Matthew Harmon
MUH3211
Blog Topic 2
13 January 2012
After
flipping through the Norton Anthology, the pieces I decided that I like the
most are O Magnum Mysterium, La Messe de Nostre Dame, and Canzon septimi toni
a8, from Sacrae Symphonaie.
The only one of these pieces that I am
familiar with is O Magnum Mysterium. I’ve
heard this piece before, but every time I hear it, it still gives me
chills. It is one of my favorite pieces
from the sixteenth century. I love
listening to the polyphony and the dark timbre that it creates. I feel that this piece is full of rich
textures that I can definitely continue to listen to and learn about.
When I read the title “La Messe de Nostre
Dame,” I couldn’t help but be curious about a mass of Notre Dame, the famous cathedral
in France. The opening statement of the kyrie immediately
grabbed my attention and I continued to listen.
The thick polyphony of the mass creates a strong spiritual presence
which makes this piece more than just a pleasure to listen to. It is kind of enlightening. It is almost as if I can feel the history in
the music. I can see myself continuing
to listen to this piece because I feel that there might be more to this piece
than just the title and the polyphony.
When
I saw Canzon septimi toni a8 in the anthology, I was a little surprised. I did not know that there was actual
instrumental ensemble music yet during this time period. This piece sounds very regal and almost processional-like. As a listener, you can tell that this piece
was probably written for private parties or a royal ceremony. As an instrumental musician, it’s nice to
hear music that started the genre in which I play. I enjoyed this piece and I’m pretty sure that it
would be nice to continue listening to it.
Matt -
ReplyDeleteThanks for the new post! I definitely liked what I read. I think your prose here was much clearer than last week, too, so bravo on improving that.
I think you could write a really excellent research paper on any one of these pieces. One of the things that we'll have to decide as a class, though, is who exactly will be working on what. I don't think anyone else from the class chose "O Magnum Mysterium," so if you'd like to research and listen to that piece more, you've got dibs on it. Otherwise, we'll have to figure out who will get the other two (the Gabrieli is in particularly high demand).
As for some of your insights, I think you have a really good grasp of the "feeling" that these pieces are trying to encapsulate. One of the elements that adds to this is the performance space itself. Each of these pieces would have been performed in large, reverberant churches, where the sound has a very long decay. Sound like that, combined with the polyphony of these masters, can create such a powerful mood.
If you want to start doing some more research on de Victoria, and where he's from, you're free to get started on that. If you want to hold out and see if you can write about one of the other pieces, we can probably decide that as a class on Wednesday. Let me know what you decide as soon as you get a chance! Have a great (long) weekend!