically complex composition, The Art of Fugue,
in the late 1740s, leaving it not quite complete at his death. The plan of the Tli<Art ofFugue
collection was to proceed systematically through the art of fugal compo-
sition, from simple fugues up to a quadruple fugue, one of ,vhose four sub-
jects ,vas formed from the musical notes B-A-C-H (B indicating B-flat,
and H indicating B-natural in German), and not neglecting strict canons
at various intervals. Bach died before the publication could be completed,
so that the end of the quadruple fugue is missing and the final structure
imperfect. Nevertheless, The Art of Fugue ranks as the greatest practical
study of contrapuntal technique in the history of music.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READI NG
Paul Henry Lang's GeorgeFrideric Handel (Ne,v York: Norton, 1966) is an

excellent biography. Otto Erich Deutsch, Handel: A Docu1nentary Biogra-
phy (New York: Black, 1955), presents the composer as revealed in con-
temporary documents. Handel's operatic career is discussed in Winton
Dean, Handel and the Opera Seria (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1969).
Cuthbert Girdlestone, Jean-Philippe Ra1neau: His Life and Work, rev.
ed. (Ne,v York: Dover, 1969), rema ins the best English biography of the
theorist and composer.
A magisterial biography of Bach is Christoph Wolff,Johann Sebastian

Bach: The Learned Musician (New' York: Norton, 2000). For a good
impression of the composer in his context, see Barbara Schw'endo,vius
and Wolfgang Domling, eds., J. S. Bach: Life, Times, Influence (Kassel:
Barenreiter, 1976).
I. Joha nn Adolph Scheibe, evaluat ion of Bach's music in Der critische Musikus,
14May 1737, in Bach-Dokumente, vol. 2, ed. Werner Neumann and Hans-Joachim
Schulze (Kassel: Barenreiter, 1969), 286-87. [Translated by DS)
~16
•
New Currents in the Early

Eighteenth Century
The arts in the first half ofthe eighteenth century manifest neiv aesthetic
thinking that emphasized flexibility rather than intensity offeeling in
expression. This generated the elegance ofthe ingratiating style identi-
fied by the French term galant. The Gern1ans explored the sentimental
empfindsamer Stil. Comic opera competed with serious opera in the
form of the Italian opera buffa. The harmony ofthe tonal system
became standard, supporting new conventional forms, which composers
ofinstrumental music exploited as they developed the forms ofthe
keyboard sonata and the independent orchestral sinfonia.
l\Je1v Directions in T11inking and T11e E1npfindsa111er Stil

Style CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH
T11e Developn1ent of the Tonal KEYBOARD I NSTRUME NTS
Syste111 SONG
T11e Idea of the Galant Structure in Early-Eighteenth-

IN FRANCE Century lnstru1nental i\1usic
OUTSIDE FRANCE Developn1ents in lnstru111ental
French and Italian Operatic Con1edy Genres
LA GUERRE DES BOUFFONS
245
246 CHAPTER 16: New Currents in the Early Eighteenth Century
NEW DIR ECTIONS I N THINKI NG AND STYLE
It is convenient to assign the end of a period to the death of Bach in 1750,

but we must remember that one musical period does not end and another
begin in such a sharply articulated fashion as that date suggests. As we
have seen, Bach's contemporaries already regarded him as something of a
throwback, out ofstep w·ith the latest developments, during his ow·n time.
Musical thinkers established new artistic ideas in the second quarter
of the eighteenth century that w·ould have continuing influence through
NewaestheUcvaluos the remainder of that century and beyond. Among these, the most im-
portant \\l'aS the un\\l'illingness of younger composers to bind themselves
to the sort of insistent concentration on a single affect that characterized
rationalist, rhetorical musical expression. A more flexible, varied ap-
proach to the single piece or movement better suited this ne," taste. In
addition, there was an increasing desire for clarity and transparency in
structure, partly for purely aesthetic reasons and partly as a reflection of
the inclinations of a less-soph isticated musical audience, the gro,\l'ing
urban and commercial class.
Musicians also explored ne," theoretical principles that would remain
Tonality in force through the nineteenth century. The tonal system, already incipi-
ent before the beginning of the eighteenth century, \\l'as \\l'Orked out and
firmly established by composers in practice and by theorists in principle.
The use of tonality in formal planning and the articulation of tonal form
by details of the musical surface began to produce ne," structural models.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF T HE T ONAL SYSTEM
By the end of the seventeenth century the conventions of voice leading

and resulting successions of harmonies that composers '"ere using had
settled into patterns that are familiar to us from the standard concert-hall
Harmonic progression repertoire. Especially in the music of the Bolognese instrumental com-
posers and in the Italian opera, although also in other repertoires and in
other regions, the syntax of chord progressions had become focused on a
fe," models that dominated the music. This harmonic idiom appears
ubiquitously in the sonatas and concertos of Corelli, and as a conse-
quence he \\l'as commonly ackno,\l'ledged by the eighteenth century to be
the first "modern" composer.
Through the first t\\l'O decades of the eighteenth century, composers,
theorists, and music students still based their work on the principles of
intervallic consonance and dissonance that had supported the poly-
phonic textures. Even in the homophonic style based on the basso con-
tinuo, a harmony was identified by its bass note and the intervals above it.
The tonal idiom had, ho,\l'ever, been arrived at empirically out of the com-
bination of contrapuntal motion among voices, particularly the interac-
tion of h\l'O upper voices in trio texture and the opposition of the bass.
The Develop1nent of the Tonal Systen1 247
The theory of functional, tonal harmonic progressions was not de-

veloped until Rameau wrote his Traiti de l'harinonie in 1722. Rameau's Rameau's harmonic
observations of harmonic practice led h im to an entirely new perspective theory
on harmony. Instead of view·ing a chord as a combination of various in-

tervals above a bass note, he regarded it as a permutation of a harmonic
abstraction built in thirds-a triad. Thus, for example, Rameau w·ould
not view the harmonyw·ith C as its bass note and A and E above it in the
older manner as a type of harmony based on C but rather as a version of
the triad founded on A. As a result, Rameau also had to art iculate the
concept of harmon ic inversion and to distinguish the root, or fundamen-
tal bass of a triad, from the actual sounding bass tone.
This idea of the triad, inversion, and root offered a totally ne\v per-
spective on harmony, w·ith great potential for clarifying the way in w·hich
chord progressions might \vork. It explained, for example, w·hy the same
tones in the construction E-G-C do not function in the way they do in
the construction E-G-B. The triad, identified by its root and not the
bass note, offers the consistent index of ho,v the harmony will function.
This gave Rameau the key to a theory offunctional harmony. In the Traite In Ramtau's lhtory the.
triad, idtnl-i}itd by it.s
de l'harmonie Rameau argued that a particular progression of chord
root and not I-lit bass nolt,
roots seemed to control the flow· of the music of his time. He gave the offers the consisltnl index
name tonic to the harmony of closure, built on the first note of the scale; of how the l,armony wHI
funclfon.
the name do1ninant to the triad that most strongly led to the ton ic, built
on the fifth scale degree; and the name subdo1ni11ant to the triad con-
structed on the fourth scale degree. Once the functions of triads w·ithin
a key had been identified, 1nodulatio11 could be explained. A triad that
could appear in tw·o different keys could be used as a pivot from one key
to another by treating the triad as having one function w·hen it arrived
and another ,vhen the music moved on.
An especially controversial aspect ofRameau's approach was his in-
sistence that melody should be derived from harmony. Until this time
the vertical element in music ,vas primarily conceived as the product of
simultaneous tones in horizontal melodic lines. Rameau suggested in- Harmony and melody
stead that the composer should have in mind the progression of harmo-
nies and that the melody should derive from those harmonies. This
procedure ,vould have important results. First, it supported the inclina-
tion of melody to clarify harmonic content (as w·as the case in Vivaldi's
characteristic ritornello themes), an important element of the style of
the later eighteenth century. Second, the tendency of melody to proceed
in vocal fashion, mostly in step\vise motion, became ,veaker, and in its
place the outlining of triads and the resulting emphasis on a more instru-
mental skipping motion increased.
The directing of phrases by simple harmonic progressions led to a
slow·ing do,vn of harmonic rhythm in general. In earlier music the rate of Harmonic rhythm
harmonic change was likely to be the beat. In the later eighteenth cen-
tury it was more likely to be the measure. A phrase \vould then generally
consist of only a few, functionally d irected harmon ies, over w·hich a

melody could unfold.
THE IDE A OF THE GALANT
In F r a nce
During the first decades of the eighteenth century musicians moved away
from the grandiloquence and intensity of the rhetorical expression of ra-
tionalism tow·ard lightness and pleasing decorativeness. It is only natural
that this style ,vas associated particularly ,vith France, where intellectual
The galant idral control had ahvays tempered the aesthetic of rhetorical intensity. This
ne,v aesthetic outlook is captured by the French ,vord galant, which the
French ,vriter Voltaire (Franyois Marie Arouet, 1694-1778) defined as
"seeking to please by means of agreeable attentions, by flattering compli-
ments.''1 In art and music galant implies elegance, charm, intimacy, grace,
clarity, and naturalness-the opposite of the assertiveness of the affec-
tive style. This ne,v ideal appeared in the different arts around the end of
the reign of Louis xrv; ,vho d ied in 1715, and continued ,veil into the era
of Louis XV (1710-1774). It is some,vhat related to the style of painting
and interior decoration kno,vn as rococo, from the ornamental shell de-
signs, or rocailles, that commonly appeared on ,valls (Figure 16.1). The
French painters Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) and his follo,ver
Franyois Boucher (1703-1770) represent the style in the visual arts
'I11t firs I
mark of (Plate 13). The term rococo was not used in that period to describe music,
the mu.d eal galanl is
it.sgtntral liglllntss
ho,vever. In French keyboard music the galant manner can be heard in
ofttxlurt. the ordres ofFranyois Couperin and the suites of Rameau.
The first mark of the musical galant is its general lightness of texture.
Style traits ofgalant musk There is clearly a single melod ic part ,vithout any pretense of counter-
point, and accompanying harmonies are voiced sparingly. In general
this music has a considerable degree of rhythmic flexibility, ,vhich dis-
tinguishes it from the steady rhythmic pulsation that ,ve commonly
Figure 16.1 Germain

Boffrand's interior
decoration of the Salon
de la Princesse in the
Hotel de Soubise is an
example of the rococo
style with its light
and delicate type of
decoration.
The Idea of the Galant 249
Example 16.1 Murky bass is used in t he "Air chinois" from t he Pieces de c/avecin
of 1798 by Abbe Georg Joseph Vogler. As awareness of t he world was increasing,
Enlightenment musicians were fascinated by music o f other cultures. There is,
however, nothing particu larly Chinese about the melody here.
•
- -
tJ
-
M"l"1
-
I I I I
a::!
I I I I I
'
I
......
I I
-
I
-
~
.
-·-
associate with the preceding style of music; the new· style often suggests
rhythm ic animation by means of the tra1nmelbass (drum bass), the steady,
rapid reiteration of a note in \vhat is really a slow·-moving harmonic bass
line, or the murky bass, in which the notes are played in alternating oc-
taves (Example 16.1). Decorative surface ornamentation is applied to the
simple melodic line in the form of agrements. Forms are simple: the
binary dance structure or the rondeau \vith a recurring refrain that keeps
the music from lau nching ambitious expeditions.
Out side France

The galant style \Vas not regarded in the eighteenth century as the exclu-
sive domain of the French. Indeed, the term itself seems to have had
more musical currency in Germany, where the imitation of the French
galant homme, or cultured gentleman, raised the Burger to a higher social
level. The German flutist and theorist Johann Joachim Quantz
(1697-1773), writer of an importa nt treatise on flute playing and music
in general, the Versuch einer Anweisung die Fliite traversiere zu spielen
(Essay on a method of playing the tra nsverse flute, 1752), used the term
galant to describe the keyboard music of the Italian composer Domenico
Scarlatti (1685-1757). Scarlatti, the son of the famous Italian opera com- Domon icoSca, Jatti
poser Alessandro Scarlatti, is remembered mainly for his keyboard
music, although he also composed in other genres. When Handel had
visited Italy in 1706-1710 the t\vo young composers had engaged in a
performance competition, with Handel winning for his organ playing
and Scarlatti the victor at the harpsichord. In 1719 Scarlatti became key-
board master to the Portuguese princess Maria Barbara, who in 1728
married the crown prince ofSpain and took Scarlatti with her to Madrid,
\vhere he spent the bulk of his career.
The most influential ,vorks in Scarlatti's output \Vere the keyboard
pieces that he called essercizi (exercises), usually kno,vn as "sonatas" today.
Each piece consists of only a single movement, but in the earliest manu- Scarlatti's sonatas
scripts they often seem to be grouped by key in pairs or groups of three.
These pieces usually follo,v an expanded version of the binary dance form.
We shall see that binary form grew to be the most important struc-
ture of the music of the Classic period. Scarlatti's contributio n to the
Scarlatti's trrat:ment form is a new· degree of clarification in the structure. There is a tendency
of binary form in his pieces for a contrasting key to be firmly established near the middle
of the first part and for the new· key to remain strongly stable until the
repeat sign at the end of the part. Likew·ise, in the second half, the tonic
returns in the middle, generally with the music originally presented in
the contrast key, w·hich is thereby resolved into the tonic, and the music
remains harmonically stable thereafter. Thus each part of the h\l'o-part
design is subdivided at the arrival of a key. Each of these arrivals is char-
acteristically strongly set up by a full or half cadence and confirmed by a
ne\\l' thematic beginning.
Scarlatti profited from the example of the Italian instrumental music
of the preceding generation in devising melodic material that clearly
Thtmatk funct:ions serves a harmonic function. The listener can identify the various ideas
\\l'ithin a piece as particularly contrived to establish a key, provide con-
trast, or bring about a stable cadence. Often the second sections of each of
the t\\l'O main parts of the form, beginning \\l'ith the tonal arrivals of the
contrasting key in the first part and of the tonic in the second part, are the
same except for the necessary transposition. This gives unity to the move-
ment by demonstrating the parallel beh\l'een the two parts through a mu-
sical rhyme, and it also produces the effect of resolution into the ton ic of
the material originally associated with the region of tonal tension.
FRENCH AND I T A L IAN OPERATIC C OMEDY
Among the genres that appealed most successfully to the ne\\l'

eighteenth-century aud ience \\l'aS the comic opera. We have already seen
ho\\l' in Germany the singspiel had coexisted and even intermingled \\l'ith
Italian opera in Hamburg under Reinhard Keiser and how in England
the ballad opera had displaced the Italian opera during Handel's career.
Frat-ures of comic grnrrs Characteristic of these genres \\l'as a contemporary setting and action,
the use of the vernacular, spoken dialogue rather than recitative, and
modest musical demands and production values.
In Italy, at about the same time that composers developed the inter-
mezzo to provide comic relief between acts of the opera seria, they also
Opera buffa launched an independent comic operatic genre, the opera buffa. Like the
intermezzo and the comic genres of England and Germany, the opera
buffa was a national response to the current demand for a less artificial,
more immediately appealing genre than the opera seria. Its creators also
took its plots from contemporary situations, presenting recognizable
modern characters rather than historical or mythological figures. The
Optra buffa became a more possibility that this offered for explicit rather than obscurely allegorical
prognssive social
force than tlit courtly
moral or cultural critique allO\\l'ed opera buffa to become more of a pro-
serious optra. gressive social force than the courtly serious opera, as we shall see.
Like the intermezzo, the opera buffa adopted a h\l'o-act division and
employed stock characters and situations. It was considerably longer and
French and Italian Operatic Con1edy 251
called for a larger cast than an intermezzo, how·ever, so it could stand on

its own as an evening's entertainment. Unlike the ballad opera and sing-
spiel, opera buffa maintained the use of recitative for dialogues and
called for a more elaborate style ofvocal singing (although not, of course,
as flamboyant as the style of the Baroque opera seria). The new·, more
flexible approach to musical expression lo,vered the rhetorical stakes in
this genre, and it also allo,ved for more rapid and natural fluctuations of
feeling ,vithin any musical number.
La Guerre des Bouffons

One of the great controversies in music history ,vas the argument that
took place in eighteenth-century France over the relative merits of
French and Italian musical styles. This disagreement came to a head in
the 1750s, ,vhen it became a hot item for debate among critics in vario us
journals and pamphlets. The direct cause of the conflict,vas the appear- Journalistlcdobatoover
ance in Paris in 1752 of a troupe performing Italian opera buffa, in par- opera
ticular Pergolesi 's La serva padrona.
Some of the Parisian audience found the Italian vocal style a positive
revelation. In comparison to the French air, ,vith its syllabic text setting
and frilly agrements, the Italian aria featured both a more natural canta-
bile style and greater virtuosity in florid ,vriting. Since in the Italian melis-
mas the ornamental aspect ,vas ,vritten into the line rather than added by
small symbols, the detail seemed better integrated into the ,vhole.
In contrast, the supporters of the French style ardently defended the
musical traditions of their ow·n country, motivated by both nationalistic
pride and artistic principles. They derided the lively Italian melodic style Competlng national styles
as busy and artificial, while their ow·n music seemed to them simpler and
more natural. They adopted as their hero Rameau (who had himself been
attacked in the 1730s as having abandoned the true French tradition
going back to Lully). The entire debate became kno,vn, punningly, as the
querelle des boujfons or guerre des bouffons (quarrel or ,var of the buf-
foons). The antagonists could frame the argument as bet\veen conserva-
tism and progressivism, patriotism and cosmopolitanism.
No less a figure than the famous French philosopher Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (1712-1778) engaged in this polemical battle. He took the
Italian side. He reported an amusing scientific test he had undertaken to
determine the relative merits of the t\vo styles by consulting an impartial
observer:
I saw in Ven ice an Armenian, an intelligent man ,vho had never Rousseau conducts an
heard any music, and before ,vhom there were performed in a single operatic experiment
concert a French monologue [from Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie]
that begins ,vith this line:
Temple sacre, sejour tranquille [Holy temple, tranquil resting
place)
and an aria by Galuppi [the Italian opera composer Baldassare

Galuppi (1706-1785)) that begins with this one:
Voi che languite senza speranza. [You who languish without
hope)
Both of these were sung, the French one in mediocre fashion and
the Italian one badly, by a man accustomed only to French music
and at that time very enthusiastic about that ofM. Rameau. I no-
ticed in the Armenian during the French song more surprise than
pleasure; but everybody observed from the first measures of the
Italian aria that his face and his eyes softened, he W'aS enchanted, he
gave up his soul to the impressions of the music, and, even though
he understood the language only slightly, the mere sounds caused
him noticeable delight. From that moment on no one could make
him listen to any French air. 2
Rousseau even composed a dramatic musical piece himself, Le Devin du
Opfracomique village (The village soothsayer, 1752). This work is an example of opera
comique, a genre defined partly by its light subject material and partly by
its use of unaccompan ied spoken d ialogue rather than the recitative of
the French traged ie lyrique or the Italian opera. Opera comique filled a
position in France similar to that of the singspiel in Germany or the
ballad opera in England, although its music W'aS more polished than that
of the latter.
THE EMPFINDSAMER ST I L
The galant style, whether in a French or in an Italian manifestation, d id

not satisfy the artistic inclinations of all musicians in the first half of the
eighteenth century. To those who sought depth of expression from
German art:i&t:k taste music, it must have seemed particularly flimsy and unfulfilling. The
desire for a more profound emotional statement in art belongs character-
istically to the German spirit, and so it should not be surprising that a
rival approach w'aS cultivated there. This movement centered in the city
of Berlin.
The usual term for this aesthetic approach is the German W'Ord
Empji11dsa1nkeit, \\l'hich is translated as "sensibility" or "sentimentality."
Empfindsamkeit The term implies that the feelings expressed are somewhat naively
emotional. We refer to the idiom of this music as the e1npjindsamer Stil
(sentimental style). To ach ieve the expression of sentiment, the compos-
ers adopted and often exaggerated some of the more obvious rhetorical
In the ntw c.onuplfon
gestures of the past. In contrast to the music of the preceding aesthetic,
tmot-ional txptritnct is not
madt up ofstatic: passions
ho\\l'ever, a single movement m ight have these gestures in profuse variety
but ofc.onstantly rather than concentrating on a single affect throughout. This is an impor-
fl uct.uat.ingfttl ings, tant ne\\l' conception, that emotional experience is not made up of static
and a musical work
might combine widdy
passions but of constantly fluctuating feelings, and that, by extension, a
difftrtnl styles. musical \\l'Ork might combine \\l'idely different styles in free juxtaposition.
The En1pfindsamer Stil 253
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
One of the greatest composers of the empfindsamer Stil was Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), the second son of]. S. Bach. He had been C.P.E.Bach
taught by his father-indeed, he proudly claimed that his father had been
his only teacher-but his style represents a completely different genera-
tion. C. P. E. Bach w·orked for the Prussian king Frederick the Great in his
palace, Sans Souci, at Potsdam near Berlin from 1738 to 1768. Frederick
played the flute, and C. P. E. Bach's most important duty w·as to accom-
pany the king in chamber music.
The king's flute teacher was Johann Joach im Quantz. In his treatise
on playing the flute, w·hich d iscusses not only the technique of flute play-
ing but also such matters as the standard musical forms and genres of the
period, as ,veil as style and expression, Quantz was particularly con-
cerned to distinguish the Italian from the French style. He concluded Q.uant,'s aosthetic
that the great virtue of German music ,vas that it took something from perSpective
each of those nations and struck a balance bet,veen them. He does not
seem to have recognized the empfindsamer Stil as a specifically German
type, and indeed his o,vn music tended to use a galant idiom.
The king's tastes ,vere guided by those of his mentor and conse-
quently did not suit C. P. E. Bach, ,vho also found himself underpaid and
underappreciated. In 1768, ,vhen Telemann (who ,vas C. P. E. Bach's
godfather) d ied, C. P. E. Bach succeeded to the position of music direc-
tor and Kantor in Hamburg.
In addition to his musical compositions, ,vhich included keyboard
pieces, concertos and sonatas, symphonies, songs, and church music,
C. P. E. Bach ,vrote a treatise on keyboard playing, the Versuch uber die
wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen (Essay on the true manner of playing the
keyboard, 1753). In this book he took for granted the ideals of the emp-
findsamer Stil, particularly stressing the flexibility of music to move
quickly from one emotional state to another, quite unlike the previous
principle of concentration on a single affect at a time:
A musician cannot move others unless he too is moved. He must of c. P. E. Bach commends
necessity feel all of the affects that he hopes to arouse in his audi- OcxibHity in expression
ence, for the revealing of his o,vn humor will stimulate a like humor
in the listener. In languishing, sad passages, the performer must
languish and gro,v sad.... Similarly, in lively, joyous passages, the
executant must again put himself into the appropriate mood. And
so, constantly varying the passions he ,vill barely quiet one before he
rouses another. J
Charles Burney (1726-1814), an English ,vriter on music who traveled

,videly and met most of the important musicians of the eighteenth cen-
tury, visited C. P. E. Bach in 1773. His description of the composer's
playing suggests that Bach took the expression of feeling seriously.
Burney reported that Bach
Burney describe& C. P. E. grew so an imated and possessed, that he not only played, but looked
Bach's playing like one inspired. His eyes were fixed, his under lip fell, and drops
of effervescence distilled from his countenance.4
The empfindsamer Stil is easily recognized in practice, even in instrumen-
Feat-ures of emp6nd&am tal music, w·here there is no text to clarify the expressive content. Many of
style its gestures come from operatic recitative. Particularly tearjerking in the
melodic language are the frequent descending-half-step motives and lines
broken up by gasping rests. Angular, unvocal lines may also appear. Chro-
maticism and surprising chord progressions are common in the harmony.
Rhythm may be treated w·ith a great deal of flexibility; the most extreme
manifestation of this occurs in the keyboard fantasy, in which entire
pieces may be written \Vithout bar lines.
Keyboard Instruments
Particularly suited to this sentimental expressiveness \Vas the clavichord,
C. P. E. Bach's favored instrument, \vhich allo\ved more subtle and im-
mediate dynamic control than the harpsichord. Because the clavichord
operates on the simple principle of key and tangent as a direct connec-
tion bet\veen finger and string, the force on the key ,vas precisely re-
The clavichord fleeted in the loudness of the tone. Moreover, a subtle increase and
decrease of pressure on the key could give a ,vaver (in German, Bebu11g)
to a sustained pitch that resembled most delightfully the singer too
caught up in sentiment to control the voice. The problem with the clavi-
chord was that its sound ,vas so diminutive it could hardly be heard
throughout a large room, and it was incapable of producing a genuinely
loud tone.
The desire for a more po\verful but still dynamically flexible instru-
ment ,vas met by the recently invented piano. The new instrument had
been created around 1700 by the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo
Cristofori (1655-1732), and it took its name from the fact that it played
Invention of the piano both "piano e forte." Musicians no,v sometimes distinguish the early ver-
sion of the modern piano by the use of the full name pianoforte, or fortepi-
ano. C. P. E. Bach,vould have played fortepianos by the important German
organ builder Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753; see Figure 15.2).
Song
Such expressive sentimentality in vocal music became clearest in the
song, ,vhich flourished in the bourgeois parlors of Europe in the eigh-
Gender and domestic teenth century. This milieu for music performances came largely under
music the control of the ,vomen of the fam ily, as the eighteenth century devel-
oped a standard plan for domestic affairs, in wh ich husbands devoted
themselves to business and ,vives to the management of home life.
Rousseau's immensely popular novel Julie, ou la nouvelle Hilolse (Julie, or
the new Heloise, 1761-the subtitle referring to the figure of Heloise,
Structure in Early-Eighteenth-Century Instrumental Music 255
Example 16.2 The lied "Die Trennung" (Separation) by C. P. E. Bach illustrates

many of the characteristics of Empfindsamkeit, among them the tender
ornaments and sighing gestures at phrase ends, the expressive dynamic shifts,
and the intense harmonies (here highlighted by the diminished fifths in the bass).
These first four lines read as follows: "The parting bell is sounding to separate us
cruelly! How shall I live, o maiden, without you?"
A • -'l I
' -·
• 1',
.. .
.
~ I
'Ab -.sc.:hiCl.b ' v I
I I
.
v
o, .
sc.:hli.J.,rt tics Su.in
"'· um gr.i1.1 • s.,m un:;
'"
..-
p
..
' •- • • • -
• • -
• • W· • .
·~
~ I I
f ---.. '
.
~ ,~ . ~ C'\
'
r h.
.
-'"t:1 ~r
.
. ,....,
I
'
id , le . . .
..
tl\.'11·-ne11!
.
Wie
I
werd'_
~ "'" kOn·nen,
..
~ ..• M:id
_,
chen, ()!,
• '
""' di<:h?.
~ .
·1,, • f '
~
-··
student and lover of the medieval scholar Abelard) offered as its title
character a model for eighteenth-century w·omanhood. The texts of the
songs composed for this environment either expressed or embodied
bourgeois moral virtues. The music often consisted of simplified in- Songs txprtsstd or
stances of the aria or cantata, singable and playable by amateurs. In other tmboditd bourgtois
moralvalut-s.
instances new songs were merely parodied from simple, keyboard dance
pieces by the addition of \vords to the melody line.
A group of composers no\v kno\vn as the First Berlin School (including
C. P. E. Bach) cultivated the keyboard-accompanied lied with new con-
centration. Many of the poems they set belong to a literary sentimental The First Berlin Song
School
style that begs for musical treatment in empfindsamer Stil (Example 16.2).
Authors of the same time and artistic inclinations also produced the sen-
timental novel, which began to thrive in the early eighteenth century and
culminated in a style know·n as Sturm und Drang (storm and stress), \vhich
exploited ra\v emotion.
S TRU CT URE I N EARLY-E I GHTE EN TH-CE NT URY

I NST RUMENTA L Music
At this point it \Viii be helpful to introduce a means of outlining musical Diagramming form
forms. The foundation of form is its tonal plan, so \Ve place that on the
lowest level in our diagrams. The tonic is indicated by the Roman nu-
meral I (or, in minor keys, the lo\vercase i) and other harmonies or tonal Tlufou11dalionoffor111
areas by their appropriate numerals. (When it is necessary, letter names 15 its tonal plan.
of keys may be employed to identify keys specifically.) Capital letters

from later in the alphabet identify melodic ideas. Standard letter abbre-
viations include P for themes associated \Vith the principal key, T for
transitional themes, S for themes associated with the secondary key, and
K for themes associated ,vith cadencing. Nonthematic material, such as
is often used for transitional or cadential passages, \Viii be identified, if
necessary, by lowercase letters (t, k). New material introduced in the
second part of a binary form ,viii be designated by N. A superscript
number after a letter ind icates a variant of the melodic material.
To express the typical structure of the simplest binary dance form
such as might be found in a movement from a Baroque suite, \Ve might
draw this diagram:
Binary dance form Part I Part2

p P'
I v I
(or i III i)
(In general the alternative of the relative major key as a substitute for the
dominant in minor-key pieces in this structure can be taken for granted
and ,viii not be included in future diagrams.)
The subdivided binary form of a typical one-movement sonata by
Domenico Scarlatti, where the arrival of the dominant in the first part
and the return of the tonic in the second part are assigned parallel mate-
rial, sometimes called balanced binary form, can be expressed in sche-
matic form as follo,vs:
Balanced binary form Part I Part2

p s (K) N s (K)
I v........v v I--······-I
Of particular importance in the later part of the century ,vas yet an-
other modification, in ,vhich the return of the tonic key in the second
part is signaled by the return of the same material that established the
tonic at the opening of the form. There is then a stable section at the end,
adapted from the first part in such a way that no modulation occurs. This
is generally kno,vn as rounded binary form and can be outlined thus:
Rounded binary form Part I Part2

p p
I v I--··········-I
These various treatments of the basic binary plan are found through-
out the instrumental ,vorks of the composers of the galant movement.
Developments in Instru1nental Genres 257
They continued to be employed in the dance movements from which

they evolved, of course. They also predominated in other instrumental
pieces, particularly in Italy but also in northern countries.
D EVELOPMENTS I N INST RU MENT A L GENRES
Among the w·o rks of composers in the generation following Domenico

Scarlatti, the keyboard sonata comprised a piece in several movements in
contrasting tempos. Each movement ,vas likely to adopt some variant of Sonata
the basic binary form. Follo,ving Scarlatti's lead, composers increasingly
used thematic events to highlight the tonal plan. Changes of texture-
from melody-and-accompaniment style to chordal scoring, imitative
,vriting, and bare octave passages-similarly helped articulate passages
of establishment of the tonality, modulatory transition, cadence, and so
on. The multimovement keyboard sonata became important in the his-
tory of music after the middle of the century. Simpler examples provided
didactic resources for students and domestic entertainment for the
middle class. More complex sonatas ,vere used by keyboard virtuosos in
entertaining courtly listeners and promoting their own performing and
composing careers.
As the middle of the eighteenth century approached, an important
development in instrumental music ,vas the rise of the independent sin-
fonia, w·hich quickly gre,v into the symphony. Such orchestral pieces be- Tue orchestral sinfonia
longed to the concerts of the aristocratic courts, played by house
orchestras to entertain noble patrons. As public concerts developed, the
sinfonia also moved into that milieu. And in some cases sinfonias were
used in churches, to provide music to accompany the liturgy.
The genre originated in the opening sinfonia of the Italian opera
and therefore followed the three-movement layout of that model. The
scope of the individual movement gre,v as the genre accommodated
the needs of the concert rather than serving as an operatic curtain-
raiser. The leading center for the early independent sinfonia ,vas the
city of Milan, and the most note,vorthy composer ,vas Giovanni
Battista Sammartini (1701-1775), a church composer, organist, and
teacher. A Sammartini sinfonia ,vas typically scored for string arches- Sammartini'ssinfonias
tra. A common ensemble might have three to seven first violins, three
to five seconds, one to three violas, one or t,vo each of cellos and basses,
and a harpsichord to play basso continua. The harpsichord player usu-
ally led the performance.
Like the keyboard sonata, the sinfonia profited from the success of
the early-eighteenth-century composers in coordinating musical styles
and dynamics ,vith tonal structure. A bold opening in chordal or unison Style and form
style established the key of the opening or closing of a section in a binary
sinfonia movement just as it ,vould in a ritornello in a baroque concerto.
Busier, more contrapuntal passages suited the tonally unstable transi-
tional areas. Lyrical, cantabile scoring lent itself to slo,v movements.
Progress in the genre of the sinfonia spread beyond Italy. The German
composers in the 1740s at the brilliant court of Mannheim, capital of the
Palatine region in central Germany, seized on the theatrical effects of
Italian opera sinfonias and contributed particularly to orchestral scoring.
Mannhe im The orchestra at Mannheim became the most polished ensemble in
Europe at that time, especially under the direction of Johann Stamitz
(1717-1757). Charles Burney wrote of the Mannheim orchestra,
Burney praises the I found it to be indeed all that its fame had made me expect: Po\ver
Mannheim orche-stra \viii naturally arise from a great number of ha nds, but the judicious
use of this po\ver, on all occasions, must be the consequence of
good discipline. Indeed, there are more solo players, and good com-
posers in this, than perhaps in any other orchestra in Europe: it is
an army of generals, equally fit to plan a battle, as to fight it. 5
The Mannheim orchestra was a large one for its time. Accord ing to a list
of personnel there in 1756, Stamitz and his colleagues had at their dis-
posal four flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, four horns, twelve trumpets
(kept at court for heraldic purposes, of course, and not used in such
quantity in the sinfonia), hvo timpani, hventy violi ns, four violas, four
cellos, hvo basses, and the harpsichord.
Burney's report on the Ma nnheim orchestra also gives attention to
Stamitz's use of dynam ics:
Since the discovery\vh ich the genius ofStamitz first made, every
effect has been tried \vhich such an aggregate of sound can produce.
It w·as here that the Crescendo and Diminuendo had birth; and the
Piano, \vhich \Vas before chiefly used as an echo, with which it \Vas
generally synonymous, as well as the Forte, \Vere found to be musi-
cal colours \vhich had their shades, as much as red or blue in
painting.6
Burney's remark about Stamitz's originality in the use of dynam ics refers
to orchestration as \veil as simply to the ind ication of the markings cre-
Dynamic otfocts scendo and di1ni11uendo in the score. Stamitz developed the tech nique of
scoring a rise in pitch coordinated \vith an increase in loudness, textural
density, and the number of participating instruments. A sustained pas-
sage of such a crescendo is sometimes referred to as a "Mannheim steam-
roller" (at the time, of course, steam po\ver was not yet ava ilable, so the
term would more correctly be simply "roller"; Example 16.3).
In melodic style the Mannheim group tended to employ regular
series of rather square, four-measure phrases. They thoroughly under-
stood the principle of choosing appropriate styles for the different needs
The rocket of the various parts of a tonal form. One particular thematic type that
\Vas favored for establishing the pri ncipal key in a fast orchestral move-
ment \Vas the rapid rising arpeggio, or "Mannheim rocket."
The form of the Mannheim type of sinfonia tends to reflect the ritor-
nello practice of the concerto and not simply the straightfor\vard binary
Developments in I nstrun1ental Genres 259
Example 16.3 The o pening of Jo hann Stamitz's Sinfonia a 11 in D illust rates t he

use of the famous Mannheim crescendo, a coordinated increase of pitch, scoring,
and d ynamics over a pedal tone .
• ,. "' "' "'

-
A .,
2 Oboes
v
Ill
2Homsm 0
~
Ill
- .
-,-
' ' '
-,-
..
pia
.. ..
- - -
A .,
2 Tnnnpe-1s in (>
. .
v
1/1 ' ' '
Timp.mi ·~
.
1/1
• • • '
A •
Violin I
v
1/1 ' • -
pia
-
A .,
Vi.c)lin II --
v
1/1 • • -
pia
Viola
mr 1/1
. . . . .
p1a
J 1 J
Basso
~
- - '
~
' - 1 1
-
' '
1/1 ' --·
pia
' ' '
°"·
Mn.
foOlio>
Tpc.
Timp.
pia formo
Vin. I
for fon,,,,
cres ii for
Vin. II
for for11i(l
cres ii fo
V l:I.
C.J'CS ii fo for fol'll10
• '
Ve.
cres ii f'br for forino

form used in Milan. Also more characteristic of the German than the
Italian composers ,vas the addition of an interior movement in the form
The symphonic minuet of a minuet. Stamitz ,vas the first composer to insert the minuet consis-
tently. This development may reflect the influence of the orchestral suite
on the sinfonia or it may come from opera, ,vhere at this time a minuet
often appeared as the first music at the opening of the curtain after the
introductory sinfonia. The four-movement sinfon ia became the stan-
dard pattern after 1750.
A useful survey of th is period is Daniel Heartz, Music in European Capi-

tals: The Ga/ant Style, 1720-1780 (Ne,vYork: Norton, 2003).John Rice,
Music in the Eighteenth Century (New York: Norton, 2013), gives a briefer
treatment of the time period discussed in this and the next t\vo chapters,
organized geographically.
Rameau's Treatise 011 Harmony is available in an English translation
,vith annotations by Philip Gossett (New York: Dover, 1971). Quantz's
treatise is published in English as 011 Playing the Flute, trans. Ed,vard R.
Reilly (New York: Schirmer, 1966). C. P. E. Bach's keyboard treatise is
published as Essay 011 the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments, trans.
and ed. William J. Mitchell (Ne,v York: Norton, 1949). The latter hvo
treatises are excerpted in Oliver Strunk, Source Readings in Music His-
tory, rev. ed., general ed. Leo Treider (Ne,v York: Norton, 1998), as are
some of the documents from the guerre des bouffons. For a collection of
a number of important ,vritings on musical aesthetics of the period, see
Peter le Hu ray and James Day, eds., Music and Aesthetics in the Eighteenth
and Early Nineteenth Centuries (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press, 1981).
An excellent biography of Scarlatti is Ralph Kirkpatrick, Domenico
Scarlatti, ne,v ed. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Un iversity Press, 1983).
The development of the sonata in the eighteenth century is surveyed
in William S. Ne,vman, The Sonata in the Classic Era (Chapel Hill: Uni-
versity of North Carolina Press, 1983).
I. Voltaire, Dictionnaire philosophique, I, vol. 7 of Oeuvres completes de Voltaire

(Paris: Furne, 1835), 621. [Translation by DS)
2. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Lettre sur la musique franfaise (1753), 27-29. [Trans-
lated by OS)
3. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Essay on the True Art ofPlaying Keyboard Instruments,
trans. and ed. WilliamJ.Mitchell (New York: Norton, 1949), 152. (Emphasis added.)
4. Charles Burney, An Eighteenth-Century Musical ToilY in Central Europe and the
Netherlands, ed. Percy A. Scholes (London: Oxford University Press, 1959), 219.
5. Ibid., 34-35.
6. Ibid., 35.
The Enlightenment
and the Classic Style
The vieiv ofthe 111orld in the eighteenth century came to be dominated by
the movement kno111n as Enlightenment. In the arts this movement went
hand in hand with a new tendency toward an Apollonian style. Musi-
cians' careers generally unfolded within the system of aristocratic patron-
age, an arrangement in which Haydn thrived but Mozart worked less
comfortably. In the works ofthose two masters and their contemporaries
new style conventions were developed for the opera and also for instru-
mental music. These composers worked out models for the structures of
multimovement genres and the variants ofthe binary sonata form.
T11e Enligliten1nent Opera Seria and Opera Refor,n

The Classic Outlook Instrun1ental Genres and the Sonata
Plan
Musicians in Late-Eigliteentli-
Century Society THE SYMPHONY
THE STRING QUART ET
Contrasting Careers for Musicians:
THE KEYBOARD SONATA
Haydn and i\1ozart
THE CONCERTO
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN
THE DIVERTIMENTO
\VOLFGANG Al\1ADEUS MOZART
Con1ic Opera in the Early The Sonata For1n and Its Variants
Enliglitenn1ent HARJ\10NIC PLAN
261
262 CHAPTER 17: The Enlightenment and the Classic Style
THE ENL I GHTE NMENT
The cultural movement that provided the context for the music of the
second half of the eighteenth century is kno\vn as the Enlightenment, an
identification that th inkers of the time proudly claimed for themselves,
as the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries had claimed the name Rena is-
sance (unlike such anachronistic and derogatory names as Goth ic and
Baroque, for example). In all fields there was a tendency toward intel-
The philosophts lectualism (and particularly away from religion and the church). In
France Denis Diderot (1713-1784) led the group of thinkers kno\vn as
the philosophes in compiling, among their other projects, the Encyclo-
pedie (behveen 1747 and 1765) to codify contemporary kno\vledge. The
Encyclopedie also embodied a philosophical ideal of unprecedented free-
dom of thought. A decisive contribution to philosophy in this period
,vas Immanuel Kant's (1724-1804) Critique ofPure Reason (1781), wh ich
examined the possibilities and limits of rational thought.
In the spheres of politics and economics, new· ideas challenged old as-
Politkal freedo m sumptions. In The Social Contract (1762) Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued
that government should arise from the general will of the people rather
than be imposed by a small class at the pinnacle of an artificial social hier-
archy, a revolutionary proposition that influenced the American and
French revolutions in 1775-1782and 1789-1792. In his treatise The Wealth
of Nations (1776), Adam Smith (1723-1790) espoused a laissez-faire eco-
nomic system free from government restraints.
The Enlightenment in the sciences replaced the older rationalist ap-
proach \Vith a more empirical one, appealing to direct observation and ex-
Em pi, kal science perimentation rather than to mere reflection in isolation. Carl Linnaeus
(1707-1778) set up the frame\vork for a system of biological classification
that w·ould suggest new ,vays of thinking about the organic world. Antoine
Lavoisier (1743-1794) founded quantitative chemistry and thereby brought
scientific research into a new phase.
The practical application of the intellect to technolog ical problems
led to new inventions. The field of electricity ,vas explored by Benjamin
Franklin (1706-1790) and the Italians Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) and
Alessandro Volta (1745-1827). The inventio n of an efficients team engine
The Classic Outlook 263
0
,...---. ..... .
300 ..,;
NOii.TH
SU
A.TUHTIC
OCEA.H
= ......
c=:i Hot>e_......
~ ....NI M EOI TEltll.A.H EAH SEA
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123 11.,,,u. .
- Bou....,.ortM Heir"-- &np,.. I
Musical centers in the middle of the eighteenth century. This was the Europe of
Louis XV and Louis XVI in France, George II and George Ill in England, Frederick
the Great and Frederick William IV in Prussia, Maria Theresa and Joseph II in
Austria, and Catherine the Great in Russia. The major political divisions and their
leading musical cities are shown here.
in 1769 by the Scottish inventor James Watt (1736-1819) made possible

the Industrial Revolution.
THE C L ASSI C OUTLOOK
The term Classic has come to be applied to characterize the music of the
second half of the eighteenth century. Like some other terms used to label
musical style periods, this one \Vas not used by eighteenth-century musi-
cians to characterize their own music. Rather, it \Vas employed by musi-
cians in the next century to indicate both a perception of Enlightenment
musical style and the historic position that eighteenth-century music In regard to t.l1t muJic of
lht Enligl,ttnmtnl, lht
came to hold. We must therefore keep in mind that, in regard to the music
tum clauic tmboditJ
of the Enlightenment, the term embodies elements of truth but only tells tltmtnls oftrull1 but only
part of the story. tdls part of ll1t story.
In the broadest usage, a classic work of art is one that serves as a
model or sets a standard. Such a \'/'Ork has a universal or timeless appeal,
perhaps in a variety of senses. For example, the \'i'Orks ofShakespeare are
classics of the late Tudor theater, and the poems of Walt Whitman are
classics of nineteenth-century American literature. Palestrina's polyphony
W'aS the classic model for the panconsonant contrapuntal techn ique, and
Corelli's sonatas were classics in the eighteenth century.
The adject ive classic in any context also suggests a relation to clas-
sical antiqu ity; a style of art considered classical should have general
qualities also commonly regarded as belonging to the culture of the
Greco-Roman era. Of course the ancients produced a tremendous vari-
ety of artistic expressions, and the culture of Rome differed in many ways
from that of Greece. The qualities usually know'n as classic, however, are
Apollonian classicism those of the Apollonian spirit. Among these are clarity and simplicity;
symmetry, balance, and order; and objectivity. The most important for-
mulation of the classic aesthetic in eighteenth-century art came from the
German archaeologist Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), who
studied the artifacts unearthed at that time in Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Winckelmann W'rote a History ofAncient Art (1764) that was \videly read
in the last third of the century, in wh ich he characterized the art of classi-
cal antiquity as bearing "noble simplicity and quiet grandeur.'' The poet
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) visited Italy in 1786-1788
and returned inspired to adopt a classical ideal, ,vhich he shared with his
colleague Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) in a movement kno\vn as
"Weimar classicism," after the city in wh ich both men lived.
Some visual artists in the period behveen about 1760 and 1800 cer-
tainly espoused this Apollonian viewpoint, notably the French painter
Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), ,vhose Oath of the Horatii (1784),
Death ofSocrates (1787; Plate 14), and Lictors Bringing to Brutus the Bodies
ofHis Sons (1789) not only take their topics from ancient history but also
feature great nobleness of content, quietness of color, and control of
Neoclassic art design. Th is movement in the visual arts is generally known as neoclas-
sic, to differentiate it from the ancient classic period.
The use of models from ancient times can be seen most clearly in ar-
chitecture. In Paris the French arch itectJacques-Germain Souffiot (1713-
1780) constructed a church (1755-1792) dedicated to Sainte Genevieve
based on the Pantheon in Rome. In America Thomas Jefferson (1743-
1826) designed the Virginia State Capitol (1785-1796) in Richmond
based on the proportions of an ancient temple (Figures 17.1 and 17.2).
The movement toward a more objective approach in art was not lim-
ited to the visual arts. The English writer Alexander Pope (1688-1744),
in his 1711 A11 Essay on Criticism, used carefully balanced couplets to
argue for artistic control over inspiration:
Alexander Popr calls for 'Tis more to gu ide, than spur the Muse's steed;
a neoclassidst approach Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed;
in likratu.re
The ,vinged courser, like a gen'rous horse,
Shows most true mettle ,vhen you check his course.
With classical references, Pope emphasized that to evaluate artistic

\vorks ,ve must understand the contexts from \vhich they arose:
The Classic Outlook 265
Figu re 17.1 The Parthenon in the Acropolis o f Athens. Symmetry and sim plicity o f
desig n were t he characteristics of Greek art that seemed most important to
eighteenth -century artists reacting against the o rnate styles of t he p receding
period.
Figure 17.2 The Virg inia State Capitol in Richmond, d esigned by Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson was clearly influenced by t he design of Greek temple architecture (cf.
Fig ure 17.1).
You then ,vhose judgment the right course would steer,

Know,vell each ANCIENT'$ proper character;
H is Fable, Subject, scope in ev'ry page;
Religio n, Country, genius of his Age:
Without all these at once before your eyes,
Cavil you may, but never criticize.
And he urged reliance on models from classical antiquity:

Be Homer's ,vorks your study and delight,
Read them by day, and meditate by n ight;
Thence form your judgment, thence your maxims bring,
And trace the Muses upward to their spring.1
One example of the eighteenth-century desire to achieve control
and order was the Dictionary of the English language created by Samuel
Johnson (1709-1784) in 1755.Johnson's dictionary standardized English
usage, which had been treated with considerable flexibility until the
eighteenth century. As a rule, the literature of the eighteenth century
belongs to the intellectual realm of prose, rather than to the effusive and
Satirical writing expressive domain of poetry. Particularly successful was social criticism
and satire, w·hich reflected the Enlightenment interest in social and po-
litical reform; Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) in Gulliver's Travels (1726)
and A Modest Proposal (1729) and Voltaire (Franc;ois Marie Arouet;
1694-1778) in Candide (1759) attacked the comfortable self-satisfaction
of the age ,vith ruthless pointedness sharpened by their impressive wit.
One could hardly expect that the music of the second half of the
eighteenth century ,vould return to models of ancient times in the same
,vay as art and literature. Too little remained of the music of classical an-
tiquity to provide composers such models as were available to David,
Souffiot, and Pope. What could be done had largely been tried by the
creators of monody and the opera a century and a half earlier. The effects
of the true classicizing movement in music appear directly only in some
rethinking of the opera. Nevertheless, a deep-rooted desire for clarity
and formal symmetry, for the most part only subconsciously inspired by
ancient ideals, also pervaded the music of the period.
M USICIANS I N LATE -E IGHTEENTH-CENT U RY SO CIETY
The patronage system that had operated since the early feudal times con-
tinued to support most musicians in the late eighteenth century. As po-
litical po,ver and ,vealth centered on several great capitals, musical
Musical capitals developments also focused on those cities. By 1750 the Prussian capital
and patrons of Berlin had already established its musical position in the style of
Empfindsamkeit, and after the death of Frederick the Great in 1786 his
nephe,v, Frederick William II (r. 1786-1797), ,vho played the cello, con-
tinued to patronize music. Frederick the Great's sister, Anna Amalia of
Prussia (1723-1787), ,vas both a modest composer and a devoted collec-
tor of musical scores, ,vhose library became an important resource for
music history. In Austria the Holy Roman Empire's capital, Vienna,
became the center of an international musical style during the period of
Frederick the Great's persistent rival Maria Theresa (1717-1780) and her
son,Josephll (r.1780-1790). Paris in thedaysofLouisXV (r. 1715-1774)
and Louis XVI (r. 1774-1793) continued to cultivate a brilliant artistic
Musicians in Late-Eighteenth-Century Society 267
life. In Russia, follow·ing the reforms and Europeanization begun by

Peter the Great, Catherine the Great (r. 1762-1796) generally imported
w·estern European composers for her capital at St. Petersburg.
Other, smaller court cities also cultivated music, of course. In Salzburg,
Austria, the prince-archbishop maintained a fine musical establishment in
the context of a glittering rococo architectural milieu. Germany had
active musical establishments in the electoral courts; particularly impor-
tant ,vere Mannheim and Munich. The Italian peninsula remained po-
litically fragmented, and sections of it ,vere controlled by foreign powers
(Spain in the south and Austria in the north). However, its cities kept
up their musical life in opera, church, and court. In England, ,vhere
the merchant class controlled a large portion of the wealth, culture was
directed more toward commercial enterprise than on the Continent,
,vhere the aristocracy still controlled the means necessary for supporting
the arts.
The patronage of a ,vealthy aristocracy had mixed effects on
eighteenth-century musicians. Its main advantage was a degree of per- Musicians' lives under
sonal security; the court musician was housed, fed, and clothed (albeit in patronage
a servant's livery). There was no lack of musical opportunity, and working
in close association with a fairly stable group of colleagues gave musi-
cians the chance to interact to their mutual profit. On the other hand, the
position of the musician carried the relatively lo,v social status of a house-
hold servant. Moreover, musicians were at the mercy of the desires and
tastes of the patron. As already mentioned, C. P. E. Bach chafed under
this situation at Berlin, and soon other composers would challenge the
patronage system in an attempt to atta in artistic independence.
With the continuing rise of the bourgeoisie and the progressive relo-
cation of the ,vealth of Europe from the aristocracy to the commercial
classes, musicians and entrepreneurs created new musical institutions
and situations. The public opera house-developed in Venice a century
earlier and later attempted in Hamburg-became a more common phe-
nomenon. Public concerts, generally called acade1nies, began to spread,
,vith tickets sold by subscription in advance. A new profession appeared
in a number of cities, that of the impresario, ,vho arranged concert series.
This gave some composers an alternative way to acquire an income. Entropronouuhip
Among the early successful impresarios ,vere some ,vho ,vere also im-
portant composers. In London from 1764 Johann Sebastian Bach's
youngest son,Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782) (Example 17.1), and
Karl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787) put together an important series of
concerts. In Paris, Franc;ois-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829) founded in
1769 a series called the Concert des amateurs, and he later directed the
Concert spirituel, ,vhich had begun in 1725 and lasted until the revolu-
tion. In Leipzig, which, as ,ve have noted earl ier, was a commercial city
rather than one governed by a prince, the composer, ,vriter, and educator
Johann Adam Hiller (1728-1804) led a series of concerts intended not
so much as an entrepreneurial venture as to raise the city's cultural level.
Example 17.1 The opening of Johann Christian Bach's Sonata in G Major, op. 5,
no. 3 (1766), illustrates the slow harmonic rhythm and transparent melody-and-
accompaniment texture of the m id -eighteenth century. In 1772 Mozart arranged
this sonata as a concerto (K. 107/2).
Allegro
-.,
~ - " e-
-- ~ ....,
-,- ~r: .
~r
~ -"' ___::
~
[t) p I
..... ......
p
. ... •
-- -
- i!I=
From 1781 these ,vere kno,vn as the Ge,vandhaus Concerts, and they
became one of the longest-running such concert series.
Another ne,vly profitable enterprise ,vas the composition of music
Music: publishing for publication. Music publishing had, of course, constituted an active
industry for more than hvo hundred years, but the market did not yet
bear tremendous mass production. Even as recent a composer as J. S.
Bach published very little of h is total output. Composers' first obliga-
tions had been to their patrons and to practical needs; the aud ience for
published music had been limited, and commonly the publication of
The growt.h of a large music had depended on a special occasion or on a dedication to a noble
tnoi.gh con.sumtr class patron in expectation of financial remuneration. In the course of the
tncouragr.d compostrs to
eighteenth century, ho,vever, the gro,vth of a large enough consumer
l'ry to tarn a dtctnt living
from works c-0mpost.d for class encouraged composers to try to earn a decent living from works
t.lit public. composed for the public.
One genre that particularly depended on the commercial market
,vas the lied, which flourished in sheet music and domestic periodicals.
Even the leading composers in the large genres contributed to the song
repertoire, and minor composers began to find the lied a field with some
potential for specialization. The simple, popular aesthetic ideal and style
espoused by the Berlin composers and others made their lieder spiritu-
ally sympathetic and stylistically familiar to the bourgeois public.
The turn aw·ay from reliance on patronage affected musical style.
Composers ,vho ,vere no longer guided by the practical needs of the noble-
man's daily life became increasingly free to explore their ow·n imagination
rather than compose to patrons' tastes. They confronted a ne,v opportu-
nity to express their ow·n most personal or profound artistic thoughts. In
attempting to please the public, however, they subjected themselves to a
different kind of influence. The aristocratic audience had been musically
and artistically knowledgeable, often fairly well-trained musicians them-
selves. We have mentioned that Frederick the Great played the flute and
his successor Frederick William II the cello; Maria Theresa appeared as a
Ktnntr and Litbhabtr singer in her younger days. The nobility thus constituted an audience of
Kenner, or connoisseurs. In general the bourgeois public appreciated
Contrasting Careers for Musicians: Haydn and Mozart 269
music in a less-sophisticated manner. Many among them ,vere not trained

musicians themselves; they were instead Liebhaber, or amateurs. Their
preferences naturally ran to music that ,vas simpler in compositional
detail and more striking in effect than that preferred by connoisseurs. At
the same time, the bourgeois listener ,vas less likely to regard music as
many aristocrats did, as one component of the decoration of a lavish life-
style, than as a means of building moral character and culture.
CONTRASTING CAREERS FOR MUSICIANS:

HAYDN AND MOZART
It is useful to consider as examples of the benefits and disadvantages of the

patronage system the careers of the hvo most famous composers of the late
eighteenth-century era-FranzJoseph Haydn (1732-1809) and Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)-between the 1750s and about 1780.
Franz Joseph H aydn

Haydn ,vas born in a small village in the Austro-Hungarian territory into
a not particularly musical fam ily. Because he sho,ved musical talent, he
,vas sent to study ,vith a musical relative and in 1740 entered the choir of
St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. The cathedral exploited its boy cho-
risters' abilities but did not reward them ,vith much in the way of educa-
tion; thus in 1750, ,vhen Haydn could no longer maintain his soprano
voice, he found himself on h is o,vn in the great capital and equipped to
support himself only in meager fashion.
Vienna offered him the chance to rub shoulders ,vith some fine mu- Haydn's youth
sicians and other important figures, ho,vever, including the court poet
and librettist Metastasio, who lived in the building where Haydn had a
garret room. Haydn managed to study privately for a time ,vith the
opera composer Nicola Porpora, in ,vhose house he served as a valet,
and he gained some fluency in the galant style. Without patronage, ho,v-
ever, he nearly starved, because he could earn only a meager income by
private teaching and playing. In 1759 he ,vas finally discovered by Count
Ferdinand Morzin of Bohemia, ,vho made Haydn his Kapellmeister and
offered him his first decent living. Unfortunately, Morzin disbanded his
musicians for financial reasons in 1761.
Haydn then gained a position ,vith the wealthy Esterhazy family,
close relatives of the imperial fam ily in Vienna. Prince Paul Esterhazy
made him vice-Kapellmeister and put him in charge of most of the
household music, ,vith an ensemble of sixteen players. When Prince Paul
died in 1762, the ne,v prince, Nicholas, expanded the palace orchestra to
thirty. In 1766 the old Kapellmeister died, and Haydn gained full Haydn as princely musk
authority over th is substantial musical establishment. Soon after this the di.re-ctor
prince moved from his fine palace at Eisenstadt to Esterhaza, a fabulous

new· country palace that rivaled Versailles in splendor. It w·as described,

perhaps by Prince Nicholas h imself, as follow·s:
A contrmporary report The castle is in Italian style . .. surrounded by a beautifully propor-
describes the palace of tioned stone gallery. Most valuable are t\vo rooms used by the
Estt-rh,h.a
prince. One of them contains ten Japanese panels in black lacquer
adorned with golden flowers and landscapes, each of \vhich cost
more than a thousand florins. The chairs and divans are covered
\vith golden fabric. There are also some extremely valuable cabinets
and a bronze clock that plays the flute. In the second room, richly
adorned with golden ornaments, is another gilded clock \Vith a
canary on top that moves and ,vhistles pleasant tunes when the
clock strikes, as \veil as an armchair that plays a flute solo when you
sit on it. The chandeliers are made from artistically ,vrought rock
crystal. In the library there are seventy-five hundred books, all ex-
quisite editions, to ,vhich novelties are being added daily. It also
contains numerous manuscripts and many excellent old and ne\v
engravings by the best masters. The picture gallery is liberally sup-
plied \vith first-class original paintings by famous Italian and Dutch
masters which fill the eye of the connoisseur ,vith delight and
admiration.
The music at Esterhaza did not all take place in the prince's chambers in
the palace. There ,vere, in fact, hvo different opera theaters on the
grounds.
In an alley of \vild chestnut trees stands the magnificent opera
house. The boxes at the sides open into charming rooms furnished
most luxuriously,vith fireplaces, divans, mirrors, and clocks. The
theater holds four hundred people. Every day, at 6 P.M. there is a
performance of an Italian opera seria or buffa or of German comedy,
always attended by the prince. Words cannot describe ho\v both
eye and ear are delighted here. When the music begins, its touching
delicacy, the strength and force of the instruments penetrate the
soul, for the great composer Herr Haydn himself is conducting. But
the audience is also overwhelmed by the adm irable lighting and the
deceptively perfect stage settings. At first \Ve see the clouds on
\vhich the gods are seated sink slo\vly to earth. Then the gods rise
up\vard and instantly vanish, and then again everything is trans-
formed into a delightful garden, an enchanted \vood, or, it may be,
a glorious hall.
Opposite the opera house is the marionette theater, built like a
grotto. All the \Valls, niches, and apertures are covered with varie-
gated stones, shells, and snails that afford a very curious and strik-
ing sight \vhen they are illuminated. The theater is rather large, and
the decorations are extremely artistic. The puppets are beautifully
formed and magnificently dressed; they play not only farces and
Contrasting Careers for Musicians: Haydn and Mozart 271
comedies, but also opera seria. The performances in both theaters

are open to everyone. 2
Haydn thus had substantial responsibilities and a tremendous
amount of work. He had to provide regular Tafelmusik (dinner music),
t\110 academies (concerts) every ,veek, the music for the regular and the
marionette opera, and sacred music for the princely ,vorship services.
Moreover, Prince Nicholas himself ,vas an avid player of the baryton, a
fretted, bo,ved string instrument related to the old viola da gamba but
,vith additional sympathetically vibrating strings that ran behind the in-
strument's neck and could be plucked ,vith the left-hand thumb. For this
peculiar instrument Haydn composed at least 125 trios for the prince to
play ,vith his hired musicians.
The advantages of Haydn's situation are clear: he had a good ensem-
ble of players who served under h is o,vn discipline and played together
day and night; he had no lack of opportunities for ,vhich to compose; his
Croesus-like patron attracted to Esterhaza the finest musicians in Europe
and audiences of noble connoisseurs. It is clear from the previous report Advantages and
that the name of Haydn became famous enough to be included as one of disadvantages of
patronage
the attractions of the palace. The composer's imagination necessarily
had to channel his inspiration according to the prince's needs and tastes,
ho,vever, so that ,vhen baryton trios and puppet operas were called for,
Haydn had to spend his efforts on those; in addition, he complained of
his isolation at Esterhaza, a,vay from a musical center where he could
gain inspiration and challenges by frequent hearings of the latest compo-
sitions of his best contemporaries. As he himself once put it, he was
"forced to become original." Haydn continued to ,vork at Esterhaza until As Haydn l1inutlf once put
after Prince Nicholas's death in 1790 and thereafter he remained offi- it_, ht was "foru.d to btcome
original."
cially the Kapellmeister of the Esterhazy family.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozar t

Mozart's situation differed drastically from Haydn's. His father, Leopold
Mozart (1719-1787), was employed as a violinist and court composer by
the prince-archbishop of Salzburg and authored an important treatise
on violin playing, the Versuch einer gru11dliche11 Violinschule (Essay on a
fundamental violin course, 1756). Wolfgang, a musical child prodigy,
began both playing and composing at a very early age and ,vas supported
(and sometimes driven) by his father's high ambitions for h im. In 1762, Mozart's childhood
,vhen Wolfgang was just six years old, Leopold presented him and his
sister "Nannerl" (her real name w·as Maria Anna, and she was two and a
half years older than her brother) at the electoral court in Munich and at
the court of the empress Maria Theresa in Vienna. The follo,ving year
Leopold took the two children on a tour to Paris and London. Wolf-
gang's first published compositions, four sonatas for keyboard and
violin, appeared in Paris in 1764. In London he met and learned from
Johann Christian Bach, some of w·hose keyboard sonatas he later tran-

scribed into small concertos.
After 1766 the Mozarts used Salzburg as their home base-Leopold
,vas by this time deputy Kapellmeister and Wolfgang held the title of
honorary court concertmaster-and made a series of visits to Italy so
that Wolfgang could absorb the Italian style and try to ,viden his reputa-
ltalian travols tion. The first of these trips lasted from 1769 to 1771. They met the lead-
ing Italian sinfonia composer Sammartini and the opera composer
Niccolo Piccinni (1728-1800) in Milan. Wolfgang studied counterpoint
,vith the reno,vned theorist and teacher Padre Giovann i Battista Martini
( 1706-1784) in Bologna. They gave concerts in any city ,vhere it ,vas pos-
sible, and Mozart even managed to compose his first Italian opera seria,
Mitridate, re di Ponto, and see it successfully staged in Milan. Leopold
and Wolfgang made two more journeys to Italy in 1771 and 1772-1773.
In 1772 a ne,v archbishop was installed in Salzburg, Count Hierony-
mus Colloredo. For Colloredo, whose court naturally needed liturgical
music, Mozart ,vrote a quantity of Masses, other sacred settings, and so-
natas da chiesa in trio scoring. The archbishop and Mozart could not
Difficulties with agree, ho,vever, on the proper role of the court musician. Mozart kne,v
patronage in Sal,burg his o,vn genius and ,vas inclined to insist on respect and a certain degree
of freedom, ,vhereas Colloredo wished to hold his youthful court con-
certmaster to the position and duties of servant. Particularly irksome to
Colloredo ,vere the Mozarts' continual requests for liberty to travel.
Mozart ,vas off to Vienna in 1773 and to Munich to stage an opera in
1775. By 1777 Mozart's discontent in Salzburg and ambition for
his career had grown to the extent that he asked to be dismissed from
the archbishop's service. He and his mother traveled to Mannheim
and Paris, hoping to find a good new position, but none ,vas offered.
His mother died in Paris in the midst of the journey, and Mozart had
to see her buried there and send the news to his father. He returned to
Salzburg, ,vhere he ,vas granted a new and some,vhat h igher-paying posi-
tion as court organist.
The new situation turned out not much different from the former
one. Mozart's relationship with Count Colloredo did not improve, and
by 1781 things had come to a crisis. After a particularly acrimonious
confrontation, Colloredo fired Mozart and had his steward literally kick
the young composer out of the room. This colorful event took place in
Vienna, and Mozart, now free from service, resolved to establish h imself
in that city, making his living by teaching and giving concerts until he
could find patronage.
Thus, in sharp contrast to Haydn, Mozart pressed the limitations of
fo conl'rasl lo Haydn, the patronage system to, or past, their extreme. He managed to travel
Afo-zart pres.std tht ,videly and to absorb the influences of the different national styles of all
limitations oftht patronage
systtm to, or past, the important musical capitals of Europe, and he challenged the position
thtirtxtrtmt. of the musician as mere lackey to a noble court. Ultimately, the system
could no longer tolerate such independence, and he was ejected from it.
Opera Seria and Opera Refonn 273
C OM I C O P ERA IN T HE EAR LY ENL IGHTENMENT
As the opera buffa matured, it increased in sophistication. Unlike the

serious opera, it featured ensemble singi ng in which the rhetorical ex-
pression of the affects eventually matured into musical ,vorking out of
the conflicts behveen characters. This ensemble ,vriting culminated par-
ticularly in the act finales, in ,vhich as many characters as possible ap-
peared on stage at once. The dramatic action could then come to a climax
in a number that ,vould also be musically satisfying. Among the best of
the Italian composers ,vas Piccinni, ,vho brought to the opera a fine sense
of musical form adapted to dramatic needs, as ,veil as a more interesting
texture in ,vhich the orchestra gained some independent appeal.
The finest opera buffa libretti were ,vritten by Carlo Goldoni (1707-
1793). Besides the craftsmanship of his texts, which brilliantly met the
needs of the composer, Goldoni contributed a more thoughtful tone to
the stories than earlier comic librettos had provided. The characters in- Goldonl's librettos
creasingly took on flesh and blood, and the situations turned a,vay from
mere farce and to,vard social comment and sentimental or semiserious
situations. The designation opera bu.ffa seemed inappropriate for these
more sophisticated comic operas, and the term dram ma giocoso (roughly
meaning "cheerful drama") came into frequent use.
Haydn ,vrote operas for the theaters at Esterhaza, but he did not con-
sider opera among his true fields of expertise. Mozart, in contrast, com-
posed operas throughout his life, both seria and buffa, as ,veil as singspiel.
His first opera buffa ,vas La .finta semplice (The feigned simpleton, 1769), Mozart's early operas
based on a Goldoni plot, and almost simultaneously came a singspiel,
Bastien und Bastienne, derived from Rousseau's opera comique Le Devin
du village. Mozart's first opera seria, Mitridate, re di Ponto of 1770, has
already been mentioned. These ,vorks and the others that followed in the
1770s sho,v excellent craftsmanship but not great originality. They dem-
onstrate Mozart's early grasp of the contemporary styles of dramatic
music and a good sense of the demands of the stage and the singers.
O PERA SERIA AND OPERA REFORM
Opera seria continued to thrive in the second half of the eighteenth cen-
tury, particularly in the theaters that served the nobility. Its style tended
to be conservative, but the Enlightenment inclination to,vard simplicity
and naturalistic expression also began to take effect in this genre. Com-
posers began to take steps to modify the opera's artificial conventions.
More and more often they gave up the static da capo aria structure and Changes in opera style
consequently reduced the singers' opportunities to embellish their parts
ad libitum. The distinction between recitative and aria gradually less-
ened, because increasingly the recitative ,vas accompan ied rather than
secco and because the cadences at the ends of recitatives, and even in
some cases arias, ,vere not always clearly articulated but elided ,vith the
follow·ing material. The orchestra and chorus were given more to do,
w·ith the result that the opera seemed less a cha in of ind ividual singers
pouring out their passions like orators. These changes came about gradu-
ally, so the older rationalist, affective conventions of opera continued in
use throughout the eighteenth century.
The most rad ical opera reformer w·as Christoph Willibald Gluck
(1714-1787), a native of Bohemia (no,v the Czech Republic). Gluck left
his homeland for Italy to absorb the musical style of that country, much
as Handel had done th irty years earlier. In Milan between 1737 and 1741
he came under the influence of Sammartini, and he stayed in Italy until
1745. Then he traveled, meeting Handel in England in 1746. In 1752
The Calzabigi/ Gluck Gluck settled in Vienna under imperial patronage. There he ,vorked
collaboration closely ,vith the Italian librettist Raniero Calzabigi (1714-1795), an
unusually progressive dramatist for that time (and one of the earl iest
literary figures on the Continent to appreciate the ach ievements of
Shakespeare). The collaboration of these hvo men produced several re-
markable works, notably Orfeo ed Euridice (1762), a retelling of the myth
that had so inspired the earliest opera composers, and Alceste (1767),
,vhich took up a subject already tackled by Lully. Both of these operas
sound quite unlike the usual Italian operatic fare of the period. The vocal
lines are much simpler, the forms less static, and the orchestration more
interesting. The classicizing process is clearly at work here.
Gluck provided an explicit outline of his aims in the dedication essay
for Alceste in 1769. He first proclaimed his commitment to keeping musi-
cal considerations in second place to dramatic ones:
Gluck lists new artistic YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS! When I set out to create the music of
values for oprra Alceste, I proposed to remove from it completely all those abuses,
introduced either by the mistaken vanity of singers or by the exces-
sive complaisance of composers, that have for a long time d isfig-
ured Italian opera and turned the most splendid and most beautiful
of all spectacles into the most ridiculous and offensive. I thought to
restrict music to its true function of serving poetry through expres-
sion and through the situations of the story, ,vithout interrupting
the action or smothering it under useless, superfluous ornaments.
He took back control of the vocal parts from the singers who had indulged
themselves in self-aggrandizing virtuosity in the old da capo aria form:
I did not ,vant, therefore, to stop an actor in the greatest heat of the
d ialogue to ,vait for an annoying ritornello, nor to hold him up in
the middle of a ,vord on a favorable vo,vel in order to d isplay in a
longpassaggio the agility of his beautiful voice, nor to wait for the
orchestra to give him time to regain his breath for a cadenza. I did
not believe it my duty to rush rapidly through the second part of an
aria, which might be the most impassioned and important part, so
Opera Seria and Opera Reforn1 275
as to have space to repeat literally four times the W'Ords of the first
part, and to finish the aria where perhaps its sense does not end, so
as to make it easy for the singer to demonstrate that he can capri-
ciously vary a passage in so many fashions; in summary, I have tried
to eliminate all those abuses against ,vhich for a long time good
sense and reason have clamored vainly.
Echoing the neoclassic ideals of the archaeologist Winckelmann, whom
he probably met in Italy, Gluck wrote,
I believed, then, that my greatest effort ought to be concentrated on
seeking a beautiful simplicity; and I have avoided making display of
difficulty at the expense of clarity.
And he did not neglect to credit his collaborator Calzabigi:
By good fortune, the libretto-in w'hich the famous author, con-
ceiving a new level of drama, had substituted for florid descriptions,
superfluous paragons, and sententious, cold moralizing the lan-
guage of the heart, strong passions, interesting situations, and an
ever-changing spectacle-suited itself marvelously to my inten-
tion. Success has justified my maxims, and universal approval in
such an enlightened city has clearly demonstrated that simplicity,
truth, and naturalness are the great principles of the beautiful in all
,vorks of art.J
"Simplicity, truth, and naturalness" ,vere the ,vatchwords of the neo-
classic movement and especially of the theories of the French philos-
ophes. It should not be surprising, therefore, that Gluck's ,vorks had even Gluck in Paris
greater success on the Parisian opera stage of the second half of the cen-
tury than in Vienna, ,vhere tastes still tended to the decorative galant
style. Indeed, the increased importance of chorus and orchestra in
Gluck's operas had its basis in the French tradition. In the 1770s Gluck
arranged, translated, and revised versions of both Orfeo ed Euridice
(1774) and Alceste (1776) for the French audiences, and he also com-
posed several major libretti in French, traveling to Paris to supervise the
productions.
Follo,ving the challenge brought by the Italian style during the
guerre des bouffons in the 1750s, the French were eager to adopt a ne,v
style that ,vould both satisfy their national proclivities and offer an aes-
thetic program that ,vould counter the popularity of the Italian manner.
Gluck's,vorks and his theories provided exactly,vhat the French wanted,
and the operatic battles ,vere joined once more. Piccinni ,vas adopted as
the paragon of the Italian style, and the guerre des Gluckistes et des Picci11-
11istes ,vas on. Piccinni got the ,vorst of it. This is not surprising, since the The war ofthr Gluckistrs
Gluckistes had a more clearly reasoned platform and therefore at least a and Picdnnistts
stronger debating position when the struggle took place in the journals
rather than in the theater. In addition, of course, Gluck's party could

appeal to French nationalism-an odd appeal, to be sure, backed up by
the w·ork of a Bohemian composer trained in Italy, but no more surpris-
ing than Handel's earlier success v.rith Italian opera in England.
Although Gluck's operas and theories embodied fine aesthetics,
they had few immediate imitators. The stripped-dow·n simplicity of the
most classicizing passages did not meet the need for at least some degree
of sho\viness and brilliance in the operatic genre. Gluck's austere aes-
thetic position appealed to the intellect, and although it \Vas interesting,
it \Vas not sufficiently entertaining to support a broadly based ne,v musi-
Gluck's ausltrt posilfon cal style. However, his theories about the proper relation bet\veen the
appt.a lt.d to the fottlltcl
libretto and the music ,vere long lasting and, as \Ve shall discover, \Vere
and was not suffidtntly
tnltrlaining lo support a
taken up later in the history of operatic aesthetics. Mozart, ,vho was in
broadly bastd ntw stylt. Paris during the controversy between the Gluckistes and Piccinnistes,
stayed clear of the fighting. We shall discover his particular point of vie\v
on the aesthetic relat ionship bet\veen music and libretto in the opera in
the next chapter.
I NSTRUMEN T AL G E NRE S A N D THE S ONATA P L A N
Music in the Enlightenment period depended on a considerable degree

of convention in structure and style. This reliance on convention, looked
do\vn on by the Romantics of the nineteenth century, offered consider-
Values of convention able advantages that ,ve should not neglect to observe. It allo,ved the
production of large quantities of music that, even ,vhen it did not reflect
genius, met a high standard of craftsmanship and ensured audience
appeal. More important, it fostered a cosmopolitan style that permitted
composers a wide audience to \vhom any ,vork ,vithin the musical lingua
franca ,vould be accessible.
One of the areas in ,vhich convention prevailed during the Enlight-
enment w·as the formulation of a fairly standardized overall outline for
various types of instrumental music in multiple movements. We may
Sonata plan refer to this outline as the sonata plan. It applied to solo, chamber, or or-
chestral ,vorks by a variety of titles, with certain characteristic variants.
In broad outline it consisted of several self-contained, contrasting move-
ments, centered around the govern ing tonality. The follo,ving discussion
describes and places in context the most important instrumental genres
of the period.
The Symph ony

The symphony assumed predominance in the instrumental repertoire,
replacing the concerto and orchestral suite that had held this position
The symphony previously. It constitutes a sonata-plan ,vork for orchestra. The orches-
tral ensemble for this period was not fixed but varied considerably. At
its core stood the four-part string group-two violin sections, violas,
Instrun1ental Genres and the Sonata Plan 277
and cellos and basses playing from the same line-totaling from about
sixteen to as many as forty players for the largest and most important
standing orchestras. The w·oodw·inds included one or h\l'O flutes, a pair of
oboes, and a pair of bassoons; two clarinets might appear, usually as al-
ternatives to the oboes. A pair of horns ,.,,.as common; at Mannheim there
,.,,.ere h\l'O pairs. 1\\l'o trumpets and a pair of timpani might be incorpo-
rated in particularly brilliant ,.,,.orks. The role of the ,.,,.inds gradually de-
veloped during the second quarter of the century from mostly supplying
sustained harmonies and occasionally doubling the violins' melodic line
to playing fully independent parts. The orchestra was commonly led
from the keyboard. The original sources often provide a continue part
for harpsichord or piano, although this was usually no longer necessary
to complete the harmony and is often omitted in modern performances
of this repertoire. As a violinist, Johann Stamitz led the Mannheim or-
chestra from the concertmaster's position, but his ,.,,.orks still include fig-
ured bass parts.
The sonata plan may be understood best if ,.,,.e begin by examining it
as it ,.,,.as expressed in the symphony. After 1750 the symphony normally
has four movements. The first movement is generally longest and some- Four-movement sonata
,.,,.hat serious; it adopts a fast tempo, although it may be prefaced by a plan
slo,.,,. introduction after the manner of the French opera overture. The
second movement is slow and may be in the sentimental vein of the emp-
findsamer Stil or cantabile, like a graceful aria. It is likely to be in the
subdominant or, in minor-key ,.,,.orks, the submediant, representing a
relative relaxation in intensity in comparison to the other movements.
Third comes a minuet movement in the tonic key, derived from the ear-
lier orchestral suite and actually consisting of h\l'O binary-form minuets
(the second called trio), the first returning after the second and played
,.,,.ithout its repetitions. The finale is fast and light to provide a brilliant,
optimistic conclusion.
The String Quartet

Similar to the symphony in design is the string quartet, which replaced
the trio sonata as the chamber music genre par excellence for the En-
lightenment. Early quartets often employ t\\l'O violin parts and place the
viola line in octaves ,.,,.ith the cello, which suggests that the trio texture
,.,,.ith basso continue gave ,.,,.ay only in stages, first by the substitution for
the keyboard part of mere doubling of the bass. Haydn's early quartets, Emergonce oft ho string
,.,,.ritten in the 1760s, provide examples of th is texture. It is also possible quartet
that the early quartet allowed the option of using multiple players on
each line ad libitum, ,vhich creates a small string orchestra, rather than
only one player on each part.
The sonata plan for the quartet is usually identical to that of the sym-
phony. In some instances h\l'O minuet movements are included, one pre-
ceding and the other follo,.,,.ing the slow movement.
Because the sound of the string quartet is rather spare and transpar-
ent, it depends more on structure and texture for its appeal than do other
Textures in the quartet genres. During the early part of the period composers could employ t\vo
textural possibilities besides the older, triolike scoring. They could give
the first violin the lead and let it carry almost all the melodic interest
,vhile the other three parts together functioned as its accompaniment.
Th is gave the music a transparent texture and placed m inimal demands
on the amateur performers for ,vhom some of this literature ,vas in-
tended. It also gave virtuoso violinists opportunities to shine, even in
intimate settings; Haydn's quartets op. 9 (ca. 1769) and op. 17 (com-
pleted 1771), for example, have technically advanced first violin parts
that ,vould have been played by the Esterhaza violinist Luigi Tomasini
(1741-1808; Example 17.2). Composers also explored the possibilities of
more rigorous four-part counterpoint, creating fugal movements in a
contemporary style. Haydn ,vorked ,vith this approach in the finales of
three of the six quartets of his op. 20 (1772).
The Keyboard Sonata

After 1750 the fortepiano became more fully developed and replaced the
harpsichord as the instrument of choice. Its ability to create dynam ic ef-
Thesonata's appeal fects helped make it popular. The keyboard sonata offered the composer
Example 17.2 Haydn's String Quartet in C Major, op. 9, no.1, opens with a passage
that featured t he virtuosity of the Esterhaza vio linist Luig i Tomasini. The second
strain is an embellished repetition of the first.
Violin ll
. .,
Viola
' ' '
• J
\lln. II
Vfa.
Ve.
Instrun1ental Genres and the Sonata Plan 279
a market for publication, since the draw·ing rooms of the middle class
demanded a steady supply of such music. It also appealed to composers
because dynamic effects could be made to reinforce musical structure.
The keyboard solo sonata adopted the sonata plan, usually in only three
movements, omitting the minuet.
The sonata for keyboard w·ith violin also had a vogue in this period.
Significantly, such pieces did not derive from the older solo sonata with
basso continua, in w·hich the violin had held the dominant musical
interest. They were created by adding a violin part to an essentially Keyboard sonatas
self-sufficient keyboard sonata. The violin's roles in this repertoire ,vere w ith violin
generally to double the right-hand melodic line of the piano part, to add
fullness to the harmony in an accompanimental function, and occasion-
ally to lend a countermelodic interest. This type of scoring created a
double market for the music, because the pieces could be played either
\vith or ,vithout the violin. The piano trio, for piano, violin, and cello,
developed in a similar manner. The cello parts in early examples usually
do no more than reinforce the bass lines of the piano parts.
The Concerto
The Enlightenment composers inherited the rationalist concerto genre
and adapted it to the ne,v style. The concerto grosso declined in impor-
tance, but the use of multiple featured solo players continued in the sinfo-
nia concertante. Although it is sometimes described as a symphony \Vith Sinfonia concertante
passages for soloists, the sinfonia concertante ,vould be better under-
stood as a genuine concerto with concertina groups. Many sinfonie con-
certante \Vere composed and played in the late eighteenth century, but
the genre as a whole d id not fare well through the nineteenth century's
emphasis on the star soloist, and fe,v are played in the modern standard
orchestral repertoire.
More important ,vere solo concertos, which ,vere ,vritten for most of
the available instruments, for various occasions, and for particular play-
ers, but of ,vhich those for violin or piano stand out. The masterpieces of Solo concertos
the genre are the piano concertos of Mozart, ,vho, like other aspiring
musicians, used these works to present himself as both composer and
performer.
The concerto and sinfonia concertante both adopt the three-movement
version of the sonata plan. Since their composers continued the conven- Three-movementsonata
tions of the genre of the past few generations, unlike the symphony they plan
did not absorb a significant influence from the suite, and they conse-
quently do not commonly include a minuet.
The Divert imento

