Study Questions for Weiss-Taruskin
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8
Ancient views of music: Weiss-Taruskin 3, 4, and 5
- What effects does Plato attribute to music? What does he value in
relation to music, and what does he condemn?
- What do you think of Plato's rejection of the "sovereignty of the
audience"?
- What effects does Aristotle attribute to music? How does he wish
music to be used?
- How would you answer Aristotle's condemnation of professional
musicians? Do you agree that everyone should be trained in music, but no
one should be a professional?
- What connections does Quintilian see between music and rhetoric?
- What modern parallels can you think of to the fictitious legal case
Quintilian cites, in which a musician is accused of causing a suicide by
playing a certain kind of tune?
- When did Pythagoras live? Why was he important? What do numbers
have to do with music, in the Pythagorean view?
- According to Boethius, what are the three types of music? What are
the three kinds of people who relate to music, and which of these is the
true musician? Do you agree with his views? How do his views echo those
of Plato or Aristotle?
- What is the trivium? What is the quadrivium?
Where does music fit, and why?
- How does the excerpt from Scholia enchiriadis in WT 11,
written in the ninth or tenth century A.D., show the continuing influence
of ancient Greek thinking about music? How does it show the influence of
Christian concepts?
- Compare the Jewish religious practices described in WT 6 and the
early Christian worship described in WT 7. How is music used in each?
- What elements of early Christian worship (WT 7) resemble modern
church services you have attended? Of these, which have Jewish origins?
- How is the lack of notation reflected in St. Augustine's concept of time?
- How did the lack of notation hinder Charlemagne's efforts to
standardize the chant throughout his domain?
- How did Odo of Cluny teach students how to learn chant quickly? How
does his definition of music differ from that of Boethius?
- What technique did Guido d'Arezzo devise to help singers learn
chant? What modern practices stem from his efforts?
Sequence and liturgical drama: Weiss-Taruskin 13
- According to Notker Balbulus, why did he develop the sequence?
- In what way is the liturgical drama described here liturgical? How
is it like a drama? How did it add to the Mass? Compare this Easter
play to the Christmas play in NAWM 7.
- Who was Raimbaut de Vaqueiras? When and where did he live? What was
remarkable about him?
- How did Raimbaut's relationship to lady Beatrice influence the text
of "Kalenda maya"? What does Beatrice mean by offering to retain
Raimbaut as "her knight"? What kind of love are they talking about, and
how does it reflect the ideals of the time?
Early polyphony: Weiss-Taruskin 16
- What evidence do Weiss and Taruskin present that polyphony was sung
before it was first written down?
- According to "Anonymous IV," who are Leoninus and Perotinus (also
known as Léonin and Pérotin) and what is important about
them?
- How do John of Salisbury's views compare with those of Plato,
Aristotle, and Boethius? Do you agree with John that polyphony obscures
the judgment of music?
Ars Nova: Weiss-Taruskin 18
- According to Jean de Muris's Ars novae musicae, why was
a three-fold division of time considered "perfect"?
- According to Jacobus of Liège's Speculum musicae, what is
imperfect about the Ars Nova? What is the difference in technique that
he is describing? Why is the old art (Ars Antiqua) to be preferred to
the new art (Ars Nova)?
- To what does Pope John XXII object in his papal bull of 1323?
- What can we infer from Machaut's letter to Peronnelle
d'Armentières about poetry and song of the Ars Nova? What do we
learn about performance practice?
- What is significant about Machaut's supervising the collection and
copying of his own works? What does it reflect about the changing role
of the composer as opposed to the prevailing anonymity of composers in
preceding generations?
- According to Villani, what is remarkable about Francesco Landini?
What instruments did he play? What type of music did he invent?
- Why is it significant that a "biography" of Landini was written
during his lifetime?
English Influences: Weiss-Taruskin 21
- How does the Burgundian chronicler, Martin le Franc, describe the
impact of English music on the Continent? Which Continental composers
picked up on the new style?
- According to Johannes Tinctoris, who should be credited with the
improvement of music, and which composers followed in this vein? Which
aspect of the new style does he regard as most innovative and admirable?
Music in Renaissance society: Weiss-Taruskin 25, 34, and 41
- What would be Aristotle's reaction to the view of music represented
in Castiglione's Book of the Courtier (WT 25)? What would
be Plato's reaction? In what ways are Boethius' views on music
represented? According to the Castiglione, what is the best music for a
courtier?
- Describe the life of a Renaissance church musician as it is reflected
in the excerpts in WT 34. What composers were affiliated with the choirs
of the Sistine Chapel and the Milan cathedral? What was the role of the
chapel master in Milan, in general and in respect to composing music?
- Summarize the demands Zarlino places on vocal performers. What are
these guidelines intended to promote and preserve? In what ways are they
still relevant?
- What can you deduce from the selections in WT 41 about how music was
used in the 16th century and about its role in society?
- How was music used in the dedication ceremony of the Florence
Cathedral in 1436? How does the effect the writer describes compare to
the ancient idea of ethos?
- How was music used in the festivities at the court of Burgundy? How
do the circumstances of the musical performances differ from modern
concerts? From this, what can you conclude about the place of musicians
in the court?
Josquin: Weiss-Taruskin 26
- What is Glareanus's overall evaluation of Josquin? What is his
criticism of Josquin?
- How does Gian compare Josquin and Isaac? Whom does he prefer, and why?
- What did Josquin emphasize as a teacher, according to Adrian Coclico?
- What was Martin Luther's evaluation of Josquin?
