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Music and Transfiguration

Destination: The Renaissance

I was finally able to pull myself away from Bach's organ works and get back to my intended destination: Late Renaissance music. I located a few scores that I'll start with but have yet to really delve into them. Other than what I experienced in my music history courses in college, I've never spent much time studying Renaissance music. So, the thought of actually getting into this wonderful period of music intrigues me. Beethoven once said that there was a "unique devotion" in the old Church modes and some of his very late works exhibit a modal influence, for example, the middle movement of the op. 132 quartet. In addition, some theorists of the 19th century lamented the dichotomous nature of tonality and expressed a fondness for the variety the modes gave in dividing up the octave. In other words, while tonality only gives two ways to divide the octave, being the major and minor scales, the modes gave six different ways, i.e., the six Church modes. While I agree with Beethoven that there is a peculiar expression in modal music, I'm not sure where I stand on the claims of these theorists. Perhaps my study will help to come to a conclusion. Regardless, I'm looking forward to this study and hope to expand my knowledge of music in general.

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Well, I cannot divulge too much, but I think you'll be able to enjoy some Renaissance music on this site soon!

Submitted by legato on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 16:28. Report abuse