Music history of France
[citation needed] The motet, a lyrical piece of music in several parts,[3] evolved from the Notre-Dame school when upper-register voices were added to discant sections, usually strophic interludes, in a longer sequence of organum.
Inspired by the Code of Chivalry, troubadours composed and performed vernacular songs, in contrast to the older tradition dating back to the 10th century of goliards.
Philippe de Vitry, also a representative of ars nova, invented an improved system of musical notation and may have been the first composer of the isorhythmic motet.
The other important development was the extremely complex and sophisticated art of secular song which flourished in Avignon at the very end of the 14th century, ars subtilior.
The political instability under weak kings and continued dismemberment and acquisition of territory by the English during the Hundred Years' War all contributed to moving musicians east.
The cascading, passing chords created by the interplay between multiple voices and the absence of a strong or obvious beat are the features that distinguish the medieval vocal styles from those of the Renaissance.
Instead, the Renaissance motet was a short polyphonic musical setting in imitative counterpoint, for chorus, of a religious text not specifically connected to the liturgy of a given day, and therefore suitable for use in any service.
The first important composer of chansons was Guillaume de Machaut, with later figures in the genre including Johannes Ockeghem and Josquin des Prez.
Guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchois wrote so-called Burgundian chansons, which were somewhat simpler in style, while Claudin de Sermisy and Clément Janequin were composers of so-called Parisian chansons which abandoned the formes fixes (as Josquin had also done) and were in a simpler, more homophonic style (many of these Parisian works were published by Pierre Attaingnant).
In strictly Calvinist areas, the only musical expression allowed was singing of French translations of the Psalms, for instance those written by Goudimel (who was killed in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572).
Starting with the 17th century, Italian and German opera was the most influential form of music, though French opera composers like Balthasar de Beaujoyeaux, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Henri Desmarest, Marin Marais, Jean Philippe Rameau and Jean Baptiste Lully made a distinctive national style characterized by dance rhythms, spoken dialogue and a lack of Italian recitative arias.
Jean Philippe Rameau, a prominent opera composer, wrote an influential treatise on musical theory, especially in the subject of harmony; he also introduced the clarinet into his orchestras.
In the late Renaissance and early Baroque period, approximately from 1570 to 1650 and peaking from 1610 and 1635, a type of popular secular vocal music called air de cour spread throughout France.
