[Begin Theme Music]
Welcome to Harmonia…I’m Angela Mariani.
We often turn to composers and performers to understand what music sounded like in past epochs. But, when it comes playing and analyzing music, music theorists also help us understand how music was constructed in past eras. This hour, without getting too far in-the-weeds, we’ll explore the work of three Renaissance theorists: Gioseffo Zarlino, Diego Ortiz, and Heinrich Glarean. Then, we turn to music that appears to abandon many of the structures these theorists discuss…in our featured recording Stylus Phantasticus. Steven Stubbs leads Pacific Music Works with violinist Tekla Cunningham.
[Music fades]
MUSIC TRACK
Masters From Flanders, Vol. 7: Isaac & Obrecht & De La Rue (Polyphony From The 15th & 16th Century)
Capella Sancti Michaelis Vocal Ensemble / Currende Consort / dir. Erik van Nevel
Etcetera 2008 / 8718011445285
Heinrich Isaac
Tr. 5 A la battaglia (4:47)
Erik van Nevel led the Currende Consort in “La Battaglia” by Heinrich Isaac. More well-crafted music from both Renaissance composers and music theorists coming up.
[*Music to fade]
In his 1558 treatise Le Institutione Harmoniche, Gioseffo Zarlino discusses harmony, counterpoint, tuning systems, and more. He describes how music should be constructed—utilizing some rather mathematical rules. Rather than theorize abstract concepts beyond the reach of musicians and music-lovers of his day, Zarlino’s treatise details in practical terms how to write music, how to tune instruments, and so on.
Zarlino was also a performer and a music director who served as maestro di capilla at Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Venice for nearly 30 years. Philippo Zusberti, a principal singer at St. Mark’s, called Zarlino’s Modulationes Sex Vocum, “the most lovely of all compositions.” Let’s hear “Miserere mei Deus” from that work.
MUSIC TRACK
Modulationes Sex Vocum (1566)
Singer Pur
Oehms Classics 2013 / Naxos OC873
Gioseffo Zarlino
Tr. 7 Miserere mei Deus (8:41)
Ensemble Singer Pur performed “Miserere mei Deus” by theorist and composer Gioseffo Zarlino.
Further south on the Italian peninsula around the same time, Spanish theorist and composer Diego Ortiz worked in the court at Naples. Ortiz, however, wrote about how to decorate music with vivid ornamentation. His 1553 publication Trattado de glosas, aimed specifically at viol players, was much like a football playbook, posing various situations and showing how to solve them in the game—or performance. So, when a performer sees a cadence, or musical resolution, coming up in the music, she’s given a veritable arsenal of ways to decorate it—in some cases as much as a dozen. We’ll hear two pieces by Diego Ortiz: “Recercada ottava La Gamba” and “Pass’emezzo antico: Recercada quinta.” Mika Suihkonen plays viola da gamba with Ballo Della Battalia.
MUSIC TRACK
La Gamba
Mika Suihkonen, viola da gamba; Ballo Della Battalia
Alba 2010 / Naxos ABCD301
Diego Ortiz
Tr. 8 Recercada ottava La Gamba (3:16)
Tr. 10 Pass’emezzo antico: Recercada quinta (3:08)
Mika Suihkonen, viola da gambist, performing with Ballo Della Battalia. We heard “Recercada ottava La Gamba” and “Pass’emezzo antico: Recercada quinta” by composer and theorist Diego Ortiz.
[Begin theme music]
Theme Music Bed: Ensemble Alcatraz, Danse Royale, Elektra Nonesuch 79240-2 / B000005J0B, T.12: La Prime Estampie Royal
You can hear highlights from recent and archival concert recordings of early music on Harmonia Uncut -- our biweekly podcast, curated and hosted by Wendy Gillespie. Listen online at harmonia early music dot org and through iTunes.
You’re listening to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.
Mid Break
MUSIC TRACK
La Gamba
Mika Suihkonen, viola da gamba; Ballo Della Battalia
Alba 2010 / Naxos ABCD301
Diego Ortiz
Excerpt of Tr. 18 Recercada sesta La Romanesca (excerpt of 1:54)
(fades out at :59)
Welcome back. We’re exploring the work of three Renaissance theorists this hour on Harmonia.
