Renaissance - Jacob Obrecht (1452-1506)

Jacob Obrecht was another renaissance composer stemming from the Netherlands, who wrote masses, motets and a handful of chansons. His Masses were usually grounded in cantus firmus, but in their own Obrechtian touch: the entire melody could be repeated in all movements of the Mass, but it could also be split up into phrases distributed to distinct parts of the work. The Masses also contained frequent canonic techniques.

  Being more specific, Obrecht's style was quite innovative, and the major cause of that was the composer's wide imagination adopted into music. The melodies were warm and felt new to the ear. They had a clear articulation and outline. They moved smoothly, in small units of phrases, each ending with a cadence, supported by distinctive harmonies.

  A typical work of Obrecht would comprise two upper voices, in canonic movement, where the main motive is repeated but variated each time it is sung. The lowest voice would tie the two upper voices, with longer notes and some pauses, serving as a sort of cantus firmus.

  Other elements of emebelishment were repetition of motives and sequences, in order to connect and hold together music. He also often used parallell tenths in the upper voices, which sound pretty nice on guitar, especially acoustic. Below is a simple example of ascending parallell tenths (octave+third):

  As for the chansons, Obrecht used four voice compositions, with more full texture and imitative counterpoint, as compared to earlier composers. Chords, or harmony, was clearer, and the voices were made more equal and independent. Another common feature was the usage of duple meter in lieu of triple meter.

  Hopefully, the above information has struck some inspiration for some good guitar writing in the reader's mind!

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