Another enticing aspect of early music, at least for modern performers, is the area where composition and performance overlap, in spontaneous improvisation and ornamentation. For the past three centuries, art music in the West has experienced a sharp separation between the composition of music (i.e., the creative aspect) and its performance (i.e., its interpretation). During the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries (the so-called Common Practice Period), performers had become increasingly alienated from the actual creative process with regard to composition: the melodies, harmonies, rhythms, even instruments were strictly prescribed by the composer. Only in modern times (i.e., the 20th century) have some composers permitted performers to again participate in the act of composition. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, however, there was no clear distinction between the composer and the performer. In fact, the composer himself was often the performer of his own music, and most performers (amateur as well as professional) were also trained in the art of composition. Thus the music that has come down to us from early times--that is, the music that modern musicologists have transcribed from old notation into modern notation--represents only a basic outline, a melodic and rhythmic and harmonic skeleton upon which to "improve" (or improvise) spontaneously during a performance. Accordingly, each performance of a "composition" from the Middle Ages or Renaissance represents only one possible realization of its potential as a work of art. Modern performers of early music, as well as those who were contemporary with it, use treatises on improvisation and ornamentation that were published during early times, particularly during the late Renaissance. These treatises explain precisely how a performer may vary a composed work by improvising melodic ornaments, that is, by adding notes that were not given by the composer. Therefore, when a performer looks at a notated page she/he intentionally plays different notes than those prescribed by the composer. Actually, she/he uses the notes of the composer as a springboard for her/his own inspiration--similar to the way modern jazz musicians improvise upon the so-called "standard" composed tunes that everybody knows so well. It is generally believed that the further one goes back in music history the more the performer was expected to "improve" composed music in this manner. Thus, music historians today believe that most music of the Middle Ages is irretrievably lost because it was not composed on paper but only existed in the minds of the musicians. Even the simple melodies that have survived from the Middle Ages suggest the probability of a rich, varied, and lively rendition in performance by improvisation and ornamentation. Of course when one listens to early music on recordings it is nearly impossible to distinguish between what is composed (i.e., comes down to us in manuscripts or early publications) and what is added spontaneously by the modern performers. As you might expect, much early music is in fact specifically performers' music (i.e., intended for the enjoyment of the performers rather than for an audience of appreciative listeners). For it was not until the 18th century that subscription concerts, as we understand them today, even existed: music then was more socially functional than it is today, since it was intended for church, court, or domestic purposes.
Although there exists a modest amount of secular (vocal and instrumental) music from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, most early music that survives today in manuscripts and early printed publications is sacred music. It is special music to accompany the Christian liturgy (a highly organized system of services of worship), making the service more solemn and impressive. There are two reasons for this abundance of sacred music from early times: (1) those who were formally trained in music, monks and official members of the clergy, were primarily interested in preserving church music and (2) religion was the main integrating force in early European cultures, particularly during the Middle Ages.
The three primary types of early liturgical music were (1) monophonic Gregorian chant (or plainchant),
Gregorian chant at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France, December 28, 2006.
(2) polyphonic motets and (3) polyphonic settings of the texts for the Mass (the symbolic reenactment of the Last Supper). Gregorian chant, the official music of the Catholic Church, consists of hundreds of simple unaccompanied melodies sung by a male chorus in unison--melodies that were codified by Pope Gregory I (c. 540-607 A.D.). Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, many of these "official" plainchants where decorated and beautified by the addition of countermelodies, creating an extravagant and complex musical texture where two or more melodies are performed simultaneously, that is, a polyphonic texture. Polyphonic elaborations of chant could be either improvised during performance or worked out on paper before a performance, that is, composed. To create a two-voice interpretation of a single, monophonic melody, one musician would perform the original melody while another musician would render simultaneously a completely different melody, one that could, of course, be harmoniously combined with the original. For centuries biblical and liturgical texts were set polyphonically, and today there are numerous recordings of early Masses and motets that are considered to be veritable masterpieces. The Latin texts of certain sections of the Roman Catholic Mass were set to composed polyphonic music literally hundreds of times during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the so-called Mass Ordinary (that is, the most common or ordinary texts). The five sections of the Mass Ordinary are the (1) Kyrie, (2) Gloria, (3) Credo, (4) Sanctus, and (5) Agnus Dei. Their complete texts are provided below. The best way to understand and appreciate an early polyphonic Mass--say one by Machaut, Dufay, Ockeghem, Josquin, or Palestrina--is to listen to the music while following an English translation of the Latin text. The experience can be profound and moving, if you open your heart and turn up your imagination for about fifteen or twenty minutes while following the text in this way.