An important and common genre in the eighteenth century \Vas the
divertimento, a type of music composed for less-formal entertainment
situations in noble households rather than for concert presentations. The
title Divertimento was given to specific pieces, but the term may also
Subgenresofdivertimento be used to cover a variety of subtypes with various titles. Among these
are the French Serenade, Italian Serenata or Notturno, and the German
equivalent Nachtmusik, all suggesting a piece to be played in the evening.
One also encounters the title Cassation, which is of uncertain derivation;
it might indicate a piece to be played out of doors, from the German
Gasse, meaning "street'' or "lane.'' The ensembles called for in diverti-
menti vary considerably, from string quartets to wind ensembles or full
orchestras, w·hich reflects that theyw·ere generallyw·ritten for specific oc-
casions and the players w·ho happened to be at hand.
The d ivertimento was more closely related to the suite than to the
other instrumental genres mentioned here. It is likely to have more than
four movements, sometimes many more. Moreover, these movements
commonly incorporate dances, not only minuets but also gavottes, bour-
rees, and the like.
THE SONAT A FORM AND ITS VAR IANT S
One of the most durable creations in the history of musical structure is

the conventional procedure developed in the eighteenth century for the
design of large movements within sonata-plan works. This procedure,
generally known today as sonata form and sometimes as sonata-allegro
form, deserves special consideration, partly because of its effective and
flexible conception and partly because it is popularly so misunderstood.
Although ,ve refer to it as a form, ,ve must keep in mind that this proce-
dure was not a formula or a mold according to which music had to fit;
instead, it ,vas actually a dynamic interplay of harmonic process and
thematic materials, allo,ving room for all sorts of imaginative permuta-
Alt.liough we rt/tr to it as a tions. Composers exploited these possibilities almost universally for
form, sonata form was opening movements in the symphony, quartet, and sonata; ,vith certain
adually a dynamic:
inttrplay of l,armonic common adaptations they employed them in slo,v movements and fina-
proctss and thtmalJc les; and a special application ,vas also used in the concerto and sinfonia
maltrials. concertante.
Harmonic Plan
The sonata form is defined first by its harmonic plan, ,vhich expands the
Sonata form as a binar-y ,veil-established rounded binary form. It therefore has t,vo main parts,
de-sign the first setting out a principal key and modulating to a contrasting key
(dominant or relative major) and the second returning to the ton ic. Both
the arrival of the ne,v key and the return to the tonic are strongly con-
firmed by a considerable period of activity and a firm cadence in those
tonal areas. The two parts of the structure are therefore divided into hvo
sections each: part 1 contains the principal key area with the departure
from it, follo,ved by the secondary key area; and part 2 begins ,vith the
The Sonata Form and Its Variants 281
modulatory passage and concludes w·ith the passage that extends from
the return of the principal key to the end.
Them atic Plan

The tonal plan of the sonata form organizes a series of thematic events,
w·hich in turn articulate the crucial moments in the harmonic outline. As Melodic materials in
in the usual rounded binary form, the establishment of the tonic at the sonata forms
beginning and its return in the second part are related and reinforced by
the use of the same thematic material (P) at both points. In add ition, the
arrival of the secondary key area is also correlated \vith a clear thematic
statement; this may be a contrasting theme (S) or, less commonly but by
no means rarely, the same theme as that used to set up the principal key
(P used as S, in ,vhich case the form is sometimes regarded as a "mono-
thematic sonata form"). Other important sections may also be identified
\vith particular melod ic material, transitions (T, or t if the material
cannot appropriately be thought of as thematic), and closings (Kor k) . In
general, the passage follo,ving the return to the tonic in part 2 incorpo-
rates all the main themat ic ideas ofpart 1, so that everything is ultimately
resolved into the tonic key. Thematic act ivity in the often brief third sec-
tion remains unpredictable and irregular; eighteenth-century musicians
commonly called this section "fantasy."
Outline of Son at a Form

Sonata form, in its most characteristic manifestation, can be outlined as
follows:
Part 1 Part 2 Schematic view of sonata

form
Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4
p (T, t) s (K, k) : "fantasy" p (T, t) S (K)
I v............v modulatory I·····················I
A monothematic sonata form \vould be outlined in the following manner

(note that section 4 does not require two full statements of the P mate-
rial, since one statement provides the necessary resolution.
Part 1 Part2 Monothematic sonata

form
p p "fantasy" p
I v..............v modulatory 1...............1
For movements in minor keys \vhere, as most commonly occurs, the S

material appears in the relative major key rather than the minor dom i-
nant, there are hvo possibilities for the return of the tonic, depending on
the character of the S material. If the material can effectively be trans-

formed into minor, section 4 can be entirely in the tonic minor. Other-
,vise, section 4 can shift to the parallel major ,vhen S arrives:
Sonata form in minor L::eys Part 1 Part 2

p (T, t) S (K, k) : "fantasy" P (T) S (K)
. .
I III---·······--III modulatory l····· ·· ··· ·· ··· ·· ···I
or i--··········· -I-----I
It must be stressed that the form of any movement is precisely the form
of that particular movement. To identify a movement as an example of
sonata form means only that it shares the form's characteristic tonal
design, organizing and articulated by thematic events.
Some Terminological Clarificat ion

The composers of the late eighteenth century recognized that they ,vere
using this large-scale binary structure consistently by convention for
major instrumental movements. They did not use the term sonata form,
ho,vever; that ,vas an invention of nineteenth-century theorists looking
back at their repertoire of classic ,vorks and attempting to describe them
in an orderly fashion.
Also anachronistic are three familiar terms used to identify units
,vithin the form. Part 1 of the sonata form later came to be called exposi-
tion; sections 3 and 4 ,vere dubbed develop1nent and recapitulation, re-
Anachronistic spectively. The odd positioning of these terms in relation to the sonata
descriptions of the form scheme as ,ve have observed it reveals the source of the confusion: the
later theorists regarded the form as if it were based on thematic rather
than tonal organization, and the design consequently appeared to be ter-
nary instead of binary. Of course, from this point of view actual pieces
are likely to seem harmonically unimaginative and, frequently, themati-
cally exceptional; but understood as the musicians who ,vrote and played
them did, the harmonic plan appears in its proper place as a well-conceived
convention employed in varied ,vays limited only by the imagination of
the composer.
Applications of the Son at a P rocedure

As noted earl ier, one common adaptation of the form for first movements
Intr oductions ,vas to preface the main form ,vith an introduction. This introduction
employed the slow tempo and stately rhythm of the French overture, and
it often featured chordal texture and dotted rhythms. The slow· introduc-
tion generally appears only in symphonies and larger divertimenti; it d id
not particularly suit the nature of the quartet, sonata, or concerto.
The Sonata Fann and Its Variants 283
Particularly in slow movements, w·here lyricism or a reflective mood

predominated rather than intensive w·orking out, the third section might
be omitted, with the cadence in the dominant at the end of part 1 serving
as a dominant preparation for the immediate return of the tonic. The
result can be diagramed as follow·s:
Part I Part 2 Slow movement options
Section I Section 2 Section 'lj."

p (T, t) S (K, k) p (T) S (K)
I v..............v I--··················--I
For a lighter movement, such as a finale, the sonata idea often com-
bines \vith the rondo principle. In the rondo the theme presented at the
beginning in association \Vith the tonic key (the rondo theme) returns
several times in the tonic, its appearances separated by contrasting epi-
sodes in contrasting keys. In the so-called sonata-rondo the P material
returns like a rondo theme, and the tonic recurs ,vith it, but the overall
tonal plan incorporates some of the tonic-dominant opposition of the
sonata form:
p (T, t) s P(!) "fantasy" p (T, t) s p Sonata.rondo
I v I other keys I I I
or modulatory
The composers of concertos in the second half of the century pro-

duced a special treatment that combined the ritornello principle devel-
oped by their predecessors \vith the processes of sonata form . The binary
structure \Vas articulated by the addition of tutti ritornellos to establish
the key at the beginning and to provide satisfactory closings at the ends
of both part 1 and part 2. For the bulk of the movement the soloist took
the lead and the orchestra provided support. The t\vo parts ,vere not
repeated.
Rit. Part I Rit. Part 2 Rit. Conc,r rto movtmrnt form
Section I Section 2 Section 3 Section 4

Tutti Solo Tutti Solo Tutti
p (T, t) s K "fantasy" p (T, t) s K
I----I I v V----V modulatory I I----I
In this way the tonal structure of the sonata form is articulated not only
by the thematic events but also by the changes in scoring. It should be
easy to see how the young Mozart arranged keyboard sonatas of older
composers, such as J. C. Bach, as concertos. At its simplest, this merely
required the composition of the ritornellos and the scoring of orchestral

support for the existing keyboard sonata.
Throughout the eighteenth century the soloist actually participated
Solo playing in concortos as a member of the tutti, playing w·ith the orchestra in the ritornellos. A
violinist ,vould naturally join the first violins as section leader w·hen not
taking a solo role, and a keyboard player would lead the tutti as continue
player. Opportunities for soloistic virtuosity in the concerto sonata form
came in the playing of embellished versions of material presented in sim-
pler fashion by the orchestra, but even more in the transitional passages
and in section 3, where thematic presentation is less important and the
Caden,a unstable harmonic situation is explored in idiomatic passage,vork. Within
the final ritornello it also became common to let the orchestra pause after
a tonic ! chord and allow the solo player to insert an improvised cadenza
to sho,v off her or his technique and creative imagination. After the ca-
denza, ,vhich conventionally ended on a dominant chord and a trill, the
orchestra returned for a brief closing passage reiterating the tonic.
EXP R ESS ION AND FUNCTION
Like form, expression ,vas governed in the Enlightenment by a certain

degree of convention. Composers in the second half of the eighteenth cen-
tury inherited from rationalist musical rhetoric a repertoire of common
and commonly understood rhetorical styles, or topoi (from the Greek;
sing. topos), but ,vriters in the late eighteenth century more significantly
use the ,vord character. We may identify a fe,v of the more obvious among
Expressive typos these as examples. The "military'' style naturally used strong rhythms,
sometimes in aggressive dotted patterns and usually in duple meters,
simple diatonic harmony, and melodies that outlined triads in the style of
trumpets and drums, even when those instruments did not actually
appear. By contrast, the "singing" style employed flexible rhythm and a
cantabile line set in a melody-and-accompaniment texture. A pastoral
style, featuring melodies that resemble shepherds' pipe tunes, sometimes
in parallel thirds, set over dronelike basses, suggested Arcadian innocence.
The various dance types, each with its characteristic rhythmic patterns
and phrasings, included most prominently the elegant, upper-class minuet
(moderate triple meter), the lo,ver-class Landler or Teutsche (also in triple
meter but ,veightier in its rhythm), the gavotte (moderate duple time, ,vith
the phrases beginning and ending on the half measure), the bourree (in
duple meter but at a fast tempo), and the lively, bourgeois contredanse (in
a fast duple or compound meter). The "brilliant" style featured rapid, vir-
tuosic passage,vork. An especially impassioned style ,vas the manner of
the empfindsamer Stil (sometimes associated ,vith the Sturm und Drang
literary movement), ,vhich exploited such devices as the minor mode,
chromatic harmony and melody, and recitativelike phrasing.
The use of the minor is rare enough to be note,vorthy,vhen it appears
Minor keys in the symphonies of Haydn and Mozart in the 1770s. Haydn wrote a
Expression and Function 285
handful of symphonies in minor keys during that period, and they have
sometimes been regarded as evidence of a Sturm und Drang style in his
output. He may have been responding to the influence of the works of
C. P. E. Bach. Since several symphonies apparently incorporate music
used for performances ofstage plays at Esterhaza, the intensityw·e hear in
them might come from their theatrical roots. Some of these symphonies
have significant nicknames: no. 30 in D Minor (Lamentatione); no. 44 in
EMinor (Trauersinfonie, or Mourning Symphony); no. 49 in F Minor (La
passione). Mozart wrote only t\vo symphonies in the minor mode (both
in G minor). The earlier one (the "Little" G Minor, K. 183) is aston ish-
ingly dark and intense, beginning ,vith ,vhat ,ve might think of as an "in-
fernal" or "horror" type, showing that the yo ung composer commanded
a depth of emotion far greater than is suggested by most of his works of
these years, ,vhich tend to be in the galant manner (Example 17.3).
The conventional manners had many kinds of usefulness. In the
context of vocal music, particularly in opera, they could denote charac-
ter or affect as they had in the previous period. The military style sug- Expressive types in vocal
music
gested the heroic or aggressive; the aria style, the amorous or tender; the
empfindsamer Stil, emotional d istress. The different dance types could
indicate general spirit or specific social situations. In songs the dance
styles ma intained their affective values throughout the century. The con-
ventional styles can even be found in sacred music, ,vhere they are
adapted, for instance, to the moods of the different movements of a Mass.
The standard expressive types also lent themselves to interpreting the
structure of the sonata plan and sonata form. Contrasts of thematic mate-
rial functioned to set off movements from one another or to indicate the
contrasting functions of the different passages ,vithin a form. Military St1'les and form
style offered a fine opportunity to establish tonality and make a strong
initial impression. The aria type seems appropriate for secondary themes
and appears often as the predominant style in andante second move-
ments; Mozart preferred this type for slow movements of sonata-plan
,vorks. The empfindsamer Stil typically turns up in slo,v introductions and
in slow· movements w·ith adagio or lento tempo indications, both of which
are more characteristic of Haydn's works than of Mozart's. The brilliant
style frequently serves as transitional and cadencing material, where rapid
modulation or the limited harmonic vocabulary of alternating dominant
and tonic chords makes longer-phrased melody inappropriate.
We must remember that this flexibility to apply various affective
styles freely ,vithin a single movement was one of the new elements of
the Enlightenment style. In practice, therefore, the sonata form may be
vie,ved as necessarily predicated on the aesthetic premise of flexible ex-
pression. Similarly, the freedom of the music to flo,v from one expressive
state to another had to be grounded in a governing sense of form that In tl,t.Enligl,ttnntt.nl
related and shaped the listener's experience of the musical content. We style atslhtt.ic and
ltchniqut,form and
cannot overlook the fact that in the Enlightenment style, as in all music, conltnl, art. ;,utparably
aesthetic and technique, form and content are inseparably interhvined. inltrlwintd.
Example 17.3 Mozart's Symphony in G Minor, K. 183, has an "infernal" character

that reflect s an emotiona l intensity somewhat parallel to contemporary Sturm
und Orang literature in the 1770s.
.
-
• f
•
Hom in~
"
~
llom in (i
. _ ,.._ ,.._
Violin I - - ·- - - - - ·- -
f
• • -- _,._ - - - --·
-- · -.· -.·
- ·- - - -·- - ·- ..-
'
Violin II
..
f
Viola
JI I
. .- ' ~ -·· -··
Cdl<>
. --
•• /!. r: r: .. . .. .. ..
• ~ ~ .. •
Ob.
Ht1. I
Hn. 2
Vln.. II
VJo,
--
The subject of the eighteenth-century style as a concept and a survey of

the music are found in Friedrich Blume, Classic and Romantic Music, trans.
M. D. Herter Norton (Nev.r York: Norton, 1970). Philip G. Dow·ns, Classi-
cal Music: The Era of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (New· York: Norton,
1992), gives a general history of the music of the eighteenth century.

Leonard Ratner, Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style (New· York:
Schirmer, 1980), is based on contemporary sources and incorporates his-
torically based explanations of both expressive materials and forms.
On the sonata and sonata forms see William S. New·man, The Sonata
in the Classic Era (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1983), and Charles Rosen, Sonata Forms (New·York: Norton, 1980).
On Gluck see Martin Cooper, Gluck (London: Oxford University
Press, 1935); Alfred Einstein, Gluck (Ne,v- York: Dutton, 1954); and
Ernest Ne,v-man, Gluck and the Opera (London: Gollancz, 1967). The
dedicatory preface to Alceste is included in Oliver Strunk, Source Read-
ings in Music History (New York: Norton, 1950).
A fine survey of Haydn and Mozart in the context of this period is
Daniel Heartz, Haydn, Mozart, and the Viennese School, 1740-1780 (Ne,v
York: Norton, 1995). Among the biographies of Haydn, Karl Geiringer,
Haydn: A Creative Life in Music, 3rd ed. (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1982), and the monumental five-volume compilation by H. C .
Robbins Landon, Haydn: Chronicle and Works (London: Thames &
Hudson, 1976-1980), are especially recommended. The most important
English biography of Mozart is Maynard Solomon, Mozart: A Life (New
York: HarperCollins, 1995). A definitive study of Mozart in the period
discussed in this chapter is Stanley Sadie, Mozart: The Early Years,
1756-1781 (New York: Norton, 2006). Contemporary sources are com-
piled in Otto Erich Deutsch, Mozart: A Docu1nentary Biography, 2nd ed.,
trans. Eric Blom et al. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1965).
I. Alexander Pope, Poetical Works, ed. Herbert Davis (London: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 1966), 66-67.
2. Karl Geiringer, Haydn: A Creative Life in Music, 3rd ed. (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 1983), 58-59.
3. The ltalian original is reproduced in Gerhard Croll and Winton Dean, "Gluck,
Christoph Willibald," in The l\Jew Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed.
Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan, 1980), 7:466 (Figure 5). [Translation by DS]
The End of the Eighteenth
Century
Mozart and Haydn in the last two decades of the eighteenth century reached
unusual levels ofsophistication and had special high regard for each other's 111ork.
They both produced masterpieces that integrated technique and expression in the
string quartet and symphony. Mozart excelled in the piano concerto and opera.
These works represent a ne111 approach to n1usical expression in which n1usic par-
allels the principles ofplot and drama. After Mozart's death Beethoven settled in
Vienna and began his career by mastering the Enlightenment style. Colonists
brought European styles to the New World, and the ne111ly independent United
States developed music to meet their particular social and political needs.
T11e Position of Haydn and i\1ozart A 1\Jeiv Model for 1\1usical Expression
Charnber 1\1usic The Enlightenn1ent Beethoven
Sy,nphony BEETHOVEN'S EARLY YEARS
IN BONN
Concerto BEETHOVEN'S F I RST DECADE
Mozart's 1\1ature Operas IN VIENNA
OPERASERIA THE l\1USIC OF BEET HOVEN'S
F I RST VIENNA PERIOD
SINGS PIEL
COLLABORATION WITH T11e An1erica11 Colonies and the
LORENZO DA PONT E Early United States
A FINA LE IN THE POPULAR
THEATER
288
The Position of Haydn and Mozart 289
THE POSITION OF HAYDN AND MOZART
After 1780 the potential of the Enlightenment aesthetic and style was
realized in the music of Haydn and Mozart in a manner that enabled
their later adoption as classic composers in a ,vay unmatched by their
contemporaries. This is not to say that there ,vere not many other fine Haydn's and Mozart's
music as "classic"
composers at that time. Indeed, the general standard of musical crafts-
manship reached a remarkably high level as a result of the inherent
strength of the conventions of the period, the support of a still-pow'erful
aristocracy, and the rise of commercial enterprise in music. What Haydn
and Mozart accomplished, ho,vever, was the application of imaginative
genius to sonata-plan ,vorks and the opera in W'ays that produced not
only the most finely polished pieces of the age but also consistently mas-
terful structural integration and depth of expression.
Haydn had achieved an international reputation by the end of the
1770s, despite the fact that Prince Nicholas kept him close to home.
Until Nicholas died in 1790, he did not offer his Kapellmeister occasions Haydn in the 1780s
to go farther from Esterhaza than Vienna.
After 1781 Mozart settled in Vienna, where he supported himself by
teaching, giving academies (subscription concerts), and ,vriting compo-
sitions under commission or for publication. He ,vas married in 1782 and Moz.art in the 1780s
began to raise a family, but the general insecurity of his income and his
o,vn poor management of money sometimes produced a hand-to -mouth
existence. When Gluck d ied in 1787, Mozart received his appointment
as chamber composer to the emperor Joseph II, but at a much lo,ver
salary. In 1789 he took a tour northw'ard into Germany, visiting Leipzig,
Dresden, and Berlin, again contemplating possibilities for a good court
position, but nothing came of the trip. T,vo years later, when he ,vas not
yet thirty-six years old, his health fa iled; he died and was given a pauper's
burial in a churchyard near Vienna.
Prince Anton Esterhazy, who succeeded his father, Prince Nicholas,
in 1790, dismissed most of the court ensemble to save money. Haydn re- Haydn in the 1790•
tained his title and salary as Kapellmeister, but he ,vas free to move to
Vienna and on the ,vhole to pursue his career as he pleased. The most
important events of the 1790s ,vere t\vo visits to London, arranged for
him by the impresario Johann Peter Salomon (1745-1815) in 1791-1792
and 1794-1795. Haydn ,vrote his last two sets of symphonies, six in each
group, expressly for the concerts of his music in London. The English
public was as taken ,vith Haydn as it had been ,vith Handel earlier in the
century, and he ,vas awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree at
Oxford. Haydn spent his last years in Vienna, composing a number of
string quartets, several Masses, and his t\vo great oratorios, Die Schiipfung
(The creation, 1796-1798) and Die Jahreszeiten (The seasons, 1799-1801).
As he passed seventy years of age, his health deteriorated, and although
he ,vas greatly honored by the musical ,vorld, he necessarily retired more
and more from the public. He died in 1809.
290 CHAPTER 18: The End of the Eighteenth Century
Haydn's late oratorios were composed partly under the influence of

an important patron of music in Vienna, Baron Gottfried van Sw·ieten
Gottfried van Swietcn (1733-1803), w·ho helped w·ith the preparation of their librettos. Baron
van Swieten had visited England and served as Austrian ambassador to
Berlin, and, at least in large part through the library of Princess Anna
Amalia, he became more familiarw·ith the music of Handel and]. S. Bach
than most Austrians of the day. In the 1780s he held musical gatherings
in his rooms and sponsored oratorio performances. Through him Mozart
came to know the music of Bach, w·hich affected Mozart's ow·n mature
style. Van Swieten's interest in the music of the past also contributed to
the formation of the canon or standard repertoire of great music from
earlier time periods.
That Mozart and Haydn themselves recognized their unique position
is clear from statements each made. Naturally, each \\l'aS thoroughly famil-
iar v.rith the other's ,vorks. Although Haydn continued to ,vork at Esterhaza
through the decade of the 1780s, he and Mozart met in Vienna, and they
became good friends. Leopold Mozart proudly reported that on one occa-
sion Haydn said to him, "Your son is the greatest composer that I kno,v,
either in person or by name; he has taste and, beyond that, the greatest
kno,vledge of composition."1 Haydn also ,vrote in a letter of 1787 that, if
Haydn expresses his I could impress on the mind of every music-lover, but particularly
admiration ofM07.a rt
po,verful people, the inimitable ,vorks of Mozart as deeply and with
as much musical understanding, ,vith as great feeling, as I grasp
them and feel them, then the nations would compete to possess
such a treasure.... It makes me angry that this unique Mozart still
has not been employed at an imperial or royal court. Pardon me if
I get carried away; I am too fond of the man.2
For his part, Mozart expressed his homage to Haydn in the dedica-
tion of a set of string quartets, in which he described the pieces as his
children, and Haydn, whom he called h is dearest friend, as their godfa-
ther. In the current chapter we shall examine the accomplishments of
these t\vo composers according to the various genres in ,vhich each spe-
cial challenge ,vas discovered and met.
C H A MBER Music
Haydn took an immensely important step in a set of string quartets pub-
lished in 1781 as op. 33, sometimes called Scherzi quartets because
Haydn headed their minuet movements "Scherzo" (joke) and sometimes
known as Russian because they ,vere dedicated to a Russian nobleman.
Haydn's mature quartets In letters offering elegant calligraphic copies of the music to special pa-
trons, Haydn stressed that he had ,vritten the quartets in "an entirely
ne,v and special style." This phrase might refer particularly to the un-
precedented extent to ,vhich the four parts interact in handling the musi-
cal material. In contradistinction to the melody-oriented or fugal textures
Syn1phony 291
that had prevailed in the past, these ,vorks manifest a new approach in
,vhich any part might come to the fore at any moment and then smoothly
recede into an accompaniment role as it gave way to another member of
the quartet. This does not exactly constitute counterpoint; it is more like
a freewheeling d ialogue among the players. About listen ing to string
quartets, the great German poet Goethe ,vrote that
These types of performances have always been the most intelligible Goethe describes the
instrumental music to me: One hears four intelligent people string quartet as a
convrrsation
conversing among themselves, believes one is getting something
out of their d iscourse and is becoming acquainted with the
individual traits of the instruments.3
This conversational texture depended on the creation of thematic ma-
terial made up of clearly recognizable but brief motives rather than long,
lyrical melodies. The motives must be able to maintain some aspect of their
character despite adjustment to varying harmonic contexts; thus they tend
to have a clear rhythmic identity and simple melodic profile. The motivic Motivlc development
elements may fill extended thematic passages by reiteration of a single
motive or by linking various motives into melody. Their use is more strik-
ing, ho,vever, in the usually nonthematic parts of the sonata form, such as
transitions, cadential segments, and "fantasy" sections (Example 18.1).
The constant or frequent appearance of motives that are initially identified
,vith the stable presentation of tonal areas and that are therefore thematic
lends a high degree of integration to each movement. It is appropriate to
refer to the conversational treatment of material as developrnent.
The use of that term for the third section of the sonata form when
motivic ,vorking out takes place there is therefore justified. Ho,vever, Dtvtlopmtnl might not
such motivic work can occur in any part of a form, so ,ve must under- apply to lht third stet.ion
stand development also as a process or technique. Development migh t of tvtry son ala form
movemtnt, and it migllt
not apply to the th ird section of every sonata form movement, and it not bt limilt.d to that
m ight not be lim ited to that section. stclfon.
Haydn's many string quartets after op. 33 continued to explore the

possibilities of the motivic-conversational style. Like,vise, Mozart's six Moz.art'.s chamber m usic
"Haydn" quartets reflect his recognition of Haydn's ach ievement. Mozart
exploited the freedom of the different instrumental lines by stressing the
lo,vest part in three late string quartets that he dedicated to the cellist
King Frederick William II of Prussia. Two late string quintets and the
quintet for clarinet and strings faced Mozart ,vith further challenges-
stemming from their denser scoring and, in the case of the clarinet quin-
tet, from timbral contrast-,vhich he met brilliantly.
SYMPHONY
As we would expect, conversational texture and motivic treatment

became important tools for the composers of symphonies in the 1780s. As
the use of the winds increased, the possibilities for exchange of motives
292 CHAPTER 18: TheEndoftheEighteenth Century
Example 18.1 This passage from the third section (development) of Haydn's
String Quartet in G Major, op. 33, no. 5, first movement, illustrates the
"conversational" texture, in which melodic interest shifts rapidly from one
instrumental line to another.
Violin l .-
• mf
Violin ll
mf ·- ·
Viola
Cello
Vin. II
J'
I~ U
~
V in. I
,. u
---- ···~ ;:
p
Vin. 11 ~
~ • • • =I
---- ~ =.;
p
~
"
Via.
E = p
.. •
I I
Ve.
p
Symphonymastorpiec•• among the instruments multiplied. In the hands of Haydn and Mozart
the orchestra became less like a string body with ,vind reinforcement or
concertato wind solos and more like a single large and subtle instrument.
The integration of the symphonic score ,vas ,vorked out in the seven
symphonies of Mozart's Vienna years and in the hventy-three that
Haydn composed between 1786 and 1795, including six composed for
Concerto 293
Paris (nos. 82-87) and the hvelve for h is London visits (nos. 93-104).
Mozart's last three symphonies (all composed in the summer of 1788)
and Haydn's London symphonies set a standard of classic perfection.
Without abandoning the limits of the period's conventions, each sym-
phony establishes and solves its o,vn compositional problems and is a
masterpiece in its o,vn right.
These symphonies addressed an audience different from that for
,vhich earlier symphonies had been intended. They suited performance
for a large body of listeners in a concert hall rather than a private aristo-
cratic audience.
The music appealed to the concertgoing audience by its an imated
rhythm, memorable thematic ideas, and interesting dynamic and or-
chestral effects. The orchestras in Paris and London were much larger
than the ensemble for ,vhich Haydn had composed at Esterhaza. The Orchestral forces
London string group included sixteen violins; four each of violas, cellos,
and basses; a full complement of woodwinds in pairs; two horns, hvo
trumpets, and timpani; as ,veil as keyboard. Paris offered twenty-hvo
violins; six violas; nine cellos; six basses; and two each of flutes, oboes,
clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, and timpani. Among the ,vorks of
Haydn and Mozart, fe,v demand the entire ,vind complement. Except for
a fe,v symphonies, the scoring is likely to use only one flute; oboes or
clarinets, but not both; and not necessarily trumpets and timpani.
CONCERTO
In the genre of the concerto Mozart clearly takes precedence over Haydn.
Haydn was not a virtuoso performer himself, as Mozart ,vas. In the Mozart as virtuoso
Vienna years Mozart wrote a number of concertos to present himself to
the public. In these works he achieved thorough integration of thematic
material and virtuoso work within the form, as ,veil as classic balance
behveen soloist and orchestra.
In one set of these Viennese concertos, written at the beginning of
his period of independence, Mozart attempted not primarily to feature
his o,vn technique but to meet the needs of the popular market. He de-
scribed ho,v he hoped that they ,vould suit different types of listeners
and players, both connoisseurs and amateurs:
The concertos are just in the middle behveen too difficult and too Moz.art composes for
easy. They are very brilliant, pleasing to the ears, naturally ,vithout a b road public
falling into inanity. Here and there, too, only connoisseurs can get
satisfaction (from them); ho,vever, [they are composed) so that the
nonconnoisseurs must be pleased with them, ,vithout kno,ving why.4
He also contrived the ,vind parts so that, although they added to the
total effect, they could be omitted, permitting performances not only
,vhen a full orchestra was available but also in chamber music style ,vith
only a string quartet.
The later concertos, primarily w·ritten for performance by the com-

Concertoscoring poser himself at his academies, are more sophisticated. They take advan-
tage of the full symphonic potential of the orchestra, w·orking v.rith the
concertato opposition of instrumental colors so that there is consider-
able timbre contrast within the orchestra and a great deal of interaction
bet\veen solo and tutti in the large structural solo sections. These \vorks
are not merely like keyboard sonatas with inserted ritornellos and gratu-
itous accompaniment. The integration that results yields a scoring in
,vhich there is constant equilibrium between the need for virtuoso dis-
play of the solo part and a sense of ensemble in wh ich every line has its
important role to play.
In terms of structure, Mozart also ach ieved integration of the mate-
rial of the ritornello sections ,vith the sonata form outline pursued in the
structural solo parts. The follo,ving diagram suggests ho\v this might be
accomplished in an abstract case:
Concerto form Part 1 Part2

Rit. Solo Rit. Solo Rit.
1P2PK lP (t) 2P (as lS) 2S K "fantasy" lP (t) 2P2S K (with
cadenza)
1----···-I I""? v V--V modulatory I 1----1
The opening ritornello may present several of the thematic ideas to be

used in the solo, particularly P and K. Thus the opening ritornello proper
begins, rather than precedes, part 1 of the form. When the solo enters
,vith lP, it produces a sort of recommencement and reinterpretation of
section 1. As the diagram indicates, a second theme (2P), associated in
the opening ritornello with the tonic key, may signal the arrival of the
contrasting key (2P serving as lS). Another new theme in the contrasting
key area (2S) may also be introduced in the solo part. A common closing
theme may be shared by all three ritornellos, so that it appears not only at
the end of the first ritornello but also at the ends of the two main struc-
tural parts of the sonata form. In large-scale first movements a brief or-
chestral tutti, resembling the first measures of the opening ritornello,
may start the fourth section, so that the movement may be described as
having a four-ritornello rather than a three-ritornello structure.
A later description of this form (unfortunately often repeated) de-
scribes it as a "double exposition" form, regarding the opening ritornello
in the concerto sonata form as an "exposition," that is, a part 1. This is
misleading, because the ritornello does not establish the t\VO contrasting
key areas, the crucial determinant of any genuine sonata exposition. The
misconception arises from the erroneous analysis of the form as funda-
mentally based in thematic, rather than tonal, organization.
Mozart's Mature Operas 295
MOZART'S MAT URE O P ERAS
The most important public genre in the eighteenth century was the
opera. Success in the opera theater offered a composer the best chance to
establish a major reputation. Court Kapellmeisters such as Haydn, of Sucu.ss in the opera tlit.altr
course, did not necessarily have to compose for the public opera theaters. offtrtd a c.ompostr lht.btsl
chance to tst.abli.sll a major
Hayd n's works for the Esterhaza palace opera (Plate 15) ,vere skillfully rtput.atfon.
composed, although not among his masterpieces, but he had exceptional
success in gaini ng fame through other ,vorks. Of the hvo classic masters,
Mozart holds the cro,vn in the operatic realm. As,ve have noted, Mozart's
experience in opera composition ,vas already substantial by 1780; before
his fifteenth birthday he had composed in all the practicable theatrical
genres-opera seria, opera buffa, and singspiel-and he ,vorked in these
three types in the course of the 1770s. By his mid-twenties he had com-
pletely mastered the opera, and in the follo,ving years he produced one
great work after another.
O p era Seria
Just before his summary dismissal from Archbishop Colloredo's service,
Mozart had composed his finest ,vork of the serious Italia n type for pro-
duction in Munich. This opera, Idomeneo, stands with those of Gluck as a
masterpiece of the late eighteenth-century opera seria. Its vocal ,vriting is Ido 111<nt0
fully up to date but seems less self-consciously Apollonian than that of

Gluck. In ensemble ,vorkMozart surpassed Gluck, as he did all of his con-
temporaries, by setting contrasting characters and sentiments simultane-
ously in a fully integrated counterpoint. Inidomeneo Mozart also explored
the possibilities of sonata form for structuring the music of opera.
During his Vienna years, Mozart did not have occasion to return to
the opera seria except for La clemenza di Tito, composed quickly in 1791
for a coronation ceremony for the new emperor, Leopold II. This opera is La cltm <nza di Tito
based on a cut-do,vn version of an old-fashioned libretto Metastasio had
,vritten in 1734. Its music is elegant and polished but noticeably re-
strained in style.
Singsp iel
The history of Mozart's Viennese-period stage ,vorks partly reflects the
musical inclinations of Emperor Joseph II. For a time Joseph was espe-
cially interested in cultivating a national German genre that ,vould rival
the Italian opera buffa. Mozart responded to this ,vith the singspiel
Die E11tfuhru11g aus dem Serail (The abduction from the harem) in 1782.
The action unfolds in a Turkish pasha's palace, a popular setti ng with the Dit Ent/Ulirung a au dtm
St rail
Viennese, near as they ,vere to the Middle East. This gave the opportu-
nity for some "Turkish" music effects with the so-called Janissary music
that ,vas also a fad at the time. (The Ja nissaries were Turkish military
units ,vhose marches featured jangling percussion.)
In connection ,vith Die Entjuhrung aus dem Serail, Mozart ,vrote to

his father about the requirements of an opera libretto and said, "In an
opera the poetry must be altogether the obedient daughter of the
music." This absolutely contradicts Gluck's theories of fifteen years ear-
lier, with ,vhich Mozart must have been familiar. It reflects his belief
that the element of drama in opera derives from the music more than
Mozart btlitvtd that the from the ,vords. This thesis finds support in the opera through the con-
tltmtnl ofdrama in opera trolled use of tonal relationships, musical styles, and dramatically
dtrivts from I-lit music: mort
than from lht words.
opposed voice types. The pasha's fierce but comical servant, a bass, has
violent rage music in remote keys; the musical styles for the leading
characters are taken from the opera seria, ranging from the passionately
florid to the lyrically sentimental.
Collaboration with Lorenzo D a Pont e

In Vienna Mozart found a particularly effective librettist in the Italian
court poet Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838). The hvo men collaborated
on three great comic works. The first of these, Le nozze di Figaro (The
L-e no-zzc. di Figaro marriage of Figaro), dates from 1786. The story, originally by the French
play,vright Beaumarchais (1732-1799), involves a Spanish count who
intends to take advantage of an ancient right by which the master may
enjoy the first night ,vith any new· bride among his servants. He attempts
to assert his authority ,vith Susanna, fiancee of his valet Figaro, but, in
the opera buffa tradition, he is ultimately ouhvitted by Figaro, Susanna,
and the countess. At its root, ho,vever, the story is not the slapstick stuff
of common opera buffa but social criticism of aristocratic injustice ,vith
revolutionary overtones; Beaumarchais's original play ,vas banned by
the French government's censors under Louis XVI. The action is consid-
erably complicated by several farcical subplots, including legal road-
blocks to Figaro's marriage by an old lady,vho wants him for herself but
,vho turns out to be his mother, unjust accusations by the philandering
count against his faithful ,vife, disguises, and mistaken identities. The
opera is extremely long, so that each of the hvo standard acts had to be
subdivided into hvo.
Using all the expressive language of the Enlightenment style, in
Le nozze di Figaro Mozart created subtle and convincing delineations of
individual characters and eloquent musical realizations of mood and
thought. But Mozart's dramaturgical genius extended beyond these things.
For one thing, in this opera he achieved precision of dramatic timing.
The.mu.sic pacts
the movtmtnl1 ltads Actors and directors find (or should find) that much of their work is simpli-
lht charactus' t.hought fied and clarified if they listen alertly to the score and let the music guide
proctssts, and supplits their actions and reactions. The music paces the movement, leads the char-
lhtsubttxl bthind tht
actual spu,c hts in acters' thought processes, and supplies the subtext behind the actual
lht libretto. speeches in the libretto.
Especially effective in Mozart's operas from Le nozze di Figaro on is the
composer's use of the principles of sonata form. By laying out substantial
Mozart's Mature Operas 297
segments of the action according to the tonal structure of a sonata move-

ment, Mozart articulated subordinate units within the plot. Each dramatic The sonata principle in
opera
unit then possesses its ow·n point of departure (tonic), destabilization
(transition) and area of tension (dom inant), crisis (modulatory), and reso-
lution (tonic). Tonal departure and resolution also function across the
opera as a w·hole; for example, the second act of Figaro concludes in the key
of E-flat and the third ends in C, whereas the key of the opera as a ,vhole is
D major.
The cro,vning glory of Le noz ze di Figaro is Mozart's ensemble ,vrit-
ing. The ensemble numbers define and develop the contrasting states of
mind of the characters, the degree of conflict between their opposing
ideas, and the ,vorking out of their relationships. Mozart's ability to lay
out progress in the action during the continuous music of an ensemble
number is best demonstrated by the immense ensemble finale to the
second act (the first half) of Le nozze di Figaro. Da Ponte ,vrote in his
memoirs that a finale,
,vhich must be intimately connected ,vith the rest of the opera, is a Da Ponte t-xplains the
librettist's task in writing
sort of short comedy or little drama in its o,vn right and requires a
an ensrmble finale
ne,v plot and special interest. It is mainly in this part that the genius
of the conductor, the strength of the singers, the grandest effect of
the drama should shine forth. Recitative is excluded from it; every-
thing is sung. And there must be found there every type of singing:
adagio, allegro, andante, amabile, armonioso, strepitoso [noisy, bois-
terous], arcistrepitoso, strepitosissimo. With the last of these, the
aforementioned finale almost ahvays ends; in musical jargon it is
called the chiusa [close), or rather the strenta [or stretta, meaning
"strained")-! don't kno,v,vhether this is because here the force
of the drama is most intense, or because it generally gives not one
strain but a hundred to the poor brain of the poet ,vho must write
the text. In this finale, according to theatrical dogma, all the singers
must appear together in the scene, even if there are three hundred
of them-one, t\vo, three or six, ten, sixty at a time-to sing solos,
duets, trios, sextets, sessantets. And if the plot of the drama does
not permit it, the poet must find a ,vay to make it permit it, despite
good judgment, reason, and all the Aristotles in the world-and if
he then finds it going badly, so much the ,verse for him!5
Although Da Ponte was ,vriting in a humorous vein, the description
,vould apply well to Le nozze di Figaro, except that the drama does not go
badly at all. Obviously Mozart expected the libretto to be the servant of
the music; ,vhatever method he and Da Ponte used in ,vorking together,
the result turns out to be musically and dramatically compelling.
The second collaboration of Mozart and Da Ponte ,vas Don Giovanni,
first staged in Prague in 1787. Far from the usual buffa type of opera, this
,vork could only be termed "dram ma giocoso." It deals with the legend- Don Giovanni
ary character Don Juan, the women ,vhom he seduces, and h is ultimate
dow·nfall. Although much of the action is lively and comic moments

occur, the story is neither farce nor social satire. It deals ,vith the signifi-
cant problem of a morally bankrupt roue ,vho fascinates us by the appar-
ent fact that he lives life at a higher pitch than average people. The humor
is dark, an effect reinforced by the music's minor key; the overall tonality
is D minor.
The more intense and serious parts of the action evoke long spans of
continuous music, ,vhile the clear articulation of alternating set musical
numbers and recitative carries the comic events. The climax arrives
,vhen the memorial statue of the man w·hom Don Giovanni killed at the
opening of the opera returns at the end to take him to hell in the key of
D minor. Trombones and an offstage demonic chorus add to the infernal
effect. Moral order and musical stability are barely restored by the ap-
pearance of the surviving characters to sing the epilogue in D major. Al-
though it certainly dra,vs on the means of expression available to the
Enlightenment composers generally, with its departures from conven-
tion in both subject and style, Don Giovanni seems fundamentally unac-
countable ,vithin the Enlightenment spirit.
The last of the Mozart and Da Ponte operas, Cosi fan tutte (Thus do
Co,ifan tulle all ,vomen), came in 1790. It also has an unusual plot, dealing ,vith a
cynical old fello,v who sets out to demonstrate that ,vomen are always
unfaithful lovers and succeeds by creating an entirely artificial environ-
ment in ,vhich the characters are completely at his mercy. Mozart had
the skill to portray the artificially limited personalities with perfect clar-
ity. His practice in laying out conflicts in ensembles and tracing complex
courses of action also served him ,veil. The general effect of the opera, in
both story and music, is to recall the figures ofS,vift and Voltaire, expos-
ing our sentimental delusions about ourselves with cool ruthlessness.
A Finale in th e Popular Theater

Mozart's last dramatic work to reach the stage ,vas a singspiel, Die Zauber-
flote (The magic flute), written just a fe,v months before his death, for a
Die ZaubtrjllHt theater in a middle-class neighborhood of Vienna. It is a fairy-tale story,
set in the Near East and incorporating much of the lore of the Freemasons,
an order to which Mozart and Haydn, like many freethinkers of the period,
belonged. It treats the themes of brotherly unity and self-kno,vledge.
Much of the plot incorporates Masonic symbols: day versus night, man
versus ,voman, the number 3, and so on.
The music of Die Zauberfliite bids a convincing farewell to the orna-
Characters depicted by mental and bravura style of eighteenth-century serious opera. Mozart im-
contrasts of style ported the florid coloratura style into the singspiel here, but only for the
evil Queen of the Night, w·ho is defeated in the end. The musical realization
of the forces of good depends more on the lied and the hymn than on tradi-
tional operatic music (Example 18.2). The sincere feeling of the romantic
leading characters finds its expression in lyrical rather than flashy style. For
the ritual ceremony by which these characters enter the fello,vship of the
A New Model for Expressi on 299
Example 18.2 In the second-act finale of Mozart's Die Zauberflote the chorus
sings in hymn like style in praise ofTamino and Pam in a, who have passed their
t rials and joined the order of Sarastro: ·Fortitude p revailed. As a reward, crown
beauty and w isdom w ith an eternal crown!"
• r I
.
r r r FF,
.
I
Es sicg IC die St!it • kc-. und kro zum Loltn die
"''
• • •
•
- .
~ -~~
.
Es sicg te die. Stlit • kc. und kl"O zum Loltn die
"''
• •
Es s,eg . le die
• •
SWr-kc..
•
und kl'Q . zum Loltn die
'"'
- - -
. . .
E, sicg . die StHr • kc. und kro . zum Loltn die
I<
"''
•
r ~·
SdlOII heit und Weis . hcit nut e wi . g« Kron'!
-· .
• • • .
"' Schon hci1 und Weis '
hcit '
nut e '
w, '
g« Kron'!
• ' - - -
' Scl>-On
•
heit
.. ..
und Weis
•
heit
~
mil
p IF
• wi . a"
P- P l=r:
Kr(ln'!
Schon . hcit und Weis . hcit mil wi . g« Kron'!

'
enlightened, Mozart even employed the no\v old-fashioned texture of a

chorale cantus firmus arrangement. Masonic symbolism also seems to
have inspired some particular details in the music, including the keys and
the threefold reiteration of the tonic chord that launches the overture.
A NEW MODE L FOR EXPRESSION
As \Ve have observed, musical creators from the late fifteenth century
forv.rard took their models for expression from literature. In the human-
ist era the model was poetry; under rationalism it w·as rhetoric. For music
after the middle of the eighteenth century it is necessary to identify a
ne\vmodel.
The literary archetype for composers beginning in the Enlighten- 'Du. lituary arcl1ttypt
for composers btginning in
ment is dramatic plot and character. One might reason that drama re-
lht Enligl,ttnnttnl
quires dialogue, and the conversational texture in Enlightenment music fs dramal'ic: plot and
certainly corresponds to this. Further, the introduction of various themes characltr.
and styles in a single movement might be regarded as parallel to the intro-

duction of different characters or settings in the drama.
In fact, w·hereas in the rationalist conception writers typically iden-
tified a melodic unit as a soggetto, or subject, in the course of the Enlight-
enment the un it came to be thought of as motivo, or motive, suggesting
the music's inner motivation rather than merely its existence as a theme
Character and emotion to be exploited. Moreover, the expressive essence of the melodic idea
gradually came to be understood less as old-fashioned affect than as
character. As opposed to the static rationalist concept of the passions,
w·hen the Enlightenment thought of human feeling, it tended to do so in
terms of emotion, a ,vord ,vhose root suggests movement and flexibility;
indeed, in German the ,vord Bewegung, ,vhich is often used to mean emo-
tion, can also mean simply motion.
The decisive feature of drama, however, ,vhich separates it from the
poetic aesthetic of the age of humanism and the rhetorical approach of
rationalism, is that it achieves its meaning only as a result of the entire
Musical plot action. To illustrate this point, although a poet might attempt to describe
sorro,v, and an orator might seek by rhetorical means to make his or her
listeners feel sorro,v, it remains the prerogative of the dramatist to unfold
the causes of the emotion, to pursue the shape of the emotional experi-
ence, and to carry the experience through to closure. This is also essen-
tial to the music of the Enlightenment.
We have already observed that Mozart could use the tonal structure
of sonata form to create dramatic units in his operas. From the opposite
point ofview, any instrumental movement in sonata form has a dramatic
plot. It includes an exposition that sets up conflicting forces, a crisis in
,vhich the situation becomes volatile, a climax and resolution, and the
bringing of everything into a unified perspective in a denouement. Every
musical movement in the period ,vhen tonal design governed musical
form necessarily finds its own interpretation of this dramatic shape. The
,vay in ,vhich that shape is ,vorked out is as much a part of the music's
meaning as the character of its themes, key, and scoring.
Another dramatic aspect of the music of th is period comes from the
sense in ,vhich w·e interpret as dramatic those moments ,vhen events
Tonality and plot come together in the plot in a meaningful ,vay. This is, of course, an in-
herent aspect of Enlightenment musical form, in which tonal arrivals are
given significance by the simultaneous arrivals of themes, ,vhereas tonal
instability is often highlighted by motivic fragmentation or brilliant pas-
sage,vork. Other elements of musical style are also brought to bear on the
significant moment, such as changes in dynamics, texture, and scoring.
To understand later developments of the dramatic model in music, it
is important to recognize that the Enlightenment sense of dramatic pacing
requires a considerable degree of stability. The contrast must be estab-
lished by a firm delineation of the opposing poles in the first part of the
dramatic action. Only after that is accomplished can the crisis take place.
Once the resolution occurs, it is again important, in the Enlightenment
The Enlightenment Beethoven 301
w·ay of thinking, to assert the recovery of stability by a somewhat extended

continuation in ,vhich every important idea is tied up.
T H E ENLIG H TEN M ENT B EETHOVEN
To the names of Haydn and Mozart ,ve must add that of Ludwig van
Beethoven (1770-1827) before leaving our discussion of the eighteenth
century. Beethoven's career began just as Mozart's came to an end, and
he, ,vith Haydn, carried the period through to the opening of the nine-
teenth century. Beethoven took on great significance for the future of
music thereafter, but the music he composed during the 1790s still ap-
peals to the Enlightenment aesthetic.
Beeth oven 's Early Years in Bonn

Beethoven ,vas the grandson and son of musicians in the electoral court of
Bonn. His father recognized his talent and hoped to make him another
Mozart, but as a parent he did not have the where,vithal ofLeopold Mozart
to educate his son and promote his career. Indeed, Beethoven's father
drank heavily, and he succeeded only in pressuring young Lud,vig, not
encouraging him. He also left the boy ,vith a limited general education.
As a youth, Beethoven studied ,vith the court organist Christian
Gottlob Neefe (1748-1798) in Bonn. Beethoven ,vas a gifted keyboard Beethoven'syouth
player and substituted for Neefe in the court ensemble. Later he played
for the Bonn court orchestra as a violist, gaining valuable orchestral ex-
perience. In 1787 he traveled to Vienna, ,vhere he played for Mozart and
may have had a few lessons from him. Mozart apparently gave him a
great deal of encouragement. By the time he was hventy, Beethoven had
also begun to compose, producing a number of promising ,vorks.
Beeth oven's First Decade in Vienna

In 1792 Beethoven decided that he must leave Bonn to pursue his career
in Vienna. He had met Haydn ,vhen the older master passed through
Bonn on his ,vay to London in 1790 (or possibly on his return in 1792),
and it was arranged that he ,vould study,vith him in Vienna. This project Beethoven's studies in
,vas sponsored by the patronage of the elector of Cologne, who ,vas the Vienna
brother of the emperor in Vienna, and by one of Beethoven's most im-

portant aristocratic supporters, Count Ferdinand van Waldstein, who
had come to Bonn from Vienna and ,vho expressed the hope that
Beethoven ,vould "receive Mozart's spirit from Haydn's hands."
In his first decade in Vienna, Beethoven had three objectives: to
polish his musical skills, to cultivate patronage that ,vould support his
career, and to present himself to the public. The first of these turned out
to be more complicated than he might have anticipated. His studies ,vith
Haydn did not proceed particularly ,veil. Haydn was by th is time a
mature composer, interested in taking advantage of his freedom and his
fame to fulfill his own career goals, and he had never cultivated the role
of teacher. Beethoven discovered that Haydn '"as less than assiduous in
correcting the errors in his exercises, and so he discreetly sought out an-
other mentor. (Would that students were always so demand ing of their
instructors!) Johann Schenk (1753-1836) agreed to give Beethoven les-
sons on the sly. When Haydn left Vienna to make h is second visit to
London, Beethoven began to study with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger
(1736-1809), one of the most important theorists and teachers of coun-
terpoint in the period. Later Beethoven also had some instruction from
the imperial Kapellmeister Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) in composing
for the voice in the style of Italian opera.
Beethoven's relationship with the noble and w·ealthy patrons of music
in Vienna was different from the traditional one. Rather than hire himself
out to a single patron, he cultivated the support of a number of aristo-
cratic families, who in their turn seized on this challenging young musi-
cian to promote as a model for w·hat they believed to be the musical style
that embodied the higher intellectual and aesthetic aspirations of the
Brethovtn's patrons generation. In the earliest years Beethoven used his connections v.rith the
nobility in Bonn, particularly Count Waldstein, to gain introductions in
Vienna. He was taken into the homes of various nobles, ,vhere he played
private concerts, establishing a reputation as a virtuoso and as an impro-
viser. Later he found opportunities to perform in public. Ultimately, he
succeeded in living on his own, making a living from his concerts and the
publication of his music and enhancing his income by undertaking ind i-
vidual commissions from his patrons or dedicating \\l'Orks to them in the
expectation of financial expressions of gratitude. In fact, he was able to
Bttthovt:n was able to manage the sort of life at ,vhich Mozart had failed. This was possible
manage the sort oflife al partly because of Beethoven's personal strength of ,viii-he could be
which Afozart had failtd.
stubborn and even downright rude, even to the nobility-and partly be-
cause by the 1790s the Viennese aristocracy had to find new '"ays to sup-
port music without the substantial investment in household personnel of
an earlier time.
The Music of Beethoven's First Vienna Period

Beethoven shre,vdly did not present himself to Vienna in competition
,vith Haydn; instead, he sought ,vays in ,vhich he could excel ,vhile
Boethovenaspianist Haydn \\l'aS engaged in h is o,vn activities. Beethoven led from strength,
using his performance ability to spread his name. As a result, his works
of the 1790s ,vere composed mostly for the piano. From this period come
half of his thirty· h\l'O piano sonatas and several pieces of chamber music
,vith piano, including piano trios, sonatas for piano and violin and for
piano and cello, and a quintet for winds and piano. He also composed
three of his five piano concertos during these years. A fe,v pieces of
chamber music for strings ,vithout piano date from this time, but
Beethoven did not produce quartets until the fine set of six composed in
The Enlightenment Beethoven 303
Example 18.3 In the third section of Beethoven's String Quartet in F Major,

op. 18, no. 1, first movement, it is easy to hear how Beethoven absorbed the
"conversational" texture from Haydn's style and used it even more densely.
Vin. II
-. _.
if if
v,,
Ve.
1798-1800 and published as op. 18 in 1801 (Example 18.3). Only when

it seemed certain that Haydn ,vould not compose any more symphonies
did Beethoven enter that arena; the First Symphony, op. 21, comes from
1800, and the Second Symphony, op. 36, from 1801-1802.
Beethoven's music up to 1802 reflects a period of absorption of the
styles of the late eighteenth century and the production of works ,vithin
that style. The years 1792-1802 have been dubbed a stage of"imitation'' by Brethoven's 6rst prriod
one of Beethoven's biographers, the French composer and writer Vincent
d'lndy (1851-1931). The music from this decade is clearly modeled on the
styles of Haydn and Mozart, as ,veil as other eighteenth-century compos-
ers. The forms and the handling of motives in the texture sho,v that in his
t\venties Beethoven fully mastered the principles of contemporary musi-
cal construction.
Beethoven's passionate and some,vhat unpolished personality al-
ready comes through distinctly, ho,vever. The pieces seem strong but
rough, generally ,veightier in texture and more rugged in d ynam ic con-
trasts than those of his predecessors. His ambition to make po,verful Symphonic style in
statements is betrayed by the symphonic pretensions in his piano sona- sonatas
tas. The early sonatas reveal this most clearly. They adopt four-movement
Example 18.4 The "Mannheim rocket" that opens Beethoven's Piano Sonata in
F Minor, op. 2, no. 1, gives a hint of the young composer's symphonic ambitions.
Allegro
. . -· - . . . . 0 ... -- 0
• p
.. . --' - - . - ·-
'
-·-
. • • ---'!
, .,.
•·a '
.._. J . ..... - -' . IT ---_
-·
; if
~
if
~
p
q• .. ff
..
-
.. e ~ ~
•
plans including minuets in the third position, unusual in sonatas but
characteristic of symphonies. There are effects reminiscent of specifically
orchestral styles, including a "Mannheim rocket" theme in the first of his
sonatas (op. 2 no. l; Example 18.4). The Piano Sonata in C Minor, op. 13,
nicknamed "Pathetique," starts w·ith a symphonic slow introduction that
draw·s from the idiom of the empfindsamer Stil. The slow· movements are
sometimes in the arialike, andante manner of Mozart's and sometimes in
the more expressive, largo style of Haydn's. In the minuets-some labeled
"scherzo," a type Beethoven w·ould use consistently later-and the rondo
finales, eighteenth-century forms shape not the light content of his prede-
cessors' rondos but material of rumbustious humor. Altogether these
w·o rks indicate an artist with a secure grasp of contemporary style and
technique but \vith a personality and ideas that \vould soon burst free
\vith revolutionary significance.
THE AME RICA N C OLON I ES AND T HE EARLY

UN ITE D S T AT ES
American music up to the nineteenth century \Vas peripheral to the

Western musical ma instream, in the sense that influence ,vas directed
only from Europe to America, not the reverse. Consequently, American
music \viii only be touched on in the present context to indicate its gen-
eral position a nd to note a fe,v special American developments and
composers.
The Europeans who settled in the Americas had brought the music
Europe-an sacrrd music of their homelands \vith them. The Spanish and French missionaries of
in the Amt-ric.as the Roman Catholic Church sang both chant and polyphonic liturgical
music in the New World in the sixteenth century and concerted music in
the seventeenth. They also taught European sacred music to the Native
Americans along ,vith Christianity. The colonizers d id not make it their
The A1nerican Colonies and the Early United States 305
business to absorb indigenous American musical cultures in reverse, 17,e c.olonizus did not makt.
U lhtir business to absorb
how·ever, so the musical trad itions of the two cultures did not interpen-
indigtnous Amrrfoan
etrate as equals. As w·e noted earlier, French Huguenot settlers and the musical culturts, so tht
pilgrims brought the Calvinist psalters with them to North America in musfral tradilfons oflht.
the seventeenth century, and the first book printed in the British Ameri- two cull"urts did not
intcrptndralt as tquals.
can territory w·as the Bay Psalm Book.
Music formed a relatively small part of secular activity for the early
colonists because there w·as little time or energy for leisure pursuits w·hile
the basic requirements of life had to be w·on from the land-and, some-
times in shameful ways, from the Native American population. As cities
became established and commerce grew· in the eighteenth century, how·-
ever, musical activities increased. The wealthy and educated colonists
imported instruments and scores from Europe for domestic use.
Within the colonies that would make up the United States, the larger
cities-Boston, Charleston, New·York, and Philadelphia-began to have
performances of concerts and ballad opera by the 1730s. Through the first Secular musk in colonial
cities
three-quarters of the eighteenth century the upper classes in the colonies
of the east coast of North America generally aspired to make English city
culture their model, and th is included music. A sophisticated musical life,
employing concerted instruments and more elaborate forms, \Vas also cul-
tivated by the Moravian Brethren, \11ho came from central Europe seeking
religious freedom in the mid-eighteenth century and settled mostly in
Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Their musical activities included not
only sacred music but also instrumental \11orks played in collegia musica,
\vorks both imported from the Old World and ne\vly composed.
Some new and peculiarly American directions and accomplish-
ments emerged in the years around the War of Independence. In Ne\11 Fug:ing tunes
England from about the middle of the century the standard homorhyth-
mic type of psalm setting w·as elaborated by the add ition of brief passages
of imitative polyphony, to form the fuging tune (Example 18.5) . These
simple compositions did not pretend to the sophistication of the fugues
of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in Europe. The term
fuging simply refers to the use offuga in the sense of contrapuntal imita-
tion in general.
The finest composer of fuging tunes, and one of the most original
musicians of the period, ,vas the tanner William Billings (1746-1800) of
Boston. He gave up his craft to become a professional musician-the \\ri(Jlam BiJJings
first American to do so. He not only composed both sacred and secular
\vorks but also had a great deal to say about his art. He continuously in-
sisted on h is independence from established conventions; thus he takes
a place in history not only for the considerable interest of his music but
also for representing an important attribute of the American spirit.
To all Musical Practitioners. Billings dofonds his
PERHAPS it may be expected by some, that I should say some- indrptndrnce from rulrs
for composing
thing concerning Rules for Composition; to these I answ·er that
Nature is the best Dictator, for all the hard dry studied Rules that
Exam ple 18.5 William Billings's fuging tune ·Kittery; published in his 1786
collection The Suffolk Harmony, sets the words of the Lord's Prayer.
·- _ ,_ ·-
~
• • ,,.,_ •
Ou, F:, • lh<.T, wh(I
- ·- ·-
;. lle:w · ~ i :ul,
- ·-
All
___
h:11 , l<)W • cd
..
thy N:unc;
·- -
•
°'" Fu . 1hcr. who ;, Mc.w • cn
••• All hot - low· cd be thy Name:
. -,- . - -,- .
-,· . . .
..
';, ' ' '
. ""-
h;II , IQW , t d
°'" Fa · lh«. who I le.iv· en
'"· All thy N11mc:
- -- ·- .
°'" Fu . lhcr. who ;, Mc.iv- en ... - AIL bal - low. cd b, ' thy Nrunc: Thy
• Thy '
King·domcome: thy ' Will be done. Through · out 1his earth - ly
A
Thy King·donlcomc: thy
A . .
_ , ' I,-_ ..
'I
'
Thy King-domC'Ot'lle: 1hy ' ' '
\Viii be done. Through . ou1 lhi, canh - I)'
I ....,_
Frame,. Ou,
. .
. . -,-
- . .
King-dool OOOIC: thy Will be dOl'.IC through • OUl this canh • ly Franle. Out Fa · titer.
ever ,vas prescribed, will not enable any Person to form an Air any
more than the bare Kno,vledge of the four and twenty Letters, and
strict Grammatical Rules ,vill qualify a Scholar for composing a
Piece of Poetry, or properly adjusting a Tragedy, ,vithout a Genius.
It must be Nature, Nature must lay the Foundation, Nature must
inspire the Thought.... for my own Part, as I don't th ink myself
con fin' d to any Rules for Composition laid do,vn by any that ,vent
before me, neither should I think (were I to pretend to lay do,vn
Rules) that any,vho came after me were any w·ays obligated to
adhere to them, any further than they should think proper: So in
fact, I think it is best for every Ca1npaser to be his own Carver. 6
The leaders of the American Revolution included several notable fig-
Thr nation's Founders ures interested in music. Benjamin Franklin, ,vhose interests ranged
and musk over many areas, played the guitar and harp and invented a design for
musical glasses. Thomas Jefferson hosted music parties at his home. An-
other signer of the Declaration of Independence, Francis Hopkinson
(1737-1791), ,vas actually a composer. Hopkinson's simple but charm-
ing song "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free," of 1759, may be the
first composition by an American-born composer. It ,vas a favorite of
George Washington's.
The Revolution itself inspired composers to write patriotic songs

and marches aplenty. Another genre, already popular in Europe, w·as the
pictorial battle piece for keyboard. These naive and amusing ,vorks in- Patr iotic program music
eluded trumpet signals, marching music, loud and confused battle
noises, laments for the fallen, and often quotat ions from ,veil-known pa-
triotic songs. James He,vitt's (1770-1827) "Battle of Trenton," a classic
of the battle genre, ,vas ded icated to George Wash ington. It includes the
melody of "Yankee Doodle," a favorite at the time and one of the tu nes
most often quoted in such pieces.
No one ,vould argue that the sophistication of the music in the first
decades of the new United States could rival the masterpieces of the
leading Viennese composers of that time in complexity or polish. Ameri-
can musicians ,vere not equipped to match European masterpieces.
What they did demonstrate, ho,vever, ,vas the deep connections be- American ideals
t\veen their musical creations and practices and their most stro ngly held
values. Amo ng these values were religious commitment and national
pride, of course, but also the sense of self-sufficiency and enthusiasm for
energetic experimentation that made the young republic a manifestation
of the ideals that gre,v out of the Enlightenment.
SUGGESTI ON S FOR F U RTHER R EADING
For more deta il on the major composers discussed in this chapter, see
Daniel Heartz, Mozart, Haydn, and Early Beethoven (New York: Norton,
2009). An engaging study of their music is Charles Rosen, The Classical
Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (Ne,v York: Norton, 1971).
On chamber music of Hayd n and Mozart see Rosemary Hughes,
Haydn String Quartets, 5th ed. (Seattle: University ofWashington Press,
1975); Hans Keller, The Great Haydn Quartets: Their Interpretation
(London: Dent, 1993); and A. Hyatt King, Moz art Cha111ber Music
(Seattle: University ofWash ington Press, 1969).
On the symphony see H . C. Robbins Landon, The Symphonies of
Joseph Haydn (London : Barrie & Rockliff, 1961), and Georges de
Saint-Faix, The Sy111phonies of Mozart, trans. Leslie Orrey (London:
Dobson, 1947).
For Mozart's Viennese decade, see H. C. Robbins Landon, Mozart:
The Golden Years, 1781-1791, new ed. (Lo ndon: Thames & Hudson,
2006).
Cuthbert M. Girdlestone,Mozart's Piano Concertos, 3rd ed. (London:
Cassell, 1978), is a useful overview.
1\vo excellent surveys of Mozart's operas are Ed,vard ]. Dent,
Mozart's Operas, 2nd ed. (London: Oxford Un iversity Press, 1960), and
William Mann, The Operas ofMozart (Lo ndon: Oxford University Press,
1960). Specifically on opera bulfa see Mary Hu nter, The Culture of Opera
Buffa in Mozart's Vienna: A Poetics of Entertain,nent (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1999). A detailed discussion of Mozart's
uses of the conventions of Enlightenment music in opera is Wye Jam ison
Allanbrook, Rhythmic Gesture in Moz art: Le nozze di Figaro and Don

Giovanni (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983).
For ma ny years the standard biography of Beethoven has been that
of Alexander Wheelock Thayer, updated as Thayer's Life ofBeethoven, rev.
ed., ed. Elliot Forbes (Princeton, NJ: Princeto n University Press, 1969).
An importa nt, insightful study is Maynard Solomon, Beethoven (New·
York: Schirmer, 1977). More recent stud ies include W illiam Kinderman,
Beethoven (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press,
1995); and Lew·is Lockw·ood, Beethoven: TI1e Music and the Life (New·
York: Norton, 2003). Tia DeNora, Beethoven and the Construction of
Genius: Musical Politics in Vienna, 1792-1803 (Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 1995), examines the relationship betw·een
Beethoven and the Viennese patrons and culture makers of the last
decade of the eighteenth century.
A substa ntial one-volume overview of the importatio n and develop-
ment of Europea n music in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in
America is Daniel Mendoza de Arce, Music in Ibero-A1nerica to 1850: A
Historical Survey (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2001).
For an excellent history of music in the United States see Richard
Crav.rford, America's Musical Life (New·York: Norton, 2001). A more com-
pact survey is H . Wiley H itchcock, Music in the United States: A Historical
Introduction, 3rd ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1988). See also
Gilbert Chase, America's Music, rev. ed. (New· York: McGra\v-Hill, 1966),
and Charles Hamm, Music in the New World (New York: Norton, 1983).
On the colonial and Revolutionary periods see Irving Lo\vens, Music and
Musicians in Early America (New York: Norton, 1964), and the first four
chapters of David Nicholls, ed., The Cambridge History ofA1nerican Music
I. Leopold Mozart, letter to h is daughter Nan nerl, 16 February 1785, in Mozart:

Briefe undAufzeichnungen, Gesamtausgabe, vol. 3, 1780-1786, ed. Wilhelm A. Bauer
and Otto Erich Deutsch (Kassel: Barenreiter, 1963), 373. [Translation by DS)
2. From Franz Niemetshek, Leben des K. K. Kapellmeisters Wolfgang Gottlieb
Mozart, nach Originalquellen beschrieben (Prague: HerrlischeBuchhandlung, 1798),
as q uoted in Friedrich Rochlitz, "Anekdoten aus Mozarts Leben,• Allgemeine musi-
kaliscl,e Zeitung 1/ 12 (19 December 1798), cols. 182-83. [Translation by DS)
3. Johann Wol fgang von Goethe, letter of 9 November 1829 to Karl Fried rich
Zelter, in Briefwechsel z wiscl,en Goethe und Zelter in den Jahren 1796 bis 1832, ed.
Friedrich Wilhelm Riemer (Berlin: Duncker u nd Hu mblot, 1834), 5:305. [Trans-
lation by DS)
4. Letter from Mozart to h is father, 28 December 1782, in Mozart: Briefe 1md
Aujzeichnungen, 3:245-46. [Translation by OS)
5. Lorenzo Da Ponte, Memorie, ed. Giovanni Gambarin and Fausto Nicolini
(Bari: Laterza, 1918), 1:97-98. [Translation by DS)
6. Will iam Billings, "introduction to the Ru les of Musick," in Tl,e New-England
Psalm Singer (1770}, vol. I of The Complete \,Vorks of William Billings, ed. Karl
Kroeger (Boston: The American Musicological Society and The Colonial Society
of Massachusetts, 1981), 32-33.
The Rise of the Romantic
Movement
Romanticism arose at the start of the nineteenth century in the context of
Rousseau's individualism, revolution, the rise ofNapoleon, the industrial
Revolution, and Hegelian philosophy. individuality and subjectivity
came to dominate the arts. Beethoven explored these values in his second
and third periods. Schubert developed the lied into a high artform .
Romanticism gradually emerged in opera, especially north ofthe Alps.
Music increasingly had to meet the needs of urban society.
Philosophical Roots of Roniantic Beethoven froni 1802

T11ought BEETHOVEN AND THE ARTIST
POLITICS, ECON01'11CS, AND AS HERO
SOCIAL CHANGE BEETHOVEN'S HEROIC STYLE
THE CONCEPT OF ORGANIC BEETHOVEN'S SKETCHBOOKS
UNITY
BEETHOVEN'S PERSONAL LIFE IN
Roniantic Art HIS MIDDLE PERIOD
THEMES IN R01'1ANTIC ART Beethoven's Last Period
TECHNIQUES OF RO~IANTIC ART
Beethoven's influence on Nineteenth-
The Roniantic Movenient in the Century Music
History ofi\1usical Style
309
310 CHAPTER 19: The Rise of the Romantic Movement
The Roniantic Lied Opera in France

FRANZ SCHUBERT
Gernian Roniantic Opera
Early-Nineteenth-Century Italian The Social Context for Music in the
Opera Nineteenth Century
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS OF ROMANTIC THOUGHT
The impetus tow'ard a new' \vay of thinking \Vas embodied in the Enlight-
enment. Fundamental to this trend \Vas a change in human values that
arose in the second half of the eighteenth century. Inevitably, society
faced the deterioration of the old feudal class system in \vhich people
\Vere categorized and treated as units in \vhat had by this time come to
seem an artificial social hierarchy. Thinkers began to place greater em-
phasis on the innate \vorth of a person as a unique individual. Rousseau
Think,t rs began lo place
\vrote at the beginning of his Confessions (1765ff), "I am not made like
grtal~r tmpha.d s on lht
fonalt worth ofa ptrson as any of those ,vhom I have ever seen; I dare to believe that I am not made
a unique individual. like any \vho exist."1
This idea that human beings are essentially individuals and there-
fore cannot be lumped together into social castes and treated as so many
sociological clones had revolutionary political implications, and it
Tur individual and the quickly began to affect the political scene. Rousseau's The Social Con-
political system tract (1762) addressed the question of the function of government,
\vhich Thomas Hobbes had dealt with in the seventeenth century.
Whereas Hobbes had view'ed a monarchical, hierarchical system as es-
sential to protect people from their own baser instincts, Rousseau pro-
claimed that a government ,vas not ordained for the people but ,vas an
agreement among the people to organize under authority granted by
them for the common good. The American Revolution (1776) soon took
the theory to heart. The Declaration of Independence stated explicitly
that government must be subject to the \viii of the people, not vice versa,
and further that ,vhen a government no longer responds to the people's
needs, they should form a better one. The motto of the French Revolu-
tion of 1789-1792, "Liberty, equality, fraternity," reflects the assump-
tions that people should be fundamentally free from artificial constraints
and that individuals must not be pigeonholed by class.
The possibility that individuals might rise by their own effort from a
low position to one of prominence and po\ver found its embodiment in
Napoleon the person of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). He began as a lo\v-
ranking military officer, but his leadership was so forceful that he was
able to save France from the disastrous Reign of Terror that followed the
Philosophical Roots ofRon1antic Thought 3 11
revolution. Napoleon climbed the ladder of pow·er rapidly, until in 1804

he became emperor of France and for the following ten years dominated
almost all of Europe. The thinkers and artists of his day regarded Napo-
leon's heroism and his tyranny v.rith mixed emotions, but as a symbol for
the victory of the human individual in the struggle against the pow·ers of
the system he could not be matched. As Lord Byron put it in a poem
titled "Napoleon's Farewell,"
Farew·ell to the Land where the gloom of my Glory Byron reflects on

Arose and o'ershadow., d the earth \Vith her name- Napolron's position
in history
She abandons me no\v-but the page of her story,
The brightest or blackest, is fill' d \Vith my fame.2
Politics, Economics, and S ocial C h ange
As much as the nineteenth century turned away from the feudal, aristo-
cratic pact, there was also restlessness against the dehumanizing effects
of the Industrial Revolution and capitalism. One response to this was a
nostalgic fascination with an idealized view of the past. Another \Vas a
move toward political radicalism in the hope of building a better future.
Once the revolutionary spirit had been released, aggressive political Political change
reform movements became common. A second revolution in France in
1830 effected the replacement of the aristocracy by the bourgeoisie as the
focus of political po\ver. In 1848 political uprisings occurred in France,
Germany, Austria, Italy, and Hungary. In the Com1nu11ist Manifesto
(1848) and Das Kapital (1867), Karl Marx (1818-1883) suggested that
the proletariat should displace the bourgeoisie from po\ver as the bour-
geoisie had displaced the nobility. The ne\v recognition of the worth of
the ind ividual led to the abolition of serfdom in Russia by Czar Alexander
II in 1861 and the American Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
The expectations of individuals that their life could be comfortable
and fulfilling did not depend exclusively on political liberty. The Indus-
trial Revolution made much of the manual labor that had occupied the
entire lives of the lo,ver class obsolete and extended a comfortable life to
more people than ever before. The mass production of relatively inex- The Industrial Revolution
pensive goods meant that even those of comparatively modest means
could attain some luxuries and the benefits of the arts and literature.
Steam and electricity rendered travel and communication rapid, effi-
cient, and reasonable in cost. Robert Fulton's steamship demonstrated
the usefulness of steam for transportation in 1807, locomotives \Vere in
regular use in England by 1829, and by the middle of the century steam-
ships and railroads were common. The telegraph \vas invented in 1832;
the transatlantic cable was laid in 1866; and Alexander Graham Bell cre-
ated the telephone in 1876. The effect of technological advances on the
arts is no less significant. The photographic process, invented in 1839,
made it possible to reproduce visual works, and Thomas Edison ach ieved
phonographic recording in 1877.
The C oncept of O rganic Un ity

A philosophical idea as characteristic of and important to the nineteenth
century as the new view of the human individual ,vas the concept of the
G. ,v. F. Hegel organic un ity of all being. The German philosopher Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) argued that natural and human history con-
stitute the story of the self-fulfillment of a universal spirit through a pro-
cess of dialectical opposition and synthesis. According to this plan, life
supersedes inorganic matter, humanity is the culmination of life, and art
and religion constitute the highest manifestations of human experience.
The ,villingness to pursue in science the idea that at a deep level all
life is connected by organic processes made possible theories ofbiologi-
Charlos Darwin cal evolution. In 1859 Charles Dar,vin (1809-1882) articulated the most
successful frame,vork for understanding the scientific un ity of life, based
on the principle of natural selection, in The Origin of Species.
Th is organic manner of thinking inevitably affected the arts. We
shall observe its effect in specific instances later.
ROMAN TIC ART
The term Romantic, ,vhich came to denote the new artistic approach that
emerged at the end of the eighteenth century in literature and around
1800 in music, derives from the long tradition of the literary "romance"
that goes back to the time of the chansons de geste. It therefore suggests a
style that is "romancelike" or novelistic, concentrating on emotional con-
flict and climax. In fact, this ,vas the period of a great flo,vering of the
novel; one might think, for example, in England, of the ,vork of Jane
Austen (1775-1817; Pride and Prejudice, 1813) and Sir Walter Scott
(1771-1832; Waverley, 1814, and Ivanhoe, 1819); in the Un ited States, of
James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851; The Last of the Mohicans, 1826);
and in France, ofStendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle, 1783-1842; The Red and
the Black, 1830). The German ,vriter Friedrich Schlegel (1772-1829) pro-
claimed, "All works of imagination should be novelistic, approximate
It is the s.enu. of the "voiu," themselves as closely as possible to the novel."3 The crucial aspect of the
I-lit individual bthind lht novel here is that, beyond having a plot like a drama, it also features a nar-
work, that marks the
rator, w·hose presence can project a point of view on the characters and
dijftrenu bttwt.en
Romanticism and lht action. It is this sense of the "voice," the individual behind the work, that
Enlightt'nmtnl. marks the difference behveen Romanticism and the Enlightenment.
Since thinkers and artists in the Romantic movement ,vere incl ined
to stress the uniqueness of the individual, it seems only natural that art-
ists chose to treat the part of experience in ,vhich individuals are most
individual, the emotional life. In our rational, objective experience, ,ve
are all much alike. We all find the stormy sky gray, the rain cold and wet,
Subject:ivity and the lightn ing bright, the thunder loud. Whether ,ve find such weather
Romantic art depressing, invigorating, or frightening is an individual, subjective matter.
Schlegel put it this way: "Reason is only one thing and the same in every-
one, but just as each person has his o,vn nature and his own love, so each
Ro1nanticArt 313
also carries his ow·n poetry with in himself."' The Romantic artist seeks
not merely to depict the storm but also to treat its emotional possibilities
and, in so doing, may take the audience through an entire range of emo-
tional reactions. The work succeeds not by the accuracy of its depiction
of content or its perfection of design, but by the effectiveness of its ex-
pression of emotion. The artistic movement of the nineteenth century
that w·e call Romantic therefore belongs among the several swings of the
aesthetic pendulum aw·ay from the Apollonian to,vard the Dionysian, a
recurring phenomenon in music history.
In the late eighteenth century ,vriters on aesthetics made an impor-
tant distinction behveen the hvo qualities they called the beautiful and
the sublime. The appeal of the beautiful is objective, controlled, and ulti-
mately satisfying to the Apollonian, classical taste. The sublime depends
on the po,ver of the effect and the absence of control, and it has a subjec-
tive appeal. The philosopher Edmund Burke (1729-1797) ,vrote,
The passion caused by the great and sublime in nature, ,vhen those Burke distinguishes
causes operate most po,verfully, is Astonishment; and astonish- between the beautiful
and the sublimr
ment is that state of the soul in which all its motions are suspended,
,vith some degree of horror.
. . . Sublime objects are vast in their dimensions, beautiful ones
comparatively small: beauty should be smooth and polished; the
great, rugged and negligent; beauty should shun the right line, yet
deviate from it insensibly; the great in many cases loves the right
line, and when it deviates, it often makes a strong deviation; beauty
should not be obscure; the great ought to be dark and gloomy;
beauty should be light and delicate; the great ought to be solid, and
even massive. They are indeed ideas of a very different nature, one
being founded on pain, the other on pleasure. 5
Romantic art generally inclines to the sublime rather than the beautiful;
the aesthetic aim is not pleasurable satisfaction but emotional stimulation.
One characteristic of Romantic art is a preoccupation ,vith longing
or yearning. Sometimes this is d irected toward a future object, but char- Longing
acteristically the object is inherently unattainable. Often the longing is
manifested in nostalgia for the past, ,vhich is, of course, ultimately out of
reach. This Romantic longing is actually experienced as an end in itself,
not as a mere transitory state leading to fulfillment. The ,vriter and com-
poser E.T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) claimed that Beethoven's music
aroused "that infinite yearn ing that is the essence of romanticism.'"
Themes in Romantic Art

The artistic emphasis on emotional experience led artists frequently to a
fe,v central themes, each of ,vhich possesses great po,ver to evoke emo-
tion. Naturally one of these themes is love, and the situation for the Ro- Love
man tic artist is usually one in ,vhich the love is unrequited, hopeless, or
even fatal. The prototype for th is sort of love ,vas the protagonist in
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Sturm und Drang novel, Die Leiden des
jungen Werthers (The sorrow·s of the young Werther, 1774), in which
Werther finally commits suicide because of frustrated love.
A second subject to w·hich we inevitably have an emotional response
is death, and the mystery of death-w·hether inspiring fear, awe, or even
triumph-was another common topic in nineteenth-century art, litera-
Death ture, and music. Death became an obsession for nineteenth-century art-
ists in all fields. The longing for death offered the marvelous paradox of a
fulfillment that ,vas fatal to the person ,vho attained it.
Closely related to death are religion and the supernatural, hvo further
Thr supernatural common themes for the Romantic artist. A number of nineteenth-century
artists turned to mystical religion out of the same desire for emotional ex-
perience that attracted them to art; they generally became Roman Catho-
lics, finding Catholicism the most mystical ofthe Christian denominations.
The ideal figure for the exploration of the supernatural ,vas the character
of Faust, the protagonist of Goethe's epochal drama, ,vho traded his soul
for occult knowledge and power.
Another emotion-inspiring area of life is politics, and the political
movements of their day provided materials for Romantic artists in all
fields. They painted pictures of, wrote about, and composed music about
the political events of their o,vn time, particularly ,vars and battles.
Politics and national Alfred Lord Tennyson's The Charge of the Light Brigade (1855) offers an
identity example of the glorification of sacrifice on the battlefield. The Romantics
also pursued their national identities in recovering their history and
ethnic mythology. The brothers Grimm, in their compilation of folk
tales, ,vere important contributors to this movement.
Yet another subject to ,vhich the Romantics, like people in all times,
Nature had a strong emotional response ,vas nature. They ,vere particularly in-
terested in nature as it presented a conflict ,vith or threat to human life
and as a reflection of human emotion. Storms, for example, turn up fre-
quently in Romantic literature and art, partly because of the danger and
the threat-or promise-of death that the forces of nature present and
partly because the storm outside symbolizes the inner storm of emotion
in the Romantic soul. By the same token, the peacefulness of a bucolic
scene symbolized a moment of inner peace.
Tech niques of Romantic Art

