A Popular History of the Art of Music

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The third period of the Netherlandish school embraced four very
eminent names--Gombert, Willaert, Goudimel and Cyprian de Rore. The
three latter were successively chapel masters at the cathedral of St.
Mark's in Venice, and were eminent lights of the Venetian school. It
is a significant indication of the commercial decadence of the
Netherlands, which had now set in, that all the composers of this
period distinguished themselves in foreign countries. Nicholas
Gombert, a pupil of Josquin, became master of singers, and afterward
directed the music at the royal chapel in Madrid from 1530. He was a
prolific composer of masses, motettes, chansons and other works. Of
the remaining members of this period mention will be made in
connection with the account of the music in St. Mark's, where they all
distinguished themselves.

The most gifted of all these Netherlandish masters was Orlando de
Lassus, who was born in Belgium, educated at Antwerp, spent some time
in Italy, and finally settled at Munich, where he lived for about
forty years, as musical director and composer. The compositions of
this great man fill many volumes. He distinguished himself in every
province of music, being equally at home in secular madrigals--quite a
number of which are heard even at the present day with satisfaction--masses
and other heavy church compositions, and instrumental works. He was a
cultivated man of the world who held an honored position at court and
made a great mark in the community. He founded the school at Munich
which, with rare good fortune, has occupied a distinguished position
ever since, and has been, and still is, one of the most important
musical centers in Europe, as all who are acquainted with the history
of Richard Wagner, or the reputation of the present incumbent, the
Master Rheinberger, will readily see. In Lassus we begin to have the
spontaneity of the modern composer. The quaintness of the Middle Ages
still lingers to some extent, and learning he had in plenty when it
suited him to use it, but he was also capable of very simple and
direct melodic expression and quaint and very fascinating harmony.
While the tonality is still vague, like that of the church modes, the
music itself is thoroughly chordal in character, and evidently planned
with reference to the direct expression of the text. A large number of
madrigals have come down to us from this great master; among them is
the one called "Matona, Lovely Maiden," which is one of the most
beautiful part songs in existence. The life of Lassus was full of
dignity and honor. He was extremely popular in Munich and in all other
parts of Europe. He is to be considered the first great genius in the
art of music.

[Illustration: Fig. 30.

ORLANDO DE LASSUS.

(From a contemporary print by the French engraver Amelingue.)]

CHAPTER XIV.

POLYPHONIC SCHOOLS OF ITALY.

PALESTRINA.