Lord have mercy upon us. Christ have mercy upon us. Lord have mercy upon us.
Glory be to God on high, and in earth peace to men of goodwill. We praise You, we bless You, we worship You, we glorify You. We give thanks to You for Your great glory. O Lord God, heavenly King. God the Father Almighty. O Lord, the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, who takes away the sins of the world. Have mercy upon us, who takes away the sins of the world, receive our prayer; who sits at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us. For You only are holy. You only are the Lord. You only are most high. O Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Benedictus Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. O lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.
The polyphonic motet underwent many changes during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. In fact the "motet-style" of composition was used for different purposes, sacred as well as secular. For example, the 15th-century Burgundian composer Guillaume Dufay composed a very beautiful commemorative motet in 1436 for Pope Eugene IV's ceremonial dedication of Filippo Brunelleschi's magnificent cupola (dome) for the Cathedral in Florence, the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Mary of the Flower). The text for Dufay's motet is provided below, and can be appreciated best by listening to the music while following the words.
Recently garlands of roses, despite a terrible winter, were given by the Pope to you, heavenly Virgin, as a perpetual adornment, with a temple of great ingenuity, dedicated in a pious and holy fashion.
Today Eugenius, the vicar of Jesus Christ and successor of Peter, has deigned to consecrate this same very vast temple with his sacred hands and holy oils.
Therefore, sweet parent and daughter of your son, virgin, favorite of virgins, your devoted people of Florence pray to you, that they may acquire something in mind and body on earth.
By your prayer, and by the worth of the crucifixion of your son in the flesh, their Lord, may they deserve to receive kind favors and pardon for their transgressions. Amen."
Secular music, especially during the Renaissance, consisted of
songs
composed in the vernacular (rather than in Latin, the official
language of the Church and its music): called lied in Germany,
chanson in France, villancico in Spain, and madrigal
in Italy and England. Since many Franco-Flemish composers travelled
widely and held important musical posts throughout Europe, many
composed in both the international, "learned," contrapuntal church
style (i.e., Latin Masses and motets, etc. for the Catholic church)
as well as the less intellectual, more spontaneous sounding, and
locally influenced homophonic court styles (i.e., German
Lieder, French chansons,
Spanish villancicos, or Italian madrigals). For
example, the cosmopolitan composer Orlandus Lassus, who lived in the
Netherlands, Germany and Italy, composed not only Masses and motets
in Latin but Lieder in German, chansons in French, and
madrigals is Italian. Had he lived in Spain, he would probably
have also composed villancicos in Spanish. Thus there existed
both an international style (that of the Franco-Flemish contrapuntal
style used for church music) and various national styles (those less
learned and more popular types in the vernacular of the people). Love
was, of course, the most common topic of interest in secular
polyphonic songs of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but during the
Middle Ages divine love and romantic love are often integrated and
inseparable, so that the object of a man's love may be both the image
and memory of the virgin Mary and his earthly lover. The following
English translation of a poem in the vernacular by the 14th-century
French composer Guillaume de Machaut was set polyphonically to music
by the poet himself.
Lady, my heart remains with you, however far away from you I may go. Because of the noble love which dwells in me, Lady, my heart remains forever with you. So I pray to God that your heart may love me, and not partake of any other love. Lady, my heart remains with you, however far away from you I may go. The following translation of a famous polyphonic chanson by the 16th-century composer Clément Janequin (c. 1485-1558), Le chant des oiseaux, is an invocation for the awakening of Spring (the season of love), that is, the first day of May.
Wake up sleeping heads! The God of Love calls you! The birds will work wonders this May Day to dispel your worries. Unplug your ears.
Everyone will be filled with joy, for the season is pleasant, and the song-thrush will make sweet, original music. Everyone will laugh and rejoice. The nightingale sets the woods ringing with twittering throat.
Flee regrets, tears, and cares! The season is pleasant. Away Mister Cuckoo, everyone regards you as a traitor. "Cuckoo" . . . treacherously laying eggs in each nest uninvited. Wake up sleeping heads! The God of Love calls you!
The great madrigal composer of the Renaissance Luca Marenzio set poetry by Petrach, Sannazaro, Tasso, and Guarini--all still highly regarded Italian poets of the Renaissance. Marenzio's madrigals, as were those of his contemporaries, were used as a medium for the appreciation of verse, and a recital of madrigals was actually a formal poetry reading in music.