Unlike the art of the Enlightenment, ,vhich tended to strive for satisfac-
tion in terms of refinement and intellectual design, that of the Romantic
era concentrated on the strength of expression and shaping derived from
emotional experience. Some aspects of Romantic technique can be iden-
tified in all the arts. These may be best understood if they are defined in
terms of the opposition between the classicist and Romantic approaches.
One of these general techniques is the use of roughness rather than
Avoidan« ofpolish polish in the application of material in the arhvork. This is perhaps most
Ro1nantic Art 315
easily observed in the visual arts, w·here painters apply pa int thickly to
canvas in such a way that the brushw·o rk remains clearly seen, as in the
portrait of Chopin (Figure 19.1) by Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863), or in
sculpture w·here the strokes of the chisel are left and not polished aw·ay.
In music the desire for a kind of ruggedness led composers to employ
dissonance more frequently and freely and to explore brighter and more
aggressive timbres.
In the same w·ay, abruptness of change and sharp contrast are more
likely to occur in Romantic art than in the more gracefully shaped works
of the preceding era. In Romantic literature one finds shocking juxtapo- Shock
sitions that w·ould have seemed impossible self-contradictions in the
eighteenth century; thus Byron in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is able to
speak of a scene as "Charming the eye w·ith dread" and "Horribly beauti-
ful." The juxtaposition of extremes of brightness and clashing colors in
painting naturally became more common. In music, contrasts and ex-
tremes in dynamics, for example, also arise more often, and w·e hear har-
monic progressions that move abruptly between unrelated chords.
In structure, the Romantic artist placed the emphasis on unpredict-
ability rather than pattern. This is, of course, in keeping with the ideal of
unfulfilled longing. We must note, how·ever, that the disruption of the audi- Asymmetry
ence's expectations of a pattern depends on the assumption that a pattern
w·ill appear, and thus the Romantic style depends on the classic models in-
herited from the Enlightenment, although it thwarts those models. In
Fig ure 19.1 Eugene

Delacroix (1798-1863),
Frederic Chopin (1838).
The portrait of t he
t wenty-eight-year-old
pianist and composer
gives the impression
of a visionary Romantic
contemplating a
distant world reserved
for genius alone. The
roughness of t he
brushworks helps to
create t he impression
t hat the painter must
have capt ured t his
image in a rapid flash
of Romantic artistic
insight .
poetry there is more freedom of meter and less end-stopping of lines in the
Romantic work than in a Classicist one, although the expectation of regu-
lar poetic meter and clearly end-stopped lines persists. The poetry of Walt
Whitman (1819-1892) makes a good example because its rhythm tends to
be free of regular meter, and the lines are of extremely varied lengths. In
w·o rks ofvisual art, asymmetry and a sense of motion supersede symmetry
and stability; the canvas is likely to be divided on a diagonal and into por-
tions of unequal area (Plate 16). Musical works present structural sur-
prises, and forms tend to offer too little stability to balance large periods of
instability, at least judged by the criteria of established conventions.
It '"as also possible to heighten expressiveness by creating a seeming
mismatch beh\l'een content and structure, w·hich produces a sense of over-
loading and suggests that emotional expression had overwhelmed rational
Overloading control. The poet William Blake (1757-1827) took advantage of this pos-
sibility by crafting verses that seem to embody much depth and serious-
ness in m iniature, almost singsong rhymes. Composers could achieve the
same effect by overloading a simple, four-measure phrase ,vith chromatic
harmonies that certainly are not required to clarify the structure or by cre-
ating dynamic effects that seem excessive, rather than employing dynam-
ics, as in the Enlightenment style, as a means of articulating the design.
Finally, all the arts reflect the organic thinking of the Romantic ph i-
losophers by stressing organ ic continuity rather than architectural sec-
o,ganicism tionalization. In the eighteenth century poems tend to have end-stopped
lines that sit one on top of the other like building blocks; nineteenth-
century poets used enjambment to create poems that gro,v on and on as
if they ,vere alive. Nineteenth-century painters increasingly blurred the
outlines of shapes in their works, and this combines \\l'ith asymmetry to
create a more organ ic kind of form than in the eighteenth century. In
music '"e find that cadences blur, and movements quote one another and
run together so that the divisions disappear.
Also part of the increasing Romantic sense of connectedness of things
is the interpenetration of \\l'Orks of various art forms. Artists created paint-
ings based on poems, poems based on paintings, and musical works based
on either. This is part of the explanation for the expansion of music related to
extramusical topics in the Romantic period. Moreover, the relatedness of
things provides links behveen art and the real ,vorld; novels, dramas, paint-
ings, and musical works ,vere based on the lives of artists, and in some cases
the lives of the artists seem to have been lived in imitation of characters in
novels. Byron, from ,vhom '"e have heard earlier, would be a case in point.
THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT IN THE HISTORY

OF MUSICAL STYLE
It can be argued, as it has been most notably by the great German music
historian Friedrich Blume, that the Romantic movement in the history of
music does not constitute a separate style but is inseparable from the
Beet hoven fron1 1802 317
classicism of the late eighteenth century. From this point of view·, the En-
lightenment and Romanticism form h\l'O phases in the life span of a single
style. The classic phase achieved the perfection of the technical aspects of 71,e Enlight~,munt and
Ronranlicisnrform two
the style, w·hereas the Romantic stage completed the exploration of the
phans in the lift span of
style's expressive possibilities. This is not meant to imply, however, that ex- a sfogfo style.
pression was not important in the music of the Enlightenment composers
or that no achievements in technique came from the Romantics.
What binds together the entire Classic-Romantic style-period com-
plex is the reliance on dramatic means of expression based on tonally
grounded structure. The essential processes of drama-instability and sta-
bility, conflict and resolution, development and climax-provided com-
posers the fundamental structural and expressive foundation of music
from the second quarter of the eighteenth century until the end of the nine-
teenth. Moreover, in all this music the basis of the drama is tonal harmony.
In the Enlightenment, as we have seen, the drama tended to be structural Plot and voice
and intellectual; in Romanticism it naturally tended to be expressive and
emotional, rooted in the sense of the subjective "voice" behind the music.
As mentioned above, Romantic expressiveness relies on distortion, frustra-
tion, blurring, and overloading of model forms; that is, Romantic expres-
sion depends on the assumptions ofClassic form and style. This dependence
must be kept in mind throughout this and the follo\\l'ing t\\l'O chapters.
B EETHOVEN F ROM 1802

Beethoven occupies a crucial position in the rise of the Romantic period.
Having mastered the late-eighteenth-century styles by the end of his
first decade in Vienna and established himself as the successor of Haydn
and Mozart and having achieved a degree of economic success through
dedications and commissions of works, his O\\l'n concerts, and his publi-
cations, Beethoven proceeded to explore the potential of dramatic musi-
cal expression for emotional expression. The years from 1802 to about Beethoven'ssecond
1815 in his compositional career are often characterized by d'lndy's period
term externaliz ation; a more recent biographer, Maynard Solomon, refers
to this stage of Beethoven's career as his "heroic" period.
Beethoven and the Art ist as Hero

The composer's compulsion to extend the existing style for greater ex-
pressive force came naturally from his personality; he \\l'as undoubtedly
constitutionally unable to rest on his mastery of an earlier generation's
style. There \\l'as another factor, however, that impelled h im to press for-
\\l'ard. By 1802 he had been forced to recognize that he \\l'as losing his
hearing, a terrible fate for a young composer just arriving at artistic matu-
rity. It made h im deeply embarrassed and uncomfortable around others,
indeed genuinely antisocial, and drove him to the brink of suicide. He
retreated from the city of Vienna to the spa town ofHeiligenstadt, \\l'here
he confronted \\l'ithin h imself the disaster of his affliction. He wrote there
the famous "Heiligenstadt Testament,'' in the form of a letter to his broth-

ers Carl and Johann, w·hich said in part,
Berthoven's Heiligenstadt 0, you people w·ho hold me to be or say that I am hostile, stubborn,
Testament drscribrs his or misanthropic, what wrong you do me. You do not know· the
experirnce of deafness
and his artistic vocation hidden reason for what appears so to you.... But only consider that
six years ago an incurable condition afflicted me, aggravated by fool-
ish doctors. Year after year deceived by the hope of recovering, fi.
nally forced to look forward to a long-tertn illness {1vhose cure might
take years or be completely impossible), born \vith an ardent, lively
temperament, predisposed to the diversions of society, I had to
isolate myself early, to spend my life alone. !fl once \vished to resist
all this, oh, how hard I was thrust back by the doubly sorro\vful
experience of my bad hearing. And yet it \Vas still not possible for me
to say to people, "Speak louder, shout, because I am deaf." Ah, ho\v
could it be possible that I should admit the \veakness of a sense that
ought to have been more perfect in me than in others, a sense that
I once possessed in the greatest perfection, as fe\v in my profession
certainly have or have had.... But \vhat humiliation if someone
stood next to me and heard a flute in the d istance and I heard noth-
ing, or someone heard the shepherd singing and again I heard nothing.
Such incidents brought me almost to despair. It would have taken
little, and I w·ould have ended my life myself.
Yet Beethoven did find a reason to live, his art and his vocation to express
his emotions and musical thoughts:
Only ... art . . . held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to me to leave

the \vorld before I had produced all that I felt \Vas my duty, and so I
sustained this miserable life, truly miserable, \vith such a sensitive
body that a somew·hat quick change can transform me from the best
condition to the \VOrst. Patience-that is \vhat I must no\v choose for
my guide. I hope that my decision to persevere \Vill last until the mer-
ciless Fates are pleased to break the thread .... 0, men, if you ever read
these words, then think that you did me wrong; and let the unfortu-
nate person console himself \vith finding one like him, w·ho, despite
all the hindrances of nature, has still done everything that he was able
to do to be accepted among the ranks of worthy artists and people....
Virtue, that alone can make one happy, not money. I speak from
experience. That it w·as that raised me even in misery; that it is that I
have to thank, besides my art, that I did not end my life by suicide....
So it is done. With joy I hasten tow·ard my death. I fit comes before I
have had the opportunity to develop all my artistic abilities, then it
\vill come too soon despite my hard fate, and I would \Vish it to come
later. Yet even then I shall be content, for does it not free me from an
endlessly painful condition? Come \vhen you \vill, I am going bravely
to\vard you .... Heiligenstadt, the 6th of October, 1802.
Beethoven from 1802 319
A few' days later he added a postscript:

Heiligenstadt, the 10th of October:
So I must take leave of you-and indeed sorro,vfully. Even the fond
hope that I brought here, at least of being healed to a certain point,
must now leave me completely. As the autumn leaves fall, are with-
ered, so hope has also dried up for me. Almost the same as I came
here, I am going on. Even the high courage that often inspired me
in the beautiful summer days has vanished. 0 Providence, let one
pure day ofjoy appear to me. For so long already the sincere echo of
true joy has been far from me. Oh when-Oh ,vhen, 0 Godhead-
can I feel it again in the temple of Nature and of humanity?
Never?-no-that ,vould be too hard.7
Returning to Vienna and his ,vork, Beethoven thus asserted a heroic at-
titude toward life-the heroism of one ,vho feels a mission and, although
he cannot conquer, kno,vs that he must never give up the struggle.
Another heroic inspiration ,vas strong in Beethoven's view oflife-
that of the ideals of the French Revolution and of the personality of
Napoleon. Beethoven believed in the liberty and equality that ,vould
give everyone the opportunity to rise to the pinnacle of personal ach ieve-
ment, and Napoleon represented a model for a man's capacity to raise
himself in the ,vorld by his o,vn talent and effort. Between 1802 and Heroism in art
1804, when Beethoven ,vas ,vriting his Symphony no. 3 in E-flat, he
planned to title the ,vork Bonaparte. When he heard that Napoleon had
made himself emperor and was, after all, no less a tyrant than the king
the revolution had deposed, Beethoven scratched out the name from the
title page. The symphony ,vas published with the title Sinfonia eroica
(Heroic symphony) and the bitter inscription "to celebrate the memory
of a great man."
Beethoven did not give up his o,vn heroic ideals, however. There are
numerous anecdotes of his disregard for the nobility of the aristocratic
class and his belief in the nobility of ach ievement. He admired Goethe,
but he also felt disappointed in ,vhat he regarded as the poet's ,villing-
ness to ko,vtow to the aristocracy, ,vriting,
Goethe delights far too much in the court atmosphere, far more Brethoven critkiz.rs
than is becoming in a poet. Ho,v can one really say very much Goethe for his deference
to courtly tradition
about the ridiculous behavior of virtuosi in th is respect, when
poets, ,vho should be regarded as the leading teachers of the nation,
can forget everything else ,vhen confronted ,vith that glitter. 8
Beeth oven's H eroic Style

The assertive, heroic nature of Beethoven's personal character is evident
in his music as ,veil. Some of his style, like his political vie,vs, shows the
direct influence of the hymns and marches of the French composers of
the revolutionary period. An example is the second movement of the
Eroica Symphony, a 1narcia funebre in the manner of the French civic fu-
neral marches of the time.
In most ofhis w·o rks after 1802 the Romantic approach is unmistakable.
Representations of An increase in degrees of contrast affects the scoring and dynamics, giving a
the heroic rugged strength to the music. In many cases the rhythm has a relentless
drive and energy, particularly in the scherzo movements that replace the
minuets of the eighteenth-century four-movement sonata plan. Fragmenta-
tion of melody into mere motives together w·ith unprecedented harmonic
dissonance and surprise add to the sense of roughness (Example 19.1).
In structure, Beethoven's music during this period features much
more instability than his predecessors' or even his o,vn in earlier years;
Example 19.1 The opening of Beethoven's Piano Sonata in F Minor, op. 57, nick·
named "Appassionata." The passage illustrates Beethoven's m iddle-period style
w ith its abruptly b roken-off motivic ideas, surprise shift to the Neapolitan har-
mony (G-flat), extremes of range, and jolting dynamic changes.
Allegro assai
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Beet hoven fron1 1802 321
this can be expressed in harmonic and tonal fashion or in strong, synco-

pated rhythm. Climax and resolution tend to be delayed, so that the Heroicplot
striking moment of the triumphal arrival of the tonic key becomes
the goal, rather than the balance of tonal motion by tonal stability. The
third sections of sonata-form movements grow to prodigious size,
distort ing the conventional proportions of the form, while the process
of development extends throughout the form. Ultimately, the integrity
of the separate movements gives w·ay to the unity of the work as a ,vhole,
as in the Symphony no. 5 in C Minor, op. 67, ,vhere the first movement
ends in a peculiarly abrupt fashion, the leading motive of the first move-
ment continues to appear in the later ones, the movements eventually
run together, and the finale becomes the climax of an integrated
four-movement ,vhole. In all, the music sacrifices symmetry in favor of
continuous forward struggle, and the standard symphonic designs are
overloaded.
Such asymmetry and overloading leaves the listener with the sense
that there is a new degree ofemphasis on emotional content in Beethoven's
music after 1802, because the eighteenth-century's classicist, Apollonian
ideas of design cannot explain them. In the Eroica Symphony, the title
specifies the nature of this change, and many of the works of the period
share its heroic character.
Most of Beethoven's greatest ,vorks are instrumental rather than
vocal. Despite his study of vocal composition with the Italian opera com-
poser Salieri, Beethoven's style of ,vriting for the voice is not characteris-
tically grateful to sing. He ,vrote lieder and arranged a large number of
folk songs, including many Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ones. He produced
only a single opera (more strictly speaking, in vie,v of its use of spoken
dialogue, a singspiel), Fidelio, op. 72 (composed 1805-1806 and revised
in 1814). Fidelio is an example of the rescue opera, a type that became Fid<lio
popular in postrevolutionary France. It has much to do with tyranny and
freedom, personal strength, and heroism, and this content made the li-
bretto appeal to the idealistic, revolutionary Beethoven.
Beethoven did not often find it necessary to explain the content of
his instrumental music by adding titles, but there are some cases in
,vhich he did so, and th is desire to make the expressive content explicit
became an important element for later Romantic composers. Another of
Beethoven's ,vorks ,vith a programmatic title, the Symphony no. 6 in F,
op. 68, the Pastoral Symphony (subtitled "Recollections of Country
Life"), should be regarded as an explicit counterpart to the Eroica or to
the heroic-style Fifth Symphony, which premiered on the same concert.
The title Pastoral dra,vs attention to another aspect of Beethoven's Ro- Beethoven and nature
mantic character, his preoccupation ,vith nature. He responded sensi-
tively to nature, and many of his compositional ideas came to him in the
outdoors; he carried small books of staff paper ,vith him on his ,val ks so
that he could jot down ideas as they came to h im. He once ans,vered
someone who asked where he got his ideas,
Beethov•n expresses bow That I cannot tell you ,vith certainty: they come to me uninvited,
nature inspiru his music directly or indirectly. I could almost grasp them in my hands, out in
Nature's open, in the ,voods, during my promenades, in the silence
of the night, at the earliest da,vn. They are roused by moods ,vhich
in the poet's case are transmuted into words, and in mine into
tones, that sound, roar and storm until at last they take shape for
me as notes.9
In these years Beethoven was interested not only in new· approaches
to musical content but also in technical problems. He became increas-
ingly intrigued by the possibilities of the variation form, writing several
sets of variations for solo piano and also using the form for movements of
larger sonata-plan works. The last movement of theEroica Symphony, for
example, is a set of variations on a theme that Beethoven also used in
Character variations several other ,vorks. Of particular importance is the manner in which
Beethoven's variations do not merely decorate the theme but also seem
to take on different expressive content or personalities, an approach
called character variation. Another interest ofBeethoven's ,vas the fugue,
,vhich appears not as a type of separate piece or movement but as a means
of development within other, larger musical forms.
Beethoven's Sketchbooks
Throughout his life, and especially after 1800, Beethoven ,vas more
self-conscious about his compositional process than perhaps any other
Compositionalsourcu composer. He produced and carefully kept a large number of sketch-
books, which reveal something of his ,vork on most of his major compo-
sitions. These books hold a special fascination because they give some
insight into how Beethoven formulated his ideas and ,vorked out the
plans of movements, and they have been much studied by scholars in
recent decades. One significant implication of these books is that for the
artist himself the aspect of his biography most ,vorth preserving ,vas his
,vork. What ,ve can kno,v about his day-to-day activities, h is friends, his
financial accounts, h is style of life-the sort of things ,ve can find out for
other composers-is complemented to a unique extent for Beethoven by
th is enormous quantity of evidence of his inner biography, the part of his
life that mattered most. To judge from the Heiligenstadt Testament, this
is perhaps the ,vay Beethoven wished posterity to kno,v h is biography.
Beethoven's Personal Life in H is Middle Period

Beethoven did, of course, also deeply long for and treasure friendships
,vith other people, despite his isolation because of his deafness, as the
Beethov•n's relationships Heiligenstadt Testament proves. Unfortunately, h is personality and
temperament ,vere rough and stormy, and although he developed pas-
sionate affection for his friends, he could also fight bitterly,vith them and
easily feel jealous and betrayed. He never married, but in 1812 he d id
have an important relationship with a ,voman, ,vhich has become famous
Beethoven's Last Period 323
as the affair of the "Immortal Beloved." He wrote her a long and impas-
sioned letter, never sent but preserved among his papers, that w·as the
source of great controversy because it never actually gives her name. Its
true addressee was finally identified as Antonie Brentano (1780-1869),
the ,vife of an important figure in the history of German literary Roman-
ticism. She ,vas the dedicatee of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, op. 120,
and the presumed inspiration for his song cycle A11 die fer11e Geliebte (To
the distant beloved), op. 98, in 1815-1816.
B EETHOVEN'S L A S T P E RIOD
A11 die fer11e Geliebte may mark the turning point bet\veen the end of
Beethoven's middle period and the beginning of the final stage in his cre-
ative career. After 1815 Beethoven ,vas almost totally deaf and experi-
enced poor health, and he became more isolated than before. He was not Conversation books
entirely a hermit, however, and carried on conversations by having
friends ,vrite their questions and statements in books, ,vhile he ans,vered
orally. These conversation books, preserving half of Beethoven's conver-
sations (regrettably, his o,vn remarks only by implication), are an impor-
tant source for scholars studying the composer.
In this period Beethoven fought a legal battle ,vith his sister-in-law
for custody of his brother's son Karl. Having no child of his o,vn,
he sought to establish a close relationsh ip ,vith the boy, but again his af-
fection was frustrated.
Finally, this ne,v direction in Beethoven's life began at about the
time of Napoleon's final defeat and the reconstruction of Europe by the
Congress ofVienna, ,vhich took place in 1814-1815 under the leadersh ip
ofthe Austrian foreign minister, Prince Klemens Wenzel von Mettern ich.
From a political vie,vpoint the restoration of order came at the price of AA.er Napoleon
much of the liberal idealism so important to Beethoven in the previous
decade. After the end of the Napoleonic, hero ic era and ,vith the rise of Bttl.liovtn's htroic,
rt-volut.ionary spfrH must
reactionary conservatism, Vienna ,vas no longer the city it had been.
havesumtd out ofsltp with
Beethoven's heroic, revolutionary spirit must have seemed out of step the gay Vitnnt.scspirit
,vith the gay Viennese spirit during his later years. during his lat~r years.
In the face of th is isolation and personal frustration, Beethoven
achieved fulfillment in his compositions. This period was dubbed one of
"reflection" by d'lndy. Listeners have sensed in these pieces a meditative
and profound concentration, and the ,vorks seem some,vhat private,
more a communication bet\veen the artist and the art itself than bet\veen
the composer and the public audience. General style characteristics in- Beethoven's late style
clude an intense involvement ,vith mastery of technical problems of
composition, particularly counterpoint and motivic ,vorking out, and
highly experimental treatments of the standard musical forms. The con-
ventional key plans of eighteenth-century form give way to experiments
,vith relationships bet\veen more distant keys, such as those a third apart.
The developmental techniques of variation and fugue, already important
324 CHAPTER 19: TheRiseoftheRomanticMovement
in Beethoven's earlier, heroic style, are highly developed in his late w·orks.
At the same time, there seems to be a certain disregard for such values as
lyrical melody and the sensual beauty of sound. Often these works are
extremely challenging to performers.
The most significant final-period w·orks fall into two categories. The
Boethov•n's Iast first includes the last five piano sonatas and string quartets. In these solo
compositions and chamber w·orks Beethoven experimented w·ith texture and form.
The outward sonata plan and sonata form give ,vay under the pressure of
musical concentration, sometimes producing ,vorks in ,vhich the move-
ment forms are difficult to classify and sometimes leading to ,vorks made
up of a large number of short sections not fully articulated as indepen-
dent movements. The string quartet, generally thought of as the most
abstract of musical genres, sometimes takes on profound extramusical
meanings, as in the third movement of op. 132, which Beethoven headed
"Sacred song of thanksgiving bya convalescent to the deity, in the Lydian
mode," or the closing movement of op. 135, which is headed "The deci-
sion taken ,vith d ifficulty" (Example 19.2). In the second category are
t\vo monumental masterpieces for voices and orchestra, theMissa Solem-
nis and the Symphony no. 9 in D Minor, op. 125 (1822-1824). In the
Ninth Symphony heroic idealism returns, but it changes into a vision of
,vorldly struggle leading to Elysian peace and harmony. The four move-
ments are convincingly integrated, and the last is a vast and complicated
,vorking out of the concerto sonata-form model for solo and choral voices
and orchestra. The key of D minor is supplanted by D major, the sym-
phonic style gives ,vay to a songlike theme, and purely instrumental
music is superseded by the explicit expression of ideas in the text of the
"Ode to Joy" by the German poet Friedrich Schiller.
Example 19.2 The concluding movement of Beethoven's String Quartet in F Major,

op. 135, bears t he inscription "Der schwer gefasste Entschluss" (The decision taken
w ith difficulty) and features motives to w hich Beethoven assigned the question
"Muss es sein?" (Must it be?) and the statement "Es muss sein!" (It must be!).
Grave ma non troppo trotto
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Beethoven's Influence on Nineteenth-Century Music 325
Example 19.2 (Continued)
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B E ET HOV EN'S I NFLU ENCE ON NINETE ENT H-CEN T U RY

Music
Beethoven cast a long shadow· over the remainder of the nineteenth cen-
tury and one broader than the substantial influences his music had on
the styles of later composers. His biography came to represent a sort of Beethoven as Romant:k
myth of the Romantic artist, enduring physical affliction and social iso- ide-aJ
lation and living for art alone. The model he provided of the artist ex-
pressing his ow·n personality and the great ideals of the time in his music
inspired later composers to view their calling as one of enlightening the
w·orld and challenging their listeners to meet them on their ow·n terms,
rather than of providing entertainment or diversion to suit a patron's or
the public's taste. The strength and freedom with which Beethoven han-
dled the previous generation's conventions of musical composition es-
tablished the Romantic idea that the true artist must strive against
conventionalism and for originality.
THE ROMANTIC L IED
The early nineteenth century saw' the song increase considerably in sig-
nificance as an artistic genre. Some of the most influential composers of
lieder around the turn of the century ,vere based in Berlin, forming a
Second Berlin School (so named to distinguish it from the First Berlin
The Srcond Berlin School of the middle of the eighteenth century). They based their style
Song School on musical simplicity and their intention to let the poetry speak clearly
for itself. They raised the ideal of the Volkston (folk tone, in the sense of
folk sound), sometimes referred to as Volkstumlichkeit, a term that does
not translate into English easily but suggests both folklike simplicity and
reflection of the national folk character. Among the leaders of this school
,vas the Berlin composer and music director Karl Friedrich Zelter (1758-
1832), a good friend of Goethe's. Although Romantic in much of his
poetry, Goethe held, with Zelter, conservative ideas about the role of
music in the song; he felt that the setting should essentially provide a
medium for the delivery of the text, not an attempt to interpret it.
Goethe's and Zelter's concern was to avoid a musical style that seemed
operatic, because that would thwart the intimate, personal expression of
the lyric poem.
On the basis of th is ideal, a strophic text called for a strophic setting
in a spirit broadly suited to the song text as a ,vhole, designed to conform
St:rophk Iiedrr to the meter and verse structure of the poem. Both the intention of com-
posers to ach ieve a natural or folklike style and the Goethe-Zelter song
aesthetic led to songs that employed strophic form ,vith symmetrical
melodic phrasing, light textures, and simple harmonies. It ,vould be a
mistake to think that the strophic lied was on that account inexpressive.
Rather, this approach calls for an especially sensitive interpretation of
the poem by the singer and pianist, using shadings (generally not no-
tated) of tempo, dynamics, vocal timbre and keyboard art iculation, and
so on, to express ,vhat the composer leaves open. The style was ,veil
suited to performance in the drawing rooms of the middle-class German
bourgeoisie, and the music naturally had a lively market.
The lied offered an outlet for composition to ,vomen composers in
this period, ,vhen it remained difficult for them to gain access to the
\Vomrn as song composers arenas of larger and more public genres. Because the performance of
lieder ,vas part of the domestic sphere that the culture around 1800
determined as the "proper" milieu for bourgeois ,vives and daughters,
there was also the opportunity to compose and publish songs. The
singer/ actress Corona Schriiter (1751-1802), ,vho ,vorked in the circle
of Goethe in Weimar, published collections of songs in the late eigh-
teenth century, including the first setting of the famous "Erlkiinig," for
her o,vn performance in one of Goethe's plays (Example 19.3). Louise
Reichardt (1779-1826), daughter of one of the Berlin composers of the
previous generation, published numerous songs in the first decades of
the ne,v century.
The Ro1nantic Lied 327
Example 19.3 The earliest sett ing of Goethe's poem "Erlkonig" was by Corona
Schroter, t he actress w ho played the leading role in the 1782 p lay Die Fischerin
(The fisher- girl), which op ens w it h t his song. Unlike Schubert's famous set ting,
t he music here does not enact t he story but merely maintains the poetic meter
and verse form, leaving interpretation to t he performer. The first stanza text
reads, ·who is riding so late t hrough n ight and wind? It is t he father with his
child; he has t he boy fi rmly in his arm, he grasps him securely, he keep s him
warm: The remaining seven stanzas are to be sung to the same music.
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r~ift so .spilt dun:b Nac:h1_ '
Ulld Wind'/ Es ist '
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An alternative to the strophic lied ,vas the ballad. Unlike the lyric
poetry of lieder, ballad texts ,vere narrative and dramatic in their con-
tent, and generally their poetic rhythm ,vas quite irregular. As a conse- Ballad
quence, musical settings of such ballads, best represented by those of the
leading exponent of the genre, Johann RudolfZumsteeg (1760-1802),
,vere through-composed. They could be long and rambli ng, passing
through numerous vocal styles and accompa niment textures, musical
meters, and keys, so that only the story being unfolded in words and
music held the ,vork together. In some ballads, recurring motives helped
increase the coherence of the music.
Franz Schuber t
The course of the development of the lied ,vas profoundly influenced by
the work of the Viennese composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828).
Schubert, the son of a middle-class schoolmaster, played chamber music
at home and was trained as a choirboy at the imperial choir school, ,vhere
he studied under Salieri. At the age of sixteen Schubert abandoned his
future as a schoolteacher for a career as a composer. He idolized

Beethoven and hoped to follo,v in his footsteps, but he made little head-
,vay in the musical ,vorld before his career ,vas cut off by his early death.
Schubrrt's position His many fine instrumental ,vorks-including piano music, chamber
music, and symphonies-reveal that he knew Beethoven's music ,veil
but ,vas an entirely different personality. His style is more lyrical, less
driving in the treatment of tonality, and less vehement in motivic devel-
opment. Relatively little ofSchubert's instrumental music ,vas published
In 1/oefitld ofsong Schubtrl during his lifetime. His theatrical ,vorks, of ,vhich he ,vrote qu ite a
was ptrftclly original, number, never had much success. In the field of the song, however, he
and liis works in tht
gtnrt are truly ,vas perfectly original, and his ,vorks in the genre are truly epoch-making
~poch·making. (Figure 19.2).
Schubert's contribution to the history of the lied consists in his obvi-
ous insistence that the role of the composer should be equal to that of the
poet in determin ing the emotional experience of the song. He combined
the talent for melody that Austrian composers seem to have absorbed
from their nearness to Italy and the vocalism of opera, the dramatic pos-
\\lords and music in song sibilities of the ballad, and a Romantic insight into lyric poetry. Schubert
composed both strictly strophic lieder in the tradition of the Volkston
and ballads, the latter especially in his early years. In his mature style,
ho,vever, beginning in about 1814, he made the music not merely a
Figu re 19.2 Moritz von Schwind (1804-1871), A Schubertiad. The artist von
Schwind was a member of Schubert's circle of friends. The composer is depicted
playing a song while another friend, M ichael Vogl, on his left, sings. Clearly, the
milieu for which Schubert's lieder were intended was not the recital stage of
most of today's performances.
The Ro1nantic Lied 329
veh icle for the text or simply programmatically illustrative of the mean-
ings of the W'Ords, but both of these and also an interpretation of the
poem's content.
Essential to Schubert's W'ay of interpreting poetry ,vas his use of the
piano. Influenced by the textures developed by the Viennese composers of
the previous century, he invented myriad variants of simple broken-chord
patterns, often comprising a kind of transfigured sound effect that not
only suggested a background setting for the thoughts of the poet but also
captured the emotional state of the speaker. The music may then provide a
subtext that might even contrast ,vith the explicit statements of the poetic
text. The first masterpiece to demonstrate Schubert's approach to the The piano in Schubert's
piano part in songs ,vas his setting of Goethe's song from Faust "Gretchen songs
am Spinnrade" (1814); the constantly circling right-hand figuration in the

piano part evokes not only the motion of spinning ,vheel but also
Gretchen's disturbed feelings (Example 19.4). Another fine example is the
,vater music of various songs in the first of his hvo cycles, Die schone
Mullerin (The pretty miller girl, 1823), in ,vhich the piano part illustrates
the flo,ving of the water but also changes from song to song as the stream
reflects the different moods of the journeyman miller-no,v cheerfully
sparkling, now peacefully flo,ving, no,v agitated.
Example 19.4 "My rest is gone, my heart is heavy; Gretchen sings in Goethe's Faust,
part 1 (1808), as she sits at her spinning wheel. The piano part of the seventeen-year-
old Franz Schubert's song ·Gretchen am Spinnrade· (1814) illustrates the motion of
the wheel, as it simultaneously captures Gretchen's emotional agitation.
Nicht zu gcschwind
" . .
~ Mei • nc Ruh" 1~1
sempre fignto
" .,..,
~v - .,.
- - - - -
pp
sempre slaccato
. ' n '
)) .D ' )) ) )) .D )_
.
~
'
. 7
.
. 7
'
~
" . . .
' '
-------
. '
.
hin mcin 1-ICJ?
'" $Chwer,
~v - - - -··· - -
:-----n. ' l\
' -n l\ J: - - -h
)
. '
~
1
II
·- - .
' 1
II '
.
Like,"ise, the great setting of Goethe's ballad "Erlkiinig" (1815) em-

ploys an accompan iment rhythm that suggests the galloping of a horse
"Erlkonig• and at the same time the frantic agitation of the riders. "Erlkiinig" illus-
trates how Schubert could take advantage of every aspect of musical
style: the melod ic range is designed to distinguish the different speakers
'"ho appear in the story, the pacing of their lines depends on their mood,
major and minor modes are freely used for their affective value, and se-
quentially rising harmony creates a sense of rising tension. Here, too, the
structure, influenced by the freedom of form in the ballade, departs from
the strophic convention to take a rondo- or ritornellolike design, wh ich
is derived from the content rather than the form of the text.
Schubert's most characteristic song form was the modified strophic
Modified strophic form design, comparable to the variation form in instrumental music. The strophic
principle operated as far as the poetic content \\Tould allo,", and then variation
'"as applied. This gave the impression of the volkstu1nlich aesthetic without
tying the composer's hands w·hen it came to interpreting the ideas.
Schubert expressed the Romantic inclination to organically gro,"-
Songcyd•• ing, multipartite \\Torks in his great song cycles. For Die schiine Mullerin
and its successor Winterreise (Winter journey, 1827), Schubert took
cycles of poems by the German poet Wilhelm Miiller (1794-1827),
both dealing \\Tith loss of love, alienation, and the Romantic protago-
nist's sensitivity to nature. These cycles, of t\\Tenty and h\Tenty-four
songs, respectively, are unified largely by the narrative progress of the
texts and by recurring poetic and musical images, rather than by explicit
thematic quotation, a thoroughgoing tonal plan, or continuous music as
in Beethoven's A11 die ferne Geliebte.
EARLY-N INET E EN TH-CENT U RY ITALIA N OPE RA
Of all parts of Europe in the early nineteenth century, Italy remained the
most conservative in its music. Opera dominated the scene, and with the
spread of public opera theaters it became the most popular social pas-
The opora experience time. Everyone '"ho could afford the price of a ticket attended the opera
regularly, and the opera became for that time roughly equivalent to rock
concerts or major sporting events in today's American society 6"ith the
exception that it could not be seen at home on television and therefore
had to be experienced live in a public situation). Fans gave vocal support
to their favorite stars and sho,"ed their disapproval in equally lively fash-
ion. Vendors of refreshments sold their wares during performances, and
the arias of minor characters gained the nickname aria di sorbetto (sher-
bet aria), because during them the box holders often closed the curtains
of their boxes to snack or converse, opening them again '"hen the prima
donna or primo uomo returned to the stage. Intermissions '"ere filled by
a ballet or other "halftime'' entertainment.
Audiences frequently '"ent to hear the same opera a number of
times, but novelties '"ere ahqays in demand, and composers '"ere kept
Early-Nineteenth-Century Italian Opera 331
busy producing new works at breakneck speed. In many cases a major Composing operas
composer had help from assistants who ,vrote the recitatives and arias
for lesser characters while he created the major arias a nd ensembles. It
,vas not uncommon for a composer to borrow music from his own earlier
,vorks by parody, continuing the practice that had produced many works
since the parody Masses of the sixteenth century.
Certain factors made the composition of an opera as much a matter
of craft as of high art: the genre incorporated a variety of conventions in-
herited from the eighteenth century, so that the work could be approached
some,vhat as a problem in filling out a predetermined scheme; and com-
posers continued to have to meet, as had their eighteenth-century prede-
cessors, the demands of the star performers. To be sure, the performers Singers
experienced their o,vn pressures in learning ne,v roles to keep up ,vith the
public demand for ne,v operas and sometimes having to do so at the last
minute ,vhen a procrastinating composer submitted the score ,vith the
ink still wet on the page.
We can understand from all of this that the Italian opera in the early
nineteenth century remained comparatively closely tied to the conven-
tions of established style. Indeed, the Romantic movement took hold
more slowly in Italy than it did in northern Europe. The operatic styles 71,e Romanik movtmtnt
look hold mort slowly
current in the first quarter of the nineteenth century descended d irectly
in Italy than it did fo
from the opera seria and opera buffa of the eighteenth century in a con- norlhtrn Europt.
tinuous tradition.
Gioacchi no Rossini
The leading Italian composer of the period was Gioacchino Rossini (1792-
1868). He established a very successful career with his ,vorks in the major
opera houses of Italy, beginning in 1810. By 1816 he had achieved notable
success, and in that year he composed his most famous opera, II barbiere
di Siviglia (The barber of Seville). That the work belongs to the eighteenth-
century tradition ,viii be evident from the observation that the subject is
taken from the first play in the trilogy by Beaumarchais from which Mozart's
Le nozze di Figaro had come. It had already been composed by the opera
composer Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816). Indeed, II barbiere di Siviglia is II barbitrt di Siviglia as
even more clearly in the manner of the prototypical opera buffa, more lo,v opera buff'a
comedy and less concerned with social criticism than Le nozze di Figaro.
Mozart's operatic composition had placed musical drama ahead of every
other concern, and, although his vocal ,vriting certainly sho,ved off the
voice, the Italian style that follo,ved him seems to make vocalism its highest
priority. When ,ve compare Rossini's style to Mozart's, ,ve find that Rossini's
is more immediately grateful for the singers. Rossini's music tends toward
greater lyricism and offers more opportunities for vocal improvisation than
Mozart's, even though Rossini tried harder than most ofhis contemporaries
to maintain authority over the vocal lines, ,vriting out more specifically the
ornamentation he ,vanted sung.
Rossini's serious operas are classified as dram1na, rather than opera

seria. One example is his Otello (1816), w·hich he composed immediately
Sha.kt-Speare and after II barbiere di Siviglia. It is significant that the subject matter comes
nineteenth··Century opera from Shakespeare. The great English Tudor dramatist began to gain ap-
preciation throughout Europe in the nineteenth century because he was
regarded as a model of the serious dramatist whose w·orks succeeded de-
spite their disregard for the academic "classical" unities of time, place,
and action. In Otello Rossini first attempted to let the drama control the
musical conventions, and he broke away somew·hat from the older style.
OPERA IN F RANCE
The French opera mainta ined some of its characteristic features after the
French Romantic style revolution but also added some new· tendencies. The ,vell-established use
of large choruses and stage spectacle remained, as did the preference for
a relatively undecorated vocal style in arias. All of these naturally suited
the bourgeois public, which ,vas impressed by effect and not by artificial
vocalism. A popular subject for operatic treatment in this period was
heroic rescue; ,ve have already noted that Beethoven's Fidelio ,vas mod-
eled on French revolutionary rescue opera. New Romantic tendencies
led to the inclusion of vivid settings in ,vilder natural surroundings and
elements of the supernatural, both of which not only were Romantic in
themselves but also gave the opportunity for striking stagings. The or-
chestra of the French opera ,vas large and colorful, making special effects
of instrumentation a characteristic feature. The Italian-born composer
Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842), ,vho settled in Paris in 1826, led the
French movement toward Romanticism by his use of unusual, imagina-
tive scorings and his ,villingness to break melodic and rhythmic regular-
ity to achieve forceful expression of emotion.
In 1828 Cherubini's student Daniel-Franc;ois-Esprit Auber (1782-
1871) composed his highly effective and influential political opera La Muette
de Portici (The mute of Portici), about an uprising in seventeenth-century
La mu<lt< de Porlici Naples against the Spanish occupation there. A performance in Brussels in
1830 actually sparked a revolt there. The opera experimented ,vith unifying
musical devices, including key relationships, but its great effect derived from
startling juxtapositions. The colorful orchestration and brilliant choruses in
cro,vd scenes were juxtaposed against simple tunes and personal expres-
sions of the characters in dialogue and solo numbers. Notably, the title char-
acter cannot speak and so has to express herself in pantomime; the role ,vas
conceived not for a singer but for the ballerina Lise Noblet (1801-1852). The
spectacular production values included ballets and, at the end, the eruption
of Mount Vesuvius.
By the early 1820s it became evident to Rossini that to move ,vith the
times he must break away from the old-fashioned comfort of the Italian
opera theaters and go north, where the ne,v Romantic movement had al-
Rossini in France ready taken hold. He ,vent to Paris to try his hand at the French style, first
Gern1an Romantic Opera 333
adapting Italian W'Orks into French but eventually attempting original

opera in that language. In 1829 he tackled the subject of William Tell,
using Friedrich Schiller's drama as the basis for the libretto. Guillau1ne
Tell offered much to the Romantic taste: the issue of political freedom
from tyranny, a picturesque natural setting, and a love interest added for
the opera. It evoked Rossini's most advanced music, including more har-
monic and orch estrational originality than his earlier W'Orks, a good deal
of choral material, and a less florid vocal style. After Guillaume Tell
Rossini retired from composing opera. One may adduce a variety of rea-
sons for this, but probably most convincing was simply that he found the
Romantic style uncongenial to his talent and th at it required more effort
than it was \\l'Orth to him to compete in the new' age. Rossini remained a
prominent figure in musical society for nearly forty more years.
GERMAN ROMANT IC OPERA
The German nations produced a genuinely national and truly Romantic

opera composer in the person of Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826).
Weber combined musical training under fine Austrian eighteenth-century Ca,lllhriavon \ Vober
composers and a background in the theater, and he became director (at age
thirty) of a series of prominent opera houses, including th e great opera at
Dresden. With Weber's singspiel Der Freischutz (The free marksman,
1821), German opera clearly ach ieved Romanticism. Weber took a colorful
plot involving a wild forest locale, magically charmed bullets, and a love
story and combined it with equally colorful music. The overture immedi-
ately alerts the listener that something special is at hand, because it features
unexpected and structurally inexplicable dynamic effects, a solo passage
for a quartet of hunting horns, and ominous tremolos on mysterious, fully
diminished seventh chords. The casting of the magic bullets in the Wolf's
Glen scene, which includes the '"eirdest of music and calls for stunning
supernatural stage effects, ranks as one of the most strikingly Romantic
moments in the operatic literature (Figure 19.3). The Romantic emphasis
on the narrative "voice" of a musical work emerges h ere, unlike in the con-
temporary operas of Rossini, because Der Freischutz evokes the presence of
a village storyteller recounting the action. In that sense it resembles the
stories of the Grimm broth ers, except that the narrative voice behind Der
Freischutz is heard in the music. The scene features the device known as
melodrama, in which the characters speak rather than sing over an expres-
sive or evocative orchestral accompaniment.
In Der Freischutz Weber wove thematic threads through the musical
fabric to give a deliberate organicism to the ,vork; each musical idea in the
sonata-form overture anticipates some th eme from the drama. The use of R•miniscenco th•mos
re1ninisce11ce the1nes1 recurring melodies that serve as audible connections
beh\l'een dramatic ideas, ,vas even more thoroughgoing and explicit in
Weber's Euryanthe (1823), which also moved in the direction of continu-
ous opera by breaking down the closure of musical numbers. As '"e shall
Figu re 19. 3 Ca rl Wilhelm Holderman n, drawing of the Wolf's Glen scen e from
an early performance of Web er's DerFreischiitz. Roma ntic interests in t he su per-
natu ral and nat ure are evoked as t he ghostly riders race through t he air at the
climact ic casting of the magic b ullets in the forest .
see, this Romantic tendency tov.rard organic continuity became a central

issue to Rich ard Wagner, w·ho O\ved much to Weber's pioneeri ng \vorks.
THE S OCI A L C ON T EXT F OR M USI C

IN T H E N I N ET EENT H C ENT URY
As we h ave seen, the social position of th e composer ch anged radically

w·ith the decl ine of the patronage system at the close of the eighteenth cen-
Musicians' livos tury. The new· arrangement, u nder \Vhich the composer worked more as a
private entrepreneur, brought at once g reater economic risks and possi-
bilities for greater artistic independence. Artists became freer to express
th eir O\Vn th oughts in ne\vways, untrammeled by the d eman ds ofpatrons,
but at the same time th ey could not live ,vithout appealing to the market-
place. As a result, in the nineteenth century th ere were generally three
types of composers: those \vho had great artistic imaginations and s up-
port from serious critics as models for high c ulture, but w·ho found them-
selves subject to finan cial insecurity; th ose who succeeded by making a
brilliant impression on th e public and thereby achieved finan cial success;
and many, little know·n to posterity, who appealed to the mass market,
,vriting competent and popular ,vorks but rarely masterpieces. Schubert
belongs to the first category. He never ach ieved ,vide p ublic recognition
and ,vas un able to take advantage of the free enterprise system to make a
living as a composer; instead, he relied heavily on the generosity of a circle
of friends ,vho believed in his talen t and supported h im through difficult
financial times. The second type ,vould include virtuoso performers and
The Social Context for Music in the Nineteenth Century 335
opera composers. Rossini became enormously w·ealthy through the suc-

cess of his w·orks on the stage, and of course Weber had financial security
through his employment as a director.
The need to appeal to the public was tremendously important. A
number of new popular styles arose. Throughout Europe, but especially
in Italy, the opera house became the major social and entertainment
center in most cities. After the devastating period of French occupation,
and under the regime of Prince Metternich, Vienna's glittering social life
produced the waltzes of the Strauss family (Johann Sr., 1804-1849;
Johann Jr., 1825-1899; Josef, 1827-1870), ,vhich ,vere exported and
became popular all over Europe. Also attractive to the masses ,vere vir- Popularity
tuoso solo players, who toured the Continent and even crossed the
Atlantic, giving concerts that often featured their own compositions.
Their repertoire often included flashy arrangements of and variations on
,vell-kno,vn popular and operatic melodies. By contrast, there was also a
need for large quantities of parlor music to be performed by amateurs in
the homes of the middle class. This ,vas met by the production of songs,
piano pieces, and short easy pieces for all sorts of solo instruments. The
best of this literature had genuine artistic merit and survives as recital
repertoire; most of it has faded into obscurity.
It should not be imagined, ho,vever, that no works of high value ,vere
produced by virtuosos of the time. Weber, a fine pianist, w·rote variation Romanticism and
sets but also concertos and sonatas that not only call for brilliant playing virtuosity
but also sho,v expressive imagination and skill in complex forms. Another
outstanding performer, Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870), not only wrote
concertos and sonatas-some with characteristically Romantic expres- nu. c.ombinalfon of
brillianu.and lht.appt.a l
sive titles such as "Fantastique," "Pathetique," and "Melancolique"-but to emotional exptritnc,t
also became an important teacher and composer of challenging pedagogi- mc.d iattd bttwun t.lit
cal works. This combination of brilliance and the appeal to emotional ex- popularizing impulst
and tire.aspirations of
perience mediated bet\veen the popularizing impulse and the aspirations bourgeois listtncrs lo
of bourgeois listeners to sophisticated culture. sophisticated culture.
During th is period there arose an important ne,v type of musical in-
stitution, the modern music conservatory. The first such establishment
,vas the result of the French Revolution. The do,vnfall of the aristocracy
brought the end of the patronage system and threatened to create a musi-
cal crisis. The Paris Conservatory ,vas founded partly to provide music The conservatory
for the ne,v audiences and new occasions under the postrevolutionary
regime and partly to offer a means for educating new musicians now that
the opportunity for private, apprenticeship-style training in the house-
holds of the nobility no longer existed. One of the greatest public prizes
for composition, the Prix de Rome, ,vas established in France in 1803 to
provide the most gifted young composers both recognition and financial
support in the ne,v social situation. Modeled on existing prizes for art
and architecture, the prize allo,ved promising artists a chance to enrich
their background by a period of study in Rome, w·hich was considered
the center of classical culture. The Paris system ,vas so successful that
similar conservatories ,vere soon founded in Italy, Austria, Germany,

England, Russia, and the United States.
The Romantic phase in music history in general is discussed in Friedrich

Blume, Classic and Romantic Music (Ne,v York: Norton, 1970); Alfred
Einstein, Music in the Romantic Era (Ne,v York: Norton, 1947); Gerald
Abraham, A Hundred Years of Music, 4th ed. (London: Duck\vorth,
1974); Leon Plantinga, Romantic Music (Ne,v York: Norton, 1984); Carl
Dahlhaus, Nineteenth-Century Music, trans. J. Bradford Robinson
(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1989); Jim
Samson, ed., The Cambridge History of Nineteenth-Century Music (Cam-
bridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002); and Walter Frisch,
Music in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Norton, 2013).
The essays in Alexander Ringer, The Early Ro1na11tic Era: Between
Revolutions, 1789 and 1848 (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1991),
provide good treatments of the place of music in social history.
Aesthetic ,vritings on early Romanticism can be found in Peter le
Hu ray and James Day, eds., Music and Aesthetics in the Eighteenth and
Early Nineteenth Centuries (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press, 1981).
For books on Beethoven see the Suggestions for Further Read ing for
Chapter 18.
On Schubert see Elizabeth Norman McKay, Franz Schubert: A Biography
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), and Brian Ne,vbould, Schubert: The Music and the
Man (London: 1997). For documents see Otto Erich Deutsch, Schubert:
A Documentary Biography, trans. Eric Blom (London: Dent, 1946). A good
survey of Schubert's lieder is John Reed, The Schubert Song Co1npanio11
(Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1985).
On nineteenth-century opera see Ed,vard J. Dent, The Rise of Ro-
mantic Opera, ed. Winton Dean (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univer-
sity Press, 1976).
An excellent biography of Rossini is Herbert Weinstock, Rossini: A
Biography (Ne,v York: Limelight, 1987).
On Weber see John H. Warrack, Carl Maria von Weber, 2nd ed.
I. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Les Confessions, in vol. 1 of Oe11vres completes, ed.

Bernard Gagnebin and Marcel Raymond (Paris: Gallimard, 1959), 6. [Transla-
tion by DS]
2. Lord Byron, The Poetical Works of Byron, Cambridge ed. (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1975), 186.
3. Friedrich Schlegel, "Fragmente zur Literatur und Poesie," in Kritische Aus-
gabe, vol. 2, Fragmente zur Poesie und Literat11r, pt. 1, ed. Hans Eichner (Munich:
Schoningh, 1981), 136. [Translation by DS]
4. Friedrich Schlegel, "Gesprach iiber die Poesie," in Kritiscl,e Ausgabe, vol. 16,
Charakteristiken und Kritiken I, ed. Hans Eichner (Munich: Schoningh, 1967),
284. [Translation by DS]
5. Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of Our Ideas of the Sub-
lime and Beautiful, rev. ed., ed.James T. Boulton (Oxford: Basil Black"1ell1 1987),
57, 124.
6. E.T. A. Hoffmann, Werke, vol. 1, Musikalische Scl,riften I, ed. Georg Ellinger
(Berlin, Leipzig: Bong, 1910), 42. [Translation by DS]
7. Erich Valentin, ed., Die schiinsten Beethoven-briefe (Munich: Langen Millier,
1973), 54-59. [Translation by DS]
8. Beethoven, letter of9 August 1812 to Breitkopf and Hartel, in The Letters of
Beethoven, ed. Emily Anderson (London: Macmillan, 1961), 1:384.
9. From a report of a conversation with the violinist Louis Schlosser (1800-
1886) in Elliot Forbes, ed., Thayer's Life of Beethoven (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1967), 2:851-52.
20
Developments in
Romanticism to 1850
Musicians in the second quarter of the nineteenth century adapted to the
growth of bourgeois society, often developing careers that included a variety of
activities. Romanticism began to take hold in Italian opera, ivhereas in France
the grand opera both expressed Ron1antic values and appealed to the audience
by spectacular effects. Performers attained unprecedented virtuosity, which at
its best ivorked together with Romantic expressiveness. Musical innovation
thrived both in the relative intimacy ofthe salon and in the larger public venue
ofthe concert hall. Originality in style led to new scoring effects, more chromatic
freedom in harmony, and flexibility and organicity in forms.
The Context for Ron1anticis1n to tile The Cult of Virtuosity

Middle of tile 1\Jineteentli Century Saine "Serious" Pe,jorniers
COMPOSERS' LIFESTYLES
COMPOSERS' LITERARY AND
Lyricis111 and Virtuosity-Chopin
ARTISTIC ACTIVITIES Salons and Drawing Roo111s
Ro1nantic Lyricis111 in Italian Opera Civic Musical Events
STYLE lnstruniental Genres in Roniantic
PERFORJ\1ANCE PRACTICE i\1usic
GIUSEPPE VERDI PIANO JHUS IC
French Grand Opera ORCHESTRAL MUSIC
338
The Context for Ron1anticism to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century 339
Ro1nantic i\1usical Style Forni in Ro111antic Music

EXPANSION OF SOUND
Recognition of the Musical Heritage
VOCABULARY
R01\1ANTI C HARMONY
The Midpoint of the Nineteenth
Century
THE CONTE XT FOR ROMANTICIS M TO THE MIDDLE

OF THE N I NETEENTH C EN T U RY
By the close of the 1820s, \Vith the deaths of Beethoven, Weber, and
Schubert, a first phase of musical Romanticism had come to an end.
The essential tenets and procedures of Romantic expression based on A change of generations
the dramatic tonal language established in the eighteenth century ,vere
,veil established. It remained for the next generation, a group of com-
posers \vho came to maturity behveen 1825 and 1850, to explore its
possibilities.
The artistic bases for the Romantic musical style \Vere at last clear
and secure. Although the elements of musical style in the mid-nineteenth Foundation for mature
century had been inherited from the eighteenth, by this time the courtly Romanticism
,vorld of Haydn and Mozart seemed remote and old-fashioned;

Beethoven \Vas the model for much of the music of the Romantic move-
ment. The ne\v composers also had a substantial body of Romantic liter-
ary material on \vhich to base their ,vorks. Goethe's vast oeuvre was
substantially complete, for example, and the poet died in 1832; Byron,
,vhose work like\vise inspired many composers, had died in 1824.
In French history the period between 1830 and 1848 is known as
the July Monarchy, after the revolution of 1830 that established the
rule of Louis Philippe and the dominance of the bourgeoisie. By con-
trast, in German the same years are referred to as Vormiirz (before
March), because they led up to the March Revolution there in 1848, or
Biedermeier, after the name of a fictional journal character who embod-
ied bourgeois values and tastes. In Britain this \Vas the beginning of the Bourgeois values
Victorian period, as Queen Victoria assumed the throne in 1837. De-
spite the bre,ving problems that would bring about the coming mid-
century upheaval, there was also a considerable degree of stability in
the social and economic position of musical activity by th is time. With
the consolidation of the mercantile economy and bourgeois values,
such institutions as public concert series and opera houses had achieved
a secure existence, and the commercial music-publishing industry \Vas
no,v thriving.
340 CHAPTER 20: Developments in Romanticism to 1850
Composers' Lifestyles
The Romantic composers naturally had to adopt quite a d ifferent life-
style from that typical of their eighteenth-century predecessors. Some
managed to earn a living from composing, particularly the more prolific
and popular opera composers. More often, hov.rever, they found it nec-
Composers' c.areers essary to obtain income from another source. Frequently they ,vere
players or conductors. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) held
the directorship of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, w'hich he made
into one of the premier ensembles in Europe. Virtuoso solo performers
such as the pianists Franz Liszt (1811-1886) and Frederic Chopin
(1810-1849) made money by playing. Each of these men ,vas also in-
volved in music teaching: Liszt began giving piano lessons ,vhile still a
teenager and returned to teaching after abandoning his concert career;
Chopin earned much of his living as a teacher; and Mendelssohn
founded the Leipzig Conservatory. By contrast, the French composer
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), ,vho had no significant performance skills,
spent much of his life in the government-supported position of librarian
for the Paris Conservatory.
In the Romantic period the biographies of composers take on an un-
usual degree of importance for their ,vork. Not only does the subjective
intention of the music make it helpful to kno,v the details of the compos-
ers' personal experience, but also many of these ,vorks are implicitly or
Livrs and music explicitly autobiographical. It sometimes becomes difficult to disentan-
gle the fictional "voice" of the musical ,vork from the actual person of the
II somttintts btcomts composer. Although ,ve should not mistake the one for the other, there is
difficult lo disentanglt no denying that composers' experiences inform the points ofvie,v,vithin
lht fict.ional "'v oict" of tht
mu.s ical work from tht
their ,vorks. The operas of Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) must be under-
actualptrson of stood in the light of his fam ily life and his political vie,vs; Chopin's
lht compostr. national heritage affected many of his works; Berlioz dre,v on his love life
for inspiration; and Berlioz, Liszt, and Mendelssohn wrote ,vorks that
reflected their travels. There is a degree of circularity here, too, because,
like Byron, some of these composers enjoyed a romancelike lifestyle, de-
liberately cultivating their personae. As we shall see, the composers Liszt
and Chopin in turn provided subjects for contemporary authors.
Composers' Literary and Art istic Act ivities

Writing about music ,vas an important activity for several of the major
Compos ors as writers Romantic composers. Berlioz wrote music criticism for several Paris periodi-
cals, the extremely important orchestration manual Traiti d'i11stru1nentatio11
(1843), and his sometimes rather imaginative Memoirs. The German com-
poser Robert Schumann (1810-1856) had contemplated becoming a poet
before he decided on music. When his pianistic aspirations collapsed after he
injured his hand, he turned not only to composing but also to journalism,
founding in 1834 the Neue Zeitschriftfi.ir Musik (New music journal), ,vhich
is still published after almost hvo centuries.
The Context for Ro1nantidsn1 to t he Middle of t he Nineteenth Century 341
The literary activities of Romantic musicians are significant for sev-

eral reasons (besides their contribution to the income of the w·riters). It
w·as a characteristic urge of Romantic artists to propagandize on behalf
of their progressive movement. Schumann and Berlioz felt a mission to
criticize the artificialities of old-fashioned, conventional classicizing and
the banalities of trite and unimaginative popular compositions. In 1834
Schumann w·rote,
Like political parties, one can divide musical parties into liberals, Schumann idrntifirs the
moderates, and conservatives or into Romantics, Moderns, and musical factions ofthr
1830s
Classicists. On the right sit the elders, the contrapuntists, the pro-
moters of early music and folk music [Volksthiimler], the antichro-
maticists; on the left, the youths, the "Phrygian caps" [the headgear
associated at the time with liberty and revolutions], the despisers of
form, the bold originals, among whom the Beethovenians stand out
as a group. In the juste-milieu young and old mix back and forth. In
this group most of today's productions are encompassed, the cre-
ations of the moment, produced in it and then destroyed. '
Just as revolutionaries sought to change political and social institutions
and Victor Hugo (1802-1885) had sought to change literature in his
famous preface to his 1827 play Cro1n111el/1 these composer-critics v.rished
to lead contemporary musicians and audiences into the new· musical era.
Embedded, not always particularly deeply, in their criticism is the
ever-present Romantic manifesto that art and music should espouse
values such as individualism, subjectivity, and progressivism.
The remarkable literary ability of these musicians also focuses atten-
tion on the Romantics' desire to draw together the different arts. Berlioz
and Schumann wrote in lively, often amusing styles. Schumann, in par- Musicians• litrrary styles
ticular, attempted a kind of poetic criticism that allow·ed him to ,vrite a
literary work. Follow·ing the style of the early Romantic ,vriter and com-
poser E.T. A. Hoffmann, Schumann sometimes set a piece of music in a
storylike context rather than describing it directly. Because people ,vith
poor artistic taste are commonly known as Philistines, after the enemies
of Old Testament Israel, Schumann invented a mythical Davidsbund
(Leag ue of David) that ,vould combat them. 1\vo of the fictional league's
members, Eusebius and Florestan, represented, respectively, the sen-
timental and the aggressive aspects of Schumann's ow·n Romantic
personality; a Master Rare mediated between the t\vo of them. Some
of Schumann's characters were real, contemporary musicians, such as
F. Meritis, a hardly d isguised Felix Mendelssohn. Celia or Chiarina
stood for Clara Wieck (1819-1896), the daughter of Schumann's piano
teacher and later Schumann's wife. Clara Wieck Schumann ,vas a distin-
guished pianist and composer in her o,vn right, who also managed the
special difficulties in that time of combining a professional performing
career ,vith the obligations of a wife (,vido,ved young) and mother. The
fictional conversations of these Davidsbiindler allowed Schumann to
discuss music and to try to re-create in a literary form the spirit of

the work under consideration. It is not, of course, a critical technique
that can find favor in the h\l'enty-first century, but it clearly manifests the
Romantic style and belief in the unity of the arts.
We can see Mendelssohn's literary ability in the eloquence and wit of
his immense correspondence, particularly \\l'ith his intellectual and ar-
Menddssohn as writrr tistic fam ily. In add ition, he \\l'as a talented landscape artist \\l'ith pencil,
and artist pen and ink, and w·atercolors, and he drew and painted many of the
scenes of his extensive travels. Some pages of his compositional sketches
are decorated by humorous caricatures.
Even when they did not create literary and artistic \\l'Orks, all the Ro-
mantic composers were avid and sensitive connoisseurs of the products
Ont c.annol grasp t.lit music
of their contemporaries in other fields. They maintained intimate con-
oftllis ptrfod witlro ul tact w·ith artists and literary figures; they read voraciously; and they,\l'ere
a st.n.s.e ofthe import.once constantly inspired by poetry, novels, and works of visual art. One
of the mtdfogs of
artistic minds.
cannot grasp the music of this period w·ithout a sense of the importance
of these meetings of artistic m inds.
ROMANTIC LYRICISM I N ITALIAN OPERA
Romanticism slowly began to take hold in Italy after the first quarter of
the nineteenth century. It manifested itself in literary terms by the ap-
pearance of ne," kinds of subject matter for librettos and in musical style
by an increase in lyricism.
We can best understand the nature of the ne," type of Italian opera
libretto if we think of it as novelistic. In earlier times the serious opera
libretto had generally relied on ancient mythological or historical plots,
but it no," took up different subjects. Most often composers adopted
material from European history, commonly by borrow·ing from con-
Gaetano Donizetti temporary Romantic historical novels and dramas. The libretto of
Gaetano Donizetti's (1797-1848) Lucrezia Borgia (1833), for example,
came from a Victor Hugo play about the colorful Italian late-fifteenth-
to early-sixteenth-century duchess of Ferrara. The libretto of Lucia di
Lam1nennoor (1835) came from Sir Walter Scott's 1819 novel of ill-fated
love and violence in Scotland, The Bride of La1nmermoor.
Lighter operas continued to take their characters and situations di-
rectly from contemporary life. Donizetti's opera buffa Don Pasquale
(1843) is in the same vein as all the repertoire in its genre since the
middle of the eighteenth century, includ ing Rossini's II barbiere di
Siviglia, and his I:elisir d'amore (The elixir of love, 1832) takes place in a
Vincenzo Bellini nineteenth-century country village. The semiserious love story set by
Donizetti's contemporary Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) in his La
so11na1nbula (1831) also unfolds in a modern Italian town. Of the h\l'O
composers, Donizetti belongs more clearly to the traditional Italian type;
he produced operas at a tremendous rate, on a variety of types of libretti,
and with greatly varying quality. Bellini took a more characteristically
Romantic Lyricisn1 in Italian Opera 343
Romantic approach; in his short career of ten years he composed just ten
operas, all serious and all in an unusually polished style.
Style
Follo\ving the direction already anticipated by Rossini, Donizetti and
especially Bellini \vrote in a recognizably Romantic melodic and har-
monic style but without making an abrupt break from their stylistic heri-
tage. The melodic writing can appropriately be described as more lyrical
and vocal than eighteenth-century melody, \vhich tended to adopt an
instrumental style. Analysis of the vocal lines in Bellini's operas shows a Vocal melody
pervasive tendency for the melody to proceed in a stepwise motion,
unlike the triadically based structures of the eighteenth century. The
linear contour underl ies considerable ornamentation, often producing a
\vide variety of beat divisions, so that the small-scale rhythm becomes
flexible and naturally calls for considerable rubato in performance. From
the point of vie\v of expressiveness, this melod ic style lends these operas
an increased quality of intimate personal expression, even in passages of
vocal virtuosic display (Example 20. 1).
On the phrase level, Bellini's and Donizetti's music mostly tends to
be square and predictable. Symmetrically arranged t\vo- and four-measure Phrase design
phrase lengths, expressing clearly d irected tonal patterns of a fe\v chords and harmony
in slo\v harmon ic rhythm, predominate. To give variety, ho\vever, Bellini

in particular added altered and borro\ved chords that catch the listener's
ear easily in the generally simple diatonic context. Such harmonic shad-
ings add to the general sense of Romantic subjectivity of expression.
The Italian Romantic opera composers developed a t\vo-part struc-
ture for any large number and particularly for a soloist's scena ed aria.
After a free passage that mixes recitative and arioso-style singing, the Scene form
first aria section has a reflective nature and includes a slo\v, lyric move-
ment sometimes kno\vn as a cavatina. This is often in t\vo strophes
and may be structurally closed or open-ended. A transitional passage
Example 20.1 Th is cavatina in Bellini's La sonnambula (The sleepwalker)

illustrates how Bellini freely elaborates on a simple, descending line (indicated
here by crosses above the notes), both melodically and rhythm ically. Amina
sings, · How serenely this day has dawned for me! How the landscape blooms,
more lovely and p leasant!•
OJ; • gi n •1"3C • que _ ii di!

'"'
CCHneil l(NCO fto • ri, eo me_ fio · ri piia,_ _beJ -lo. pii1 bcl · lo ca · n>e aol
leads to the fast and brilliant concluding movement know·n as cabaletta;

it may be in binary form or have more than one strophe. The cabaletta
expresses powerful emotion and becomes the climax to the scene. Such a
forw·ard-directed plan offers a much more dramatically conceived artis-
tic shape than the now· d istant, rhetorical, eighteenth-century da capo
aria, which the new scena structure supplanted.
The solo scena structure could incorporate interpolations for addi-
tional characters or chorus, and it could also be applied to a duet scene.
Duets In duets Donizetti took the lead in breaking a,vay from an earlier ten-
dency to make characters sing in parallel or to alternate stanzas; instead,
he had them express contrasting thoughts by contrasting melodic mate-
rial, creating the" dissimilar duet."
Perform ance Pract ice

In the realm of performance practice, it is important to understand
that the nineteenth-century opera singers enjoyed the opportunity in
this reperto ire to embellish the melodic lines and add improvisational
Bel canto cadenzas. The style is called bel canto, but it is the opposite of the
seventeenth-century bel canto type. Rather than being simple and let-
ting the fullness of the voice sound on each note, here the music aims to
demonstrate vocal agility and technique. The composers assumed that
this ornamentation ,vould take place-the repetitions of sections in
arias and the frequent cadential fermatas implicitly call for decoration-
and for modern singers to sing none is inappropriate. Of course, these
additions demand good taste, with the ,vords and the dramatic co ntext
in mind, and ,vithin the limits of the performer's o,vn skill. The best sing-
ers' voices of that time seem to have possessed more flexibility and less
amplitude than later operas came to require. Most opera houses ,vere
modest in size, pit orchestras were not large, and the singers ,vere able to
perform from in front of the proscenium arch, so that sheer vocal po,ver
,vas not a major concern (Fig ure 20.1).
Giuseppe Verdi
The culmination of the Romantic Italian opera came in the ,vorks of
Giuseppe Verdi. Verdi's career did not begin until 1836, after the retire-
ment of Rossini and the death of Bellini. He built on the style of his pre-
decessors and achieved still greater flexibility of harmony and phrase
structure, ,vhich allo,ved him to express emotion more strongly. After
Mozart, Verdi ,vas the most effective opera composer in delineating
character through musical means.
Verdi selected and handled librettos most carefully among the ltal-
Vordl's lib,ettos ian opera composers. His librettos employed uniformly high-quality lit-
erary sources, including ,vorks of the Romantic authors Victor Hugo,
Byron, and Schiller, as ,veil as the Romantics' beloved Shakespeare.
Verdi also had an excellent sense of ,vhat succeeded on the stage, and he
Romantic Lyricisn1 in Italian Opera 345
Figure 20.1 The interior of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. This opera house was
one of the most important of the nineteenth century. Many of the great Italian
operas of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, and Verdi were introduced here.
w·orked closely \Vith his librettists, demanding all sorts of special adjust-
ments. A letter to the librettist Francesco Piave (1810-1876), for exam-
ple, asks for help \Vith some revisions and then criticizes Piave's \vork in
one instance:
In the cabaletta of the tenor aria, you ,viii have to re-write the third Verdi sends a list of
and the seventh lines, to get the stress right. In the scene where demands to a librettist
Giuseppe comes in ... I have patched it up, in order to write the

music, but you ,viii have to \Vrite some better verses.
I received the tenor cabaletta today. It says absolutely nothing. 2
Verdi's operas feature strong emotional situations, rapid action, and
sharp contrasts. (He knew, too, that a liberal dose of violence and blood
could be relied on to hold an audience's attention.) Even his epic histori-
cal operas possess a novelistic focus on the personal emotional lives of
his characters.
The topics Verdi chose mirror some of the dominant events and
forces in his li fe. He formed a close attachment to his patron, Antonio Life and art in V~rdi •s
Barezzi, a ,vealthy merchant who became a father figure to him. He mar- librettos
ried Barezzi's daughter, but within a fe\v years his ,vi fe and both of their
young ch ildren died, leaving deep emotional scars on the young com-
poser. It is not surprising that, like Bellini, Verdi turned almost exclu-
sively to tragic plots. Many of his operas explore in great depth the
relationships behveen fathers and children.
Another topic of central importance among Verdi's operas is politi-

cal liberty. Italy had long been not a un ified nation-state but only a group
Verdi and politics of independent territories too w·eak to resist foreign control. Verdi came
from the northern part of the peninsula, w·hich was under Austrian dom-
ination. During the nineteenth century there grew up a nationalist
movement known as the Risorgimento (resurgence), w·hich hoped to cast
off the oppressive foreign rule and establish Italy as a united country.
Verdi supported this movement and expressed its ideals in several operas,
especially Nabucco (1842), ,vhich was set in the biblical days of the
Jewish exile in Babylon but w·h ich the audience recognized as resem-
bling their o,vn situation.
Nabucco brought Verdi his first great success, and he follow·ed it with
other operas on political topics, heroism, and the overthrow· of tyranny.
Verdi naturally had continually to deal ,vith the Austrian censors, who
feared the po,ver of music and particularly of opera to arouse the public
to revolt. Verdi even became a political symbol himself. Because the
nationalists hoped to establish the king ofSardinia, Victor Emmanuel II,
as king of Italy, they used Verd i's name as an acronym for "Vittorio
Emmanuele, re d'Italia'' (Victor Emmanuel, king of Italy) and loved to
flout the authorities by shouting "Viva Verdi!" at every performance of
his operas. After unsuccessful uprisings in 1831 and 1848 the kingdom
,vas finally established in 1861, and Verdi became a senator in the new·
government.
La Traviata (1853), the last opera of the first period ofVerdi's career,
provides a striking example of the interaction between life and art in the
Lifo,Iit<raturo,andopora Romantic experience. In 1847 Verdi encountered in Paris the singer
Giuseppina Strepponi, w·ho had performed in the original cast of
Nabucco but had abused her voice, accumulated several illegitimate chil-
dren, and retired from singing to support herself by giving voice lessons.
He lived ,vith her in Paris, later took her away to his home in Italy, and
finally married her. Only a few years earlier, the young French author
Alexandre Dumas jils (1824-1895), son of the author of The Three Mus-
keteers, had written the novel La da1ne aux camellias (The lady ,vith the
camellias). Its plot was based on Dumas's experience ,vith a well-kno,vn
Parisian demimondaine, Marie Duplessis, ,vho had left him for a ,vealth-
ier life but died of tuberculosis soon thereafter at the age of twenty-three.
The fictionalized story includes the theme of the young artist "rescuing"
a fallen woman and the opposition of the young man's devoted father.
Verdi, ,vho must have seen Dumas's stage adaptation, selected th is plot
for La Traviata. The empathies w·ith the characters and situations in
Dumas's story that Verdi ,vould have brought from h is own experiences,
including his first wife's death and his relationships with Strepponi and
,vith his father-in-la,v, Barezzi, are obvious. The musical ,vork is related
not only to the literary source in this case but also to hvo different
real-life stories. It is not a question of direct autobiography here, of
course, but Dumas's story offered Verdi an opportunity to explore a
French Grand Opera 347
difficult love relationsh ip, the complexities of family affection, and the
tragic death of a young woman, matters about w'hich his background
made him especially sensitive.
In his musical treatment of his material, Verd i used the devices of
his predecessors but did not in any sense adopt them as molds into
W'hich to pour music. He carried the principle of the dissimilar duet Fo,minVordi 'soperas
beyond Donizetti's experiments, and he freely extended, abbreviated, or
varied the standard scena structure. Although his style is rooted in the
"number'' opera tradition, in many cases the divisions bet\veen numbers
give ,vay to the impulse to,vard dramatic cont inuity. Further organic
connections sometimes arise in the music because of Verdi's employ-
ment of recurring melodic ideas in connection with certain dramatic
elements or characters.
FRENCH GRAND OPERA
Opera in France developed somewhat differently from opera in Italy, al-

though there was a degree of cross-influence behveen the two. Paris ex- Padsasmusical center
erted a strong pull as the cultural capital of Europe, so Italian composers
seem to have felt a greater urge to succeed in Paris than French compos-
ers did in Italy. As ,ve have noted, Rossini ,vent to Paris after his career
,vas established in his native land, and Donizetti, Bellini, and later Verdi
also composed ,vorks for Paris. The situation there called for some stylis-
tic adjustments from each of them.
Parisian audiences tended to belong to the more vigorous elements
of the Romantic movement. For them their composers developed the
grand opera, a genre generally regarded as beginning with Auber's La
Muette de Portici. The term ,vas originally intended as a way of dis tin- Grand opera
guishing behveen the opera comique, ,vith its spoken dialogue, and
opera that ,vas sung throughout. It also reflects the content and style of
these ,vorks, however. Rather than concentrating on subtle expressions
of personal feelings, grand opera presented striking experiences-the
exotic, violent passions, and supernatural events. As a result, the librettos
call for impressive and elaborate sets, costumes, and special stage effects.
The librettist Eugene Scribe (1791-1861), ,vho had ,vritten the words for
Auber's La Muette de Portici, developed the type. His librettos are long,
occupying four or five acts, and they treat historical subjects of heroic or
epic character ,vith tragic outcomes.
The music of the grand opera matched the action. The Paris Opera
boasted the largest and most colorful opera orchestra in Europe. French
opera also continued, as it had done historically, to explo it the use of the
chorus onstage, arranged in impressive tableaux. Not surprisingly, given
the long tradition of dance in French opera, dating back to Lully in the
seventeenth century, ballet contributed an important and characteristic
part of the spectacle in grand opera. The vocal parts demanded both
brilliance and power. Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864), a German who
had learned opera in Italy, brought the genre to its culmination with
Giacomo Meyerbeer librettos provided by Scribe. Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable (1831) offered
and musical effects
an operatic counterpart to the popular Gothic novel, w·hile in Les
Huguenots (1836) he handled a tragic love story set in the same turbu-
lent period in French history that his contemporary Alexandre Dumas
pere (1802-1870) later dealt ,vith in The Three Musketeers. Robert le
Diable relied on maximum effect and minimum subtlety. Les Huguenots
is much more sophisticated; in it Meyerbeer used dotted rhythms in
minuet tempo to recall French seventeenth-century music, and he ,vove
in a cantus firmus treatment of the Lutheran chorale "Ein' feste Burg ist
unser Gott'' as a symbol for the Protestant fact ion.
THE CULT OF V IRTUOS ITY
We have already alluded to the importance of nineteenth-century virtu-