Italy in the fifteenth century was in a highly prosperous condition.
The great commercial cities had a profitable commerce with all parts
of the then known world, and great public works had been under way for
more than two centuries. The beginning of the Renaissance was marked
by the great cathedrals, of which St. Mark's at Venice was a little
earlier than Pisa, Siena, Florence and Milan. All these were built
before 1300. Vast public works were undertaken in all parts of the
country, such as the canal that supplied Milan with water, and
irrigated a large part of the plain of Lombardy; the great sea wall of
Genoa; roads, bridges, municipal buildings, fortresses and the like.
By the beginning of the sixteenth century the art of painting had
reached a very high eminence; the master Raphael was already at work,
as was also that remarkable genius, Leonardo da Vinci--the most
universally gifted artist who ever appeared. Michael Angelo was at
work in the Sistine Chapel, and his plans for St. Peter's were partly
being carried out. It was in this time that Johannes Tinctor, the
Netherlandish composer, founded a music school at Naples. The school
itself was short-lived, but it was presently succeeded by four others
of a different kind which eventually produced a large number of
eminent musicians, several of whom will occupy our attention later.
Tinctor's music school appears to have been a private affair. Those
which followed it were charitable institutions, taking poor boys from
the streets, furnishing them with a living, the rudiments of an
education, and musical training enough to make them available in the
service of the Church. The founding of these schools took place some
time later than the period under immediate discussion. _Santa Maria di
Loreto_ was founded in 1535, by a poor artisan of the name of
Francisco, who received in his house orphans of both sexes, and caused
them to be fed and clothed and instructed in music. He was assisted by
donations from the rich, and presently a priest named Giovanni da
Tappia undertook to raise a permanent endowment by begging alms from
house to house. At the end of nine years he had accomplished his task.
The building was called the Conservatorio, and in 1536 received
certain government allowances. The pupils reached the number of 800,
and among the illustrious musicians produced by this school were
Alessandro Scarlatti, Durante, Porpora, Trajetta, Sacchini, Gugliemi
and many more. The second school of this kind organized was that of
_San Onofrio a Capuana_, in 1576. It received 120 orphans, who were
instructed in religion and music. In 1797 the pupils of this school
were transferred to _Santa Maria_. The third school of this kind was
that of _De Poveri di Gesu Cristo_, established in 1589, for
foundlings. In 1744 this conservatory was made into a diocesan
seminary. The fourth of these schools was that of _Della Pieta di
Turchini_, which originated about 1584. Quite a number of eminent
composers were produced in this school. All of these conservatories
were consolidated in 1808 as the _Reale Collegio di Musica_ (Royal
College of Music). The example of Naples was followed with more or
less rapidity in the other principal Italian cities. The most
important musical center of Italy during this time was Venice, where
Adrian Willaert became musical director in the cathedral of St.
Mark's, in 1527. Here he remained until 1562. The church of St. Mark's
had already held a prominent position as a musical center at least two
centuries of the four which it had been in existence. The recently
published history of the music in St. Mark's extends back to 1380,
from which time to the beginning of the present century there has been
a succession of eminent musicians as organists and musical directors.
There were two organs in this church, standing in galleries on
opposite sides of the chancel. This circumstance had an important
influence on the development of music in the cathedral, as will
hereafter be seen. It was in this church, according to Italian
tradition, that pedals were first applied to the organ. It is probable
that these appliances were very rude at first, and few in number, but
they served to supplement the resources of the hands of the organist,
and enabled him to produce effects not otherwise obtainable. The
existence of the two choirs and two organs, and no doubt the habit of
antiphonal singing in the Plain Song of the Church, led Willaert to
invent double choruses, and finally to divide his choir into three or
more parts. Willaert is regarded by many as the founder of the
madrigal, of which there is more to be said presently. He was also the
teacher of two very eminent musicians who succeeded him in his
position at St. Mark's--Zarlino and Cyprians de Rore. To go on with
the story of St. Mark's from this point, the most important successor
of Willaert was Gioseffo Zarlino, who spent his youth in studying for
the Church, and was admitted to minor orders in 1539, and ordained
deacon in 1541. He was a proficient scholar in Greek and Hebrew, in
mathematics, astronomy and chemistry. After studying for some years
with Willaert he was elected in 1555 first _Maestro di Capella_ at St.
Mark's. In this position his services were required not alone as
director of music in the church, but also as a servant of the
republic, and it was his duty to compose or arrange music for all of
the public festivals. After the battle of Lepanto, October 7, 1571,
Zarlino was appointed to celebrate the victory with appropriate music.
When Henry III visited Venice, in 1574, he was greeted by music by
Zarlino. This same composer is also credited with having composed a
dramatic piece called _Orpheo_, which was performed with great
splendor in the larger council chamber. Again, in 1577, Zarlino was
commissioned to compose a mass for the commemoration of the terrible
plague which devastated Italy and carried off Titian, among other
great men. His ecclesiastical standing was so good that in 1583 he was
elected bishop, but his accession to the see was so strongly opposed
by the doge and the senate that he consented to retain the appointment
of St. Mark's, where he remained until his death in 1590. Zarlino was
very famous as a composer, in his own day, but few of his works have
come down to us. He is best known by certain works of his on harmony
and the theory of music, of which the most important was the
_Institutioni Armoniche_ (Venice, 1558), and his _Demonstrationi
Armoniche_ (Venice, 1571). Zarlino's distinction rests upon his
having restored the true tuning of the tetrachord to that of 8:9,
9:10, 15:16, as opposed to the Pythagorean tuning of 9:8, 9:8,
256:243. He was the most important scientific authority in the music
of the new epoch. His discoveries in harmony were afterward
supplemented by those of Tartini, almost two centuries later. Among
other strong points of Zarlino was his demonstration of equal
temperament, which came into general use about 100 years later.
Cypriano de Rore, whose name was mentioned above in connection with
St. Mark's, held a position as master in that eminent cathedral only
one year, his tenure of office falling between the death of Willaert
and the appointment of Zarlino. He was a very prolific composer of
motettes and madrigals, and after resigning his position at St. Mark's
went to the Court of Parma, where he died at the age of forty-nine.
The later eminent masters holding positions in this church will come
into view in the next book, in connection with the opera, for
Monteverde was director of the music here during the greater part of
his career as a dramatic composer.

