vocal music

Medieval and Renaissance periods

The chant most important for Western music is the so-called Gregorian repertory, earliest preserved in French manuscripts beginning from c. 900. Music for other major early medieval Latin repertories either has not survived (old Frankish, or Gallican, chant), is indecipherable (Mozarabic chant from Spain), or did not serve as the basis for later musical development (Ambrosian chant from Milan).

From c. 750 to 850, music and musicians moved freely between the north and south with the intention of transferring Roman chant to France, but the methods and the extent of the process cannot be documented. The French greatly expanded their repertory until c. 1150 through the addition of both melodies and texts. Particularly important for future developments in vocal music were the new hymns, sequences, and other poetic settings, which were organized into regular stanzas with rhymes and metrical patterns. Gregorian chants not only served a liturgical function but also provided source material for much of the polyphonic music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

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The degree of elaboration in a particular chant melody generally relates to its function within the liturgy. In chants that serve for recitations, such as psalms, lessons, or prayers, the music is secondary to a clear projection of the text; these settings are predominately syllabic (i.e., only one note per syllable) and use relatively few pitches. Somewhat more ornate are melodies that accompany a liturgical action (such as processionals or communions in the mass), while chants completely independent of these functions, such as mass graduals and alleluias, tend to become the most elaborate. In these last two types, settings vary from neumatic (two to five notes per syllable) to highly melismatic (many notes per syllable).

Unlike the Gregorian repertory, the medieval chants of the major Eastern churches no longer continue as living traditions. The Byzantine liturgy, codified by the 11th century, has been subject to continual change since the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The early chants, preserved in manuscripts from the 11th to the 15th centuries, show fascinating parallels with the Gregorian repertory, suggesting close relationships or common origins between the two liturgies. Other Eastern churches developed independent chant repertories: Coptic (Egyptian), Abyssinian, and Armenian; but written sources for these chants are either nonexistent or presently indecipherable. Russian (znamenny) chant evolved from the Byzantine liturgy imported in the 10th century and reached a classical stage in the 15th–17th centuries; but the only legible manuscripts date from the end of this period.

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Latin songs by wandering scholars as early as the 7th century survive in a musical notation now unreadable. But the largest repertories of monophonic songs come from the troubadours in southern France (late 11th to early 13th centuries), the trouvères in northern France (mid-12th through 13th centuries), and the German minnesingers (mid-12th to late 15th centuries). These musicians and poets from all classes of society composed and performed for the nobility until well into the 13th century, after which patronage gradually shifted to the bourgeoisie and prosperous clergy. Their texts most frequently treat the ideals of chivalry and courtly love, using polished and often obscure language; at times similar poems offer praise to the Blessed Virgin. Service songs, called sirventes in southern France (Spruch in German), deal with didactic, political, or personal matters, perhaps in a satirical fashion. Other texts record events of the court, such as marriages, deaths, or participation in Crusades. Among the more traditional songs from northern France are the chansons de geste, extended narratives glorifying earlier heroes or saints.

The poetic texts inherited strophic (stanzaic) design, rhyming, and metrical schemes from earlier medieval Latin. To these devices the trouvères added the idea of a refrain, varying in length from a single word to several poetic lines and placed at any position within the stanza. Eventually certain arrangements became fixed forms: the ballade or German Bar form (a a B), the rondeau (A B a A a b A B), and the virelai (A b b a A). In the diagrams, identical letters indicate same rhymes, and capitals show the refrain; as a rule, two sections of music are repeated according to the design of the poem. Shown here in their simplest structures, the forms were regularly expanded or varied in detail. Less standard designs were the lai in northern France (Leich in German), with irregular groupings of couplets, and the lengthy chansons de geste, probably repeating a simple melodic formula for each text line.

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Many monophonic songs resemble Gregorian chant, although without lengthy melismas. Others present a more modern sound through the use of the major scale and organization in short symmetrical phrases. Most of the earlier songs (before 1200) have no written indications of metre. Scholarship in the late 20th century suggested a free rendition for songs with irregular phrasing and embellishments but more regulated rhythms for the simple dancelike tunes. Improvised accompaniments were often appropriate, although not indicated in the original manuscripts.

Vernacular songs spread to the courts of England, Spain, and Italy, although the surviving examples from these regions are primarily religious. The monophonic art eventually declined during the 14th century for three principal reasons: the rise of interest in polyphonic composition, the loss of aristocratic patronage, and the substitution of theoretical rules for creative instinct. The last phenomenon is best illustrated in the works of the German middle class meistersingers from the 15th and 16th centuries.

The most characteristic and persistent type of early polyphonic song is the French chanson, in the form of a rondeau, ballade, or virelai. Chanson composers included the most outstanding musicians of the 14th and 15th centuries, among them Guillaume de Machaut, Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, Antoine Busnois, and Jean d’Ockeghem. Their activities centred in the courts of France and Burgundy, although many travelled to other areas, particularly Italy and northern Spain. Indigenous forms developed in the 14th century in Italy (madrigal, ballata, and caccia), and in the 15th century in Spain (villancico and romance), England (carol), and German (Bar); but these types shared many features of the Franco-Burgundian compositions. The chanson consists of two principal sections of music, with no text repetition except as required by the poetic structure. Three contrasting voices are standard: cantus, tenor, and countertenor. The cantus typically moves in a high tenor or alto range, in counterpoint with the lower tenor. To this two-part framework is added the countertenor, at times following the style and range of the cantus but at other times that of the tenor. Although most performances undoubtedly combined the voice(s) with instruments, it is by no means certain how the parts were distributed. Evidence suggests that performances were quite flexible, depending upon the singers or instruments available and upon the style of the individual song.

During the later 15th century new ideals for vocal composition arose that were incompatible with the earlier fixed-form songs. The different voice parts, now at least four in number, tended toward more equalization in style. All voices were underlain with a text, or were potentially singable; they either imitated the same melody or had similar rhythmic and melodic characteristics. Poetic structure was now obscured by a continuous overlapping of sections, and the words of the text were often blurred by the activity of the various voices. Native Italian part-songs (frottole, carnival songs, and villanelle) generally presented texts with clearer declamation, but, as the century advanced, even these simpler types gave way to the more complex Renaissance madrigal, with frequent use of melodic imitation. Musicians regularly arranged these polyphonic works for solo performance with instrumental accompaniment. But no significant part of this artistic repertory, with the possible exception of Spanish vihuela songs, was designed exclusively for the solo singer.

The advent of the modern art song depended upon a rejection of two prevailing attitudes found in mid-16th-century polyphony: the principle that a piece of vocal music was performable in any conceivable medium (for solo, for ensemble of voices, or even for instruments alone) and the idea that the text needed only be the servant of the music. An increasing concern for textual interpretation and declamation began to appear in late 16th-century polyphonic compositions. Texts were often delivered in a speechlike recitation; emotionally charged words were emphasized through special rhythms, unexpected harmonic progressions, chromaticism (use of notes foreign to the song’s mode), and coloratura (florid ornamentation); and simultaneous rhythms in the different voices made possible a clearer projection of the words. Of more temporary influence were the French experiments with quantitative metre in poetry and music (musique mesurée). But the final step in the transfer of these various techniques from part music to genuine solo music came at the end of the century, notably in Italian monody (expressive melody with chordal accompaniment) and English lute songs.