Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Fifteenth-Century Music
- Series page
- The Cambridge History of Fifteenth-Century Music
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Music examples
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Historiography
- Part II Improvisation and composition
- Part III Humanism
- Part IV Music and other arts
- Part V Music in churches, courts, and cities
- Part VI Religious devotion and liturgy
- Part VII Theory and practice
- Part VIII Sources
- Part IX Genres
- 35 The polyphonic mass in the fifteenth century
- 36 The fifteenth-century motet
- 37 Fifteenth-century song
- 38 Instrumental music in the fifteenth century
- 39 Sacred song in the fifteenth century: cantio, carol, lauda, Kirchenlied
- 40 Plainsong in the age of polyphony
- Part X Reception
- Index
37 - Fifteenth-century song
from Part IX - Genres
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2015
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Fifteenth-Century Music
- Series page
- The Cambridge History of Fifteenth-Century Music
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Music examples
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Historiography
- Part II Improvisation and composition
- Part III Humanism
- Part IV Music and other arts
- Part V Music in churches, courts, and cities
- Part VI Religious devotion and liturgy
- Part VII Theory and practice
- Part VIII Sources
- Part IX Genres
- 35 The polyphonic mass in the fifteenth century
- 36 The fifteenth-century motet
- 37 Fifteenth-century song
- 38 Instrumental music in the fifteenth century
- 39 Sacred song in the fifteenth century: cantio, carol, lauda, Kirchenlied
- 40 Plainsong in the age of polyphony
- Part X Reception
- Index
Summary
The long fifteenth century was a decisive period for song as an artistic form: songs began to attain equal footing with and distinguish themselves from masses and motets. While masses and motets stand as discrete artistic products whose origins can often be traced to liturgical song, composed songs are open to the limitless field of universal practice. As important and decisive as polyphony was in fifteenth-century song, its textural fabric is also characterized by profound instability. By the time of Guillaume de Machaut, the three-voice chanson had become a normative model, even if the number of voices could be augmented by a triplum above or beneath the cantus. Deschamps is one of the first theorists of poetry to comprehensively treat the so-called formes fixes, which underpinned chansons from Machaut until around 1500, with parallels in other Romance song traditions. The immense growth in chanson production in the fifteenth century led to greater diversity and differentiation of subjects.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Fifteenth-Century Music , pp. 719 - 744Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015