The most eminent development of the polyphonic school, and at the same
time the dawn of a better era in church music, took place in Rome,
where the influence of the Netherlandish composer is noticeable.
Claude Goudimel, whose name appears in the table of the Netherlandish
school in the preceding chapter, opened a music school in Rome in the
early part of the sixteenth century, and among his pupils was the name
of Palestrina. Goudimel's residence in Rome was not very long. He
afterward returned to Paris, and in some way was connected with Calvin
in preparing psalm books for the Calvinists. He was killed finally at
Lyons in the massacre of St. Bartholomew, August 24, 1572.

The culmination of the contrapuntal school and the dawn of the new era
in church music came about through the labors of the pupil of
Goudimel, the great Palestrina. This master, whose name was Giovanni
Pierluigi (English, John Peter Lewis), was born of humble parents at
Palestrina, a small town in the vicinity of Rome. The date is
uncertain, but it was probably about 1520. As early as 1540 he came to
Rome to study music, where he made so good progress that in 1551 he
was appointed musical director at the Julian chapel in the Vatican. He
then commenced the publication of a series of remarkable musical
works, the first of which were in the style prevalent in his day.
There was much learning of every sort; all the devices of polyphony
were freely and luxuriantly employed, but along with them were other
passages of true expression. The dedication of some of these books to
the pope secured for him certain small preferments, which, in his most
profitable condition, aggregated about thirty _scudi_ a month (perhaps
equal to $20 of our money). On this miserable pittance he supported
his wife and four children. In 1556 he was discharged from his place
as a pontifical singer, on account of his marriage, a fact which had
been ignored by the pope who appointed him. He then held the post of
chapel master at the Lateran. In 1561 he was transferred to _Santa
Maria Maggiore_, where he remained ten years at a monthly salary of
sixteen _scudi_, until 1571, when he was once more elected to his old
office of master at the Vatican. It would take us too long to speak of
his various works in detail, although his numerous publications during
this period demonstrate his claim to mastership of the first order.
The best of his pieces had already been adopted in the apostolic
chapel, and his reputation was now greater in Italy than that of any
other musician. But the taste for elaboration in church music had
reached a point where reform was imperatively demanded. Not content
with having secular melodies employed as _canti fermi_ in the music
sung to the words of the mass, the words of these secular songs
themselves were often written in and sung by a majority of the singers
in the choir, only those in the front rows singing the solemn words of
the ecclesiastical office. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) commented
upon this state of things with great severity, and appointed a
commission to inquire into the abuse and decide upon a remedy. It was
contemplated to entirely do away with elaborate music in the Church,
and sing only the Gregorian songs. A few of the music-loving cardinals
succeeded in preventing so sweeping an order, and a commission was
appointed to take the matter in hand. Two of the most active of these
were Cardinals Borromeo and Vitellozzi. The former reported of the
singing in the pontifical chapel, to the following effect: "These
singers," said he, "count it for their principal glory that when one
sings _sanctus_, another sings _Sabbaoth_ and another _gloria tua_,
and the whole effect of the music is little more than a confused
whirring and snarling, more resembling the performance of cats in
January than the beautiful flowers of May." At the same time
Palestrina was desired to write a mass in a style suitable for the
sacred office. Too modest to rest the case upon one work, he wrote
three, which were performed with great care at the house of Cardinal
Vitellozzi, and all were much admired, but the third, known as the
mass "_Papae Marcelli_," in memory of the pope who had appointed
Palestrina to one of his positions, was recognized as of transcendent
excellence. It was copied in the collection of the Vatican, and the
pope ordered a special performance of it in the Apostolic chapel. At
the end of it he declared that it must have been some such music as
this that the apostles of the Apocalypse heard sung by the triumphant
hosts of angels in the New Jerusalem. Palestrina continued to write
masses, motettes and other works during the remainder of his life, but
during the entire time lived in the extremely limited condition
already mentioned, and was subject to much enmity from jealous singers
and composers. The most pleasing incident of his later life happened
in 1575, when fifteen hundred singers from his native town came to
Rome in two confraternities of the Crucifix and the Sacrament, making
a solemn entry into the city, singing the music of their great
townsman, who conducted at their head. The long and active life of
this great master came to an end January 22, 1594. Among his greater
works are ninety-three masses, a very large number of motettes,
forty-five hymns for the whole year, sixty-eight offertories, and a
large number of litanies, magnificats and madrigals.