Nicoll> Paganini oso performers on the opera stage and in the concert hall. Among the
most outstanding of the virtuoso soloists during the mature Romantic
period ,vas the violinist Nicolo Paganini (1782-1840), ,vhose technical
virtuosity and striking, emaciated and exotic appearance combined with
a sense of demonic possession in h is playing to give him an immensely
effective persona on the stage. He must have seemed to his audience
more a fictional character than a ,vorking musician.
Greatly influenced by Paganini's virtuosity ,vhen the violinist ap-
peared in Paris in 1831, the young Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt deter-
mined to attain the same level of skill at the keyboard. After a period of
intensive technical study Liszt reappeared as a recitalist and ach ieved his
Franz.Lisz.t as star purpose. He toured throughout Europe in the 1830s and 1840s and won
prrformer a fabulous reputation. His notoriety ,vas not at all hindered by the fact
that ,vomen found his tall, slender figure and gaunt good looks attractive.
A Romantic in his life as well as in his music, Liszt pursued liaisons with
several ,vomen, including the French countess Marie d'Agoult, ,vho pro-
duced a novel about Liszt and three children by him, and the Russian
princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein, both of whom left their husbands
for the musician. The princess assisted Liszt with his prose ,vritings, in
several cases actually acting as a ghostwriter.
Liszt ,vas the first musician regularly to perform recitals in ,vhich he
appeared as the sole performer; until this time concerts had generally
consisted of potpourri programs of various players in various genres.
Liszt's repertoire included not only his own compositions but also tran-
scriptions of other composers' works, including Beethoven's orchestral
Lint's piano style ,vorks, Schubert songs, and opera arias. He ,vas famous for the "orches-
tral" sound he produced from the piano. His formidable piano technique
allowed for large numbers of notes in chords played by the right hand.
His speed and assurance in hand movement allo,ved coverage of the
entire range of the keyboard, so that his music is sometimes ,vritten on
The Cult ofVirtuosity 349
three rather than the usual two staves. In addition, special effects arising
from such devices as tremolos or rapidly repeated chords give the im-
pression of increasing the available timbres of the instrument.
The musicolog ist Friedrich Blume has pointed out that virtuosity,
in and of itself, is "anti-Romantic." In a sense, this is certainly true, for
w·hen virtuoso technique predominates over content in music, sincer-
ity of emotional expression is sacrificed, and emotion is the essence of
Romanticism. We identify the "voice" in such music as that of the mere
technician, not a Romantic personality. On the other hand, the posi-
tion of the virtuoso performer in the nineteenth century constitutes
another matter entirely. Such musicians as Paganini and Liszt became
veritable cult figures. Because music is so effective and mysterious an
art form, and because the virtuosos seemed able to accomplish super-
human feats in that medium, creative performers found themselves
regarded as mythical heroes or even priests of an art istic cult that could Alt-1,ough empty vfrl-u osily
offer a transcendental experience to their audiences. Thus, although contradicts Ro,ruml'icism,
the cult ofvfrt.uosily
empty virtuosity contradicts Romanticism, the cult of the vir tuoso
act.ually rtprtsenls a
actually represents a manifestation of Romanticism in nineteenth- manifestation of
century life. Romanticism.
There were plenty of empty and anti-Romantic virtuosos about, to
be sure. In describing the musical situation as he observed it in the ea rly
1830s, the composer-critic Robert Schumann wrote,
One cannot say that the musical conditions in Germany at that Schumann complains
time ,vere particularly gratifying. On the stage Rossini still reigned, about s uprr6cial
virtuosity
on the piano almost exclusively Herz and Hiinten. And yet just a
few· years had gone by since Beethoven, C. M. v. Weber, and Franz
Schubert lived among us. J
The pianists ,vhom Schumann singled out for scorn here, Franz Hiinten
(1793-1878) and Henri Herz (1803-1888), ,vere representative of a
type. They wrote and played mostly light rondos and arrangements and
sets of variations on arias and popular songs. Their variations character-
istically consist of series of decorative and mostly unoriginal formulas
applied to a tune. The pieces they played sho,ved off their technique
rather than feeling or imagination. At their best, they are still technically
impressive today; sometimes they strike the modern listener as merely
funny. Nevertheless, these composer-performers were immensely ad-
mired and financially successful. Herz's concert touring even brought
him to the Western Hemisphere in the 1840s.
The virtuosos also published and sold simple versions of their ar-
rangements, intended for modestly equipped amateurs in their homes.
These versions offered an important contribution to the spread of musi- Music for amateurs
cal literacy, because in a time before recording they enabled the general
public to become acquainted ,vith and enjoy great ,vorks of opera and
even symphonies.
SOME " S E RIOUS" P E RFORME R S
Not all the great pianists of this period \Vere flashy virtuosos. Mendelssohn,
for example, had been a prodigy on the piano as well as in composition,
Mendolssohnand and he gained adm iration for his playing throughout his life. He \vrote
the piano some virtuosic pieces, such as his Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso,
op. 14, but he also challenged the player's skill to \vork in genres as seri-
ous as the Six Preludes and Fugues, op. 35, \vhich also incorporate the
style of the chorale.
Extremely important \Vas the pianistic career of Clara Schumann.
She composed a number of fine ,vorks for her o,vn performances and for
publication, including chamber music ,vith piano and solo pieces. The
latter range from variations on a Bellini opera aria, through Romantic
Clara Schumann miniatures, to preludes and fugues. She mostly gave up composing after
Robert's death in 1856, but her performing career continued. She helped
to establish the practices of playing public concerts from memory and,
like Liszt, of the solo recital. Especially significant, her programming,
her stage demeanor, and her \vhole approach to playing helped to focus
musical attention on the composer's ,vork rather than on the player.
L YRICI SM AND VIRTU OS ITY-CHOPIN
Schumann did discover a true musician among his pianistic contempo-

raries, ho\vever, in the person of Frederic Chopin. Of French and Polish
descent, Chopin began his career in Warsa\v as a prodigy at the piano. In
h is late teens he traveled through Europe as a touring performer, arriv-
ing in Paris i n 1831.
He settled in France and never returned to Poland, although he ,vas
active in the Polish expatriate community in Paris and from there supported
Chopin as patriot Polish independence. As a Romantic he naturally maintained patriotic feel-
ings for his homeland, and he transfigured its native dances, the mazurka
and polonaise, in stylized piano settings. His final public performance ,vas a
benefit for Polish refugees after the country had been taken over by Russia.
Chopin earned his living primarily by teaching and by the sale of his
compositions, \vhich he managed \vith considerable skill. Unlike many
Chopin's milieu other virtuosos, Chopin preferred not to play in public. Instead, he per-
formed in the private Parisian salons \vhere intellectuals and connoisseurs
gathered to share ideas and artistic experiences. In this context one could
meet the finest minds and talents of the time; among Chopin's acquain-
tances \Vere such musicians as Liszt, Bellini, and Meyerbeer; the painter
Delacroix, ,vho created Chopin's famous portrait; the poet Heinrich
Heine; and the novelist Honore de Balzac. He pursued a stormy, novelistic
love affair \vith the author George Sand (Aurore Dudevant), wh ich she
later described in a thinly fictionalized novel.
Chopin was a specialist, and he wrote the great majority of his ,vorks
for solo piano. (His other \vorks include chamber music \vith piano, hvo
Lyricisn1 and Virtuosity-Chopin 351
concertos, a few· other concert pieces w·ith orchestra, and some songs.)
He developed a lyrical style paralleling the operatic ,vriting of Bellini, Chopin's style
,vith similarly rather square phrasing made flexible by its ornamentation
and rhythmic rubato. The practice of expressively "robbing" and then re-
gaining time in a melody had been used and described since the seven-
teenth century, and it ,vas natural in the opera aria, but Chopin seems to
have been the first actually to write the word into his scores as an instruc-
tion to the keyboard player. Stylistic handling of Chopin's music depends
on an especially sensitive treatment. In a texture that consists of a pat-
terned left-hand accompaniment and lyrical right-hand melody, the per-
former will hold the accompan iment rhythmically steady ,vhile the
melodic line falls behind and catches up or else rushes momentarily and
then ,vaits for the accompaniment.
Although the reflection of operatic singing in Chopin's melodies is
evident, he exercised much more harmonic freedom than Bellini,
,vhich allo,ved h im remarkable liberty ,vi thin the harmonic phrase di-
rections of the tonal system. Chopin was a master of harmonic over- Harmonic overloading
loading, the use of passing chromatic harmonies unnecessary to the
forward mot ion of the music but suggesting that intensity of feeling
supersedes the needs of musical logic (Example 20.2) . Compared to
the pianism of Liszt, Chopin's is on the ,vhole more fluid and less fiery,
his lines more curvaceous, and h is tone colors, aided by subtle pedal-
ing techn ique, more shaded. At times, of course, it reaches its o,vn
moments of high drama.
Example 20.2 A brief passage from Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat, op. 9, no. 2,
illustrates several aspects of his style: t he w ide-ranging left-hand accompani·
ment pat tern, the deta iled pedal markings, t he chromat ic overloading of
ha rmony (in the second measure) w ithin a simple p rogression from dominant to
tonic, and the elaboration of stepwise descending melody (in the third measure)
in a style resembling that of Italian opera.
,..
•
~.., ~
~- - .
.
. . . -----..-·· ~
f
'
-
' ' :...-,..
..
.. :W:
~ .. • •
• ~~~ I ,o.
~
~ t •• - poco rat'·
~
- -~r r -r - r
r r
--- ~
"
ftp
~ * simile
What Robert Schumann perceived on his first encounter v.rith

Chopin's music, the Variations for Piano and Orchestra on "La ci darem
la mano" (the duet from Mozart's Don Giovanni), was the application of
virtuoso technique to genuinely Romantic purpose. In these variations
Schumann felt that Chopin had not merely decorated a tune but also in-
terpreted the characters and emotional situations of the opera; in other
W'Ords, Schumann identified Chopin as the composer or "narrator" of the
W'Ork, rather than merely the "voice" of a technically virtuosic star per-
former, an important distinction in artistic status. Beethoven had brought
the variation form into the Romantic spirit with h is character-type varia-
tions, and Chopin, although he ,vas some,vhat skeptical of Beethoven's
revolutionary musical tendencies, accomplished his o,vn equivalent treat-
ment of this still often vacuous form. This Romantic necessity for purely
instrumental music to be imbued ,vith emotional content characterizes
all of Chopin's works.
S A LONS AND DRAWING ROOMS
Much music ,vas composed for domestic use throughout the Romantic
period. In the case of Chopin, the composer intended his ,vorks primar-
ily for his own performance in the elegant Parisian salons, ,vhere they
Salons ,vould be heard by a ,veil-educated and sophisticated audience. Such
gatherings included conversation ranging over a variety of topics of cur-
rent interest-the arts, philosophy, politics. The Parisian salons ,vere
im itated in many of the cities of Europe.
The bourgeoisie, as already mentioned, often experienced music at
home in the parlor or dra,ving room, where amateur players performed
for family and friends, including chamber music, piano pieces, and songs.
Bourgeois domestic A great deal of the music ,vritten for this setting ,vas flimsy in structure
settings and superficial in content; it soon fulfilled its purpose-to entertain-
and ,vas set aside to yello,v, turn brittle, and fall to dust. Some of the best
composers, ho,vever, did not neglect this repertoire. Most of Mendels-
sohn's lieder, for example, ,vere accessible to the amateur performer and
listener, but many of them have sufficient musical interest to have a le-
gitimate place in song recitals today. Schumann's lieder, ,vhich often em-
ployed outstanding poetry set to music of greater rhythmic and harmonic
complexity, belong to the same genre as Mendelssohn's but are more
challenging and interpret their texts with more sophistication. In America,
Stephen Collins Foster (1826-1864) ,vrote sentimental songs that have
far less intrinsic musical interest; their achievement of a sense of charac-
teristically American simplicity made them part of the folk literature of
the United States.
We should note that, in an era ,vhen ,vomen's lives ,vere still gener-
ally expected to center in the home, the domestic environment provided
the ma in musical outlet for women musicians. Certainly many talented
Salons and Drawing Roon1s 353
\\l'Omen who could not find a professional outlet provided fine perfor-
mances in middle-class drawing rooms. One noteworthy \\l'Oman Fanny Mendelssohn
composer \\l'aS Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847), Felix Hensel
Mendelssohn's older sister. She matured as a musician in her mother's

salon in Berlin, performed and d irected music there, and composed .M any tal~nltd womtn
piano pieces and fine songs, as '"ell as larger instrumental and choral wlio could notfind a
projtSJional oulltl
\\l'Orks. In her time she held a more important place as a salonniere, arbi-
provid~.d fine. ptrformanus
ter of musical taste, and promoter of the best musicians and their music in middlt.·class drawing
than as composer and performer; we should not overlook the impor- rooms.
tance of \\l'Omen in this role in the nineteenth century (or other centu-
ries). She '"rote to her sister about one of her salons:
Last Sunday at our house '"e had the most brilliant Sunday musi- Fanny Hensel describes
cale that I think ever took place, equally in regard to the perfor- a salon in her home
mance and the audience. When I tell you that there \\l'ere
t\\l'enty· t\\l'O carriages in the courtyard, and Liszt and eight prin-
cesses in the hall, you '"ill probably allow me not to give you a more
detailed description of my cottage. On the other hand, I will report
my repertoire to you: a quintet by Hummel [Johann Nepomuk
Hummel, 1778-1837); a duet from Fidelio; variations by David
[Ferdinand David, 1810-1873) played by the splendid little
Joachim [t\\l'elve-year-old violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim, 1831-
1907), '"ho is no prodigy but a remarkable child, and also thick as
thieves \\l'ith Sebastian [Sebastian Hensel, Fanny's thirteen-year-old
son, named after J. S. Bach). T,"o lieder, of which the beautiful
"Lass die Schmerzen dieser Erde," by Eckert [Karl Anton Florian
Eckert, 1820-1879), \\l'aS performed from memory by Felix and
Decker [soprano Pauline Decker, 1812-1882), \\l'hich has always
had great success. I give you permission to keep no secret about
that from Eckert. After that came the Walpurgisnacht [her brother's
Die erste Walpurgisnacht, op. 60), '"hich my audience has been eager
for since four '"eeks ago and \\l'hich \\l'ent splendidly. We had had
three rehearsals, which the singers enjoyed so much that they
\\l'Ould gladly have had that many more. Felix was present for the
latter and very happy with it. I wished that he would have accompa-
nied it, but he did not \\l'ant to do that at all but just played the over-
ture \\l'ith me and in the most difficult parts took the bass and the
upper parts in turn, so that it became a sort of improvised
four-hand arrangement, '"hich sounded very good.4
Felix respected Fanny as much as he did any musician, and he sought her
musical criticism and advice throughout his life. Because of the family's
perception of the social pressures that \\l'Ould fall on a woman composer,
some of her songs were published under her brother's name. She was
later able to release other \\l'Orks independently, but much of her music
remains unpublished.
C I V I C MUSICAL EVENT S
Civic occasions and large public performances formed an important

Grand public concrrts component of musical life in the nineteenth century. These events typi-
cally assembled large numbers of amateur choral singers \Vith orchestras,
and they gave bourgeois musicians ,vho otherwise could not have per-
formed music in concert settings the fulfill ing experience of participat-
ing in public concerts.
Sometimes these performances celebrated current or memorialized
historic events. Significant recurring music festivals also provided such
opportunities. Among the largest ,vere those that took place in Birming-
ham, England, and in a rotating group of cities in the Lo\ver Rhine region
of Germany. Felix Mendelssohn notably contributed to such musical
projects as conductor and composer. His Lobgesang (Hymn of praise,
sometimes also called Symphony no. 2, op. 52) was a commission for the
city of Leipzig celebration in 1840 of the 400th centennial of the inven-
tion of printing from movable type. His oratorios Paulus (St. Paul) and
Elijah had their first performances at the Lo\ver Rhine and Birmingham
Public musical occasions festivals, respectively.
andftstivals c.onlributtd These public musical occasions and festivals contributed greatly to
grtatly to lht dtvtlopmt.nl
of cull"ural tducation for
the development of cultural education for the bourgeoisie, ,vhether they
the bourgtoisit. sang in the massed choirs or simply attended these events. They also
helped to establish a repertoire of canonical works, since they commonly
included such pieces as Handel's major oratorios and Beethoven's Ninth
Symphony.
I NSTRUMENT AL GENRES IN R OMANTIC Musi c
Piano Music
Such convention-based genres as the sonata and symphony soon came to
seem poorly suited for instrumental music that evoked a high degree of
subjective meaning. Although these genres inherited from the eigh-
teenth century continued, new ones gre,11 up beside them that demon-
strate the Romantic urge to stress emotional content over abstract form.
In the realm of piano music, the short, one-movement piece became
one of the most important genres for musical Romanticism. Because
these pieces generally seem to express a particular character, ,ve often
Character pieces use the term character piece to refer to them generically. The actual pieces
may have any of a wide variety of titles, ho,vever. Beethoven and Schubert
composed independent piano pieces, the expressive content of wh ich
they did not clearly specify; Beethoven employed the title "Bagatelle,"
,vhereas Schubert called h is pieces "Impromptu" or "Moment musical."
Chopin's character pieces include some whose names come from exist-
ing, abstract genres, such as preludes and etudes; these ,vorks are not
merely explorations of keyboard figurations or exercises, ho,vever; each
Instrun1ental Genres in Ro1nantic Music 355
takes on a particular expressive style that seems to give it evident emo-

tional content. Like many other composers, Chopin also w·rote character
pieces derived from dances, such as the mazurkas and polonaises already
mentioned, and w·altzes.
Another type of character piece w·as derived by imitation of vocal
music. The Irish composer John Field (1782-1837), w·ho w·orked in
Russia, anticipated Chopin in creating a piano style that resembled the
cavatina of Italian opera. He tried out the names "Pastoral" and "Romance" Songlike piano pieces
for his pieces but finally settled on "Nocturne." The genre w·as picked up
notably by the Polish pianist-composer Maria Szymanow·ska (1789-1831)
and then brought to its height by her countryman Chopin. Mendelssohn
composed a number ofpiano pieces under the title "Lied" or, as they were
published, "Lied ohne Worte" (Song ,vithout ,vords). (These pieces often
appear in print ,vith specific titles that attempt to make their character
more obvious, but Mendelssohn strongly objected to such verbal cues as
merely confusing.) Chopin contributed to the repertoire of solo piano
pieces ,vith implied literary content in his ballades. Schumann often
gave specific titles to individual pieces, such as the famous "Traumerei"
(Reverie, 1838), or even people's names, such as "Chopin" and "Paganini,"
,vhich appear in the set Carnaval (i.e., a Mardi Gras masked ball,
1833-1835).
A special type of ,vork ,vas the character piece addressed to children
and students. Composers did not intend such pieces for recital stages but Music for children
for the home and the family. At the worst, such music can be banal, of
course. In the hands of the best composers, however, the technical limi-
tations of such pieces do not prevent real poetic charm and substance.
Mendelssohn contributed to the genre with his Kinderstucke (Children's
pieces, 1842). Schumann ,vrote some of the finest such pieces in his
Ki11dersce11en: Leichte Stucke fur das Pianoforte (Scenes from childhood:
Easy pieces for the piano, 1838) and Album fur die Jugend (Album for
young people, 1848), as ,veil as sonatas and sets of four-hand pieces for
children.
Orchest ral Music

In the field of orchestral music, Mendelssohn was most responsible for
the creation of a genre in ,vhich a title indicated the expressive content.
Overtures for operas and plays had appeared as popular items on or-
chestral concerts for some time, and so in 1826 Mendelssohn estab-
lished the independent genre of the concert overture ,vith his Overture to
A Midsummer Night's Dream, op. 21. Although he did not at the time Concortoverture
intend the work as an instrumental introduction to a specific perfor-
mance of Shakespeare's play, the operatic overture provided the best
model for a one-movement orchestral composition with defin ite literary
content. (Later he added a complete score of incidental music for an
actual performance of the play.) The character portrayals are clear in the
unusual thematic materials: the denizens of the fairy kingdom are
evoked by the soft but rhythmically energetic "elfin-scherzo" style that
w·as one of Mendelssohn's most original creations, and the buffoon
Bottom in his ass's head inspired a melody ,vith hee-ha,ving do,vn,vard
leaps. Mendelssohn followed the Midsum1ner Night's Dream Overture
,vith other concert overtures based on literary works and on the inspira-
tion of his travels. Other composers soon follo,ved his lead. The concert
overture normally takes the form of a sonata movement, often ,vith a
slo,v introduction. It thus does not attempt to outline a narrative se-
The conurlo ovtrhArt quence of events. Instead, its themes and styles capture the characters or
is morc.appropriattly qualities of its extramusical subject matter. The concert overture is
thought of as
cl,aracltrist.ic than therefore more appropriately thought of as "characteristic" than "pro-
programmatic. grammatic" in intention.
A similar manner of thinking led to the progra1n symphony.
Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony had laid the groundwork for a multi-
movement orchestral ,vork ,vith explicit indications of emotional con-
tent. Beethoven referred to the symphony as a "sinfonia caracteristica,"
ho,vever, because, except for the arrival and passing of the thunderstorm
in the fourth movement, the movements represent isolated "recollec-
Program symphony tions of feelings rather than tone painting." Berlioz produced the most
famous of all program symphonies in the Symphonie fantastique: Episode
de la vie d'un artiste (1830), representing the frustrated love and death of
a Romantic musician and partially inspired by autobiographical circum-
stances. This ,vork is genuinely programmatic, in the sense that the
movements are organized according to a narrative sequence of events
and are connected by the recurrence in different guises of the musical
motive of the ,voman ,vho is the object of the protagonist's ideefixe (ob-
session) (Example 20.3). Fe,v program symphon ies have the overarch-
ing programmatic narrative of the Sy1npho11ie fantastique. Even Berlioz's
o,vn Harold en Italie (1834), a symphony for solo viola and orchestra
originally ,vritten for Paganini, is actually episodic or characteristic, fol-
lo,ving the nature of Byron's Chi/de Harold's Pilgrimage, on ,vhich it is
based (see Plate 17 for a visual response to Byron's poem).
The inspiration ofBeethoven's Ninth Symphony engendered a number
oflarge Romantic ,vorks for chorus and orchestra, although his successors
naturally attempted such projects with a certain trepidation and attempted
to deflect comparisons by somewhat d ifferent approaches and genre des-
Works for chorus and ignations. Mendelssohn contributed hvo major works that he called
orchc-&tra "symphony-cantatas": the Lobgesang, consisting of three symphony move-
ments and nine vocal numbers based on biblical texts; and Die erste Wal-
purgisnacht, op. 60 (1832-1833, rev. 1843), an orchestral overture and nine
vocal movements on a dramatic ballad by Goethe, ,vhich Berlioz called "a
masterpiece ofRomanticism." Inspired by Shakespeare, Berlioz composed
a "dramatic symphony," Ro1neo et Juliette, in 1839, which mixed choral and
solo movements ,vith orchestral ones.
Instrument al Gen res in Romantic Music 357
Example 20. 3 Some of the different appearances of t he idee fixe from Berlioz's
Symphonie fantastique: (a) the first appearance of t he idee fixe as the principal
theme in the opening movement; (b) t he opening of the idee fixe in waltz style as
it appears in the second movement; (c) the ret urn of the idee fixe in the pastoral
scene of the third movement; (d) t he idee fixe cut off at the fall of the guilloti ne
blade in the fourth movement; and (e) the grotesque appearance of t he idee fixe
at the Witches' Sabbath in the finale.
(a) Fl.
Vnl
• c J]r- J[m'rffirgr'@'r- r
Allegro ugita10 e appassionuto assai
_.--..
1·\ J
Ct'(!S, J)QCO a J)<>CO cres. -
Allegro non troppo
(b) +r n§p1 r·
~~ Fl, Ob
9
P espressi vo
1
I ,,...-~
f§r F
=-
-v lj
,~,- ,.
.,,
(continued)
Example 20.3 (continued)
Allegretto non troppo
(d)
A
Cl solo r1i,
. b..--~~ hi>
~
•
•J
pp
-= -=
do Ice assai ('d ap~ ssionato
.. "if
Str P.izz. 3 imp
-- I ]
.., i
1
i
~
'
ff
- -
Allegro
Cl in E> ,t,,
(el =@j. rl I,,J f p J ,)P-JP

pow f cresc. -
ROMANTIC MUSICAL STYLE
As already indicated, the period of music history from around the middle
of the eighteenth century through the nineteenth century can be re-
garded as a single stylistic era with classicist and Romantic phases rather
Enlightenment and than as t\vo entirely different periods. From a technical standpoint, both
Romanticism phases rely on the structuring of music at all levels by the principles of
tonal harmony. W ith regard to aesthetic premises, both share a concept
of expression based on the shaping of events according to the literary
model of drama, although, as ,ve have observed earlier, the Romantic ap-
proach also adds the important feature of the narrative voice underlying
the action. As has also been suggested earlier in this chapter and the pre-
vious chapter, the listener's perception of a musical statement as Roman-
tic depends on an implicit set of expectations that the music will proceed
according to ,veil-established stylistic conventions. With this in m ind,
,ve can identify some of the most important aspects of the Romantic
treatment of the Classic-Romantic style.
Expansion of Sound Vocabulary

One of the obvious tendencies of nineteenth-century music ,vas to expand
the sound vocabulary inherited from the composers of the previous cen-
tury. This includes exploitation of dynamic extremes and instrumental
timbres. Beethoven had already added piccolo, trombones, contrabas-
Jn t.lit optra pit dramalJc soon, extra horns, bass drum, and cymbals to the standard symphony or-
ntussily was ofttn tht
molhtr of musical chestra. Naturally, the most fruitful place for experiment was the opera
fovtnlion. pit, where dramatic necessity was often the mother of musical invention.
Romantic Musical Style 359
Berlioz, w·ho learned much from the theatrical scorings that he heard as a
young man while attending the opera in Paris, became the leading pio-
neer in this area. He called not only for extremes of loudness but also for
remarkable ne\v instrumental effects. Among his most famous passages Special effects ofscoring
are the last movement of the Sy1nphonie fantastique, ,vhich features col
legno (with the wood of the bo\v, rather than the hair) playing by the
strings, and the "Queen Mab" scherzo of Romeo et Juliette, ,vhich employs
string and harp harmonics and antique cymbals. In such instances listen-
ers ,vho knew only the usual symphonic sound vocabulary w·ould cer-
tainly find these unusual timbres striking and naturally sense them as
indications of sign ificant extramusical content. Berlioz himself recog-
nized this effect in his extensive revie\v of Rossin i's Guillaume Tell, where
he singled out for special praise the use of the triangle for" dramatic mean-
ing" and pianissimo rolls on the timpani, in ,vhich he heard "one of those
natural sounds whose cause remains unkno\vn, one of those strange
noises which attract our attention on a clear day in the deep forest and
,vhich redouble in us the feeling of silence and isolation."5
The inventive impulse of the century that fostered Guglielmo
Marconi, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Karl Benz also
led to the construction of new· instruments and techn ical improvements
in existing ones. One of the great inventors of wind instruments was New instruments
Adolphe Sax (1814-1894), ,vho patented the saxophone in 1846. Sax also
developed an entire family of conical-bore valved brass instruments, the
saxhorns. Other new instruments-such as the ophicleide, a bass version
of the keyed bugle, ,vhich had the folded-tube design of a bassoon and
,vas called for in Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream Overture,
Berlioz's Sy1nphonie fantastique, and other works-eventually disap-
peared. Percussion instruments gradually increased in number and vari-
ety, a trend that has continued steadily into the twenty-first century.
Romantic Harmony
The Romantics ,veil understood and exploited the expressive effect they
could attain by th\varting conventional harmon ic expectations. Particu- Harmonic
lady effective in a musical style generally based on tonal directedness unconventionality
,vas the momentary use of nonfunctional harmonic progressions. At the
opening of Mendelssohn's Midsu1nmer Night's Drea1n Overture come
the four chords I-V-iv-I, reversing the normal cadential progression
and establishing the unreal atmosphere of the action of the play. A char-
acteristic of Berlioz's ,vriting is the construction of phrases that appear
to follo,v the simple outline of motion between ton ic and dominant but
,vhose goals turn out to be quite distant harmon ies.
Another ,vay of exploiting the limits of tonal harmonic direction
,vas that of Chopin, \vhose externally simple harmonic phrasing can pass
through a rich mixture of chromatic harmonies along the ,vay. To the Overloading
ear tuned to straightfor,vard tonal procedures this gives the effect of
overloading the syntax, as if a poet '"ere enriching a simple sentence with

qualifying adjectives. The expressive result is one of supercharging the
basic t\vo- or four-measure phrase with emotion.
F oRM IN ROMANTIC Music
The Romantic composers also experimented ,vith the possibilities of ne,v

interpretations of the dramatic form. Beethoven's Eroica had already indi-
cated the direction. In the ideal sonata form of the Enlightenment there is
a substantial period of stability and resolution follo,ving the climactic
return to the tonic. In Romantic dramatic shaping, the climax is likely to
be delayed as long as possible, and the time allotted to denouement is min-
Plot archdype& imal. Unusual and surprising things occur even in apparently traditional,
absolute \\l'Orks, especially at the end. Mendelssohn's Symphony no. 3 in
A Minor, op. 56 (Scottish, 1842), ends with a coda that introduces a change
of mode, tempo, and material, thus becoming almost a separate move-
ment. Schumann, at the moment of the return to the tonic in the finale of
his Symphony no. 2 in C (1845-1846), instead of recapitulating intro-
duces a ne,v theme. Not surprisingly, critics interpreting such ,vorks ,vere
inclined to suggest programs for them, finding in them some kind of plot
archetype (a term proposed by the musicologist Anthony Ne,vcomb) that
,vould be better understood as a Romantic literary shape than as a conven-
tional symphonic design. Berlioz's programmatic and dramatic sympho-
nies make their emotional contours explicit by this very technique.
A contribution of great importance in the Romantic musical style
Cydicity ,vas the multimovement cycle. Cyclic unification of the disparate seg-
ments of a musical ,vork stands as a symbol of the Romantic thinkers'
Cyclic unification oft ht search for the unity in all things. It reflects the organic ind ivisibility of
disparate srgmtnt.s of a
existence proposed by the early-nineteenth-century German philoso-
mu.d eal work stands as a
symbol oftht Romanl'ic: phers and soon to be realized in natural science by Dar,vin. Composers
thinktrs' starch for the found that they could create th is universal ,vholeness in a tangible mi-
unity in all things. crocosm, and they did so again and again.
In the opera there ,vas always the overriding unifying presence of a
plot. This ,vas increasingly reinforced by breaking down the distinction
bet\veen set numbers and recitative so that the music would be continu-
ous and by using themes associated ,vith recurring elements in the
Muska I continuity action. The leading opera composers moved in this direction in all the
in oprra national opera styles. Notable examples can be found in Weber's Der
Freischutz and Verdi's La Traviata. Other dramatic vocal ,vorks (even
those that are not intended to be staged, such as Mendelssohn's Die erste
Walpurgisnacht) follow similar procedures.
Song composers also seized on the idea of the cycle, as ,ve have ob-
Song cycles served in the cases ofBeethoven and Schubert. Schumann was Schubert's
leading successor in the field of the lied, and he also ,vrote several note-
,vorthy song cycles. His exemplary Dichterliebe (Poet's love, 1840), based
on texts by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), is un ified not only by the
Recognition of the Musical Heritage 361
emotional progression of its texts but also by a tonal plan that proceeds
in a '"ell-directed circular fashion.
Schumann also used the cyclical principle in sets of character pieces
for the piano. It ,vas not unusual in the early nineteenth century for key- p;,no cycles
board composers to create variation sets or groups of dances. Schumann
adapted this procedure to incorporate sets of brief character pieces; one
example is Carnaval, an evocation of a dance party, which is unified by
motives derived from the musical letters S (Es), C, H, A (in English E-flat,
C, B, A-the musical letters in the composer's o,vn name) and A, S (Es),
C, H (the name of the German to,vn from '"hich one of his girlfriends
came). Fanny Hensel's grand cyclic set Das Jahr (The year) follows the
months through the calendar.
One aspect of the cycle of songs or piano miniatures, especially in
the hands of Schumann, \\l'aS that the individual short piece became re-
duced to a fragment, an important category in Romantic art. The fasci- The fragment
nation of the fragment derives from the fact that the incompleteness of
the musical structure forces the mind to reach beyond the individual
piece itself. To some extent the meaning of the fragment remains open,
although it might become meaningful ,vithin the context of other music
in the cycle or in relation to the listener's imagination, possibly guided by
an evocative text or title.
In large orchestral works cyclicity is established either by running
the movements together (follo,ving the example of the third and fourth
movements of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony) or by thematic references
(follo,ving the example of the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony).
Berlioz's Sy1nphonie fantastique is unified by the musical theme of the be- Orchestral cycHdty
loved, ,vhich he called idee fixe because it represents the young artist's
psychological fixation. He later used the term idee fixe again for the
theme that represents the person of Harold in Harold en Italie; in that
symphony Berlioz also imitated Beethoven's thematic recollections sepa-
rated by orchestral recitative, from the Ninth Symphony. Mendelssohn's
A-minor Symphony employs a slightly more subtle unifying thematic
gesture, and in his well-kno,vn Violin Concerto in E Minor, op. 64 (1844),
the three movements proceed continuously. Schumann's Symphony no.
4 in D Minor, op.120 (1841, rev. 1851), has no pauses between movements;
the material of the slo,v introduction recurs in the slow movement; the
middle section of the slow movement (headed "Romance") returns in
the trio of the Scherzo; and the finale virtually recapitulates the first
movement. All this suggests that the ,vork may be heard not as four
movements but as a single large one.
R E COGN ITION OF THE M USICAL H ERITAGE
It may be difficult for modern musicians to understand ho," little com-

posers up to the nineteenth century concerned themselves with the
music of their predecessors. Until around 1830 there seems to have been
remarkably little interest in even the recent musical past. Schubert's

music had hardly made an impression in his O\Vn lifetime, and to some
musicians Beethoven seems to have appeared merely a radical of the un-
comfortable revolutionary era. Haydn and Mozart belonged to the still
earlier, rejected age of frills and powdered wigs. Bach \Vas mostly kno,vn
as a difficult composer of keyboard preludes and fugues that might be
used for finger exercise, and Handel's oratorios were popular primarily
in England. Baron van S,vieten's attempt to spread the music of Bach and
Handel to the Viennese had been generally restricted to a limited number
of invited connoisseurs.
In Berlin, ho\vever, a group of musicians-the Singakademie, led by
Karl Friedrich Zelter-knew Bach's music and sang it enthusiastically.
lhe Bach revival In 1829 Zelter's most precocious pupil, Felix Mendelssohn, convinced
his mentor to permit him to give a public performance of Bach's
St. Matthew Passion. The event was a tremendous success. Bach's music
came across as deeply impassioned, and a new interest in his works and
in older music in general began to spread. Mendelssohn carried his pro-
pagandizing efforts on behalf of the music of earlier times to Leipzig,
,vhere his programs ,vith the Gewandhaus Orchestra included "histori-
cal concerts," ,vhich reintroduced the \vorld to Bach, Handel, Haydn,
Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert.
One result of this \Vas that musicians began to unearth all the early
musical ,vorks that ,vere moldering in libraries and private collections
throughout Europe and to d iscover ne\v musical experiences and ne\v
Historical editions musical ideas. The publication of responsibly ed ited, complete collec-
of musk tions of composers' \vorks started in 1850 ,vhen, on the hundredth anni-
versary of his death, the ,vorks of Bach began to appear under the aegis of
the Bach-Gesellschaft (Bach Society). Similar ed itions ,vere set in motion
for many other composers and for collections of assorted early music.
The claiming and monumentalizing of musical heroes of the past also
furthered the nineteenth-century ambition to build modern national
identities after the collapse of earlier political units based in feudalism.
The preface to the first volume of the Bach edition made this explicit:
The Bacb-Gesellschaft Johann Sebastian Bach died on the 28th ofJuly 1750 in Leipzig.
rdi tion announces its goal As people mobilized themselves in the past year in many places in
to promote German
music.al identit)' Germany to celebrate the centenary of that day \Vith musical per-
formances, an even more lively desire inevitably emerged, to estab-
lish a monument to the Master, whose fame the past century could
only confirm and elevate, in order to convey his memory to the
coming centuries faithfully and reliably. An edition of his collected
,vorks, one that fulfills this goal in the purest and most beautiful
,vay, is a debt of honor for the nation; through its payment one of
the most pressing obligations of musical art and scholarship ,vill
be satisfied. The largest part of Bach's oeuvre is still either not pub-
lished at all or is published only in an inadequate manner; for study
by artists and scholars of art, for use and cultivation (Bildung) by
The Midpoint of the Nineteenth Century 363
the friends of art who are sensitive to serious music, an unbeliev-

ably rich treasure still lies buried there. To make this generally ac-
cessible in its entirety is a project that-too huge in every respect
for the powers of a fev, individuals, in such a ,vay that it would be a
monument of the veneration that the German people (das deutsche
Volk) renders to one of its greatest and most profound masters-
can be carried out in ,vorthy fash ion only by means of the united
po,vers of those in whose hearts lies the true art of German music.6
An important part of the picture of the interest in early music in the
first half of the nineteenth century was the interest in the music of the
Roman Catholic tradition. Parallel to the Nazarene movement among
German painters and later the Pre-Raphaelites in England, ,vho at-
tempted to restore the styles of Renaissance sacred art, across Europe
there ,vere musicians and music enthusiasts who found themselves
drawn to the task of maintaining and restoring ,vhat they regarded as the
older, purer styles of sacred music: the chant and the style of Palestrina.
This movement is known as the Cecilian movement. Among its leaders in The Cedlian movement
France ,vas the French ,vriter Alexandre Choron (1771-1834), ,vho pub-
lished music ofJosquin and Palestrina and founded a school for the sing-
ing of church music. In Germany the movement had its most effective
spokesman in the legal scholar and musical amateur Justus Thibaut
(1772-1840), ,vhose book Uber die Reinheit der Tonkunst (On the purity
of music, 1825) laid out the virtues of the study of early music for the
improvement of the art generally.
Another immensely important effect of this movement ,vas the estab-
lishment of the idea of musical classics in the general sense. After the
1830s the realization that modern listeners might find delight or enlight-
enment in listening to ,vorks of a time (or, by extension, a culture) other
than their o,vn ,vas generally accepted. This contributed to the formation Creation of a musical
of a canon of great works, masterpieces understood as touchstones in c-a non
shaping values in music and constituting the basis of musical literacy. This
change in perspective altered the ,vay in which listeners related to music
and still controls our musical experience as listeners and performers.
T H E MIDPOIN T OF TH E N INETEENTH C EN TURY
Writers of music history have sometimes assumed that the nineteenth

century comprises a unified ,vhole that can be subsumed under the head-
ing "Romantic." However, in the same way that it ,vould be misleading to
divide sharply the Enlightenment and Romantic phases in the history of
music, it ,vould be erroneous to think of the nineteenth century as one
continuous development. In fact, a significant break in musical thinking
came around the middle of the century.
The careers of most of the major Romantic composers came to an
end or to a major point of articulation at about the same time. Fanny The closo of• generation
Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn died in 1847, Donizetti in 1848, and
Chopin in 1849. Robert Schumann \\l'aS incarcerated in an asylum after

an attempted suicide in 1853 and died in 1856; Clara Schumann's com-
posing career ended. Verdi's opera style reached a culmination in his
three masterpieces Rigoletto (1851), II Trovatore (1853), and La Traviata
(1853), after which he took a new· direction. We shall see that Liszt, who
gave up the life of a touring virtuoso in 1848, did the same even more
deliberately and aggressively.
An extramusical signal for the end of the mature phase of Romanti-
cism \\l'aS the revolutionary year 1848. Violent revolt swept across
Europe. The continent \\l'aS forced to realize that no satisfactory resolu-
tion had yet been reached to the problems that had brought about the
French Revolution sixty years earlier.
Collections of the w·ritings of individual Romantic composers include

Hector Berlioz, The Me1noirs of Hector Berlioz, trans. and ed. David Cairns
(Ne," York: Norton, 1975); Hector Berlioz, Evenings with the Orchestra,
trans. anded.Jacques Barzun (NewYork: Knopf, 1956); Robert Schumann,
Schumann on Music: A Selection fro1n the Writings, trans. and ed. Henry
Pleasants (London: Gollancz, 1965); and Robert Schumann, On Music and
Musicians, trans. Paul Rosenfeld, ed. Konrad Wolff (New· York: Norton,
1969). For a study of Schumann's w·ritings see Leon Plantinga, Schu1nann
as Critic (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1967). See also the ex-
cerpts from Romantic critics in Strunk's Source Readings in Music History.
The follow·ing biographies of Italian Romantic composers are
recommended:
Bellini: Herbert Weinstock, Vincenzo Bellini: His Life and Operas
(New York: Knopf, 1971);John Rosselli, The Life of Bellini
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Stelios
Galatopoulos, Bellini: Life, Times, Music (London: Sanctuary,
2002).
Donizetti: Herbert Weinstock, Donizetti and the World of Opera in
Italy, Paris and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century
(New York: Pantheon, 1964); William Ashbrook, Donizetti and
His Operas (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press,
1982).
1\"o shorter biographies of Verdi are Julian Budden, Verdi (London:
Dent, 1985), and John Rosselli, TI1e Life of Verdi (Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press, 2000). A more extensive biography is Mary
Jane Phillips-Matz, Verdi: A Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1993). Closer studies ofVerdi are Julian Budden, TI1e Operas ofVerdi, 3 vols.
(Ne," York: Praeger, 1973-1982), and David Kimbell, Verdi in the Age of
Italian Ro1nanticis1n (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1981).
On French grand opera see William L. Crosten, French Grand Opera:
A11Art and a Business (New York: Da Capo, 1972); Karin Pendle, Eugene
Scribe and French Opera of the Nineteenth Century (Ann Arbor, Ml: UMI
Research Press, 1979); and Jane F. Fulcher, The Nation's Image: French
Grand Opera as Politics and Politicized Art (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press, 1987).
The northern Romantic composers have received numerous bio-
graphical studies. Some of the most substantial and reliable ones are
listed h ere:
Berlioz: Jacques Barzun, Berlioz and the Romantic Century, 3rd ed.
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1969); D. Kern Holoman,
Berlioz (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989);
Peter Bloom, The Life ofBerlioz (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
Chopin: Jeremy Siepmann, Chopin, the Reluctant Ro1nantic
(Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1995); Jim Samson,
Chopin (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).
Hensel: R. Larry Todd, Fanny Hensel: The Other Mendelssohn (New'
York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
Liszt: Alan Walker, Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years, 1811-1847
(New York: Knopf, 1983).
Mendelssohn: R. Larry Todd, Mendelssohn: A Life in Music
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
Robert Schumann: Peter Osh\l'ald, Schumann: The Inner Voices of a
Musical Genius (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1985);
John Daverio, Robert Schumann: Herald of a "New Poetic Age"
( Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).
Clara Schumann: Nancy B. Reich, Clara Schu1nann: The Artist and
the Wo1nan (Ithaca, NY: Cornell Un iversity Press, 1985).
William S. Newman, The Sonata since Beethoven, 2nd ed. (Ne,"
York: Norton, 1972), concludes Newman's monumental h is-
tory of the sonata genre.
I. Robert Schumann, review of t\vo overtures by Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda

(1801-1866), Ne11eZeitschriftf i,r Musik 1/ 10 (5 May 1834), 38. [Translation by OS]
2. Letter from Verdi to Francesco Piave, 16 February 1853, quoted in Charles
Osborne, Verdi: A Life in the Theatre (New York: Knopf, 1987), 119.
3. Robert Schumann, introductory note to h is Gesammelte Schriften iiber M11sik
und M11siker (Leipzig: Georg Wigand, 1875), 1:iii. [Translation by OS]
4. Fanny Hensel, letter to Rebecka Mendelssohn Dirichlet, 18 March 1844, in
Sebastian Hensel, Die Familie Mendelssohn 1729-1847: Nach Briefen 1md
Tagebiichern (Berlin: Georg Reimer, 1918), 2: 346-47. [Translation by OS]
5. Hector Berlioz, "Guillaume-Tell, de Rossini," translated by Oliver Strunk as
"Rossini's William Tell," in Oliver Strunk, ed., Source Readings in M11sic History,
rev. ed., Leo Treitler, gen. ed. (New York: Norton, 1998), 1134.
6. Moritz Hauptmann, Otto Jah n, Breitkopf & Hartel, C. F. Becker, and Ignaz
Moscheles, Introduction to volume 1 ofJohann Sebastian Bach's Werke (Leipzig:
Bach-Gesellschaft, 1851), i. [Translation by OS]
The Second Half
of the Nineteenth Century
At the time ofthe critical revolutionary period around 1848, progressive
thinkers and composers extended the philosophical and stylistic reach of music.
The New German School and their followers developed the symphonic poem
and music drama, which n1ade music an explicitforum for political ideas, in-
creased its expressive intensity, and challenged conventional limits ofstyle. Late
Romantic composers, meanwhile, continued to explore more traditionally based
musical language in existing genres. Opera joined the aesthetic movement
to111ard realism. As the century continued, composers explored music from
beyond the n1ost culturally powerful European nations in 111orks associated with
exoticism. Nationalists in Europe and the Americas applied ideas from their
own traditions in building distinct identities.
The New Ger1nan School Late Ro1nanticisn1

The Artwork of the Future AUSTRIA
\VAGNER'S MUSIC FRANCE

DRAJ\IAS ITALY
\VAGNER'S LIBRETTOS Influences of the Ne1v Ger1nan Style
\VAGNER'S MUSICAL PROGRESSIVES IN VIENNA
STYLE
RICHARD STRAUSS
\\'AGNER IN SOCIAL
ALEXANDER SKRYAB IN
AND POLITICAL HISTORY
366
The Ne,\I' German School 367
Realis,n in Late-Nineteenth-Century NATIONALISJ\1 IN OTHER

Opera COUNTRIES
Exoticis1n The Situation at the End of the

Nineteenth Century
Late-1\Jineteenth-Cen tury National
Styles
BOHEJHIA
RUSSIA
THE NEW GERMAN SCHOOL
Beginning at the midpoint of the nineteenth century, some ambitious

composers pursued the principles and the stylistic tendencies of
Romantic music even further, taking as their models w·hat they per-
ceived as the revolutionary directions indicated by Beethoven. These Music of the future
progressive composers were identified as a Ne111 German School, and they
adopted as their slogan "the music of the future." The founders of the
New German School were Liszt and Richard Wagner (1813-1883). Like
other nineteenth-century Romantics, they felt it necessary to \\l'rite at
length about their philosophical, artistic, and musical views.
In 1855 in the Neue Zeitschriftfur Musik there appeared under Liszt's
name a major essay in defense of program music as it ,vas represented in
Berlioz's Harold en Italie. In this essay the ideals of the progressive move-
ment found their expression. Liszt summed up his guiding principle near
the beginning of the article: "The artist can pursue beauty outside the
academic rules \\l'ithout having to fear failure as a consequence." This
statement amounts to an assertion that reliance on convention is no
longer essential in music. Indeed, in a passage that echoes Hegel's meta-
physics, he argues that the old must necessarily yield to the ne,v:
Art, \\l'hich proceeds from humankind as humankind apparently Liszt's rssay on Berlioz.
does from nature-which, just as humanity itself is the masterpiece pro claims the principles
ofprogressive music
of nature, '"ill in turn, as the masterpiece of humanity, be endowed
\\l'ith thoughts and feeling-art cannot escape the necessary evolu-
tion that belongs to all that time produces. Its life principle, like
that of humankind, remains, like the life principle of nature, inher-
ent in certain forms only for a period of time, and it passes from one
to another in a constant process of change and drives people to
create new ones to the same extent that they abandon those that
have decayed and passed their prime.
368 CHAPTER 21: The Second Half of the Nineteenth Century
Liszt ,vent on to say that the direction of musical development is toward

more explicit emotional content and that the artist must demand emo-
tional content from the formal framew'ork. Only,vhen it is filled with the
former does the latter have significance for him:
Therein lies the defense of programmatic music, for if music is not
on the path to decline, . . . then it seems apparent to us that the pro-
grammatic symphony is destined to win a firm footing in the pres-
ent period of art.
Moreover, Berlioz is vindicated against the conservatives who w'ould
reject his music:
The unusual treatment of form is not the most unforgivable fault of
,vhich they accuse Berlioz; in fact, they,vill perhaps adm it that he
has done art a service in discovering ne,v turns of phrase. But they
,viii never forgive him for this: that for him the jortn only has an im-
portance that is subordinate to the thought, that he does not, like
them, preserve form for form's sake; they will never forgive him for
the fact that he is a thinker and a poet. 1
Naturally, Liszt h imself put these principles into practice in his later
,vorks. In 1848 he gave up his life of concert touring and settled in
Weimar, ,vhere he turned his attention to large orchestral ,vorks. These
included t\vo programmatic symphonies in the genre established by
Berlioz: the Faust Symphony (1854-1857), three movements portraying
the leading characters in Goethe's work and concluding ,vith the addi-
tion of voices to the orchestra; and the Dante Symphony (1855-1856),
Symphonic poem based on the Divine Co1nedy. Equally important are the symphonic poems,
a designation invented by Liszt for single-movement orchestral works
,vith specified programmatic content. Unlike those of concert overtures,
the forms of Liszt's symphonic poems tend to depart from the conven-
tions of sonata form. Although roots in the sonata form can be discov-
ered in some of his ,vorks, in others the form is merely vestigial, making
their analysis as sonata forms more frustrating than helpful. The struc-
ture in the freest pieces is best explained by reference to the events and
shape indicated by the program; th is is to say, they are ,vorks ,vhose
material is symphonic and ,vhose structure is not that of an abstract
musical form but of the program. Although a program symphony re-
mains a musical structure with literary content, the adjective symphonic
and the noun poem suit this new genre precisely; the ,vorks amount to
poems expressed in tones rather than words.
It should be emphasized here that the literary program did not nec-
Lrs Prtludes essarily precede the musical composition. In fact, in Liszt's best-kno,vn
symphonic poem, Les Preludes (1854), the music definitely came first.
The program, a reflection on the fact that life, ,vith its joys and its strife,
is only a prelude to the great mystery of death, ,vas adapted from one of
the poetic meditations of the French Romantic author Alphonse de
The Artwork of the Future 369
Lamartine (1790-1869), ,vhich Liszt thought suitably expressed the

poetic form and content of the piece.
The musical style that results from the insistence in the Ne,v German
School that emotional content supersedes abstract form extends the
principles that governed Romantic style. Naturally, the palette of orches- Progrossiv• style
tral color should gro,v ,vithout apparent restraint. More significant, har-
monic style can become freer and more chromatic. In some of his latest
,vorks Liszt indulged in such extreme harmonic experiments that he
practically abandoned tonality altogether. In regard to form, every work
strives for a un ique structure. These forms tend to be based on continu-
ous juxtaposition and interplay of motives, ,vhich Liszt called "thematic
transformation," in predominantly unstable tonal contexts. In other
,vords, the style of symphonic development found in the sonata-form
movements of the preceding generations no,v becomes the process that
rules the entire design. In the true Romantic fashion that ,vas established
in Beethoven's Eroica, the music moves from each climax to a higher one,
,vith the final climax delayed as long as possible.
THE ARTWORK OF THE FUTURE
Liszt's friend and later son-in-la,v Richard Wagner carried the banner of
the Ne,v German School into the theater. Wagner had a strong literary
background, but he decided on a musical career, becoming an opera
chorus master and later conductor. Despite his concentration on theat-
rical music, his musical idol ,vas Beethoven. He began to compose Wagn«'s early works
operas in the 1830s, experimenting ,vith Weber's Romant icism, Italian
lyricism, and the French grand opera style. In the 1840s, ,vhile working
in Dresden as the theater music director, Wagner found a mature
German Romantic opera style in three ,vorks, Der J/iegende Hollander
(The flying Dutchman, 1843), Tannhiiuser (1842-1844), and Lohengrin
(1846-1848). In 1848 Wagner, like many artists of the time, became
involved in the political uprisings that swept through Europe, and his
revolutionary act ivities made him persona non grata in Germany. He
,vent into exile in S,vitzerland.
For a few years Wagner did not compose but immersed himself in
literary efforts. He produced several important treatises. Das Kunstwerk
der Zukunft (The art\vork of the future, 1850) took up the philosophical
ideas of the New· German School. He began by insisting that art arises
from nature and that artifice and convention have no place in it:
Art ,viii not be ,vhat it can be and should be, until it is or can be the Wagnrr lays out the
accurate reflection, proclaiming consciousness, of genuine human- theory of an artwork
for thr future
kind and of the true life of humankind as nature requires it-until,
therefore, it no longer has to borrow the conditions of its existence
from the errors, absurdities, and unnatural deformities of our
modern life.
Then he argued that the art of the future ought to express the essence of
the people, or Volk (folk), from w·hich it comes:
The individual spirit, striving artistically for its salvation in nature,

cannot create the artwork of the future; only the collective spirit,
fulfilled by life, may accomplish this....
The arhvork is religion represented in living form;-religions,
ho,vever, are not invented by the artist, they originate only from the
folk.
The arhvork of the future, he added, must be collective not only in em-
bodying the character and aspirations of a folk but also in uniting differ-
ent means of expression: gesture, speech, and music. For Wagner the
history of music reached an important climax in the symphonies of
Beethoven, particularly the Ninth, w·here music and speech combine.
Beethoven, like a musical Columbus, discovered an entirely new ,vorld:
He rushed again into that endless sea.... he kne111 the goal of the
journey, and he ,vas resolved to achieve it.
The master thus passed through the most unheard-of possibili-
ties of absolute tonal language,-not that he hastily slipped by
them, but rather that he expressed them completely, in the most
forceful terms, out of the deepest fullness of his heart,-until that
point where the seafarer begins to measure the sea's depth ,vith his
plumb line. . . . Vigorously he thre,v out the anchor, and this anchor
,vas the Word.
Beyond Beethoven's Ninth Symphony comes the artwork of the future:
Beethoven's last sy1nphony is the salvation of music out of its own

element to become the universal art. It is the human gospel of the
art of the future. Beyond it no progress is possible, because after it
only the completed artwork of the future can follo,v, the universal
drarna, to ,vhich Beethoven has forged for us the artistic key.
Tht.ntw artwork
must rtprtstnl tht The summation ofWagner's theories is already suggested here. The ne,v
colltcl'ivt txptritnce of arhvork must be a Gesamtkunst111erk (universal arhvork or collective art-
tlit cult.urt and also
,vork) that represents the collective experience of the culture from which
synlhtsizt into ont tnl'ily
gtstural, verbal, and it proceeds and also synthesizes into one entity gestural, verbal, and mu-
musical types of expression. sical types of expression.
The artistic person can only find complete satisfaction in the unifi-
cation of all the art forms into the collective artwork....
Art's true aspiration is therefore the all-embracing: everyone
inspired by the true artistic impulse wishes to ach ieve, by means of
the fullest development of his particular ability, not the glorifica-
tion of this particular ability, but the glorification of hu1nankind in
general in art.
The Artwork of the Future 371
The highest collective artwork is drama: it can only be present

in its greatest possible co1npleteness when each art forin in its greatest
co1npleteness is present in it. 2
Wagner's universal drama would have nothi ng to do ,vith opera, ho,v-

ever. As he proceeded to explain in Oper und Drama (Opera and drama,
1851), existing operatic styles amou nted only to an aberration. Wagner Oporaanddrama
associated himself ,vith Gluck, agreeing that music's proper function
,vas to serve drama. Mozart he regarded as a fine composer ,vhose libret-
tos had simply been too trivial to produce really great results. To Wagner,
the opera of the first half of the nineteenth cent ury failed because of its
inherently commercial nature. It aimed merely at pleasing the public
(i.e., the modern, bourgeois aud ience)-ironically the exact opposite of
expressing the character of the noble Volk, which from its roots embod-
ied the essential beliefs and ideas that stood at the root of cultural
integrity. The Italian opera, with its virtuosic arias, consisted of mere
artificiality, ,vh ich prevented any honest expression; and the drama
served merely as an excuse for singing. French grand opera relied on
effect rather than si ncerity.
What ,vas called for, Wag ner proclaimed, ,vas a reversal of the roles
of music and drama. He proposed to bring about this reversal in the art- Music dram a
,vork of the future, the Gesamtkunst\verk, ,vhich he ,vould call not opera
but music dra1na. The term is significant, and its parallelism to the term
sy1nphonic poem must be noted; as in that case, the noun derives from the
literary model and the adjective denotes the use of tones as material. The
structure of the music drama, therefore, is that of the drama, dictated by
the artistic content. Music serves as a means to carry out the dramatic
purpose.
Wagner's Music Dra mas

At the same time that he ,vas formulating his theories, Wag ner began on
a text that he would compose according to his new principles. Bet\veen Der RingdrsNibtlung<n
1848 and 1852, and ,vith several false starts, he created a massive libretto
titled Der Ring des Nibelungen (The ring of the Nibelung) for an imposing
cycle of four music dramas. The characters and action he borro,ved from
Norse mythology, but the libretto is also political; its ideological content
concerns the destructive force of the lust for ,vealth and power. It took
him over t\vo decades to compose the four ,vorks in the Ri ng cycle: Das
Rheingold, Die Walkiire, Siegfried, and Die Giitterda1n1nerung. The first
complete performance d id not take place until 1876.
In the meantime, Wagner had returned to Germany under the pro-
tection of King Lud,vig II of Bavaria, who had a special theater, the Fest-
spielhaus (festival playhouse), constructed in the town of Bayreuth just
for Wagner's music dramas. In the Festspielhaus the architectural design Bayreut h
and state-of-the-art stage facilities contrib uted to the visual aspects of
Figu re 21 .1 The cross-section of the Festspielhaus at Bayreuth shows how the

orchestra was shielded from the audience's view and placed largely underneath
the stage. This fostered dramatic illusion and it also helped to blend and balance
the sound of Wagner's enormous instrumental ensemble.
the Gesamtkunstwerk. The orchestra was placed below· and under the
stage, shielded from the audience's view·, so that only the stage picture
could be seen; this also blended the orchestral sound and kept it from
overpow·ering the singers (Figure 21. 1).
Also during these years Wagner took a break from the composition
T,i,tan und I,old< of the Ring to create a pair of works, one tragedy and one comedy. The
andDi<M<i,t<r,inger tragic love story Tristan und Isolde (1856-1859) reflects Wagner's reading
of the conflict between Will and Representation explored by the philoso-
pher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860). The comedy, Die Meistersinger
von Nurnberg (The Meistersingers of Niirnberg, 1862-1867), has to do
w·ith the struggle of the radical progressive artist against the closed-
mindedness of the conservative artistic establishment. Wagner clearly
found the subject directly applicable to his ow·n career.
At the end of his life Wagner produced a last music drama in which
he attempted to show the solution to the pessimistic denouements of his
Par,ifal earlier w·o rks. In Parsifal (1877-1882) he demonstrated that escape from
the tragic human situation comes through the redemptive pow·er of love,
an idea already suggested in a number of his earlier w·orks.
Wagner's Librettos
Wagner's librettos are \\l'Orth considering from the point ofview· ofliterary
analysis. As we have noted, their underlying content deals ,vith substan-
tial philosophical issues, ,vhether psychological, political, or artistic.
\Vagner's literarysourc•• These are couched in subject matter derived from the Germanic tradition,
The Arhvork of the Future 373
Figure 21.2 The final scene from Wagner's Die Gotterdiimmerung. Brunn hi Ide
rides her horse into the flaming funeral pyre of her beloved Siegfried, before the
conflagration spreads to consume the evil world.
including mythology, as in the case of the Ring; folk epics, as in the stories
of Tristan and Isolde or Parsifal and the Grail; or history, as in the case of
Die Meistersinger.
The poetic style of Wagner's texts also derives from old German
poetic technique. Instead of using meter and rhyme, the familiar devices Stabreim
of English poetry, he employed the technique of Stabreim (stem-rhyme).
The basis of Stabreim is the use of alliterat ion bet\veen the strong ,vord
roots or syllables. Thus we find passages such as the following, from the
closing scene of Die Giitterdii111111erung, as Briinnhilde immolates herself
on her lover Siegfried's funeral pyre and restores the cursed gold ring of
power to its safe place of concealment in the river Rhine (Figure 21.2):
BRO'NNHILDE:
Verfluchter Reif! Accursed richness!
furchtbarer Ring! fearful ring!
dein Gold fass' ich, I grasp your gold
und geb' es nun fort. and no,v give it up.
Das Wassertiefe W ise sisters
,veise Sch,vestern, of the ,vatery depth,
des Rheines schwimmende Tochter swimming daughters of the Rhine,
euch dank' ich redlichen Rat! I thank you for your just counsel!
Was ihr begehrt What you desire
ich geb' es euch: I give it to you:
aus meiner Asche out of my ashes
nehmt es zu eigen. take it for your O\Vn.
Das Feuer, das mich verbrennt, Let the fire that burns me
rein'ge vom Fluche den Ring; purify the ring of the curse,
ihr in der Flut you in the flood,
liiset ih n auf, dissolve it a\vay
und lauter bew·ahrt and always defend
das lichte Gold, the gleaming gold
das euch zum Unheil geraubt. so fatefully stolen from you.
The li nes vary considerably in length, but each contains either t\vo or
three strong syllables, \vith a flexible number and placement of \veaker
ones. This produces a poetic diction that diverges sharply from the
four-square structure \Ve are more accustomed to, and it naturally
finds an equivalent freedom and flexibility in the phrase structure of
the music.
Wagner's Musical Style

In his music Wagner adopted a style that he developed not by altering the
conventions of opera but by appropriating the instrumental procedures
Wagner's orchestra of the symphonic poem. The dramatic content is worked out in the or-
chestra, and the w·ords and action on the stage funct ion like the program
in a symphonic poem to elucidate the workings of the symphonic score.
The importance of the orchestra led Wagner to create new· scorings and
even new instruments. In particular, he wished to achieve a full orches-
tral sound in any instrumental timbre and thus had to multiply the
\vinds. In the case of the brass family, he even devised a fuller horn scor-
ing by designing an additional lower-pitched instrument commonly
known as the "Wagner tuba."
Wagner's vocal style is far from the style of the opera of his contem-
Vocal style poraries. It is almost exclusively syllabic, for one thing, declaiming the
\vords \Vith careful regard for the value of the syllables and inflection of
the phrase. There is no place for vocal display; given the \Veight and rich-
ness ofWagner's orchestra, the singers must spend their effort on balance
in the overall sound, in any case.
The harmonic syntax ofWagner's advanced works presses the tonal
Harmony and tonality system to its limit. Often the harmonies are not governed by functional
root movement but arise as the by-product of linear motion, \vhich
leads to free chromatic successions of harmonies. This results in a
degree of tonal tension that, from the perspective of the listener whose
general harmonic expectations remain those of the conventional tonal
TheArtworkoftheFuture 375
framew'ork, makes the music expressively supercharged. Wagner took

special advantage of this harmonic style in Tristan und Isolde; the free
chromaticism and the refusal of the music to cadence evokes intense
feelings of musical desire and frustration that parallel the pervasive
sexual element of the action. Wagner did not abandon the central con-
cept of long-range tonal planning to shape and un ify a ,vork, however.
Despite the immediate harmonic instability of much of the music, clear
tonal centers are established, departed from, and reestablished over the
course of a music drama. The contrasts behveen the large key areas create
differing levels of intensity by the same principle, although not follo,ving
the same conventional details of structure as in standard forms. Behveen
the stage action and the keys, certain consistent relationships are also set
up ,vhereby, for example, in the Ring dramas the key of E-flat is associ-
ated ,vith the river Rhine and D-flat ,vith Valhalla, the home of the gods. \Vagntr's plot and
musical consl'ruclfon
Thus the plot and the musical construction simultaneously trace a single simult.antously trau.a
dramatic contour. single dramalfo c.ontour.
As in the Lisztian symphonic poem, the processes of musical form in
the music dramas are symphonic in the sense that they derive from the
manner of a symphonic development. The ideas form a h ighly integrated, Symphonic process
,veblike network rather than the clearly articulated sections of sonata
form or the traditional opera. The musical material thus avoids much
that defined form in the preceding period, such as four-square phrasing,
clear cadential formulas, and "filler'' passages for transitions and clos-
ings. Wagner described the resulting continuous flow of the entire musi-
cal line as unendlicheMelodie (endless melody).
Unity and contrast come from the statement, juxtaposition, and de-
velopmental use of important motives. Such a musical element is com-
monly kno,vn as a leittnotiv (leading motive). Wagner himself did not use Leitmotiv
the word leittnotiv; instead, he used the term Grundthe111e11 (basic themes)
for these musical units. In Oper und Drama he described their use as re-
sembling that in a symphonic development, ,vhere they ,vould be inter-
hvined, juxtaposed, developed, and combined. Rather than appearing as
vocal melodies, the leitmotivs occur mostly in the orchestra. In many
cases they are associated ,vith characters, objects, or ideas in the text or
on the stage; consequently, they are not simply musical motives but also
part of the dramatic material of the work (Example 21.1). The idea of
such associative themes was not original ,vith Wagner-Weber provided
the most direct model-but the root of Wagner's style in symphonic
genres may have had as much to do ,vith this aspect of his style as any
operatic forerunner. His use of these motives was certainly far more
thorough and vastly more complex than that of any of his predecessors.
They cannot be explained simply as mechanical musical reflections of
,vhat is being sung or acted at the moment. Their occurrence in the ab-
sence of explicit references to the usual objects of their association per-
mits the interpretation of the orchestral score as a deeper subtext for the
direct statements in the libretto. Their interplay and transformation
Example 21.1 Some of the most important motives from Der Ring des
Nibelungen: (a) Valhalla, the home of the gods; (bl fate or destiny; (cl the
Valkyries; and (d) the hero Siegfried.
'
(a) ..
• . l : 1 i 1 ;
--
' • 1
e-~ pr
(b) ~
IJ. J Ji If.b;J ; I&J. IJ sJ &I-• I~J~f-ffl.

~
._, I - i_j Jh.b
produce a network of relationships perceived in the hearing but too com-

plex to be translated easily into language.
In Wagner's musical thought and composition, the principles of rela-
tion between theme and tonality that had by now' long governed musical
structure ,vere stretched to the limits available at the time-in the ears
of some listeners, even beyond those limits. The dramatic process in
form had reached a climax of complexity. Composers following Wagner
,vere faced ,vith a variety of difficult alternatives: to find ne,v things to
say,vithin the more stable language of Romantic form and expression; to
try to press on further ,vithin the New German style; or to seek out ne,v
styles or models for musical art.
Wagner in Social and Polit ical H istory

Wagner's thoughts and art not only affected music history but also became
entangled in the history of political ideas in nineteenth- and hventieth-
century Europe. He espoused in forceful terms the anti-Semitism that
Wagnor'• anti-Semitism ,vas then not uncommon in European culture. In a malicious essay titled
"Das Judentum in der Musik" (Judaism in music, 1850), published only
under the pseudonym "K. Freigedank" (K. Freethought), he denigrated
composers of]e,vish heritage, particularly Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer.
Late Romanticistn 377
He argued that the Jews, who had no nation of their own, had no folk
identity but merely adapted and appealed to w·hatever country and
public they happened to live in. They could therefore have talent but not
genius, and they could never produce true art\vorks. Wagner's motiva-
tion certainly had various roots. In some degree his vituperation reveals
personal jealousy of the brilliantly successful composers ,vhom he at-
tacked. Many people shared his anti-Semitic feelings, ho,vever, regard-
ing the successes that the Je,vs had achieved in economic, intellectual,
and artist ic terms-despite many repressive legal and institutionalized
social obstacles-as a threat to the national integrity.
As ,ve observed earlier, the integrity and sense of identity of the
German lands and culture did constitute an issue of high interest start-
ing in the first half of the century. The German-speaking territories ,vere
still not fully unified into a nation, and rad ical German patriots looked \Vagntr's muJic btcamt
auociat~.d with the
for reasons and opportunities to create a "greater Germany.'' Wagner's
aggr~ssivt nat-ional
sympathies were ,vith this party; h is ideas about the Volk clearly corre- aspirations o/Gtrman
sponded to this position. politics.
In the succeeding generations Wagner's music became associated
,vith the aggressive national aspirations of German politics. Understand-
ably, ,vhen the National Socialists came to po,ver in the twentieth cen-
tury, Wagner became the musical icon for the party, and his works
became the Nazis' favorite music. H itler ,vas particularly taken ,vith Die \o\'agncr and Nazism
Meistersinger, ,vhich allegorically represented the successful effort of a
ne,v generation to cast off the restrictions of the past; it also offered stir-
ring music that was less complex than that of the other music dramas, the
Ring, Tristan und Isolde, and Parsifal. On the other side, ,vhen the state of
Israel ,vas formed after World War II, performances of Wagner's music
,vere taboo there for more than fifty years, a taboo broken only hesitat-
ingly starting in 2000.
L ATE ROMANTICI SM
Au st r ia
Many musicians in the second half of the nineteenth century disagreed
,vith the Ne,vGerman School's challenge to conventional musical syntax.
Indeed, some sa,v Wagner as abandoning essential musical truths. We Conservativeallernatives
should not be surprised to find that composers ,vho continued to ,vork
,vithin the general range of ideas and styles opened up by the Romantics
thrived in Vienna, the home of Beethoven and Schubert; in France, ,vhere
a classicistic turn of mind had ahvays had importance; and in Italy, where
the appeal to public taste in the opera house exercised some restraining
force on radical experimentation.
1\vo different political and cultural fact ions thrived in Vienna, both
distinct from the German partisans ,vho envisioned the incorporation of
Vienna Austria into a greater German-speaking nation. One ,vas the conserva-
tives, associated ,vith the aristocrat ic traditions of the city and the
Austrian Empire, as ,veil as with the Roman Catholic Church. The other
,vas the culturally liberal intellectual elite, internationally cosmopolitan
in its outlook and importantly including many from the Je,vish commu-
nity. Both groups found themselves forced to take positions in regard to
the radically progressive Ne,v German School.
A leader among the anti-Wagnerians ,vas the liberal Viennese jurist
Eduard Hanslick and music critic Eduard Hanslick (1825-1904). In h is aesthetic treatise
Vom 1nusikalisch Schiinen (On the musically beautiful, 1854) he defined
musical content as tiinend bewegte Form en (tonally animated forms), and
he attacked the idea that music could have any other content than that
embodied in its o,vn sound and structure. There was little love lost be-
t\veen Hanslick and the Wagnerians. At one time Wagner intended to
use the name Hans Lick for the narro,v-minded traditionalist character
in Die Meistersinger; in the end he thought better of it, instead naming
him Beckmesser.
The liberal opponents of the Ne,v German School soon set up
Johannt-& Brahms Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) as a model. Brahms ,vas a north German
,vho was trained in the compositional tradition of Mendelssohn and
Schumann, and in the 1860s he made his permanent residence in Vienna,
the capital of the eighteenth-century cosmopolitan style. Brahms d id
not engage much in the musical polemics of the time, but at one point he
entered the conflict with a "Declaration'' against the New Germans, on
,vhich his friend the violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim assisted him. The
editorsh ip of Neue Zeitschriftfur Musik, in ,vhich Schumann in 1853 had
proclaimed the young Brahms the leader of music into a new path, had
been taken over after Schumann's death by the ,vriter Franz Brendel
(1811-1868), a fervent supporter of Liszt and Wagner. Brahms and
Joachim emphasized that not all musicians found the "music of the
future" convincing:
Brahms and Joachim take The undersigned have for a long time followed with regret the
their stand against the activities of a certain party whose organ is Brendel's Zeitschrift fur
"'music of the future ..
Musik.
The said periodical continuously promulgates the opinion that
seriously aspiring musicians fundamentally agree with the direc-
tion that it represents, that they recognize the compositions by the
leaders of this particular movement as works of artistic value, and
that, in general, and especially in North Germany, the struggle for
and against the so-called "Music of the Future'' has already been
fought out, and act ually resolved in its favor.
The undersigned regard it as their obligation to protest aga inst
such a misrepresentation of the facts, and declare that, so far as they
are concerned, they do not accept the principles that the Brendel
Zeitschrift expresses, and can only deplore or condemn as contrary
Late Romanticism 379
to the most intrinsic essence of music the products of the leaders

and disciples of the so-called "New' German" School, of v.rhom
some put those principles into practice while others press for the
establishment of ever more outrageous theories.
(Unfortunately for the undersigned in this case, a draft was leaked to the
press with only four of the many signatures the writers had hoped for. This
left the impression that they represented at best only a small minority.)
In his four symphonies, his concertos, and his chamber music,
Brahms seemed to take up the course of musical development from
Beethoven. His important chamber w'orks set him apart from most of Brahms and the classic.al
the leading composers of his generation, ,vho mostly did not focus on tradition
that repertoire, ,vhich seemed less suited to Romantic effusion than

other genres. He employed the conventional four-movement sonata
plan, ,vith interconnections among movements that do not approach the
frequency and explicitness of those in Schumann's D-minor Symphony.
His forms, including frequent use of the sonata form, can clearly be
traced to the standard patterns of the Enlightenment. His music does not
call for unusual instruments or performance techniques, although he
had a highly personal style of scoring that ,vas especially dense and rich.
His harmonic language exploits the possibilities of the tonal system
,vithout offering any threat to it.
Brahms was a consummate craftsman in handling problems of musi-
cal structure. This is especially evident in his masterful use of counter-
point. He applied himself to rigorous study of contrapuntal technique, Historic.al consciousness
assisted by the editions ofthe ,vorks ofseventeenth-and eighteenth-century
composers that began to appear during his lifetime. He was a subscriber,
for example, to the complete edition of Bach's works published by the
Bach-Gesellschaft. He kept a collection of examples of parallel fifths and
octaves in music. His o,vn works contain many fugal and canonic pas-
sages, and he ,vrote a number of independent canons. In the finale of his
Symphony no. 4 in E Minor (1884-1885) Brahms wrote one of the great-
est chaconnes in the history of music.
Brahms's pursuit of traditional genres of absolute music and his mas-
tery of the intellectual problems of compositional technique should not
be allo,ved to obscure his Romanticism, however. In piano character Romantic Brahms
pieces and lieder he continued in his own personal direction from the
Brahms must bt regardtd
end of Schumann's and Mendelssohn's path. His large choral ,vorks, es- as a lalt RomanlJc, whost.
pecially the deeply felt and moving treatment of death in Ein deutsches music: dtmonst:ralts t.l,at
lht poltnlials of
Requiem (A German requiem, 1868), show him to have been as sensitive
tightttnt.11· and t .a rly·
to Romantic concerns and extramusical content as any composer. In nintlttnlh·c.tnlury stylt
short, Brahms must be regarded as a late Romantic, ,vhose music demon- had not bttn entirtly
txhau.stt.d aft tr t.lit middle
strates that the potentials of eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century
of lht century.
style had not been entirely exhausted after the middle of the century.
Brahms's treatment of rhythm possesses special interest. Taking Rhythm
up hints from Schumann, he frequently used hemiola, in ,vhich triple
rhythmic beat groupings shift from one metrical level to another. W ith
Brahms, such shifts came to be more than momentary effects; they
became structurally significant, making the rhythm in his w·orks of
greater importance as a determinant of structure than in any music since
the fifteenth century.
Another late Romantic working in Austria ,vas Anton Bruckner
(1824-1896), who can be associated partly ,vith the Viennese conserva-
tives and partly ,vith the grandiosity ofNe,v German musical aspiration.
Anton Bruckner Bruckner ,vas a Catholic composer of sacred music ,vho combined the
great Roman Catholic tradition of choral ,vriting with a rich and Roman-
tic harmonic vocabulary. H is symphonies are expansive ,vorks ,vith a
grandeur that leads to stately sectionalism and a slow pace. They follo,v
the direction of Schubert's late symphonies as Brahms's follo,ved
Beethoven's. Bruckner's themes are more lyrically than motivically con-
ceived and consequently produce a rather slo,v-moving rate of develop-
ment. By contrast to the works of the composers of the Ne,v German
School, the emotionalism of Bruckner's symphonies seems perhaps
deeper and certainly less demonstrative.
France
In late-nineteenth-century France the cultural force emanating from
National rivalry Germany also became a point ofissue. France and Germany competed for
dominance not only artistically but also politically, and in fact the politi-
cal conflict came to a crisis ,vith the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871,
in which the Germans prevailed. French artists and musicians thus had
not only aesthetic but also patriotic impulses for creating styles that would
manifest their identity vis-a-vis their eastern neighbor (Figure 21.3).
Wagner's music nevertheless had some notable influence, especially in
the areas of orchestral developments and chromatic harmony.
In France the late Romantic movement ,vas manifested partly in
the operatic genre kno,vn as lyric opera, well represented by the inter-
pretation of Goethe's Faust (1859) by Charles Gounod (1818-1893).
Lyric opera Composers of lyric opera backed a,vay from the spectacular hugeness of
the grand opera and concentrated on the expression of personal feeling,
mainly through an emphasis on the voice and the melody. The libret-
tists' plots thus turned the spotlight on the characters and their subjec-
tive experience rather than treating serious philosophical or political
matters as in Wagner's music dramas. Consequently, Gounod's Faust is
a love story rather than an exploration of the larger topics in Goethe's
drama such as the demonic nature of genius or the crisis and resolution
of the human condition.
In other vocal genres the French had something significant to offer
as ,veil. They produced some fine Romantic religious choral music,
,vhich, although it generally seems a bit overs,veet in the t\venty-first
century, ,vas meant sincerely. Equally important, the French began in
Late Ron1anticism 381
Figure 2 1. 3 The Opera in Paris (1861-1874), designed by Charles Garnier

(1825-1898). This lavish monument of t he Second Empire in France was the site
of many of t he great operas of t he late Romantic style, as well as the set ting for
t he Gaston Leroux novel (1909-1910) and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical (1986)
The Phantom of the Opera.
the second half of the century to understand the potential that the
German composers had found in the song. They called their w·orks in The m~Iodio
this genre melodies to distinguish them from the popular chanson. The
French composers at the end of the century were fortunate in having a
significant burst of original activity in lyric poetry in their native lan-
guage, wh ich provided the same kind of fertile resource that the
sixteenth-century madrigal composers and the earlier Romantic lied
composers had found in their contemporary poets, respectively. Unlike
the German lied, the melodie stems not from a folk-music tradition but
from a native French Romantic gift for elegant, lyric melody.
The realm of instrumental music also generated some late Romantic
manifestations in France. The rigorous teaching of the Paris Conserva-
tory produced highly polished composers. The chamber music and the Instrumental music
Symphony in D (1888) of Cesar Franck (1822-1890) show that there
might still be new· things for a nineteenth-century Frenchman to say in a
musical language that disregarded Berl ioz and did not depend on un-
usual effects of orchestration and harmony or depart from conventional
structures into original, programmatic ones. One of the most skillful
composers of the second half of the century was Camille Saint-Saens
(1835-1921), a prodigy at the keyboard, trained at the Conservatory. To
Liszt, w·ith ,vhom he had a close personal friendship, Saint-Saens ded i-
cated his Third Symphony (1886), a cyclic ,vork that obliterates the sepa-
rations behveen movements and also features the organ, on which the
composer was a virtuoso.
The Lisztian symphonic poem had some important manifestations

Symphonicpooms in France. Examples came from both Saint-Saens-four works, includ-
ing the famous Danse macabre (1874)-and Franck: Le Chasseur maudit
(The cursed huntsman, 1882) and Les Djinns (1884). Undoubtedly the
best know·n and most popular French work of the genre is Paul Dukas's
I.:apprenti sorcier (The sorcerer's apprentice, 1897).
Italy
Vordiandgrand opora In Italy we still have to deal mainly ,vith opera. In the 1850s Verdi came
more under the influence of the Parisian grand opera style, beginning
w·ith Les V2pres siciliennes (The Sicilian vespers, 1855), on a libretto by
Eugene Scribe, and culminating ,vith Ai'da (1871), written for perfor-
mance at the recently opened opera house in Cairo and uniting political
conflict, romance, and grand opera pageantry.
Verdi's R,quitm After Ai'da, Verdi retired from composing operas for fifteen years. In
1874 he completed his massive Requiem, w·hich used music originally in-
tended for a collaborative w·ork of several composers to commemorate
Rossini but was eventually composed throughout by Verdi and dedicated
to the memory of his friend Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873), the pio-
neering Romantic novelist and political activist. Full of operatic dramatic
effects, the Requiem is more a Romantic expression of the fascination and
a,vesomeness of death than a true sacred ,vork. It seems more at home in
the concert hall than in the church; indeed, its first hvo performances
took place three days apart in the Church of San Marco and the opera
theater of La Scala in Milan.
In 1886 Verdi bo,ved to considerable pressure and reentered the
field of opera with the first ofhvo late works, both on subjects taken from
Vrrdi 's Shakespeare Shakespeare. The librettos ,vere by the younger composer Arrigo Boito
operas (1842-1918), and the collaboration ofVerdi and Boito constitutes one of
the great composer-librettist relationships in the history of opera. Their
first product was Otello, a Romantic interpretation ofShakespeare's trag-
'Tiu. c.ollaboration o/Vtrdi edy Othello and a masterful character study of the protagonist and his
and BoHo co,ut.ihd~s one of
nemesis, Iago. In Otello there is more symphonic scoring for the orches-
the gnat compostr-
librettist rtlatio,ullips in tra and greater musical continuity than in Verdi's earlier works, wh ich
the llistory ofoptra. may reflect the influence of Wagner, but it never overwhelms Verdi's
Italianate emphasis on singing. Boito and Verdi ,vorked together again
on Falstaff (1893), adapted from The Merry Wives of Windsor. In Falstaff
Verdi created an immensely sophisticated Romantic operatic comedy. In
this final ,vork, his second and only successful comedy, he brought back
to the opera stage a complexity of ensemble writing and a sense of comic
tim ing not heard since Mozart.
I N FLUENCES OF T HE NEW GERM AN ST YLE
Liszt and Wagner had plenty of followers, composers w·ho took up, in
their individual ,vays, the stylistic trend to,vard harmonic and structural
Influences of the Ne,,r German Style 383
freedom and faith in the guidance of extramusical content. Since ,,,e have Post-Romanticism
called Brahms, Bruckner, and Franck late Romantic composers, we may
distinguish these composers as post-Romantic. The prefix in th is case
should be understood partly as an indication of a connection to the Ro-
mantic aesthetic and style but also as conveying a sense that, as the end of
the century approached, Romanticism ,,ras beginning to seem passe.
P rogressives in Vienna
Among the post-Romantic group two outstanding examples, exact con-
temporaries, matured in Austria under the shadow of Brahms and
Bruckner. Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) made his mark primarily in the field
of the song. In the German nineteenth-century tradition of h ighly liter- Hugo Wolf
ary musicians, Wolf ,,rorked as a critic, and his sharp pen slashed cruelly
at what he regarded as Brahms's old-fashioned and moldering aesthetic
and style:
A damper was immediately dropped on the joyful mood after the Wolf attacks Brahms'•
fading celebratory tones of the Freischi.itz O verture: Brahms's style asold-fashionod
F-major Symphony came next on the program. As a symphony by
Herr Dr.Johannes Brahms it is, in part, a competent, creditable
,,,ork; as a work of a "second Beethoven" it is completely and
entirely off the mark, because one expects of a second Beethoven
everything that Dr.Johannes Brahms totally lacks: originality....
He (Bra hms) is a competent musician, ,,,ho understands his coun-
terpoint, ,,,ho has sometimes good, occasionally splendid, some-
times bad, here and there already familiar, and often no ideas at
all.... But the man, ,,rho has ,,rritten three symphonies and appar-
ently aspires to folio,,, these up with six more ... comes home, like a
departed ghost, totters up the shaky staircase, ,,rith great difficulty
turns the rusty key, which complainingly opens the cracked door of
his dilapidated residence, and looks ,,rith a vaca nt gaze at the spi-
ders occupied ,,rith their airy construction and the ivy cra,,rling in
the dreary ,,rindow. A stack of yellowing staff paper, a dried-out
ink\,rell, a rusted pen attract his attention. As ifin a dream, he pulls
up the patriarchal easy chair, and ponders and ponders, and cannot
really think of anything. Finally, something dawns on him: he
thinks of the good olden time, ,,rhose teeth have all fallen out, w·ho
has grown shaky and ,,rrinkled and rasps and gabbles like an old
,,roman. He listens to this voice, these sounds for a long time-so
long that he finally believes that these things have taken form
,,rithin him as musical motives. Wearily he takes hold of his pen,
and ,,rhat he ,,rrites dow·n are, truly!, notes, a mass of notes. These
notes ,,,ill no,,, be stuffed into the good old forms, and what comes
out is-a symphony. This will have to serve as a program, since
Herr Brahms neglected to provide one, to aid in the understanding
of his symphony. 3
Wolf approached poetry with intense concentration, and his settings are
the artistic product of his study. He devoted himself to single poets, one at
a time, producing collections of settings on texts by Eduard Morike
(1804-1875),Joseph van Eichendorff (1788-1857), and Goethe, as,vell as
translations of Spanish and Italian texts. He presented his pieces not as
songs by Hugo Wolf but as poems by the ,vriter, set to music by Hugo
Wolf. Wolf's songs do not belong to the folk-based strophic lied tradition,
but seem more like Wagnerian music concentrated into miniature form.
Their harmony is often highly chromatic, the forms are free, and the piano
parts are more expressive of the content than the declamatory vocal lines.
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) represents another progressive approach
Gustav Mahler gro,ving out of Romanticism but extending it in individual ,vays. Mahler
,vrote songs, but unlike Wolf's they genuinely and even determinedly belong
to the folk song-based tradition within the genre. He ,vas deeply interested
in German folk poetry as ,veil as folk musical style. Mahler ,vorked as a con-
ductor, holding prominent positions in Hamburg (1891-1897), at the
Vienna Hofoper (Court opera, 1897-1907), and at the Metropolitan Opera
in Ne,v York (1907-1911), and his compositions consequently manifest
deep roots in his thorough familiarity with both the Enlightenment and the
Romantic concert and operatic repertoire.
Unlike Wolf, Mahler did compose important large-scale ,vorks.
There are several song cycles that effectively combine the lied tradition
.Mahler's vocal- ,vith symphonic scoring. The Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the death of
orchestral works children, 1901-1904) are a tender reflect ion on the ubiquitous Romantic
topic of death, and Das Lied von der Erde (The song of the earth, 1907-
1909) reflects the Romantic inclination to propose a philosophical
,vorldvie,v. Mahler also composed nine symphonies (leaving a tenth un-
finished) on a large scale and ,vith cyclical unity. The symphonies call for
enormous orchestras, but often the instruments are used sparingly in
chamberlike ensembles with clear and sometimes unusual timbre com-
binations. The Second, Third, Fourth, and Eighth symphonies include
solo singers, and the Second, Third, and Eighth also require choruses. As
th is implies, Mahler's symphonies are largely directed by extramusical
content, and this is true even ,vhen there is no actual text sung.
The extramusical content in some of Mahler's symphonies is speci-
fied by the use of melodic material borrowed from Mahler's o,vn songs,
including the orchestral song cycles Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
(Songs of a wayfarer, 1883-1885, rev. 1891-1896) for the Symphony no.
1 in D (1888, rev. 1893-1896), and Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The boy's
magic horn, 1892-1898) for the Second, Third, and Fourth symphonies.
Musical references as Another ,vay Mahler achieved the sense of extramusical content ,vas by
expressive content using styles that have particular associations, rather in the manner of the
eighteenth-century use of specific musical types for their expressive
value; the symphonies contain passages in the styles of the Austrian pop-
ular dance called the Liindler, the march, the chorale, and, of course, the
folksong.
Realism in Late-Nineteent h-Cent ury Opera 385
Like the other post-Romantic composers, Mahler explored the

boundaries of tonal harmony. His early w·orks relied on a harmonic style
that ,vas not especially difficult, but his harmonies became considerably
more chromatic and more dissonant. The limits may be represented by Tonal freedom
his Ninth Symphony, wh ich also challenges the conventions of sym-
phony structure. The piece begins ,vith a movement in D major, follows
,vith a scherzo in C and a finale-like rondo in A minor, and then con-
cludes ,vith an adagio in D-flat major. Such a work, a symphony that
seems to bid fare,vell to the symphony tradition itself, thus justifies par-
ticularly,vell the term post-Romantic.
Rich ard Strauss

