- Laude
:"Lauda" redirects here. For the former F1 racing driver, see
Niki Lauda . For the airline he founded, seeLauda Air . "Laude" (singular: "lauda", "lauda spirituale") are the most important form ofvernacular sacredsong inItaly in the late medieval era and Renaissance. They remained popular into the nineteenth century.Originally, the "lauda" was a monophonic (single-voice) form, but a polyphonic type developed in the early fifteenth century. The early "lauda" was probably influenced by the music of the
troubadour s, since it shows similarities in rhythm, melodic style, and especially notation. Many troubadours had fled their original homelands, such asProvence , during theAlbigensian Crusade in the early 13th century, and settled in northern Italy where their music was influential in the development of the Italian secular style.A monophonic form of the "lauda" spread widely throughout Europe during the 13th and 14th centuries as the music of the
flagellant s; this form was known as the "Geisslerlieder ", and picked up the vernacular language in each country it affected, includingGermany ,Poland ,England andScandinavia .After 1480 the singing of "laude" was extremely popular in
Florence , since the monkSavonarola (and others) had prohibited the dissemination of any other style of sacred vernacular music. Many of Josquin'smotet s and masses are based on melodies he heard in "laude" during his sojourns in Italy around this time."Laude" had a resurgence of popularity again at the time of the
Counter-Reformation , since one of the musical goals of theCouncil of Trent was to increase the intelligibility of text, and the simple, easily understood laude provided an ideal example.The "lauda" declined in importance with the development of the
oratorio .References and further reading
*
*Gustave Reese , "Music in the Renaissance". New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4
* "The New Harvard Dictionary of Music", ed. Don Randel. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1986. ISBN 0-674-61525-5
* Richard H. Hoppin, "Medieval Music". New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1978. ISBN 0-393-09090-6
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