From the last part of the twentieth century until today choral conductors have become increasingly aware of stylistic considerations and performance practices. This chapter is intended to be a guide to an understanding of the styles of the various musical periods. As brief a study as this must be considered as an introduction to style; a door to a continued study that should never stop. One's understanding of style must be constantly reviewed as new information is gained through research.
General compositional characteristics are listed for each period. These represent general elements of style with the understanding that exceptions are found throughout each period. Crosscurrents exist in every style period. While the mainstream of composition may be going in one direction, composers may also be found working in another direction. The final test is a thorough examination of the music itself.
Performances of early music require each conductor to decide exactly how authentic he intends the performance to be. A totally authentic performance, of course, is not possible since original performance conditions are impossible to duplicate. Conductors must research performance practices as carefully as possible and respond artistically to the musical implications of the score. This may mean that instrumental substitutions must be made. It is the conductor's responsibility to make these substitutions as compatible as possible with the musical style of the work.
1. What musical style is the most difficult for amateur singers to perform?
2. Is it stylistically incorrect to perform Renaissance motets with a fifty or sixty voice choir? Can performances of Renaissance music by a large ensemble be musically rewarding?
3. How far can one go toward authenticity in the performance of early music?
4. How would performance practice differ between music of the Renaissance and the Baroque; the Baroque and Classic; the Classic and Romantic?
5. What are the difficulties encountered by a conductor who wishes to perform Baroque music as it was originally performed?
6. To what degree should a performance represent the composer's wishes? To what degree should it represent the conductor's wishes?
Apel, Willi. Harvard Dictionary of Music. 2d ed., rev. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1969.
Brown, Howard Mayer. Music in the Renaissance. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976,
Bukofzer, Manfred F. Music in the Baroque Era: From Monteverdi to Bach. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1947.
Cope, David. New Directions in Music. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Company, Publishers, 1971.
Crocker, Richard L. A History of Musical Style. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966.
Dart, Thurston. The Interpretation of Music, rev. ed. London: Hutchinson University Library, 1960.
Dolmetsch, Arnold. The Interpretation of the Music of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. London: Oxford University Press, 1946.
Donington, Robert. The Interpretation of Music. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1963.
Green, Elizabeth A. H. The Modern Conductor. 2d ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1969.
Grout, Donald Jay. A History of Western Music. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1960.
Hansen, Peter S. An Introduction to Twentieth Century Music. 2d ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1967.
Hillis, Margaret. At Rehearsals. American Choral Foundation, 1969.
Klinka, Theodore M. "Rehearsal Efficiency." The Choral Journal September 1971, p. 23.
Lang, Paul Henry. Music in Western Civilization. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1941.
Lenaerts, R. B. "The 16th Century Parody Mass in the Netherlands." Musical Quarterly, XXVI, 1953.
Machlis, Joseph. The Enjoyment of Music. 3d ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1970.
Neumann, Frederick. Ornamentation in Baroque and Post-Baroque Music. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978.
Pauly, Reinhard G. Music in the Classic Period. 2d ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973.
Pooler, Frank, and Pierce, Brent. New Choral Notation (A Handbook). New York: Walton Music Corporation, 1971.
Reese, Gustave. Music in the Renaissance. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1954.
Rothschild, Fritz. Musical Performance in the Times of Mozart and Beethoven. London: Adam and Charles Block, 1961.
Stress and Movement in the Works of J. S. Bach. London: Adam and Charles Block, 1966.
Schmidt, Georg, Joseph. History of the Mass. Cologne: Arno-Volk Verlag, 1968.
Sparks, Edgar H. Cantus Firmus in Mass and Motet, 1430-1520. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1963.
Strunk, Oliver, Ed. Source Readings in Music History. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1950.
Ulrich, Homer, and Pisk, Paul A. A History of Music and Musical Style. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1963.
Vinquist, Mary and Zaslow, Neal, ed. Performance Practice: A Bibliography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1971.
The choral music of the Renaissance is a valuable source for amateur high school, university, and community choirs. Young voices are particularly suited to this music. The characteristics normally associated with the Renaissance are most aptly applied to the music written between 1400 and 1600, and particularly to that written between 1450 and 1550. Some of the qualities of Baroque music are found before 1600, and characteristics of the Renaissance are found much later than 1600. The dates of this period, as with all periods, must be taken as only guidelines since stylistic changes represent an evolvement, not abrupt changes. The Renaissance composers were part of an intellectual community that began to be as concerned with their life on earth as well as their life after death. Although the techniques of composing to rigid formulas or predetermined patterns such as isorhythm, formes fixes, and cantus firmi were changed and often abandoned, there is still a great body of repertoire from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that is based on a cantus firmus, for example. The techniques of writing music from such a basis were greatly relaxed, however, and marvelous examples of polyphony exist from the composers of this period. Of course, many compositions were written completely free of earlier material. The composers, reflecting the attitudes of the day, began to consider themselves as artists, and viewed their music as something more than serving a utilitarian function for the church. Continued freedom in compositional techniques produced exceptional motets and secular pieces in the sixteenth century.
