Music of the Troubadours 12: Lanquan li jorn

Claudio Monteverdi Vespers

Monteverdi, the son of a barber-surgeon and chemist, studied with the director of music at Cremona cathedral, Marcantonio Ingegneri, a well-known musician who wrote church music and madrigals of some distinction in an up-to-date though not revolutionary style of the 1570s. Monteverdi was obviously a precocious pupil, since he published several books of religious and secular music in his teens, all of them containing competent pieces in a manner not far from that of his master. The culmination of this early period occurred in two madrigal books published by one of the most famous of Venetian printers in 1587 and 1590. They are full of excellent, attractive works, somewhat more modern in approach than Ingegneri’s, perhaps the result of studying the madrigals of Luca Marenzio (1553–99), the greatest Italian madrigalist of the time, and others. As yet, however, Monteverdi’s aim appeared to be to charm rather than to express passion; it is exemplified at its best in such a madrigal as the well-known setting of the poem “Behold the Murmuring Sea” by Torquato Tasso.

Organum - Alleluia - 11th Century Modal Music

Medieval Gernan minstrels - Die MeisterSinger von Nurenberg

The German (Holy Roman Empire) version of the Traveling Troubador was the MeisterSinger.  These men were highly educated and talented professional who joined together to form guilds. An early version of the Trade Union these organizations set standards, wage models and negotiated contracts with noble patrons.

One of the legends of this group was Hans Sachs who was immortalized by 19th Century Composer Richard Wagner. in

Die Meistersinger von Nürenberg-

Medieval Troubador Lute Music

Any Guitarist can appreciate this. But the Musicians of the Middle Ages did not enjoy many of the benefits we do today. After the Fall of the Roman Empire, mayhem ruled the land. The merry minstrels traveled from town to town bringing the form of Joy that Music always has.

Medieval Music - Troubadours and Trouveres

While Sacred Music saw Organum which led to the Polyphonc Motet and then to the flowering of the Baroque, Popular Music was alive and well.

The troubadours (called trouvères in Northern France) appeared in Southern France as early as the 11th century. They belonged to the society gathered at several small courts, where women held the supreme place. It was at these courts that the rules of the art of courtly love were established, and the songs of the troubadours were the first expression of the ideals of this art. They created their works using the dialect of the South, the Langue d'Oc.

In Northern France, the trouvères composed their songs in the northern dialect (Langue d’Oïl), the foremost among them beingChrétien de Troyes. Although the ideas of love in the romances of Chrétien are those found in the lyrics of the troubadours, his genius transformed them, through elaborate poetry, into something peculiarly his own.

Love was, for the troubadours, an art to be practised rather than a passion to be felt. A lover’s main concern was to act in strict accord with the courtly love rules. It is no surprise that the literature inspired by such strictures was devoid of spontaneity and real feeling.

http://www.medieval-spell.com/Troubadours-Trouveres.html

Riding the bus with Mozart and Bach

Passengers traveling from Ra'anana to Tel Aviv get to enjoy classical music between bus stops.

Meir Turgeman

Published:  09.27.14, 12:51 / Israel Culture

What does an average passenger hear on a bus? People chatting away on their cellphones, cars passing by, and sometimes even arguments or shouts.

• Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter 

These often annoying sounds are now being joined by something much more pleasant: Classical music from the bus' loudspeakers during the ride.

Classic Poll

Been to a concert lately? /Merav Yudilovitch Survey conducted by Israeli Chamber Orchestra reveals 40% of Israelis have never been to a classical music concert. Culture Ministry blames education system, Education Ministry not set to teach classical music education. Full story

The unique project was inaugurated last week on bus No. 48 of the Metropoline company, which travels between the cities of Tel Aviv and Ra'anana. In honor of the debut ride, a violinist and an oboe player from the Ra'anana Symphonette Orchestra got on the bus and began playing classical pieces as the driver hit the road.

"What's going on, are they shooting a movie here?" asked Mali Levi as she hopped on the bus on Tel Aviv's Allenby Street to the sounds of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker."

http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3083,00.html

TweetMe Please

Palestrina - Motets for 5 Voices

• While Europe struggled to return to a semblance of Civiliation
• 
  
• While the Muslims robbed,raped and murdered across Africa
• 
  
• While the Africans and Asians remained mired in tribal Savagery

The greatest Composer or Sacred Music made his mark:

Giovani de la Palestrina’s motets, of which more than 250 are extant, display almost as much variety of form and type as do his masses. Most of them are in some clearly defined form, occasionally reflecting the shape of the liturgical text, though comparatively few are based on plainsong. Many of them paraphrase the chant, however, with an artistry that is every bit as successful as that of the masses. On the same level as the canonic masses are such motets as Cum ortus fuerit and Accepit Jesus calicem, the latter apparently a favourite of the composer’s—an assumption justified because he is depicted holding a copy of it in a portrait now in the Vatican.