The genre of the symphonic poem founded by Liszt was not taken up by
Wolf and Mahler, but it led to the tone poe1ns of the German composer
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) in the 1880s and 1890s. In his tone poems Tone poems
Strauss used a large and colorful orchestra, and his musical style is har-
monically and structurally free and dom inated by content. Strauss
,vorked with hvo d ifferent types of programs. One type presents a story,
as in the popular Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's
merry pranks, 1895), ,vhich naturally adopts a flexible rondolike struc-
ture to follow a series of scenes centered around a single character, or in
Don Quixote (1897), ,vhich, for some,vhat the same purpose, takes the
form of a set of variations. The other type is more abstract and philo-
sophical; it is best represented by Tod und Verkliirung (Death and trans-
figuration, 1889), ,vhich employs a free treatment of sonata form.
Alexander Skryab in
A highly independent and progressive musical thinker ,vho should be
considered a member of the post-Romantic movement ,vas the Russian
pianist Alexander Skryabin (1872-1915). As a pianist, Skryabin naturally Alexand« Skryabin
came under the influence of Chopin and Liszt. A mystical visionary and
something of an eccentric, Skryabin developed original aesthetic and har-
monic theories. He believed in synesthetic experience and proposed mul-
timedia art\vorks that ,vould appeal simultaneously to the various senses;
for his symphonic poem Prometheus (1910) he ,vanted to have a colored
light sho,v coordinated ,vith the music. In the field of harmony he experi-
mented ,vith nontriadic chords, particularly his "mystic chord," built of a
series of perfect, diminished, and augmented fourths (Example 21.2).
R E ALISM IN LATE -N I NET EENTH-CENT U R Y OPE RA
In the first half of the nineteenth century the Romantic movement in

literature had already begun to give ,vay to a more pessimistic vie,v of
the ,vorld. The Romantics had seen the collapse of their grand hopes that
the inequities and injustices of society could be righted. A ne,v group of Literary realism
Example 21.2 Skryabin's ·mystic chord."
authors began to explore the seamier side of life and to portray the de-
structive and violent aspects of the human condition. They took their
topics from the life of the oppressed classes and depicted their charac-
ters as conditioned by situations that led them to unhappy ends they
w'ere pow'eriess to escape. This movement is know'n as realism.
Realism also began to appear in opera in the late part of the century.
In France it was represented by Georges Bizet's (1838-1875) Carmen
Carmen (1873-1874). The opera is based on a story by Prosper Merimee (1803-
1870) about characters from the low'er classes in Seville. The opera's
action is dominated by raw, uncontrolled passion that ends in the violent
murder of the licentious Carmen by the soldier Don Jose. Since Carmen
employed spoken dialogue, it \Vas classified as opera comique and first
staged at the Paris Opera-Cornique in 1875. Its reception was negative;
the story was regarded as too unseemly for the stage-murder had never
been portrayed at the Opera-Comique-and the acting, especially of
Celestine Galli-Marie (1840-1905), who played Carmen, \Vas consid-
ered too realistic and actually immoral. Both the conservative bourgeois
audience that usually attended the Opera-Comique and the high-minded
Wagnerians rejected it. Later that year, but not until after Bizet's death,
Carmen was presented successfully in Vienna, transformed into a grand
opera by the substitution of recitative for the dialogue.
In Italy the realist movement produced an operatic style kno\vn by
Verlsmo the Italian synonym verismo. The verismo composers chose plots that
,vere unrestra inedly emotional and melodramatic, ,vere set among the
lo\verclasses, and culminated in violence. Pietro Mascagni's (1863-1945)
one-act opera Cavalleria rustica11a (1890) deals ,vith Sicilian peasants
and moves rapidly to,vard its climax, a duel bet\veen a husband and his
,vife's lover. Pagliacci (1892) by Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919), often
performed as a companion piece to Cavalleria rusticana, tells of a travel-
ing commedia dell 'arte company, ,vhose leader, Canio, finds that h is ac-
tress wife is unfaithful. In the course of playing a cuckolded husband on
stage, Canio loses control and kills his wife and her lover.
The musical style of verismo opera features violent contrast. The
vocal parts are more declamatory than in other Italian operatic styles
and tend to have s,veeping, wide ranges and high tessituras. Often they
are heavily reinforced by orchestral doubling, ,vhich in turn demands
Exoticisn1 387
considerable vocal pow·er from the singers. The large and colorful or-
chestras and the chromatic harmony add to the emotional intensity.
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), the most prom inent composer of
Italian opera once Verdi's production had concluded, belonged only
partly to the verismo movement. H is La Boheme (1896) is an example of Giacomo P uccini
Romantic realism; its characters are low·er-class Parisian artists w·ho are
unable to escape their fate, but they are Romantically sympathetic fig-
ures, and the ending, although tragic, is not violent. On the other hand,
Tosca (1900), which has a violent ending, takes place in an aristocratic
setting. Puccini's music profits from the style of verismo, w·ith pow·erful
vocal lines that provide one climax after another and with colorful and
attractive orchestration.
EXOTICIS M
As the nineteenth century began to dra\v to a close, the old aesthetics

and styles began to seem effete and worn out. To some, the mainstream
musical language appeared trite, and the New German style, a dead end.
Composers began to look around for ne\v ideas in an attempt to revital-
ize the \vestern European musical tradition. One solution to th is \Vas ex-
oticism, the application of ne\v tonal patterns derived from musical styles
from outside the leading musical nations of Europe.
Composers had long been a\vare of these peripheral musical styles.
The colonial adventures of Europeans from the sixteenth to the nine- Early transnational
teenth centuries had brought them into contact \Vith-and enabled them borrowings
to exploit-the musics ofother cultures. The Austrian eighteenth-century
composers, ,vho ,vere not far from the Turkish Ottoman Empire, had im i-
tated the janglingJanissary bands of Turkish guards. Chopin had adapted
Polish dance rhythms in his mazurkas and polonaises, and Liszt and
Brahms had ,vritten piano music that claimed inspiration from Hungar-
ian Gypsy violin playing. In the course of the century an awareness of
Middle Eastern music had developed as ,veil; the French composer
Felicien David (1810-1876) ,vrote piano pieces, choral-orchestral music,
and operas on non-European topics, ,vith mildly M iddle Eastern turns of
phrase in the melodies but Western harmonies. The New Orleans piano
virtuoso Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) brought to Europe
piano pieces ,vith styles derived from Creole, Caribbean, and South
American visits.
Spain was a favorite region for mainstream composers ,vho sought
exotic material. Bizet's music, including Carmen, provides the best-known Exotic Spain
examples, although he never visited Spain himself and found his models in
published collections of Spanish music. Carmen's famous "Habafiera" is
based on a melody by the Spanish composer Sebastian lradier (1809-1865),
,vhose style was formed in Cuba, and her "Seguidilla'' shows the influence
of flamenco style.
A significant resource for exoticism ,vas the publication of folk songs

of various nations-including Spain, Russia, and Asian countries-
although they were often regularized to make them more intelligible to
The 1889 Paris Exhibition ears accustomed to the mainstream musical tradition. A major event was
the Universal Exh ibition of 1889 in Paris, at w·hich many Europeans first
heard music of the Far East performed live by native musicians. Many
composers set Asian subjects and attempted to imitate Asian musics, not
the least of ,vhom ,vas Puccini in his Japanese Mada ma Butterfly (1904)
and Chinese Turandot (1926). As ,ve shall see, Asian musical languages
took on great significance for the impressionist movement in France.
Exoticism-sometimes referred to as orientalism, although not nec-
essarily applied only to cultures of the East-has come under heavy
criticism more recently. The composers may have been motivated to re-
Thttxolfoisl movtmt.nl
vitalize Western music, and they sincerely admired the foreign musics
sltmmtdfrom lht \Vesltrn
dominat.ion oftht rtsl on which they dre,v. At the same time, the movement stemmed from the
of I-lit world, and tht Western domination of the rest of the ,vorld, and the treatments of other
1-rtalmtnls ofot.htr
cultures' resources can be charged with exploitation and misrepresenta-
culhArts' rtsourus can bt
charged with txploit.atfon tion. In short, in musical as in other ways, values may be reassessed and
and mi.srtprtst.nlation. history understood from ne,v perspectives.
L ATE-NINET EENTH-CENT URY NATIONAL S TYLES
We have already observed instances of nationalism in the regions pe-

ripheral to the powerful European empires in the context of Romant i-
cism. Chopin and Liszt, for example, ,vho were both expatriate natives of
Nationalism eastern Europe, felt strong ties to their homelands. In the later part of the
century such nationalist feeling and its reflection in new· styles in music
grew considerably stronger. There ,vere two reasons for this. The first is
essentially extramusical: composers felt an increasing determination to
achieve independence and national integrity in the regions that had long
been dominated by Western empires, particularly the Austro -Hungarian
Empire. Second, from a purely musical viewpoint, they sought an alter-
native musical language to either the Romantic or the post-Romantic
styles. These motivations came together in the composers of these re-
gions to produce important results.
Bohemia
One of the first regions to generate its o,vn nationalist styles in music was
Bohemia, an area roughly contiguous ,vith ,vhat is now· the Czech
Bedi'ichSmotana Republic. The composer Bedfich Smetana (1824-1884), a patriot and
political expatriate, expressed feeling for h is native land in a travelogue-
like cycle of symphonic poems entitled Ma Vlast (My homeland,
1872-1879), the best kno,vn of,vhich is "Vltava" (The Moldau). Most of
his operas, including Prodana nevesta (The bartered bride, 1863-1870),
have their settings among the Bohemian peasantry. Smetana's music
Late-Nineteent h-Cent ury National Styles 389
does not depart radically from the German symphonic style, but he
included quotations of folk tunes and melodic gestures derived from
Bohemian folk music.
The next generation in Czech nationalism is represented by Antonin
Dvofak (1841-1904). Like Smetana, Dvorak w·as trained in the German AntoninDvofak
style. His career was abetted by the support of Brahms, whose music also
influenced Dvoi'ak's style, and by that ofHanslick. He spent a few years
in the Un ited States, where he held the directorship of the National
Conservatory in New York and became sincerely interested in African
American spirituals and Native American music. The presence of such an
important European composer and his confidence in the future of music
in America gave important support to American musicians. Never-
theless, Dvorak soon succumbed to homesickness and returned to
Prague. Dvoi'ak's music sho\vs the influence of folk songs-pentatonic
and modal melodies are characteristic-and folk-dance rhythms from
both Czech and American sources; he rarely quoted borrowed material
directly, however.
Ru ssia
In Russia the deliberate \vesternization by ,vhich Peter the Great and
Catherine the Great had attempted to strengthen their country's place
among the nations of Europe continued to repress nationalist musical
inclinations into the nineteenth century. After Napoleon's abortive inva-
sion in 1812 (the inspiration for Tchaikovsk'Y's fam iliar concert over-
ture), however, there ,vas a ne\v spirit of Russian cultural self-esteem and
an impulse toward indigenous styles of art. The Russian intelligentsia Directions in Russian
debated the direction their artistic rise should take; one party, the ,vest- nationalism
ernizers, believed in a high art modeled on that of western Europe,

,vhereas the other, the slavophiles, insisted that Russian art should come
from the common folk.
Literature preceded music in the Russian nationalist movement.
Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) pioneered in ,vriting literature in ver- Russian literature
nacular Russian rather than the literary, church-dominated language that
had been used in the past. Nicolai Gogol (1809-1852) wrote novels of
social satire. Feodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) expanded the range of the
novel in the direction of realism. The accomplishments of these literary
figures provided musicians both inspiration and material for their ,vork.
The emancipation from the Western tradition took place gradually.
At the start of the century Russian music \Vas dominated by Italian and
German imported composers and styles. The first important Russian Russian Romantics
Romantic ,vas Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), \vhose operas took up
Russian topics, although their music was still quite Italianate. Alexander
Dargomyzhsky (1813-1869) brought a bit more idiomatic Russian style
to his music; his opera 'Die Stone Guest (1866-1869) is based on Push-
kin's treatment of the Don Giovanni story.
In the later part of the nineteenth century ,ve find a clear distinction
behveen Russian composers' approaches to music. Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky
PyotdlichTchaikovsky (1840-1893) presents a relatively conservative, ,vesternizing aspect.
Although he did take up some patriotic subject matter, much of his
music is absolute or dra,vs its content from the broader ,vestern Euro-
pean cultural heritage, as in the fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet.
Tchaikovsky's style does not diverge much from the Germanic tradition
of tonal harmony and form. He did use folk song quotations and
folk-style melody, however. His music seems particularly Russian in its
deeply serious and intensely introverted, self-examining character
rather than in specific musical traits.
The more strongly independent nationalistic movement in Russian
music came in the work of the group of five composers known as mogu-
Moguchayakuchka chaya kuchka (mighty handful or mighty five). These composers, who
mostly bypassed traditional conservatory train ing, relied heavily on folk
music for their material and style. They were Alexander Borodin
(1833-1887), a chemist; Cesar Cui (1835-1918), a military engineer;
Mily Balakirev (1837-1910), the only professional musician; Modest
Musorgsky (1839-1881), a civil servant; and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
(1844-1908), a naval officer. They concentrated largely on vocal and pro-
gram music with explicitly national content. The topics they chose in-
cluded Russian history, as in Musorgsky's opera Boris Godunov (1872),
based on a Pushkin play; landscape painting, as in Borodin's In Central
Asia (1882); and their national music itself, as in Rimsky-Korsakov's
Russian Easter Overture (1888), based on liturgical melodies of the
Russian Orthodox Church.
In attempting to create their national music, the mighty handful
quoted and imitated the style of folk tunes, wh ich produced, in fact,
quite a variety of music, since the large area they represented incorpo-
Russian musical stylos rated a number of different ethnic musics. For example, the melodies
may be simple and diatonic with an emphasis on skips of fourths and
fifths or sinuous and chromatically ornamented in a more Asian style,
depending on ,vhat regional culture served as the composer's inspira-
tion. The rhythms sometimes depart from regular meters. The music of
Russian folk culture ,vas not the only thing that affected melody and
rhythm; Musorgsky created a special vocal style that deliberately re-
sisted forcing Russian texts into patterns created for and suited to Italian
or German. Instead, he ,vorked out a d istinctive style guided by natural
linguistic declamation in h is o,vn language. The harmonies of much na-
tionalistic Russian music are not particularly advanced in chromaticism
or dissonance, but the harmonic progressions may be nonfunctional, re-
flecting modal qualities in the folk song-based melodic content.
A special character accrued to the scoring of a great deal of the orches-
tral music of the mighty handful because of the work ofRimsky-Korsakov.
Scoring He was an outstanding orchestrator, with a gift for brilliant sonorities of
exoticist coloration. He occasionally assisted his compatriots in their
Late-Nineteent h-Century National Styles 391
orchestrations. When Borodin left his Prince Igor incomplete at his death,
Rimsky-Korsakov finished the work. He also revised and reorchestrated
Musorgsky's opera Boris Godunov to help the music appeal to audiences
w·ho w·ere not prepared for Musorgsk)'1S own rather stark and unsensual
scoring. Rimsky-Korsakov himself recognized, however, that there might
come a time ,vhen the musical public ,vould be ready to hear Musorgsky's
o,vn, less-polished sound and suggested that then his arrangement could
be discarded in favor of his compatriot's orchestration. Recent perfor-
mances have indeed restored Musorgsky's scoring, and some critics and
audiences have found that its unconventional and sometimes even ugly
sound contributes to its effectiveness.
Nat ionalism in Oth er Cou ntries

The nationalist movement affected other regions as well as Bohemia and
Russia. For the most part composers applied certain touches derived
from their folk music to the general style of Romantic harmony. The For the most part
nalionali.sl c-0mponrs
music of the Nonvegian composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), for ex-
applit.d urtain touches
ample, is rooted in his training at the Leipzig Conservatory and the piano dtrivt.d from tlitfr folk
,vorks of Chopin, but his melody employs inflections and figures of music: to tht gtntral style
Norwegian folk music. The nationalistic output of the Spanish composer of Romanl'ic harmony
IsaacAlbeniz (1860-1909) derives its character from the use of striking

Spanish dance rhythms and melodies that capture the declamation pat-
terns of Spanish speech and song. Enrique Granados (1867-1916) pro-
duced an approach that was even more distinctively Spanish than that of
Albeniz, represented by his Danzas espaiiolas (1892-1900) for piano,
,vhich use the rhythmic characteristics of a variety of dances from vari-
ous trad itions ,vithin Spain and sometimes evoke the sound of the guitar.
The best composers of the English-speaking countries discovered a
national musical idiom more slo,vly than those in other countries. This Anglophonr nationalisms
may be partly the result of a certain degree of musical insecurity. Serious
composers may have felt it necessary to sho,v that they could master the
mainstream European style before they could explore ne,v directions.
Certainly audiences, especially in America, believed (and in many in-
stances still seem to believe) that high culture was better expressed in
European than in homegro,vn art. The English composer Ed,vard Elgar
(1857-1934) ,vrote in a primarily German Romantic style, but his music
sometimes manages to sound "English" for reasons that analysts have
difficulty explaining.
A number of American composers traveled to Europe to study in the
late nineteenth century. The general tendency of Americans to look
toward Europe for models of musical strength derived considerable sup-
port from the ,vritings of the Boston critic John Sullivan Dwight
(1813-1893), ,vho, in Dwight's Journal of Music (published from 1852 to
1881), aspired to raise musical standards among his compatriots. Sullivan
set up Beethoven as the ideal, and he commended the music of the
German Romantics, opposing the progressive styles of the New German

The Second Nrw England School. Edw·ard MacDow·ell (1860-1908) w·as trained in both France
School
and Germany and proved that an American could become a fine com-
poser in the European post-Romantic style, but his nationalism comes
out only in some of the titles of his characteristic and programmatic
w·orks and in his Suite no. 2 for orchestra (theJ11dia11Suite), op. 48 (1891-
1895), which employs Native American melodic material. A group of
other American composers who also followed the pattern of study in
Germany have become know·n as the Second New England School (in
contrast to the First New England School, of w·hom Will iam Billings was
the most prominent). John Kno,vles Paine (1839-1906) composed ,vith
considerable craftsmanship in a style that did not go beyond that of the
German Romantic symphon ists Mendelssohn and Schumann. George
Whitefield Chadwick (1854-1931) took the late Romantic style as his
point of departure; passages in his symphonies recall the works of
Brahms. Ho,vever, hints of nationalism do emerge in some of Chadwick's
,vorks: American folk-melodic idioms appear, includ ing those of African
American songs. Horatio Parker ( 1863-1919) also extended the German
late Romantic style, notably in choral music, such as his impressive can-
tata Hora novissima (The final hour, 1893). In addition to their music,
these American composers hold special significance for the history of
music in the United States because they established a h igh level of musi-
cal education for the follo,ving generations. Paine ,vas professor of music
at Harvard, Chad,vick taught at the Ne,v England Conservatory in
Boston, and Parker taught at Yale.
To the men of the Second Ne,v England School must be added the
first important American ,voman composer, Amy Beach (1867-1944).
Amy Brach Beach began as a piano prodigy, and many of her ,vorks feature that in-
strument, including not only solo pieces but also songs and chamber
music. Although trained in America, Beach composed, like the rest of
her Ne,v England compatriots, in essentially the mainstream European
style ,vith occasional use ofAmerican folk melodies (Example 21.3).
THE SITUATION AT T H E END OF T H E N INET E EN TH

C E N TURY
As we consider the state of music at the close of the nineteenth century,

t\vo important things become evident. First, the established style of the
Divergent aesthetic past hundred years seemed to have passed its climax. Composers ,vork-
positions ing ,vithin the style, the Viennese and French late Romantics in particu-
lar, left themselves vulnerable to the critical judgment that they,vere out
of step ,vith the march of progress and living in the past. The Ne,v
German School, in contrast, could be challenged by the accusation that
in carrying the musical language to its expressive limit-that is, by
stressing content, breaking do,vn the stable tonal system, and rejecting
tonally and thematically structured form, they left music incoherent.
Example 21.3 In her p iano pieces titled Eskimos: Four Characteristic Pieces, op. 64
(1907), Amy Beach incorporated melodies transcribed from Inuit songs. No. 3,
"Exiles," quotes the Native American song ·rhe Fox and the Woman; p lacing it
within a generally European musical setting. Such a piece can be understood as
an example of either nationalism or exoticism, depending on one's perspective.
(a) op. 64, no. 3, mm. 28- 31; and (bl the song ''The Fox and the Woman" as t ran-
scribed by ethnomusicologist Franz Boas in the 1880s.
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The other major characteristic of the late nineteenth century in West-

ern music is the division of musical styles. In the classic phase of the late
eighteenth century, there had been a considerable degree of conventional-
ism in musical style. In the Romanticism of the first half of the nineteenth Diversity ofstylos
century, composers had produced clearly individual types of expression
w·ithout threatening the assumption of a common musical language. By
the end of the century, how·ever, the long-standing musical lingua franca
w·as threatened by the simultaneous existence of several contrasting aes-
thetics and styles: the relatively conservative late Romantic, including sev-
eral regional variants; the progressive post-Romantic; and the diverse
nationalist approaches. In effect, the Western musical w·orld had become
both larger and more complex.
As we shall see, the hand\vriting was on the wall for the twentieth
century. Radical changes were due, and the world would not soon again,
if ever, be as clear and simple as it had once seemed.
The music of the late nineteenth century is most commonly dealt \Vith in
general studies of the Romantic movement (see the Suggestions for Fur-
ther Reading in Chapter 19) or by individual composers and ,vorks. The
following may also be suggested: Jim Samson, ed., The Late Romantic
Era: From the Mid-Nineteenth Century ta World War I (Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice Hall, 1991), a compilation of essays oriented toward the
social history of music; Bojan Bujic, Music in European Thought, 1851-
1912 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988), a collection
of aesthetic ,vritings; and Carl Dahlhaus, Realism in Nineteenth-Century
Music, trans. Mary Whittall (Cambridge, UK.: Cambridge University

Press, 1985).
Wagner's w·ritings can be found in Richard Wagner's Prose Works,
trans. William Ashton Ellis (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner,
1892-1912; several reprint editions are available). For Wagner's biogra-
phy see Ernest Ne\vman, The Life of Richard Wagner, 4 vols. (London:
Cassell, 1933-1947), or his one-volume Wagner as Man and Artist (Ne\v
York: Vintage, 1960); and Curt von Westernhagen, Wagner: A Biography,
trans. Mary Whittall (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press,
1978). One of the best studies of the music dramas is Carl Dahlhaus,
Richard Wagner's Musical Dramas, trans. Mary Whittall (Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press, 1979).
On the late nineteenth century in France, the older study by Martin
Cooper, French Music fro1n the Death of Berlioz to the Death of Faure
(London: Oxford University Press, 1951), is helpful, as is Elaine Brody,
Paris: The Musical Kaleidoscope, 1870-1925 (Ne\v York: Braziller, 1987).
For French opera in particular see Steven Huebner, French Opera at the
Fin de Siecle: Wagneris1n, Nationalis1n, and Style (Oxford: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 1999).
Histories of music in Russia include Gerald Abraham, On Russian
Music (London: Reeves, 1939), and Gerald R. Seaman, History of Rus-
sian Music (Ne\v York: Praeger, 1967). For an outstanding consideration
of the development of Russian musical thinking and id ioms see Richard
Taruskin, Defining Russia Musically: Historical and Herineneutical Essays
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997), which also continues
to pursue these issues into the twentieth century.
A selection of representative studies on other major late-n ineteenth-
century European composers follows:
Albeniz: Walter Aaron Clark, Isaac Albiniz: Portrait of a Ro1nantic

(Oxford: Oxford Un iversity Press, 1999).
Bizet: Winton Dean, Georges Bizet: His Life and Work, 3rd ed.
(London: Dent, 1975); Remy Stricker, Georges Bizet,
1838-1875 (Paris: Gallimard, 1999).
Brahms: Karl Geiringer, Brah1ns: His Life and Work, 3rd ed. (New
York: Da Capo, 1982);JanS\vafford,Johannes Brahms: A
Biography (Ne\v York: Knopf, 1997).
Bruckner: Robert Simpson, The Essence of Bruckner, 3rd ed.
(London: Gollancz, 1992); Derek Watson, Bruckner, 2nd ed.
(Oxford: Oxford Un iversity Press, 1996).
Dvofak: John Clapham, Anton{n Dvorak, rev. ed. (Ne\v York:
Norton, 1979).
Elgar: Jerrold Northrop Moore, Edward Elgar: A Creative Life
(Oxford: Oxford Un iversity Press, 1984); M ichael Kennedy,
Portrait of Elgar, 3rd ed. (London: Oxford University Press,
1987).
Franck: Laurence Davies, Cesar Franck and His Circle (Boston:

Houghton M ifflin, 1970); Laurence Davies, Franck (London:
Dent, 1973).
Liszt: Alan Walker, Franz Liszt, vol. 2, The Weimar Years, 1848-1861,
and vol. 3, The Final Years, 1861-1886 (New· York: Knopf, 1989,
1996), complete Walker's multipart biography.
Mahler: Donald M itchell, Gustav Mahler, a m ultivolume st udy
including The Early Years, rev. P. Banks and D. Matthews
(Berkeley: Un iversity of California Press, 1980); The Wunder-
horn Years (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976); and
Songs and Sy1nphonies of Life and Death (Berkeley: Un iversity of
California Press, 1986), a magisterial w·ork. For more compact
biographies see Michael Kennedy, Mahler, 2nd ed. (London:
Dent, 1990), and Peter Fra nkli n, The Life of Mahler
Musorgsky: M. D. Calvocoressi, Mussorgsky, rev. ed. Gerald
Abraham (London: Dent, 1974); Richard Taruski n, Musorgsky:
Eight Essays and an Epilogue (Princeton, NJ: Princeto n
Puccini: Mosco Carner, Puccini: A Critical Biography, 3rd ed.
(Londo n: Duck,vorth, 1992); Mary Jane Phillips-Matz,
Puccini: A Biography (Bosto n: Northeastern University Press,
2002).
Rimsky-Ko rsakov: Gerald Abraham, Ri111sky-Korsakov: A Short
Biography (London: D uck,vorth, 1945).
Skryabin: Hugh Macdo nald, Skryabin (London: Oxford University
Press, 1978); Faubion Bo,vers, Scriabin: A Biography, 2nd rev.
ed. (Ne,v York: Dover, 1996).
Smetana: Brian Large, S111etana (London: Duck,vorth, 1970); John
Clapham, Smetana (London: Dent, 1972).
Strauss: Norman Del Mar, Richard Strauss: A Critical Com111entary
on His Life and Work (Philadelphia: Chilton, 1962-1972);
M ichael Kennedy, Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, Enig111a
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999); Bryan
Gilliam, The Life of Richard Strauss (Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press, 1999).
Tchaikovsk'-y: David Bro,vn, Tchaikovsky, a multivolume biography,
including The Early Years, 1840-1874 (Ne,v York: Norton,
1978), The Crisis Years, 1874-1878 (Ne,v York: Norton, 1982),
and TI1e Years of Wandering, 1878-1885 (London: Gollancz,
1986).
Wolf: Frank Walker, Hugo Wolf: A Biography, 2nd ed. (London:
Dent, 1968).
The main st udies of the late-nineteenth-century U.S. composers are
Alan H . Levy, Edward MacDowell: A11 American Master (Lanham,
MD : Scarecrow, 1998); John C. Schmidt, The Life and Works of John

Knowles Paine (Ann Arbor, Ml: UMI Research Press, 1980); Victor Fell
Yellin, Chadwick, Yankee Composer (Washing ton, DC: Smithsonian
Institution Press, 1990) and Bill F. Faucett, George Whitefield Chadwick:
The Life and Music of the Pride of New England (Bosto n: Northeastern
University Press, 2012); William K. Kearns, Horatio Parker, 1863-1919:
His Life, Music, and Ideas (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow·, 1990); and
Adrienne Fried Block, Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian: The Life and
Work of an American Co1nposer, 1867-1944 (Nev; York: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 1998).
I. Franz Liszt [and Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein], "Berlioz und seine Har-

oldsymphonie," Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik 43 ( 1855): 25, 4 4, SO, 52, 78. [Transla-
tion by DS]
2. Richard Wagner, "Das Kunst,verk der Zukunft," in Gesammelte Scl,riften 1md
Dichtungen, vol. 3 (Leipzig: Fritzsch, 1872), 55, 74, 77, 114-15, 178. [Translation
byDS]
3. Hugo Wolf, "Konzerte der Meininger Symphonie-Kapelle," in Hugo Wolf's
musikalischeKritiken, ed. Richard Batkaand Heinrich Werner (Leipzig: Breitkopf
& Hartel, 1911), 109-11. [Translat ion by DS]
22
The Arrival ofthe

Twentieth Century
As the tiventieth century arrived, musicians sought neiv ideas and styles
to respond to and participated in cultural and artistic movements
around them . Especially in France an interest in sensualisn1 gave rise to
the impressionist moven1ent. Both challenging late Romantic overripe-
ness and bringing neiv material to music, some composers exploited
dissonance, percussive sound, and pounding rhythms in primitivism.
Expressionists worked 111ith atonality to express extreme psychological
tensions. ln the United States Charles Ives explored innovative,
idiosyncratic devices, representing the American spirit of self reliance.
A Turning Point in Artistic Ideas Pri1nitivisn1

and Styles
Expressionisni
l,npressionisrn ARNO LD SCHOENBERG
CLAUDE DEBUSSY ALBAN BERG
DIFFUSION AND LIM I TS OF ADVANTAGES AND PROBLE1'1S IN
I1'1PRESSION I SJ\l ATONAL EXPRESSIONISM
The Aesthetics of Ugliness An Anierican Original: Charles Ives
397
398 CHAPTER 22: The Arrival of the Twentieth Century
A TUR N IN G POINT I N ARTIS TIC IDEAS A N D S T YL ES
As we have seen, the Ne\v German School, particularly Wagner, had a

tremendous impact on the history of music at the end of the nineteenth
Responses to Wagnor century, often referred to as the Jin-de siecle. In fact Wagner influenced
artists not only in music but also in literature and painting. Many artistic
thinkers regarded the triumph of content over structural convention, the
integration of the arts, and the application of artistic means for the ex-
pression of political and philosophical ideas as the ,vave of the future.
"Wagnerism" became a general aesthetic movement.
Others, ho\vever, vie,ved the Wagnerian movement as completely
misguided. To them the expression of philosophy and sociopolitical
theory seemed a betrayal of the proper role of art, \vhich they believed
ought to be the creation of beauty and the expression of personal expe-
rience and emotion. They also believed that the abandonment of gov-
erning principles of design threatened to make \vorks of art incoherent.
To these crit ics the Wagnerian aesthetic and stylistic approach ,vere
justified (if at all) only in the personal expression of Wagner himself or,
at its best, in Germanic post-Romanticism. These critics faced the task
of discovering ne\v principles and styles that \vould challenge post-
Romanticism ,vithout reverting to the conservatism of the late Romantics.
I M P RESSION IS M
As might be expected, among the French, ,vhose national predilection

had long run in the vein of elegance and grace, many writers and artists
found the weighty pretensions of the New' German style unsympathetic.
At the same time, ho,vever, they could not fall back on the conventions of
the French "classicizing'' tradition. As the century came to its close, they
developed characteristically French approaches to painting, literature,
Sensualism and eventually music. These approaches offered alternatives that ab-
sorbed what seemed useful in Wagnerism, such as the sensuality of the
sound and the free interplay among senses and symbols; expressed a
French viewpoint with integrity; and ,vere genuinely ne\v. These move-
ments include itnpressionism and sy1nbolism.
The term impressionism ,vas derived from a critical revie,v of an
1874 exhibition of painting that included a ,vork by Claude Monet
lmpr<ssionisminpainting (1840-1926) titled Impression: Sunrise, 1872. The epithet was not meant
in a complimentary sense; the critic ,vho coined it intended to convey his
objection to the style's lack ofclarity. "Impressionist" thus joins the group
of style designations, such as Gothic and Baroque, that were originally
intended as derogatory but that ,ve now use objectively by convention.
The impressionist artist's intention ,vas indeed to be vague. Impres-
sionist pa intings \Vere supposed to capture precisely the immediate,
sensual impression of a moment's glance at a scene rather than to repro-
duce the scene's details. The painter Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
Impressionisn1 399
stressed the importance of sensation in the letters he w·rote to his son,

also an artist:
I do not ,vish to make a brush stroke ,vhen I do not feel complete Pissano strrsses the
mastery of my subject, there's the rule-that is the great difficulty; crucial position of
sensation in artistic
,vithout sensation, nothing, absolutely nothing valid.... creativity
One should not seek in the studio what cannot be found there,
even as outdoors one should strive only for direct and spontaneous
sensations....
The impressionists have the true position, they stand for a
robust art based on sensation, and that is an honest stand....
I also thought of Cezanne's sho,v in which there ,vere exquisite
things, still lifes of irreproachable perfection, others much worked
on and yet unfinished, of even greater beauty, landscapes, nudes
and heads that are unfinished but yet grandiose, and so painted, so
supple .... Why? Sensation is there! 1
As a consequence, these painters chose as their favorite subjects scenes with Impressionist subjects
masses of small objects, objects in motion, water scenes, special tricks of
light, and the sort of sensory perception that one has in dreams rather than
full consciousness. Monet studied light assiduously, as demonstrated by his
famous series ofpaintings of haystacks and of the facade of the Cathedral of
Rauen under the changing types of light during the day (Plate 19).
Impressionists did not dra,v forms and fill in color but used dabs of
paint; the more closely the observer looks, the less clear the picture
seems. To get the effect of light emanating from the canvas the impres- Painters' techniques
sionists sometimes began by painting the surface a brilliant ,vhite, so

that any place not covered by color is unusually bright. The colors tend to
be pastels and primary colors rather than carefully blended shades. This
n,e imprruionisf.s
technique makes analytical examination or the attempt to discover rtjtclcd bot.I, ntoclassicisl
depth of feeling in impressionist works fruitless. The vie,ver finds noth- fotdlt.ctualism and
Roma nlic tmotfonalism
ing there but purely sensual experience. In effect, the impressionists re-
and tspoustd a new
jected both neoclassicist intellectualism and Romantic emotionalism art.ist.ic crittrion, stnsua I
and espoused a new artistic criterion, sensual pleasure. pltasurt.
In literature a contemporary movement ,vith impressionism ,vas
symbolism. The symbolist poets created a style in which, on the one hand, Symbolism
verbal images could be combined for their o,vn sake, ,vithout significance
beyond delight in the imagery itself, and on the other hand, ,vords could
be used for their abstract, musical sounds rather than for their denotative
meanings. The symbolist poet Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) summarized
the aesthetic in the poem "Art poetique,'' much of which might equally
serve as a description of impressionist painting:
You must have music first of all, Verlaine's "Art poHique'"
and for that a rhythm uneven is best, emphasiz.rs the rtlianc.r of
symbolist poetry on the
vague in the air and soluble, musical sounds of words
,vith nothing heavy and nothing at rest.
You must not scorn to do some \\l'rong

in choosing the words to fill your lines:
nothing more dear than the tipsy song
'"here the Undefined and Exact combine.
Never the Color, always the Shade,

always the nuance is supreme!
Only by shade is the trothal made
bet\\l'een flute and horn, of dream \\l'ith dream!
Let there be music, again and forever!

Let your verse be a quick·\\l'inged thing and light-
such as one feels '"hen a new love's fervor
to other skies \\l'ings the soul in fl ight.
Happy-go-lucky, let your lines
disheveled run where the da,\l'n '"inds lure,
smelling of '"ild m int, smelling of thyme ...
and all the rest is literature. 2
Verlaine was, of course, using the word literature as a term of derision,
since it suggests complex structure and profound emotional expression.
Like Pissarro, he espouses a robust style, stressing the sonorous value of
\\l'Ords and delight in the suggestion of sensory images \\l'ith no underly-
ing deeper meaning.
C laude Debussy
The sensualism of the impressionists and symbolists inevitably finds
manifestations in music as well. The leading figure in musical impres-
sionism was Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Debussy \\l'as an original
genius; in his years at the Paris Conservatory he \\l'aS notorious for his
lack of discipline, but he managed nevertheless to win the prestigious
Prix de Rome in 1883. Like many young musicians of his generation he
\\l'aS deeply impressed by Wagner's music, but he eventually turned a\\l'ay
from Wagner, appropriating Wagnerian influence in sublimated rather
than explicit ways. He frequented gatherings of symbolist poets and im-
pressionist painters, and he rejected Romantic emotional intensity and
the New German School's inclination to,\l'ard ponderous philosophizing
in music. At the same time, he did not espouse a conservative return to
the dominance of intellectual, structural values. Debussy once tried to
disassociate himself from impressionism and symbolism, but this seems
to have been because he understood the terms as derogatory labels by
'"hich critics dismissed the ne," styles out of hand. Like the ideals of his
contemporaries in the other arts, ho,\l'ever, Debussy's ideal for music was
based on sensual appeal:
In1pressionisn1 401
Music should humbly seek to give pleasure . . .. It is essential that Debussy rspouses
beauty be sensual, that it give us immediate enjoyment, that it sensualism in music
impose itself or insinuate itself into us w·ithout our making any

effort to grasp it!
Impressionist music applies to the elements of musical style a new· set of
priorities based on this intention. The elements that listeners can grasp
most immediately-timbres and harmonic colors-receive the greatest
emphasis. Less important are the elements that ,ve understand only
,vhen tones unfold over time and when ,ve compare sounds ,vith each
other, such as rhythm, melody, and harmonic function. Musical form has
least importance, because it requires attentive listening and mental syn-
thesis over the length of an entire structure.
The importance of timbre for musical impressionism led to advances
in instrumentation. Composers explored ne,v effects and ne,v combina-
tions. The use of muted orchestral strings divided in many parts, as in the Experiments with timbre
movement titled "Nuages" (Clouds) from Debussy's three orchestral
Nocturnes (1897-1899), gives a characteristically impressionistic sound,
for example. The influence of exoticism is evident in the Oriental-sounding
un ison flute and harp passage from the middle of the same movement.
The th ird of the Nocturnes, "Sirenes" (Sirens), employs w·ordless voices as
members of the orchestra.
The treatment of rhythm and melody in impressionism involves
particular problems. The music aims to avoid involving the listener's
analytical faculties. One result is melodic fragments that do not resolve Rhythm and melody
themselves into singable lines; another is the creation of long and mean-
dering lines that do not manifest any clear sense of direction. Rhythms
often seem vag ue and unmetered, as in the improvisationlike flute solo
that opens the Prelude al'apres-1nidi d'un jaune (Prelude to the afternoon
of a faun, 1894). This partly reflects the antianalytical tendency of impres-
sionism, but it also stems from a new· consciousness of the fluid rhythm ic
character of French poetry, which does not use syllable stress or meter in
the manner of English or German verse. There are also, however, exam-
ples of rhythms that are physically driving and hypnotic like those of the
middle movement, "Fetes" (Festivals), of the orchestral Nocturnes.
The impressionists particularly avoided the creation of emotional
tension by harmony, ,vhich had, of course, served as the main source of
both expressiveness and structure in eighteenth/ nineteenth-century
musical style. They accomplished this by avoid ing traditional harmon ic Harmony
function. Particularly effective ,vere those harmon ies whose function
,vas ambiguous, such as diminished-seventh chords and augmented
triads. A typical procedure is the "stream ing'' of chords in parallel
motion, particularly seventh and ninth chords. This produces an effect
more like that of parallel organum-a kind of enriched monophonic
line-rather than true counterpoint or harmonic motion. Also helpful
in reducing the sense of harmonic tension and directedness were scales

w·ithout half steps (i.e., ,vithout the effect of leading tones), such as the
,vhole-tone scale or the pentatonic scale; the latter also reflects the strong
effect of exoticism on impressionism.
Impressionist music inherited from the Romantic movement a con-
Subjects siderable reliance on literary texts or extramusical subject matter. Debussy
shared an interest in nature with the Romantic composers on the one
hand and the impressionist painters on the other. The cloud impressions
in "Nuages" from the orchestral Nocturnes and the impressions of the
sea in the programmatic symphony La Mer (1903-1905) provide hvo
excellent examples. Debussy's character pieces for the piano often rely
on visual images-among the most familiar are the preludes "Voiles"
(Veils, or Sails), "Des pas sur la neige" (Some steps in the snow), and "La
cathedrale engloutie" (The sunken cathedral; Example 22.1) from 1909
Example 22.1 The first measures of Debussy's "la cathedrale eng loutie" from
book 1 of his Preludes for Piano (transcribed here directly from the composer's
manuscript) illustrate the impressionist explorat ion of sensuous sonority.
Harmony serves to create color rather than for function, and texture consists
merely of wandering melody set against sustained tones. The rising mot ive at the
opening employs the pentatonic pitch collection D- E- G-A- B. The overall effect
suggest s cathedral bells.
Doux et fluide
. ·.. -
IJ"'• .
A·
~ ... ~-~ ,- ~
- ~
I= ~ ijd- ~· ~J
. ~~
.., 1
.-L
. - .1- ' - ··
-&.
IX·
~ -
- - - v.--:.• - - "'o-i! - . •• -
'O'·
. -oJ #d
-1 -
• ~~ Jo )?J
M ~- 1
.., - #~ #.Jo J_o.
ll·
.
... pp
• ' '
-
.., - J;_r_.i #< ~
->-7 -e. ~~ -
0
---
..,.:
~
':..,_!.:" ~ >-
The Aesthetics of Ugliness 403
and 1910-but he did not hesitate to use other sensory suggestions in

"Les sons et les parfums tournent dans !'air du soir" (Sounds and scents
revolve in the evening air).
He also employed the poetry of the symbolist poets. The Prelude a Symbolist poetry as
l'apres-,nidi d'un jaune is based on a poem by Stephane Mallarme musical topics
(1842-1898), w·hose Tuesday-evening salon soirees Debussy attended.
The great opera Pellias et Melisande (1902) takes its plot from a story by
Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949). Here the influence ofWagner affects
the opera's legendary topic, continuous flow, declamatory vocal style,
and use of recurring motives; the orchestral timbres, the colorful and
tonally free-flowing harmonic idiom, and, most important, its sensuality
belong to symbolism. Debussy also composed fine songs using texts by
several of the leading symbolist poets, particularly Verlaine.
Diffusion and Lim its of Impressionism

The impressionist movement did not last long. Besides Debussy, it is Otherimpressionist
commonly identified in the early ,.,,orks of h is fello,.,, French composer composeu
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) and can be heard in ,.,,orks of several of their
compatriots, including Lili Boulanger (1893-1918), the first ,.,roman
composer to ,.,,in the Prix de Rome. The Germans mostly did not seem
inclined to,.,rard such sensualism, but examples appear in other nations,
as in some works of the English composer Frederick Delius (1862-1934),
the American Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920), and the Italian
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936). Passages of impressionist style also
appear in many other t\.,rentieth-century pieces that cannot be classified
as belonging to the impressionist movement itself. Even Debussy pro-
gressed in h is o,.,rn style beyond sensualism and toward a ne,.,, degree of
abstraction, most notably in his ballet Jeux (1912) and in his late songs
and chamber music.
THE AESTHETICS OF UGLI NESS
By the close of the nineteenth century many Europeans had begun to

feel a sense of frustration and pessimism. The brave dreams of the En- Fin-dc-sicdepessimism
lightenment and the political revolutions of Romanticism had not pro-
vided the utopia they had seemed to promise. The opening of eyes that
came ,.,,ith Enlightenment scientific empiricism had revealed unpleasant
truths about the human condition without solving many still intractable
problems. The Industrial Revolution had offered more creature comforts
than ever before, but industrialization had also proved to be a dehuman-
izing force. Social, political, or economic changes in the external circum-
stances of life ,.,,ere clearly unable by themselves to create universal
happiness and fulfillment.
Indeed, the realist aesthetic appeared to depend on the recognition
that consciousness itself was grounded in tension and frustration. As
early as 1864 Dostoyevsky, in Notes from Underground, had his protago-

nist say,
Thr narrator of Notes I know', for instance, that suffering is inadmissible in light stage
from Underground
plays. In the utopian crystal palace, it'd be inconceivable, for
expresses thr dark mood
of the latr ninetrrnth suffering means doubt and denial, and what kind of crystal palace
crntury W'Ould that be, if people had doubts about it? Nevertheless, I'm cer-
tain that man ,viii never give up true suffering, that is, chaos and
destruction. Why, suffering is the only cause of consciousness.
And, although I declared at the beginning that consciousness is
man's greatest plague, I kno,v that he likes it and won't exchange it
for any advantage.... W ith consciousness . .. we can at least lacer-
ate ourselves from time to time, ,vhich does liven us up a bit. It may
go against progress, but it's better than nothing.4
At the turn of the century Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) revealed the
extent of the deeply rooted but repressed psychological baggage ,ve carry,
,vhich no external change in circumstance can obliterate. Freud sa,v the
roots of frustration and unhappiness as inherent in the human mind.
In vie,v of such ideas, it is not surprising that artists began toques-
tion the assumption that art should purvey beauty and pleasure. From
the Freudian point of vie,v classicist order and control, romantic feeling
and joy in emotional expression, and the sensual appeal of impression-
ism all decline into mere repression of fundamental human conflicts and
tensions. A new aesthetic stance, in ,vhich the venting of conflict and
tension ,vould be the central aim of art, naturally became appropriate; it
offered perhaps a kind of artistic psychotherapeutic catharsis or at least a
representation of the bitter truth. Dostoyevsky's underground man
,vrites,
I derived pleasure precisely from the blinding realization of my

degradation; because I felt I ,vas already up against the wall; that it
,vas horrible but couldn't be other,vise; that there ,vas no way out
and it was no longer possible to make myself into a different person;
that even if there ,vere still enough time and faith left to become
different, I wouldn't want to change myself; and that, even ifl
,vanted to, I still ,vouldn't have done anything about it, because,
actually, there ,vasn't anything to change into. Finally, the most im-
portant point is that there's a set of fundamental Ia,vs to ,vhich
heightened consciousness is subject so that there's no changing
oneself or, for that matter, doing anything about it. Thus, as a result
of heightened consciousness, a man feels that it's all right if he's bad
as long as he knows it. s
Clearly there ,vere artists ,vho found neither the richness of late
Romanticism-as manifested, for example, in the music of Brahms or
Verdi-nor the indulgence of the senses represented by the impression-
ists a satisfactory aesthetic approach for the new century. They sought
Prin1itivism 405
new· principles and styles suited to expressing the new·ly recogn ized,
deeply rooted ugliness in the human psyche and in human behavior.
Th is new· approach is exemplified in the operatic \\l'Ork of Richard
Strauss in the first years of the twentieth century. Strauss explored the Psychosis in Sa/om<
darker side of the human psyche in his opera Salo,ne (1905), based on
Oscar W ilde's play of the same name. It tells the revolting but riveting
story of Salome, the stepdaughter of the biblical King Herod. Herod is
consumed by passion for Salome and promises her any gift that she
desires. She, in turn, lusts for the imprisoned John the Baptist, and when
she is unable to seduce him she demands his head on a platter. She trium-
phantly kisses the gory head and is in turn killed at the order of the hor-
rified king. Strauss's music extends the style of the Wagnerian music
drama, expressing psychosis with extreme dissonance and w·ide-leaping
melodic lines.
P RIMITIVISM
One important source of inspiration for artists '"ho wished to explore

the deep-rooted and unrefined aspects of the mind w·as the artistic styles
and techniques of non-Western cultures. To Westerners ,vho felt their Non.\Vestern cultures
own culture had developed to the point of decadence and had subli- asidral
mated the deepest and truest elements of the psyche, some other cul-
tures seemed to offer access to the ra,v truth. Thus there arose a movement
known as pri1nitivis1n1 ,vhich adopted stylistic idioms that imitated pre-
sumably primitive art in an attempt to approach the expression of less
refined and therefore more genuine feelings.
In the visual arts the primitivist tendency is represented by the
\\l'Orks of the French painter Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), '"ho eventually
abandoned his homeland for the uninhibited island environment of
Tahiti. He developed a style that abandoned perspective and realism and Primitivism in painting
employed blocklike forms in simple colors. The religious icons of South
Pacific culture appear in a number of his \\l'Orks as unrealistic, sculptural
figures with a po,verful, brooding presence (Plate 20) . The Spanish artist
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), who lived in Paris and visited the ethnologi-
cal museum there, became fascinated by the directness of style and the
expressive po,ver of African masks, imitating them in such paintings as
Les Demoiselles d'.Avignon of 1907.
As ,ve have seen in the music of the exoticist or nationalist move-
ments, styles based on those of non-Western musics could offer escape
from the overripe luxuriance of the late Romantic and post-Romantic Non-Wtsltrn musics
could provide ways to
styles. In certain forms, as musical primitivists realized at the opening of
txpnss I-lit und~rlying
the t\ventieth century, such musics could also provide \\l'ays to express powtrful impulsts in lht
the underlying po,\l'erful impulses in the human character. human characltr.
In 1911 the Hungarian pianist and composer Bela Bart6k (1881-
1945) made an important experiment in primitivism with his "Allegro Bartok's "Allegro
barbaro" for piano solo. In this work the piano was frankly treated as a barbaro ..
Example 22.2 Bart6k's "Allegro barbaro" employs pounding rhythms

and narrow-range melodies in t he service of primitivism.
Tempo giusto
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percussion instrument. The irregular rhythms, narro\v-range melodic

gestures, and d issonant harmonies \Vere derived from Hungarian peas-
ant music (Example 22.2).
The most notorious w·o rk of the short-lived primitivist movement
w·as Igor Stravinsky's (1882-1971) score for the ballet Le sacre du prin-
temps (The rite of spring), \vh ich appeared in 1913. Stravinsky had stud-
ied composition \Vith Rimsk")'-Korsakov and \Vas discovered by the
influential ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev (1872-1929), who commis-
sioned the young composer to \Vrite music for h is dance company, the
Ballets Russes in Paris. Diaghilev took advantage of the Parisian taste for
the exotic, and the first ofStravinsk")''s Russian ballets was I.:oiseau de feu
(The firebird, 1910), \vh ich extended exoticism in the manner of
Rimsk")'-Korsakov. The second, Petrushka (1911), w·as more oriented
T11t Rit,ofSpring toward the use of folk material and rather advanced harmonically. With
Le sacre du printemps Stravinsky achieved a decisively new style that im-
mediately brought him w·orld fame, or at least notoriety. The ballet con-
cerns imagined rites with ,vhich prehistoric Russian tribes greeted the
arrival of spring, culminating in a human sacrifice. This brutal action
,vas choreographed by the progressive Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky
(1890-1950). The Parisian ballet audience, accustomed to late Romantic
Expressionistn 407
and brilliant exotic styles, was shocked by the presentation of such sheer
ugliness on the stage, and a riot broke out at the first performance. There
w·as so much noise in the hall that the dancers could not hear the orches-
tra. The occasion became one of the best know·n performance events in
the history of music. (In fairness, however, at successive performances
the audiences behaved more decorously.)
Stravinsky's music calls for a very large and colorful orchestra. The MusicaldevicesintheRit<
complex rhythms that he devised vary from the free, unmetered style of
the opening to the heavily marked syncopation of the movement titled
"Dance of the Adolescents." The melod ic material often gives the impres-
sion of w·andering improvisation, and at other times it presents obsessive
fragments of folklike tunes. The harmony is extremely dissonant, often
w·ith chords that superimpose the pitches of more than one triad at a
time to create polychords. There is a certain centripetal tonal force pro-
duced by the use of pedal points and ostinatos; nevertheless, some ana-
lysts find the music parts decisively from tonality. It is hardly surprising
that to some listeners Le sacre du pri11te1nps seemed to be an attempt to
destroy music entirely. Yet it also became a landmark masterpiece of
t\ventieth-century music, signaling the emancipation of modern music
both from traditional stylistic techniques and from the aesthetic presup-
position that music must be "beautiful."
EXPRESSIONIS M
The aesthetics of ugliness produced the artistic movement that came to

be kno\vn as expressionism. The term is, of course, derived by opposition
to impressionism, since expressionist artists relied not on sensual appeal
but on a deliberate attack on the senses. In the history of art it was only a
Exprtssionism js a
step from the extreme emotional intensity of the late nineteenth century
logical outgrowt.11 of
to the region ,vhere emotion gives way to psychosis. Thus expressionism Romantic tmol'ionalism
is a logical outgrowth of Romantic emotionalism and realism. andrtalism.
In terms of artistic technique, expressionists rejected the devices
that had brought rational sense to artworks. In Notes from Underground,
Dostoyevsky described the technique for literature:
I don't ,vant to let considerations of literary composition get in my Dostoevsky's narrator in
,vay. I ,von't bother ,vith planning and arranging; I'll note down Nolts from Underground
describes stream.of.
,vhatever comes to my mind.6 consciousne-ss technique
This creation of the sense that in a literary ,vork the mind is allo,ved to
leap randomly from one thought to another without rational coherence
is termed strea1n of consciousness. It produces a distortion of reality, in
,vhich chronological time and logical progressions of ideas are warped or
t\visted. This technique is familiar from the works ofJamesJoyce (1882-
1941) and William Faulkner (1897-1962).
Painters made use not only of distortions of form but also of clashing
colors that attacked the vie\ver'svisual sense. Such paintings ,vere produced
by the French group called "Jes fauves" (the wild animals), led by Henri
Expressionist painting Matisse (1869-1954). In Germany the Munich-based group called "Der
blaue Reiter" (the blue rider), headed by Vassily Kandinsky (1866-1944),
departed from the representation of physical reality altogether. Kandin-
sky's nonrepresentational canvases ,vere often given titles derived from
music, suggesting both their abstractness and their extreme emotional
po,ver (Plate 21).
Arnold Schoen berg

Musical expressionism built on the foundations of the intense emotion-
alism of the Ne,v German School and of realist/ verismo opera. It cen-
tered in Vienna, ,vhich ,vas home to a group of expressionist composers
,vho have become kno,vn as the Second Viennese School, in contrast to
the Viennese triumvirate of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven during the
The Second Enlightenment. The leader of the group ,vas Arnold Schoenberg (1874-
Viennese School 1951). Schoenberg had begun his career in the post-Romantic style, ex-
ploiting extreme chromaticism for strong emotional effect, but this d id
not hinder his great adm iration for the craftsmanlymotivic-development
technique of Brahms. Schoenberg also became associated ,vith Kand in-
sky and ,vas a painter himself in the expressionist style (Plate 22). In
,vriting about Mahler's music, he once described ho,v an arhvork should
function, in a manner that clearly suggests the extreme intensity of emo-
tion in expressionism:
Schoenberg contemplate-& Indeed, a ,vork of art can produce no greater effect than ,vhen it
the intensity of musical transmits the emotions ,vhich raged in the creator to the listener,
expression
in such a ,vay they also rage and storm in him. And I ,vas over-
,vhelmed; completely over,vhelmed.
The intellect is skeptical; it does not trust the sensual, and it
trusts the supersensual even less. If one is overwhelmed, the intel-
lect maintains that there are many means w·hich might bring forth
such an ovenvhelming emotion. It reminds us that no one can view
a tragic event in life without being most deeply moved; it reminds
us of the melodramatic horror-play, ,vhose effect none can escape; it
reminds us that there are higher and lower means, artist ic and inar-
tistic . ... In music no one is ever really killed or tortured unjustly;
here, there is never any event ,vhich could waken sympathy in itself,
for only musical matters appear. And only when these events have
the po,ver to speak for themselves-only,vhen this alternation of
high and lo,v tones, fast and slo,v rhythms, loud and soft sounds,
tells of the most unreal th ings that exist-only then are ,ve moved
to utmost sympathy. He ,vho has once felt the impact of this purity
remains immune to all other impressions! It is entirely out of the
question that musical sentiment can be traced to impure sources,
for the means of music are unreal, and only reality is impure!7
Expressionistn 409
After about 1908 Schoenberg found a musical style that allo\ved the
expression of the same sort of disruptive emotional excess as stream-of.
consciousness literature and nonrepresentational painting. The essential Atonality
feature of the style ,vas the final abandonment of tonality. The presump-
tion of a tonal center in music had never before been questioned in the
history of Western music. The eventual arrival at the tonic had always
provided a sense of coherence and satisfying closure in music, and, as we
have emphasized, tonality acted as the fundamental principle of struc-
ture throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The absence of
tonality, or atonality, could naturally mark music ,vith a feeling of both
structural and emotional instability. Schoenberg also took both har-
monic dissonance and melodic disjunction to new extremes.
Schoenberg organized his music by intensive development of mo-
tives, based on the style of Brahms but in even more concentrated fashion.
This helped to maintain some amount of coherence in compensation for
the loss of tonality as a unifying force. Even so, the ,vorks ofSchoenberg's Miniature forms
period of free atonal expressionism tend to be divided into short move-
ments because he realized that the style did not provide the means to
make longer expanses of music hold together. Most of these works are
accompan ied by poetic texts that provide a degree of coherence. Charac-
teristic of this style is Pierrot lunaire (Moonstruck Pierrot, 1912), a set of
t\venty-one settings of poems by the Belgian postsymbolist poet Albert
Giraud scored for voice and a chamber ensemble consisting of various
combinations ofpiano, flute or piccolo, clarinet or bass clarinet, violin or
viola, and cello. The texts interpret the antics of commedia dell 'arte
clo\vns in a sometimes horrifyingly nightmarish way. In addition to a
dissonant, atonal style and scoring for instruments ,vhose tone colors
generally clash rather than blend, Schoenberg employed a special type of
vocal declamation, Sprechstimme (speech-voice), in which the performer Sprecbstimmo
uses the timbre of regular speech but follo,vs a contour of high and lo\v,
notated in detail on the staff. The entire effect is eerie and unreal. A
phrase from No. 15, "Heim\veh" (Homesickness), "krystallnes Seufzen"
(crystalline sigh), captures the idea of perfectly concentrated emotional
expression that constitutes the essence of expressionism.
Alban Berg
Follo\ving Schoenberg's lead, his student Alban Berg (1885-1935) took
up the expressionist cause. Berg ,vas a rather unstable personality and
had contemplated suicide shortly before he found a degree of fulfillment
in his studies and friendship ,vith Schoenberg. One of Berg's best kno\vn
,vorks, the opera Wozzeck (1922), \Vritten shortly after the end of World
War I, reflects on the horrible effects of man's inhumanity to man. Berg Borg's lVozuck
,vrote the libretto based on an early-nineteenth-century play by Georg
Buchner (1813-1837) about a soldier ,vho is victimized by his captain,
experimented on by his company doctor, and betrayed by his common-la\v
w·ife, Marie. Wozzeck finally cuts Marie's throat and then drowns him-
self. Berg employs atonal style and Sprechstimme, but not continuously.
These devices for extreme expressive effect are set into relief by appear-
ing in juxtaposition with ch romatic tonal music in advanced post-
Romantic style and w·ith regular singing and speaking. Wozzeck in a
sense continues the Wagnerian and Straussian music drama one step
further; it even uses leitmotiv technique.
As w·as the case for Schoenberg in his atonal pieces, Berg's problem
Musical structurrs w·as to maintain some coherence over the span of a long work. He achieved
in \Voz.z tck this in Wozzeck by designing each act as a set of relatively brief movements
w·ithin a larger form. Thus the first act, "situation," incorporates a suite;
the second, "complication," is structured as a five-movement symphony;
and the third," denouement," comprises a series ofinventions on different
types of musical ideas.
Advantages and Problems in Atonal Expressionism

The atonal, expressionist aesthetic and style suited w·ell a certain aspect
of the early tw·entieth-century cultural context. Because expressionism
captured some truths about the human experience and because the early
t\venty-first century has not reached a consensus that the psychological
and social foundations on ,vh ich the style was based ,vere erroneous or
out of date, it has continued to find sympathy with modern listeners.
Nevertheless, expressionism gave composers technical problems, since
it ,vas not an easy matter to write atonal music by empirical methods or
to give atonal material coherent form in the absence of a harmonic center.
'Typically their pieces ,vere extremely short-seemingly fragmentary or
aphoristic-follo,ving the tradition of such nineteenth-century genres
as the piano miniature. Nineteenth-century composers, of course, could
assemble such m iniatures under a tonal plan to create unity in a cycle,
but free atonality made that impossible. The composers ,vho worked in
atonal styles developed solutions to these problems only after intensive
effort over a period of several years. We shall return to this matter shortly.
AN AMERI CAN ORI GI NAL: CHARL ES I VES
One of the most independent thinkers in music history, the American

composer Charles Ives (1874-1954), ,vorked in relative obscurity in
the first t\vo decades of the t\ventieth century. Ives ,vas a native of
Connecticut; his father, George Ives (1845-1894), had served as a band-
master in the Civil War. George Ives studied acoustics and undertook a
number of experiments ,vith musical phenomena, including the use of
polymeters and simultaneous multiple tonalities, microtones, and spa-
tial arrangements of musicians in antiphonal groupings. George often
recruited Charles to assist ,vith these projects, and they clearly made a
lasting impression on him.
An An1erican Original: Charles Ives 411
Charles Ives worked as a church organist and studied music under

Horatio Parker at Yale University, becoming thoroughly grounded in the
music of the Western tradition and particularly of the late nineteenth
century. After he graduated, he took a position ,vith the Mutual Insur- lves•s c.areer
ance Company in New York and later cofounded an independent com- and reputation
pany, becoming ,vealthy from his business success ,vhile he composed in

the evenings and on ,veekends. For many years lves's music ,vas little
known. Although most of his compositions date from before 1920, it was
not until the 1940s that his ,vork gained much attention. His first impor-
tant success came with the performance in 1939 of his Second Piano
Sonata (Concord, Mass., 1840-60), composed between 1909 and 1915.
He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947, ironically for a work composed in
1904, his Third Symphony.
In addition to composing, Ives did a good deal of ,vriting. He set out
his ideas about music in the "Essays before a Sonata,'' ,vritten to accom-
pany the Concord Sonata, and the "Postface'' to his song collection 114
Songs. He also dictated an autobiography, Memos. A po,verful force in Ives as a writer
lves's th inking ,vas the tradition of the American pioneering spirit, and
he maintained a strong belief in the ideals of the New England transcen-
dentalist philosophers Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) and Henry
David Thoreau (1817-1862), such as faith in the spark of truth in each
individual's intuition, self-reliance, and rejection of conventional behav-
ior. Ives consequently,vent out of his ,vay to avoid stylistic convention or
traditional assumptions in his music. Nothing seems to have struck him
as too outrageous to consider, and rugged individualism and originality
for its o,vn sake justified any sort of experimentation. He wrote in the
epilogue to "Essays before a Sonata" that
in such an abstruse art as music, it is easy for one to point to this as Ives expresses his
"substance,'' and that as "manner.'' Some ,vould hold (and it is skepticism about beauty
undeniable-in fact, quite obvious) that manner has a great deal to

do ,vith the beauty of substance, and that to make a too arbitrary di-
vision or distinction behveen them is to interfere, to some extent,
,vith an art's beauty and unity. There is a great deal of truth in this,
too. But on the other hand, beauty in music is too often confused
,vith something that lets the ears lie back in an easy chair. Many
sounds that ,ve are used to do not bother us, and for that reason ,ve
are inclined to call them beautiful. Frequently-possibly almost
invariably-analytical and impersonal taste ,viii sho,v, we believe,
that ,vhen a ne,v or unfamiliar work is accepted as beautiful on its
first hearing, its fundamental quality is one that tends to put the
mind to sleep. A narcotic is not always unnecessary, but it is seldom a
basis ofprogress-that is, wholesome evolution in any creative expe-
rience.... Possibly the fondness for individual utterance may thro,v
out a skin-deep arrangement ,vhich is readily accepted as beautiful-
formulae that weaken rather than toughen up the musical-muscles. 8
For Ives, the ultimate vice ,vas to be lazy or to rest in the past.
lves's musical oeuvre includes pieces in a wide variety of genres. Be-
sides four symphonies, his orchestral ,vorks include other multimove-
ment sets and a number of shorter ,vorks. There are important examples
of chamber music and keyboard pieces, together ,vith choral music and
about 150 songs.
Ives put his ideas and his unusual experiences into practice in his
music and became one of the first avant-garde composers of the t\venti-
lves's style eth century. His father's experiments that he had kno,vn in his youth led
him to compose using quarter tones, antiphonal ensembles, and mutu-
ally contradictory metrical combinations (polymeter). He sometimes
called for unusual techniques, including the use (in the Concord Sonata)
of cluster chords on the piano, played by laying a length of board on the
keys. He also pioneered in the use of a collagelike technique for con-
structing works, often quoting ,veil-known spiritual songs and national
patriotic tunes in the context of free material of his o,vn composition.
The Concord Sonata is notable for this, as are some of his familiar orches-
tral ,vorks, such as the First Orchestral Set (A New England Sy1nphony or
Three Places in New England), and chamber music, such as the Fourth
Violin Sonata ( Children's Day at the Ca1np Meeting). In the Concord
Sonata the cyclic motive of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony also appears,
serving as a signifier of greatness in music (Example 22.3). Ives also took
a flexible attitude toward manners of performance for his music that an-
ticipated the later ideas about indeterminacy in composition. He fre-
quently rearranged material from one medium to another, offering
options for the players; in the last movement of the Concord Sonata there
is an optional part for flute, should the instrument be available. He an-
ticipated and even valued the possibility of mistakes in performance and
in some scores actually w·rote in deliberate "mistakes."
Exam ple 22.3 This brief passage from the first movement, "Emerson; in Charles
lves's Piano Sonata no. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840-60 shows lves's use of t he rhyth -
mic motto of Beet hoven's Fift h Symphony, both at an easily recognizable speed
on t he middle staff and in the rhythmic augmentation in the bass. (The pianist
w ill quickly discover that in the first full measure here Ives has p laced different
numbers of beats on t he t hree staves.)
a /iuh? faster and broad~v
cresc.
ff
~ ijg==E§-;affl[1~ ~ affl1~ ~;1 ~~

.
1
1
~~ - ~
f
J 1,: =======~:·~ 1.~ ;~

The use of melodic quotations in collage reflects not only Ives's inter-
est in experimentation and concern for specifying content in h is music
but also his dedicated patriotism. The majority of his instrumental works Topics and programs
carry programmatic or characteristic titles, and often their individual
movements do the same. In the Concord Sonata, for example, the four
individual movements are named for leading nineteenth-century liter-
ary figures: "Emerson," "Ha,vthorne," "The Alcotts," and "Thoreau." The
four separate symphonic poems "Washington's Birthday," "Decoration
Day," "The Fourth of July," and "Thanksgiving" ,vere later assembled
into a symphonic cycle called Holidays.
Ives ranks as the most distinctively American composer up to his
time. His posthumous influence far out\veighed the neglect he experi-
enced during his life. Once his music began to be heard in the 1940s and
to be studied seriously after his death, he became a model or ideal for
many later composers. His ,vorks and his attitudes encouraged compos-
ers to test the limits of music itself. That the United States developed into Ivts's works and hi.s
aHitudts tnc.ouragtd
a leading site for avant-garde experimentation in the middle of the cen-
composers lo ltst the.
tury may be a result of many factors; certainly one of them is the music limit.s of music itself.
and musical thought of Charles Ives.
A good survey of t\ventieth-century music is Robert P. Morgan,

Twentieth-Century Music: A History ofMusical Style in Modern Europe and
A1nerica (Ne,v York: Norton, 1991). Eric Salzman, Twentieth-Century
Music: An Introduction, 4th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall,
2002), is ,vritten by a composer and places considerable emphasis on
aesthetic issues. Joseph Auner, Music in the Twentieth and Twenty-First
Centuries (Ne,v York: Norton, 2013), emphasizes the social and political,
intellectual, and cultural contexts for the music.
Debussy's musical essays are collected in Debussy on Music, ed. F.
Lesure and R. L. Smith (Ne,v York: Knopf, 1977). For Schoenberg's
,vritings see Arnold Schoenberg, Style and Idea, ed. Leonard Stein, trans.
Leo Black (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1975). Some oflves's most im-
portant essays are in Essays before a Sonata and Other Writings, ed.
Ho,vard Boatwright (New York: Norton, 1961), and Memos, ed. John
Kirkpatrick (New York: Norton, 1971).
The follo,ving list is a selection of biographies of composers dis-
cussed in this chapter:
Bart6k: Paul Griffiths, Bart6k (London: Dent, 1984).
Berg: Mosco Carner, Alban Berg: The Man and the Work, 2nd ed.
(New York: Holmes & Meier, 1983).
Debussy: An important study is Ed,vard Lockspeiser, Debussy:
His Life and Mind (London: Cassell, 1965-1966); for a more
up -to-date, compact biography see Roger Nichols, The Life of
Debussy (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
4 14 CHAPTER 22: The Arrival of the Twentieth Century
Ives: Jan S,valford, Charles Ives: A Life with Music (New York:
Norton, 1996); Stuart Feder, Charles Ives, "My Father's Song":
A Psychoanalytic Biography (Ne,v Haven, CT: Yale University
Press, 1992).
Ravel: Arby Orenstein, Ravel, Man and Musician (Ne,v York:
Columbia University Press, 1975).
Schoenberg: Will i Reich, Schoenberg: A Critical Biography, trans.
Leo Black (Ne,v York: Praeger, 1971); H. H. Stuckenschmidt,
Schoenberg: His Life, World, and Work, trans. Humphrey Searle
(London: Calder, 1977).
Stravinsk')': Eric Walter White, Stravinsky: The Composer and His
Works, 2nd ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1979); a monumental study is Richard Taruskin, Stravinsky
and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works through
Mavra (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).
1. Camille Pissarro to Lucien Pissarro, letters of 13 May 1891 and 26 April 1888,
in Camille Pissarro, Letters to His Son Lucien, 3rd ed., ed.John Rewald with the as-
sistance of Lucien Pissarro (Mamaroneck, NY: Appel, 1972), 124, 169, 171, 275.
2. Paul Verlaine, Selected Poems, trans. and ed. C. F. Macintyre (Berkeley: Uni-
versity of California Press, 1948), 181, 183.
3. Quoted in Leon Vallas, Les Idees de Cla11de Deb11ssy, musicien franfais (Paris:
Librairie de France, 1927), 28-29. [Translation by OS]
4. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground, trans. Andrew MacAndrew
(New York: New American Library, 1961), 118.
5. lbid., 94-95.
6. lbid., 122.
7. Arnold Schoenberg, "Gustav Mahler," in Style and Idea, ed. Leonard Stein,
,vith translations by Leo Black (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1975), 450. This
particular article was translated by Dika Newlin.
8. Charles lves, Essays before a Sonata and Other Writings, ed. Howard Boatwright
(New York: Norton, 1962), 97-98.
Modernism and the Period
between the World Wars
The influence of modernist thinking in the second quarter ofthe
twentieth century elicited a variety of responses from composers.
Composers of atonal music turned to the twelve-tone method and
extended serial procedures beyond pitch organization. In music that
employed tonal orientation, composers worked from different positions,
including types of neoclassicism, inspiration from non-Western musics,
and neiv ideas about harmonic theory. The rise of socialist realism
governed aesthetics and styles in the Soviet Union. In the United States
some composers sought to reach a democratic audience through tonal
music based in popular tradition and through jaz z, whereas others
pressed toward extreme avant-garde positions.
Modernisrn To1vard Serialisrn

A Period of Readjustn1e11t Artistic Objectivity
The Tivelve-Tone Method of N eoclassicisrn
Con1positio11 FRANCE
SCHOENBERG AFTER 1920 STRAVINSKY'S NEOCLASSIC
ADAPTATIONS OF THE MUSIC AND THOUGHT
T\VELVE-TONE JHETHOD GERMANY
415
4 16 CHAPTER 23: Modernism and the Period between the World Wars
l\Je1v Tonal Theory INCORPORATING JAZZ INTO

TRADITIONAL GENRES
The Influence of Regional Musics
The Avant-Garde
The 1\1usic of Socialist Realisni in the AMERICAN EXPERIJ\1ENTALISTS
Soviet Union
The United States
JAZZ
MODE R N IS M
From the standpoint of about the time ofWorld War I, looking both back
into history and forv.rard to the future, w'e might usefully reflect on the
Idealizing newness notion of "modernism" in Western history. The idea that newness has
some positive value in its own right has been a common Western concep-
tion since at least the first inklings of the Renaissance. The fascination of
the modern became increasingly evident ,vith the Enlightenment and
the Industrial Revolution. By the early hventieth century the pace of
Afodtr-nism as an
technological development had increased to the point ,vhere people
undtrlyfog \Vesltrn could automatically expect anything shortly to appear in a "ne,v and im-
cultural assumplfon
proved" form . Modern ism as an underlying Western cultural assump-
reachtd a climax in tht
first l,alf ofth< twtnti<th tion reached a climax of sorts in the first half of the century, although of
unh,ry. course it did not disappear after that.
In the history of music we have encountered various instances of
musicians laying claim to the virtue of having something new to share.
Newness in music history We have observed this in cases as varied as the ars nova of fourteenth-
century Italy, the stile moderno of seventeenth-century Italy, Haydn's
op. 33 quartets composed "in an entirely ne,v and special style" around
1780, and the New German School in the nineteenth century.
As one effect of this valuation of the modern, we can see repeated
cases in ,vhich composers have been sorted themselves into factions as
Traditionalism progressive and conservative. Some musicians have ahvays lamented the
,vay in which the ne,v threatens the existence of ,vhat they find good in
the past and present, and this happens especially ,vhen change comes
abruptly or quickly. The twentieth century continued to produce much
music that did not challenge the stylistic idioms and listeners' expecta-
tions of the nineteenth.
Within hventieth-century modernist thinking, ho,vever, different
Progressivism and contrasting positions emerged. For some composers, the move
toward the new began by perceiving what characterized the apparent on-
going momentum of musical developments and taking those as indica-
tions of ,vhere progress could be directed. For example, the trajectory of
A Period of Readjustment 417
increasing chromaticism over the Enlightenment and the Romantic

period might justify the idea that modern styles should aim tov.rard even
freer dissonance and atonality. The degree to ,vhich this plays out in any
piece w·ould make it seem more modern istic or less so. By contrast, a radi-
cal type of modernism w·ould lead composers not to advance existing
styles but to set aside to some extent the presuppositions of those styles,
seeking out or inventing ne,v ones in their place. Composers pursued
both of these approaches in the decades that followed World War I, and
certain cases also demonstrate combined or intermediate possibilities.
Composers in this period held an enormous range of positions vis-a-vis
concepts of modernism. Some certainly continued largely ,vithin the mu- Approaches to modernism
sical style(s) of Romanticism, producing ,vorks only incrementally more
advanced-or even less so-than those of their predecessors in the late
nineteenth century. A complete picture of musical styles in the hventieth
century would necessarily place much more music of this sort in the bal-
ance than this chapter ,viii do, but to do justice to that task ,vould be
beyond the scope of this book. For many other composers, as the following
discussion ,viii point out, modernism came as the product of a lively desire
to challenge the musical tradition in new,vays. For still others, represented
by several to be introduced at the end of th is chapter, a self-conscious, radi-
cal program of rejection of the past became a vital mission.
A PERIOD OF R E ADJUSTME NT
The two decades between the end ofWorld War I and the beginning of
World War II form a period of reorganization in the cultural life of the
West, particularly in music. After the horror ofWorld War I, ,vhich was AflerWorldWarl
by far the most terrifying manifestation until that time of the violence
that mankind could wreak on itself, it seemed necessary to regain con-
trol of both political conditions and the arts. In the sphere of politics the
United States emerged from the war as the ,vorld's leading power. It had
determined the outcome of the ,var but had remained geographically re-
moved from the fighting and destruction. This placed the Un ited States
in a position for the first time to assume a role of cultural leadership.
The midpoint of th is period, ho,vever, was occupied by an economic
crisis as severe as that of the ,var, the Great Depression that began in 1929
and lasted for years. The Western nations had settled do,vn politically for Tue Groat Depression
the moment, only to discover that they did not have control of their econ-
omy. No balance ,vas established behveen supply and demand, between
the economy of the producers of goods and that of the holders of capital.
The result ,vas disaster in the monetary and banking system. Eventually
government had to intervene to readjust the economic system.
It is not surprising to find in the arts of th is period an attempt to gain
or reestablish some of the sense of control that had been forgone in the
sensualism of the impressionists and the emotional excesses of the ex-
pressionists. The German term neue Sachlichkeit, or in English "ne,v
418 CHAPTER 23: Modernism and the Period between the World Wars
Object:ivism objectivity," is often used to identify this aspect of the modernist project.
Th is took place both among artists w·ho continued the directions of de-
In thestcond quarltroftht velopment that we have already observed and among others w·ho turned
ctnlury lht txprtssionisl
camp tst.abli.shtd their backs on those directions and attempted to discover other, more
proctdurts for atonal objective w·ays of proceeding. In music the expressionist camp estab-
composilfon, whtrtas ot.litr
lished systematic procedures for atonal composition, w·hereas other
composers sought ntw (or
rtlurntd lo oldtr) tonal composers rejected atonality and sought new· (or returned to older) tonal
ltchniqucs. techniques.
One important part of the attempt to reestablish political stability
w·as the formation of the rigidly governed fascist police states of the Axis
pow·ers. The German National Socialist regime under Hitler, in particu-
lar, ach ieved political control, but at a terrible cost. Artistic freedom was
Fascism and the arts heavily repressed in favor of a government-ordered conservatism. One
practical result of this \Vas the emigration of important writers, artists,
and composers, as \veil as scientists and scholars, especially to the United
States. The outbreak ofWorld War II accelerated th is emigration. By the
early 1940s a number of the best European artistic minds lived and
\vorked in the Un ited States, ,vh ich reinforced its importance in the de-
velopment of Western culture.
THE TWELV E-TONE M ET HOD OF COMPOSITION
As ,ve have noted, the expressionist composers faced t\vo important

technical challenges in atonal composition: developing a systematic pro-
cess for producing atonal music and find ing a satisfactory way to provide
structural coherence in a musical style that had abandoned the tradi-
tional means of un ifying musical compositions, tonality itself. During
World War I and for a fe\v years thereafter, Schoenberg and some other
Twelvo-tono composition composers devoted themselves to solving these problems. By the ea rly
1920s Schoenberg had achieved his goal, creating a simple, flexible, and
intellectually elegant system, the twelve-tone method of composition. His
\vork deserves a place beside that of the other great codifiers of musical
systems, such as Guido of Arezzo, Franco of Cologne, Ph ilippe de Vitry,
Gioseffo Zarlino, and Jean-Philippe Rameau. As an invention that facili-
tated composition on an essentially unprecedented basis, the twelve-tone
method constitutes a modern ist development.
The t\velve-tone method grows logically from the governing axiom
that, to avoid tonality, no pitch class among the hvelve of the
equal-tempered chromatic system should receive greater exposure than
Tho row as source any other. To ensure th is, the twelve pitch classes are simply ordered in a
of atonality ro\v-called the pri1ne or original row, set, or series-such that none is
repeated. In principle the ro\v must be stated in its entirety before the
first of its pitch classes can return. There are, mathematically speaking,
12 factorial (12 X 11 X 10 X 9 X 8 X 7 X 6 X S X 4 X 3 X 2 X 1) or
479,001,600 possible rows, and although not all of these make good
The T,velve-Tone Met hod of Composition 419
musical material for composers and many are redundant-24, for ex-
ample, are chromatic scales-the possibilities are certainly rich and
varied. The composer's first task, then, is to determine the character of a
ne,v composition's row· by creatively selecting the intervals that it fea-
tures, the internal relationships that obtain ,vith the row, and so on. We
might compare th is to the choice of key and mode in earlier music.
In addition to providing equal play of the pitch classes, and therefore
atonality, the t\velve-tone method obviously creates strict structural
un ity. The difficulty then becomes finding ,vays to provide variety. This
is accomplished by using various permutations of the original ro,v. Be-
cause a simple transposition still gives the hvelve pitch classes of the ro,v
equal exposure, although the musical patterns of intervals are recog-
nized as representing the ro,v, transposition is permitted, as long as it
applies to the entire ro,v. Other manipulations of the row are also possi-
ble. One of these is interval-for-interval (melodic) inversion, ,vhich again
gives equal articulation to the hvelve pitch classes and, as composers in
polyphonic textures have kno,vn for centuries, attentive listeners may
perceive as derived from the original. Another possibility is to use the
ro,v in retrograde, or reverse order-the old contrapuntal device of can-
crizans. It is also possible to combine these t\vo permutations into the
retrograde inversion (Figure 23.1). The four principal forms of the row- Unit)' and variety
original, retrograde, inversion, and retrograde inversion-plus the pos-
sibility of the transposition of each to begin on any of the t\velve pitch 'Die twtlvt,• IOnt mtthod
classes, give the composer plenty of room to maneuver, so much so, in yfrldtd a systematic:
fact, that in practice composers generally found it necessary to restrict me.ans by which composers
could assert some rational
their vocabulary of row forms and transpositions for any given piece control ofatonality, I-lit
(Example 23.1). In summary, the hvelve-tone method yielded a system- vtry rtsourc.e by wl1icl1
atic means by ,vhich composers could assert some rational control of ato- txprtSJionisl composers
had originally sought to
nality, the very resource by wh ich expressionist composers had originally voice our foast ratfonal
sought to voice our least rational impulses. impulsu.
If at first the twelve-tone method seems artificial, mathematical, and
mechanical, it is not necessarily so in practice. Schoenberg insisted that Stylistic variety
in composing according to this method composers should first devise
the row and then compose exactly as they ,vould in any other system.
That is, a composer ,vhose style ,vas dense and rich, heavily laden ,vith
dynamic nuance, and complex in rhythm would continue to compose in
that manner with twelve tones, w·hereas another ,vho preferred light,
transparent textures, few but sharp dynamic contrasts, and clearly de-
fined rhythm ,vould compose in that style. All that their pieces ,vould
necessarily have in common would be atonality, just as hvo composers
,vorking within the tonal system might share only that aspect of style.
There is, as ,ve might expect, a tendency for the procedures by ,vhich
t\velve-tone music is composed to show some bias in favor of contrapun-
tal textures, since to a certain degree the material is determined in linear
fashion. It is perfectly possible, however, to construct chords by using Tt-xtu.rt: and form
0 R
I E F G Db Gb Eb Ab D B c A Bb
Eb E Gb c F D G Db Bb B Ab A
Db D E Bb Eb c F B Ab A Gb G
G Ab Bb E A Gb B F D Eb c Db
D Eb F B E Db Gb c A Bb G Ab
F Gb Ab D G E A El, c Db Bb B
c Db El, A D B E Bb G Ab F Gb
Gb G A El, Ab F Bb E Db D B c
A Bb c Gb B Ab Db G E F D El,
Ab A B F Bb G c Gb Eb E Db D
B c D Ab Db Bb Eb A Gb G E F
RI Bb B Db G c A D Ab F Gb El, E
Figure 23.1 A comp lete matrix showing t he permutat ions and t ranspositions of
a twelve-tone row. The original row (prime set) is shown across t he top row of t he
square and its inversion down t he left-hand column. Each row and colu mn t hen
contain the original or inversion t ransposed to a different pitch . The retrograde
and ret rograde inversion are fou nd by reading rows from right to left and col-
umns from bot tom to top, respectively. The row used as an illustration here is
Schoenberg's for his Suite for Piano, op. 25. (Schoenberg, however, did not set up
his rows in such matrices but worked t hem out in staves.)
pitch classes of the series simultaneously (as long as the pitch classes are
taken from the row· together in their place) or from simultaneous appear-
ances of forms of the row·. There is also a bias in favor of variation form,
since the permutations of the row· amount to variations on it. Neverthe-
less, all sorts of musical forms can be designed in t\velve-tone composi-
tion, even includi ng some so nata-form structures.
Schoenberg after 1920