Heinrich Glarean was on the more academic side of music theory. He also studied philosophy, theology, and mathematics at University of Cologne. His first musical treatise published in 1516, entitled Isagoge in musicen, is typical of other treatises of the time, covering the elements of music, 8 musical Modes, and solmization--similar to our system of assigning notes syllables like “do-re-mi.” Glarean also discusses music by Franco-Flemish composers Pierre de la Rue and Jacob Obrecht. Let’s hear de la Rue’s “Il viendra le jour desire” and Obrecht’s “Beate es Maria.”
MUSIC TRACK
Masters from Flanders: Polyphony from the 15th and 16th Centuries
Capella Sancti Michaelis Vocal Ensemble / Currende Consort / dir. Erik van Nevel
Etcetera 2008 / 8718011445285
Pierre de la Rue
Tr. 8 Il viendra le jour desire (4:00)
Jacob Obrecht
Tr. 12 Beate es Maria (5:33)
“Beate es Maria” by Jacob Obrecht; and before that, “Il viendra le jour desire” by Pierre de la Rue. Erik van Nevel led Capella Sancti Michaelis Vocal Ensemble and Currende Consort.
Heinrich Glarean’s most important theoretical work is his Dodecachordon, in which Glarean introduces 12 modes rather than the 8 of earlier treatises. Two of these modes—Ionian and Aeolean—are the basis for our modern major and minor keys. Glarean demonstrated his new system by finding examples in new and old music, pointing out that Ionian, the equivalent to our major key, is the most common mode of the time. Glarean’s 12-mode system in turn influenced many other theorists, including Zarlino, Thomas Morley, and Lodovico Zacconi. Here is Josquin’s “Victimae paschali laudes” one of the many pieces in the anthology section of Glarean’s Dodechachordon.
MUSIC TRACK
Josquin Desprez: Missa D'ung aulre amer, Motets and Chansons
Alamire / Lous Skinner, tenor / dir. Andrew Lawrence-King
Obsidian 2007 / OBSID-CD701
Josquin des Prez
Tr. 17 Victimae paschali laudes / D’ung aultre amer (3:58)
“Victimae paschali laudes” by Josquin des Prez. Andrew Lawrence-King led tenor Louis Skinner and Alamire.
Our featured release this week takes us in a different theoretical direction. Scholar and polymath Father Athanasius Kircher called the stylus phantasticus (quote) “the most free and unfettered method of composition, bound to nothing, neither to words, nor to a harmonious subject.” In their 2021 release Stylus Phantasticus, Tekla Cunningham and Pacific Music Works explore music from this tradition. Here is “Sonata detta la Desperata” by Mantuan composer Carlo Farina.
MUSIC TRACK
Stylus Phantasticus
Tekla Cunningham (violin), Pacific Music Works, dir. Stephen Stubbs
Reference Recordings 2021 / FR-742
Carlo Farina
Tr. 1 Sonata detta la Desperata (9:53)
Carlo Farina’s “Sonata detta la Desperata.” Tekla Cunningham was the violinist with Pacific Music Works from our featured release: Stylus Phantasticus.
This unfettered style, Stylus Phantasticus, is a break from the more organized music of many seventeenth-century compositions. Stylus Phantasticus lacks the rigid rhythmic structures of dance, and it doesn’t borrow tunes from masses, motets, or other melodies as was common. The pieces are more like fantasias-- entirely the creation of the composer. Here is “Sonata secunda” by Giovanni Battista Fontana.
MUSIC TRACK
Stylus Phantasticus
Tekla Cunningham (violin), Pacific Music Works, dir. Stephen Stubbs
Reference Recordings 2021 / FR-742
Giovanni Battista Fontana
Tr. 6 Sonata secunda (6:24)
“Sonata secunda” by Giovanni Battista Fontana. Tekla Cunningham, violinist, performed with Pacific Music Works led by Stephen Stubbs on Reference Recording’s 2021 release Stylus Phantasticus.
[Fade in theme music]
Harmonia is a production of WFIU. Support comes from Early Music America: a national organization that advocates and supports the historical performance of music of the past, the community of artists who create it, and the listeners whose lives are enriched by it. On the web at EarlyMusicAmerica-dot-org.
Additional resources come from the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
We welcome your thoughts about any part of this program, or about early music in general. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org. And, you can follow our Facebook page by searching for Harmonia Early Music.
The writer for this edition of Harmonia is Sarah Schilling (or Sarah Huebsch Schilling).
Thanks to our studio engineer Michael Paskash, and our production team: LuAnn Johnson, Wendy Gillespie, Aaron Cain, and John Bailey. I’m Angela Mariani, inviting you to join us again for the next edition of Harmonia.
[Theme music concludes]