It is not unlikely that reform in Catholic Church music had been very
largely influenced by the Protestant music of Germany. Martin Luther
(1483-1546) in arranging music for the Protestant Church, invented the
chorale and added to the best melodies from the Plain Song some
wonderfully fine ones of his own, such as "_Eine Feste Burg_," and
caused many others to be written by the best composers of the
Netherlandish school. The chorale was the exact opposite of the
motette of the Netherlands. In the chorale all of the voices moved
together. The same music was invariably sung to the same words,
whereby an association was created, intensifying the effect of the
music and the words respectively.

As examples of Palestrina's music are not common I have thought best
to allow space for the following from his music for Holy Week. The
pieces will produce a much better effect if sung by good voices than
when played upon an instrument. They are written for the voice.

[Music illustration: "TENEBRAE FACTAE SUNT," BY GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA
PALESTRINA.

Te-ne-brae fac-tae sunt, dum cru-ci-fi-xis-sent Je-sum Ju-dae-i.
Et cir-ca ho-ram no-nam ex--cla-ma-vit Je-sus vo-ce mag-na:
De-us me-us, ut-quid me de-re-li-qui-sti.
Ex-cla-mans Je-sus vo-ce mag-na a-it:
in ma-nus tu-as, Do-mi-ne, com-men-do spi-ri-tum me-um.
Et in-cli-na-to ca-pi-te e-mi-sit spi-ri-tum.]

CHAPTER XV.

THE CHANGES IN MUSICAL NOTATION.

The entire movement of musical thought since three or four tones began
to be put together into scales, melodies and unities of various kinds,
has been in the direction of classification. This is shown very
conclusively in the history of musical notation, which, at the end of
the period just now under consideration, had reached a form nearly the
same as we now have it. The early notation regarded tones as
individual, and wholly without classification of any kind. The first
musical notation of which we have any authentic knowledge was that of
the Greeks already noted in chapter III. Their scale consisted of two
octaves and one note, their so-called "greater perfect system," and
the tones were named by the first fifteen letters of the Greek
alphabet. This, however, was only a beginning of their system, for the
variety of pitches required in their enharmonic and chromatic scales,
and in the various transposition scales was so great that they
required sixty-seven characters for representing them. These
characters were written above the words to which they applied, and
they had additional marks for duration, especially in the later
periods of Greek music. Besides this they had an entirely different
set of characters for the same tones played upon the cithara, so that
a word to be sung without accompaniment had one mark above it for the
pitch of the note, while if accompanied even by the same tone upon the
instrument, a second character was written for the instrumental part.
The system was wholly without classification, except that the letters
were applied from the lowest notes upward, the same as we now have
them. There was nothing to assist the eye in forming an idea of the
movement of the melody, and as the forms of the letters were very
similar in some cases there is no doubt that mistakes of copyists were
numerous. This, however, is a matter of little concern to us, since no
authentic melodies of the classical period have come down to us. The
example of Greek characters given on p. 69, in connection with the Ode
of Pindar, sufficiently illustrates the nature of this notation,
although the interposition of the staff between the musical notes and
the words deprives the illustration of a part of its value.

The Romans had also a notation consisting of letters written above the
words to which they applied; they made use of the first fifteen
letters of the alphabet in the same manner as the Greeks, but we do
not know whether they employed the same characters for the instruments
and the voices, or had different ones. The only example we possess of
the Roman notation from classical times, or in close tradition from
classical times, is that in "Boethius' Consolations of Philosophy."
From the fact of this being the only place where the Roman notation is
illustrated, certain writers have concluded that Boethius invented
it--a supposition which is utterly improbable. Boethius mentions the
Roman notation, and employs it, as also does Hucbald in certain of his
examples, but neither one of them explains it or gives any account of
its origin. We have simply to take it for granted that the Romans
transferred the letter notation of approximate pitch to their own
characters instead of using Greek letters. The following example from
Guido's book illustrates the appearance of the Roman notation as he
uses it:

[Music illustration: Fig. 31.

LETTER NOTATION OF GUIDO OF AREZZO, WITH DECIPHERING.