W hen Schoenberg began using the hvelve-tone method in the 1920s, he
Schoenberg's later works still retained his inclination to ,vork ,vith short musical units. His Suite
for Piano, op. 25, completed in 1923, provides a good example; the
dance-suite structure offered a model for a un ified ,vork in several brief
movements. Gradually he turned to larger ,vorks as well. The Variations
The Twelve-Tone Method of Con1posit ion 421
Example 23.1 The theme of Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra, op. 31,
presents the row in all four of its forms as a long, expressive, melodic line. The
retrograde inversion and the inversion are transposed.
Cello
0 :1
p wrl
2
-:=:::
3 4 5 6
-==-
7 8 9 ,o II 12
pp
RII0:1 2 3 4 5 6 1 8 9 10 II 12
p
R: I 2 J
• 5 6 1 8 9 10 II 12
II
PP se/1r r11hig
110: I 2 3 .J S 6 1 8 9 10 11 12
for Orchestra, op. 31 (1928), form an intermediate stage bet\veen the

group of separate movements and the long, continuous work. By 1930 he
,vas able to sustain the hvelve-tone method through the length of an
opera in Moses und Aron.
The anti-Semitism and artistic conservatism of the Hitler era in
Germany forced Schoenberg to leave for the United States in 1933. He Schoenberg as teach«
eventually settled in Southern California, ,vhere he became a professor
at the University of California at Los Angeles. He ,vas a fine teacher of
theory and composition ,vho demanded of his students that they master
composition within the tonal system and that they discover fundamen-
tal principles of artistic expression rather than simply follow·ing rules.
The flexibility ofSchoenberg's teach ing may be estimated by the fact that
among his many successful students ,vas the jazz pianist and composer
Dave Brubeck (1920-2012). In fact, Schoenberg d id not teach t\velve-
tone composition in any curricular sense, and he himself also composed
tonal music even in his later years.
Adaptat ions of the T,velve-Tone Method

The use of the twelve-tone method in expressionist music ,vas not always
strict. In his Variations for Orchestra, for example, Schoenberg intro-
duced some materials that are not derived from his row, notably the pitch Berg and the twelve.tone
sequence B-A-C-H (i.e., B-flat, A, C, B-natural). Berg, as we might mrthod
Example 23.2 Some of the important materials of Berg's Violin Concerto:

(a) The tone row as it is presented by t he solo violin near t he opening of t he first
movement. The prominence of thirds gives the row, and t herefore t he whole
work, a tendency toward tonality t hat is not characteristic of most t welve-tone
music. The last four notes form a port ion of an ascending whole-tone scale.
(b) A folk t une from the region of Carint hia in Austria. The t riadic outline of this
melody connects it to t he row. (c) The opening phrases of Bach's chorale ·Es ist
genug" (It is enough). Berg harmonized t his melody for a choir of clarinets. The
first four notes of the soprano line echo t he series of ascending whole tones at
t he end of the row.
<a> tf* , 1gW I~W-0-1rdt

P)J ,m,~,,,,..
(c) ' '

doloro.m _
- - - a,dq,,.I{)'"'====:
- _ti; -
pp
. ma d<·cisc, dolorwo __ _ _ dolt'e
' '
PP
=-
pp
, IIW dec}.Jt) tloloro.m _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ dolee
expect from our earlier observations about the mixing of materials in

Woz zeck, was inclined to combine twelve-tone and tonal ideas. His last
completed work, the Violin Concerto (1935), is based on a row· that
allows for the presentation of tonal patterns such as triads and seventh
chords, and it quotes both a folk-song melody and a chorale taken from
Bach (Example 23.2). The Violin Concerto was composed as a memorial
to Manon Gropius, the eighteen-year-old daughter of Gustav Mahler's
former wife, Alma, and it has clear programmatic content in the Roman-
tic tradition. Also indicative of Berg's Roma nticist inclinations are the
emotionally suggestive headings of the movements in his Lyric Suite for
string quartet (1925-1926): 1. Allegro gioviale, 2. Anda nte amoroso, 3.
Allegro misterioso and trio estatico, 4. Adagio appassionato, 5. Presto
delirando, and 6. Largo desolate. It has also been d iscovered that the
To,,rard Serialisn1 423
Lyric Suite had a hidden autobiographical program, based on an ill-fated

love affair. Berg thus appears the most romantic of the Second Viennese
School composers.
TOWARD S E RIALISM
A different approach to the h,relve-tone method was explored by

Schoenberg's other most important student in Vienna, Anton Webern
(1883-1945). Webern began to study with Schoenberg in 1904, ,,,hiJe he Anton \\Tebern
,,ras still completing his Ph.D. degree in historical musicology with a dis-
sertation on the fifteenth/ sixteenth-century composer Heinrich Isaac.
Webern also worked as a conductor and teacher. His early atonal works
show· considerable focus and concentration, ,,rhich may be heard as evi-
dence of either super-Romantic emotional intensity-especially in his
vocal w·orks, ,,rhere content is explicit and considerable effort is required
of the singer-or cool, modernist objectivity. All of Webern's works are
brief; the longest of his thirty-one opus numbers lasts only ten minutes.
They have been compared to the Japanese haiku form in poetry because
of their po,,rer to evoke a great deal ,,rith the most limited means.
One of the influential aspects of Webern's music comes from his
distinctive approach to the process ofh,relve-tone composition. His use
of material and procedures is characteristically rigorous and extremely
economical, ,,rith a great deal of organization already attained within
the construction of the ro,,r. He also extended the idea of serialization
to musical style elements other than pitch, creating series of rhythms,
dynamics and articulations, and timbres. This led to the type of compo- Serialism
sitional method sometimes given the name serialism. The serialization
of timbres may also produce a type of instrumentation in ,,rhich each
player may have only a note or t,,ro or three before passing the line on to
the next player. This technique has been likened to the impressionist
painters' pointillism, ,vhich created a picture out of detached points or
dots of color. Schoenberg had earl ier envisioned such a style and called
it Kla11gfarbe111nelodie (tone-color melody), and Webern had employed
it even before he turned to t\,relve-tone composition. Intricate contra-
puntal constructions are also part of Webern's personal style; the Sym-
phony, op. 21 (1928), for example, begins ,,rith a double canon that
controls pitch, duration, and timbre (Example 23.3).
The extremely thorough organization in Webern's music is not partic-
ularly easy to perceive. Melodic flow is obscured by the tendency of adja-
cent pitch classes to come from distant registers and to sound ,vith differing
timbres. Serialized duration values do not characteristically produce a
metric grid against ,,rhich they can be measured and ordered, so they often
seem entirely irregular. Nevertheless, the music does have a high degree of
coherence, derived from the treatment of the series and the economy of
material, and it repays study and repeated, concentrated listening.
Example 23.3 Webern's Symphony, op. 21, begins w ith the row p resented in
double canon by inversion. This reduction of the full score shows how the canon
applies not only to pitches and durations but also to scoring and articulation
markings.
Hn I Cl
A
.., - qj, - 0
'
v
mp
~
p
- - -
Hn2.'P
_.,, ,- • / ~
'
•
* arro Vn 2 Hp
..-
A Hn Vcnizz.
.., ~~
•
• ,._
•
b:J p "'g,p ::::=- 1j,
'p
-
Vn 1>i1.1_ _ir<;(>
-·.
M~I> L-
. - ·-·-_., ~
-
p' mp ' p
• A
vc M
,.-
' . .
.., = q1 • qi:,, .P
-=
.
'
ec1
q],p <
~- ,:;>'
I
-
v"
p
. .
-==~v ]>--<.
'A Hn 2
H;; Hp
- .
!
' '
':'t
Vn I
L-
PJ>
Hp
;PJ>
J.'
q;: •
~!
Hp
>
pp q!!' ,P ,-
>
Webern's economy and attention to detail made him even more a

model for later composers than Schoenberg; Stravinsky later called
\Vebern as "classic .. Webern his "standard for music." The ideals of economy of means and
intellectual control, of course, are those of the Apollonian or generally
classic aesthetic in art, as is the ability to serve as a model for other artists.
Some of Webern's pieces also adopt the external structure of established
genres. The Symphony, op. 21, consists of a first movement in sonata
form and a finale in the form of a theme and variations. The Concerto for
N ine Instruments, op. 24 (1934), adopts the traditional three-movement
Alt.liougla the intensity of concerto plan.
txprtssion cannot bt Webern's move toward thoroughgoing serialism thus produced a
dtnitd in Wtbtrn 1s work.s, classicist aesthetic from technical devices originating in the Romantic/
tl1ey cltarly suggest a cooltr
and more objtclivt post-Romantic/ expressionist stream of historical development in music.
dirtclfon at lht samt limt. Although the intensity of expression cannot be denied in Webern's
Artistic Object ivity 425
w'orks, they clearly suggest a cooler and more objective direction at the
same time.
ARTISTIC OBJECTIV ITY
As we have already noted, the modern ism of the first half of the hventieth
century manifested itself in a new assertion of the objective side of the
human mind. To many artists it seemed time for a new' exploration of
intellectual, analytical, and practical matters. The movement in painting Objectivism in visual art
known as cubism, led by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Marcel Duch-
amp (1887-1968), focused on analytical vision; objects were reduced to
geometrical shapes, and various planes or stages in an action could be
depicted simultaneously (Plate 23). In the field of architecture and
design the Bauhaus school in Munich produced simple, unornamented,
purely functional ,vorks-flat, boxlike buildings of steel, concrete, and
glass, and furniture in molded geometrical shapes (Figure 23.2).
Not all composers after World War I followed the path of the Second
Viennese School into free atonal styles and then twelve-tone techniques
of composition, of course. Many believed that the principle of tonal unity Objectivi..sm in ne-w
tonal musk
and organization in music continued to offer opportunities for original
thought and ,vork in the hventieth century. Moreover, a revitalization of
tonality, it might be postulated, could restore a sense of reason and con-
trol in music, an aesthetic position that has been framed as parallel to the
modernist objectivity represented by cubism and the Bauhaus style of
architecture.
Figure 23.2 The shop block of the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany. The modernist
impulse toward objectivity in the period between the world wars affected
architecture as it did music. The Bauhaus school produced simple, geometrical
designs, in which the pure service of function superseded decoration.
Composers responded to the same motivations with simplified styles and
functional Gebrauchsmusik.
NE O C LAS SICISM
The tonal music of the period after World War I is often classified as
neoclassic, both specifically because much of it draw·s on the tonal basis,
clear textures, and forms of eighteenth-century styles and generally be-
Style variety in cause of its aesthetic objectivity. In practice, how·ever, a variety of w·idely
neoclassic music divergent tonal styles emerged in these years. It might therefore be possi-
ble to identify subcategories to describe different types of w·orks, includ-
ing those based on late-eighteenth-century classicism, w·hich w·e might
call neo-Classic, as ,veil as those that hark back to other stages of musical
style, such as neo-Romantic, neo-Baroque, and even neo-Renaissance
and neo-Medieval. These stylistic roots may also interhvine in individual
,vorks, complicating the picture further. And, of course, there appeared
new· types of tonal composition not based on older techn iques at all.
France
At the turn of the century a trend to,vard objectivity and simplification
had already arisen, particularly in France, ,vhere intellectuality had tra-
Erik: Satie ditionally been highly regarded. A leader in French neoclassicism ,vas
Erik Satie (1866-1925), an eccentric composer whose musical style de-
rived from his strongly anti-German inclinations, his sense of the limi-
tations of his own compositional skill, and his wry ,vit. Sa tie employed
clear, sparse textures, simple melodic and rhythm ic design, and a dia-
tonic harmony that suggested the eighteenth century. He also referred
in his subject matter to the classicism of antiquity, as in the piano solo
pieces Gymnopidies (1888; the title refers to dancers or gymnasts at an
ancient Spartan festival) and his cantata Socrate (1918). His sardonic
sense of humor paralleled that of Ives. According to a characteristic, al-
though possibly fictitious, story, w·hen Satie ,vas accused of ,vriting
formless music, he responded ,vith Trois 1norceaux en forme de poire
(Three pieces in the form of a pear, 1903). His Vexations (1893) com-
prises a passage that is to be repeated 840 times. Together with his
seemingly perverse titles for his works, like E1nbryons dessechis (Dessi-
cated embryos, 1913), he parodied exaggerated expressive markings in
scores, ,vith such indications as "Like a n ightingale with a toothache."
Satie also paralleled Ives in being something of an experimentalist; his
ballet Parade ( 1917) uses the sounds of a roulette ,vheel, a type,vriter,
and gunshots.
The trend to,vard neoclassicism begun by Satie grew· strong in
Neoclassicism in Debussy France. Debussy's style in his later years began to become less impres-
andRavd sionist and more intellectual. Even more of a neoclassicist, Ravel always
maintained a more detached and objective style than Debussy's; Stravinsky
once referred to him as a "S,viss clockmaker." The suite To1nbeau de
Couperin (1917) for solo piano {later orchestrated) is a direct homage to
the French galant style. In the Piano Concerto in G (1931) Ravel com-
bined brilliant exoticist and impressionist orchestration with traditional
Neoclassicism 427
eighteenth-century structural design, including sonata form, in a clear,

brilliant texture. This w·ork also shows the influence of jazz.
Under the influence ofSatie and of the w·riter and artistJean Cocteau
(1889-1963), a group of younger French composers took up the resusci-
tation of objectivity in music. This group-Louis Durey (1888-1979), Les Six
Arthur Honegger (1892-1955), Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), Germaine
Tailleferre (1892-1983), Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), and Georges
Auric (1899-1983)-w·as dubbed "Jes six" by a critic in 1920, on the
model of the Russian "mighty five." Although they differed in personal-
ity and style, they shared a rejection of impressionism and expressionism
and a belief in the strength of tonality. Durey and Tailleferre did not
achieve long-lasting success. Honegger, w·ho came from a German-
Swiss background, w·as somew·hat inclined tow·ard German seriousness
and w·eightiness in his style. Poulenc's music reflects the influence of
early-nineteenth-century Romantic lyricism as well as of the popular
cabaret chanson. Milhaud, the most progressive of the group, was af-
fected by Latin American music and by jazz, as exemplified in his La
Creation du mo11de (The creation of the w·orld, 1923). He also explored
the extension of tonality to polyharmony and bitonality. Auric is mostly
important as a composer of film scores, an important and rapidly gro,v-
ing new field for composers in this period.
Stravinsky's Neoclassic Music and Thought

Stravinsky, it will be remembered, had moved to Paris at the time of the
early Diagh ilev ballets. After World War I he worked in France and S,vit- St:ravinsL::y after World
War I
zerland, absorbing the neoclassic spirit of French musical aesthetics, al-
though his music invariably bears such fingerprints of his own style as
bright and percussive scoring, biting d issonances, irregular rhythms,
and ostinatos. His ,vorks in the years from World War I to the middle of
the century all share a high degree of modernist objectivity and a predi-
lection for structural and textural clarity, but they dra,v on a variety of
musical traditions (Example 23.4).
Ballet continued to be an important genre in Stravinsky's career, in-
cluding ,vorks in a ,vide variety of styles within a generally objective and
neoclassic spirit. The ballet score I:Histoire du soldat (The soldier's tale, Neodassk later ballets
1918), for chamber ensemble with recitation, pantomime, and dance, is
influenced by popular dance-music styles and jazz; that of Pulcinella
(1919) parodies its material from pieces by Pergolesi. Les Noces (The ,ved-
ding, 1923) is a ballet to be performed to a cantata; the dancers are accom-
panied by chorus, solo singers, four pianos, and percussion. Le Baise, de la
fee (The fairy's kiss, 1928) is based on music by Tchaikovsky.
Stravinsk")' found inspiration and models for his other ,vorks of the
1920s, 1930s, and 1940s in many places. The opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex Sources of neoclassidsm
(1927) is derived from Sophocles. The Symphony of Psal1ns, commis-
sioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for its fiftieth anniversary in
Example 23.4 Stravinsky's 1924 Sonata for piano represents his neoclassic style.
The clear texture and general impression of ( -major tonality in this excerpt from
the first movement evoke the eighteenth century, but the shifting rhythms and
the pungent dissona nces p roduced by t he mismatch of harmonic relations be-
tween the melody and accompaniment are modernist. (Copyright Edition Russe
de Musique, 1925)
quasi
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1930, uses the chorus in a fashion that suggests chant. Early-eighteenth-

century fugal and concerto style can be heard in the Octet for Winds
(1923) and the Dumbarton Oaks Concerto for chamber orchestra (1938).
The Symphony in C (1940) is modeled on the eighteenth-century sym-
phony, and the opera The Rake's Progress (1951), w·h ich is based on a
series of engravings by the eighteenth-century artist William Hogarth
(1697-1764), uses the style of eighteenth-century number opera and re-
calls the English ballad opera.
Stravinsk"Y came to the United States in 1939 to present a series of
lectures at Harvard University. These lectures, published as Poetics of
Music, outline Stravinsky's aesthetic position, a strongly objectivist vie\v
of music with emphasis on form and craftsmanship. He \vrote that the
exalted standing given to musicians and other artists in recent times was
unjustified, and he argued that the maker of artworks should be regarded
as a skilled \vorker:
Stravinsky discusses the The \vord artist, which, as it is most generally understood today,
objectivist view of artistic
bestows on its bearer the highest intellectual prestige, the privilege
c rrativit)'
of being accepted as a pure mind-this pretentious term is in my
view· entirely incompatible \vith the role of the ho1no Jaber [man
\vho makes things). ...
It \Vas the Renaissance that invented the artist, distinguished
him from the artisan and began to exalt the former at the expense
of the latter.
Neoclassicism 429
At the outset the name artist \Vas given only to the Masters of
Arts: philosophers, alchem ists, magicians; but painters, sculptors,
musicians, and poets had the right to be qualified only as artisans. 1
Stravinsky further described his o,vn approach to composing not as a
process of allo\ving his fantasy to run unchecked, but as a rigidly con-
trolled method:
The creator's function is to sift the elements he receives from his
imagination, for human activity must impose limits on itself. The
more art is controlled, worked over, the more it is free ....
My freedom thus consists in my moving about ,vithin the
narrow frame that I have assigned myself for each one of my
undertakings.
I shall go even farther: My freedom will be so much the greater
and more meaningful the more narro\vly I limit my field of action
and the more I surround myself ,vith obstacles. Whatever dim in-
ishes constraint, diminishes strength. The more constraints one
imposes, the more one frees one's self of the chains that shackle the
spirit. 2
This passage clearly recalls the classical restraint advocated by Alexander
Pope in his Essay 011 Criticism, "'Tis more to guide, than spur the Muse's
steed." Because World War II had broken out, Stravinsky remained in
the United States. He resided in California and became an American
citizen in 1945. After The Rake's Progress he entered a new stylistic phase,
making use of serial technique. In view of Stravinsky's aesthetics, it is
natural that he was most strongly influenced in his serial ,vorks by
Webern rather than by Schoenberg. Even ,vithin this technique, ho,vever,
his music never fails to sound like his O\Vn style.
Germany
In Germany Richard Strauss continued to work ,vithin the tradition in
,vhich he had already established himself. Even he, ho\vever, largely Richard Strauss
abandoned the expressionist material ,vith ,vhich he had dealt in Salo1ne.
In Der Rosenkavalier he took up a plot based on the eighteenth-century
galant and adopted a lighter touch, although he adapted the post-Romantic
harmonic and orchestral vocabulary to this purpose. His next operatic
,vork, Ariadne auf Naxos (1912, rev. 1916), consisted of a one-act opera
framed by a performance ofMoliere's seventeenth-century play Le bour-
geois gentilho1nme. It employs a small pit orchestra (especially for Strauss),
and the music contains allusions to Enlightenment and Romantic ,vorks,
including actual quotation from Mozart's Piano Sonata in A, K. 331.
Hitler's government adopted Wagner as its artistic prophet. Strauss
became its model composer and ,vas appointed head of the state music
min istry. Absorbed primarily in his music, Strauss did not immediately
realize the meaning of his position. When he d id understand the role in
,vhich he had been cast, he attempted to back away from the Nazis.
He lived long enough to find himself cleared of complicity.
NEW TONAL THEORY
Progressive composers in Germany in the 1930s found their music pro-

hibited by the fascist government. Even those who did not reject tonality,
Paul Hindemith how·ever, might find their work suppressed as too dissonant. This ,vas the
case with Paul Hindemith (1895-1963). Hindemith, ,vho ,vas well es-
tablished as a teacher in Germany, finally moved to the United States in
1937 and taught for several years at Yale University.
Hindemith ,vas deeply committed to the necessity of tonality as a
musical force, but his approach to tonal composition differed in an im-
portant sense from that of the other composers of tonal music just dis-
cussed. He developed his own theory of harmonic and melodic
construction based on the harmonic constituents of musical tones. The
theory is described in his book The Craft of Musical Composition (1937).
Hindemith ordered melodic and harmonic intervals hierarchically,
based on relationships found in the overtone series, an instance of the
Hindemith ordtrtd mtlodic modernist inclination to turn to science for artistic innovation. He put
and harmonic inltrvals
l1frrarcl1ic.ally, bastd on his ideas into practice in some of his compositions, although he was not
rtlal'ionships found in tht rigidly bound by his own abstractions. Later composers did not adopt
ovtrlont strits, an instance Hindemith's methods, either; the importance of Hindemith's ,vork is
of tht modernist inclinalfon
to turn lo scitnct for more generally in setting an example for the creation of ne,v tonal styles
art.istic innovation. independent of the Enlightenment-Romantic syntax.
Another of Hindemith's important contributions to the music of the
middle hventieth century ,vas his commitment to the type of composi-
G~brauchsmusik tions that he called Gebrauchs1nusik (use-music). Gebrauchsmusik in-
cludes all compositions that arise from or are intended for particular,
practical situations. This att itude belongs to the movement for artistic
objectivity in the sense that it promotes practical usefulness rather than
personal expression as the motivation for artistic endeavor. Hindemith,
for example, ,vrote ,vorks for various unusual groupings of performers,
for instruments that had been neglected as soloists, for amateurs, and for
teaching. He also ,vrote such practical compositions as scores for rad io
plays and films.
Some of Hindemith's music seems to merit classification as neo-
Romantic. Nohvithstanding his analytical mind and his commitment to
practicality, his music is often rich and intense, giving a sense of underlying
depth of personality, especially in his vocal and programmatic composi-
Mathis der Ma/tr tions. Probably his most familiar ,vork is the symphony Mathis der Maler
( 1934), three movements based on the masterpiece of the German fifteenth-
and sixteenth-century painter Matthias Griine,vald (ca. 1475-1528), the
Isenheim altarpiece (Plate 10). In its connection of the musical work
to another art form, the explicitness of its content, and its intensity of
expression, H indem ith's symphony returns to the Romantic tradition.
The Influence of Regional Musics 431
Th is romanticism is even greater in the opera on wh ich the symphony is

based (1935). In the plot Gri.ine,V"ald confronts the political crisis of the
German Peasants' Revolt and must \\l'Ork out his role as artist in the world
at large. This profound moral problem obviously reflects the experience
and concerns of Hindemith himself. Such personal involvement of the
composer in his music clearly marks the \\l'Ork as romantic. H indem ith
also drew on the historical tradition of German music by incorporating
chorale material in the opera and symphony, another romantic thing to
do.
Hindemith and composers like him demonstrate how· difficult,
indeed inappropriate, it is to pigeonhole composers' ideas and styles. In
his invention of ne," musical procedures Hindemith was a modern ist; in
his objectivity he \V"as a classicist; in his personal expressiveness he '"as a
romanticist. A more distant historical perspective may make it easier to
judge artists and art and establish simpler pictures of musical eras. There
is constant danger of oversimplification, however, and such cases in
more recent times should warn us to avoid glib generalizations about
older musical styles.
THE INFLUENCE OF REGIONAL MUSICS
As '"e have seen, an important influence on social, political, and cultural

life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries \V"as the gro,V"th
of a spirit of nationalism among smaller, less powerful, and often op-
pressed peoples. Indeed, World War I began as the result of this spirit
'"hen a radical member of a Serbian (Slavic) nationalist movement assas-
sinated the Austrian archduke Ferdinand of the old and po,V"erful
Austro -Hungarian Empire in 1914. Culturally, there was at the same
time a rebirth of interest in folk art. Although nationalism and exoticism
had already influenced music in the Romantic period, serious scientific Striou.s sdtntific st.udy of
tthnic art ltd to awartntss
study of ethn ic art did not arise until later. When it did, it led to a,\l'are- of ntw makrials and
ness of ne," materials and creative methods. creative mt.lhods.
1\\l'o important Hungarian collectors of eastern European ethnic
music, Bela Bart6k and Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967), '"ere both pioneers
in ethnomusicological research and composers (Figure 23.3). Kodaly's
music is the more conservative; it sets national elements in the context of
relatively trad itional chromatic tonal harmony. Kodaly is probably best Zoll.In Kod.lly
understood as representative of post-Romantic nationalism. He \V"as also
an important pioneer in music education, developing a new way of teach-
ing music to young children and composing a large quantity of choral
music for school use. His importance in the history of this field is at least
as great as his compositional output.
Bart6k \\l'as more progressive; his ethnomusicological research in
eastern Europe and the Middle East made it obvious to him that the
Western tonal system \\l'as not the only possible means of organizing
tonal materials. He \\l'rote,
. -., .. ' ...-~.' . -

~
~ • . -·: ..
. -
.: -. - ~.
Figu re 23.3 Bela Bart6k recording Hungarian folk songs for his ethnomusico-
logical research. His study of folk music led him to new tonal and rhythmic
patterns in his own compositions.
Bartok explains how his The outcome of these studies was of decisive influence upon my
tthnomuskologkal w·ork, because it freed me from the tyrannical rule of the major and
research inspired musical
ideas minor keys. The greater part of the collected treasure, and the more
valuable part, was in old ecclesiastical or old Greek modes, or based
on more primitive (pentatonic) scales, and the melodies w·ere full
of most free and varied rhythm ic phrases and changes of tempi,
played both rubato and giusto. It became clear to me that the old
modes, which had been forgotten in our music, had lost nothing of
their vigour. Their new· employment made ne\v rhythm ic combina-
tions possible. This ne\v way of using the diatonic scale brought
freedom from the rigid use of the major and minor keys, and even-
tually led to a new conception of the chromatic scale, every tone of
\vhich came to be considered of equal value and could be used
freely and independently. J
Bart6k did not merely arrange or quote folk tunes; he thoroughly
assimilated into his \vorks elements of the folk music he had studied, and
he looked to that music for ne\v ideas for organizing musical materials.
Bartok's style He experimented \Vith scales other than the major and minor scales and
\vith rhythms other than those in duple and triple meters, and thus he
arrived at a rejection of the Enlightenment-Romantic trad ition parallel
to that achieved by other composers of the time. The turn to\vard scien-
tific research to produce a conceptual basis for a new musical style marks
Bart6k as a modernist.
The Influence of Regional Musics 433
Bart6k's contribution to Gebrauchsmusik includes the set of graded

piano teaching pieces in the six volumes of the Mikrokosmos (1926,
1932-1939). Many of these short pieces employ the unusual scale Pedagogicalwork
patterns and irregular rhythms of Hungarian and Rumanian folk melo-
dies. The harmon ies thus derive from pitch systems other than those of
traditional major-minor tonality. The Mikrokos1nos allow·s even the be-
ginning music student not only to master keyboard technique but also
at the same time to develop an ear not limited to conventional harmonic
expectations (Example 23.5).
The th ird movement of Bart6k's ,veil-known Music for Strings, Per-
cussion, and Celesta (1936) illustrates his experimental techniques. This Experiments in sound
haunting movement employs unusual sounds, extending the range of
musical tones to include effects that until that time might have been re-
jected as mere noise, including timpani glissandos and violent pizzicatos
in wh ich the strings snap on the fingerboard. Bart6k referred to this type
of music as "night music." The same movement illustrates one of the
composer's favorite forms, the symmetrical arch or bridge form, in w·hich
sections are arranged in the fashion of a palindrome. Because Bart6k
specified the positioning of two separate string groups on opposite sides
of the stage, each group with its distinct set of percussion, the Music for
Strings, Percussion, and Celesta also ranks as an important experiment in
the spatial separation of antiphonal groups of instruments.
That Bart6k also shared in the broader neoclassical movement is il-
lustrated by his compositions in the genres of traditional absolute music,
including, most important, the concerto (three for the piano and two for
Example 23.S "Bulgarian Rhythm; no. 115 from Bart6k's Mikrokosmos. The piece
is an exercise in rhythms w ith unequal beats (3 or 2 eighth notes per beat), which
Bart6k found in his research in Bulgarian peasant music. It explores p itch patterns
that do not depend on major and minor scales but nevertheless can be consid-
ered tonal in a broad sense.
Vivace
- .
..:::,
. . . ~
~ ,J
$(:t)rnM)le
p
- - - . .
-
A
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Neo-Classicworks violi n) and chamber music. His six string quartets became W'ell estab-
lished as core repertoire in that genre in the twentieth century. The
Concerto for Orchestra (1943) brings a h\l'entieth-century idiom together
\\l'ith the principle of the early eighteenth-century ripieno concerto.
Like Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Hindemith, Bart6k emigrated
'"hen the political situation in Europe became insupportable, and he
settled in the Un ited States. He \\l'as employed on an ad hoc basis by
Columbia University and d ied of leukemia after five years in Ne,\I' York.
THE Music OF SocIAL IST REA LISM

IN THE S OVI ET UNION
Nationalism in the nineteenth century had provided a source for pro-

Nationalism gressive musical styles. In the twentieth century, ho,\l'ever, nationalism
and conservatism
generally represented a conservative trend, its aesthetic motivation
being to create art that appealed to common people rather than ad-
vanced styles that seemed to disregard the public in favor of experimen-
tation. This \\l'as particularly true in the Soviet Union in the first decades
after the revolution of October 1917.
The Soviet revolution probably had more direct impact on a nation's
culture than any other political event in history. Under the philosophical
premises of totalitarian socialism, all the arts, especially music, had to be
reconciled \\l'ith socialist theory. Lenin insisted:
Lenin proposrs a soda list Art belongs to the people. It must penetrate \\l'ith its deepest roots
theory of art into the very thick of the broad working masses. It must be under-
standable by these masses and loved by them. It must un ite the feel-
ing, thought, and '"ill of these masses, inspire them. It must a,\l'aken
in them artists and develop them.4
This argument has h\l'O significant implications for musical life. The
first was relatively straightfor,\l'ard, that the proletariat should be edu-
cated to appreciate the arts and that music should be made accessible to
O rganization the people. This could be carried out simply enough under the state's au-
of musical llfo thority. Music became part of schooling for everyone, and conservatory
training \\l'aS made to conform to high standards. People were brought to
concert halls and opera houses in programs organized by the govern-
ment, and musical groups of all kinds, including sympho ny orchestras,
chamber ensembles, popular bands, and choruses, \\l'ere sent to indus-
trial plants, army barracks, and so on.
The second implication of the socialist ph ilosophy of the place of
the arts in the state presented a more complicated and more important
Controversy about style problem for music. This \\l'aS the question of what musical style was ap-
propriate under the new system. T,\l'o different musical organizations
offered two strongly d ivergent ans,\l'ers. On the one hand, the Russian
Association of Proletarian Musicians (RAPM) took a conservative
stance and denounced modern Western music as decadent and the
The Music ofSocialist Realisn1 in the Soviet Union 435
music of the Enlightenment and the Romantic style as the products of

effete bourgeois society. The RAPM stood for a new, accessible, "Soviet"
art. On the other hand, the Association for Contemporary Music de-
fended the independence of the artist and insisted that the Soviet Union
should seize the leadership in the most progressive styles of the day.
By about 1930 the RAPM had gained ascendancy, and the Associa-
tion for Contemporary Music had collapsed. The RAPM w·as character-
ized by intolerance and incompetence, ho,\l'ever, and this led to a
'"eakening of conservatory training, lo,\l'er standards, and music of clearly
poorer quality. In 1932 the level ofserious musical life in the Soviet Union
had declined to such an extent that the Central Committee of the Com-
munist Party intervened. It created the Union of Soviet Composers and Socialist rralism
promulgated in music the aesthetic of socialist realism, adopted from the
literary principles of the ,vriter Maxim Gorky (1868-1936). The central
principles of socialist realism are that art must be understandable by the
masses, that it must be \\l'Orthy of the great classical and Russian tradi-
tions, and that it must be optimistic and thereby help to build socialism.
In practice, the effort to ma intain socialist realism led to a repres-
sive attitude toward ambitious ne,v music. A crisis came in 1936 when
the newspaper Pravda (truth) viciously attacked the opera Lady Macbeth
of the District of Mzensk by one of the country's leading composers,
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975). The work \\l'aS accused of"leftist dis-
tortion'' and decadent "formalism" and at the same time, based on its
highly explicit musical depiction of violent adulterous sex, judged
"primitive," "vulgar," and "petty-bourgeois." Shostakovich was forced
to apologize, admit his error, and ,vithdraw the score. To a later party
resolution regarding correct Soviet musical style, he responded with
marvelous obsequiousness:
Every time that the Party corrects errors of a creative artist and Shostakovich expresses
defrrence to Communist
points out deviations in his work, or else severely condemns acer-
Party authority
tain tendency in Soviet art, it invariably brings beneficial results for
Soviet art and for individual artists. . ..
. . . ,vhen the Party and our entire nation . . . condemn this ten-
dency in my music, I kno," that the Party is right; I kno,v that the
Party shows solicitude for Soviet art and for me as a Soviet
composer. ...
I am deeply grateful for it and for all the criticism contained in
the Resolution.s
Shostakovich's immediate musical response to the controversy over
Lady Macbeth ,vas his Symphony no. S (1937), ,vhich he offered explic-
itly as the "creative reply of a Soviet artist to just criticism." This \\l'Ork
follows in the tradition of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, ,vhose key, D
minor, it shares. It purports to be a programmatic depiction of the "stabi-
lization of a personality'' in its progression from the "tragically tense im-
pulses of the earlier movements into optimism and the joy of living.''
In a manner similar to that of Shostakovich's symphony, the Fifth

Symphony (1944) of Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953), ,vho returned in
1936 to his native Russia after many years in the West, is programmatic
Sergey Pro L::o6rv in an autobiographical way. Prokofiev described it as the culmination of
a period in his o,vn creative life and as "a symphony of the grandeur of
the human spirit.'' Such programmatic content helped Soviet composers
justify the exploitation of dissonance, because one can argue that the
Tonality was dttmtd resolution of dissonance to consonance establishes an optimistic overall
~ut:nlial fo Soviet music: picture. Tonality, therefore, w·as deemed essential in Soviet music.
The careers of Shostakovich and Prokofiev reveal that a great com-
poser can produce great works even under the most trying conditions.
They also indicate the effect of socialist realism on Soviet music: strong
pressure in the direction of neo-Classicism and neo-Romanticism. At the
same time, we need not regard these ,vorks merely as yielding to political
pressure. In continuing to employ harmonic dissonance as a representa-
tion of emotional stress and the plot tensions that tonal music has long
exploited, w·orks of these composers-including even Shostakovich's
Fifth Symphony ,vith its ostensibly capitulatory program-have also al-
lo,ved for interpretations as narratives of resistance to oppression.
THE U N I T E D STATES
The impulse for the composer to reach to the audience rather than forge
ahead in total disregard of the public's ability to comprehend the music
brought conservatism not only to the Soviet Union, ,vhere it was legislated,
but also to practical musicians in other nations. This is particularly evident
in the career of the American composer Aaron Copland (1900-1990).
Like a number of other American composers of his generation and later,
Copland studied in France ,vith Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), one of
the most important composition teachers of the first half of the century.
Copland began as a neoclassicist, but by about 1930 h is style had become
Amerkani&t appeal to rather complex and austere. He realized that he ,vas beginning to leave
public taste the general listener behind and deliberately turned to a simpler, more
popular style in an attempt to bridge the gap behveen composer and
public. He developed a tonal style that ,vas transparent in scoring, clear
in rhythm, tuneful, and based on triadic harmony ,vith sometimes
modal and sometimes bichordal tendencies. A particular characteristic
of Copland's style is the use of folk material, from both the Un ited
States and Latin America. Explicit content makes the music even more
accessible. Like Stravinsky, Copland wrote several important scores for
ballets. These are on American nationalistic subjects: Billy the Kid (1938),
Rodeo (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944), the last ,vritten for the
great American choreographer Martha Graham (1894-1991). His par-
ticipation in the Gebrauchsmusik movement produced several signifi-
cant film scores. Only after the midpoint of the century d id Copland
turn to more progressive techn iques, including serialism.
The United States 437
Several American composers in Copland's generation explored a

variety of styles ,vithin the broad range of tonal idioms. These reach
from Copland's relatively simple, folk-based style, through rich neo- American symphonists
Romanticism in the music ofHow·ard Hanson (1896-1981), to the edge
ofexpressionism in that ofRoger Sessions (1896-1985). The great output
of these composers and numerous other Americans in the decades of the
1930s and 1940s demonstrates that the Un ited States had reached the
first rank of Western musical nations w·ithin a short time.
A groundbreaking composer in the years betw·een the ,vorld ,vars
,vas William Grant Still (1895-1978), the first African American to have
his ,vorks performed by major musical organizations and the first to con-
duct a major orchestra. Much of his music employs African American WHliam G,antSUII
folk material, such as the Afro-American Symphony (1930), w·hich takes a
blues melody as its main theme and is thus truly nationalistic in a sense
that cannot quite be applied to such usage by white composers, ,vhose
use of those same materials might better be regarded as exoticist.
J azz
The multiplication of serious musical styles in the period after World
War I included not only the fragmentation of the mainline tradition but
also the rise of a musical tradition that had grown outside the "high"
Western culture into the forefront of serious musical development. Jazz
evolved from the oral tradition of black American slavery, uniting the
powerful syncopated rhythms of the African heritage, the formulaic im-
provisational melody of slave calls and black church singing, and the
melody-and-accompaniment texture and harmonic progressions of
Western art music. Through the first decades of the hventieth century From folk heritage- to
jazz remained mainly in the ,vorld of popular culture, but the course of soda I status
its history thereafter moved it into contexts w·here it was appreciated as a

sophisticated art form by cultural-intellectual elites, first in the United
States and then quickly in Europe. In consequence, it began to interact
powerfully with the classical music world.
Jazz has roots in the free and improvisatory folk-song style of the
blues, in ragtime music for the piano, and in the popularity of w·ind band
instruments and the banjo. The first important style of jazz came out of Early jazz style
New Orleans, and it is generally referred to as New Orleans or Dixieland
jazz. Its characteristic scoring includes a rhythm section of piano and
drums, possibly joined by banjo and double bass or tuba, as ,veil as solo
w·inds including clarinet, trumpet, and trombone. The most striking fea-
ture of jazz was its syncopated rhythm, and its most important perfor-
mance technique ,vas improvisation on a simple melodic or harmon ic
foundation. Straightfor,vard harmonic structures formed conventional
frame,vorks over which the rhythmic syncopation and melodic improvi-
sations could move freely. Typical was the hvelve-bar blues progression,
in ,vhich the three four-bar phrases consisted, respectively, of a first
phrase establishing the ton ic, a second phrase moving from subdomi-
nant to tonic, and a th ird moving from dominant to tonic.
Measures 1-4 I to I (often V7 of IV)

Measures 5-8 IV to I
Measures 9-12 V (often ii-V) to I
In addition to some common variants, players could interpolate or sub-

stitute a \vide variety of chords.
In the 1920s jazz moved \Vith the emigration of African Americans
n,e rt.ason.s for jaz.z 's from the South into the cities of the North, where it quickly became popu-
apptal lo lht wtalthitr,
"'cult.urtd," white upptr
lar. The reasons for its appeal to the wealthier, "cultured," ,vhite upper class
class art complex. are, of course, complex. Certainly part of the explanation of its success
must be sought in the same curiosity for new and different experiences
Tur appral ofja.z.z that led to exoticism in Europe in the nineteenth century. In addition, the
fact that the music of"serious" composers had grown so difficult undoubt-
edly left a gap that the simpler, more accessible jazz could fill. The rhythms
,vere lively, the harmony tonal, and the chamberlike scoring and clearly
patterned twelve- and sixteen-bar blues forms easy to follo\v. Moreover, as
in any period, the element of virtuosic performance and the excitement
presented by the fundamental risk factor in improvisation were bound to
captivate the audience. To musicians, the rise of commercial recording and
broadcasting meant that composing and playing in a popular style could
provide a handsome income. Among the most prominent Dixieland com-
posers were the pianistJelly Roll Morton (1890-1941) and trumpet player
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971). Although the earl iest players ,vere gener-
ally men, such ,vomen musicians as the singers Ma Rainey (1886-1939)
and Bessie Smith (1894-1937) and pianist-composer Lil Hardin (1898-
1971), who for a number of years was married to Armstrong, were also
important contributors to the repertoire.
In the 1930s and early 1940s commercialism produced the big band
sound and the style of swing. This represents a distinct part of the gro,v-
ing process in the history of jazz. The leaner, simpler, "classic" sound of
1920s Dixieland jazz was enriched by larger ensembles and made more
Swing "romantic." As a result of the greater size of the ensembles, it became
necessary to compose the music more thoroughly. Improvisation \Vas
generally limited to one featured performer at a time, and star virtuosos
multiplied. The function of the music also changed, as it ,vas increasingly
used for dancing. The most notable composer of the period was Duke
Ellington (1899-1974), \vho brought classical symphonic scope and
techniques of motivic development into juxtaposition ,vith jazz idioms.
He also composed musicals, film scores, and sacred \vorks. Some of the
prominent band leaders in these years included the pianist Count Basie
(1904-1984) and the clarinetist Benny Goodman (1909-1986). The
singers Billie Holiday (1915-1959) and Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) rank
among the great creative performers of the S\ving era.
TheAvant-Garde 439
Incorp orat ing J azz into Traditional Genres

It d id not take long for composers to incorporate the new' concepts and
sounds ofjazz into the more trad itional musical genres. We have already
noted the influence of jazz in the neoclassic music of Stravinsk"Y, Ravel,
and Milhaud. The American composer George Gershwin (1898-1937), George Gershwin
w'ho ,vas ,veil trained as a classical pianist and composer but began his
career in the field of popular songs and Broad,vay musical shows, also
introduced elements of jazz and popular music into more sophisticated
,vorks such as the Rhapsody in Blue (1924) for piano and jazz band {later
rescored for piano and orchestra), An A1nerican in Paris (1928), and the
opera Porgy and Bess (1935).
THE AVANT- GAR DE
Whereas the modernity of the hvelve-tone and neotonal composers rep-

resent types of modernism that pursued d irections that could be per-
ceived as carrying forw'ard tendencies rooted in history, during the
period behveen the ,vorld ,vars a number of highly original individual
composers began to produce remarkable ne,v ,vorks that stretched the
limits of music in unexpected d irections. The foundations of the
avant-garde movement ,vere in part abstract and philosophical. Charles
Ives's ideas about the independence of the individual had already pro-
duced remarkable experimental results in his music. Even before World Futurism
War I there was a movement in Italy that identified itself as futurism,
self-consciously turning its back on the past. The radical futurist artist
and ,vriter Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944) advocated that art-
ists should discard any inherited preconceptions and strive for entirely
ne,v approaches. He specifically suggested that artists of the twentieth
century should be inspired by and base their ,vork on ideas that could
arise from factories and mach ines. In 1907 the post-Romantic German-
Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) had ,vritten a docu-
ment titled Entwurf einer neuen Asthetik der Tonkunst (Draft for a ne,v
aesthetic of music), in which he proposed that
The creator should adopt no traditional la,v on trust and faith and Busoni chaJJenges
treat his own creation as an exception to that la,v from the outset. composers to create nrw
artistkprindples
For his individual case he must seek out, formulate a suitable indi-
vidual la,v and destroy it again after the first complete application,
in order not to fall into repet itions in a later ,vork himself.
The creator's duty consists in setting up la,vs, and not in follo,v-
ing la,vs. Whoever follo,vs given laws ceases to be a creator. 6
The exploration of ne,v sounds for music ,vas perhaps the most im-
portant area of ,vork in the avant-garde. In 1913 the Italian painter, in- Noises as tones
ventor, and composer Luigi Russolo (1885-1947) ,vrote a manifesto
titled I.:arte dei rumori (The art of noises), in ,vhich he advocated the
use of sounds more akin to everyday noises than to traditional musical

tones. Russolo also experimented ,vith compositions for noise machines
of his o,vn invention. The American composer George Antheil
(1900-1959) produced his Ballet 1neca11ique in 1927, with percussion,
eight pianos, a pianola, and an airplane propeller; it ,vas later revised to
incorporate anvils, bells, buzz sa,vs, and car horns. Honegger even par-
ticipated, in a some,vhat more conservative fashion, in the movement to
absorb modern mechanical sounds into music, with his Pacific 231
(1924), a symphonic poem about a train. Both of these latter ,vorks
served as film scores, thus as Gebrauchsmusik, linking these avant-garde
compositions to the movement toward objectivity that we have already
observed among their contemporaries.
Busoni's student Edgard Varese (1883-1965), an early emigrant to
the United States, ,vas among the most important of the avant-garde
composers of the 1920s and 1930s. His interests, like those of other
avant-garde composers, included the expansion of the repertoire of
sounds that could be accepted as musical tones, particularly percussive
sounds, as in his most famous ,vork, Ionisation (1931), for thirteen per-
cussionists. Varese also moved away from organization of music accord-
ing to melody and harmony and created large sound events instead. In
1936 he described his musical constructions in terms of visual and spa-
tial metaphors:
Var~se uses spatial images You ,vill find in my ,vorks the movement of masses, varying in radi-
to characterlz.e his music ance, and of different densities and volumes. When these masses
come into collision, the phenomena of penetration or repulsion will
result. Certain transmutations taking place on one plane, by pro-
jecting themselves on other planes ,vhich move at different speeds
and are placed at different angles, should create the impression of
prismatic aural (auditory) deformations.7
American Exp erimentalists

Other American composers tried not only ne,v sounds but also ne,v
types of tonal organization. Henry Co,vell (1897-1965) experimented
,vith sound produced by playing the piano on the inside rather than via
the keyboard, notably in his piece "The Banshee; ,vhich calls for the
,veird shrieking effect made by stroking the piano's strings, and also led
Henry Cowell in the use of tone clusters. Like many of his contemporaries, Co,vell de-
veloped a lively interest in non-Western musics and explored rhythms
and timbres inspired by his study of other cultures. He also took up and
pursued a compositional technique suggested by the composer and mu-
sicologist Charles Seeger (1886-1979) for an alternative harmonic idiom
that they called "dissonant counterpoint," in which the traditional rela-
tionships of consonance and dissonance ,vould be reversed, so that har-
monies conventionally regarded as consonant would have to resolve to
dissonances.
Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953) achieved remarkable effects

w·ith several new· compositional options. Like Cow·ell, and ,vith h is sup- Ru th Crawford Secgrr
port, she also experimented with the style of dissonant counterpoint.
She devised techniques of systematic ordering for the different musical
elements independent from the Viennese approach to serialization. In
addition, she found ways to challenge conventional ideas about fore-
ground and background; in the third movement of her String Quartet
1931, sustained and slo,vly shifting notes provide the canvas for a play of
large- and small-scale crescendos and decrescendos.
The composer Harry Partch (1901-1974) represents the type of
independent-minded and original American musician that ,ve have al-
ready seen in William Billings and Charles Ives. Partch spent some time Harry Partch
living the life of a hobo. He took inspiration from non-Western musics in
idiosyncratic directions. He invented ne,v instruments under such curi-
ous names as blue rainbo,v, Castor and Pollux 6vhich is also the title of
one of his compositions), crychord, cloud chamber bo,vls, quadrangula-
ris reversum, and chromelodeon; he ,vorked in a private tonal realm ,vith
forty-three pitches to the octave.
A younger composer, John Cage (1912-1992), studied with Co,vell
in New York, learning much about non-Western musics and experimen-
tal composition. He was also deeply inspired by Schoenberg. In the JobnCago
1930s and 1940s Cage got new sounds out of the piano by inserting small
objects of various types bet\veen the strings; the instrument thus mod i-
fied is known as the prepared piano. Because the items bet\veen the piano
strings affect (and often obscure) the pitches and interfere ,vith the sus-
tained vibration, the result can sound more like a percussion ensemble
than a solo pianist. The prepared piano, like other avant-garde compos-
ers' innovative approaches to music in the t\ventieth century, shi fts musi- Avant ·gardt.compostrs'
innovative approaches
cal interest away from the elements related to pitch, melody and harmony, htlptd lo brtak down
and instead focuses attention on timbre, dynamics, and rhythm. Such u nhArits·old auumptio,u
moves helped to break down centuries-old assumptions about ,vhich about which musical
tlemtnls ranktd as most
musical elements ranked as most essential and opened ne,v lines of musi- tssenl'ial and optne.d ntw
cal thought. lints ofmusical thought.
In addition to the general texts mentioned in the Suggestions for Fur-

ther Read ing in Chapter 22, a helpful collection of essays emphasizing
the place of music in society is Robert P. Morgan, ed., Modern Times:
From World War I to the Present (Engle,vood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall,
1993). An interesting chronology, including a collection of documents,
is Nicolas Slonimsky, Music since 1900, 5th ed. (Ne,v York: Schirmer
Books, 1993).
Some important writings of composers are collected in Elliott
Sch,vartz and Barney Childs, eds., Contemporary Composers 011 Contem-
porary Music, expanded ed. (New York: Da Capo, 1998).
On serial composition, see George Perle, Serial Composition and Ato-

nality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, 5th
ed. (Berkeley: Un iversity of California Press, 1981).
On Soviet music, see Boris Sch,varz, Music and Musical Life in Soviet
Russia, Enlarged Edition, 1917-1981 (Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1983).
1\vo surveys of jazz are Donald D. Megill and Richard S. Demory,
Introduction to Jazz History, 4th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall, 1996), and Martin T. Williams, 'Die Jazz Tradition, 2nd rev. ed.
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).
Selected books by and about individual composers include the
follo,ving:
Armstrong: Laurence Bergreen, Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant
Life (Ne,v York: Broad,vay Books, 1997).
Copland: Aaron Copland, Music and Itnagination (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), gives a sense of the
composer's thinking. For biography see Ho,vard Pollack, Aaron
Copland: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man (Ne,v York:
Holt, 1999).
Ellington: A. H. La,vrence, Duke Ellington and His World: A
Biography (Ne,vYork: Routledge, 2001).
Gersh,vin: Ed,vardJablonsky, Gershwin (Ne,vYork: Doubleday,
1987); William G. Hyland, George Gershwin: A New Biography
(Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003).
Hindemith: Paul Hindemith's TI1e Craft ofMusical Co1nposition
(New York: Associated, 1954) deals ,vith the technical aspects
of composing, ,vhereas h is A Composer's World (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1952) discusses philosophical
matters. For a biography see Ian Kemp, Hinde1nith (London:
Oxford University Press, 1967).
Honegger: Arthur Honegger, I Atn a Composer, trans. Wilson 0.
Clough and Allan Arthur Willman (New York: St. Martin's,
1966), contains interview·s and comments by the composer.
Harry Halbreich, Arthur Honegger, trans. Roger Nichols
(Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1999), provides a thorough
biography.
Kodaly: Laszl6 Eosze, Zoltan Kodaly, trans. Istvan Farkas and
Gyula Gulyas (London: Collett's, 1962); Erno Lendvai, TI1e
Workshop ofBartok and Kodaly (Budapest: Editio Musica,
1983).
Milhaud: Darius Milhaud, Notes Without Music, trans. D. Evans
(New York: Knopf, 1970); Paul Collaer, Darius Milhaud, trans.
and ed. Jane Hohfeld Galante (London: Macmillan, 1988).
Morton: Ho,vard Reich and William Ga ines, Jelly's Blues: The Life,
Music, and Redemption ofJelly Roll Morton (Cambridge, MA:
Da Capo, 2003).
Suggest ions for Further Reading 443
Partch: Harry Partch, Genesis of a Music, 2nd ed. (New·York: Da

Capo, 1974).
Poulenc: Carl B. Schmidt, Entrancing Muse: A Documented
Biography of Francis Poulenc (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon, 2001) .
Prokofiev: Harlo\v Robinson, Prokofiev: A Biography (Ne,v York:
Viking, 1987).
Satie: Robert O rledge's Satie the Composer (Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press, 1990) and Steven Moore Whit-
ing's Sa tie the Bohemian: Fro,n Cabaret to Concert Hall (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1999) offer t\vo different approaches.
Ruth Cra,vford Seeger: Judith Tick, Ruth Crawford Seeger: A
Composer's Search for American Music (Ne\v York: Oxford
Sessions: Roger Sessions, The Musical Experience of Composer,
Perfortner, Listener (Princeton, NJ: Princeton U niversity Press,
1950), and Questions about Music (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1970). Andrea Olmstead, Roger Sessions and
His Music (Ann Arbor, Ml: UMI Research Press, 1985).
Shostakovich: Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich: A Life (Oxford: Oxford
Webern: Anton Webern, The Path to the New Music, ed. Willi Reich,
trans. Leo Black (Bryn Ma,vr, PA: Presser, 1963), gives
Webern's account of the development of the t\velve-tone
method. A mo numental compilation is Ha ns Moldenhauer and
Rosaleen Moldenhauer, Anton von Webern: A Chronicle of His
Life and Work (Ne\v York: Knopf, 1979). A more recent and
briefer biography is Kathryn Bailey, The Life of Webern
I. Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons, trans. Arthur
Knodel and lngolf Dahl (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1947),
51-52.
2. Ibid., 63, 65.
3. "The Life of Bela Bart6k," Tempo 13 (Autumn 1949), 4-5.
4. Gerald Abraham, "Music in the Soviet Union," in The New Oxford History of
Music, vol. 10, Tl,eModern Age: 1890-1960, ed. Martin Cooper (London: Oxford
University Press, 1974), 640.
S. Nicolas Slonimsky, Music since 1900, 4th ed. (New York: Scribner, 1971),
1370-71.
6. Ferruccio Busoni, Entwurf einer neuen Asthetik der Tonkunst (Leipzig: lnsel,
1941), 31. [Translation by OS)
7. "Edgar [sic) Varese, 'Great Sound Builder' ls Here," The Santa Fe New Mexican,
IS June 1936, quoted in Fernand Ouellette, Edgard Varese, trans. Derek Coltman
(New York: Orion, 1968), 84.
From the Second Half ofthe
Twentieth Century into the
Twenty-First
Musicians in the West after World War Ilfaced neiv contexts for their activities.
Thefree -enterprise system served better for popular n1usic, ivhereas n1ore elite music
relied on government or academic support. The latter included such directions
as total control and experimentation with extended techniques, both furthered
in some cases by electronic and computer technology. Other experimentalists
explored indeterminacy and minimalism. Postmodernism and globalization
spurred musicians to seize opportunities in diverse styles and fusions ofsounds
and techniques from different musical cultures. The availability of unprecedented
disposable income in the middle class, especially among American youth, led to
the rapid groivth ofpopular musics, including a wide range in the heritage of
rock music.
History and Conte1nporary i\1usic Electronic i\1usic

C O J\;IPUT E R S
Con1posers in Late-Tiventieth-
Century Society TH E PE RFORJ\1ER
Total Control lndetern1inacy

I N DET E RMI NACY, PE RFOR J\;I E R S,
The Exploration of1\Jeiv Tin1bres:
AN D CO MPUT E R S
Extended Techniques
444
Coinposers in Late-Twentieth-Century Society 445
Aesthetic Issues MINil\1ALISl\l

MIXED-1\IEDIA AND
Post1nodernisn1
PERFORl\lANCE-ORIENTED l\lUSIC
Post1nodernisn1 in Music
Jazz and Popular Music
POSTl\10DERN COMPOSER AND
JAZZ
LISTENER
ROCK MUSIC
DIVERSITY IN STYLES BASED ON
THE WESTERN TRADITION Into the T1venty-First Century
JUXTAPOSITIONS AND FUSIONS
\VITH NON-\VESTERN MUSICS
HISTORY AND CONTEMPORARY Music
As w'e approach the music of our own time, it is useful to remind our-
selves of several truths about the history of music. First, all composers in Perspectives on musk in
any era compose contemporary music. Second, all composers have roots historic.al context
in their past and must choose the degree to ,vhich they ,viii continue in
traditional directions or attempt to launch ne,v ones. Third, composers
become great for a variety of reasons-some because of their mastery of
existing styles and others because they envision ne,v styles that later art-
ists ,viii bring to completion. Finally, circumstances external to music
itself, and therefore outside the control of the musician, often have po,v-
erful and unforeseeable effects on the future of the art.
In the second half of the hventieth century, many composers continued
to employ the musical styles of the first halfofthe century. These styles, some
of ,vhich had met hostile receptions at their first appearance, ,vere heard by
audiences with increasing acceptance as they became more familiar. Only
time can reveal ,vhich ,vorks become lasting masterpieces-and even
,vhether the idea of the masterpiece continues to be relevant-and ,vhich Only timt can reveal which
fade from view. History itself must reveal ,vhat styles, genres, and composers works btcomt lasl'ing
ma.sltrpfrus-and tvtn
ultimately attain historical prominence. The focus of the following discus-
whether the idta of lht
sion ,viii be on some of the ne,ver musical ideas and styles in the period since ma.skrpfrct conl'inuts to
World War II. bt rtfovant.
C OM P OSER S I N L ATE-TWENTIETH-CENTURY SOCI ETY
The twentieth century presented a ne,v set of conditions under ,vhich

musicians had to W'Ork. In eastern Europe during the period of socialist
state control, musicians and other artists found themselves supported
financially by the government but subject to aesthetic and stylistic
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Support for mus icians restrictions. Their situation ,vas in certain senses ironically similar to
that of earlier musicians ,vorking under the system of noble patronage.
In the West, and especially in the United States, the free-enterprise
system supported popular musicians as well as some nonpop ular com-
posers who became popular cult figures, such as a few of the minimalists.
Market economics thereby took over the function of the patron, ,vith no
less control over musical developments.
Western European countries also tended to provide government
support to artists. U.S. composers ,vere able to obtain funding through
government or private agencies created to support the arts, although less
Grants for the arts commonly tha n their European contemporaries. In these cases much of
the artist's time and energy were taken up in application processes, and
the monetary a,vards naturally depended on the judgment of commit-
tees. Commissions, altho ugh available, were never easily fo und, and the
accumulation of a list of grants and prizes became important to the com-
poser as a means of keeping his or her career alive.
Perhaps the most important alternative-one relied on by many
outsta nd ing composers-was an academic position at a college, univer-
Academic srttings sity, or conservatory. In this situatio n, ho,vever, teaching absorbed a
Total Control 447
substantial part of the composer's energy, and the nature of the academic
environment tended to favor a somewhat intellectual approach to music.
How'ever, the university must not be overlooked as a source of musical
patronage in the late t\ventieth century, either for composers or for public
performance of music other than popular music.
TOT AL CONTROL
A number of composers pursuing the development of musical structure

following Webern came to concentrate on achieving more and more
control over each aspect of musical style. The extension of the serial Sedaltechniques
technique was increased to cover every aspect of the music, and often the
series governing different elements ,vere interrelated according to com-
plex mathematical formulas.
A pioneer in this area ,vas the American composer Milton Babbitt
(1916-2011), ,vho taught first mathematics and then music at Princeton
University. In 1947 and 1948 he ,vorked systematically at the control not Milton Babbitt
only of melodic and harmonic material but also of duration, dynam ics,
articulation, and scoring by mathematical-musical serial techniques.
The Frenchman Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) was a European leader
in the broadening of serial composition. Messiaen's interests ranged from
the songs of birds, which he transcribed avidly, to mystical Catholicism.
Much of his music is characterized by subjectivity and programmatic Olivier Mossiaon
content or orientation. He absorbed a variety of musical materials, which
he sometimes juxtaposed and sometimes synthesized into an eclectic
style, including ne,v types of tonal patterns and scales, ancient Greek
poetic meters, non-Western additive rhythms (rhythms produced by
successions of unequal duration un its, as contrasted to rhythms that
multiply or divide durations by integer values as in the conventional
meters of Western music), impressionist sonorities, liturgical chant,
Asian musics, and birdcalls. His experiments in rhythmic organization
include the invention of complex sequences of durations in what he
called "nonretrogradable" rhythms, that is, symmetrical or pali ndrom ic
patterns. In the piano piece "Mode de valeurs et d'intensites'' (Mode of
values and intensities, 1949), no. 2, from his Eludes de ryth1ne, Messiaen
serialized pitch, duration, loudness, and articulation in a systematic
fash ion in which each element is connected with the others. The use of
such techniques need not lead to such abstract music, ho,vever; in
Messiaen's Quatuor pour le fin du temps (Quartet for the end of time,
1940), composed for himself and some other musicians in a prison camp
during World War II, they are combined ,vith other elements of his style
to evoke an apocalyptic, mystical vision.
A student of Messiaen at the Paris Conservatory, Pierre Boulez
(1925-2016), follo,ved this trend with his Structures I (1952). This work
for two pianos establishes total control by interrelated series of hvelve
each of pitches, durations, dynamic levels, and articulations. In later Pierre Bou lez
448 CHAPTER 24: From the Second Half of the Twentieth Century into the Twenty-First
W'Orks, such as the '"ell-know'n Le marteau sans 1naitre (The hammer

\\l'ithout a master, 1953-1954), a set of songs and instrumental pieces for
alto voice, flute, guitar, viola, and percussion on poems by the surrealist
poet Rene Char, Boulez began to seek some flexibility to offset the purely
IRCAM mechanical tendencies of total serialization. After an active international
career as a conductor, Boulez became director of the Institut de Recherche
et de Coord ination Acoustique/ Musique (IRCAM) in Paris, one of the
leading centers of new music.
Follow'ing World War II a center for avant-garde music was estab-
lished in Darmstadt, Germany, where an annual International Summer
Course for New Music ,vas begun in 1946 to bring up to date German
composers who had missed out on new developments during the repres-
Darmstadt sion of the Nazi period. A leading German figure in the total control move-
ment was Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007), whose Kontra-Punkte
(1953) for chamber orchestra was totally serialized.
Some thorny new aesthetic questions arise in connection \\l'ith totally
Aesthetic issues serialized music. For example, once the initial planning is completed, does
not the writing of the music become a purely mechanical matter? The com-
poser's role is one of conception and predetermination of the course of the
music; as a result, does the idea th at specific moments during the playing
out of the piece express anything disappear? If so, ,vhat place does expres-
sion have in the sound experience? If the composer's ideas belong primarily
to the process of mathematical conception and planning, ,viii the appeal of
the music resemble th at of an elegant equation, and will there be any special
justification for actual realization of the music in performance?
Totally serialized music also presents enormous problems for per-
Performeu formers. The execution of the score depends on clear distinction of often
almost impossibly rapid or subtle rhythms, dynamic levels, and articula-
tions of individual notes, as ,veil as technically a,vk'Ward passages for tra-
ditional instruments. Moreover, the means by ,vhich performers have
conventionally expressed themselves in their playing have been usurped
by the composers, so that players might be frustrated by the sense that
there is ultimately nothing for them to do except produce the designated
musical tones ,vith as much precision as possible (Example 24. 1).
Total-control music thus confronts musicians ,vith both aesthetic
and practical problems. It is not surprising that even the leading compos-
ers of this style later turned in other directions. For many composers the
techniques of serialism became tools to be used as they,"ished, not rigid,
inviolable la,vs.
THE EXPLORATION OF NEW T IMBRES:

EXTENDED TECHNIQUES
As ,ve have already observed, one major issue for avant-garde composers
before World War II was the addition to the available repertoire of ne,v
timbres, either never yet heard or earlier dismissed as mere noise. After
The Exploration of New Timbres: Extended Techniques 449
Example 24.1 No. 10 of Boulez's twelve Notations for p iano (1985) requires the
performer to execute the music with a machinelike precision. (Copyright 1985
Universal Edition A.G., Vienna-UE No. 18 310)
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1945 th is concern remained an important one, resulting in w·hat are

called extended techniques for existing instruments and the voice.
Some of the composers interested in ne\v timbres continued to
achieve remarkable innovative effects by using traditional instruments
in unusual \vays. The Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki's (b. 1933) KrzyutofPonderocki
Threnody: To the Victims of Hiroshima (1960), for example, employs a
string orchestra of fifty-tw·o instruments in w·ays that produce surprising
sounds. Rather than restricting the players to precise pitches, Penderecki
called for "bands of sound" that may be introduced by having the players
spread from a unison in different degrees up\vard and downward; they
may then return from the band of sound by reversing the process. The
timbre thus departs from a single tone into a roaring sound and then re-
focuses on the unison again. In addition, Penderecki demanded a variety
of string techniques: area and pizzicato, playing over the fingerboard, at
the bridge, betw·een the bridge and the tail piece, on the tail piece itself,
col legno (indicating that the player is to use the \vood rather than the hair
of the bo\v) or col legno battuto (struck v.rith the \vood), and even striking
the body of the instrument. In such music, melody and harmony do not
actually exist as style elements at all, and tonality is not an issue.
The American composer George Crumb (b. 1929) also made impor-
tant experiments v.rith unusual sound production from voices and instru-
ments, as ,veil as the introduction of some uncommon sound sources.
Ancient Voices of Children (1970), on texts by the Spanish poet (and com- George Crumb
poser) Federico Garcia Lore a ( 1898-1936), calls for a soprano soloist and
offstage boy soprano. The onstage voice is modified by singing into a
piano v.rith the dampers released, and the vocalists must produce a variety
.i,.
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KhlOllt rl.
[:::I . Vlbf'oplion
knMer ol'lnt vlboroto
siloc;ken : ffl09lidllf 4 (IUftino nd•rfolg•nd• T6 nt 'dtt
SkoSo (Tom•to m1 m~ llch1t tltl 111.mMen) :
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(mOgichst -h~rt G11e,ro.
tl<lndlg voriler en.
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horter Sehl. I,
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(Mi Gon9 tnhpretbend) , P..._, . Pedo l m091ich1t long. f ijr l t(lfflmtln, Beck.tn, Al mgtodltn. Hol riromm,ln, Morimbo u rtd Vlbro 11:i:ianen 4.le
m
l!J . t Hoh,(ofrikOIIIKhe Sdliltt•)
Trom111th1 (it'? TonhiSfltn),
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[1 • 4 Ahng~ tn (.,Vitlik....._
len..) o h&e Kl<:iP9el ouf.
khk:gel • w ena "IOI! be~ e" vorgesd u1eben ( I f f ) ~ ho r1 oclt r w elch sel"-
ln olkn m6glith.,. Molfl'iolitn (',or o11tffi olffl'I Mtlo.1b'lllbe.. t. 8. Triot1gebdlltgef
T mlt Sch1.,,I (odtr mil k,B

Khliie8t n) ,
gthii"9I; Fr octhMOul· ""d
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fur T(lffl· lom1 '-"W.}.
Gli1li0n<II ouf Mor i mbo u-nd Vibro mil m6glich1t venchi,du,tn Sctlltgtlft,
(lX) .. Scl'lodltn
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011(11..t101111t (mi)g,
~ ~· IO(hd lod iull, Scl,,l..n ver-
~ -oaen.1"11kh~ el.
- Gong m!t Kuppe: mog1lchst V!bc'o·Gli»ondl Ohn.llch voriitrtl\. wit dit Y'Ot9-h ritbtl'ltn Motitnbo.Gliuand'i
O c '<- tdlltdffltr G~Be) oder , , • olt n. ou( K11p,p1 o f1 Ma w·e ich- Schk,gtl, (gjtllt!WI, 9trisst n, 1u Bciglnt1 octer (ut1d) In dt r Mlt,e o dtr{ut1d) om Ende <hromatlKh
O D <c:::i).t:.. - u r>d - To fflbo11 r b1nqv1 b• ·
f~llgt ; mh Sctilegel ocle,r
11thlo11 tn, -.nn nk ht ~ nden o n·
gtgtMl'I:
ou1g e1Chlogen, mlt beidoNi Sdlle;eln ver,c;hiedtnt K11fflbi l:'IOliontl'I usw,).
( V )T ..,.. A • Tt lo1191I : ttindlg..-

•
Hond 1d'llo9tfl, Anich.kig,.te:Ut llion<lig vo.f iitrtn, /Ille f\Jnk.ttt k hen btdtU'len .,t in Schlog- ,
Weclittl
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1 venctilede,
-M
. . . . . . • kleineTrommel-,ehrhoc;h - von w enlgsien1
To m· lom m6glich,1 oft mit Alie U n~teithtn btdtuten ..Wlrbtf" ( - ~ ~.
..__. ,nit Solltfl: w tnl'I dJe Solten t1tn,. 1eht l\oeh k:Un.otndtn
beim Amthlog oode~ r In· lrio11S1tl rl. Elni elnt SchlOgt ho Men, Schlegel, nkh.l
striuneni. 116rend mltkUrren, mlt 1'Ch w.:ttl'fl'I Sdlltgefn, baofldUl oi,gtgtkn :
ki:in.n,n lie °''di ob11ttteltl lre.moll mlt ,ehr dtln.nen Me,.
- d tn. loU1Mbchtll. Ansch1og1t.Ut ttandlg votlltttn.
Do ue.rn und Elnsatzab11ande sind im Mo8s.tab dat gcslellt: gleiche S.trecken cnnprechen glclchen Zcltcn.
Elne Interpretation kan n mit irgcndcincr Selic beginncn, sie saU dann olle Sei1en o hf\e Unteri:,r-echung in der gcgebcnen Reihenfalge umfcmen und mi1 dem en-lcn Schlag dcr Anfangs:scite cnden.
Bei oochklingenden lnstrumenten • oder - damplcn, . - oder - - klingcn lossen ; - w Beg inn efoer Gruppe g ill fi.ir olle ihre TOM, _............ klingcn lcwen bis zv m Ende der Wcllenli nic.
.J u nd ~ Immer so schnell w ie mciglldl, Lr.[ Proportio nen dcr Einso.t?abslGnde In d er Gruppe genou berilduichllgen; ~ gcschlossencs System : beim Schl u&irich sof'ort eine Note oder Gruppe anschlie8en (bci nadildingen•
den TOncn konn siott deucn beim SdiluBstrich g edGmp(t werden). / a o«elero ndo vnd ~ - rilordondo : Eimot:zolntcinde in oc«letando vnd rilo.rdando s.owic die Gt s:o.mtdou,er sind freL
lnten sitdten sind durch d ie vntcn.ch.icdli-che c»ckt d er Punkte oder Slrlche dargestcllt; s.lc 'to riicren zwis.cht ;n · - und e - . Die lnlcnMlciJ dcr Gucrostrichc is-I im Schriflbild nicht differcn:zicrl wordt ·n; sic soil s.ich aufd ie lnlenslliU
d er jenigen lnslro menlc beziehcn, mit dcncn G ue,ostriche komblnterr werden (s. u. leltser Sol:.).
Stru ktu ren: 1. Ovrdikomponierl wie Oblich ; o lle Gruppen vnd (oder) Punkleslnd im ZeitmoBslab fixiert.
2. Von mchrcren N otcn11itcmcn in Klo.mmern ~ IU Wr elne AuffVhrvng nur cincs auuv wcihlc-n.
3. Gtv!)pel'I und (oder) Punkle Im 0'1!ieck ~ LS, slnd vttlo.uschbar, n,Onen o.ber on d en im gcmeuenen Zeitoblouf ongege.benen Stellen A\ V beglnnen.
4. G ruppen und (oder) Punktc Im Redittek c:::J sind vcrtoutchbar und kOnnen on bclicbigcr S.telle inncrholb dcr Lcingc des Rechlecks in den gemenenen Zciloblauf eingegliedcrt wcrden; oocheino.nder und m!Sglichst
oft glcichttilig.
S. Grupptn und (oder) Punkte in zwci Obcrlogcrlcn Rechlecken ~ Wit ~ i eintelnen Rechlccken : es 1011 ober van Gruppe (oder Ton) t u Gruppc {oder Ton) dos Rechtedt gewechsclt werden l·
In einigcn Rechteckcn und Obcrlogcrlcn Redilecken dOrfen nur d urch P!eile ma rii:icrlc Verbi nd un,gen und Wedisel g espiell werden.
6-. G rup~n und (oder) Punkle in Rechtecken mll Klommern ~ , die gt.eklueilig Gber und unter detn d urdllaurend gemessenen S)'S1em uehen: Ver1el1ung wle In c:::J : in einer Auffilhrung werden o.ber nur
die Elcmenlc aus eincm de.r bciden Rechlcckc gespielt. ~
7. Gruppcn u nd (oder) Punklc in icJlwcnig erweitcrten RccMcdccn [ : ] c1::::1, wie in c::::J ; fur d ie Zeit d cr Erweilcrung "crg r08crt sich. o.bcr dos Reu:r\'Qlr o n Elcmenlen.
8, Punktc ahne Noitnlinkn fl.Ir 4 Tom-tom,: Olc Vtrtcilun9 von Punkten ISi rw,.ch Olchte (Geschwlndlgbit) und Oh;b (lnltMll<I.I) ,10.lls!IKh beulmm1; HOh•n slnd frel , Einso.tto.bstande - det Olchtc entsprech•nd - rclativ fr.I,
In den Struldurcn 1, 3, 4, S, 7, 8 JJnd lmm•r ollt Elcmcntc tu splclcn. In oll\':n 8 Strukture.n $0!1 keln Element W1ed crhal1 w1r<len.
In dcn 'tlt ldcut19en S1rukturen 3-8 soll der Si>leler mijg1lchsl Viel Stille ermtsg11chen, In den S1rukluren 3-8 sollen d ie teltlle:h 'tO.rioMen Punkle und Gruppen In den fl>derlen Zelloblo.uf so e.rngeordnet werden, dcB m6glle:hst oft " a ricble
Antdll09e mll flxk:r1en Ansc.hlagen gleichteitlg erfolgen : dodurch sollen kom!)lue KlcnggemiSche ous twei ut1d inch, lnslrume111alklan9en tflulne ret1: d te vorloblen Klon,geletnetlle ktinnen im Einschwing vorgon,g, im Veriouf und Im
AU$sdlwlngvo~o.ng der flx en Klangelcmtnlc g cspitfl werden - und umgeke.hr1; besanders die Guerallrlche soll man tnlt dem Ansc.hlog eines o.nderen lns1rumenlt1 verblnden.
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Figure 24.1 Th e page of instructions to the performer and the third page of the score of Stockhausen's Zyklus for solo percussionist. The guide shows the
.i:,. setup of the instruments, the meanings of the individual notations, and the rules by which the performer navigates and partly creates the form of the piece.
~ (© Universal Edition (London) Ltd., London 1961-UE No. 13 186 LW)
of nontraditional sounds, including not only Sprechstimme and dramatic

speaking but also percussive and nonverbal sounds, flutter-tongue rolls,
and a "metallic" timbre. The same ,vork calls for electrically amplified tra-
ditional instruments. Black Angels: Thirteen Images from the Dark Land
(1970) requires an electrified string quartet, ,vith the players supplement-
ing their regular instruments by maracas, tam-tam, and crystal glasses.
One result of this use of extended techniques is that descriptions of
ne,v music could no longer rely on traditional terminology. As ,ve have
already noted, Varese found it more appropriate to speak of his works in
spatial terms, referring to the collision and penetration of masses and vol-
New musical concepts umes. No standard musical definitions exist for such usage, and new vo-
cabularies continually arise for ne,v works. Much remains to be done in
th is area to develop technical terms for describing music, if indeed any
common terminology can be established. The creation of new timbres
and the use of extended techn iques thus carried ,vith them entirely ne,v
possibilities for musical organization and style elements, going far beyond
the mere addition of the sounds themselves to the available catalogue.
Such experiments in timbre as those of Penderecki and Crumb in-
Notation evitably led to ne,v types of notation. In some cases these are directed to
the reader of a score in an attempt to give some visual image of the sound,
as in Penderecki's notation of dense bands along the staff. In other cases
they address the performer, giving instructions for unusual performance
techniques. In the latter case the notation may bear little symbolic rela-
tionsh ip to the sounds actually heard. This is not a radical ne,v idea; it has
been the case with some older notations as ,veil, such as those for string
harmonics or tablature. Given the desire of composers to create ever-ne,v
timbres and effects, the composition and performance of such music
often require mastering a new notation for each ne,v piece. Scores com-
monly have tables of notational symbols that look rather like the tables of
agrements in French seventeenth- and eighteenth-century keyboard col-
lections and serve the same purpose (Figure 24.1; cf. Figure 14.3).
Note,vorthy is the use of texts or programs to explain the nontrad i-
Extramusical roferencos tional sounds. This also has precedents. We should recall, for example,
that Monteverdi justified his use of seconda pratica harmonic disso-
nance by textual considerations. Similarly, in the late nineteenth cen-
tury, textual programs accounted for unusual structural designs in
symphonic poems. That ne,v and strange musical techniques still seem
to demand connection to extramusical content is evidenced, for exam-
ple, by the common observation of non musicians ,vho, on hearing a ne,v
style, remark that it sounds like music for a horror film.
ELECTRON I C Music
After 1937 Varese gave up composing because he could not create the
sounds in his aural imagination by traditional means. He resumed com-
position only in the 1950s, ,vhen adequate ne,v, electronic sound sources
Electronic Music 453
became ava ilable. Important early centers for electronic music w·ere lo- Columbia-Princeton
cated at the studios of the French Radio in Paris and at the Columbia- Electr onic Music Contor
Princeton Electronic Music Center in New· York, headed by Otto
Luening (1900-1996) and Vladimir Ussachevsk7 (1911-1990). Elec-
tronic composition spread rapidly through the United States and Europe
and ,vas firmly rooted with in a couple of decades.
In the early years of electronic composition the sources of sound
available to composers were those of recorded tones and noises. By the
1940s composers equipped with tape recorders and microphones were
already collecting all sorts of sounds to experiment with and combine
into compositions. This sort of composition is known as 1nusique con- Musique concrcto
crete. The first tape music dates from 1948 and was created by Pierre
Schaeffer (1910-1995) and Pierre Henry (b. 1927) in France. A fine
American example from a few years later is Ussachevsky's Linear Con-
trasts (1957), ,vhich uses the sounds of a gong, a harpsichord, and voices,
although these sounds are so modified that their sources are not particu-
larly evident. The synthesizer, introduced in the 1950s, made it possible Synthosbers
to generate tones directly on tape by electronic means, including sine,
square, and sawtooth ,vaves and '\vhite" noise. With the introduction of
such controlled electronic tones, composers had cleaner, more predict-
able ra,v material ready-to-hand in the studio.
The electronic studio offered the composer not only ne,v sounds but
also new means for modifying and manipulating sound. With fairly simple Modifying sound sources
devices tones could be played back,vard or at different speeds, altered in
volume or pitch, and filtered or reverberated to change timbre. By means of
overdubbing-that is, recording several sounds on a single segment of
tape-composers could create complex new sounds from simpler ones.
The composition of music was also facilitated by electronic means.
Even the tape recorder offered quite a fe,v possibilities. For example, Organizing tones
playing recording tape back,vard produced retrograde motion. Several
taped lines could be superimposed and recorded in counterpoint. Splic-
ing small pieces of tape created rhythms that could be precisely mea-
sured out, in centimeters rather than seconds. For the purposes of serial
composition, composers could splice a sequence of tones on tape into a
tape loop and run it over a recording head in circular fashion ,vhile apply-
ing various means to mod ify the series electronically. The synthesizer,
,vhich not only generated individual tones but also could put out tones in
series, facilitated composition and gave composers much more precise
control over their materials and compositional process. It ,vas only natu-
ral that composers of the total-control style, such as Stockhausen, ,vould
turn to electronic means to extend their control. Composition directly
on tape meant that they did not have to rely on the approximations of
notation or to find and trust live performers. Babbitt, for example,
became associated ,vith the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music
Center. His 1961 Composition for Synthesizer employs all synthetic
sounds and serial procedures that can often be clearly heard.
Comput ers
The introduction of the computer in composing eliminated a great deal
of manual labor and gave composers even more control over the music.
The mathematical calculations of total serialization are, of course, natu-
rally suited to the computer. The use of a computer in tandem with a
synthesizer facilitates both delicate adjustments in the sound material
Tht use of a compultr in
t.andtm with a synlhtsiur itself and the actual composition of pieces. Charles Dodge (b. 1942) ex-
facililalts both ddicatt plored the possibilities of computer-synthesized music in his Changes
adjusl'mtnts in the sound
(1969-1970), w·hich belongs to the total-control tradition, and the hu-
mattrial itself and lht
acl'ual composilfon morous, madrigalistic Speech Songs (1973), in which he used the com-
ofpit.us. puter to synthesize w·ords as '"ell as pitches, rhythms, and timbres.
The Performer
Electronic composition calls into question the role of the performer in late-
h\l'entieth-century music. The composer's direct control of the sound on
tape or in digital storage on the computer eliminated the need for players,
and the ever-increasing capabilities of synthesis also began to put players out
Live and electronic musk ofw·ork. Some composers, how·ever, found good reason to combine live per-
formance with electronic composition. An example ,vas the Argentine
native Mario Davidovsky (b. 1934), ,vhose various compositions titled
Sy11chro11isms combine different live performers with taped sounds (Exam-
ple 24.2). One advantage of using live performers is that it provides a human
presence and a degree of flexibility in the music; such ,vorks make a more
effective presentation in a public concert than music coming from immobile
electronic speakers on a stage or around a hall. In addition, the risk involved
in the interplay bet\\l'een performer and tape, ,vhich requires a precise rhyth-
mic sense on the part of the player and sometimes the musicality to blend
live and electronic timbres, lends a special interest to the performance.
The development of electronic sound sampling and synthesis in per-
formance produced a ne," relationship bet\veen player and electronic
technology, in ,vhich the performer has considerable control in the cre-
lntr,grat:ion of ative musical process. In addition, an entirely new kind of live perform-
human action ing musician, the synthesizer operator, ,vas added to many kinds of
music. Boulez, working at IRCAM, created his Repons for spatially sepa-
rated performers, some of ,vhose playing ,vas modified during perfor-
mance by means of computer and synthesizer technologies.
I N D E T ERMI NACY
Some composers, ho,vever, questioned the seemingly fundamental as-

sumption that in the course of the history of music it is inevitable that
composers should take greater and greater control of musical sound and
C hance in music structure. They reasoned that most music has involved some degree of
flexibility in actual execution and that this aspect of the art deserves more
exploration. This point of vie,v led to the idea of i11deter1ni11acy in musical
Indetermi nacy 455
Example 24.2 A passage from Davidovsky's Synchronisms no. 10 for guitar and
electron ic sounds (1992). (Copyright 1995 C. F. Peters Corporation, 373 Park Ave.
South, New York, NY 10016)
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composition. The music of indeterminacy is also sometimes called chance

music or aleatory music (from the Latin a/ea, meaning "dice").
We observed earlier that Charles Ives anticipated later composers'
explorations of this idea. The concept of indeterminacy \Vas pioneered John Cago
most notably by the avant-garde composer John Cage. Strongly influ-
enced by Eastern mystical philosophy, Cage argued against the histori-
cal Western compulsion for rigorous control and precision in art. Instead,
he valued freedom, flexibility, and randomness.
In indeterminate music the composer generally exercises partial

