Musical Settings of the Mass Ordinary

Original part from Machaut's
Messe de Nostre Dame.

The Mass is the Christian Eucharistic service principally associated with the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and Lutheranism. The Ordinary of the Mass, those sections that have the same text at every enactment of the service (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei), have been set to music for hundreds of years, and it is commonly held that settings of the Mass Ordinary are central to the history of Western music.

Part of the reason for the historical significance of the Mass Ordinary is its long standing existence as a musical form. The oldest extant mass setting with verifiable authorship is the Messe de Nostre Dame composed by Guillaume de Machaut in the 14th century. Since then the Mass Ordinary has been set by composers of every era, making it possible to trace musical developments in counterpoint, harmony, motivic unity, word painting and other elements of composition.

Settings of the Mass Ordinary are also historically significant because of the possibilities they presented to composers. The Mass Ordinary plays a central role in the church service and it is of considerable length, factors making it appropriate for large scale musical settings. In addition, the fixed yet contrasting nature of its texts invite expressiveness and variation in interpretation. When composers sat down to set the Mass Ordinary, they certainly brought their A-game.

Recordings of Masses at the Glendale Public Library

Please send comments, corrections, and suggestions to mschmidt@glendaleaz.com

Jazz Appreciation Month



Louis Armstrong was an influential
trumpet player and vocalist
from New Orleans.

Initiated in 2001 by the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History, Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) is held each April to draw greater public attention to the extraordinary history of jazz, and to its importance as an American cultural heritage. The celebration is intended to stimulate the current jazz scene and encourage people of all ages to participate in jazz. This year's theme is The Spirit and Rhythms of Jazz.

Jazz began in the southern United States in the early 20th century as swinging blues-based dance music, with improvisation soon becoming its unmistakable hallmark. Its ever changing nature makes jazz difficult to define, but the music places emphasis on personal interpretation, group interaction, and spontaneity. Tunes are seldom played the same way twice, and there is often license to push the constraints of traditional chord progressions, scale patterns, and rhythmic organization. Always restless, unpredictable, and searching, jazz has evolved into numerous sub-genres including bebop, cool jazz, smooth jazz, free jazz, and many others.


Jazz icon, and jazz vocalist
extraordinaire Ella Fitzgerlad

The Glendale Public Library houses a deep jazz collection of high quality, the result of years of careful collection development. Patrons are encouraged to explore the collection to make discoveries of their own. To get things started follow the link below to view recordings by jazz legends, and books and videos about this truly American musical idiom.

Jazz materials at the Glendale Public Library

Please send comments, corrections, and suggestions to mschmidt@glendaleaz.com

Music of the Renaissance

  

Josquin de Prez, Franco-Flemish
composer of the Renaissance



The Renaissance refers to an era of intense philosophical and societal change from roughly 1300-1600. During the Renaissance there was the sense that civilization was emerging from a time of ignorance, and that a cultural rebirth could be achieved by adopting the attitudes and ideas of ancient antiquity.



Giovani Pierluigi de Palestrina,
Italian Renaissance composer



This perspective was reflected in the arts as a renewed sense of discovery, innovation at an accelerated rate, and emphasis on freedom of expression. Musicians of this era (the Renaissance in music is usually defined as a shorter period, from 1400-1600) made use of a more florid melodic style, composed polyphony with more freedom, and made attempts to be more expressive of the texts they were setting than their predecessors.

 



Due to the development of printing, music--both secular and sacred--was circulated at rates many times that of previous eras, and composing music as a commercial enterprise began. A new class of amature musicians, members of the newly emerging bourgeois, took advantage of this plethora of printed material, and music making became a much more common form of recreation.  



Follow the link blow to view renaissance music materials

held at your Glendale Public Library.

Music of the Renaissance

Please send comments, questions, and corrections to mschmidt@glendaleaz.com.