Masterpieces of Early and Renaissance Music

First Evaluation: Medieval and Early Renaissance Masterworks

Hildegard von Bingen: Ordo Virtutum (The Drama of the Virtues)

• A significant theatrical work with music, composed in a convent.
• While influenced by Gregorian chant, it features women's voices, distinguishing it from traditional monophonic chant.

Euripides: Orestes

• A classical Greek tragedy.

Léonin: Alleluia Pascha Nostrum

• An early example of polyphony, composed for two voices.

Pérotin: Sederunt Principes (Organum)

• A monumental organum for four voices, showcasing the development of polyphonic complexity.

Philippe de Vitry: Garrit Gallus in Nova Fert Neum

• A significant Ars Nova motet.
• Marked the differentiation between ternary and binary rhythmic subdivisions and the use of note colors in notation.

Guillaume de Machaut: Mass: Agnus Dei

• Part of a complete Mass setting, composed for three voices and an instrument.

Epitaph of Seikilos

• The oldest complete musical composition known from ancient Greece, found in Asia Minor.

Mass for Septuagesima Sunday: Kyrie

• A traditional liturgical piece.

Adam de la Halle: Jeu de Robin et Marion: Robins M'aime

• From the play Jeu de Robin et Marion (c. 1282 or 1284), featuring a singing voice with instrumental accompaniment.
• It is debated whether Adam de la Halle composed it entirely or compiled it from existing street songs.
• Considered a precursor to comic opera.

Hans Sachs: Nachdem David Redlich War

• Composed by Hans Sachs, a prominent Meistersinger and shoemaker from the 16th century.
• Meistersingers met and held singing competitions, characterized by strict rules and craftsmanship.
• This piece reflects the Meistersinger tradition.

Santa Maria Strela do Dia

• A Cantiga de Santa Maria, a medieval monophonic song in praise of the Virgin Mary.

Second Evaluation: Renaissance and Early Baroque Vocal Works

John Dowland: Flow My Tears

• Dowland composed several versions for lute and voice.
• These melancholic songs, known as Ayres, were often referred to as 'lacrimae' (tears).
• Considered a precursor to the German Lied and the modern melody.
• Its opening vocal line has been widely imitated by other composers.

Guillaume Dufay: Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys

• A farewell song in rondeau form (alternating chorus and verses), for voice and instruments.
• A four-voice song, typically with one sung voice and three instrumental parts.
• Features shifting rhythmic subdivisions, alternating between binary and ternary.
• Towards the end, the single voice fades as if heard from afar, enhancing its farewell theme.

Carlo Gesualdo: Tribulationem et dolorem

• A five-voice sacred motet with a deeply penitential character.
• Explores intense themes of sin, death, guilt, and psychological self-torment.

Francisco Guerrero: Trahe me post te

• A five-voice motet with text taken from the Song of Songs.
• While ostensibly in honor of the Virgin Mary, the text's sensual imagery was considered quite daring for its time.
• The upper voices are typically sung by trebles (boys' voices).

Clément Janequin: Le Chant des Oiseaux (The Song of the Birds)

• A multi-voice chanson that vividly mimics bird sounds.
• Highly programmatic and onomatopoeic.

Josquin des Prez: El Grillo (The Cricket)

• This chanson uses the sound of a cricket to metaphorically describe a voice.
• It carries a double meaning: the text praises the cricket as a 'good singer,' which is also believed to be a satirical reference to a contemporary singer named 'Cricket.'