Renaissance humanism
Intellectual movement that centered on classical texts, rhetoric, and
moral philosophy, leading composers to prioritize clear declamation and expressive, text-serving
music.
Humanism & rhetoric (in music)
The idea that music should persuade and move listeners
like a speech, shaping phrase structure, texture, and cadence to match the grammar and affect of
the words.
International style
Mid-15th-century blend of English, French, and Italian traits (consonant
thirds/sixths, smooth counterpoint, borrowed-chant techniques) cultivated especially in
Burgundian and Franco-Flemish courts.
Imitative polyphony
Texture in which a melodic idea enters successively in different voices,
creating overlapping lines that share the same motive.
Homophony / homorhythm
Texture in which all or most voices move together in the same
rhythm, forming chordal blocks that spotlight the text.
Point of imitation
(Repeat Verbatim)
That section of a polyphonic composition based on a single imitative idea,
usually corresponding to a phrase of text.
Paired imitation
A specific pattern in which two voices enter with the same motive and are
answered by another pair, a hallmark of Josquin’s style.
Motivic development / motivicity
Dense working-out of tiny melodic cells throughout a
piece, generating unity and forward drive, especially in Josquin’s music.
Text expression (affect)
The shaping of texture, melody, rhythm, and harmony to project the
overall emotional world of a text, not just individual words.
Madrigalism / word-painting
Local musical illustration of specific words or images (e.g.,
ascending lines for “rise,” dissonance for “pain”), especially in madrigals and chansons.
Chromaticism / chromatic color
Use of semitone motion, altered pitches, and cross-relations
for expressive effect, often to highlight intense or painful words.
Cantus firmus
A pre-existing “fixed melody” (chant or song) used as the structural basis of a
polyphonic piece, often in long note values in one voice.
Cantus-firmus Mass
Mass cycle whose movements all share the same borrowed melody
(often in the tenor), unifying the work across Ordinary movements.
Paraphrase Mass
Mass in which a chant or song is paraphrased (ornamented and reworked)
across all voices, often providing the starting point for each movement.
Parody Mass
Mass based on a polyphonic model (motet or chanson), borrowing multiple
voices, motives, and textures rather than a single tune.
Soggetto cavato
A theme “carved out” of a name or phrase by matching vowels to solmization
syllables (e.g., Hercules Dux Ferrariae), then used as a motto in a Mass or motet.
Fauxbourdon
Early-15th-century technique of composing in parallel 6–3 sonorities, with two
notated upper voices and an implied inner voice, producing a smooth, triadic texture
Mensuration canon
A canon in which voices sing the same notated line but under different
mensuration signs (proportions), creating simultaneous canons at different speeds.
Motet (Renaissance)
Polyphonic sacred piece with a single Latin text, imitative entries,
consonant triads, and a primarily devotional function, often paralleling Mass-style techniques.
Lutheran chorale
Strophic congregational hymn in German, drawn from new melodies,
adapted chant, or existing devotional songs, often in bar form (AAB) and later elaborated
polyphonically.
Bar form (Stollen–Stollen–Abgesang)
A poetic-musical scheme AAB used in many chorales,
with two similar opening phrases (Stollen) followed by a contrasting closing phrase (Abgesang).
Anglican service
English-language setting of parts of the Divine Office and Communion for
the Church of England, often in a relatively syllabic, straightforward style.
Anglican anthem
Polyphonic choral piece in English, analogous to the motet, designed for
Anglican services and spanning simple homophonic to more elaborate imitative styles.
Council of Trent (music aspect)
Mid-16th-century Catholic council whose few but influential
musical declarations emphasized that sacred words must be clearly understood, leaving
implementation to local bishops.