His 29 motets based on texts from the Song of Solomon afford numerous examples of “madrigalisms”: the use of suggestive musical phrases evoking picturesque features, apparent either to the ear or to the eye, sometimes to both. In the offertories, Palestrina completely abandons the old cantus firmus technique and writes music in free style, whereas in the hymns he paraphrases the traditional melody, usually in the highest voice. In the Lamentations of Jeremiah he brings effective contrast to bear on the sections with Hebrew and Latin text, the former being melismatic (floridly vocalized) in style and the latter simpler and more solemn. His Magnificats are mainly in four sets of eight, each set comprising aMagnificat on one of the eight “tones”: alternatim structure is used here as in the Mantua masses.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/439795/Giovanni-Pierluigi-da-Palestrina/5470/Music

The Organum of the Middle Ages led to the Multi-Part Motet which was followed by the development of the Polyphonic Style which would reach its full glory in the marvelous  works of J.S. Bach.

Few realize that this Music was funded by the Catholic Church.

Along with the salvation of Classical Literature, the world owes the Development of Western Music to the Holy Catholic Church.

wikipedia.com

Gregorian Chant - the birth of Western Music

Though few realize it, we owe the development of Western Music to the Monks, Friars and composers that developed it from the basis you hear in this Video:





While Barbarism ruled the land and Arab savages robbed, raped and pillaged their way across the Middle East and Africa these Holy men labored in the service of God.  The work of these men over nearly 1,000 years preserved what we know as Civilization and created the forms that we today know as Music.

Bach Mass in C Minor (with complete Score)

Classical Music in Chicago

Pulling Strings: For classical music in Chicago, you got a guy - August 2014

By Elliot Mandel

Before the main classical season kicks into gear in the next month or two, take advantage of these local artists and ensembles playing throughout the city.

Chicago Q Ensemble: Living Loop Festival
Loop workers: get out of the office and go hear Chicago Q Ensemble play Mozart in one of the Loop's few open-air respites. The trio — whose recent performance at Constellation was nothing short of magnetic and intense — plugs in and performs the E-flat major Divertimento. You don't need to be Einstein to enjoy Mozart, but Einstein himself really loved Mozart. Of this particular Divertimento, he wrote, "Every note is significant, every note is a contribution to spiritual and sensuous fulfillment in sound...the finest, most perfect trio ever heard." Admission is free. Friday, August 8, noon. 1 South Dearborn, Chicago.

http://goo.gl/LthdJy

TweetMe Please

Rhapsody op. 346 by Howard Savage

Copyright Office to Study Music Licensing

Downbeat Magazine Reviews - Editors Picks

Thelonious Monk, Paris 1969 (Blue Note)
What happens when an artist becomes a legend in his own lifetime? That’s the question raised in the liner notes to Thelonious Monk’s Paris 1969, a new historical CD/DVD package that is a slice of jazz heaven. 

Stan Getz Quartet, Live At Montreux 1972 (Eagle Rock)
When tenor saxophonist Stan Getz headed to the Montreux Jazz Festival for a performance (and TV taping) on June 23, 1972, he brought along a talented group of young players with whom he had recently recorded the fusion-flavored album Captain Marvel. 

Keith Jarrett, No End (ECM)
In a fruitful year of Keith Jarrett releases on ECM—the label has already issuedHymns/Spheres, Somewhere and Six Sonatas For Violin And Piano and will wrap up the year with a reissue of 1981’sConcerts: Bregenz/München—here is a Jarrett offering out of left field

BY FRANK ALKYER, BOBBY REED, DAVIS INMAN AND MORE.

dOWNBEAT HAS BEEN PUBLISHING since 1939 AND REMAINS AS A BIBLE FOR THE jAZZ MUSICIAN.

Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois. It is named after the "downbeat" in music also called "beat one" or the first beat of a musical measure.

Down Beat publishes results of annual surveys of both its readers and critics in a variety of categories. The Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame includes winners from both the readers' and critics' poll. The results of the readers' poll are published in the December issue, those of the critics' poll in the August issue.

Well-known features of Down Beat magazine include its "Reviews" section where jazz critics, using a '1-Star to 5-Star' maximum rating system, rate the latest musical recordings, vintage recordings, and books; articles on individual musicians and music forms; and its famous "Blindfold Test" column, in a which a musician listens to records by other artists, tries to guess who they are, and rates them using the 5-star maximum rating system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Beat

I Can remember as a young and aspiring Composer/Arranger/Pianist at De Paul University being introduced to Downbeat and its exciting world of the jazz musician. Well worth the read each month and one of the only comprehensive sources of news and information for the jazz musician, student,or just fan. 

http://www.downbeat.com/defaultl.asp?sect=reviews

http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp

JD Supra - MBHB Snippets: Review of Developments in Intellectual Property Law - Volume 11, Issue 4 (Fall 2013) - Music, Art, Entertainment & Sports Law