Tuesday, April 23, 2002

CD's of Bach Mass in C (last season) available for $10.

Solos: There are solos/duets? in Rossi and the lower Hildegard. Tell Erica if you are interested.

Sectionals

PIECE	PART	DATE	LOCATION
Columba	all	Tue, Apr 21, 6:30-7:00pm	Grace
De Lassus	all	Sat, Apr 27, 9:30-11:30	Arlene's
all (verify)	Alto	Sat, Apr 27, 10:30-11:30	TBA
Sto Si	all	Thurs, Apr 25, 7:30	Katharine's
Sto Si	all	Thurs, May 2, 7:30	Katharine's

Era of the Week: The Fifteenth Century (End of the Middle Ages/Beginning of the Renaissance)
As the temporal powers of the Roman Catholic Church waned, the secular nation-states continued to grow. Italy divided into five states. The north was largely controlled by the city-states of Venice, a merchant oligarchy, Milan, ruled by dynastic despots, and Florence, a republic controlled by the wealthy; further south were the Papal States and the kingdom of Naples. In the Hundred Years' War, English Henry V's longbow-armed infantry claimed a decisive defeat against mounted French knights at Agincourt in 1415. A 1420 treaty took the French throne for England, but this dominance was not to last. A French peasant girl, Jeanne d'Arc, convinced French military leaders of her divinely-inspired mission to drive the English from France.(1) Though Jeanne was eventually accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake, under her leadership French troops succeeded in taking back most of central France. By 1453 the Hundred Years' War was over, with England's continental possessions reduced to the city of Calais. England reacted to this lull in hostilities by plunging immediately into civil war, as the houses of York and Lancaster battled for succession to the English crown. These "Wars of the Roses" continued until Henry VII became the first Tudor king in 1485.(2)

Meanwhile, political power on the Iberian Peninsula was increasing. Isabella of Castile married Ferdinand of Aragon, combining forces though their kingdoms officially remained separate. They initiated the Sephardic diaspora, expelling all Jews from Spain, and brought Muslim rule to a final end. Ferdinand and Isabella also invested heavily in overseas expansion, patronizing Christopher Columbus' voyages and funding conquest of the newly-discovered civilizations of Mexico and Peru. While the Holy Roman Empire still had some loose hold over parts of Germany, an assortment of princes held local control over smaller provinces. In Russia the Mongols lost power, replaced by a Moscow-based empire. And the ancient Byzantine Empire finally collapsed as Constantinople fell to the powerful Ottomans in 1453.

The Great Schism within the Church was finally settled in 1417 at the Council of Constance. Influenced by secular governments, this council firmly returned the papal seat to Rome, but also replaced the papal monarchy with a council of prelates that acted as a check on the pope's authority. With their political wings clipped, the popes turned more to regulation of religious belief. In 1478 Pope Sixtus IV authorized the Spanish Inquisition to crack down on "witches" and heretics such as the German Hussites. It became a fervently oppressive era for religion.(3)

The overshadowing technological event of fifteenth century Europe was, of course, Gutenberg's invention of the printing press around 1450. In a world where hand-copied books were a rare and precious commodity, the printing press enabled writing and knowledge to spread as never before possible. While the Bible was the first work to be printed (along with indulgences for the Church), not all use of the press was so lofty; within a year after William Caxton brought the printing press to England (1476), it was used for the first advertisement in English. The art and science of navigation was also progressing by leaps and bounds, as new maps and navigational devices such as latitude and the astrolabe allowed for unprecedented exploration and opening of new markets.(4) They also made way for such evils as a newly popular slave trade, which sprang up in Lisbon. By 1492, German cartographer Martin Behaim had constructed the first globe.

Most notably, a wondrous flowering of the arts was taking place throughout Europe. So much was happening that we have space for little more than a roll-call of outstanding names here: Italian painters included Masacchio, Fra Angelico, Donatello (David), Fra Filippo Lippi, Botticelli (The Birth of Venus), and Leonardo da Vinci (Mona Lisa, Last Supper). Brunelleschi created the dome atop the Florentine cathedral, pushing the bounds of architectural engineering. In Northern Europe, Jan van Eyck (Arnolfini Wedding Portrait) and Hieronymous Bosch (The Garden of Earthly Delights) drew on Italian influences but added their own style of expressionism.(5) By the end of the 15th century, Michaelangelo had completed his first Pieta, bringing sculpture to a new level. Meanwhile, woodcuts and the ability to print images as well as type soon permeated the new publishing industry.

Innovation spread to music as well, favoring both secular and sacred compositions. Josquin de Prez was one of the greatest polyphonic masters of the era, but Antoine Brumel and Guillaume Dufay were also highly regarded.(6) The developing schools of Italian madrigals and French chansons would be further preserved for posterity as the printing of music began in Venice by 1498. It was an amazing time for art, science, and thought. With the coming together of a new era of exploration, an unprecedented ability to share information, and a powerful drive to create and learn, European culture was truly undergoing a rebirth.