Types ofindeterminacy control. One might establish the conditions for the performance (i.e.,
the form of the w·ork) but relinquish control over the actual sound, as in
Cage's Imaginary Landscape No. 4, w·h ich calls for twelve radios tuned to
various frequencies and manipulated according to a specific set of in-
structions but playing w·hatever happens to be broadcast at the t ime. On
the other hand, the composer may provide fixed sound materials but
give up control of the organization, as in HPSCHD (1969) by Cage and
Lejaren H iller (1924-1994), w·hich provides scored and recorded
sounds but generates the form anew· for each performance by random
processes.
Cage's significance consists not only in his w·orks but also in the aes-
thetic that underl ies them. He w·rote and talked extensively about the
Aestheticissues art; his book Silence (1961) explores his thoughts. In what is perhaps
Cage's most famous piece, 4'33", which consists of four minutes and
thirty-three seconds in which the performer (or performers, since the
scoring is indeterminate) does nothing, one is left to ponder ,vhether the
music truly consists of the performer's silence, of the incidental sounds
in the performance space, or of ,vhat goes on in the minds of the players
and audience.
Indeterminacy, Performers, and Co mputers

Indeterminacy became, for many more recent composers, one of many
elements to be used in expressing ideas, not necessarily the main point of
a piece. Crumb, for example, employed structures in ,vhich performers
take up musical fragments according to various instructions in maplike
scores, passing with some freedom from one musical un it to another.
Even Boulez, coming from the tradition of total control, worked in such
open forms, leaving decisions about the order of movements in his Third
Piano Sonata (1957) up to the player.
The freedom thus given to performers has several effects. Entirely
ne,v regions of creativity and virtuosity open up for performing musi-
Performeu as croatou cians. They must not only handle technically difficult material but also
be able to respond in the course of performance to unanticipated or un-
precedented demands. In many cases they must learn to read notations
made up of graphic symbols that do not correspond to fixed notes and
rhythms. They must exert their o,vn creative imaginations in ways not
called for by the standard repertoire of the common-practice periods.
There are also points of contact betw·een indeterminacy and the
mathematical ,vays of musical thinking associated with computer ap-
Cakulated randomness plications. Stockhausen's Mo111e11te (1964) employs serialism to deter-
mine different degrees of control and freedom in the music. The
Rumanian-born French composer Yannis Xenakis (1922-2001), who
came to music from a mathematical background, employed computers
to generate random numbers to be used in composing.
Postmodernisn1 457
A EST HETIC I SSU ES
Although it may still be too early to judge, it is possible that the twentieth
century marks a major watershed in the history of musical ideas and
styles in Western culture. One reason for this is that aesthetic presup-
positions of much music by the middle third of the twentieth century- Fundamtnlal assumpt.ions
about musical txprtssion
from that of total control to that of indeterminacy-no longer seem to
that lasttdfrom lht
draw on the literary models that have dominated Western theories of sixtunlh ti.rough lht
musical expression since the fifteenth century. Indeed, fundamental as- nintlttnth unt·u rits wtrt.
sumptions about musical expression that lasted from the sixteenth radically challtngtd by
approachts as different
through the nineteenth centuries v.rere radically challenged by ap- from t.acl1 ot.litr as strialism
proaches as different from each other as serialism and indeterminacy. and indtttrminacy.
Stravinsk')' clearly rejected the idea that music derives its models
from literature, saying that it is
far closer to mathematics than to literature-not perhaps to St:ravinsL::y likens music to
mathematics itself, but certainly to something like mathematical mathematics
thinking and mathematical relationships.. . . I am not saying that

composers think in equations or charts of numbers, nor are those
things more able to symbolize music. But the ,vay composers
think-the ,vay I think-is, it seems to me, not very different from
mathematical thinking. 1
In addition, both the precompositional total control of music by processes
of serial generation and the composer's relinquishing of control in the
music ofindeterminacymake it difficult to say that the composer has com-
municated anything like an expressive intention in the sense in which mu-
sicians seem to have understood that concept in the past several centuries.
Moreover, as ,ve have already observed, the performance of serial music
allowed the performer little room, if any, for personal interpretation.
To be sure, composers produced much music in the decades after
World War II that continued to follow' the aesthetic models of the eigh-
teenth and nineteenth centuries, extending stylistic idioms in ne,v direc-
tions as the earlier composers of atonal music and neoclassicism had done
in their time. It appeared, therefore, that Western culture in the late t\ven- Multiple aesthrtk
tieth century ,vas to be marked by the coexistence of different musics, not positions
merely in the sense of personal or national stylistic treatments of shared

artistic assumptions but also in the fundamental sense that contemporary
,vorks might differ fundamentally in their aesthetic premises.
Pos TMODE R N I SM
Around 1970 something of a cultural shift began to come into focus, ,vhich
led to ne,v perspectives and ne,v approaches to life and art. Underlying this
shift ,vere fundamental doubts about the idea of progress. The failure of
modernism to generate either any convincing particular direction of devel-
opment or any ne,v foundation for culture made for a view of the present
more as a diversity of options than as a moment in a historical trajectory.
In this context the modernist position now seems conservative, partak-

ing of a model of the world and of history based on assumptions about
change and progress that go back at least through the eighteenth and nine-
lhe aging of modernism teenth centuries and, really, even farther than that. Modernism is challenged
by postmodernism, which dismisses those assumptions, embracing no single
model except to welcome the diversity that it sees in the current w·orld.
Several features of Western culture in the last quarter of the tv.renti-
eth century are \\l'Orth noting.Among the most important of these \\l'aS the
development of the "global village," a term that can be taken in h\l'O senses.
Globalization Instant \\l'Orld\\l'ide communication changed the \\l'ay in \\l'hich people re-
lated to each other. Instead of circles of contact that depended on physical
proximity, individuals became able to (and did) interact as easily over
long distances as in direct encounters. Related to this was the emergence
of globalism that \\l'aS facilitated by gro,\l'ing familiarity \\l'ith different cul-
tures and by international commerce. In an increasingly multicultural
'"orld one could as easily encounter African cuisines or African music in
even small Western municipalities as one could find an American fast-
food chain restaurant (serving items adjusted to Hindu dietary restric-
tions and local tastes) or American pop music in India.
At the same time, the second half of the h\l'entieth century completed
Popular culture a shift in economic and cultural influence to popular culture. Since the
Western standard of living had by this time increased dramatically and
recording allo,\l'ed mass distribution of music to the average (or even, by
contemporary standards, poor) citizen, the bulk of musical output \\l'as no
longer controlled by extremely wealthy and exceptionally '"ell-educated
elites. In the late h\l'entieth century, for the first time, \\l'ealth flo,\l'ed not
toward elite art forms but toward popular ones. One consequence \\l'aS an
explosion of popular music, both good and bad; another was that some
musicians from popular-music backgrounds could afford to experiment
\\l'ith moves tO\\l'ard more complex and challenging forms of expression,
'"hile at the same time musicians ,vhose background might have been in
the elite trad ition began to approach the larger public.
Pluralism became the watch,\l'ord of the time-so much so that it is
tempting simply to regard postmodernism almost as equivalent to plu-
Pluralism ralism. Pluralism in the culture at large was demonstrated in the tremen-
dous diversity of experience in everyday life. Works of art and music also
manifested pluralism internally by the presence of diverse materials and
devices employed simultaneously.
PosTMODERNISM IN Music
Postmodunism was not By its nature postmodernism cannot easily be pinned down in many works.
a slylt but a conltx-1 and It was not a style but a context and a broadly conceived philosophical and
a broadly concdvtd
philosophical and atsthttJc
aesthetic standpoint. Identified as a sort of negative-a rejection of and a
standpoint. counterpart to modernism-postmodernism remains essentially unde-
fined. Operating in tension \\l'ith modernism, postmodernism necessarily
Posttnodernistn in Music 459
occurs in w·orks that still bear recognizably modernist characteristics.

Nevertheless, music in the period of postmodernism did embody, in vary-
ing w·ays and to varying degrees, the cultural conditions of its time.
Postmodern C omposer and Listener

Some composers ,vho had begun as modernists, using styles that w·ere at
least difficult and sometimes so deliberately challenging that the listener
could no longer dra,v on any received assumptions about musical materi-
als and forms, began in the late hventieth century to compose more ap-
proachable music. (One might think of a parallel to the turn that Copland
made in the 1930s, although the circumstances ,vere different and the
analogy should not be pressed too far.) For example, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Appealing to audi enc••
(b. 1939), who in 1983 became the first ,voman to ,vin a Pulitzer Prize for
composition, ,vith her Symphony no. 1 (Three Movements for Orches-
tra), had begun ,vorking in a highly complex style that ,vas extremely dif-
ficult for unskilled listeners to follo,v. In the 1980s and 1990s her music
began to approach the listener in a new,vay, becoming less dense and ,vith
thematic content and gestures presented in ways more likely to be grasped
in the concert hall or on recordings. Her interest in the broader audience,
,villingness to engage popular culture, and sense of humor-,vithout,
ho,vever, any sacrifice of compositional integrity-might be symbolized
by her Peanuts Gallery for piano and chamber orchestra (1997), based on
the comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. Even as avant-gardist a composer as
Stockhausen began to ,vork ,vith materials that can be recognized as ter-
tian harmonies (inSti1n1nu11g, for six singers ,vith microphones, 1968) and
melodic phrases (Mantra, for hvo electronically modulated pianos and
,voodblocks, 1970), although still using advanced serial techniques.
Diversit y in Styles Based on the West ern Trad ition

Among the arts, one of the first to express a clear postmodernist style
,vas architecture. Architects began to move a,vayfrom the stripped-do,vn
modernist appearance that had generally characterized major building
projects through the middle of the century and to seek ,vays of intrigu-
ing the vie,vers and users of their ,vork. Elements of decoration began to
appear, including the use of colors beyond the grays of concrete and Ont asptcl of
poshnodtrnism is
steel, and allusions to the column and capital of classic styles. Thus one tht. e-vocalfon of
aspect of postmodernism is the evocation of premodernism. prtntodtrnism.
Composers expressed postmodern diversity ,vithin their styles or
techniques in many different ,vays. Like their contemporary architects, Stylistic variety
some worked with "old" styles from the Western tradition. Straightfor-
,vardly post-Romantic composers could build on standard performance
media; the familiar concepts of rhythm, melody, harmony, and counter-
point; and existing forms and genres. Also part of the tradition, by this
time, ,vere post-avant-gardist composers who continued to assume the ob-
solescence of style elements such as mensurable rhythm and perceptibly
linear melody in favor of sound masses and spatial conceptions, temporal

organization not based on beat and measure, and electronic and computer
media. Composers could stake out positions at any point on the continua
between these possibilities.
Early music In addition, "old'' musical styles reemerged. The music of the early
periods of the Western tradition experienced a tremendous renascence
as musicologists transcribed and published quantities of pieces, special-
ist players and singers began to create attractive performances, and the
recordi ng industry popularized the repertoire. Some early works even
achieved a degree of recogn ition in the popular media. This music thus
became a significant part of the postmodern musical scene.
Referencos to past styles Early music also infiltrated the imaginations of composers. The English
composer Peter MaX\vell Davies (b. 1934) in his opera Taverner (1972),
based on the sixteenth-century composer John Taverner, combined mate-
rial of that period with modernist techniques. The Estonian-born Arvo Part
(b. 1935) dre,v on the styles of the ars antiqua and ars nova, including paral-
lel organum and the Landini cadence, in his Third Symphony (1971).
Previous music absorbed into postmodern compositions need not
Q uotation come from such a distant past, ho,vever. The Italian composer Luciano
Berio (1925-2003) based the third movement of his Sinfonia (1968), for
eight voices and orchestra, on the scherzo of Mahler's Symphony no. 2
("Resurrection"), layering in as ,veil fragments of music from Bach to
Stockhausen, along ,vith texts from Samuel Beckett's (1906-1989) The
U11na1nable and the ,vritings of anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss. Its
second movement commemorates Martin Luther K ingJr., working up
phonemes derived from h is name eventually to form the name itself.
The American George Roch berg's (1918-2005) Fifth and Sixth Sympho-
nies (1986-1987 and 1987-1988, respectively) also draw heavily on
Mahler, both by direct quotat ion and by stylistic allusion.
J uxtapositions and Fusions with Non-Western Musics

As ,ve have already noted, the shrinking of the ,vorld also brought East
and West into closer contact, blending and d iversifying musical cultures.
As ,vith the early-music movement, one result was that the experiences
of musicians and audiences in the late t\ventieth century included a
Cross-cultural fam iliarity ,vider variety of musics. Touring performers from around the world
brought concerts from their o,vn cultures, and imm igrant communities
retained the music of their homes, sometimes sharing that music with
the ,vider public. It became practically impossible, for example, to ,valk
around do,vntown Ne,v York City or Berlin ,vithout encountering an
Andean folk ensemble performing on the side,valk.
A major contributor to this development ,vas the Indian sitar virtuoso
Ravi Shankar (1920-2012), ,vhose tours to Europe and the United States
beginning in the 1950s made a considerable impression on Western musi-
As;an art music traditions cians, in both popular and "classical" spheres. Shankar himself composed
Postn1odernisn1 in Music 461
t\vo concertos for sitar and Western orchestra (1971 and 1981). Indian and
African drumming styles influenced the compositions of some of the mini-
malist composers (discussed below). A later interaction ,vas that of the West
,vith Japan. Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) combined aesthetic and stylistic
ideas from both hemispheres, notably in November Steps (1967), a large-scale
concerted work for theJapanese biwa (a lute-type instrument) and shakuhachi
(an end-blown flute) ,vith an orchestra ofWestern instruments.
The term fusion is sometimes employed to identify the combination
of musical instruments, materials, and techniques from different cul-
tures. Although the term gained more currency among musicians associ- Fus;on
ated ,vith the "popular" music milieu, the examples just mentioned
illustrate that the principle operates in the "classical" environment too.
Western performers, as ,veil as composers, engaged in creative
,vays ,vith non-Western musics. The Kronos Quartet, founded in 1973, Crossover performers
achieved great success concentrating on t\ventieth-century music, not
only performing newly composed works for string quartet in the West-
ern tradition but also ,vorking ,vith non-Western musicians on collab-
orative crossover performances.
Minimalism
The important style kno,vn as 1nini1nalis1n or sometimes as process music
embodied the postmodernist idea that for,vard-directedness ,vas not
necessarily an essential attribute of experience, ,vhether in history or
,vi thin a musical work. Min imalism can be related to some of the ideas of
Cage, coming out of Eastern philosophical conceptions that allow for
stasis or very slo,v and unmotivated mutation. In minimalist music the
composer typically establishes only a limited number of brief musical
motives. These are played in continuous repetition, perhaps ,vith peri-
odicadditions of ne,vones or deletions ofones already used (Figure 24.2).
A ,veil-known example is In C by Terry Riley (b. 1935). It consists of
fifty-three motives, to be used in ostinatolike fash ion as long as the per-
formers ,vish. This results in a musical form that evolves continuously in Phasing as process
slo,v-moving, apparently suspended time. Steve Reich (b. 1936) created
similar effects by presenting a single musical motive in several simulta-
neous lines that are slightly out of phase. He used either electronic
media, as in Come Out (1966), ,vhich is based on a recorded phrase
spoken by a young African American man describing his experience in a
police station, or live performers, as in Piano Phase (1967) for two pia-
nists, or Violin Phase (1967), ,vhich combines live performance and tape.
As had been the case ,vith many earlier styles, composers dre,v on
the effects of minimalist music to build more complex pieces. The or- Minimalism as a
chestral fanfare A Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986) by John (Coolidge) composUional device
Adams (b. 1947) employs repetitive, driving rhythms that come out of
Adams's earlier, genuinely minimalist experience (such as his Shaker
Loops, composed in 1978 for string septet and rescored for orchestra five
Figu re 24.2 Tomio Miki (1937-1978), Untitled (Ears) (1964). Minimalism in visual
art, as in music, often depends on simple repetition of a small design or motive,
frequently presented in a phased manner.
years later). We might think of the similar w·ay in which impressionist

styles outlived the movement itself but became available to composers as
materials to put tow·ard different purposes.
The music of minimalism tended to make an effective appeal to au-
dience accessibility, since it produces lasting rhythm ic regularity and
Tho appeal of clearly oriented pitch frame\vorks. Minimalist composers commonly
minimalist works employed diatonic pitch vocabularies, so that the degree of d issonance
became relatively limited. The buildup of sonority characteristic of mini-
malist music could also produce sonic effects that ,vere impressive in
their o,vn right and did not demand that the listener engage ,vith the
piece as an intellectual problem, as had often been the case ,vith modern-
ist ,vorks. The expressive effect of minimalist music is often hypnotic,
rather like the chanting of a mantra, ,vhich reminds us of the Eastern
influences not only on its creators but also throughout Western experi-
ence in the postmodern age.
Postn1odernism in Music 463
Minimalist music thus denied many of the traditional Western con-

cepts that had governed music for at least hvo centuries: that is, dialectical
resolution of dualistic opposites; development; and a sense of beginning,
middle, and end. Because many of these ,vorks tended to elicit a type of lis-
tening that is more sensual-or, arguably, spiritual-than analytical, they
raised postmodernist questions about long-standing cultural assumptions.
Mixed-Media and Performance-O riented Music

The trend to,vard pluralism and synthesis also manifested itself in ,vorks
that exploited the special advantages of the live performance experience
for the combination of aural, visual, and gestural materials in music.
Crumb's Vox balaenae (The voice of the ,vhale, 1971), for amplified flute, Multimedia works
cello, and piano, is to be played by performers in masks under blue light-
ing. Other,vorks require the players to move about on the stage during the
course of the performance. In a ,vay, such music is the antithesis of purely
electronic music, in the sense that it attains its interest and appeal in pre-
cisely the elements that do not suit simple electronic playback through
speakers or headphones. In some cases the performance activity actually
takes precedence over the sound in the impression the ,vork makes.
Experiments in multimedia often tackled issues of political or philo-
sophical importance. Laurie Anderson (b. 1947), more properly described Political oxprossion
as a performance artist than as a composer, ,vorked in all sorts of media,
including visual art (graphics, slides, film), literary texts, violin, voice (in-
cluding electronic modifications), and mime. Her United States I-IV
(1983) critiqued modern capitalist society and technology, expressing the
distress of alienation that many experienced in the late hventieth century.
Works such as the immense operatic creations of Philip Glass (b. 1937)
combine such compositional devices as minimalism and collage, text, and
action and stage design. Glass's groundbreaking Einstein on the Beach ( 1975)
is his best kno,vn ,vorkin this genre. Glass also pursued philosophical issues. Philosophical inspiration
Einstein on the Beach deals ,vith science and technology in relation to society,
and The Voyage (1992), commissioned for the five-hundredth anniversary of
Columbus's discovery of the New World, deals ,vith the innate human urge
to discover. John (Coolidge) Adams engages specific historical, political
events in his operas Nixon in China (1987), which explores the American
president's seemingly unlikely visit to the communist country, and The
Death ofKlingholfer (1991), about the 1985 terrorist attack on the cruise ship
Achille Lauro, in ,vhich Leon Klinghoffer, a disabled Je,vish American pas-
senger, ,vas killed. In 2014 the opera's revival at the Metropolitan Opera led
to protests and journalistic debate because of what some critics rejected as a
sympathetic portrayal of the terrorists. In their combination of media and
use of music to make a philosophical statement, these ,vorks are a sort of
postmodern reincarnation of the Gesamtkunshverk.
Composers also explored possibilities for letting the natural world
not only inspire but also actually generate music, a genre sometimes
Nature as composer referred to as ecomusic. In an early example, Earth's Magnetic Field

(1970), produced by feeding into a computer and synthesizer numerical
data that record the effect of solar activity on the magnetic field of the
planet, Charles Dodge created electronic timbres and a pitch vocabu-
lary, but the actual pitches and durations-and thus texture and form-
came as process music from nature in a sort of latter-day "musica
mundana.'' A different approach via live music, R. Murray Schafer's
(b. 1933) The Enchanted Forest (1993), a "soundscape'' for outdoor per-
formance by professionals and amateurs, including children, employs
solo singers and choirs, actors and dancers, orchestra and additional in-
struments (recorders, penny w·histles, didgeridoos, and ten to sixteen
drummers). It opens up questions about the relationships betw·een
nature and performance space and betw·een performer and audience.
John Luther Adams (b. 1953) combined sound and light in The Place
Where You Go to Listen (2006). The w·ork is a multimedia installation in
w·hich the audience sits facing a set of glass panels that change color ac-
cording to the time of day and hears electronic sounds generated in real
time by the light of day or night, seismic readings, and the magnetic ac-
tivity in the atmosphere that produces the northern lights. The title obvi-
ously describes the installation itself, but it also refers to a Native Alaskan
legend ofNaalagiagvik (w·hich means "the place where you go to listen")
on the Arctic, ,vhere an Inupiac ,voman ,vent to hear the sounds of nature
and gain the ,visdom that comes from being attuned to the earth.
The idea of the participant audience also emerged in the ,vork of Tod
Machover (b. 1953), ,vho applied some of the most advanced technology
available to create "environmental" installations that both incorporated
Hyperinstr uments listeners spatially and responded to them sonorally. His Brain Opera
(1996) used hyperinstruments to allo,v the audience/ visitor to control
musical sounds by movement or speech. One provocative effect of th is is
to undermine the long-standing presumption that the central purpose of
the musical ,vork is to allow the composer a form of self-expression.
As we have already noted, the use of multiple media and text, pro-
gram, or staging helps audiences gain access to ne,v and esoteric musical
New Romanticism styles. It also belongs to the romantic aesthetic in the broad sense because
it emphasizes the connection of music and extramusical experience.
Often characteristic of this music is a return to d iatonic, triadic harmonic
sonority (not necessarily associated ,vith functional harmonic progres-
sion, ho,vever), a deliberate attempt to appeal to the public and to reestab-
lish connections ,vith the music-h istorical tradition. These tendencies
led critics to characterize this sort of music as New Romanticism. It falls
into a completely separate line of development from the late Romantic or
post-Romantic music of the turn of the century, as ,veil as from the neo-
Classic, neo-Romanticstream of the middle of the century, ho,vever. This
close historical juxtaposition of romantic styles is significant because it
indicates both the rapidity of musical change in the t\ventieth century
and the considerable fragmentation of the Western musical tradition.
Jazz and Popular Music 465
JAZZ AND P OPULAR Music
This is not a book about vernacular musics, and w'e have taken note of
folk and popular repertoires and practices only incidentally, in cases
\\There they affected the more elite or "concert" musical culture. In con-
templating the late h\Tentieth century, ho\\Tever, sufficient reasons arise
to justify at least a brief consideration of jazz and popular music. As \\Te Changing cultural fo rcos
have already observed, it became no longer true that an intellectual and
cultural elite dominated overall economic support for music in the West,
so that vastly more economic emphasis '"as devoted to popular music
than to the music that gre\\T out of the historically powerful classes.
Moreover, popular genres and styles became understood as legiti-
mate forms for artistic \\Tork. Some musicians in those styles and genres Expanded views of art
self-consciously aspired to more sophisticated and serious expressions
and responses than merely to momentary Top 40 sales. Critics and schol-
ars also took note even of the meanings underlying less self-consciously
artistic work.
As \\Tas the case with the appropriations of earlier music and the fu-
sions ofEast and West discussed above, popular musicians, too, expanded
their scope by absorbing influences both from the classical Western trad i-
tion and non-Western musics. In the postmodern \\TOrld these influences Culturalinteuections
flo\\T freely in all directions. In some cases the apparently clear distinc-
tions beh\Teen musical cultures break do\"n, with the result that individ-
ual pieces may belong in part to more than one culture at the same time
or stake out distinctive spaces that belong to none but their own.
J azz
The genres of popular music in the West from the time of World War II
also themselves demonstrate stylistic fragmentation. Jazz continued to
develop, producing its O\\Tn modernism in the style of bebop or bop in the
late 1940s, represented by such musicians as the saxophonist Charlie
Parker (1920-1955), the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993), and
the pianist Thelonious Monk (1917-1982). In bebop the players treated
the harmonic foundation of a piece \\Tith increased freedom, and their
solo lines might explore unprecedentedly complex, virtuosic extremes.
In addition to building on the work of their direct predecessors in the Bebop and modernists
s,"ing style, bebop musicians also absorbed ideas about dissonance and
rhythm from Stravinsky and Bart6k. Because of the unpredictability and
irregularity of bebop rhythms, th is music did not support dancing as
s,"ing music had. The style also did not lend itself as much to the voice as
earlier styles had, but some outstanding singers, such as Sarah Vaughan
(1924-1990), showed that the bop style could be extended to vocal li nes
and need not belong only to instrumentalists.
A more "laid back" approach began around 1950 with the cool jazz
style. Leaders in this repertoire included the trumpeter Miles Davis
(1926-1991) and thepianistsDaveBrubeckandStanKenton (1911-1979).

Cool jazz Cool jazz employed a relatively subdued and blended sound, and it came
across as more intimate and polished than bebop. It tends to draw· com-
parisons to the classical traditions of the symphony in the case of larger
ensembles, such as Kenton's orchestra, and of chamber music in the case of
smaller ensembles, such as the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Brubeck studied
not only ,vith Schoenberg, as ,ve noted earlier, but also for a time ,vith
Milhaud, and he found personal ,vays of invoking early-eighteenth-
century style in his music. He also experimented in asymmetrical meters,
,vhich had not found much space in jazz until that time.
Improvisation ,vith extreme freedom from the underlying harmonic
plan of a piece, as in the highly creative saxophone playing ofJohn Coltrane
(1926-1967) and Ornette Coleman (1930-2015), led to dissonant, some-
Fre• jazz times atonal, avant-garde or free jazz beginning in the late 1950s. In free
jazz the players no longer depended on preestablished harmonic progres-
sions. Miles Davis and others ,vorked with a style called modal jazz, in
,vhich chord progressions ,vere replaced by a slo,vly changing harmonic
background over which improvisation explores the notes of a single scale or
mode. Like contemporary avant-garde composers in the classical arena, the
avant-garde jazz musicians often explored unusual timbres and extended
techniques, ,vhereas melody and harmony gave ,vay to play with textures.
Starting in the 1960s jazz joined the move tow·ard the synthesis or
fusion of different musical idioms. "Third stream" experiments com-
Third stroam bined jazz with the classical tradition. A leader both in developing the
theory and in actual composition of third-stream music ,vas Gunther
Schuller ( 1925-2015). Another manifestation of the blending of styles
,vas jazz-rock, of ,vhich Miles Davis ,vas a pioneer in the 1960s. The
British guitarist John McLaughlin (b. 1942) and the American pianist
Chick Corea (b. 1941) represented the extension of the jazz-rock fusion
into the 1970s and beyond. Both also provide examples of the fusion of
popular-music idioms and international musics, with McLaughlin
combi ning forces ,vith Indian musicians and Corea integrating Latin
American styles.
Rock Music
In the 1950s a ne,v kind of music, known as rock and roll, emerged from
aspects of at least three existing traditions: the African American style
known as rhythm and blues, wh ite country-,vestern music, and the
Roots ofrock popular-song trad ition. The affluent, youth-oriented society of the post-
,var era in the United States soon made rock music a dominant cultural
force. The rock tradition forms its own history, making it possible to
trace various phases.
Rock and roll drew on diverse musical styles, but it did not constitute
a unified style itself. It did, however, appeal to a clearly defined audience.
Thorockaudionce Although this audience ,vas overwhelmingly young, middle class, and
w·hite, the heavy dependence on rhythm and blues, w·hich brought not
only the immediate appeal of a strong rhythmic character but also an im-
plicit break from the "plastic" stereotypes of w·hite middle-class expecta-
tions, attracted teenage listeners whose responses to music might be
largely physical-through dance-and w·hose instincts tended tow·ard
rebellion. Pioneers in the genre included both w·hite musicians v.rith
southern and country roots w·ho ,..,.ere strongly influenced by rhythm and
blues, such as Bill Haley (1925-1981) and Elvis Presley (1935-1977),
and African American musicians, such as Chuck Berry (b. 1926) and
Little Richard (b. 1932).
The topics of rock and roll songs aimed at the interests of the young
audience: romance (and its troubles), school (and its troubles), summer
fun, fast cars. The music's rhythmic drive, derived mainly from rhythm
and blues, encouraged dancing. The most characteristic rhythmic fea- Musicalfeatures
ture of rock music was the accented backbeats, the second and fourth
beats of the measure in 4/ 4 time. The forms of the songs derived from the
t\\l'elve-bar blues and the symmetrical song form AABA of much popular
song. The singers were backed by combos that formed a counterpart to
jazz groupings, so that rock and roll featured electric guitars (originally
electrically amplified acoustic instruments), bass, and drum set, com-
monly \\l'ith saxophones and piano or other instruments. Later additions
included electronic keyboards. For studio recordings, full orchestras
backed the singers and lead instrumentalists.
Rock and roll gained its economic success through energetic radio
broadcasting; the booming market for records, both single songs on
45rpm discs and LP albums; and the fast-rising medium of television,
particularly,..,.ith the dance shO\\I' A1nerican Bandstand. By 1960 the dance Broadcast and recordings
called the "t\\l'ist" made noncontact dancing popular; such free-form
dancing became the favored style for rock dancing, allo,..,.ing individuals
to express creativity and virtuosity without formal dance lessons.
The 1960s sa,..,. the emergence of a number of different offshoots of
rock, not unlike the splitting up of styles that we have already observed
in music of the classical tradition. Some of these came distinctively from African American styles
African Americans. Based in Detroit, the style of MotO\\l'n brought a
black urban music to prominence, and such groups as the Temptations
and the Supremes, ,..,.hose performances featured ,..,.ell-coordinated en-
semble singing and choreography, became popular ,..,.ith both African
American and ,..,.hite listeners. James Brown (1928-2006) and Aretha
Franklin (b. 1942) were among the leading exponents of soul music,
,..,.hich drew on the idiom of African American church-music traditions.
The versatile Ray Charles (1930-2004) took on rhythm and blues,
gospel, standard popular songs, and even country music and gave them
all a personal and immensely successful character.
Other branches of rock music in the 1960s included the country-rock
style that came to be identified \\l'ith Nashville, the political and social
critique of urban folk music associated most obviously with Bob Dylan
(b. 1941), and the California sound of the Beach Boys (led by Brian
Variety inrockstyles Wilson, b. 1942). The most progressive style of the decade, psychedelic
or acid rock, w·as associated v.rith the hippie, free-love, and drug counter-
culture that reacted against ,vhat its adherents vie,ved as the uptight and
repressive mainstream ofAmerican life. Psychedelic rock achieved a tre-
mendous cultural moment in the summer of 1969 ,vith the concert
,veekend at Woodstock in upstate Ne,v York, ,vhere many of its icons
appeared, including the Grateful Dead {led by Jerry Garcia, 1942-1995),
the guitarist Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970), and the singer Janis Joplin
(1943-1970).
The British rock group the Beatles mastered the American rock and
roll style, ,vith ,vhich they succeeded first in Liverpool and then notably
in Hamburg, Germany, marking the internationalization of rock music.
The British invasion They returned rock to the United States in the early 1960s, launching
the so-called British invasion, ,vhich included such other important
groups as the Rolling Stones and the Who. The Beatles emerged as not
only one of the most successful rock groups but also one of the most
influential. They helped to bring to the popular-music audience some
of the sounds of avant-garde composers, as with the inclusion of both
electronic sounds and compositional processes in "Tomorrow Never
Knows" from the album Revolver. Both the Beatles and the Who contrib-
uted to the rise of the integrated or plotted LP album in the late part of
the decade with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) and Tom1ny
(1969), respectively.
After 1970 rock music manifested several of the same aspects of
postmodernism that ,ve have noted in the classical tradition. One of
these ,vas a tendency to,vard skepticism about extending past directions
as a means of reaching the ne,v and progressive. Punk rock, for example,
and some of its offshoots, rejected what it regarded as decadent commercial-
ism and sophistication in music, inclining instead to,vard nihilism and
Postmodornistdiveuity a,vayfrom the cultivation of technical skill and polish. Another postmod-
ernist move was the integration of music into multimedia productions,
including the high-tech rock concert, a sort of Gesamtkunstwerk that
made the stage choreography of the performers, projected visual imag-
ery, and technical effects as much a part of the event as the music itself. In
the 1980s the rise of music television (MTV) allo,ved the integration of
music, choreography, and digital video effects in a medium that the aud i-
ence could enjoy at home. Min imalism, too, might be heard in the work
of the Talking Heads {led by David Byrne, b. 1952), where music is
stripped do,vn to elemental patterns combined in various w·ays. This
partly reflected a conscious interest in the ,vork of Terry Riley, Steve
Reich, and Philip Glass, but it also derived from interactions ,vith non-
Western musics, including African rhythmic roots by ,vay of such earlier
rock musicians as James Bro,vn. Some of the effect of the disco style that
became prominent in the 1970s, wh ich depended largely on insistent, re-
petitive rhythmic figures to support dancing, also suggests min imalism,
although the motivation for this was practical rather than self-consciously
aesthetic. The borrow·ing of earlier pieces to be integrated into a new·
framework, as w·e already saw· it in Berio's Sinfonia, for example, had its
counterpart in the use of sampled songs making up the beats used by rap
and hip-hop artists in the 1980s and 1990s.
Yet another phenomenon common to classical and rock musical
realms in the postmodern era ,vas the integration with non-Western
musics. Music traditions beyond the borders of the United States were MulUculturalism
represented by the influence of Indian music on many rock musicians in
the 1960s, perhaps most notably on guitarist George Harrison of the
Beatles, ,vho went to India and studied the sitar ,vith Ravi Shankar. The
instrument was famously incorporated into the songs "Nor,vegian
Wood" (1965), and "Within You Without You" from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band. Nonnative composers also achieved successes in the
U.S. popular-music scene, including the sitarist Ravi Shankar, the Jamaican
reggae singer Bob Marley (1945-1981), and the Mexican guitarist Carlos
Santana (b. 1947). Paul Simon (b. 1941) integrated a Peruvian folk
melody into the Simon and Garfunkel album Bridge over Troubled Water
,vith the song "El Condor Pasa" ( 1970) and later collaborated ,vith African
musicians on the album Graceland (1986).
Relationships bet,veen popular music and the classical tradition
also developed, with composers from both sides pursuing interests in
the other. Frank Zappa (1940-1993), who approached rock from an un-
usually critical (sometimes ironically self-critical) point of vie,v and
paid unusually close attent ion to the intellectual issues being tackled in
the realm of classical music, linked advanced rock ,vith the mainstream
tradition of Stravinsky and the avant-garde ofVarese and Cage. Zappa Rockanddassicalmusic
also ,vorked ,vith classical organizations, including, for example, the
London Symphony Orchestra. The rock group Emerson, Lake, and
Palmer created an album, Pictures at an Exhibition (1971), which took
up Musorgsky's cycle of piano pieces, reorchestrating some of his
music; it also includes a rock adaptation of Tchaikovsky in a cut called
"Nutrocker."
In contrast, the pianist and composer William Bolcom (b. 1938),
,vhose roots ,vere in the classical tradition, composed pieces in rag-
time style, performed popular American songs of earlier generations,
and incorporated rock style in his settings of William Blake's Songs of
Innocence and Experience (1956-1982). Laurie Anderson's "O Super-
man'' from United States crossed over to become a pop hit in Britain;
her album Mister Heartbreak ( 1984) had close affinities to rap music.
Philip Glass's ,vork had influenced the rock musician David Bo,vie
(1947-2016), and in turn Glass's 1992 "Low" Sy1nphony and 1996
"Heroes" Symphony closed a circle, reinterpreting music from Bo,vie's
albums Low and Heroes (both 1977, in collaboration with composer/
producer Brian Eno). In a more comic intersection of popular and clas-
sical material, Michael Daugherty's (b. 1954) Dead Elvis (1993)
employs the neoclassic chamber ensemble instrumentation of Stravin-

sky's L'Histoire du soldat and a bassoon soloist/ Elvis Presley imperson-
ator, and it quotes preexisting music to recall both death by ,vay of the
Dies irae and Elvis by way of his h it "It's No,v or Never."
I N T O THE T WENT Y-F IRST CENTURY
The beginning of the hventy-first century found the Western musical

