Guillaume de Machaut, Quant en Moy [ca. 1350]
The fourteenth century witnessed increasingly sophisticated polyphonic—two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody—techniques and complex rhythmic structures in music. Music also began to secularize, paralleling the flowering of humanism in literary and artistic spheres—the Renaissance of Petrarch. This piece by Machaut, a master French poet and composer at Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral, reflects both of these trends. It is composed of two love poems sung in two voices simultaneously (polyphony), and employs an innovative technique called isorhythm.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeJiFXlvxqQ]
Claude Monteverdi, Zefiro torna e di soavi accenti [1632]
The madrigal is a hallmark of Renaissance music. It is a secular vocal music form that came into prominence following the rise of Italian vernacular poetry. The poetry of Petrarch naturally became the standard of madrigal verse.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85tCzdRt6UE]
Franz Liszt, Sonetto 54, 104 del Petrarca, Années de pèlerinage [1846]
Années de pèlerinage, or Years of Pilgrimage, is a set of three piano suites composed by Romantic composer Franz Liszt during his travels to Italy and Switzerland. These virtuosic pieces are indicative of Liszt’s Romantic sensibility. It is easy to see why he was attracted to the passionate lyricism of Petrarch’s Rime Sparse. Listen for their sentimental melodies and adventurous chromaticism.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSizE8lUqfs]