Music M401
History and Literature of Music I:
Antiquity to 1750

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

Fall 2007

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Review Guide For Second Examination

The examination will again be held in Recital Hall. The ground rules and format will be the same as for the first examination.

Before you begin to study, review once again the course objectives, which explain the philosophy behind the course and the examination.

STRATEGIC TIP: Make a Time Line! Since the first examination, we have focused on the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries (and we will continue exploring the sixteenth century after this examination). Making a time line will help you to review the dates of compositions, composers, and important events and to see the chronological relationship of different types of music and schools of composition.

Also look over the review guide for the first examination, which describes the sorts of questions you are likely to encounter: (1) known listening identification; (2) known or unknown score or listening identification with short answer questions; (3) short answer questions on the readings (HWM, NAWM, and WT) and lectures; (4) terms and names; and (5) an essay.

The known listening or score identification questions will focus only on the pieces we have covered since the first examination. The unknown listening or score identification questions may draw on the repertoire of the entire semester so far.

The short answer questions and terms and names will focus only on the readings and lectures since the first examination. The essays will emphasize material since the first examination, but may ask you to draw comparisons to earlier music.

New Types of Questions

In addition to the types of questions described in the review guide for the first examination, you may encounter these types of questions on this or later examinations:

There may be a comprehensive score question in which you will compare works from different periods. You will be shown excerpts from two or three compositions whose genres, composers, and dates are identified. These works may or may not be drawn from the course listening list. You will then be asked to describe the significant similarities and differences in these works and to explain in what ways each reflects its time. For example, such a question might ask you to compare motets by Adam de la Halle, Philippe de Vitry, and Josquin des Prez, or French songs by Adam, Machaut, and Du Fay.

For pieces on the listening list that use borrowed musical material (such as the masses by Machaut, Du Fay, Ockeghem, Josquin, and Victoria), you may be asked to explain how borrowed musical material is used in this work.

For pieces on the listening list that have a text, you may be shown a page or two of the score and a translation of the text (if not already in English) and asked to describe the relationship between the music and the words in this passage.

Weiss-Taruskin Readings

Some short answer questions will draw upon the readings in Weiss-Taruskin. In reviewing Weiss-Taruskin, focus particularly on these readings: Jean de Muris and Jacobus of Liège in WT 18, the life of Landini in WT 19, Martin Le Franc and Tinctoris (WT 21), views of Josquin in WT 26, Luther (WT 27), the edict of the Council of Trent in WT 36 (on p. 114), and legends about Palestrina in WT 37. Be prepared to identify a short passage drawn from these readings by who wrote it (or who it is about) and about when it was written, and to discuss the issues addressed in the passage and the significance for music history.

Topics for Review

The following topics are designed as a guide for organizing your review of music during the period we have studied. Organizing what you know in terms of these large themes and categories should help you prepare for the listening, short answer, and essay portions of the examination. In addition, see the Review Questions at the end of each chapter of the Study and Listening Guide.

For any of these topics, ask yourself:

what pieces do I know that relate to this topic? what do I know about them? how do they illustrate these concepts?
what terms, concepts, names, and people do I know that relate to this topic?
how do these details fit together to make a larger picture?

1. Changes in the motet from the late thirteenth through the late sixteenth centuries.
2. The development of the polyphonic mass cycle from Machaut through the sixteenth century.
3. Polyphonic secular song in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
4. The ideal of Renaissance humanism as reflected in the music and culture of the time, including the other arts.
5. Music in England in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and the English contribution to the international style of the fifteenth century.
6. The synthesis of an international musical style in the generation of Dufay.
7. Changes in musical style from the first generation of Renaissance composers (the generation of Du Fay) through the generation of Palestrina.
8. The Protestant Reformation and its effect on the development of new sacred repertories.
9. The Counter-Reformation and its music.
10. The career and music of a major composer such as Machaut, Du Fay, Josquin, or Palestrina, or a comparison and contrast between the musical styles of a pair of major composers.

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Last updated: 15 October 2007
URL: http://www.music.indiana.edu/som/courses/m401/Exam2.html
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