Qui tol-lis pec-ca-ta.]

The most curious notation of which we have a record was that of the
neumae, or neumes, which were employed by the ecclesiastical writers
mostly from about the sixth century to the twelfth. This writing, as
will be seen from the examples hereafter given, very much resembled
the curves and hooks of the modern shorthand. The learned Fetis thinks
that the characters were derived from the Coptic notation, and these
again from the hieratic notation of the ancient Egyptians. The neumes
signified mostly intonations, upward or downward slides of the voice,
and not absolute pitch.

[Illustration: Fig. 32.

NEUME NOTATION OF THE TENTH CENTURY.]

There are no clefs or other indications of the key, and it is little
better than sheer guesswork to attempt to decipher one of them, for
want of some one single base mark to reckon from. Accordingly, the
various commentators have rendered the old pieces in a variety of
ways. It is probable that the imperfections of this notation were
helped out, when it was in current use, by tradition, which
appropriated certain keys to each of the principal hymns of the
Church; this being understood, the singer found himself able to make
something intelligible out of a notation which, without the help of
traditions, would have been meaningless. From about the eleventh
century the supposed meanings of the various signs of the neumes are
easily to be ascertained, because tables are given by a number of
writers of that period; but the earlier examples are practically
undecipherable. This notation came into use partly through
ecclesiastical influence, and partly owing to its being easy to write,
while at the same time it occupied little space upon the page. The
earlier examples, as already said, were without clefs or any means of
ascertaining the key note. After a while we find them with one line
representing do or fa, and the signs arranged above, below, or upon
the line, at intervals approximately representing the pitch intended.
Still later we find a colored line for fa, a thumb nail line traced on
the parchment, but not colored, for re, and a different one for la.

[Music illustration: Fig. 33.

NEUME NOTATION OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY, DECIPHERED BY MARTINI IN
"GREGORIAN" NOTATION.

Po-pu-le me-us quid fe-ci aut]

Still later four lines were used. There were many varieties of forms
of the neumes employed by the different copyists and by different
nationalities, the heaviest marks of this kind being those of the
Lombard-Gothic represented in Fig. 35. These marks were afterward
written upon a four-line staff, and the note heads were derived from
them.

[Illustration: Fig. 34.

NEUME NOTATION OF GUIDO OF AREZZO.]

There were no marks whatever for duration or measure in the neumes
notation, and its persistence through so long a time signifies very
plainly that it was not in the line of the musical life of the world,
but was a special hieratic notation made to answer for ecclesiastical
purposes by the help of carefully transmitted traditions.

[Music illustration: Fig. 35.

DECIPHERED NEUME NOTATION OF THE LATEST PERIOD.

Co-ro-nat re-gem om-ni-um]

One of the oldest forms of this notation is that of the lament for the
death of Charlemagne, an extract from which is here presented,
together with its translation as given by Naumann.

Incidentally this illustration gives a fair specimen of mediaeval
melody of the earlier period. It dates from the tenth century.

[Music illustration: "LAMENT FOR CHARLEMAGNE."

A so-lis or-tu us-que ad oc-ci-du-a
Lit-to-ra ma-ris planctus pulsat pec-to-ra.
Ul-tra ma-ri-na ag-mi-na tris-ti-ti-a
Te-ti-git in-gens cum er-ro-re ni-mi-o.
Heu! me do-lens, plan-go!
Fran-ci, Ro-ma-ni at-que cunc-ti cre-du-li,
Luc-tu pun-gun-tur et mag-na mo-les-ti-a,
in-fan-tes, se-nes, glo-ri-o-si prin-ci-pes,
Nam clangit or-bis de-tri-men-tum Ka-ro-li.
Heu! mi-hi mi-se-ro!]

The earliest suggestion of the staff that we have is that in the work
of Hucbald already mentioned, in which he proposed to print the words
in the spaces of the staff of eleven lines, placing each syllable
according to its pitch (p. 141). The staff, in connection with neumes,
as given above in Fig. 34, probably came into use about the same time
as that when Hucbald's book was written, but it was not until the days
of Guido of Arezzo that the staff was employed in anything like its
modern form, nor is it certain that Guido had anything to do with
introducing it. In one of the manuscripts of his book letters are
written upon the lines and spaces, and in another the neumes are
given. The note head was not invented until some little time after his
death, probably about fifty years.

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