The Historical Use of Temperaments in Composition

I’m so pleased to introduce my guest today, a real expert on early music, Harpsichordist, composer and singer, Dr. Elam Rotem.

In 2014, Rotem established the award winning resources website Early Music Sources. In 2016, he finished his PhD thesis with distinction ("Early Basso Continuo Practice: Implicit Evidence in the Music of Emilio de’ Cavalieri"), within a new collaborative program between the Schola Cantorum in Basel and the University of Würzburg, Germany. He is the founder and director of Profeti della Quinta. His most recent composition is the Lamentations of David, available on YouTube.

0:58 What was music scene like in the 16th century? 1:27 Who were the most famous musicians in the 16th century? 1:48 Were they so well known that everyone was copying their music? 2:25 Is Italy the main focus of interest? 3:19 What are madrigals? 3:59 Is an Italian madrigal different? 4:19 When was the Renaissance? 4:41 What was the standard form of counterpoint in 1600? Did any a significant theorist shape it? 6:17 Are treatises written often looking backwards? 7:20 How would have composers back then learned music? 8:20 Was their training more focused on improvisation and composition? 9:06 Hexachordal Solfeggio 10:44 Did they use more clefs? 11:36 Locating Fa on Fa Clefs 12:30 Did these think about cadences differently? 13:41 In any of the treatises did they talk about vertical chords? 14:56 What do prima pratica and seconda practica mean? 15:43 What were Artusi’s complaints with Monteverdi? 16:12 How did Artusi get copies of Monteverdi’s music before they were published? 16:47 How did Basso Continuo have an effect on composition when it came on the scene? 18:51 Did anyone criticize Basso Continuo when it appeared for the first time? 19:16 Do we distinguish between accompaniment and counterpoint? 19:50 Did Basso Continue subsequently explode in popularity? 20:25 If there were no figures, how did they interpret scores correctly? 21:03 Do we know how these musicians learned counterpoint? 22:33 Are there any historical counterpoint workbooks available? 23:45 Why was the major 6th considered the harshest interval in the renaissance? 26:28 If someone had absolute pitch, how would that work in the Renaissance? 27:23 Did you have to tune instruments on the fly if you had tunes in different keys? 27:50 Could you give examples of instruments not being able to match the flexibility of the voice in transposition? 28:26 Modes 29:58 Were these composers really only thinking horizontally and with consonances and dissonances? 30:35 What are some remaining mysteries of music in the Renaissance? 32:12 What are common questions you get about your work and research? 32:49 Is music of this period mainly vocal? 33:10 What pieces of music are required to know in order to get handle of the music of the 16th and 17th century and develop your counterpoint? 33:57 Are you singing syllables or just the notes? 35:25 What do you mean by compositional situations? 36:03 Should students study counterpoint rules from treatises? 36:57 How about the Thomas de Santa Maria treatise? 37:27 Can you learn faster with a master composer? 38:04 Has the art of counterpoint watered down with newer styles? 38:54 Do you feel that there’s different languages of counterpoint for different styles of music? 39:55 How did you compose the Lamentations of David? 40:53 How long did it take you to compose it? 41:24 Were you always a composer? 42:07 Can you describe your experience studying at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis? 43:34 Wrapping Up