Characteristics of Renaissance music include:
1. Polyphonic texture, equal voice lines
2. Use of fewer modes, and a move toward major and minor tonality
3. Melody influenced by plainsong
4. Conjunct melodic movement
5. Controlled dissonance
6. Text important to formal considerations
7. Nonmetered rhythms
8. Overlapping points of imitation
It is in the area of rhythmic flow that many performances of Renaissance music are deficient. Since much of the music was unmetered, the barline that appears in many modern editions can be misleading to conductors. A metrical accent must not be placed on the first beat of the measure. Ideally, the stress is determined by the text; the rhythmic flow is closely tied to the text flow.
Renaissance music is horizontal in nature, and singers must be aware of the importance of the linear qualities of the score. While one part may have textual stresses at one time, another will have an altogether different stress. It is difficult for amateurs, particularly young singers, to achieve the full linear implications of the score. Often each part can be sung separately; the stress determined and then placed with the other parts. Also effective is the technique of rebarring each part to fit the text flow.
Since stress is determined more by text than by meter, a conductor, by singing each part carefully, can determine the incidents of stress in each phrase and mark them in the score. Sometimes editors will show note groupings in scores and bar them together to aid singers in establishing a musical flow that follows the stress of the text.
Conductors should also be aware that most pieces of the period marked 4/4 are usually best conducted in two, rather than in four. The rhythmical flow is impeded considerably by the punchiness of four conducted beats to a measure. Modern conducting patterns, particularly the four pattern, are not easily adapted to Renaissance scores.
The tempo is also influenced by the text. Notational features affect the tempo changes in the music, although these are usually not apparent in modern editions, having been changed to modern notation by the editor. Unless indicated, the tempo does not appreciably vary during a section of a work. Syllabic sections may often be taken at a slightly faster tempo than polyphonic sections. Although the music must not be taken so fast that the inherent beauty of the polyphony is destroyed, conductors should guard against a very slow tempo that impedes the linear flow.
Ritards should generally be avoided. A slowing down of the music was achieved by "building it into the score." This was accomplished by lengthening, often doubling, the note values. The conductor who dwells on a cadence and distorts the tempo at that point is achieving a special effect at the expense of the overall style of the music. The word restraint has long been applied to Renaissance music, and its application is well deserved.
The dynamics should be moderate and in keeping with the mood of the text. Since composers of the Renaissance did not use dynamic markings, any markings in modern editions are those of the editor, not the composer. Although overlapping lines do not lend themselves to a climax at any one given point, the composers were not unaware of the intensity that could be realized. Conductors must be responsive to the suggestions of the music, but must also guard against any tendency toward excessive dynamics.
Although Renaissance music is horizontal, the composers were becoming aware of the harmonic implications of their music. There was a concern for harmonic beauty resulting from the combination of vocal lines. The clarity of each moving part is of primary importance. In fact, the parts were written down in part books, rather than in full scores as we use today. As discussed below, clarity is best achieved with a tone that has little vibrato since excessive vibrato will destroy the transparency and forward motion of the line. Younger voices rarely have a problem attaining the desired quality since they are usually naturally light.
The texture is a well-contained body of sound that has constantly moving parts of quite equal importance. A subtle emphasis of dynamics or of the beginning of a line will bring out desired points of importance.
Suspensions are vitally important to the texture of Renaissance music. The suspended note must receive slightly more emphasis than its resolution. A conductor should avoid telling a choir to accent this note. The suspended note can be stressed with a slight growth in the tone.
Although long known as a great era of a cappella singing, instruments were used frequently to augment the singers or to double the voice parts. The use of instruments was left to the discretion of the performers. Present conductors must make the same decision except that this decision is hampered by a lack of knowledge of performance practice of the period. As a general rule one can be freer in the use of instruments in secular music than in sacred. The liturgy also prohibited use of instruments at certain times during the church year.
The acoustics of the performing hall will also play a part not only in the tempo of the work, but in the manner in which the polyphonic motet, for instance, should be performed. A very live hall will necessitate a very cautious control of dynamics and of tone. The most subtle shading, already being carefully managed, will be magnified under extremely live acoustical conditions. A slightly slower tempo may often be used to avoid a blurring of the points of imitation and cadences. A very dead, or dry hall, on the other hand, will require some increases in volume to compensate for the lack of reverberation, and often a slightly faster tempo.
The nature of music of the Renaissance, specifically the polyphony, requires a tone quality with a minimal amount of vibrato and one that is well focused. Excessive vibrato creates a tone quality that prevents the polyphony from being clear. Again, authenticity is not completely possible and probably not completely desirable, if it were possible. We are different people in a different time with different tonal expectations. It is not necessary to completely remove the vibrato from the tone to successfully perform Renaissance music. It is necessary to be certain that the tone is well focused and that the vibrato is minimal with considerable attention to the melodic qualities and independence of each part.
We cannot be certain of the tone quality of singers during the Renaissance. We know that women did not sing the soprano and alto parts, and that the boy's voice was smaller, not as rich, and probably had less vibrato than a woman's voice. Indications from a variety of sources are that vibrato was not the tonal ideal of the period. We also know that the churches and cathedrals had an effect on the tone, and that our performing halls differ so greatly around the country that comparisons are impossible.
To create, or attempt to create, an "authentic" performance of this music is obviously impossible. Conductors will be successful by being faithful to the import of the score, by allowing the polyphony to be clear, unhampered, with attention to each independent vocal line.
John Dunstable (c. 1385-1453)
Gilles Binchois (c. 1400-1460)
Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400-1474)
Johannes Okeghem (c. 1420-1495)
Jacob Obrecht (c. 1453-1505)
Heinrich Isaac (c. 1450-1517)
Josquin Des Prez (c. 1450-1521)
Jean Mouton (c. 1470-1522)
Thomas Tallis (c. 1505-1585)
Jacob Arcadelt (c. 1510-1567)
Andrea Gabrieli (c. 1510-1586)
G. P. Palestrina (c. 1525-1594)
Richard Farrant (c. 1530-1580)
Orlando di Lasso (Roland de Lassus) (c. 1532-1594)
William Byrd (c. 1543-1623)
Tomas Luis de Victoria (c. 1549-1611)
Jacobus Gallus (Jacob Handl) (c. 1550-1611)
Orazio Vecchi (c. 1550-1605)
Luca Merenzio (c. 1553-1599)
Thomas Morley (c. 1557-1603)
Carlo Gesualdo (c. 1560-1613)
John Dowland (c. 1562-1626)
Hans Leo Hassler (c. 1564-1612)
John Wilbye (c. 1574-1638)
Thomas Weelkes (c. 1575-1638)
Orlando Gibbons (c. 1583-1625)
O Vos Omnes, Esquivel (G. Schirmer 11231)
Domine Exaudi Deus Orationem, di Lasso (G. Schirmer 11422)
Magnificat in Primi Toni, Palestrina (Lawson-Gould)
O Magnum Mysterium, Victoria (G. Schirmer 7626)
O Quam Gloriosum, Victoria (G. Schirmer 13448)
Call to Remembrance, Farrant (Bourne ES 17)
Ave Maria, Mouton (Mercury Music DCS-40)
Jubilate Deo, di Lasso (Boosey and Hawkes 5490)
Tu Pauperum Refugium, Josquin (G. Schirmer 9565)
The Baroque period was anticipated before 1600, although that date remains as a convenient marker for the start of the period. It is a period of dramatic expression, of a vigorous, highly ornamented art. An era of absolute monarchies, each court had its own group of musicians, both vocal and instrumental.
The Doctrine of Affections of the Baroque relates to the portrayal of emotions through music. A recognized musical vocabulary expressed certain emotions. Within this overall context, composers used musical techniques to vividly describe the meaning of the words. Rising passages are found at words such as "resurrection," "heaven," etc. Descending passages were used for such phrases as "to the depths" and "descended into hell."
It was also a period of scientific discovery and reasoning. New findings in the sciences were vitally important to knowledge on the continent. Although we are usually concerned with Baroque music of the continent, it was during this period that the settlement of the New World began.
Rhythmic energy, coupled with a strong melodic thrust, makes performances of Baroque music appealing and satisfying to musicians, both amateur and professional.
Characteristics of Baroque choral music include:
1. Vertical structure rather than linear
2. Major-minor tonality established
3. Figured bass
4. Outer voice polarity—soprano melody over a figured bass
5. New counterpoint—subordinate to the harmony
6. Concertato style important
7. Terraced dynamics
8. Instruments influenced texture
9. Form determined by musical considerations
10. Doctrine of Affections
11. Virtuosity and improvisation are important elements
12. Steady pulsating rhythm—barlines introduced
Although 1600 is generally acknowledged as the beginning of the Baroque period, Renaissance characteristics are found long after that. The two styles, stile antico and stile moderno existed side by side, particularly in the early Baroque. Composers often wrote in both styles; consequently, a conductor must look beyond the name and dates of a composer to determine the style of the music.
Music became metered during the Baroque period and the barline was used with regularity. A certain rhythmic drive is found in repertoire of this period. A crisp, very clean articulation is necessary to bring about a successful performance of much of the music.
There are several rhythmic practices that are generally considered as correct interpretations of Baroque music. One is the technique of extending the duration of dotted notes, shortening the duration of the note that follows. This is more true of the French style. 
will be performed as 
The double dotting of the note will create the effect of a very short rest between it and the next note. When such a passage occurs at the same time as a triplet figure in another part, the dotted rhythm should be changed to conform to the triplet figure, as follows:
There are, however, occurrences in which the two figures should be played as written. The reader should refer to Dart's The Interpretation of Music and to Donington's The Interpretation of Early Music (both listed in the bibliography) for detailed information.
A rhythmic device often encountered in Baroque (and Classic) scores is the hemiola. It also is an often used twentieth-century composer's device that has its roots in early music but is frequently found in Baroque choral music. It is the sense of three replacing two. For example, 
becomes 
or 
becomes 
The latter example is often found and it will be unmarked. That is, no change in meter will be indicated. Conductors will identify the hemiola by the tied notes across the barline. Hemiola will generally be conducted in three to accurately reflect the rhythmic change.
As with Renaissance music, tempos of Baroque works should also be moderate. Extremely fast or slow tempos should be avoided. The rhythm is motorlike, constantly pulsing, and very steady. Broad rallentandos are anachronistic. The terms allegro, presto, vivace, etc., were used to indicate the character of the music more than a specific tempo. Occasionally the term largo is found at the last phrase of a work. This should generally be interpreted as being twice as slow as the previous tempo. Its use in this case is a means of emphasis at the final cadence. Composers also "built in" such changes of tempo by using notes of greater duration. The conductor does not need to apply a ritard to these passages since its effect already exists in the notation. An added ritard will increase the tempo change and distort the composer's intention.
The underlying constant pulsation, a vital part of Baroque music, must be maintained, keeping in mind that the melodic line should not be punched, but performed with lyric ease. The Pergolesi MAGNIFICAT(attributed, actual composer now acknowledged to be Durante), published by Walton Music Corporation, is an example of this type of writing. The melodic line is lyric and rides on top of the motorlike eighth notes in the accompaniment. Accompanying instruments should be played in a slightly detached manner, which in addition to contributing to the style, prevents the performers from rushing the tempo.
The independent line of polyphony gave way to the concept of a single melodic line supported by chords. This change coincided with an evolvement of the major and minor system rather than the modal system of the Renaissance. The modes continued to be used for some time but the major and minor harmonic structure became more and more important. Although polyphony was rejected by many composers in the early Baroque, it emerged as a new counterpoint, more dependent on the harmonic movement.
Accompanied and unaccompanied singing were both acceptable in the Baroque. Instruments were used when desired or where practical, but a cap-pella performances were equally acceptable. There are instances of composers writing a choral work with a figured bass, and also copying the work for a choral collection with only the choral parts given, leaving out an indication for accompaniment. When instrumental parts do not exist for a given work, one should not automatically assume that instruments were not used. Instruments may have doubled the voice parts, a part may have been improvised, or the parts may have simply been lost. For instance, there are numerous examples where instrumental parts have been discovered for works that were previously considered to a cappella, including Bach motets.
Modern instruments are constructed differently than those of the Baroque period; consequently, the tone of our present instruments is considerably different. In addition to the quality of sound, the balance of instruments and voices must be adjusted. A Baroque composer may have indicated a desire for sixteen voices and an equal number of instruments and would have been assured of an appropriate balance between the two groups. A conductor today that substitutes modern instruments and maintains the same number indicated above may find he has an inadequate number of voices. Even the most basic continuo part on a modern harpsichord and cello is noticeably different from that of an authentic harpsichord and gamba.
The soprano-bass polarity is important to the texture of music of this period. The soprano melody is supported by a strong bass line with many root movements. This can be demonstrated to a choir by having only these two parts sing. The strength of these parts will be apparent to the entire choir.
Variety was achieved by terraced dynamics, alternating instruments and voices, or by different combinations of voices and instruments. Dynamics changed at new sections and were usually constant during each section. Dynamic levels were moderate, staying between piano and forte. Excessive dynamics should generally be avoided.
Although a wider range of emotions is possible, and a warmer tone quality employed in Baroque music, singers must again be cautioned against a wide vibrato. A wide vibrato will impede the rhythmic drive and directness of the music.
Tone painting, passages that depict the meaning of the text, can be emphasized without removing them from the musical flow. One may color the voice to match the desired quality of the music, which in turn was written to depict the meaning of the words.