What is cantus firmus technique?

One melody, usually a chant, served as a foundation for a second melody to move in a quicker, more florid manner above it. This chant was called the cantus firmus which is Latin for fixed song. The cantus firmus is any preexisting melody that is used as the foundation for a polyphonic composition.

How do I know if I have cantus firmus?

The cantus firmus is traditionally written in alto clef, beginning and ending on the tonic of the key. The note durations are of equal value, with the whole note being the traditional value. The range of the cantus firmus melody is usually no more than an octave.

Is cantus firmus a Gregorian chant?

History. The earliest polyphonic compositions almost always involved a cantus firmus, typically a Gregorian chant, although the term itself was not used until the 14th century.

What is a cantus line?

In music, a cantus firmus (“fixed melody”) is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.

How do you make cantus firmus?

The following characteristics are typical of all well formed cantus firmi:

length of about 8–16 notes.
arhythmic (all whole notes; no long or short notes)
begin and end on do.
approach final tonic by step (usually re–do, sometimes ti–do)
all note-to-note progressions are melodic consonances.

What is cantus firmus quizlet?

Cantus Firmus. an existing melody used as the basis for a polyphonic composition often taken from a gregorian chant. Fixed Melody. Humanism. Renaissance movement based on the revival of ancient Greek and Roman culture and to study this pertaining to human knowlege and experience through independent thought.

Which type of mass setting is a cantus firmus mass?

cyclic mass
In Renaissance music, the cyclic mass was a setting of the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Mass, in which each of the movements – Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei – shared a common musical theme, commonly a cantus firmus, thus making it a unified whole.

What is a monophonic melody?

Monophonic means there is only one line of music – one instrument or singer. There is no accompaniment or secondary melody. The term monophonic can be used for single lines – this could be solo, unison or octave doubling. Gregorian chant is monophonic – all the monks sing the same melody together.

What genre is cantus firmus?

polyphonic musical
Cantus firmus, (Latin: “fixed song”, ) plural Cantus Firmi, preexistent melody, such as a plainchant excerpt, underlying a polyphonic musical composition (one consisting of several independent voices or parts).

What is the meaning of cantus?

1 : cantus firmus. 2 : the principal melody or voice.

What does cantus mean in music?

Cantus firmus, (Latin: “fixed song”, ) plural Cantus Firmi, preexistent melody, such as a plainchant excerpt, underlying a polyphonic musical composition (one consisting of several independent voices or parts).

What kind of voice does the cantus firmus have?

History. Later, the cantus firmus appeared in the tenor voice (from the Latin verb ‘tenere’, to hold), singing notes of longer duration, around which more florid lines, instrumental and/or vocal, were composed or improvised.

Who was the cantus firmus in the 12th century?

Cantus firmus. The 11th- and 12th-century organum added a simple second melody ( duplum) to an existing plainchant melody (the vox principalis, or principal voice), which by the end of the 12th century was stretched so as to accommodate a melody. The 13th-century polyphonic motet, for its part, featured the plainchant cantus firmus in the tenor.

When did cantus firmus use the paraphrase method?

Elaborations came later, in what was to be known as the paraphrase technique; this compositional method became important in composition of masses by the late 15th century. (See paraphrase mass .)

What kind of cantus firmi does Bach use?

German composers in the Baroque period in Germany, notably Bach, used chorale melodies as cantus firmi. In the opening movement of Bach’s St Matthew Passion, the chorale “O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig” appears in long notes, sung by a separate choir of boys “in ripieno.” Many of his chorale preludes include a chorale tune in the pedal part.