Tomas Luis De Victoria uses imitative polyphony based on a melody in the first nine measures.  It begins in the Cantus voice, leaping a 5^th down and then returning to the starting pitch.  It mostly moves in stepwise motion with three more leaps, two of a 4^th and one of a 3^rd.  Whenever the text says ‘magnum,’ the voice either leaps up or down by a 5^th.  Then on the word mysterium, Victoria moves either up or down by a semitone.  Victoria uses text painting on the large leap of the 5^th represents magnum (large or big) and on the resolution of a semitone depicts a sense of mystery.  The melody continues in the Altus and is imitated a fifth below the original line six beats later.   Victoria creates a nice thick texture through the piece by shifting the original melody between voices.  He takes out voices creating points where the texture becomes thinner, but then adds voices back into the piece returning it to a thicker texture.  In measure 38, there is silence for beats three and four in all four voices.  Then in measure 39, all 4 voices exclaim in homo-rhythm (which makes the statement louder and stronger), “O Beata Virgo!” which means, “Oh blessed virgin!” On the text, “virgin,” the outer voices have syncopation and eighth note runs, ornamenting the word virgin making it sound more elegant and beautiful.  Victoria uses homo-rhythm in the last section of the piece when the text repeats “Alleluia” until the conclusion of the piece. This section Starts in a triple meter, but is imitated in later measures in duple meter.  The piece ends with a Picardy third resolving from a minor key to a major key.  

In “O Magnum Mysterium,” Tomas Luis De Victoria Primarily uses Polyphonic texture.  The genre of this piece is a motet.  Motets usually have three or four voices; each one with its own distinct melody on either the same text or different text.  The beginning of the piece is fugal where the melody begins in measure 1 but is followed by the next voice six beats later but a perfect 5^th below the original melody.  This piece can be analyzed with common practices because it’s entirely tonal.  Sometimes in this piece, the voices break the rules of common practices, by allowing parallel 5ths and octaves.  This is characteristic of the time period where Polyphony was still the most common style of composing.  When the piece becomes homo-rhythmic, the chords feel much stronger and the polyphony is much more present.  The Bass is the most prominent voice in the piece.  It may not be the “main” melody, but it is a solid foundation while also pushing the piece forward.  Although it mainly stays on scale degrees 1 and 5, the bass motion is what fuels the melodic line as the piece cadences.  The way he blends the voices and the harmonies that he creates gives the piece that “spiritual” or “holy” feeling.  The words of this piece would lead one to believe that this piece would be sacred and sung only in the church, but the beauty and style of the polyphony he uses suggests that it may also have been sung secularly at home by the people.

In O Magnum Mysterium, Tomas Luis De Victoria uses basic rhythms (whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes) in various ways to make the music interesting.  There is nothing particularly exceptional about the way he uses these rhythms.  One thing that does capture my attention in this piece is how he layers the rhythms on top of one another.  He tends to switch back and forth between homo-rhythmic passages and poly-rhythmic passages.  He begins the piece with a single voice, and begins the next voice six beats later creating a round or fugal feel.  Then the rhythm becomes homo-rhythmic in the top two voices in measure 9 with the fugue continuing in the third and fourth voices.  All four voices share the same rhythm from measure 20 to measure 25.  The voices all have different rhythms across the score until the fourth beat of measure 39, which then turns back into homo-rhythmic for the next four measures.  When we get to measure 52, there is a meter shift from 4/4 to 3/2.  It stays mostly homo-rhythmic.  At measure 58 there are at least two voices continually moving together until the meter shift back to 4/4 when the voices finish the piece in poly-rhythm.  The one thing that stands out to me the most while listening to this piece is that there is always at least one voice singing a quarter note on each beat.  This gives the piece consistent pulse which provides the feeling of forward motion in the music.  For the period of time in which it was written, I think that this was a fairly standard method of notation which may have helped performers stay in time together without a conductor or a percussionist giving the tempo to the ensemble.  I feel that the meter shifts were the only exceptional or possibly “new” technique used in writing this piece.

1.

Bootello, Miguel. "Tomás Luis de Victoria."tomasluisdevictoria.org. .

http://www.uma.es/victoria/english-biografia.html (accessed January 20, 2012).

Cramer, Eugene. "Tomás Luis de Victoria: A Guide to Research." Notes. 56. : 131-32.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/900488?&Search=yes&searchText=de&searchText=tomas&searchText=luis&searchText=victoria&list=hide&searchUri=/action/doBasicSearch?Query=tomas+luis+de+victoria&acc=on&wc=on&prevSearch=&item=13&ttl=2436&returnArticleService=showFullText (accessed January 20, 2012).

Gale, Thomson. "Tomas Luis De Victoria." Bookrags.com. .

http://www.bookrags.com/biography/tomas-luis-de-victoria/ (accessed January 20, 2012).

O'Regan, Noel. "Victoria, Soto and the Spanish Archconfraternity of the Resurrection in Rome ."Early

Music. 22. : 279-95. http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/3510.html

Robins, Brian. "Tomas Luis De Victoria." All Music Guide. .

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Post #2

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.