Musical Forms In Medieval And Renaissance Era

MUSICAL FORMS IN MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE ERA

Estampie

Estampie is a is a medieval dance and musical form, it was a popular instrumental style of the 13th and 14th centuries.

Gregorian Chant

Gregorian chant is a form of monophonic (melody without an accompanying harmony) music that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services.

Motet

Motet is a a polyphonic choral composition used as an anthem in the Roman Catholic service.

Organum

Organum is a plainchant melody with at least one added voice to enhance the harmony, developed in the Middle Ages.

Saltarello

The saltarello was a lively, merry dance first mentioned in Naples during the 14th century.It was played in a fast triple meter and is named for its peculiar leaping step, after the Italian verb saltare ("to jump").

MUSICAL FORMS IN THE RENAISSANCE

Ballade

Ballade refers to a one-movement musical piece with lyrical and dramatic narrative qualities.

Instrumental Ballade 

In the 19th century, the title was given by Frederic Chopin to four important, large-scale piano pieces  the first significant application of the term to instrumental music. A number of other composers subsequently used the title for piano pieces, including Johannes Brahms,Edvard Grieg,Claude Debussy, Friedrich Baumfelder,Franz Liszt . 20th-century examples of the form include the six ballades of Frank Martin(composed for instruments such as the cello, viola and flute), and Einojuhani Rautavaara.

Chopin Ballade 

Carol

A carol is a festive song, generally religious but not

necessarily connected with church worship, and often with a dance-like or popular character. Today the carol is represented almost exclusively by the Christmas Carol. However, despite their present association with religion, this has not always been the case.

Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular.

Galliard
The galliard was a form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over Europe in the 16th century.

Intermedio

The intermedio, or intermezzo, in the Italian Renaissance, was a theatrical performance or spectacle with music and often dance which was performed between the acts of a play to celebrate special occasions in Italian courts. It was one of the important predecessors to opera.

Laude

The lauda or lauda spirituale was the most important form of vernacular sacred song in Italy in the late medieval era andRenaissance. Laude remained popular into the nineteenth century. The lauda was often associated with Christmas, and so is in part equivalent to the English carol.

Madrigal
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a part song, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six.

Mass
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition.Masses can be A Capella (Italian for "in the manner of the church" or "in the manner of the chapel"), for the human voice alone, or they can be accompanied by instrumental obbligatos up to and including a full orchestra. 

Motet

Motet is a a polyphonic choral composition used as an anthem in the Roman Catholic service.

The name of the motet was preserved in the transition from medieval to Renaissance music , but the character of the composition was entirely changed. While it grew out of the medieval isorhythmic motet (A form of that is based on a repeating rythmic pattern found in one or more of the voices. The tenor is usually the voice with the repeating rhythmic structure.), the Renaissance composers of the motet generally abandoned the use of a repeated figure as a cantus firmus (is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition). 

Opera


Opera  is an form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text  and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting.Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenary, and costumes and sometimes includes dance. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble.

Pavane
Pavane is a slow processional dance common in Europe during the Renaissance.A pavane is a sedate and dignified couple dance.

 Ricercar

Ricercar is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition.

Tiento

Tiento is a musical genre originating in Spain in the mid-15th century.The word derives from the Spanish verb tentar (meaning either to touch, to tempt or to attempt), and was originally applied to music for various instruments. By the end of the 16th century the tiento was exclusively a keyboard form, especially of organ music. It continued to be the predominant form in the Spanish organ tradition through the time of Cabanilles (Spanish organist and composer), and developed many variants. Additionally, many 20th century composers have written works entitled "tiento".

Toccata

Toccata is a virtusos piece of music typically for a keyborad or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers.