rhetorical aspects of the renaissance modes. bernhard meier and geoffrey chew

Rhetorical Aspects of the Renaissance ModesAuthor(s): Bernhard Meier and Geoffrey ChewSource: Journal of the Royal Musical Association, Vol. 115, No. 2 (1990), pp. 182-190Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Royal Musical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/766434 .

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Rhetorical Aspects of the Renaissance Modes

BERNHARD MEIER

THE 'rhetorical' character of Renaissance music - or, more precisely, of the vocal music of that period - is generally well known. Briefly: the musical segmentation of every vocal composition of that period is determined by the syntactic division of its text; each individual word that is suited to musical 'translation' not only renders this quasi-allegorical representation possible, but absolutely requires it; and the ability to discover such 'allegories', to apply them appropriately and thus to enrich the expressive vocabulary of music was regarded as the chief measure of the competence of a composer.

Besides (or rather before) all these considerations, however, contemporary music theory testifies that keys - known at the time as modes or tones - played a pre-eminent, indeed fundamental, role. The choice of mode was the first decision to be taken by the composer; however, this choice was determined by the character of the text to be set. Thus the modes were regarded, as indeed they had been in the Middle Ages, not merely as purely musical phenomena, defined according to melodic criteria, but also as vehicles for definite affective qualities; although this is to oversimplify, the authentic modes were regarded as 'joyful to moderate', and the plagal modes as 'moderate to mournful'.

However, this verdict must immediately be modified, for it was said also that the specific affective qualities of the modes were not rigid or un- changing. Tinctoris (1476) already notes that a competent composer can render any of the modes 'joyful' or 'mournful', and this is repeated later by Glarean and others.' The question whether the affective character ascribed to the modes has any objective meaning must thus be answered afresh in each particular instance. I propose to demonstrate, with reference to some examples, how we may proceed to answer this question - or, to put the matter more modestly, how we may attempt to approach an answer.

The first method of investigation considers modal usage in the output of a single composer. To this end, I wish purposely to choose the work of a 'progressive' composer, Cipriano de Rore. It has been shown that the affective characteristics of the traditional fifth and sixth modes still in principle govern his works 'in fa'.2 What is the position in Rore's works in D modes, those 'in re'? As a sample from the works in question, let us take

' Johannes Tinctoris, Liber de natura et proprietate tonorum (manuscript dated 6 November

1476), chap. 1; ed. Albert Seay, Corpus scriptorum de musica, 22/1 (American Institute of Musicology, 1975), 68. Heinrich Glarean, Dodecachordon (Basle, 1547; written 1519-39), book II, chaps. 11, 25. (Note that Tinctoris's statement refers also to instrumental music.)

2 Bernhard Meier, Die Tonarten der klassischen Vokalpolyphonie nach den Quellen dargestellt (Utrecht, 1974), 376-9 (trans. as The Modes of Classical Vocal Polyphony (New York, 1988), 394-6).



RHETORICAL ASPECTS OF THE RENAISSANCE MODES 183

nos. 1-5 from Rore's First Book of Madrigals a5 (Venice, 1542), a

publication which is ordered according to the sequence of the eight modes.' A particularly instructive contrast is offered by nos. 2 (Hor che'l ciel) and 5 (Solea lontana) of these madrigals, both settings of sonnets from Petrarch's Canzoniere.

The poems both deal with 'Amor' and - as invariably in Petrarch and his sixteenth-century imitators - with unfulfilled, unhappy love. If the texts of these madrigals are considered in detail, however, clear dif- ferences can be found. However much lamentation there may be in Hor

che'l ciel, there are expressions of hope dawning, most clearly in the

penultimate verse of the poem, 'Mille volte il di moro e mille nasco'. In accordance with the (one might add: persistently) 'moderate' affective character of its text, Rore chooses mode 1, a mode which had long been

regarded as 'moderate', and which is here transposed to G. The sen- timents in the second of these madrigals are, however, quite different: here Petrarch relates how his deceased beloved appears to him in a dream; and the conclusion of her speech to the poet is: 'Never hope to see me on earth again.' However, the key word 'death' leads to the choice of mode 2, again transposed to G. The same observation can be made of the three other madrigals 'in re' in the above-mentioned First Book (nos. 1, 3 and 4). In no. 4 the key word 'death' again leads to the choice of the

plagal mode, whereas the character of the text in no. 3 as an encomium and in no. 1 as moralizing contemplation leads to the choice of the authentic 're' mode.

A second method of casting light on the relationship between mode and affective character is offered by the investigation of settings of a

single text. However, one cannot expect to find one and the same text

always set in the same mode; texts of high literary quality in particular customarily comprise sections of contrasting affective character, and the

composer is thus free to take one or other of the affections to which the text gives rise as the 'dominant affection' governing the choice of mode.

The first example illustrating the possibilities is offered by the settings of Petrarch's sonnet 'Cantai, hor piango' by Adrian Willaert and his pupil Perissone Cambio. For the choice of mode, Willaert proceeds from the text incipit and accordingly elects to use the extremely 'mournful' plagal mode with E ('mi') as final, i.e. mode 4. Perissone, indeed, quotes one of the two initial motifs of Willaert's madrigal at the outset;4 however, in- fluenced by the 'brightening' of the affective character at the conclusion of Petrarch's poem, he chooses for the tonality the affectively 'moderate' mode 1, transposed to G (compare the phrases 'Ch'i non penso esser mai, se non felice' and 'Si dolce e del mio amaro la radice'). An even more im-

pressive example is offered by Josquin in his two settings of the sixth penitential psalm, 'De profundis'. The first setting, for low voices, which is in mode 4 (the mode is attested by Zarlino), corresponds to the affection of deep sorrow, which is given immediate expression in the first

3 Ed. Bernhard Meier, in Cipriani Rore opera omnia, Corpus mensurabilis musicae, 14/2

(American Institute of Musicology, 1963), 1-24.

4 See Helga Meier, 'Zur Chronologie der Musica nova Adrian Willaerts', Analecta musicologica, 12 (1973), 71-96 (pp. 79-80, including music example).



184 BERNHARD MEIER

words of the text. In his second setting, however, Josquin apparently proceeds (as Perissone does later, in the above-mentioned madrigal) accord-

ing to the principle by which the ending dictates the character of the whole, 'a fine denominatur res'. The closing clause of the psalm 'De profundis' is coloured by hope: 'And he [the Lord] shall redeem Israel from all its sins' ('Et ipse redimet Israel ex omnibus iniquitatibus eius'); and, in accordance with this clause, Josquin chooses mode 8 for his second set-

ting; though it is not unrestrainedly joyful, it is also not mournful. (It is, so to speak, self-evident that the words 'De profundis' should in this set-

ting also be underlined in musical terms.) The question of 'mode and affective character' might also be ap-

proached with reference to specific genres - even to genres of limited literary value. Connections of this type, between largely stereotyped text content and mode, seem, as far as I have been able to discover, to exist in the French Renaissance chanson: the 'mournful' modes mentioned above are used for lovers' laments; mode 1 seems to predominate in settings of anecdotal texts; and mode 8 seems principally to have been regarded as

appropriate for texts whose scope is a pledge of loyalty. In all the considerations so far advanced, we have attempted to show

that the assertions of sixteenth-century music theorists concerning the affective character of the modes may in no way be relegated wholesale to the realm of fable. We have, however, also recognized that in particular instances a single solution is not the only possibility. And the relationships are even more complicated than this: the facts must be taken into account, first, that it is not always the affection of the text that determines the choice of mode; secondly, that the choice of mode does not always de-

pend on the composer's choice; and finally, that the affective character, peculiar to a mode 'by its nature', may be altered by various compositional procedures.

Affective qualities do not determine the tonality of those works whose text contains a particular cardinal number in a prominent position, which then provides a pretext for the composer to choose the mode of that number. This type of connection between text and mode may seem

purely superficial to us; in the sixteenth century, however, this procedure was adopted even by the greatest masters. Examples are offered by Lassus's motet Unus dominus, unafides, unum baptisma, set in mode 1, and Willaert's setting of Octo beatitudines in mode 8 (the mode is attested by Zacconi). Since mode 8 was the last mode in the traditional modal system, Leonhard Lechner was able to use it as the basis for his motet Annusfinit iter (the mode is attested by Maternqs Beringer).5 Even so 'modern' a composer as Monteverdi still acts according to this conven- tion, not only in setting the motet Duo seraphim clamabant from the

Vespers as a duet (as far as the text comprises the paean of these angels), but, for the sake of the numeral with which the text begins, also in basing it on the (transposed) second mode.6

5 Maternus Beringer, Musicae ... Erster und Anderer Theil (Nuremberg, 1610; repr. Leipzig, 1974).

6 See Bernhard Meier, 'Zur Tonart der Concertato-Motetten in Monteverdis "Marienvesper"', Claudio Monteverdi: Festschrift Reinhold Hammerstein, ed. Ludwig Finscher (Laaber, 1986), 359-67 (p. 365).




Proof that the choice of mode was determined not according to the wishes of composers but according to the taste of their patrons is, understandably, extremely rare. However, one such case exists, thanks to the survival of the diaries of the Tiibingen Greek scholar Martin Crusius

(1526-1607).7 This man, a leading scholar and enthusiastic musical amateur, used to conclude his formal academic addresses with motets, whose texts were given to musicians from the Stuttgart Hofkapelle to set. He designates most of these motets as 'quarti toni', and proceeds to com- ment that he finds this 'tender' mode pleasing, in contrast with 'can- tiones, ubi dominatur Ut et Sol' - i.e. compositions in modes 5 and 7. Whether partiality for, or aversion towards, particular modes was decisive in other instances is as yet unknown. However, even as early as

John of Afflighem we find the recommendation that the composer of 'new songs' (i.e. chants) should take account, in his choice of mode, of the per- sonal characteristics (in this instance the age) of his patron.8

In what ways, however, can the composer effect an alteration of the affective character of a mode? Here, too, sixteenth-century theory offers answers; a brief account of its assertions must suffice.

The first means of contradicting the affective character which a mode possesses 'by nature' is the transposition of the mode out of its usual pitch range. Mode 2, for example, may lose its 'mournful' character by being transposed in the tenor to d' and in the discantus to d", a procedure adopted by Orazio Vecchi according to the precedent set in Palestrina's madrigal Vestiva i colli.9 In the same manner the (traditional) sixth mode may acquire a markedly 'joyful' affective character by being transposed up a fifth, with the consequence that this mode, termed mode 12 by Glarean and (in his early work) Zarlino, is one of the most frequently used modes in 'joyful' instrumental canzonas. 0 Even the most 'mournful' of all the modes, the plagal mode on the final 'mi', is capable of losing the affective character normally peculiar to it if it is transposed up an octave, as is attested by some of the compositions for festivals in the Christmas season from Palestrina's cycle of offertories. " A precisely opposite effect is achieved by transposing modes down. An example of this is offered by the

7 On this point see Georg Reichert, 'Martin Crusius und die Musik in Tiibingen um 1590', Archiv

fiir Musikwissenschaft, 10 (1953), 185-212 (pp. 202, 205, 208). '

John of Afflighem, De musica cum tonario, ed. Joseph Smits van Waesberghe, Corpus scriptorum de musica, 1 (American Institute of Musicology, 1950), chap. 18 ('Praecepta de cantu

componendo'). 9 See Orazio Vecchi, Mostra delli tuoni della musica (a manuscript dating from 1630), 9.

Palestrina's madrigal is assigned to mode 2 (transposed up an octave) also by Zacconi and Costanzo Porta, whose four-voice Missa secundi toni is based on the madrigal Vestiva i colli. The examples of mode 2 constructed per b-durum given by Seth Calvisius (Exercitationes musicae duae, Leipzig, 1600) also correspond to this type, as do the details of the disposition of mode 2 per b-durum in Michael Praetorius, Syntagma musicum, iii (Wolfenbiittel, 1619; repr. Kassel, 1958), 36, 40. Con- cerning Palestrina's madrigal in particular see Harold S. Powers, 'The Modality of "Vestiva i colli"', Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Music in Honor of Arthur Mendel (Kassel and Hackensack, NJ, 1975), 31-46.

"0 A distinctive branch of modal theory, apparently represented mainly by Italian authors, regards this mode as a variant of mode 7. See Harold S. Powers, 'Tonal Types and Modal Categories in Renaissance Polyphony', Journal of the American Musicological Society, 34 (1981), 456-9. The variations in the nomenclature do not affect the question of its affective character.

" See Bernhard Meier, 'Zu den "in mi" fundierten Werken aus Palestrinas Offertoriums- Motettenzyklus', Die Musikforschung, 37 (1984), 215-20.



186 BERNHARD MEIER

Preces speciales composed by Jacobus de Kerle for the Council of Trent.12 These Preces are set as a cycle of the traditional eight modes. The normally 'joyful' (even 'wanton') mode 7 could therefore not be omitted. Its own affective character would not, however, have been appropriate for pieces for votive use; Jacobus de Kerle therefore transposed mode 7 down a fifth (i.e. to c or c', with a flat signature), and the 'darker' texture created in this way gives even mode 7 the solemn tone suited to the occasion. 3

The procedures outlined so far relate to the overall alteration of modal affections, that is, alterations which are in force throughout a composition in a particular mode. However, the affection of each mode can also be altered during part of a work. This is attested most impressively by Zarlino, especially in the Istitutioni harmoniche, and by Rore's pupil Pietro Pontio in his Dialogo,'4 but they are not the only witnesses. These two authors are familiar by name with the traditional affective characteristics of the modes, but immediately set a limit to their assertions by commenting that each of the modes may be rendered 'joyful' (or alternatively 'hard') if the composer introduces movimenti veloci and uses

many major thirds, sixths or tenths over the bass; conversely, in each mode the music will become 'mournful' or 'languid' ('languido') if the composer makes use of slow rhythms and introduces many minor thirds, sixths or tenths over the bass. Thus they speak quite explicitly of 'major' and 'minor' effects. However, such 'major' and 'minor' sonorities do not as yet represent a system; like unusually quick or slow rhythms, they remain special techniques, used to interpret individual words in the text, and, like all other text-expressive devices, they are placed in relief during the course of the work.

It can already be seen from the few examples I have adduced that there are numerous methods of altering the traditional affective characteristics which are always, so to speak, 'available' within each mode. In addition, finally, it is possible virtually to 'expunge' the affective character of the modes: in particular, if all the words capable of being interpreted in musical terms (including all verba affectuum) are subjected to this treatment. There are examples of this procedure especially in the works of Lassus in which the modes assume the role only of providing musically 'logical' coherence; however, they invariably do so strictly in order to pro- vide a point of departure for the interpretation of individual words in the text, whether this is done through intentional 'solecisms' breaking the modal rules or through the 'exaggerated observation' of modal principles.

The principles I have outlined in abstract terms, concerning the modes as a point of reference for the interpretation of texts, may be illustrated

12 Ed. Otto Ursprung, Jacobus de Kerle: Ausgewihlte Werke, Erster Teil, Denkmiler der Tonkunst in Bayern, 26 (Augsburg, 1926).

" See no. 9 of the Preces (Domine rex omnipotens), as an example of the transposition of mode 7

per b-molle mentioned by Maternus Beringer (Musicae), Johannes Magirus (Artis musicae . libri duo, Frankfurt am Main, 1596) and Johannes Nucius (Musices poetzcae . . . praeceptiones, Neisse, 1613). The versus of the same composition (Tu domine, cui) is named as an example of the same mode by Andreas Raselius in his Dodecachordi vivi exempla, an autograph manuscript dating from 1589.

4 Gioseffo Zarlino, Istitutioni harmoniche (Venice, 1558), book iv, chap. 32; Pietro Pontio,

Dialogo (Parma, 1595), 58.




with reference to Table 1, which presents the cadential and modal structure of Lassus's setting of the Octo beatitudines.

I have already noted that Willaert set this text in mode 8, on account of the numeral eight. Lassus undoubtedly knew Willaert's motet: he makes use of Willaert's soggetto cavato for the key word (based on its vowels, giving re-fa-mi) and the leitmotif-like way in which Willaert utilizes it. However, Lassus chooses mode 2 for the tonality, transposed as usual to

TABLE 1

ORLANDE DE LASSUS, BEA TI PAUPERES SPIRITU, COLLECTED WORKS, NEW SER., i, 11lff.

Mode 2, transposed to G

KEY 5 + Cadence on the note a perfect fifth above the final 4 - Cadence on the note a perfect fourth below the final

fg Cadenza fuggita (i.e. deceptive cadence) sp Clausula simplex (i.e. cadence without suspension) Text-expressive devices occur at italicized words of text.

Text Special Cadential features notes

Beati pauperes spiritu, G quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum. D (5 +)

Beati mites, A-mi (sp) quoniam ipsi possidebunt terram. G, D (4-), G

Beati qui lugent, D-mi (4-), D (4-) quoniam ipsi consolabuntur. Bb

Beati qui esuriunt et sitiunt justitiam, quoniam ipsi saturabuntur. G

Beati misericordes, (D-mi, 4-) quoniam ipsi misericordiam consequentur. D-mi (4-)

Beati mundo corde, F (fg) quoniam ipsi deum videbunt. G, half-cadence

on D

Beati pacifici, quoniam filii dei vocabuntur. G

Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur A-mi, D (4-) propter justitiam, G quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum. no cadence

Beati estis, C

cumrn maledixerint vobis homines, (A) et persecuti vos fuerint, commixtio 6.

toni (F) et dixerint omne malum (A) mentientes propter me. F (sp), G

Gaudete et exultate, movimenti veloci Bb quoniam merces vestra G copiosa est in caelis. G



188 BERNHARD MEIER

G. The relative lack of interest in the 'inherent' affective characteristics of the modes, which I have mentioned as typical of him, emerges clearly in this choice. However, one cannot speak of a mismatching of text and music. The textual segmentation of this motet offered in Table 1 shows that each clause of the text contains at least one text-expressive device - at the words italicized in the table. Which of these devices depends on modal rules, and in what way?

The first of these text-expressive devices can be recognized in the discantus cadence concluding the first Beatitude, at 'regnum caelorum'. Introduced so early in a composition, this cadence, on the note a fifth above the final in the discantus, is too high for a plagal mode. Lassus further underlines its text-expressive character by avoiding any similar cadence throughout the subsequent course of the work. The cadence on A-mi, foreign to the mode, which is introduced at the word 'mites', has

many counterparts in classical vocal polyphony with its prominently semitonal character. In this particular instance the semitone step 'fa-mi' occurs in the upper voice, and is thus particularly audible.

More extensive discussion is called for by the setting of the following clause, 'Beati qui lugent, quoniam ipsi consolabuntur.' Here two cadences should first be noted on the note a fourth below the final (i.e. D), at the word 'lugent'; then a cadence on the note a third above the final (Bb) at 'consolabuntur'. Only the first of the D cadences is foreign to the mode, strictly speaking, since Lassus introduces it as a cadence on D-mi.' However, if the setting of the clause is considered as a single unit

(bars 29-38), it can be seen that the three cadences in question are closely connected to the musical events preceding them: in the structure, which can hardly be described as polyphonic in conception, sonorities with minor thirds predominate at the phrase 'Blessed are those who mourn', whereas the phrase 'for they shall be consoled', affectively opposite to the first, clearly favours sonorities with major thirds. From a purely formal

point of view, 'major' or 'minor' effects thus do not necessarily imply any breach of modal norms: both the second D cadence (D-re) and the cadence on Bb are regular mode 2 cadential tones (claves clausularum). In another context and to another text, they might be, so to speak, 'neutral' in significance. However, if they are 'reserved' for the con-

trasting of 'mournful' and 'joyful' concepts, as they are in this motet at bars 29-38, and if this occurs in the context of a texture in which the ver- tical, chordal aspect is particularly emphasized, then the cadences in

question are invested with a quality that is alien to mode 2 even though they belong to that mode. In other words, they become ambiguous: they remain regular in modal terms, but become opposed as 'minor' or 'major' cadences. The further use of the cadence on BI also illustrates this am-

biguity: Lassus uses this particular cadence only once more, at 'Gaudete et exultate', in the secunda pars (bars 45-51), and again in a context where the 'major' character of the cadence is emphasized; the preceding movimenti veloci not only in themselves produce a joyful effect, but at the same time point to a preponderance of 'major' sonorities.

"' The construction of a cadence on D-mi at bar 24 reflects an error in the edition.




After all that has been said so far, we may briefly pass over the inter-

pretation of 'misericordes' and 'misericordiam consequentur' by means of cadences on D-mi. However, the concluding clause of the prima pars of this motet, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God' ('Beati mundo corde, quoniam ipsi deum videbunt'), deserves detailed discussion. It may initially seem surprising that the words 'mundo corde' lack

text-expressive treatment, and indeed conclude with a clausula peregrina on F (admittedly only weakly projected). For the present, we may ignore this apparent difficulty and consider the second part of this Beatitude, 'for they shall see God'. Again, the texture can scarcely be described as polyphonic; the most prominent feature is a stepwise descent in the discantus from d" to d'. The rationale behind this procedure is easy to discern: in later Baroque terminology, Lassus examined the text accord-

ing to the loci topici and made use of the so-called locus descriptionis for the purpose - in other words, he sought out a quality of 'seeing God' which was 'translatable' into music. He found this in the fact that 'seeing God' is equivalent to prayer', which is visibly expressed in prostration, and thus easily expressible in musical terms as a melodic descent. It is obvious that the affective character intrinsic to mode 2 should be 'brightened' for such a text, which occurs, moreover, in a prominent position (at the conclusion of the prima pars); equally self-explanatory is the particular stress laid on the word 'deum' by means of a so-called noema (homophonic block-chord passage). The introductory word 'quoniam' is included in the 'brightening'; and it is the above-mentioned peregrina cadence on F which makes this possible. The repetition of the phrase of text (bars 80-3) is marked by the same 'major' character; both sections conclude with a strictly regular modal caesura.

The most radical departure from modal norms in this motet, and that which lasts longest, occurs, however, in the secunda pars, shortly before the end of the composition, at the closing sentence which follows the eight Beatitudes ('Beati estis .. .'). Here Lassus abandons mode 2 transposed to G, and instead makes use of a commixtio of (traditional) mode 6 (see bars 31-43/4). This change of tonality seems to be motivated by words such as 'maledicere', 'malum' and 'mentiri' in the text, words which may be regarded as res tristes or res adversae. Again, the commixtio is introduced by a clausula peregrina (this time on c', 'Beati estis'), which is not in itself required by the text. The role of F, which now dominates, as temporary final, is projected first of all by the quasi-imitative entries of the two outer voices, beginning on C and F respectively, and then by imitative entries based on the perfect fifth mi-ut-sol or the perfect fourth ut-fa, at 'et persecuti'; and again by the imitative entries (c-f, c'-f') at 'et dixerint', in the bass and alto, as also by the position of the caesuras. It is only after a simple cadence (clausula simplex) on the temporary final, F, with an irregular exchange of the melodic cadence formulas, that the tonal equilibrium is re-established with a cadence on the true final (bars 44-5).

We have encountered many procedures, exemplified in Lassus's motet Beati pauperes spiritu, through which affective words in the text (verba affectuum) may be interpreted in musical terms, using the mode of the composition. The full range of such expressive devices is, however, far



190 BERNHARD MEIER

from being exhausted in this discussion. If time had permitted, one might have gone on to consider the suppression of cadences important to the mode; the use of introductory imitative passages which are intentionally vague from a modal point of view; the use of intentionally 'deceptive' pro- gressions within complete works; and, not least important, the use of end- ings on degrees of the scale other than the final, a device which is variously capable of representing 'hope', 'perversity' or 'immortality' - the latter, for example, at the concluding phrase, 'and would, but cannot die', in Dowland's ayre Love stood amaz'd.

It can thus be seen that the results of these considerations are very various. One conclusion is inescapable, however: the full extent of the rhetorical aspects of Renaissance music can be understood afresh only when the modal system is taken into consideration as one of the principal foundations of contemporary compositional practice.

University of Tiibingen translated by Geoffrey Chew



rhetorical aspects of the renaissance modes. bernhard meier and geoffrey chew

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