Frottola and Chordal Texture: Bass Frameworks and the Parisian Chanson

Theoretical Advances: the Frottola and Chordal Texture

As noted, the acceptance and incorporation use of thirds and sixths as consonant intervals beginning in the early fifteenth century by Dunstable, Dufay, Binchois, and Ockegham, set the stage for the emergence of the chord. By the late fifteenth century, early evidence of the slow process of recognition of chord identity and function began to appear in Italian songs. The frottola, a type of popular song that evolved from canti carnascialeschi, or Italian carnival songs, featured a new texture. Here the music consisted of a single strong melody over block chords. The music was also sung in simple repeated stanza, or strophic, form. Petrucci, the earliest music printer, included frottole in his first collection dating from 1501, including pieces by Marco Cara (c1470-c1525). Between 1504 and 1514, Petrucci printed no fewer than eleven books devoted exclusively to frottole. The lowly frottola, or, more importantly, its chordal texture had an impact on Western music that is felt today. An example follows.

Frottola

Bass Frameworks and Dance Music

The next step of evolution is found in manuscripts from the same period. One important manuscript, a late fifteenth-century Spanish song collection called the Cancionero de Palacio, uses specific, standardized chord progressions to support important sections of the different songs in which they appear, such as refrains. The progressions elicited positive but intuitive responses in the listener that other contemporary progressions did not. Early sixteenth-century lutenist-composers, working extensively with dance music, adopted the most successful of the chord progressions, invented new ones, and incorporated them all into their music.

Both the lute and its dance music played a critical role in chord evolution. The technical demands and musical range of the lute make chords easier to play than polyphonic textures. Dance required clear phrases, regular metric structure, and the capability to signal pauses, section ends, and the like in order to dovetail in a practical way with dance choreography. Polyphonic music was not well suited to the lute or to dance, but short, strophic compositions with frottola texture and form fit easily. Because dance music of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and early eighteenth century is essentially chordal in texture, it may be regarded as an important instrumental descendant of the frottola.

These sixteenth-century chord progressions are known today as bass frameworks. As formal entites, they were used as the superstructures of musical compositions in the same way the supporting chords of modern Blues do not vary from one song to the next. Although each blues song features a different text and melody, the chord progressions remain unchanged. Another example is found in the "Doo Wop" style of the 1950s and early 1960s. Much of this early rock music was composed over a single chord progression, C-A minor-F-G, or its equivalent in other keys.

Bass frameworks were important harmonic test beds. Here the relationships and behavior patterns among chords of varying degrees of stability instability were settled. At one end of the spectrum, the tonic chord, the chord built on the first degree of the scale, represented stability and repose. It served as the starting point of the music and as the final target of resolution and closure. At the other end of the spectrum, the dominant chord, the chord built upon the fifth degree of the scale, contained the least stable notes of the scale and hence was itself the least stable chord in the key. Its appearance in the music created the tension and crucial necessary to propel the music forward, but also demanded resolution to the tonic chord. The remaining chords stood somewhere along the continuum and each developed a specific function in building pathways between the tonic and dominant chords.

Bass frameworks reflected melodic changes introduced by singers and so played a crucial role in determining the two key types, and hence they came in two family types. The folia and its derivatives, the folia bastarda, the passamezzo antico, and the romanesca represented the minor-key family. The passamezzo moderno and its close relative, the ruggiero, represented the major-key family. The evolution of harmonic function and key paralleled and was, in part, driven by developments in the treatment of melody by singers using the church modes. An example of the passamezzo antico, "Passo e mezzo," follows. It was copied into an Italian keyboard manuscript (Venice, Biblioteca Marciana MS Cl. IV No.1227, collazione 11699) around 1520. Observe that the melody, which moves in smaller values than the lower parts and is supported by sustained or block chords. The piece not only illustrates the bass framework but, more importantly, the chordal, frottola texture described above. The chord pattern is given below the score.


Passa e mezzo

Impact of the Frottola Upon the Chanson: The Parisian Chanson

By the late 1520s, the impact of chordal texture began to be felt in the chansons composed by French musicians. The new type of chanson, the Parisian chanson, displayed none of the imitative characteristics of the Franco-Flemish chanson favored by northern composers. The new chanson reflected court life and manifested the chivalric spirit. The Parisian chanson began to appear in print around 1529 in the music collections of Pierre Attaingnant. Attaingnant was the most important music publisher in France in the first half of the sixteenth century. In fact, the effectiveness of his multiple-impression printing method, a revolutionary step forward, placed him in the forefront of the international marketplace. The widespread currency of his music books in Europe is evident in the significant numbers of “canzone francese,” French chansons, are found in Italian manuscripts and prints.

Two composers emerged as leaders in the new chanson type. Claudin de Sermisy (c1490-1562) composed masses and motets but also participated in the development of the new chanson. He served as singer or music director under three consecutive French kings. Like many other composers of the courtly, love-oriented, Parisian chanson, he was affiliated with Sainte Chapelle, a small but exquisite cathedral a few blocks northwest of Notre Dame in Paris. He was appointed canon at Sainte Chapelle in 1533.

St. Chapelle, interior of entrance



St. Chapelle, interior of chapel

Sermisy’s chansons are treble-dominated and feature chordal texture. Occasional snatches of secondary melodies occur at line ends. The poetry he set was courtly, addressing itself to matters of love, and his melodic treatment of the texts are charming, delicate, and strophic. The term “strophic” indicates that the musical sections are repeated with new words. One of his most famous Parisian chansons, “Tant que vivray,” is given in video as an example. The music form is described as A A B B. The first stanza of text follows. The translation and musical arrangement come from my book. Both appear in my book. The text to "Tant que vivray," and that of "Martin Drove His Pig To Market," appears here with permission of Mel Bay Publications.

As long as I live and am able,

I will serve love, God willing,

In deed, word, and song.

For many days I languished,

But later mourning turned to rejoicing,

For I have the love of a gentle beauty.

Our alliance,

She’s my betrothed,

Her heart is mine,

My heart is hers,

Shunning sadness,

Embracing life,

When one loves, he has so much joy!

A second important composer of Parisian chansons was Clement Janequin (c1485-c1558). Janequin was a minor cleric who struggled financially his entire life. The reputation of his chansons during their heyday was not built, as of those by Sermisy, upon their charm and sophistication, but instead upon their narrative, descriptive, and programmatic character. He favored rustic settings and characters, and spun out their little scenes with wit and often with ribald humor. Imitations of non-musical sounds such as battle cries, street-vendor pitches, and birdsong were often included. Since his texts were narrative, the supporting music tended to be through-composed (no repeated sections). The text of “Martin Drove His Pig” follows:

Martin drove his pig to market,

With Alex, who, in the big field,

Entreated Martin to snatch a peach by standing “piggy-back.”

And Martin asked him, “and who shall hold our dainty pig?”

“Who?!,” says Alex, “here is a good solution!”

Then he tied the pig to his leg,

And Martin climbed clumsily upon his shoulders

The pig became frightened and then Alex cried out

“Hold tight, Martin, our pig is dragging me away!”

Parisian chansons could be performed by several singers, by solo singer with lute accompaniment, or as a piece for solo lute. The genre fell from favor after 1560.