trad ition at a crucial moment. Along with wider and more rapid commu-
nication throughout the world, there came a certain broadening of cul-
Tue position ofthe \Vest ture. One manifestation of this is the permeation ofWestern composers'
,vorks by philosophies and musical material drawn from other cultures.
Western music has at the same time been spread throughout the ,vorld,
and its influence can be heard in some other indigenous repertoires.
Whether the West will maintain indefinitely the sort of cultural coher-
ence that it sustained up to the end of the hventieth century cannot be
entirely clear.
To complicate the picture still further, Western musical culture
itself has fragmented into a variety of subcultures and different musical
styles. Even in the case of ,vorks that combine techniques of different
schools, such fusions merely create more substyles; the fact that we call
the combination of jazz and classical music "third stream" makes clear
that it does not unify its hvo sources but instead runs alongside both. It
seems impossible to find a basis for identifying stylistic or aesthetic con-
ventions that would justify viewing the Western music or musical
Fragmentation thought of this period as in some sense unified. This fragmentation
began ,vith the individualism and drive for originality in the early nine-
teenth century, and it is not surprising that there should be a shattering
of the Western tradition in the hventieth. The Western musical tradition
,vas synthesized from disparate regional cultures in the ninth century. It
seems to have come full circle in the course of ten or hvelve centuries. It
may no longer be possible to approach music history in as direct a fash-
ion hereafter.
The study of music history has much to teach us and can enrich mu-
sical ideas and styles. It cannot, ho,vever, prophesy directions for the
future. The best one can hope is that the future of our musical tradition
,vill be as lively, diverse, and challenging as the past.
For interesting general studies of music since World War II see Paul
Griffiths, Modern Music and After (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1995), and Mark Prendergast, TheA1nbient Century,fro1n Mahler to Trance:
The Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age (Ne,v York: Bloomsbury,
2000). American contemporary music is discussed inJohn Rock,vell's All
American Music: Composition in the Late Twentieth Century (Ne,v York:
Knopf, 1983) and Kyle Gann's A1nerican Music in the Twentieth Century
(Ne,v York: Schirmer Books, 1997).
A classic no,v on electronic music is Elliott Sch,vartz, Electronic Music:
A Listener's Guide, rev. ed. (Ne,v York: Praeger, 1975). For up-to-date history
see Peter Manning,Electronic and Computer Music, rev. ed. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2004). Paul Theberge, Any Sound You Can I1nagine:
Making Music/Consu1ning Technology (Hanover, NH: University Press
of New· England/ Wesleyan University Press, 1997), takes up more in-
terpretive issues.
1\vo different approaches to music and postmodern ism are Simon Miller,
ed., The Last Post: Music after Modernism (Manchester, UK: Manchester Uni-
versity Press, 1993), and E. Ann Kaplan, Rocking around the Clock: Music Tele-
vision, Postmodernism, and Consu1ner Culture (Ne,v York: Methuen, 1987).
Ed,vard Strickland's Minimalism: Origins (Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1993) is not exclusively about music, but it discusses
music at considerable length. Keith Potter, Four Musical Minimalists: La
Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass (Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press, 2000), will provide an introduction to
some of the leaders in the minimalist aesthetic and style.
Significant studies of jazz after the swing era include Scott DeVeaux,
The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Musical History (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1997), and Eddie S. Meado,vs, Bebop to Cool: Context,
Ideology, and Musical Identity (Westport, CT: Green,vood Press, 2003).
A good introductory text on popular and rock music is La,vrence
Starr and Christopher Waterman, American Popular Music fro1n Min-
strelsy to MTV, 4th ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014). See also
David P. Szatmary, Rockin' in Time: A Social History of Rock-and-Roll, 4th
ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000).
1. lgor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Conversations with Igor Stravinsky (Garden
City, NY: Doubleday, 1959), 17.
Appendix: Timeline
~~~~~~~~~~
. . . Figures and Events

World Events Music and Mus1c1ans .1n th e Ar t s an d Human1•t•1es
BCE BCE BCE

ca. 1012- ca. 972: Reign of King
David 800- 700: First notated music Before 700: Homer
776: First recorded Olympic
competitions ca. 582- ca. 507: Pythagoras
525- 456: Aeschylus
ca. 495- 429: Pericles ca. 496- 406: Sophocles
431 - 404: Peloponnesian War Before 4th century: Greater Perfect ca. 427- ca. 348: Plato
System
356- 323: Alexander the Great 384- 322: Aristotle
ca. 4 BCE- 29 CE: Jesus
CE CE CE
54- 68: Reign of Nero, persecution of
Christians
70: Roman destruction of Jerusalem
313: Constantine issues Edict of Milan
ca. 340- 397: St. Ambrose
354- 430: St. Augustine
476: Fall of Roman empire 5th century: Martianus Capella
ca. 480- 524: Boethius
529: Code of Justinian I 6th century: Liturgy of Divine Office ca. 480- 527: St. Benedict
established
ca. 530: Rule of St. Benedict 532- 537: Hagia Sophia
590- 604: Papacy of Gregory I ca. 570- 632: Muhammad
622: Hegira, founding of Islam
8th century: First classification of Psalm

tones
800: Charlemagne becomes Holy 9th century: Troping, Sequences;
Roman Emperor parallel organum; Notker Balbulus
10th century: Liturgical drama
11th century: Mass liturgy completed;
solmization; staff notation; free
1066: Norman conquest of Britain organum; Goliard songs; conductus;
1096- 1099: First Crusade Guido of Arezzo 1075- 1142: Peter Abelard
1098- 1179: Hildegard of Bingen
1100- 1200: Troubadour songs;
melismatic organum
ca. 1150: First universities founded ca. 1150- 1300: Trouvere songs;
(Paris, Bologna, Oxford) Minnelieder
1163- 1250: Cathedral of Notre Dame ca. 1163- 1190: Notre Dame School,
built in Paris Leonin
472
Appendix: Timeline 473

World Events Music and Mus1c1ans .1n t h e Arts an d H uman1t1es
..
1189- 1199: Reign of Richard the ca. 1200: Perotin; motet

lionheart in England
121 S: Magna carta ca. 1225- 1274: Thomas Aquinas
1253: Robert de Sorbon endows Late 13th century: Franco of Cologne, 1265- 1321: Dante Alighieri
first college at University of Paris Ars cantus mensurabilis; Petrus de Cruce ca. 1267- 1337: Giot to di Bondone
1291 - 1361: Philippe de Vitry
1309- 1378: "Babylonian captivity; ca. 1300- 1377: Guillaume de 1304- 1374: Francesco Petrarch
papal court in Avignon Machaut 1312- 1353: Giovanni Boccaccio
ca.1 316: RomandeFauvel
ca. 1322- 1332 :Arsnovatreatise
1337: Beginning of Hundred ca. 1325- 1397: Francesco Landini ca. 1340- 140 0: Geoffrey Chaucer
Years' War
1347- 1351: Black Plague 1364: Machaut, Messede Notre
Dame
1378- 1417: Great Schism
ca. 1390- 1453: John Dunstaple
ca. 1400 - 1460: Gilles Binchois 1404- 1472: Leon Battista Alberti
ca. 1400 - 1474: Guillaume Du Fay
1419- 1467: Reign of Philip the Good in ca. 1420- 1497: Johannes Ockeghem
Burgundy
1433- 1494: Dominance of Medici 1436: Ou Fay:"Nuper rosarum flores" for 1433- 1499: Marsilio Ficino
family in Florence dedication of Florence cathedral dome
ca. 1450- 1517: Heinrich Isaac 1441 -1442: Martin le Franc,

ca. 1450- 1521: Josquin des Prez Le Champion des dames
1453: End of Hundred Years' War; fall of 1452- 1505: Jacob Obrecht 1452- 1519: Leonardo da Vinci
Constantinople to Turks
1455: Bible printed by Gutenberg
ca. 1470 - 1522: Jean Mouton 1473- 1543: Copernicus
ca. 1475- 1528: Matthias Grunewald
ca . 1475- 1564: Michelangelo Buonarotti
ca. 1485- 1558: Clement Janequin 1483- 1546: Martin Luther
1492: Columbus reaches the ca. 1490- 1545: John Taverner 1491 -1556: Ignatius of Loyola
New World ca. 1490- 1562: Adrian Willaert
ca. 1490- 1562: Claudin de Sermisy
1494- 1576: HansSachs
1501: Ottaviano Petrucci, Odhecaton A
ca. 1501- 1561: Louis Bourgeois 1509- 1564: Jean Calvin
1517: Lutheran Reformation 1515- 1565: Cipriano de Rore 1515-1582: St. Teresa of Avila
1524: First Lutheran chorale collection
ca. 1525- 1594: Palestrina
late 1520 s- 1591: Vincenzo Galilei 1528: Baldassare Castiglione,
1528- 1600 : Claude LeJeune II cortegiano
1534: English Reformation ca. 1532- 1594: Orlande de Lassus 1532- 1589: Jean·Antoine Bait
1536: Calvinist Reformation 1539 : First Calvinist psalter 1538- 1612: Bat tista Guarini
1541 - 1614: EI Greco
1542- 1591: St . John of the Cross
ca. 1540- 1623: William Byrd

474 Appendix: T i1n eline

World Events Music and Mus1c1ans . h A dH . .
1n t e rts an uman1t1es
1545- 1563: Council of Trent 1545- 1607: Luzzasco Luzzaschi 1544- 1595: Torquato Tasso
ca. 1549- 1611: Tomas Luis de Victoria
ca. 1550- 1602: Emilio de' Cavalieri
ca. 1550- 1618: Giulio Caccini
ca. 1553- 1599: Luca Marenzio
1553- 1612: Giovanni Gabrieli
1558- 1603: Reign of Elizabeth I in 1558: Gioseffo Zarlino, le istitutione
England harmoniche
1558- 1602: Thomas Morley
ca. 1560- 1627: Lodovico Grossi da
Viadana
1561 - 1633: Jacopo Peri 1561 - 1621: Francis Bacon
1564- 1616: William Shakespeare
1564- 1642: Galileo Galilei
1567- 1643: Claudio Monteverdi
1571 - 1621: Michael Praetorius 1573- 1631: John Donne
1577- 1640: Peter Paul Rubens
1583- 1643: Girolamo Frescobaldi
1585- 1672: Heinrich Schutz
1586- 1630: Johann Hermann Schein
1587- ca. 1645?: Francesca Caccini
1588: Nicolas Yonge, Musica transa/pina 1588- 1679: Thomas Hobbes
1597: Thomas Morley.A Plaine and Easie 1596- 1650: Rene Descartes
Introduction to Practical/ Musicke
1598: Peri,Dafne 1598- 1680: Gianlorenzo Bernini
1600: Wedding of Henry IV of 1600: Peri, Euridice; Cavalieri,
France and Marie de' Medici Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo
1601: The Triumphs ofOriana
1602: Caccini, le nuove musiche;
Viadana, Cento concerti ecclesiastici
1605- 1674: Giacomo Carissimi 1606- 1669: Rembrandt van Rijn
1606- 1684: Pierre Corneille
1610- 1643: Reign of Louis XIII 1607: Monteverdi, Orfeo 1608- 1674: John Milton
in France, Richelieu as prime minister
1611: King James translation of Bible
1616- 1667: Johann Jacob Froberger

Appendix: Timeline 475

World Events Music and Mus1c1ans . h A dH ..
1618-1648: Thirty Years' War 1619-1677: Barbara Strozzi 1622- 1673: Moliere
1623- 1662: Blaise Paschal
1632- 1687: Jean-Baptiste l ully 1632- 1675: Jan Vermeer
1632- 1677: Baruch Spinoza
ca. 1637- 1707: Dieterich Buxt ehude
1637: First public opera house, Venice 1639- 1699: Jean Racine
1643- 1715: Reign of Louis XIV 1640: Bay Psalm Book published in 1642- 1672: Isaac Newton
in France Massachusetts
1649- 1660: English Commonwealth 1653- 1706: Johann Pachelbel
under Cromwell 1653- 1713: Arcangelo Corelli
1658- 1709: Giuseppe Torelli
1659- 1695: Henry Purcell
1660: Restoration of monarchy in 1660- 1725: Alessandro Scarlatti
England with Charles II
1661 -1733: Georg Bohm
1668- 1733: Fran~ois Couperin 1667- 1745: Jonathan Swift
"le grand"
1669: Establishment of Academie
royale de musique in France
1674- 1739: Reinhard Keiser
1678- 1741: Antonio Vivaldi
1681 -1764: Johann Mattheson
1681 -1767: Georg Philipp Telemann
1683- 1764: Jean-Philippe Rameau 1684- 1721: Antoine Watteau
1685- 1750: Johann Sebastian Bach
1685- 1757: Domenico Scarlatti
1685- 1759: George Fnderic Handel
1686- 1768: Nicola Porpora
1689: Purcell, Dido ond Aeneas
1694- 1778: Voltaire
1699- 1783: Johann Adolf Hasse 1698- 1792: Pietro Met astasio
ca. 1700: Invention offortepiano
1701- 1775: Giovanni Battista
Sam martini 1703- 1770: Fran~ois Boucher
1706- 1790: Benjamin Franklin
1707- 1793: Carlo Goldoni
1710- 1736: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi 1712- 1778: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1715- 1774: Reign of Louis XV in France 1714-1787: Christoph Willibald Gluck 1714-1795: Raniero Calzabigi
1714-1788: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
1717: Couperin, L:,t\rt de toucher le
clavecin
1717- 1757: Johann St amitz
1722: J. S. Bach, We/I-Tempered Clavier/; 1724- 1804: Immanuel Kant
Rameau, Traitedel'harmonie
476 Appendix: Ti1neline

World Events Music and Mus1c1ans .1n th e Ar t s an d H uman1•t•1es
1728- 1800: Niccolo Piccini

1729: J. S. Bach, St. Matthew Passion 1729-1797: Edmund Burke
1732- 1809: Franz Joseph Haydn
1735- 1782: Johann Christian Bach
1737- 1791: Francis Hopkinson
1740- 1780: Reign of Maria Theresa in
Austria
1740- 1786: Reign of Fre<lerick the
Great in Prussia
1742: Handel, Messiah
1746- 1800: William Billings 1748- 1825: Jacques Louis David
1750- 1825: Antonio Salieri 1749- 1832: Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe
1749- 1838: Lorenzo Oa Ponte
1751: Publication of Encyclopedie 1751- 1802: Corona Schrot er
1752: Johann Joachim Quantz., Versuch
einer Anweisung der Flore rraversiere zu
spielen
1753: C. P. E. Bach, Versuch iiber die
wahre Art dos Clavier zu spielen
1755: Samuel Johnson, Dictionary 1756: Leopold Mozart, Versucheiner
grilnd/ichen Violinschule
1756- 1791: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1758- 1832: Karl Frie<lrich Zelter 1757- 1827: William Blake
1760- 1820: Reign of George Ill in 1760- 1802: Johann Rudolf 1759- 1805: Friedrich Schiller
England Zumsteeg
1760- 1842: Luigi Cherubini
1762-1796: Reign of Catherine the
Great in Russia
1762: Rousseau, The Socia/Contract
1763: First excavations at Pompeii
1767: Gluck, Alceste
1769: James Wat t, steam engine 1770- 1827: Ludwig van Beethoven 1770- 1831: G. W. F. Hegel
1770- 1827: James Hewit t
1771 -1832: Sir Walter Scott
1772- 1829: Friedrich Schlegel
1774-1792: Reign of Louis XVI 1775- 1813: Jane Austen
in France 1775- 1851: J.M. W. Turner
1776: Adam Smith, The Wealth of
Nations 1776- 1822: E. T. A. Hoffmann
1776: Declaration of Independence
1779- 1826: Louisa Reichardt
1780- 1790: Reign of Joseph II 1781: Haydn, String quartets, op. 33,
in Austria publishe<l
1782- 1837: John Field
Appendix: Ti1neline 477

..
1782- 1840: NicolO Paganini

1782- 1871: Daniel·Fran~ois·Esprit
Auber
1786- 1797: Reign of Frederick 1786: W. A. Mozart, le nozze di Figaro 1785- 1873: Alessandro Manzoni
William JI in Prussia
1786- 1826: Carl Maria von Weber
1788- 1824: Lord Byron
1788- 1857: Joseph von
Eichendorff
1788- 1860: Arthur
Schopenhauer
1789: French Revolution 1789- 1831: Maria Szymanowska 1789- 1851: James Fenimore
Cooper
1790- 1869: Alphonse Lamartine
1791 - 1792: Haydn in London
1791 - 1864: Giacomo Meyerbeer 1791 - 1824: Theodore Gericault
1791 - 1861: Eugene Scribe
1792: Beethoven moves from
Bonn to Vienna
1792- 1868: Gioacchino Rossini
1794- 1795: Haydn in London 1794- 1827: Wilhelm Muller
1794- 1870: Ignaz Moscheles
1797- 1828: Franz Schubert 1797-1856: Heinrich Heine
1797- 1848: Gaetano Donizetti
1798- 1863: Eugene Delacroix
1799- 1837: Alexander Pushkin
1801 - 1835: Vincenzo Bellini 1802- 1870: Alexandre Dumas
pere
1803: Beethoven Eroica 1803- 1870: Prosper Merimee
Symphony 1803- 1883: Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803- 1869: Hector Berlioz
1804: Napoleon Bonapart e 1804- 1837: Mikhail Glinka 1804- 1871: Moritz von Schwind
becomes emperor of France 1804- 1875: Eduard Morike
1805- 1847: Fanny Mendelssohn
Hensel
1809- 1847: Felix Mendelssohn 1809- 1852: Nicolai Gogol
Bar tholdy 1809- 1882: Charles Darw in
1810- 1849: Frederic Chopin
1810- 1856: Rober t Schumann
1810- 1876: Felicien David 1810- 1876: Francesco Piave
1811 - 1886: Franz Liszt
1813- 1869: Alexander 1813-1837: Georg Buchner
Dargomyzhsky
1813- 1883: Richard Wagner
1813- 1901: Giuseppe Verdi
1815: Defeat of Napoleon

at Waterloo
1817- 1862: Henry David Thoreau
1818- 1893: CharlesGounod 1818- 1883: Karl Marx
1819- 1896: Clara Wieck Schumann
1822- 1890: Cesar Franck 1821 -1881: Feodor Dostoevsky
1824- 1884: Bediich Smetana 1824- 1895: Alexandre Dumas fils
478 Appendix: Timeline

World Events Music and Mus1c1ans . h A dH ..
1824- 1896: Anton Bruckner 1825- 1904: Eduard Hanslick

1826- 1864: St ephen Collins Foster
1830: Revolution in France 1830: Berlioz, Symphonie 1830- 1903: Camille Pissarro
fantastique
1830- 1869: Louis Moreau
Gottschalk
1833- 1887: Alexander Borodin
1833- 1897: Johannes Brahms
1835- 1912: Camille Saint-Saens
1835- 1918: Cesar Cui
1837- 1901: Reign of Queen Victoria 1837- 1910: Mily Balakirev
in England
1838- 1875: Georges Bizet
1839: Invention of photography 1839- 1881: Modest Musorgsky
1840- 1893: Pyotr ll'yich 1840- 1926: Claude Monet
Tchaikovsky
1841 - 1904: Antonin Dvorak 1842- 1918: Arrigo Boito
1843- 1907: Edvard Grieg
1844- 1908: Nikolay Rimsky· 1844- 1896: Paul Verlaine
Korsakov
1848: Revolutions in Europe: 1848: Liszt, Les Preludes 1848- 1903: Paul Gaugin
Karl Marx, The Communist
Manifesto 1854- 1931: George Whitefield
Chadwick
1857- 1934: Edward Elgar 1856- 1939: Sigmund Freud
1858- 1919: Ruggero Leoncavallo
1858- 1924: Giacomo Puccini
1859: Charles Darwin, The Origin 1859: Wagner, Tristan und Isolde
of Species 1860- 1903: Hugo Wolf
1860- 1908: Edward MacDowell
1860- 1909: Isaac Albeniz
1860- 1911: Gustav Mahler
1861 -1865: U.S. Civil War
1861: Unification of Italy
1862- 1918: Claude Debussy
1862- 1919: Horatio Parker
1862- 1934: Frederick Delius
1863- 1945: Pietro Mascagni
1864- 1949: Richard Strauss
1866- 1924: Ferruccio Busoni 1866- 1944: Vassily Kandinsky
1866- 1925: Erik Satie
1867- 1916: Enrique Granados
1867- 1944: Amy Beach
1868- 1936: Maxim Gorky
1869- 1954: Henri Matisse
1871: Unification of Germany 1871: Verdi, Aida 1870- 1924: Lenin
1872: Musorgsky, Boris Godunov 1872- 1929: Serge Diaghilev
1872- 1915: Alexander Skryabin
1874: Bizet, Carmen 1874: Exhibition of impressionist
1874- 1951: Arnold Schoenberg painting, Paris
1874- 1954: Charles Ives
1876: Alexander Graham Bell, 1875 - 1937: Maurice Ravel 1876- 1942: Filippo Tomasso
telephone Marinetti
Appendix: T imeli ne 479

..
1877: Thomas Edison,

phonograph 1879- 1936: O ttorino Respighi 1879- 1955: Albert Einstein
1881 - 1945: Bela Bart6k 1881 - 1973: Pablo Picasso
1882- 1967: Zoltan Kodaly 1882- 1941: James Joyce
1882- 1971: Igor Stravinsky
1883- 1945: Ant on Webern
1883- 1965: Edgard Varese
1884- 1920: Charles Tomlinson Griffes
1885- 1935: Alban Berg
1885- 1947: Luigi Russolo
1886- 1939: Ma Rainey
1887- 1979: Nadia Boulanger 1887- 1968:Marcel Duchamp
1888- 1979: Louis Durey 1888- 1950: Vaclav Nijinsky
1889: International Exposit ion, 1889- 1963: Jean Cocteau
Paris
1890- 1941: Jelly Roll Mor ton
1891 -1953: Sergey Prokofiev
1892- 1953: Ar thur Honegger
1892- 1974: Darius Milhaud
1892- 1983: Germaine Tailleferre
1893: World's Fair, Columbian 1893- 1918: Lili Boulanger
Exposition, Chicago a
1894: Debussy, Prelude /'apres·midi
d'unfaune
1894- 1937: Bessie Smith 1894- 1991:Martha Graham
1895- 1963: Paul Hindemith
1895- 1978: William Grant Still
1896: Puccini, la Boheme
1896- 1981: Howard Hanson
1896- 1985: Roger Sessions
1897-1965: Henry Cowell 1897- 1962: William Faulkner
1898- 1937: George Gershwin 1898- 1936: FedericoGarda l orca
1898- 1971: Lil Hardin
1899- 1963: Francis Poulenc
1899- 1974: Duke Ellington
1899- 1983: Georges Auric
1900- 1959: George Antheil
1900- 1990: Aaron Copland
1900- 1996: O tto Luening
1901 -1953: Ruth Crawford Seeger
1901 -1971: Louis Armstrong
1901 -1974: Harry Partch
1902- 1967: Langston Hughes
1904- 1984: Count Basie 1904- 1989: Salvador Dali
1905: Freud, Three Essays on the Theory 1906- 1976: Dmitri Shostakovich 1906- 1989: Samuel Beckett
of Sexuality; Einstein, special theory of
relativity
1908- 1992: Olivier Messiaen
1909- 1986: Benny Goodman
1911 - 1979: Stan Kenton
1911 - 1990: Vladim ir Ussachevsky
1912: Schoenberg: Pierrotlunaire 1912- 1956: Jackson Pollack
1912- 1992: John Cage
480 Appendix: Tin1eline
World Events Music and Musicians Figures and Events

in the Arts and Humanities
1914- 1917: World War I 1913: Stravinsky, le Sacre du 1913-1966: Alber t Camus
printemps
1915- 1959: Billie Holiday
1917: Russian Revolution 1916- 2011: Milton Babbitt
1917- 1982: Thelonious Monk
1917- 1993: Dizzy Gillespie
1919: Einstein, general theory of 1918- 1996: Ella Fitzgerald 1918- 2008: Alexander
relativity verified 1918- 2005: George Rochberg Solzhenitsyn
1920- 1955: Charlie Parker
1920- 2012: Dave Brubeck
1920- 2012: Ravi Shankar
1922- 2001: Yannis Xenakis
1924- 1990: Sarah Vaughan
1924- 1994: lejaren Hiller
1925- 1981: Bill Haley
1925- 2003: Luciano Serio
1925- 2016: Pierre Boulez
1925- 2015: Gunther Schuller
1926- 1967: John Coltrane 1926- 1997: Allen Ginsburg
1926- 1991: Miles Davis
1926- : Chuck Berry
1928- : T. J. Anderson 1928- 1987: Andy Warhol
1928- 2007: Karlheinz
Stockhausen
1929- 1939: Great Depression 1929- : George Crumb 1929- 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.
1930- 2004: Ray Charles
1930- 2015: Ornette Coleman
1930- 1996: Toru Takemitsu
1932- : little Richard
1933- : Krzyszt of Penderecki
1933- : R. Murray Schafer
1933- 2006: James Brown
1934- : Mario Davidovsky
1934- : Peter Maxwell Davies
1935- 1977: Elvis Presley 1935- : Christo [Christo
1935- : Terry Riley Vladimirov Javacheff)
1935- : Arvo Part
1936: Frank Lloyd Wright, 1936: Pravda attack on Shostakovich's
Fallingwater lady Macbeth ofthe District ofMzensk
1936- : Steve Reich
1937- : Philip Glass
1938- : William Bolcom
1939- 1945: World War II 1939- : Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
1940- 1993: Frank Zappa
1941 - : Chick Corea
1941 - : Bob Dylan
1941 - : Paul Simon
1942- 1970: Jimi Hendrix
1942- 1995: Jerry Garcia
1942- : Charles Dodge
1942- : Aretha Franklin
1942- : John Mcl aughlin
Appendix: Ti meline 481

..
1942- : Brian Wilson

1943- 1970: Janis Joplin
1945- 1981: Bob Marley
1947- : Laurie Anderson
1947- 2016: David Bowie
1947- : Carlos Santana
1948: Assassination of Gandhi 1948: First tape music
1949: Arthur M iller: Death of a Salesman
1949: George Orwell: Nineteen Eighty·
Four
1953- : Tod Machover
1955: RCA synthesizer
1957: Sputnik
1961 - 1972: U. $. Forces in Vietnam
1964: Beatlemania in United States
1969: Apollo mission reaches moon
1969: Woodstock Festival
1970: George Crumb, Ancient Voices of
Children
1970: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim
Rice, Jesus Christ Superstar
1975: Phillip Glass, Einstein on the Beach
1980: Personal computer introduced 1976: Alex Haley, Roots
by IBM
1983: Laurie Anderson, United States
/-IV
1988: Salman Rushdie, The Satanic
Verses
1989: End of Communist domination
in Eastern Europe
1993: R. Murray Schafer, The Enchanted 1993: Tony Kushner: Angels in America:
Forest Part One
1995: Frank Gehry: Guggenheim
Museum in Bilbao, Spain
2001: Attacks on World Trade Center
and Pentagon
2008: Election of Barack Obama as first
African American President of the
United States
2013: Election of Francis I as first
non-European Pope in modern times
Credits
p. 4, Fig. 1.1 Scala/ Art Resource, NY

p. 6, Fig. 1.3 Hellenic Republic Ministry of Culture/ Archaeological Receipts
Fund/ TAP Service
p. 15, Fig. 2.1 © 'Ihe British Library Board. From West mi nster Psalte r.
p. 15, Fig. 2.2 © The British Library Board. From the Howard Psalter (Arundel
83 1), fol. 63v.
p. 24, Fig. 3.1 Photo: Tobis Helfrich Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 3.0 Unported license
p. 39, Fig. 3.4 Bodleian Library, Oxford, Ms. Bodley 775, fol. 125r
p. 42, Fig. 3.5 Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Mii nchen, C lm 2599, fol 97r
p. 53, Fig. 4.1 ONB/ Vienna, Ink. 11.F.27, Bl. A3r
p. 53, Fig. 4.2 Bibliotheque Nationale de France
p. 58, Fig. 4.3 Bodleian Library, Oxford, Ms. Bodley 264, fol. 157 v
p. 61, Fig. 4.4 Bodleia n Library, Oxford, Ms. Bodley 264, fol. 172v
p. 62, Fig. 4.5 Bibliot heque Nationale de France
p. 66, Fig. 5.1 St aatsbibliothek Bamberg, Msc.Var.l, fol.57r (det ail),
(Photo: Gerald Raab)
p. 67, Fig. 5.2 © The British Library Board, Harley MS 3019
p. 69, Fig. 5.3 Foto Ma rburg/Art Resource, NY
p. 72, Fig. 5.4 Photo: Tristan Nitot. Creat ive Commons Attribution-Share Ali ke
3.0 Unported license
p. 74, Fig. 5.5 Flo rence, Bibliot eca Medicea Laurenzian, ms. Plut. 29. l, c. 7lv.
Reproduced ,,.ith perm ission of Mi BACT. Further reproduction is
prohibited.
p. 82, Fig. 5.7 Service photo Bibliot heque l nteruniversita ire Mont pellier
p. 92, Fig. 6.2 Giraudon/ Bridgeman Art Library
p. 109, Fig. 7.1 Photo: RolfSiissbrich. Creat ive Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 3.0 Unported license
p. 138, Fig. 9.1 John Cred land
p. 139, Fig. 9.2 Charlie Ogle, violadagamba.com
p. 149, Fig. IO. I St iftung Luthergedenkst atten in Sachsen-Anhalt
p. 161, Fig. 11.2 !mage copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image
sou rce: Art Resource, NY
p. 165, Fig. 11.3 Erich Lesi ng/ Art Resource, NY
p. 171, Fig. 12.2a Reun ion des Musees Nationaux/ Art Resource, NY
p. 171, Fig. 12.2b © RMN-Grand Palais/ Art Resource, NY
p. 19 1, Fig. 13.2 Deutsches Theatermuseum (lnvent ar-Ke.n nziffer IV,
l nve ntar-Nummer 3979)
483
484 C redits
p. 198, Fig. 13.3 Single-manual harpsichord by Andreas Ruckers, Annverp,

1640. Yale Accession No. 4878.1960. Courtesy of the Yale University
Collection of Musical lnstruments. Photo credit: Joseph Szaszfai and Carl
Kau fman
p. 203, Fig. 14.l © RMN-Grand Palais/ Art Resource, NY
p. 212, Fig. 14.2 © RMN-Grand Palais/ Art Resource, NY
p. 235, Fig. IS.I Germanisches National Museum, Niirnberg
p. 237, Fig. 15.2 Stadtische Museen Zittau
p. 239, Fig. 15.3 Bildarchiv PreuBischer Kulturbesitz/ Art Resource, NY
p. 265, Fig. 17.2 Photo: Albert Herring. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported license
p. 315, Fig. 19.1 © RMN-Grand Palais/ Art Resource, NY
p. 328, Fig. 19.2 bpk, Berlin/
p. 334, Fig. 19.3 The Art Archive
p. 345, Fig. 20. l Alinari/Art Resource, NY
p. 372, Fig. 21. l lzenour Drawings of the Theater, 1938-1988, Special Collec-
tions Library, The Pennsylvania State University Library
p. 373, Fig. 21.2 © Bettmann/ Corbis
p. 381, Fig. 21.3 © Michael Maslan Historic Photographs/ CO RBIS
p. 425, Fig. 23.2 Foto Marburg/ Art Resource
p. 432, Fig. 23.3 © Alfredo Dagli Orti/The Art Archive/ Corbis
p. 450-451, Fig. 24.1 Karlheinz Stockhausen "Zyklus fiir e.inen Schlagzeuger Nr. 9"
© Copyright 1960 by Universal Edition (London) Ltd., London/ UE 13186
p. 462, Fig. 24.2 Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/ Licensed by
SCALA/ Art Resource, NY
Plate I Bodleian Library, Oxford, Ms. Auct, D.2.4, fol. Ir
Plate 2 Bodleian Library, Oxford, Ms. Rawl. Liturg. D.4, foL. 13lr
Plate 3 Scala/ Ministero per I Bene e le Attivita culturali/ Art Resource, NY
Plate 4 Erich Lessing/!Art Resource, NY
Plate 5 Scala/ Art Resource, NY
Plate 6 The Triumph of Eternity (From Chateau de Chaumont Set), 1512-1515.
Silk and wool; tapestry weave, 319.3 x 377.6 cm. The Cleveland Museum of
Art, Gift from various donors by exchange, 1960.176.1
Plate 7 RMN-Grand Palais/ Art Resource, NY
Plate 8 Erich Lessing, Art Resource, NY
Plate 9 Bibliot heque Nationale de France
Plate 10 Erich Lessing/ Art Resource, NY
Plate 11 Erich Lessing/ Art Resource, NY
Plate 12 Pieter de Hooch, Dutch, 1629-1684. Portrait of a Family Making
Music, 1663. Oil on canvas, 98.7x l 16.7 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art,
Gift of the H anna Fund, 1951.355
Plate 13 l mage copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source:
Art Resource, NY
Plate 14 Image copyright © 1 he Metropolitan Museum ofArt. Image source:
Art Resource, NY
Plate 15 Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
Plate 16 Scala/ Art Resource, NY
Plate 17 Tate, London/ Art Resource, NY
Plate 18 Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/ Art Resource, NY
C redits 485
Plate 20 Paul Gauguin, French, 1848-1903, Day of the God (Mahana no Atua},
1894, Oil on canvas, 68.3 x 91.5 cm, Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial
Collection, 1926.198, The Art Institute of Ch icago. Photography © The Art
Institute of Chicago.
Plate 21 Foundation Beyeler, Riehen/ Basel © 2009 Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York/ ADAGP, Paris
Plate 22 Courtesy, Arnold Schoenberg Center © 2009 Artists Rights Society
(ARS},NewYork/ VBK, Vienna
Plate 23 The Museum of Modern Art © 2009 Estate of Pablo Picasso/ Art ists
Rights Society (ARS, New York
Plate 24 RISA Library Photographs Collection
Index
Aachen, 24, 25 allemande, 199, 2 16, 217, 2 19 types, 176, 190, 211, 230, 285, 343
Abel, Karl Friedr ich, 267 All Saints' Day, 26, 27 \'ariations, 208
Abelard, Peter, 7 1 altarpiece. Su lsenheim altarpiece Ariad11e aufNaxos {Strauss), 429
Abge.umg1 56 ambitus, 37, 38 Arlen, 2 11
absolutism, 203, 205 Ambrose of Milan (Saint}, 13-14, 20 arioso, 209
acadcmicism, 203 An American i11 Paris {Ge rshwin), 439 Aristotle, 2, 3,4, 7 1, 103, 132
Acadimit de poisit d de musique, 163, 203 American Bandstat1d {telc\'"ision show), 467 Armstrong, Louis, 438
Acadimitfranraise, 203-4 American Revolution, 310 ars arithmetica, 9
Acadimit royale de ,,msiqm:, 204 anapestic rhythm, 74, 75 Ars cant us mttuurabilis, 80
Acadimit royale de ptinl11rt tt de A11d1mt Voices of Childre11 (Crnmb), 449 ars geometria, 9
sculpt11re, 204 Anderson, Laurie, 463, 469 ars no"a, 90, 91, 98
a cappella, 153, 154, 194 At1 die June Gtliebte, op. 98 (Beethoven), Ars t1ova {Vitry), 88-90
Act of Supremacy ( 1534), 148 323,330 art,88-90, 95, 204, 207, 2 18, 248, 253,
Adams, John (Coolidge), 461-62, 463 Angel musicians, 452, Plate 6, Plate 7, 264, 367, 418, 434, 446. Su also
Adams, John Luther, 464 Plate 8, Plate 10 humanism; painting, visual ar ts
Addison,Joseph, 228 "Angelus ad virginem,· 101 ar tists, 317-19, 334-36
Ad orgatmmfadet1dmn, 68 Anna Amalia ( Princess of Prussia), Baroque era, 169-70
Advent, 25, 26, ISO 266, 290 composers, artistic acti\'ities, 340-42
Aeschylus, 2 Atwa Magdale11a Bacli Noltbook expressionism, 407- 10
aesthetics, 65, 82-84, 169-70, 18 1, ( Bach,}. S.), 238 ideas and styles in twentieth
246, 264, 268, 2 75-76, 285, Anne of Austria (Queen consort of century, 398
299-300, 313, 326, 330, 358, 378, France}, 203 impressionism, 398-403
383, 387, 392, 398, 399, 424, 425, Anne of England (Queen), 227 minimalism, 461-63
426,428-29, 434-35, 439 An11u11da tion to the Shepherds {Limbourg Romanticism and, 312-16
aesthetic issues, twentieth centur y, brothers), Plate 7 timdine, figures and events in, 472-8 1
448, 456, 457 Anonymous IV, 76-77 "Ar t poCtique" (Verlaine), 399-400
chants, aesthetic considerations, 31-32 Antheil, George, 440 J11< Ari of Fug1« (Bach , }. S.), 243
poetic, 133-34 anthem, 153, 208 Artusi, Giovanni Maria, 179, ISO
of ugliness, 403-5 antiphon, 16, 29, 32, 36, 37, 67 "ar twork of the future," 369-77
affections, doctrine of, 170-72 Antipl1011ary, 28 Ash Wednesday, 27
African Americans, 437-39, 461, 466-67 antiquity, Plate 14. Su also classical Association fo r Contemporary Musk, 435
Afro·Americat1 Symplio11y {Still), 437 antiquity atonality, 409, 4 10, 417, 418-19
Agmu Dei, 30 anti-Semitism, 376-77, 421 Att.aingnant, Pierre, 125
agrlmcnts, 218, 249 Apollo (god}, 3, 4, 6 Aubad,, 53
Ai'da (Verdi}, 382 Apollonian, 3, 204, 26 1, 264, 3 13, 424 Auber, Danid-Fran,;ois-Esprit, 332, 3 47
Ainsworth Psalter, 152-53 Appalad1iat1 Sprit1g (Copland), 436 Augenmusik, 132
"Air chinoi.s"' (Vogler), 249 "Appassionata ... Su Sonata in F Minor, Augustine (Saint), 13-14, 31
Alamanni, Luigi, 1$8-59 op. 2, no. I aulos,4, 5
AlbCniz, Isaac, 39 1 Aquinas, Thomas (Saint), 44, 7 1, 84, Auric, Georges, 427
Alber ti, Leon Battista, 103 120, 154 AuserleSt't1e lmtru,,m1tal-Music
Albrechtsberger,Johann Georg, 302 Arabic musk, 51, SS ( Mulfat}, 221-22
Albumfiir-dit Jugt11d {Schumann, R.), 355 Arabs, 59, 7 1 Austen,Jane, 3 12
Alcestt (Gluck}, 274, 275 Arbeau, Thoinot, 143-44 Austria, 203, 237, 267, 377-80, 431
Alcuin of York, 24 Arcadelt,Jacques, 131 authentic cadence, 112
aleatory music, 454-56 architecture, 73, 265, 37 1, 372, 425, 459 authentic modes, 37
Alexander II (Czar of Russia), 311 church, 24, 32, 264 avant-garde, 439-41, 448
Alfonso X (King of Castile and Gothic, 7 1, 72,399, Plate 19 "Ave virgo virginum," 78
Leon}, 57 Romanesque, 68, 69, 7 1
Alltgory ofM1,sic {Caravaggio), 160 aria, 223, 228 Babbitt, Milton, 447, 453
"Allegro barbaro· (Bart6k), 405, 406 aria di sorbetto, 330 Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel, 243, 253-54,
Alleluia, 29, 31, 37, 39, 44 da capo aria, 209-10, 231, 273, 344 255, 267, 285
487
488 Index
Bach,Johann Christian, 267, 268, heroic style, 317, 319-22 Boulet., Pierre, 447-48, 449, 454, 456
268, 272 inOuence,325,327,328,370 Bourgeois, Louis, 151, 152
Bach,Johann Sebastian, 213, 227, last period, 323-25 bourree, 217, 284
236-43, 246, 267, 362-63, 379 personal life in midd le period, 322-23 Bowie, David, 469
Cothen, 238-39 Romant icism, 313, 317-25 Brahms,Johanncs, 378-80, 383
early career, 236-37 sketchbooks, 322 Brain Opera {Machover), 464
in Leipzig, 239-41, 242 in Vienna, 301-4 brass instruments, 59, 137-38
stylistic trad ition, cul mination of, 111t Beggar's Optra (Pcpusch), 228, 229 Brendel, Franz., 378-79
241-43 bd canto, 190, 344 Brentano, Antonie, 323
Weimar, 237-38 Belgium, J 16, 295 breve, 73-74, 80, 89
Bach, \Vilhelm Fr-icdcmann, 238 Bell, Alexander Graham, 311, 359 Breviary, 28
Bach-Gestlls.cl1aft, 362-63, 379 "'Belle bonm·· (Co rdier), Plate 4 111t Bridt of Lammermoor {Scott}, 3 42
bagpipe, SS, 59 Bellini, Vincenzo, 342, 343, 345, 350 Bridge over Troubled lV'ater (Simon and
Baif,Jean·Antoine, 163, 203 bells, 15,59 Garfunkel}, 469
Balakircv, Mily, 390 "'Bdt3, poi che t'asscnt i• (Gesualdo), 162 brilliant s tyle, 284
balanced binary form, 256 Bembo, Pietro (Cardinal), 131 broadcasts, 467
baJlad, 327 Bendidio, Lucrezia, 159 Brockes, B. H., 240
baJlade, 93 Benedict (Saint), 27-28 broken consort, 138-39
ballad opera, 228- 29 Benediction, 30-31 Brown,Jamcs, 467, 468
bal1ata, 96, 97 Benz., Karl, 359 Brubeck, Dave, 421, 466
ballet, 204, 205, 206, 231, 406-7, 427 Berg, A lban, 409-10, 42 1, 422, 423 Bruckner, Anton, 380
Balltl de la 1mit, 204, 205 "'Bcrgcrctte savoyenne· {Josquin des Brunelleschi, Filippo, 109
Balltl micanique (Antheil), 440 Pre'?.), J24 Biichncr, Georg, 409-10
Ballets Russes, 406 Berio, Luciano, 460, 469 "'Bulgarian Rhythm,· no. I IS
balletto, 159, 162 Berlioz, Hector, 340, 341, 356, 357, 367, (Bart6 k), 433
Balz.ac, HonorC de, 350 Plate 17 burden (refrain), 57
Bandrdto musicale (Schein), 199 Lint in defense of, 368 Burgundy. Su France
"The Banshee· (Cowell), 440 orchestral cycles and, 361 Burke, Edmund, 313
Barbara (saint), Plate 8 sound vocabulary and, 358-59 Burney, Charles, 253-54, 258
Sardi, Gio,•anni de' {Count), 172 Bernini, Gianlorenzo, 170, 17 I Bus, GcrvC de, 91, 92, 93
Bareni, Antonio, 345, 346 Berry, Chuck, 467 Busoni, Ferruccio, 439
bar form, SS, 56 Bible, 46, 148-49, 195, 232, 240 Buxtehude, Dietrich, 2 12, 213, 214,
Baroque era, 169-70, 17 2, 176 big band, 438 236, 243
BartOk, Bila, 405, 406, 431, 432, 433, Billings, \\Tilliam, 305, 306, 441 Byrd, William, 153, 156
43 4, 465 Bi11y tlr, Kid (Copland}, 43 6 Byron, George Gordon ( Lord), 311, 315,
baryton, 271 binary dance fo rm, 217, 256 3 16, 344, 356, Plate 17, Plate 18
Basic, William James "Count,• 438 binary form, 2 17, 250, 256 Byz.antine chant, 3 6
Basilica of St. Mark, 123, 164, 165, Binchois, Gilles, I 11, 112, 113 Byz.antine Empire, 17- 18, 60
194, 223 Biz.ct, Georges, 386, 387
bass, 109, 110, 193, 231, 249 Black Angels: 111irtttt1 forages from the cabaletta, 3 44
bass movement, 127 Dark Land (Crumb), 452 caccia, 97
bass viol, 139, Plate 12 Black Death, 87-88 Cacdni, Francesca, 193
bassadanza, 144 Blake, \\Tilliam, 316, 469 Cacdni, Giulio, 176, 177, 19 1, 192
bassc dansc, 144 Blow,John, 208 cadences, 37, 61, 77-78, 97-99,
basso continuo, 177-78, 185, 197, 198, blues, 437-38, 466-67 111-12,223
209, 221 Blume, Friedrich, 316-17, 349 Cagc,John, 441, 455-56, 461, 469
basso scguente, 177 B·minor Mass (Bach, J . S.), 242 Calvin, Jean (John), 148
bassus, 109 Boas, Franz., 393 Calvinist Reformat ion, 151-53
Bastiet1 imd Baslitm1e (Moz.art, W. A.), 273 Boccaccio, Giovanni, 87, 88 Calz.abigi, Raniero, 274, 275
"Battle ofTrenton· (Hewitt), 307 Bocthius, Anicius Manlius Severi nus, Cambcrt, Robert, 204
Bauhaus school, 42-5 9-10, 83 camcrata, 172-75, 184-85
Bay Psalm Book, 153,305 Boffrand, Germain, 248 canci6n, 129, 130
Bayreuth, 371, 372 Bohemia, 94, 269, 388-89 Cm1didt (Vo ltaire), 266
Beach, Amy, 392, 393 BOhm, Georg, 213, 236 canon, 58, 116, 363
Beach Boys, 468 Boito, Arrigo, 382 Canonical Hours, 27-28
Beata viscera ( PCrotin), 77 Bolcom, \\Tilliam, 469 canso, of troubadours, 52, 54
The Beatles, 468, 469 Bonaparte, Napoleon, 3 10-11, 319, 323 cantata, 193, 2 11, 235, 238, 240, 242-43
Beaumarchais, Pierre, 296, 331 Boniface VIII ( Pope), 86-87 Cm1ltrbury Tales (Chaucer), 88
beautiful, sublime and, 313 Bonn, Beethoven in, 30 1 Ca11ti A, 124
bebop, 465, 466 bop, 465, 466 Ca111i B, 124
Beckett, Samuel, 460 Boris Godm1ov{Musorgsky), 390,391 canticle, 14, 16, 28, 29
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 30 1-4, 330, 332, Borodin, Alexander, 390, 391 Ca,1ligas de Sa11ta Maria, 51
352,354, 356,360, 369, 412, Plate 18 Boston Symphony Orchestra, 427-28 cantilena, 96, 9·7, 110, 175
artist as hero, 317-19 Boucher, Fran~ois, 248 cantional setting, 151
Bonn, early years, 301 Boulanger, Lili, 403 cantus 6rmus,65, 93, 106-7, 110, 198, 348
from 1802, 317-23 Boulanger, Nadia, 43 6 cantus pl anus, 65
I ndex 489
canz.ona, 141, 165, 174 Chopin, FrCdCric, 31 S, 340, 350-52, Communist Party, 435
canz.onetta, 159, 162 354-55, 359, 364 competitions, S, 9
Capella, Martianus, 9 chorale, 149, 150, ISi, 198, 208, 213, composers, 56, 64, 79, 166, 205, 2 17, 242,
Cara, Marco, 13 1 243, 348 246, 268, 390, 435
Caravaggio, Michelangelo da, 160 chorale fantasia, 2 13 Anonymous CV on, 76-77
Carissimi, Giacomo, 196, 232 chorale fugue, 213 literary and artistic activities, 340-42
Carmen (Bh:et), 386, 387 chorale motet, 151 Marcello on, 210-11
C,armina B1,rm1a, 49-SO chorale partita, 198 patronage, 269, 27 1, 272, 274, 289, 302,
C,art1aval (Schumann, R.), 355, 361 chorale prelude, 2 13 345, 446
carol, 57-58, IOI, 128 Choralis Comta,1ti11us (Isaac), 118 in society, late twentieth century,
Carolingian period (800-1000), 24, 32, choral sound, 208 445-47
65-67. Su also Charlemagne chords, 246, 40 1, 407 women, 44, 46, SI, 52, 133, 190,
cascata, 176 "mystic chord," 385, 386 193, 2 19, 326, 327, 350, 353, 355,
C,assalio11, 280 Choron, Alexandre, 363 392, 393, 403, 427, 438, 44 1, 459,
Castiglione, Baldassare, 125, 132, 143 chorus, 232, 233, 234, 274 463, 469
ca.strati, 204, 210, 2 11, 233 Christ Crucified (El Greco}, 160 as writers, 340-42
Casulana, Maddalena, 133 Christianity, 10, 21, 103, 196, 304. Su also Compositio11 for Sy11tlresiur ( Babbitt), 453
cathedral, 109, 399, 402, Plate 19. Su also Reformation computer, 454, 456
Basilica of St. Mark; Gothic period; Christian Church, growth of, 12-14 concertato, 178, 191, 221-22
Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral Eastern inRuence, 17-19 Cot1ctrl dts amateurs, 267
Cathedral of Notre Dame, 71, 72, 73, 79 European practices, local, 19-20 concerted scoring, 178, 221-22
Catherine (saint), Plate S Jewish heritage, 14- 17, 27, 28 concertino, 221, 222
Catherine the Great (Empress of Russia), Christina (Queen ofSweden), 220 concerto, 234, 238, 293-94, 361, 422,
263, 266, 267, 389 "Christ lag in Todesbanden," 150 424,426-27,428, 434
Catholicism. Su Roman Catholic Church Christmas, 25, 26, 46, 58, 149, 240, 243 concerto movement form, sonatas,
cauda, SS, 80 Christmastide, 25, 26 283-84
Cavalieri, Emilio de', 185-86, 188 chromaticism, S, 95, 178, 254 in eighteenth century, 293-94
C,avalltria rnslicana (Mascagni), 386 churches, 18, 60, 184, 197, 220, 239, 242. instrumental idioms, 221-23
Cavalli, Francesco, 189 Su also cathedral; Christianity; sacred concertos, 194-95, 212-13
Cecilia (Saint), 208 Roman Catholic Church solo, 222, 279, 284
CeciHan movement, 363 architecture, 24, 32, 264 Concerto for Nine Instruments, op. 24
Celts, 20, 27 musicians with creativity and, (Webern}, 424
censorship, 207, 377 42-43, 44 Concerto for Orchestra (BartOk), 434
Ctn lo tonurli udesiaslid ( Viadana), 194 Church of England, 148, 153 concerts, 267, 268, 355
Cesti, Antonio, 189, 191 church modes, 35-38 Co ti cord Sonata. Su Piano Sonata no. 2,
Cezanne, Paul, 399 Cimabue, Plate 3 Concord_, Mass., 1840-60
chaconne, 193 civic musical events, 354 conductors, keyboard and, 295, Plate IS
Chadwick, George V/hite6cld, 392 classical antiquity, 1- 10, 103. Su also conductus, SO, 18, 19, SO
chamber music, 184, 190-93, 211, 290-91 Greece, ancient; Rome Cotifessiom (Augustine), 13
chance musk, 454-56 classic style, 263-66, 289, 317, 424 Cotifessiom (Rousseau), 3 10
Changts ( Dodge), 454 clausula, 76, 77, 78 conservatory. Su Paris Conservatory
chanson, 5 1, 126-27, 157, 381 clavichord, 139, 254 consort, 137-39
Cham.011 de Roland, SI Clavier-Biicl1lt'in (Bach, J . S.), 238 Constantine (Emperor), 12, 17-18
chant, 20, 22, 23, 25, 31-45, 65, 127. Clavieriib,mg ( Bach,J. S.), 242 contemporary music, 435, 445
Su also singing Clement V ( Pope), 87 continuo-lied, 2 11
aesthetic considerations, 31-32 Coctcau,Jean, 427 continuo scoring, 178
musical style, 32-35 Coleman, Ornette, 466 contrafactum, 121, 149-50
musk theory, 35-42 Collect, 29 contrary motion, 68, 77- 78
Char, RenC, 448 collegium musicum, 234, 235, 241 contratenor, 94, 109
character, 284, 299, 300, 322, 354-SS col legno battuto, 449 contredanse, 284
n,e Charge ofthe Light Brigade Colloredo, Hieronymus (Archbishop), cool jaz.z., 465-66
(Tennyson}, 3 14 272, 295 Cooper,James Fenimore, 312
Charlemagne (Holy Roman Emperor), colonies. Su United States Copernicus, 104
23-25, 32, so, 51, 65-67 color, talea and, 90, 91 Copland, Aaron, 436-37
Charles, Ray, 467 coloratura, 190 Cordier, Baude, Plate 4
Charles I (King of England), 207 Coltrane,John, 466 Corea, Chick, 466
Charles II (King of England), 207, 208 Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Corelli, Arcangdo, 220, 221, 223, 227,
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 88 Center, 453 246, 264
Cherubini, Luigi, 332 Columbus, Christopher, 104, 129, 463 cori spezzati, 164-65
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage ( Byron), 315, comedy, 121, 122, 184, 205, 206, 252, 273 Corneille, Pierre, 170, 204
356, Plate 17 com media dell'arte, 230, 386, 409, cornett, 138
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: Italy (Turner), Plate 13, Plate23 cornetto, 108, 165, Plate 6
Plate 17 intermeno, 230-31, 250-5 1 Corpus Christi, 26, 154
children, 32, 223, 269, 355, 449, 468 Come Out (Reich), 46 1 corrente, 199, 219
chitarrone, 139 com media dell 'arte. Su comedy Casi fm1 tuttt (Moz.art, W. A.), 298
choirs, 81, 82, 153, 164-65, 177, 240, 269 Communion, 30, 153 COthen, 238-39
490 Index
Council of Con.stance, 87, 102-3 Dave Brubeck Quartet, 466 Die schOtie MUlluin (Schubert), 329, 330
Council of Trent, 45, 154, 155 David (King of Israel}, 14, JS Di< Sch8pfu11g (Haydn), 289
counterpoint, 65, 67, 154, 163 David, Felicien, 387 Die siebe11 1¥orlt Jcsu Christi am Kreuu
Counter-Reformation, 154-SS David,Jacque.s-Louis, 264, 266, Plate 14 (Schutz), 195
Couperin, Fran~ois, 2 17, 218, 248 Davidov.sky, Mario, 454, 455 "'Dies irae" (Thomas of Celano),
courantc, 199, 216, 2 17 Davidsbund ( Davidsbiitrdlcr), 341-42 45, 154, 470
courtly love, 48, 52-54, 94, 144 Davies, Peter Maxwell, 460 "'Die Trennung• {Bach, C. P. E.), 255
courts, 108, 118, 122-23, 126, 137, da Vinci, Leonardo, 104 Die WalkUre (Wagner), 37 1
237-39 Davis, Miles, 465-66 Die Zaubujliitt (Mozart, W. A.), 298, 299
cour tiers, 125, 143 Day of tire God, (Gaugin), 405, Plate 20 d' Jndy, Vincent, 303, 3 17, 323
Ger man court mu.sic, 55-56 Dead Elvi, ( Daugherty), 469-70 Dionysian, 3, 313
Versailles, 203, 204 T11< D,at/1 ofKli11gho.ffu (Adams,J.), 463 Dionysus (god), 3, 4
Cowell, Henry, 440, 441 T11e Death ofSocrates {David,J.·L.), 264, direct performance, 16, 32
n,eCraft ofMusical Composilio11 Plate 14 di.scant, 69-70, 76, 99- 10 1
(Hindemith), 430 Dcbu.ssy, Claude, 400-403, 426 di.scant clausula, 76
Credo, 30, 34, 94 Dccamcro11 {Boccaccio), 87, 88 Discourse 011 Mtlhod (Descartes}, 168
crescendo, 258, 259 Decker, Pauline, 353 dissonance, 95, 119, 123, 179, 180,
Cristofor i, Bartolomeo, 254 Declaration of Independence, 310 409, 465
Critique of Pure Reason (Kant), 262 "'Decoration Day• {Ives, C.), 4 13 divertimento, 279-80
Cromwell (Hugo), 341 de Grocheo,Johannes, 65 Divine Comedy ( Dante Alighieri), 83,
Cromwell, Oliver, 207 De Hooch, Pieter, Plate 12 88, 368
"Cr-uda AmariUi" ( Montc\'crd i, C.), 180 De imtitutione ,,msic.a (Boethius}, 9 Divine Office. Su Roman liturgy
Crumb, George, 449, 452, 456, 463 Delacroix, EugCne, 315, 350 Dixieland. Su New Orleans jan
crumhom, 137, 138 de la Croix, Pierre (Petrus de Cruce), SO Dodge, Charles, 454, 464
Cuba, 387 Delius, Frederick, 403 domestic mu.sic, gender and, 254-55,
cubism, Plate 23 Delle impcrfczio11i delta modenia musica 326,352-53
Cui, Cisar, 390 (Artusi), 179 dominant (pitch in church modes), 37, 38
cydicity, 330, 360-61, 384 De Ne.sic, Blondel, 52 Don Giova1111i {Mozart, \V. A.), 297-98
cymbals, 59, 60 "'Der blaue Reiter,· 408 Donizetti, Gaetano, 342, 363
DerJlicgtt1de Holliindu {\.Yagncr), 369 Donne,John, 160
da capo aria, 209- 10, 23 1, 273, 344 Der Frtiscl1Utz, (\.Yeber), 333, 334, Dom1e triptych (Memling), Plate 8
dactylic rhythm, 74, 75, 127 360, 383 Don Pasquale (Donizetti), 342
Daf11, (Peri), 185 Der Ring des Nibtlm1gtt1 (Wagner), 37 1, Don Quixote (Strauss), 385
O'Agoult, Marie {Countess), 348, Plate 18 373, 376, 377 Dorian harmonia, 4
" Oa le belle con traded 'oricnte" Der Roswkavalier (Strau.ss), 429 Dorian tonos, 7
( Rore), 132 Der vollkomme11e Captllmtisttr Dostoevsky, Feodor, 389, 404, 407
dance, 5, 48, 216, 284, 350, 382, 384, (Mattheson), 217 double long, 80, 81
387, 467 Descartes, RenC, 168, 170, 172, 190 double-reed instruments, 137
ballet, 204, 205, 206, 23 1, 406-7, 427 Des K11abtn Wu11dtr'1or11 (Mahler, G.), 384 drama, 45-46, 187, 317, 333. Stt also
binary dance form, 217, 256 " Des pa.s sur la neige" (Debu.ssy), 402 theater
dancemu.sic, 61, 199 d'Este, Isabella, 131 musical drama, Germany, 213- 14
dance songs, 52, 159 Dwts.clrc Mess.c, 149 music dramas, 37 1- 72
instrumental genres and dances, Diabtlli Variations, op. 120 opera and, 296, 371, 375
143-44 ( Beethoven), 323 dramma,332
instruments and, 59, 61, Plate 9 Diaghilev, Serge, 406 dram ma giocoso, 273
vaudeville and, 163 Dialogo delta ,,msica a,1lica t dtlla mode ma drawing rooms, salons and, 352-53
"Dance of the Adolescents" (Galilei), 172-75 drums, SS, 59, 61, Plate 7
(Stravinsky), 407 dialogues, 172-75, 184, 189, 2 13, 229, 252 Duchamp, Marcel, 425
Oanhauscr,Josef, Plate IS diatonic genus, S duct, 192, 197, 344
Dat1se macabre (Saint-Saens), 382 diatonic scale, 432 Du Fay, Guillaume, 108-10, l ll, 112, 113
Dante Alighieri, 83, 88, 368 Dicl1ttrliebe {Schumann, R.), 330, 360 Dukas, Paul, 382
Danit Symphony (Lis.t), 368 Dictionary (Johnson), 266 Duma.s, Alexandre (fils), 346
Danz.as espanotas (Granados), 391 Diderot, Denis, 262 Duma.s, Alexandre ( ptre), 346, 348,
Oa Ponte, Lorenzo, 296-98 Dido and Ae11eas (Purcell), 208 Plate IS
Oargomyzhsky, Alexander, 389 Die E11tf1'ihru11g aus dem Sera ii Dumbarlot1 Oaks Concerto
Darwin, Charles, 312, 360 (Mozart, \V. A.), 295, 296 (Stravinsky), 428
Da, Jal" (Hensel), 361 Die erste l¥alp11rgis11acl1t, op.60 Dum sigillum summus patris (Pirotin), 77
"Oas Judentum in dcr Musik" (\Vagner), (Mendelssohn), 356, 360 Dunstaple,John, 106, 107
376-77 Die GOHtrdiimmeru11g (\Vagner), Duplcssi.s, Marie, 346
Da, Kapital (Marx), 311 371, 373,374 duplex long, 80, 81
Das Kumtwcrk du Zukunft (Wagner), 369 DieJal1rtszdtt11 ( Haydn), 289 duration sign.s, SO
Das Lied von dtr Erde (Mahler, G.), 384 Die Leiden des ju11gc11 Werlhus Durey, Loui.s, 427
Das Rl1tit1gotd (\Vagner), 37 1 (Goethe), 3 14 d'Ussel, Gui, 52, 53, 54
d 'Aubu.sson, Margarita (Lady), 54 Die Mtisltrsillger vot1 NUnibcrg (\Vagner), "'Ou tout m'cstoie abandonC"
Daugherty, Michael, 469-70 56, 128,372, 373, 378 ( Du Fay), 112
I ndex 491
Dvoiak, Antonin, 389 opera seria and opera reform, 273-76 festivals, 58, 354
Dwight,John Sullivan, 39 1-92 sonata form and variants, 280-84 Festspidhau.s, 37 1, 372
Dwiglrt 's Journal ofMu.sic (Dwight), ensembles, 137, 219-21 feudal aristocracy, 5 1-52
391-92 fa1twmf tintr neum Astl,ctik dtr Tot1kumt Ficino, Marsilio, 103
Dylan, Bob, 467-68 ( Busoni), 439 Fidtlio, op. 72 {Beethoven), 32 1, 332
dynamics, 165, 215, 258 epic, oral traditions and, 50-51 Ficld,John, 355
Epiphany, 26 Fiftlr Book ofMadrigals (Monteverdi, C.),
&rth S Magnetic Fitld, 464 episode, fugue, 2 16 179, 191
Ea.ster, 25, 26, 45, 149, 150, 154, 240, 390 Epistle, 29 6nale, 297, 298-99
Ebles ( Lord), 54 equality, gender and, 133 frn' amors, 52
ecclesia.stical, 38, 184, 194 equal-voice polyphony, 117 6n-de-siCde pessimism, 403
Eckert, Karl Anton Florian, 353 'Erlkonig" (Goethe}, 330 First Berlin School, 255
ecomu.sic, 463-64 ' Erlkonig" (Schroter}, 326, 327 First O rchestral Set {Ive.s, C.), 412
economics, 262, 268, 311, 417, 446, 465 'Erlkonig" (Schubert), 330 Fitzgerald, Ella, 438
n,e &slasy ofSt. Tues.a {Bernini), 171 Eroica. Su Symphony no. 3 in E-flat flamenco, 387
Edict of Milan, 12, 17 escape-tone cadence, 99 Florence, Plate 11
Edison, Thomas, 311, 359 Eskimos: Four Clraraderistic Picus, Florentinecamerata, 172-75, 184-85
education, 9, 24, 105, 239, 241, 446-47 op. 64 (Beach), 393 florid organum, 69-70
music, 125-26, 163, 203-4 At1 Essay 0 11 Criticism {Pope), 264-66, 429 flute, 59, 137
scholasticism, 71, 83 " Essays before a Sonata" (Ives, C.), 411 fo lk
Edward I (King of England}, 86 estampie, 6 1, 62 folk heritage, jazz., 437
Edward I II (King of England), 105 Estcrhiz.a palace, 269-7 1, 285, 293, 295 folk music, 388-89, 391, 436
Edward VJ ( King of England}, 153 Esterhiz.y, Anton {Prince), 289 folk songs, 384, 432, 433
Eichendorff,Joseph von, 384 Estcrhiz.y, Nichola.s (Prince}, 269-70, folk tradition, 49
Ein deutsches Requiem {Brahms), 379 271, 289 fo rms, SS, 56, 78 , 112, 211, 213, 294, 330,
" Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott" Esterhb)', Paul {Prince), 269 4 19-20, 426
(Luther}, 149, 348 Esther (Handel}, 232 binary form, 217, 250, 256
Eimtcin on tire Beach {Glass), 463 Ethclwold (Bishop of Manchester}, 45-46 concerto movement form, sonatas,
" El Condor Pa.sa" (Simon and ethos, doctrine of, 3-4, 13, 172 283-84
Garfunkel}, 469 Etudes dt rytl1me (Messiaen), 447 formes 6xes, 93, 94, 96
electronic music, 452-54 Euchari.st. Su Holy Communion instrumental idioms and, 214-23
Elgar, Edward, 391 Euridiu (Peri), 185, 186, Plate 11 instrumental musk, structure, 255-51
El Greco, 160 Euripides, 2 in Romantic music, 360-6 1
Elias (lord}, 54 Europe, 19-20, 23, 446 sonata form, 280-84, 368
Elijah (Mendelssohn), 354 Eurya11ll1t (\Veber}, 333 vocal chamber music, 190-93
Elizabeth I (Queen of England), 153 Evensong, 153 fo rtepiano, 254
Ellington, Duke, 438 exoticism, 387-88, 401 Foster, Stephen Collins, 352
Embryom dessichis (Satie}, 426 experimentalists. Ste United States 4'33' (Cage), 456
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, 469 exposition, 197, 282 four-movement sonata plan, 277
Emerson, Ralph \Valdo, 411, 413 expression, 91, 132, 253, 463 four-part texture, 109
emp6nd.samer Stil (Emp6ndsamkeit), Enlightenment with function "The Fourth ofJuly" (Ives, C.), 413
252-55, 266 and, 284-86 Fourth Violin Sonata {Ives, C.), 412
n,e E11cl1a11ttd Forest (Schaefer), 464 musical expression, 133-34, 174-75, "'The Fox and the Woman,· 393
Endna, Juan del, 130 188, 189 fragmentation of musical ideas
Encyclopidit, 262 new model in eighteenth century, and styles, 470
England, 5 1-52, 86, 101, 128, 148, 153, 299-301 fragments, 361
227, 228, 263, 267, 339 expressionism, 398-99, 407-10, Plate 2 1, France, 80, 81, 86, 87, 95, 105-1, 151, 171,
Hundred Years' \\Tar, 105-7 Plate 22 185, 208, 211, 2 17, 263, 266, 305,
monophonic songs in, 57-58 "eye mu.sic." Su Augenmusik 3 10-11, 339, 364, 453, Plate 11. S«
music in se,•enteenth century, 207-9 also opera, French
polyphony in, 99-101 TI,e Fairy Quun, 208 Burgundy, 44, 102, 108, 113, 154
sixteenth century and Italian style faith, power ofwords and, 155-56 chanson, sixteenth century, 126-27
in, 161-63 Falstaff(Verdi}, 382 Franco-Netherlands composers,
enharmonic genus, 5, 6 fancy, 208 116-22
Enlightenment, 262, 3 17, 429 fantasia, 145, 196-97, 213, 2 15 galant, 248-50
classic style, 263-66 fantasy, 208, 281 late Romanticism, 380-82
expression and function, 284-86 fasci.sm, 418. Su also Naz.i.s neoclassicism, 426-27
Haydn, Franz.Joseph, 269-71, 273, fashion, 108, 131 Northern style, 122-24, 154
277, 278 Faulkner, \\Tilliam, 407 Paris, 70-7 1, 118, 122-23, 126,
instrumental genres and sonata plan, Faust (Goethe), 329, 368, 380 335-36, 340, 347, 381, 388, 400,
276-80 Fa,ut (Gounod), 380 439, 447-48, 453
Moz.art, Wolfgang Amadeus, Faiut Symphony (Liszt), 368 in sixteenth century, 163-64
271-72 Ferdinand, Franz (Archduke Franck, Cisar, 381, 382
musician.sin society, late eighteenth ofAustria), 431 Franco-Netherlands composers, J 16-22
century, 266-69 Ferdinand 11 (King of Aragon}, 128-29 Franconian rhythmic notation, 80, 81
492 Index
Franco of Cologne, SO, SI, 418 neoclassicism, 429-30 Gregory [[I ( Pope), 47n2
Franco·Prussian \\Tar of 1870-187 l, 380 New German School, 367-69, 377- 78, "'G retchen am Spinnrade" (Schubert), 329
Franklin, Aretha, 467 3 79, 382-85, 392 Grieg, Edvard, 391
Franklin, Benjamin, 262, 306 operain, 229-30,333-3 4 Griffes, Tomlinson, 403
Fridiric Cl1opit1 ( Delacroix}, 3 15 Peasants' Revolt, 148, 430-3 1, Plate IO Grimm brothers, 314, 33 3
Frederick I [ "the Great" ( King of Prussia), Gershwin, George, 439 Gropius, Manon, 422
243,253, 263,266,268 Gesamtkunstwerk, 370, 3 71, 372, Grundthemen, in \\Tagner' style, 375
Frederick William ( [ ( King of Pru.ssia), 463, 468 GrUnewaJd, Matthias, 430-3 1, Plate 10
266, 268, 29 1 Gesualdo, Carlo, 160, 162 gruppo, 176
Frederick William CV {King of Gewandhaus Concerts, 268 Guarini, Battista, 159
Prussia), 263 Gewandhaus Orchestra, 362 guerre des bouffons, 251-52, 275
free ja2<z., 466 giga, 219 Guidonian hand, 42
Frccmason~298, 299 gigue, 199, 216 Guido of Arcuo, 40, 41, 418
free (frei) organ pieces, 213 Gillespie, Dizzy, 465 Guillaume Ttll {Rossini), 333, 359
free o rgan um, 68 Giotto d i Bondone, 104, Plate S Gulliver's Travels (Swift), 266
French Radio, studios, 453 Giraud, Albert, 409 Gutenberg,Johannes, 105
French Revolution, 364 Giulio Cts.art ( Handel), 228 gymd, 99, 100, IOI
Frcscobaldi, Girolamo, 200 Glass, Philip, 463, 468, 469 Gymnopidits (Satie}, 426
Freud, Sigmund, 404 Glinka, Mikhail, 389
Frobcrgcr, Johann Jacob, 199 g lobalization, 458 Hagia Sophia, 18
frottola, 130-33, 141 Gloria i11 txulsis, 29, 31, 94 haiku, 423
fuga, 119, 121, 131, 142 g loss, 43, Plate l Haley, Bill, 467
fuging tune, 305 Gluck, Christoph V/illibald, 274-76, 295, Halloween, 27
fugue, 213, 215-16, 243, 350, Plate 21 296, 371 Handel, George Frideric, 240, 249,
Fugut ( Kandinsky), Plate 21 Goethe,Johann Wolfgang von, 264, 291, 274, 362
full anthem, 153 314, 3 19, 326, 3 27, 330 opera seria and, 227-29
Fulton, Robert, 311 Faust and, 3 29, 368, 380 oratorio and, 232, 233, 2 34
functional harmony, 247 influence, 356 Hanslick, Eduard, 3 78, 389
fusion, 461 Gogol, Nicolai, 389 Hanson, Howard, 437
future, 4 70 Goldbug Varialiotis ( Bach, J . S.), 242 Hapsburgs, 203, 263
· artwork of the future,· 369-77 Goldoni, Carlo, 273 Hardin, Lil, 438
futurism, 439 Golias ( Goliath), 49 harmoniai ( modes}, 4, l ln2, 35
"'mu.sic of the future," 378-79 Gombert, Nicolas, 194 Harmo11iu uuuicts odl1tcalot1 A, 124
Good Friday, 240 harmony, 2, S, 6 , 95, IOI, 106, 123,124,
Gabricli, Andrea, 165, 178 Goodman, Benny, 438 13 3-3 4, 161, 178, 247, 306, 343,
Gabridi, Giovanni, 165, 178, 195 Gorky, Maxim, 435 401-2
ga1ant, 231, 248-SO, Plate 13 Gossec, Fran~oi.s-Joseph, 267 Corellian harmonic progressions,
gaillarde, 144 Gothic period, 60, 7 0, 83 220, 221
Galilci, Vincenzo, 172-76 architecture, 7 1, 72, 399, Plate 19 harmonic plan and sonata, 280-81
Gallican chant, 20 Gothic cathedral, 7 2, 77, 94 harmonic progression, 246
Galli·MariC, Celestine, 386 Gottschalk, Louis Moreau, 387 harmonic rhythm, 247-48
Galuppi, Balda.ssare, 252 Goudimel, Claude, 152 Romantic,359-60
Galvani, Luigi, 262 Gounod, Charles, 380 tonality and, 374-75
gamma, 42 Gractlm1d (Simon), 469 Harold ttl Italit {Berlioz), 356, 361, 367,
gamut, 41 Gradual, 28, 29 Plate 17
Garfunkel, Art, 469 Gmd11alia ( Byrd), 156 harp, 14, 15, 58, 108, II I, Plate 6
Garnier, Charles, 381 Graham, Martha, 436 harpsichord, 139, 198, 218, 221, 241, 242,
Gaugin, Paul, 405, Plate 20 Granados, Enrique, 39 1 254, 257
gavotte, 217, 284 grand opera, 347-48, 382 Harrison, George, 469
Gay, John, 228 grants, art, 446 Hassc, Johann Adolf, 230, 231
Gebrauchsmu.sik, 430, 433, 436, 440 The Grateful Dead, 468 haul, SS, 59, 137
gebunden form.s, 213 Great Depression, 4 17 Haydn, Franz.Joseph, 295, 362, Plate IS
G cisslcr, 51 Greater Hours, 28 Beethoven and, 301-2
gender, 32, 133, 254-55 Greater Perfect System, 7 career, 269-7 1, 273
Genevieve (Saint), 264 Great Schism, 8 7, 103, 148 Mozart, \\Tolfgang Amadeus, and, 288,
George I ( King of England), 228, 263 Grtal Strvius, 153 289-90
George II ( King of England), 263 Greece, ancient, 1, 103, 175 , 232, 264, string quartet, 277, 278, 291
GCricault, ThCodore, Plate 16 265, 447 symphony, 292-93
Germany, 128, 149, 195,339, 380 drama, 184-85 Hegel, Georg \\Tilhclm Friedrich, 312, 367
eighteenth century, 234-36 t1J1os, doctrine of, 3-4, 13, 17 2 Heiligen.stadt Testament {Beethoven),
emp6ndsamer Stil and, 252-SS, 266 music theory, 2, S-8, 35 3 18-19, 322
German court mu.sic, 55-56 religion in, 2, 3, 4, 13 "'Heimwch" (Schoenberg), 409
Leipzig, 239-41, 242, 267, 340 Gregorian chant, 22 Heine, Heinrich, 350, 360
musical genres, seventeenth century, Gregory [ ( Pope), 22-23, 25, 32, 47n2 hemio la, 379-80
2 11-14 Gregory II ( Pope), 47n2 Hendri.x,Jimi, 468
Index 493
Henrici, Christian Friedrich. Su Picander '"ti combattimcnto di Tancredi e I RCA.M {Ins titut de Rccherche et de
Henry, Pierre, 453 Clorinda" (Monteverdi, C.), Coordination Acoustique/
Henry IV {King of France}, 185, Plate 11 19 1, 192 Musique), 448, 454
Henry VJ I I (King of England}, I28, II corltgiano (Castiglione), 125 Isaac, Heinrich, 118, 151, 423
148, 153 illuminated manuscript. Stt manuscripts Isabella I (Queen of Castile), 128-29
Hensel, Fanny Mendelssohn, 352, II pomo d'oro (Cesti), 191 lscnhcim altarpiece (Griinewald),
361, 363 11 lealro alla moda {Marcello), 210-1 1 430-31, Plate JO
Hc,rn/,s (Handel), 232 II Trovalore {Verdi), 364 isorhythm, 90-94, 107, I08, 109
Herod (King), 46 lmagillary Land.scape No. 4 (Cage}, 456 Italy, 57, 96-97, 227, 249, 267, 356, 361,
Heroes {Bowie}, 469 imitation, contrapuntal, 119, 2 13, 214 367,382, Plate 11.Sualso opera,
•Heroes· Symplro11y {Glass), 469 (mmortal Beloved, 323 Italian; Rome
Herz., Henri, 349 impressionism, 398-403, Plate 19 Florence, 172-75, 184-85, Plate 11
Hewitt,James, 307 Impressio11: Sm1rise, 1872 (Monet), 398 frottola and madrigal, 130-33
he.xachords, 40, 41, 121 improvisation, 145, 200-201 music at end of sixteenth century,
Hiller,JohannAdam, 267 In C (Riley}, 46 1 157-60
Hiller, Lejaren, 456 /t1 Cmtral Asia (Borodin), 390 sixteenth century and Italian style in
Hindemith, Paul,430-31, Plate 10 indeterminacy, 454-56 England, 161-63
hip-hop music, 469 /ndiat1 Suite. Su Suite no. 2 for orchestra, Venice, 164-65, 188-89
Hippolytt ti Aricit (Rameau), 231, 251-52 op.48 "lte, miss a est," 3 1
historia, 195 Industrial Rc,•olution, 263, 311, 403, 416 "'It's Now or Never· {Presley), 470
Hi.slo,yofAndo1I Ari {\.Yinckclmann), 264 Innocent (II (Pope), 44, 154 Ives, Charles, 410-13, 439, 441
Hitler, Adolf, 377, 4 18, 421, 429 In nominc, 142 Ives, George, 410, 4 12
Hobbes, Thomas, 168, 310 "Innsbruck, ich muss dich Jassen,·
Hoffmann, E.T. A., 3 13, 341 150-5 1 Jacobus of Liege, 73, 84n3
Hogarth, \"/iJliam, 428 lnstitut de Recherche ct de Coordination Jacquet de la Guerre, Elisabeth-Claude,
Holdermann, Carl \\Tilhelm, 334 Acoustique/Musiquc (IRCAM), 219
Holiday, Billie, 438 448, 454 James I (King of England), 207
Holidays ( Ives, C.), 4 13 instrumental genres, 143-44, 144-45, James II (King of England}, 208
Holy Communion {Eucharist}, 28, 29, 30 354-58 Janequin, CICment, 127
Holy Roman Empire, 203 developments in eighteenth century, Janissary music, 295, 387
Holy \\Teck, 26 257-60 juz, 427, 437-39, 465-66, 470
Homer, 2, 266 sonata plan and, 276-80 jazz-rock, 466
homogeneous ensembles, 137 instrumental idioms, 2 14-23 Jefferson, Thomas, 264, 265, 306
homophonic texture, 175 instrumental music, 10, 83, 140, 199, 206, jtphtha (Handel), 232
Honegger, Arthur, 427, 440 2 15, 221-22 "'Jcsu Cristcs milde moder,· 100
Honorius of Autun, 60 improvisatory, 200-201 Jesuits, 155, 196
Hopkins,John, 152 instrumental genres, 143-45 Jesus, 12, 26, 45-46, 160, 195
Hopkinson, Francis, 306-7 instruments and, 136-39 f,11x (Debussy), 403
Hora ,iovi.ssima (Parker, H .), 392 seventeenth century, 196-201 Jews, 14- 17, 27, 28, 129, 376-77, 421, 463
HOtd de Soubise, 248 structure in eighteenth century, Joachim,Joseph, 353, 378
HPSCHD(Cage and Hiller, L.), 456 255-57 Joan of Arc, 105
Hugo, Victor, 341, 342, 344, Plate 18 vocal music and genres, adaptations of, John (King of Bohemia), 94
Huguenots, 151,305, 348 141-43 John of the Cross (Saint), 160
'"huitiCme estampie real,· 62 instrumentation, 4, 61-62, 340 Johnson, Samuel, 266
humanism, 102-4, 106-7, 123, 147, 166 instruments, 2ln2, 32, 141, 424, 44 1, 464, John the Deacon, 47n I
new music and, 112- 13 Plate 9 Jones, Inigo, 207
new style and, 108-12 instrumental music and, 136-39 Jonson, Ben, 207
humanities, 105, 472-8 1 secular songs, 58-62 Joplin,Janis, 468
Hundred Years' War, 105-7 types, 14, IS, SS, 59-61, 108, I I I, Joseph II (Holy Roman Emperor),
Hungarian folk songs, 432, 433 137-39, 175, 178, 198, 207, 2 15, 2 18, 263, 266, 289
HUntcn, Franz, 349 254, 27 1, 276-77, 293, 437, 449, Josquin des Pre'l., 118-20, 121, 122,
hurdy-gurdy, 59 Plate 6, Plate 7 123, 124
Hus,Jan, 86 interior decoration, 170, 248, 270 Joyce,James, 407
hymn, 14, 16 intermezzo, 230-3 1, 250-51 jubilus, 38, 39
hymnbooks, 152-53 intermissions, 234, 330 Julie, ou la 11ouvtlle Hlloise (Rousseau),
hypcrinstruments, 464 International Summer Course for New 254-55
Musk,448 July Monarchy, 339
iambic rhythms, 74, 75 intonation, 16- 17,34 Justinian {Emperor), 18
'"lch stucnd an einem Morgen" Introduction and Rondo Capriccio, op. 14 Ju.slilia (PCrotin), 77
(Senff), 129 (Mendds.ohn), 350
idCe 6xe, 361 introductions, 145, 282-83 Kalophonic style, 19
idioms. Su instrumental idioms Ionian harmonia, 4 Kandinsky, Vassily, 408, Plate 21
Idomt11to {Mozart,\\/'. A.), 295 lo11i.salio11 (VarCse}, 440 Kant, Immanuel, 262
(gnatius of Loyola, 155 Iplligmia al Aulis (Euripides), 2 Kantor, 234-35, 239
II barbiut di Si~iglia (Ross ini}, 331, 342 lradier, Scbastiin, 387 Kapellmeister, 269, 271, 272, 289, 295
494 Index
Keiser, Reinhard, 2 14, 227, 250 Le Brun, Charles, 170 L'lstoire du lresvaillm1t chevalier Paris et la
Ktrwu, 268 le Brun, Uc (Lord), 54 belle Vie11t1e,fille du daupl1it1, 53
Kenton, Stan, 466 Le Clrampio11 des dames (le Franc), Liszt, Franz, 340, 348-49, 350, 364, 381,
kettledrum, 59 106, 111 Plate 18
keyboard, 213, 253, 254, Plate IS "Le chant des oi.seaux· Oanequin), 127 New German School and, 367-69
Bach, Johann Sebastian, and, Le Chapclain, AndrC, 52 symphonic poem and, 382
238-39, 242 Le Clrasseur ma11dil (Franck), 382 Liszt and His Friends (Danhauser),
instruments, 139, 175, 198, 218, 254 Le Devfo d11 village (Rousseau}, 252, 273 Plate IS
keyboard sonata, 278-79 Leeu, Gerard, 53 literary activities, composers, 3 40-42
ordrcs, 217-18 le Franc, Martin, 106, 107, 111 literary realism, 385-86
toccata for, 200, 201 Leipzig. See Germany literature, SS, 105, 160, 389, 407, 457
Kindtrsu11t11: Ldcl1tt Stach f1'ir das Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, 340 eighteenth century, 266
Pim1oforte (Schumann, R.), 355 Le istitutio,li harmo,1id1e, 123, 133-34, symbolism, 399-400
KindtrstUckt (Mendelssohn), 355 161, 178 Little Richard, 467
Kindtrtot,mlieder (Mahler, G.), 384 Le Jeune, Claude, 163, 164 liturgy, 43-44, 153
King, Martin Luthcr,J r., 460 L'disir d'amort {Donizetti}, 342 liturgical drama and chants, 45-46
kithara, 4, 5, 58 Le marltau smu maitre (Boulez), 448 liturgical year, 25, 26, 27, 29
' Kittery" (Billings), 306 Lenin, Vladimir, 434 Lutheran liturgical music, 2 12-13
Klat1gfarb1mmdodit, 423 Lt 110:z:ze di Figaro (Mozart, \V. A.), Roman liturgy, 25-31, 32, 3 4, 44, 45,
Klei11tgtistliclu: Conctr-lm (Schiitz.}, 195 296-97, 33 1 so, 94, 153
Klinghoffcr, Leon, 463 Lent, 26, 27, 31 Lloyd V/ebbcr, Andrew, 381
Kodaly, Zoltin, 431 Le 11uove mu.sidrt (Caccini, G.), 176, 177, Lobg,urng (Mendelssohn), 354, 356
kontakion, IS, 19 19 1, 192 Lohtt1grit1 {\.Yagner), 369
Kot1tra-Pm1ktt (Stockhausen), 448 Leo Il l (Pope), 24-25 Lohenstein, He.rr von, 241
kortlrolts, 137 Leoncavallo, Ruggero, 386 L'oiseau de feu (Stravinsky), 406
Kronos Quartet, 461 LConin, 73, 77 London Symphony O rchestra, 469
Kuhnau,Johann, 235 Leopold (Prince), 238 Long (longa), 73-74, 80, SI, 89
Kyr-ic, 68, 94 Leopold II (King of Belgium), 295 Lorca, Federico Garcia, 449
Kyrie dtiso11, 29, 34-35, 43 Leroux, Gaston, 381 Louis Philippe ( {King of France), 339
Le sacrt d11 prilllemps {Stravinsky), Louis Xl( I (King of France), 203, 248,
La Bolitme (Puccini), 387 406, 407 Plate 11
"La cathidrale engloutie• {Debussy), 402 Les Demoisclles d'Avig11011 (Picasso), 405 Louis XIV "Sun Kinf' (King of France),
La clrnm1za di Tito (Mozart, \Ill. A.), 295 Les Djimis {Franck}, 382 111, 203, 204, 205, 206, 208
La Criatiot1 d11 mo tide (Milhaud}, 427 "les fauves," 408 Louis XV {King of France}, 248, 263, 266
La dame aux camillias {Dumas fils), 346 Les Hug1ut1ols (Meyerbeer), 3 48 Louis XVI {King of France}, 2.63, 266, 296
Lady Macbeth of the District ofMz.ensk Les Indes gata11tes (Rameau), 23 1 love, 93, 323, 342, 372
(Shostakovich), 435 Les N oas {Stravinsky), 427 cou.rtly lo,•e, 48, 52-54, 94, 144
"Lady Music," 42 Les Priludes (Liszt), 368 Romant ici.sm and, 313-14
La fin ta sempliu (Mozart, \!'/. A.), 273 Lesser Doxology, 153 Love {Bcrnini), 171
"Laguerre" (Janequin), 127 Lesser Hours, 28 Low ( Bowie), 469
Jaissez..faire economy, 262 Lesser Perfect System, 7 ..Law• Symplro11y {Glass), 469
Lamartine, Alphonse de, 368-69 Le.s Six, 427 Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti), 342
Jament. Su planctu.s; planh Les Vipres sidliem1es {Verdi), 382 Lucrezia Borgia {Donizetti}, 3 42
La Mc, (Debussy), 402 LCvi·Strau.ss, Claude, 460 Ludwig I ( {King of Bavaria), 37 1
L'Amfiparnaso (Vecchi), 184 L'Histoirt d11 soldal (Stravinsky), Luening, Otto, 453
La Muetft de Portici (Auber), 332, 347 427, 4 70 LulHstes, 23 1-32
Landi,Stefano, 188, 190 Libtr de a rte hot1tsti ama11di d reprobatiot1e LuUy,Jean·Baptiste, 204-5, 206, 221,
Landini, Francesco, 96, 98, 460 inhoneste amoris, 52 231-32,274,347
Lindler, 284, 384 Libtr u.sualis, 29 lute, 58-59, 108, 139, 159, 163, 175, 177,
Jangue d'oc,51 librettos, 230, 3 42, 345, 347, 372-74 21 1, 217, Plate 6, Plate 7, Plate 12
Jangue d'o'il, SI Lictors Bri11gillg to Brutus the Bodies of His Luther, Martin, 119, 148-51, 3 48
L'appre11ti sorcier ( Dukas}, 382 So11s (David,J.-L.), 264 Lutheranism, 148-51, 2 12-13, 242
L'Art de to1ulrer le claveci11 {Couperin}, 218 Liebhaber, 268, 269 Lunas.chi, Luz.zasco, 159
L'arte dei rumori (Ru.ssolo), 439-40 lied, 157, 268,352, 384 Lydian harmonia, 4
La Sc.ala, 382 Romanticism, 326-30 lyre, 4, 58
La serva padro11a (Pergolesi), 231, 25 1 types, 128, 211 lyricism, 350-52
La som1ambula (Bellini), 342, 343 Liederei11esfahre11dtt1 Gesdle11 Italian opera and Romantic, 3 42-47
La.ssus, Orlandede, 155, 157 (Mahler, G.), 384 lyric opera, 380
Latin songs, 49-50 lighting, 190 Lyric Suite for string quartet (Berg),
La Traviata (Verdi}, 346, 360, 364 Limbourg brothers, 108, Plate 7 422-23
"Lauda Sion" {Aquinas), 44, 154 L'incoronaziom di Poppta
Lavoisier, Antoine, 262 {Monteverdi, C.), 189 Mac Dowell, Edward, 392
leading tone, 98, 99 Li11ear Co11lrasts (Ussachevsky), 453 Machaut, Guillaume de, 93-95, 98, 110
Le Baiser de la fie (Stravinsky), 427 Linnaeus, Carl, 262 Machover, Tod, 464
Le boi,rgeois get1till1ommt {Moliere), 429 listener, postmodern, 459 Madama Butterfly (Puccini), 388
Index 495
Madonna Enthroned (Cimabue), Plate 3 Ma.x.imilian I (Holy Roman Emperor), 118 Missa Gloria tibi lrinitas (Ta\'erner), 142
Madomia witli the Jnfa,11 Jesus, Saillt, Maz.arin,Jules, 203, 204 Missa Hercules dux Furariat (Josquin des
and Angels (Giotto}, 104, Plate S mazurka, 350 Pre,), 122
madrigal, 96, 174, 179, 180, 182n4, McLaughlin,John, 466 Missal, 28
184, 191 Medici, Lorenzo de' "the Missa La sol fa rt mi{Josquin des
sixteenth century, 151-59, 161, 162 Magni6cent," I JS Pre'Z), 120, 121
treccnto, 130-33 Medici, Maria de', 185, Plate 11 Missa Malheur mt bat {Josquin des
madrigal comedies, madrigal Medici family, 103, 118, 133 Pre'Z), 122
dialogues, 184 Medici O rsini, Isabella de', 133 Missa Pangt lingua (Josquin des Prez), )20
monodic madrigals, 176-77 Mei, Girolamo, 175, 184 Missa Papat Marcelli {Palestrina}, 155
maestro di cappella, J JS, 123, J3J, 164 Meistersinger, 56, I 28 Missa prolatio,mm {Ockeghem), J )6
Magt1i}ical (Song of Mary), 28 melismatic style, 19, 37, 43, 44, 69, 70, 76 Missa Solomlis (Beethoven), 324
J\1agt11m1 opus musimm (Lassu.s), 155 melodics, 55, 247, 343, 375, 381, 401, 423 Mister Heartbreak (Anderson), 469
Magtius liber organi, 73, 74, 75-76, 77 melodic formula,Jewi.sh, 17 Milridate, ri di Ponto (Mozart, VI. A.),
Mahler, Alma (wife}, 422 modes and melodic patterns, 36-37 272,273
Mahler, Gustav, 384-85, 408, 422, 460 pitch organization and, S-8 mixed-media music, performance·
MallarmC, StCphane, 403 types in chant, 33-34 oriented and, 463-64
mannerism, 95, 160-61, 163, 178-79, 227, melodrama, 333 Mixolydian harmonia, 4
Plate 4 Memling, Hans, Plate 8 modal jazz, 466
Mannheim crescendo, 259 Memoirs (Berlioz.), 340 "'Mode de valcurs ct d 'intensitcs·
Mannheim orchestra, 258, 277 Memos (Ives, C.), 41 1 (Messiaen}, 447
Mannheim rocket, 258, 304 Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix, 239, modernism, 4 16
manuscripts, 39, 62, 96, 99, Plate 7 340, 341, 342, 350, 353, 359, 360, avant-garde and, 439-41
Carmina Burana, 49-50 361, 363 composition, twcl,•e-tone method,
illuminated manuscript, JS, 53, Plate I orchestral mu.sic and, 355-56 4 18-23
Manutiu.s, Aldus, JOS piano music, 354 neodasskism and, 426-30
Manz.oni, Alessandro, 382 mensural system, 89, 90, 95 postmoderni.sm, 457-64, Plate 24
Ma Rainey, 438 MCrimCe, Prosper, 386 readjustment period with, 4 17-18
Marcello, Benedetto, 210-11 n,e Merry Wives ofl1!itidsor regional music and, 431-34
March Revolution, 339 (Shakespeare), 382 serialism and, 423-25
Marconi, Guglielmo, 359 M esst dt Notre Dame (Machaut), 94 Soviet Union and socialist realism,
Mardi Gras, 26-27 Messiaen, Olivier, 447 434-36
Marenz.io, Luca, 158-59 M essiah (Handel), 232 U.S., 436-39
Maria Barbara, 249 Metasta.sian librettos, 230 mode
Maria de' Medici (Queen of France), 185, Mctasta.sio, Pietro, 230, 269, 295 ars nova mensuration, 89
Plate 11 M itliodt pour apprtt1drt i, dessiner Its ecclesiastical, 36-38
Maria Theresa (Holy Roman Empress), passiotis (Le Brun), 170 harmonia, 4, I ln2, 35
263, 266, 268, 271 metrical psalm.s, 151, 152 rhythmic modes, 73-74, 75, 127
Marie (Countess of Champagne), 52 Metropolitan Opera, 384 A Modest Proposal (Swift), 266
Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso, 439 Mets u, Gabriel, 212 modified strophic form, 330
Marini, Biagio, 197 Metternich, Klemens \\Tent.cl von modulation, 247
Marley, Bob, 469 ( Prince), 323, 335 moguchaya kuchka, 390
Marsya.s, 4 Meyerbeer, Giacomo, 347-48, 350 MoliCre, 170, 205, 206, 429
Martini, Giovanni Battista {Padre), 272 M uutin (Watteau), Plate 13, Plate 23 Molz.a, Tarquinia, 159
Marx, Karl, 311 Michaelmas, 26, 37 Mo,,m1lt {Stockhausen), 456
Mary. Su Virgin Mary Middle East, 57, 58, 59, 71, 387, 43 1 Monet, Claude, 398, 399, Plate 19
Mary (Queen of England), 153 A Midsummer Night's Dream Monk, Thd onious,465
Masc.agni, Pietro, 386 (Shakespeare), 208 monks, 24-25, 27-28, 44
masque, 207 A Midsmnmer Night's Dream Overture, monody, 175-77
Mass, 110, 149, 242, 272,382 op. 2 1 (Mendelssohn), 355, 356, 359 monophonic texture, 3 1, 57-58
design of, 29, 30 Miki, Tomio, 462 monothcmatic sonata form, 281
Josquindes Prez and, 120, 121, 122 M ikrokosmos (Bart6k), 433 MontaJegre,Johann Daniel de, 237
O rdinary, 29, 30, 32, 34, 94, 120, Milhaud, Darius, 427, 439, 466 Monteverdi, Claudio, 179, 180, 182n4,
123-24 military music, 9, 59, 284, 285, 295, 387 189, 193, 194,452
Proper, 29, 30, 44, 109, llS, 154 Milton,John, 169, 170, 207 Orf,o, 186-88
Requiem Mass, 3 1, 45, 154 minimalism, 461-63 vocal chamber music,
Roman liturgy, 27, 28-3 1, 32, 44, Minnelied, 55, 128 19 1, 192
45, so, 94 Minnesinger, 48, SS Monteverdi, Giulio Cesare, )79
mathematics, 2, 9, 91, 105, 107, 108, minstrels, 50-5 I, 53 Moore, Charles, Plate 24
109, 447 minuet, 217, 260, 284, 304 Moors, SS, 129
Matl1 is der Maler (H indemith), 430-31, M issa.Stt Mass moral virtues, 255
Plate 10 M issa D'ung aullrt a mer (Josquin des Moravian Brethren, 305
Matisse, Henri, 408 Pre,), 121-22 MOrike, Eduard, 384
Matthcson,Johann, 217 M issat L'liommt armi (Josquin des Morley, Thomas, 125-26, 162
Md Via st (Smetana), 388 Pre,), 120 Morton, Jelly Roll, 438
496 Index
Mon.in, Ferdinand {Count of Musorgsky, Modest, 390, 391, 469 octave·· leap cadence, 112
Bohemia), 269 " My Days Have Been So V/ondrous Free" Octet for Winds (Stravinsky), 428
Moschclcs, Ignaz., 335 ( Hopkinson), 306-7 ode, 130, 208
Mos.cs ( biblical 6gurc), 12 "mystic chord," 385, 386 "Ode to Joy" (Schiller), 324
Mosts 11t1d Arot1 (Schoenberg), 421 Oedip1,s Rex (Stravinsky), 427
motet, 78-79, 82, 106, 109, 116-18, Naalagiagvik, 464 OJfutory, 30
123-24, ISI,ISS,178, 194, 195, 240 Nabucco ( Verdi), 346 Old Roman tradition, 19-20
chorale motet, IS i Nacl,tmusik, 280 Olivero, Pietro Domenico, 189
isorhythm and, 90, 91, 94 " Napoleon's Farewell" ( Byron), 311 114 Sot1gs (Ives, C.), 411
Pctronian motet style, SO, SI nationalism, 314, 388-92 onomatopoeia, 12 7
motivic elements, 291 Native Americans, 304-5, 3 89, 392, 393 open and closed cadences, 61
motivo, 300 nature, 314, 321-22, 369-70, 463-64 opera, 184-86, 196, 227-32, 250-52, 321,
Motown, 467 Nazarene movement, 363 381, 384, 464
Mouton,Jcan, 122 Naz.i.s, 377, 430, 448 d rama and, 296, 3 71, 375
Moz.arabic tradition, 20 Neefe, Gottlob, 301 in Germany, 229-30, 33 3-3 4
Moz.art, Leopold, 271, 272, 290, 301 neoclassidsm, 264, 426-30 in seventeenth century, 203-7, 209-11
Moz.art, Maria Anna "'Nanncrl", 27 1 Nero {Emperor), 9 Mozart, \\l'olfgang Amadeus, and,
Mourt, Wolfgang Amadeus, 268, Netherlands, 116-24, 154 295-99
27 1-72, 273, 276, 279, 285, 11eue Sadilicl,keit, 417 -18 Opera of the Nobility, 229
286, 291-93, 295-99, 33 1, 362, Neue Ztitscl1riftf1'fr Mi,sik { journal}, 340, opera seria, 209, 227-30, 270-7 1,
371, 429 367,378-79 273-76, 295
Da Ponte and, 296-98 Neumeister, Erdmann, 240 opera theaters, 203, 2 70-7 1, 344,
Haydn and, 288, 289-90 neumes, 39, 40 345,382
opera and, 295-99 New England School. Su Second New public opera houses, 189, 267
popular theater and, 298-99 England School reali.sm and, 385-87
singspiel, 295-96 New Ger man School, 367-69, 3 77- 7 8, reform, 273 - 76
MTV, 468 379, 382-85, 392 types, 208, 209, 228-29, 250-52,
Muffat, Georg, 221-22, 22Sn2 New Orleans {Dixieland) jan, 437 270, 273, 347-48, 380, 382,
MUller, \\Tilhelm, 330 New Romanticism, 464 386-87
multiculturalism, 469 Nicene C reed, 28 opera, French, 250-52, 37 1
multimovcmcnt sonatas, 197 Nietzsche, Friedrich, 3 beginnings of, 204-5
M11sica ,mchiriadis, 66, 67 "night music," 433 in eighteenth century, 231-3 2
musical expression. Su expression Nijinsky, Vaslav, 406 Gluck and, 275-76
musical heritage, Romanticism, 361-63 Nilldy ·five 111eses {Luther), 148 historical context in the seventeenth
musical notation, 6, 39, 40, 48, 70, 140, Nixon in China ( Adams,J.), 463 century, 203, 204
141, 452 Noblet, Lise, 332 reform, 273-76
chants and, 35-42 Nocturne in £.Oat, op. 9, no. 2 Romantid.sm and, 332-33, 347-48
mensural system and, 89, 90, 95 (Chopin), 351 style, 205-7
rhythmic modes, 73-74, 75 Nocturnes ( Debussy), 401, 402 opera, (taHan, 188, 189, 190,
rhythmic notation in late·thir teenth noises. Su sound 250-52, 371
century, 80-82 " Non avra ma' pieti • ( Landini), 98 castrati, 204, 210, 211, 233
Mi,sical Ojferi11g ( Bach, J . S.), 243 "nonretrogradable· rhythms, 447 criticism of, 204, 2 10- 11, 228
musical str ucture, mathematics and, 91 non·westcrn mu.sic, 447, 460-61 early n ineteenth centur y, 33 0-3 2
muska mundana, 10, 83 "Norwegian \\food" (The Beatles), 469 Romantic lyricism and, 342-47
Mi,sica tra11salpi11a ( Yonge), 162 Nolaliom {Boulez), 449 seventeenth century, 204, 209-11
music drama, 3 7 1-72 Nolesftom U11dergrou11d ( Dostoyevsky), OpCra·Comique, 386
Mi,sic f or Stri11gs, Percussion, a11d Celesta 404, 407 Oper und Drama ( \Vagner), 37 1, 3 75
(Bart6k), 433 Notker Balbulus ( monk), 44 oral traditions, 2, 5, 23, 34, 49,
musicians, 9-10, 78, 434-35, Plate 23 Notre Dame, 7 1-7 9,94 SO-S I, 57
with creativity and church, 42-43, 44 Notturno, 280 "'O ration on the Dignity of Man"
in society, late eighteenth century, November Steps {Takemitsu), 461 ( Pico ddla Mirandola), 103
266-69 " Nuages' (Debussy), 401 oratorio, 195-96, 2 32, 233, 2 3 4
timeline, music and, 47 2-81 numbers, 83, 90 Orchisographic (Arbeau}, 143
n,c A<fusic Lesson ( Mctsu), 212 Nu11c d imittis (Song of Simeon), 28 orchestra, 231, 257, 2 74, 276-77, 340, 352,
music manuals, 66, 67 " Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland/ ISO 361, 362, 392, 412, 420, 421, 427-28,
"music of the futu re," 3 78-79 " Nuper rosar um fiores/ Terribilis est locu.s 434, 449, 469
n,cMusic Party {De Hooch), Plate 12 istc" (Du Fay), 109 of Loui.s XIV, 205, 206, 208
musk publishing, 268, 362-63 Mannheim, 258, 2 77
musk theory Oath oftl,e Horatii ( David,J.·L.), 264 orchestral forces, 215, 293
chants, 35-42 objectivity, 418, 425, Plate 24 O rdinary. Su Mass
Greece, ancient, 2, 5-8, 35 oblique motion, 67, 68 ordo, 75
twentieth·century tonal theory, 430-31 Obrecht, Jacob, 118 Ordo virtulmn {Von Bingen), 46
musique concrete, 453 occasional mu.sic, 208 ordre, 217 -18
musique mesurie, 163, 164 Ockeghem, Johannes, 116-17, Plate 8 Orfeo ( Monteverdi}, 186-88
Muslims, IO, 51, 129 octaves, 7, 32 O,f,o ,d E11ridict (Gluck), 274, 275
Index 497
organ, 59, 139, 153, 164, 165, 187, Pascal, Blaise, 168 piano, 221, 254, 258, 329, 348, 352, 402,
2 13, 234, 237 pa.ssacaglia, 193 4 11, 420, 428, 456
Bach, Johann Sebastian, and, 236, pa.ssaggi, 176 piano concerto, 279
238,241-42 passameuo, 144 piano cycle, 361
portative organ, 60, 61, 108, Plate 6, Passions ( Bach), 240-41 piano music, 354-SS
Plate 8 n,e Passiotu of the Soul (Descartes}, 170 prepared piano, 441
organal voice, 69-70 pa.stkcio, 231 Piano Concerto in G (Ravcl), 426-27
organicism, 3 16 Pastoral Symphony. Su Symphony no. 6 Piano Phase ( Reich), 461
organ um, 66-70, 72, 73, 460. Su also in F, op. 68 Piano Sonata in A, K. 33 1
polyphony Pastorate d'Issy (Perrin), 204 (Mozart, \'/. A.), 429
Lionin with rhythmic order in pastoral play, I 59 Piano Sonata no. 2, Concord, Mass.,
organum, 73-76 Paler nosier, 30 1840-60 ( h•es, c.), 4 11, 412, 413
in mu.sic manuals, 66, 67 Patrick (Saint), 20 Piave, Francesco, 345
O,gd-Biichlcin (Bach,J. S.), 238, 242 patronage, 202, 208, 231, 234, 236, 266, 267 Pian.ad 'Italia (Moore ct al.), Plate 24
orientali.sm. Su exoticism composers with, 269, 27 1, 272, 274, Picander (Henrici, Christian
n,e Origin ofSpecies (Darwin), 312 289, 302, 345, 446 Friedrich), 240
ornamental figures, 176 economics inRucncing, 446 Picasso, Pablo, 405, 425, Plate 23
ornamentation, 176, 249, 255, 344 pros and cons, 27 1 Piccioni, Niccolo, 272, 273, 275-76
Orpheus, 185, 186, 274 by women, 131, 219 Pico dclla Mirandola, Giovanni, 103
OrthodoxChurch, 18 Paul III (Pope), 154 Pictures al an Exl1ibitio11 (Erner.son, Lake,
Ospedalc ddla Piet3, 223 Pa11lus (Mendelssohn), 354 and Palmer), 469
"O Superman· (Anderson), 469 pavan, 144 Pictures al an E xl1ibitio11 (Mu.sorgsky}, 469
Ott/lo (Rossini), 332 Peacham, Henry, 134 Pitas de clavedn (Couperin), 218
Ott/lo (Verdi), 382 Pemmls Gallery (Zwilich), 459 Pitas de clavedn (Voglcr), 249
Othello (Shakespeare), 382 Pea.sant.s' Revolt (Germany), 148, 430-31, Pierrot lunaire (Schoenberg), 409
Ottoboni, Pietro (Cardinal), 220 Plate 10 Pis.sarro, Camille, 398-99
O ude Kerk, 197 pedal point, 216 pitch organization, S-8, 16-17
overloading, 316, 359-60 Peire ( Lord), 54 T11e Plau lV'lrtrt You Go to Listen
overture, 206, 217 Pdlias et Mitisat1dt ( Debussy), 403 (Adams,J. L.), 464
concert overture, 355-56, 359, 390 Penderecki, Knys:ttof, 449, 452 plagal mode, 38
Pentecost, 26, 154 A Plaint mid &sit lt1trod1ulio11 lo
Pachclbd,Johann, 212, 2 13 Pepin the Short, 25 Praclicall Musicke (Morley), 125-26
Pacific 231 (Honegger), 440 Pepusch,Johann Christoph, 228, 229 plainsong Ma.ss, 94, I IO
Paganini, Nico 10, 348, 349, 356, Plate 18 percussion, SS, 59, 60, 61, 433, 440, planctus (lament), SO
paganism, 13, 14, 27 450-51, Plate 7 planh (lament), 52, 356
Pagliacd ( Leoncavallo), 386 perfection, 81 Plato, 1, 2, 3, 4, I0, 103, 133
Paine,John Knowles, 392 perfect time, 89 plays. Su theater
painting, 104-S, 108, 123, 189, 204, 212, performance, 344, 350, 463-64 plot, 299, 300, 317, 32 1, 360
248, 315,316, 363,425 performers, 350, 448, 454, 456 Poetics (Aristotle), 132
Baroque era, 169-70 Pergolcsi, Giovanni Battista, 231, 25 1 Poetics of M1uic (Stravin.sky), 428-29
expressionism in, 398-99, 407-8 Peri,Jacopo, 185, 186, 187, Plate 11 poetry, 2, SI, 52, 88, 92, 94, 96, I IS, 162,
mannerism and, 160-61 Pirotin, 76-77, 79 163, 176, 203, 241,385, 403, 423
primitiv"ism, 405-7 Perrin, Pierre, 204-S poetic aesthetics, 133-34
Pai.sidlo, Giovanni, 33 1 per.specth•e, in a rt, IOS poetic syllables, 126-27
" Pal.ii.stinalicd• {Vogelwcidc), 56 pes, 99 Romanticism and, 315-16
Palatine Chapel of Charlemagne, 24 pe.ssimism, 403 Schubert and, 329
Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da, 154-SS, Pe.stain, Chaillou de, 91 .symbolism, 399-400
157, 263-64, 363 Peter the Great (Emperor of Ru.ssia), 267 .symphonic poem, 368, 37 I, 374-75,
pancon.sonance,106,123, 154 Petrarch, Francesco, 88, 103, 130, 131, 174 382, 388, 41 3
Parade (Satic), 426 Petronian motet style, 80, 81 point of imitation, 119
Paradise Lost (Milton), 169 Petrucci, Ottaviano, 124 politics, 24, 70-7 1, 148, 164, 168, 207, 310,
parallel motion, 68 Petrus de Cruce. Sude la Croix, Pierre 3 11, 314, 346, 418, 463
parallel organum, 66, 460 Pttrusl1ka (Stravin.sky), 406 Catholicism in ninth century with,
Paris.Su France Peverara, Laura, 159 22-25
Paris Con.servatory, 335-36, 340, 400, n,e Plrm1tom of the Opera (Leroux), 381 political freedom, 262, 333
447-48 TI,e Plrm1tom of the Opera (Lloyd \\Tagner, .social and political history,
Paris OpCra, 347, 381 \Vebber), 381 376-77
Parker, Charlie, 465 phasing, as process, 461 polonaise, 350
Parker, Horatio, 392 Philip II ( King of Spain), 153 polychoral scoring, 164-65, 194
parody, 121, 122 Philip IV "the Fair" (King of France), polychords, 407
Parsifal (\'lagner}, 372, 377 86-87, 105 polyphony, 31, 59, 64, 93, 96, 117, 128,
Pii.rt, Arvo, 460 Philip the Bold (Duke of Burgundy), 108 151, 197, 215
Partch, Harry, 441 Philistines, 341 Carolingian, 65-67
Parthenon, 265 phrasing, 33-34, 56, 6 1, 99, 343 criticism of, 172-73
partita, 198, 199 Phrygian harmonia, 4 English polyphony, 99-101
498 Index
polyphony {Co11timu:d) public opera houses, 189, 267 refrain. Su burden; ripresa; ritorndlo
Gothic thinking and style, 70-72 Puccini, Giacomo, 387, 388 Reich, Steve, 461, 468
late-thirteenth centur y, 80-82 Pulcintlla {Stravinsky), 427 Reichardt, Louise, 326
motet, 78-80 punct us contra punctum, 67 Reign ofTerror, 3 10- 11
Notre Dame, 72, 73-78 punk rock, 468 Rcincken,Johann Adam, 236
organum, 68, 69-70, 73-76 Purcell, Henry, 208, 211 religion, 69, 315, 356, Plate 17. Su also
polyphonic cadences, 77-78, 111-12 Puritans, 207 Christianity; Greece, ancient; Jews;
Romanesque dc\'elopmcnts, 68-70 Pushkin, Alexander, 389, 390 paganism; Reformation; Roman
symbolic value in thirteenth-century, puzzle canons, 116 Catholic Church
82-84 Pythagoras, 2 Rembrandt van Rijo, 170
Pope, Alexander, 264-66, 429 Pythagorean t uning, 77 Remedt de fortune ( Machaut), 94
Porgy mid Bess (Gershwin), 439 Renaissance, 31, 175, 363
Porpora, Nicola, 229-30, 269 quadrivium, 9 repeating bass patterns, 193
"Por ta preminentic/Porta penitcntic/ quadruplum, 77 Ripom ( Boulez), 454
Por tas," 82 Quant:z.,Johann Joachim, 249, 253 Rtpublic (Plato), 3
portath•e o rgan, 60, 61, 108, Plate 6, quartet, 290, 461, 466. Su also string Req11iem (Verdi), 382
Plate 8 quartet Req1liem Ma ss, 3 1, 45, 154
Portugal, 57 Quatuor pour le fin du temps Respighi, Ottorino, 403
"Possentc spirto" ( Monteverdi, C.), (Messiaen}, 447 responsorial singing, 16, 32
187, 188 "'Quem quaeritis," 45-46, Plate 2 Restoration, 207-9
Postcommunion prayer, 30 Quinault, Philippe, 205 "'Resurrection.· Su Symphony no. 2
postmodcrnism, 457-64, Plate 24 quodlibet, 128 Revolver (The Beatles), 468
post-Romant icism, 383, 385, Plate 20 Reyes Catolicos, 129
Poulenc, Francis, 427 Racine, Jean, 170, 204 Rhapsody i11 Bl1u (Gershwin), 439
PoupliniCrc, Alc.xandrc-Jcan-Joseph Le 11,e Raft of the Medusa (GCricault), rhetoric, 9, 175, 179, 188, 189, 228
Riche de La, 23 1 Plate 16 rhythm, 4, 16,32-33, 65, 95, 123, 40 1,
Practor-ius, Michael, 196 ragtime, 437, 469 433, 447, 466-67
Pravda ( newspaper), 435 Rainey. Su Ma Rainey harmonic, 247-48
preambulum, 145 11,e Rake's Progress (Stravinsky), 428, 429 isorhythm, 90-94, 107, 108, 109
prelude, 145, 199, 200, 213, 2 17, 350, 368, Rameau,Jean-Philippe, 231-32, 247, 248, Lionin with rhythmic o rder in
40 1, 402, 403 251-52, 4 18 o rganum, 73-76
Prelude ii l'aprts-midi d'm1fau11t Ramistes, 232 rhythmic modes, 73-74, 75, 127
(Debussy), 40 1, 403 RAPM ( Russian Association of rhythmic notation in late-thirteenth
Preludes for Piano (Debussy), 402 Proletarian Musicians), 434-35 century, 80-82
Prtmitr livrt des pseai,lmts rap music, 469 ricercar, 141, 142, 145, 197, 2 15
(Bourgeoi,), 152 Rappreswtatiot1e di m1ima e di corpo Richard the Lionhearted ( King of
prepared piano, 441 (Cavalieri), 185-86, 188 England), 51-52
Presley, Eh•is, 467, 469-70 rationalism, 167-69, 170-7 1, 2 15 Richelieu (Cardinal}, 203-4
prima pratka, 179 basso continuo, 177-78, 185 Rigoletto (Verdi}, 364
primitivism, 405-7, Plate 20 Florentine camerata, 172-75, 184-85 RHey, Terry, 461, 468
Prince Igor (Bo rodin), 391 late rationalist period, 226-27 Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay, 390-91, 406
printing, 105, 124-25 monody, 175-77 Rinuccini, Ottavio, 185
Prix de Rome, 335, 400, 403 seconda pratka, 178-81 ripresa ( refrain), 96
process music, 461-63 rationalism, genres and styles ritornello ( refrain), 96
Proda11d t1tvista (Smetana), 388 Italian opera, 188-90 ritornello (in concerto}, 2 10, 222-23,
program symphony, 356 opera, creation of, 184-86 283-84, 294
progressions, 220-21, 246, 437-38 Orj,o, 186-88 Robert le Dia bit {Meyerbeer), 3 48
progressive musk, 367-69 sacred musk, 194-96 Roch berg, George, 460
progressives, in Vienna, 383-85 seventeenth-century instrumental rock music, 466-70
Proko6ev, Sergey, 436 music, 196-201 Rodto (Copland), 436
Prometheus (Skryabin), 385 vocal chamber music, 190-93 Rolling Stones, 468
Proper. Su Mass Ravel, Maurice, 403, 426-27, 439 Roman Catholic Church, 102, 129, 153,
proportion, isorhythm and, 107, 108, 109 realism, 385-87, 407, 434-36 196, 3 14, 363, 447
Prussia, 237, 243, 253, 263, 266, 268, 290, recitat ion tones, 33 chant, 31-46
291,380 recitat ive, 185, 209, 230, 231, 232, colonies and, 304-5
psalm s, 14, 28, 29, 30, 60, 427-28 240, 250-51, 252, 273, 298, 33 1, Counter·Reformation and, 154-55
Bay Psalm Book, 153, 305 343, 360 Great Schism and, 87, 103, 148
with illuminated manuscript, 15, recorder, 59, Plate 12 liturgy, 25-31, 32, 34, 44, 45, SO,
Plate I Red Gau (Schoenberg), Plate 22 94, 153
metrical psalms, 15 1, 152 Reformation, 147, 156, Plate 10 politics and culture in ninth century,
psalm tones, 3 4, 35, 36 Anglican, 153 22-25
psalter, 152-53 Calvinist Reformation, 151-53 secularization of culture, 86-87
psaltery, SS Counter-Reformat ion, 154-55 romance, 129, 130, 174
psychedelic rock, 468 Lutheran Reformation, musk of, Romm1 de Fmwd ( Bus}, 91,92, 93
Ptolemy, 7 148-51, 2 12 Romanesque period, 65, 68-71

Ideas and Styles in The Western Musical Tradition

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Ideas and Styles in the

Western Musical Tradition

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Librar y of Cong ress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Seaton, Douglass, author.

Printed by Courier / R.R.DonneJley, Kenda1lvi1le

1 Music IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY • 1

2 THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD • 12

3 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CATHOLIC

4 SECULAR SONG AND INSTRUMENTAL

5 THE DEVELOPMENT OF P OLYPHONY • 64

6 Music IN THE F OURTEENTH CENTURY • 85

Forn1 in Secular Song • 93

7 H UMANISM AND Music • 102

8 THE SPREAD OF NEW MUSICAL IDEAS

9 INSTRUMENTAL Music IN THE SIXTEENTH

Broken Consorts • 138

10 THE REFORMATION AND Music • 147

11 THE CLOSE OF THE SIXTEENTH

12 RATIONALISM AND ITS I MPACT

13 NEW GENRES AND STYLES IN T HE AGE

14 THE LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY • 202

15 THE EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY • 226

16 NEW CURRENTS IN THE EARLY EIGHTEENTH

17 THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE CLASSIC

Instru mental Gen res and t he Sonata Plan • 276

18 THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY • 288

19 THE RISE OF THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT • 309

Beetlto ven's Sketchbooks • 322

21 THE SECOND HALF OF THE NINETEENTH

Wagner's Music Dramas • 371

22 THE ARRIVAL OF THE TwENTIETH

23 MODERNISM AND THE PERIOD BETWEEN

Artistic Objectivity • 425

24 FROM THE SECOND HALF OF THE TwENTIETH

Appendix: Tin1eline • 472

I WROTE THIS BOOK FOR UNIVERSITY- LEVEL MUSIC HISTORY

for an impressive variety of explorations of a general way of thinking.

FEATURES OF T HIS BOOK

The illustrations are of various kinds. Some of these provide artistic

WHAT Is NEW TO THIS EDITION

dating from the tenth century, w·hich provides an excellent opportunity

Music IN THE LIFE A N D P HILOS OPHY

survived in any significant quantity. The total repertoire consists of only

Music and the D octrine of Ethos

recognized different social circumstances and was less concerned ,vith

Ch ar acterist ics of Music

GREE K Music T H E ORY

diatonic chromatic enharmonic

consecutive semitones; and the enharinonic employed a d ivision some-

+ two conjunct tetrachords two co,tjunct tetrachords

+ 1hree conjonct tetrachords

Figure 1.5 The Lesser Perfect System.

placing several tetrachords end to end, producing a plan kno\vn as the

·r-_ P_ •_·_·- ,~ ~'"""'- 1~~,l'!!._··- ---~-~~-·~