Medieval and Renaissance Music
Examines European, Mediterranean basin, and Latin American music in the ancient world, Middle Ages, and the Renaissance (to 1630). Interweaves a chronological survey with the intensive study of three topics, which are usually chant and its development, music in Italy 1340-1420, and music in Elizabethan England. Focuses on methods and pitfalls in studying music of the distant past. Students work with original sources and facsimiles in crafting research papers, presentation, and assignments.
Fall 2010 · Early Music
This course examines European music from the early Middle Ages until the end of the Renaissance. It includes a chronological survey and intensive study of three topics: chant and its development, music in Italy 1340-1420, and music in Elizabethan England. Instruction focuses on methods and pitfalls in studying music of the distant past. Students' papers, problem sets, and presentations explore lives, genres, and works in depth. Works are studied in facsimile of original notation, and from original manuscripts at MIT, where possible.
Readings
- [W&S] = Wright, Craig, and Bryan R. Simms. Music in Western Civilization, Volume I: Antiquity through the Baroque . Thomson/Schirmer, 2006. ISBN: 9780495008651.
- Readings in the textbook will be complemented by handouts from various sources.
- Barker, Andrew, ed. Greek Musical Writings: Volume 1 (Cambridge Readings in the Literature of Music) . Cambridge University Press, 1984. ISBN: 9780521235938.
- Christensen, Thomas, ed. The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory (The Cambridge History of Music) . Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780521623711.
- Ledger, Philip, ed. Oxford Book of English Madrigals . Oxford University Press, 1979. ISBN: 9780193436640.
- Weiss, Piero, and Richard Taruskin. “Plato’s Musical Idealism.” In Music in the Western World: A History in Documents . Schirmer, 1984, pp. 6-10. ISBN: 9780028729008.
- LEC #: 3 · TOPICS: The Purpose and Types of Chant · READINGS: [W&S] pp. 28-34
- LEC #: 4 · TOPICS: Diversity and Development in Chant · READINGS: [W&S] pp. 34-41
- LEC #: 6 · TOPICS: The Birth of Polyphony · READINGS: [W&S] pp. 47-52
- LEC #: 8 · TOPICS: Fauvel , Vitry, Machaut and Music in France before 1370 · READINGS: [W&S] Chapter 12
- Long, Michael. “Trecento Italy.” In Antiquity and the Middle Ages: From Ancient Greece to the 15th Century (Music and Society Series) . Edited by James McKinnon. Prentice Hall, 1990, pp. 241-68. ISBN: 9780130361615.
- LEC #: 10 · TOPICS: Trecento Music and Musicology: Introduction to Research; Sacred Music · READINGS: Finish Long, “Trecento Italy” (as started for Lec #9)
- LEC #: 11 · TOPICS: Simplicity and Complexity · READINGS: No readings assigned
- LEC #: 12 · TOPICS: The End of the Trecento and The Rise of European Music · READINGS: [W&S]:
- Chapter 16, “English Music,” “Fauxbourdon,” pp. 118-9, and “Duns-taple,” pp. 121-3.
- Chapter 17, “Music in Burgundy” (on Du Fay and Binchois), pp. 123-31.
- Chapter 15, “Music in Renaissance Florence” (cf. Craig Wright’s work on Nuper rosarum flores ), pp. 110-5.
- Chapter 18, “Ockeghem,” pp. 132-5.
- Chapter 19, “Jacob Obrecht and the Multiple Cantus Firmus Mass.”
- Chapter 20, “Popular Music in Florence 1475-1540,” “The Carnival Song and the Lauda,” and “The Frottola.”
- Chapter 21, “Josquin des Prez and Music in Ferrara.”
- Chapters 22-24, pp. 168-202. (186-90 are optional)
- Chapter 25, “Rome and Music of the Counter-Reformation.”
- LEC #: 16 · TOPICS: 16 th century vocal and instrumental music · READINGS: [W&S]
- Chapter 20, “The Early Madrigal in Florence.” pp. 155-8.
- “Musical Instruments,” and “The Basse Danse ,” pp. 142-4.
- LEC #: 17 · TOPICS: Tudor England / The Elizabethan Madrigal · READINGS: [W&S] Chapters 26-27, “Music in Elizabethan England,” pp. 210-22.
- Atlas, Allan W. “Elizabethan England.” In Anthology of Renaissance Music (The Norton Introduction to Music History) . W. W. Norton and Sons, 1998, pp. 675-97. ISBN: 9780393971705.
- Atlas, Allan W. “Elizabethan England.” In Anthology of Renaissance Music (The Norton Introduction to Music History) . W. W. Norton and Sons, 1998, pp. 661-75. ISBN: 9780393971705.
- LEC #: 20 · TOPICS: Music in London Society · READINGS: moved to L&S
- Chapter 28, “The Later Madigral in Ferrara and Mantua,” pp. 222-31
- Chapter 31, “The Concerted Style in Venice and Dresden: Giovanni Gabrieli and the Concerted Motet.” p. 254.
- Chapter 29, “Early Baroque Music,” pp. 234-40
- Chapter 30, “Birth of Opera” and “Early Opera in Florence,” pp. 240-4.
- Wright, Craig, and Bryan R. Simms. Music in Western Civilization, Volume I: Antiquity through the Baroque . Thomson/Schirmer, 2006. ISBN: 9780495008651.
- For OCW users, the book Anthology for Music in Western Civilization , Volume A (cited below as a recordings source) contains a subset of the scores used in class, along with other pieces that substitute well for many of the pieces not available at this OCW site.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: None. Coreq: 21M.301 U (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-A
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2010
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.