Medieval music of Burgundy

Burgundian court, under the rule of Philip the Good (1419-1467), was filled with prominent multi-national musicians and often saw foreign artists make their guest appearances. One of the main actors at the Burgundian court was Guillaume Dufay, whose music was a combination of the English fauxbourdon and independent counterpoint. Also, as did the English, Dufay prefered to put the melody line (lead vocal) on top. In his and other Burgundian composers works, we can hint the first inclinations towards V-I cadences, although the medieval-type cadences (covered in Late Medieval Ages) were still in use. Another characteristic of the Burgundian style was the dominant application of triple meter rhythm, either as 3/4 or 6/8.

 A very popular form of song was the chanson  a secular love song written in rondeau-style, but the sacral music was also written, mostly in the spirit of motets and Masses. The latter form was written in more polyphonic setting than during previous ages, which was an important milestone in the development of music. The unifying theme of different parts of the Mass was the usage of the same melody, cantus firmus; it did not appeared in all movements of the Mass, and where it appeared, it was not always sung through the entire movement.

 A common medieval practice with cantus firmus, which was normally borrowed from other sources, was to put it in the lowest voice, the tenor. However, Burgundians did not like this kind of setting as it limited the harmonic possibilities of variation, and consequently, they decided to invent the bass! This resulted in the emergence of the four-voice arangement, containing bass, tenor, alto and soprano (treble). It is notable though that the Mass was not four-voiced altogether, as intermediate three- and two-voiced parts were often included in the composition.

 These ideas are interesting for us, and our songwriting. I urge you to experiment with the above arrangements and bring some old ideas to light with the blend of modern music theory and the new technology.

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