white notation - san jose state university notation!! white notation uses ... white notation!!...

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WHITE NOTATION ��

White Notation uses a five-line staff,��and three clefs—G, C, and F. ��

��Usually the only accidental notated as a ‘key’

signature is B-flat, though later composers experimented with more ��

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MEASURES AND BARLINES��

There are no barlines or measures ��

But the length of the breve��usually acted as a time unit��

analogous to the modern concept of a measure ��

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NOTE VALUES and RESTS ��

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MENSURATION ��

Mensuration deals with the��division of the Breve (called Tempus or “time”) ��

and the Semibreve (Prolationis Species or “prolation”)��

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MENSURATION ��

Breve divisions (Tempus) are either “perfect” (division into 3s) or “imperfect (division

into 2s). ��

Semibreve divisions (Prolation) are either “major” (3) or “minor” (2)��

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MENSURATION ��

A line through the mensuation symbol indicates that all note values are cut in half (alla breve). ��

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COLORATION ��The value of a note in a mensuration can be

changed by coloring in the white space of breve, semibreve, or minim and by dotting. ��

��In determining a note’s value, coloring is

calculated before dotting.��

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In Perfect Time ��—where a breve has the value of 3 semibreves—coloring a breve will subtract a 1/3 or its value

and imperfects its value and makes a breve equal to 2 semibreves (a duplet) ��

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In Imperfect Time ��—where a breve has the value of 2 semibreves—

coloring 3 consecutive semibreves creates a triplet and perfects their value, momentarily making 3

semibreves equal the value of 1 breve ��

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Josquin uses coloration for all the notes in his lament on the death of Ockeghem, ��

Nymphes des Bois ��to create “eye music”��

where the blackened notes indicate mourning. ��

In doing so, Josquin limits himself to longs, breves, semibreves, and minims, since semiminim

and fusa values are already “black ��

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LIGATURES ��

White Notation is complicated by several factors, one of them being the continued use of the

LIGATURES (multiple-note units)��and the conventions associated with their use

carried over from neumes. ��

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“BREVE” ligatures ��At the tempus level, each two-note ligatures has

the value of a breve followed by a long (indicated by the downward tail).��

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“BREVE” ligatures ��

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“SEMIBREVE” ligatures ��

The two-note ligatures that begin with an ��upward tail are semibreves, ��

and each two-note pes or clivis has the value of two semibreves,��

both the square or oblique forms.��

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“SEMIBREVE” ligatures ��

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CANONS ��

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In his ��Missa ‘L’homme armè’ ��

Dufay writes ��“Cancer eat plenus et redeat medius” ��

(Let the crab proceed full, and let it return by half) in the tenor part of the third section of the��

“Agnus Dei.” ��

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This indicates that the singers ��perform this part retrograde��

(crabs where thought of as walking “backwards”) with full rhythmic value,��

and then forward (or “returning” for the crab) with the notes at half value. ��

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Dufay composes his motet ��“Nuper rosarum flores”��

as an isorhythmic motet, built on two tenors ��

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Dufay notates each tenor part with ��four mensuration signs and a repeat, ��

indicating that each performer plays their tenor line four times, each time with a different

mensuration ��

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The numerical value of the breve changes from ��

6 : 4 : 2 : 3��

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The numerical value of the breve changes from ��

6 : 4 : 2 : 3��

WHY?��

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Dufay wrote this motet for the consecration of the Duomo in Florence.��

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Filippo Brunelleschi��(1377-1446)��

��S. Maria del Fiore, begun 1296��

Dome (1420-1436)��

consecrated by Pope Eugenius IV on��March 25, 1436��

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The numbers refer to the dimensions of Solomon’s temple described in the Third Book of

Kings, 6:1-20��(reduced to their lowest common denominators).��

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2 And the house, which king Solomon built to the Lord, was threescore (60) cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in

height…��

16 And he built up twenty cubits with boards of cedar at the hinder part of the temple, from the

floor to the top: and made the inner house of the oracle to be the holy of holies.��

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6 : 4 : 2 : 3��

6 (the Temple’s total length) ��4 (the length of the nave)��

2 (the length of the sanctuary and width of the building)��

3 (the height of the building)��

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6 : 4 : 2 : 3��

6 (the Temple’s total length) ��4 ��

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6 : 4 : 2 : 3��

6 (the Temple’s total length) ��4 (the length of the nave)��

2 (the length of the sanctuary and width of the building)��

3 (the height of the building)��

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INFLUENCE of ENGLISH MUSIC��

Kings of England held territory in northwest��and southwest France.��

��Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453): England��

and France fighting for control of France.��

English rulers traveled with English musicians especially to Flanders and Burgundy.��

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England

Flanders

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England Flanders

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CONTENANCE ANGLOISE��(“English guise” or “quality”) ��

�� French poet Martin Le Franc used this phrase��

to describe the pleasing sound of English music about 1440��

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�� Le Franc praises Guillaume Du Fay and Binchois ��

for creating beautiful music influenced by ��the English sound ��

as heard in the music of John Dunstable ��

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�� Theorist Tinctoris,��

writing a generation later,��looked to these three composers as creators of��

a NEW ART��

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CONTENANCE ANGLOISE��

Characteristics of the English sound��

Frequent use of harmonic thirds and sixths,��often in parallel motion (Fa-Burden) ��

Few dissonances ��Simple melodies ��

Syllabic text setting��Homophonic textures ��

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Characteristics of the English sound��

Chant voice in the middle of texture��Lowest voice a third below ��

Top voice a parallel fourth above the chant��

Stream of parallel “6-3” sonorities.��

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FABURDEN ��

Practice of improvised “6-3” sonorities ��

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JOHN DUNSTABLE ��(c.1390-1453) ��

�� The most highly regarded English composer of��

the first half of the fifteenth century��

Served many noble patrons, including the Duke of Bedford, who was Regent of France in 1422��

��Probably spent part of his career in France��

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�� The English composer most often cited as ��

influencing continental composers ��

His compositions are preserved chiefly in��manuscripts copied on the continent.��

��His works include settings of the Mass,

isorhythmic motets, and other sacred works ��

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�� His most numerous and important works are��

his three-part sacred pieces ��

Some have a cantus firmus in the tenor, serving as the foundation for the other voices ��

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�� Others elaborate the cantus firmus in the top

voice using paraphrase technique.��

Chant (cantus firmus) is placed in the top voice.��

Cantus firmus is given a rhythmic structure ��and melodically ornamented by adding notes

around those of the chant.��

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��“Quam pulchra es”��

��Marian Motet��

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�� Freely composed, not based on an existing melody��

The three voices nearly equal in importance.��Homorhythmic��

The form is based on the phrases of the text.��Naturalistic rhythmic declamation��

Faburden appears in a few phrases, leading to��cadences.��

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MOTET 2.0��

Previously in the Ars Nova:��any work with different texted��voices above a cantus firmus ��

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MOTET 2.0��

The Ars Nova Isorhythmic motet��

Old-fashioned by ca. 1400��

Disappeared by ca. 1450��

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MOTET 2.0��

New definition by 1450:��

Any musical setting of a��sacred extra-liturgical text,��

whether an original chant was used or not��

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MOTET 2.0��

From 1500 onwards:��

Any sacred polyphonic Latin-texted piece��

Sometimes also applied to religious music using��texts in other languages ��

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