- What suggestions does Zarlino make for setting a text in the passage
in WT 38? How do NAWM 37, 38, 39, 40, and 41 reflect his advice?
- What can you deduce from Weiss-Taruskin 39 about contemporary
reactions to Gesualdo's music?
The Reformation: Weiss-Taruskin 27, 28, and 29
- Where does music rank in Luther's world view? Why did he seek to
include the singing of hymns in church services?
- Why does Johann Walther recommend using both music in Latin and music
in German in church?
- What did Luther mean when he said he could not see why the devil
should have all the best tunes? What practice was he referring to?
- What is the approach to music of Calvin and Zwingli? How does their
approach differ from that of the Lutheran church? What texts does Calvin
allow to be set to music, and why only those?
- What types of restrictions were placed on music during the
Reformation in England?
The Counter-Reformation: Weiss-Taruskin 33, 36, and 37
- What do the letters from Lasso and Palestrina in Weiss-Taruskin 33
reveal about their characters and situations?
- What recommendations did the Council of Trent make in respect to
music? How did composers respond?
- According to legend, what was Palestrina's connection with the
Council of Trent?
The intellectual underpinnings of opera: Weiss-Taruskin 1, 43,
44, 46, 47
- What happens in the legend of Orpheus? What aspects of the legend do
you think made it appealing to the early composers of operas?
- What aspects of ancient Greek music did Vicentino, Baïf, and
Vincenzo Galilei seek to revive, and why? How did each one seek to
accomplish his goals? What were the results of each one's efforts?
- Describe Caccini's views about music and the music he says he has
written. How do they reflect the theories of the Florentine Camerata?
- According to Marco da Gagliano, how did opera originate, what were
the creators of opera trying to do, and what did they achieve?
- How did all the ideas discussed in these readings contribute to the
creation of opera?
Monteverdi and the Second Practice: Weiss-Taruskin 45
- What aspects of Monteverdi's music did Artusi criticize? How did
Monteverdi define "First Practice" and "Second Practice"? How did
Monteverdi reply to Artusi's insistence that composition ought to follow
the rules laid out by the theorists?
- How did Monteverdi solve the problem of representing in music the
"agitated style" (stile concitato) of speech?
- How does Monteverdi's claim to "follow the principles taught by
Plato" echo the concern of Renaissance composers to define a musical
aesthetic? What echoes of the ancient relationship between music and
rhetoric do we recognize in these readings?
- Summarize Schütz's career, based on his own account in WT 49.
- What is the "Doctrine of Musical Figures"? How does Christoph
Bernhard compare music to rhetoric? How does his statement that "one
should represent speech in the most natural possible way" relate to the
ideals of the "Second Practice"? What examples of representing
speech
does Bernhard provide? What recommendations does he give to performers?
How do Schütz's "O quam tu pulchra es" (Supplementary
Recordings 4)
and "Saul, was verfolgst du mich" (NAWM 65) illustrate
Bernhard's discussion?
- How do Johann Mattheson's characterizations of dance types reflect
René Descartes's explanations of the passions of the soul?
According to Mattheson, what is the "true purpose" of music?
- What does the description of the King's Grand Ball in WT 53 suggest
about the uses of music and dance in the French court in the 17th century?
Eighteenth-Century Opera: Weiss-Taruskin 61, 62, and 63
- What does Charles Burney's account of castrati and of Farinelli's
life tell us about the social position of the castrati in the 18th century?
- Who were Zeno and Metastasio? What operatic conventions did they
follow? Why did Goldoni object to these conventions?
- What does the letter from Samuel Sharp reveal about the social
context of opera performance in the 18th century?
Rameau: Weiss-Taruskin 59
- What were Rameau's contributions to the development of a theory of
functional harmony? What new ideas are presented in the preface to his
Traité de l'harmonie (WT 59)?
Vivaldi: Weiss-Taruskin 60 and 65
- What types of instruments did Burney find at the Pio Ospedale della
Pietà? According to his account, when were the hospitals first
established and how did their musical curriculum develop?
- What subtle criticisms does J. F. A. von Uffenbach make of Vivaldi's
playing? What idiomatic techniques does he reveal in his general
descriptions of Vivaldi's music? How do his comments reflect the idea of
the Baroque?
- What do C. P. E. Bach's reminiscences of his father reveal about the
elder Bach's character, interests, and abilities?
- How strong was J. S. Bach's admiration for Buxtehude's music, and to
what lengths did he go to hear Buxtehude play?
- Given Bach's assimilation of German, French, and Italian styles, what
does C. P. E. Bach's characterization of his melodies as "resembling
those of no other composer" suggest?
J. S. Bach in Leipzig: Weiss-Taruskin 70
- What were the requirements made by the Leipzig Town Council in the
contract Bach signed? What do they suggest about the relationship of
composer and patron in this time? What was the Council's possible
motivation behind requirement no. 7?
- From the comments of Addison and Steele in Weiss-Taruskin 68, can you
tell how Handel's Rinaldo was staged? Why do the two
critics make fun of it? What do they criticize in the technical aspects
of the staging?
- What aspects of Handel's oratorios risked offending a conservative
audience, and how did Handel attempt to avoid this? From the anonymous
letter to the London Daily Post in Weiss-Taruskin 69, can
you tell why Handel's oratorios were so popular? What were the
difficulties that threatened the success of his performances?
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This webpage was designed by J. Peter Burkholder and maintained by Rika Asai.
Copyright © 1997 by J. Peter Burkholder