Influence of Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel on Music - Research Paper Example

Influence of Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel on Music Music industry has evolved radically from time immemorial. It took the efforts of the historical music legends to shape the industry into what it is today. The Sistine chapel, which was decorated by a Renaissance artist Michelangelo, has been a great contribution to the development of polyphonic music of which were written by a well known Renaissance composer Palestrina. Michelangelo Buonarroti was born on 6th March 1475 in a village called Caprese, Italy between four and five in the morning1. This is the village where his father, Lodovico, was working as an agent of Florentine government but they shifted back to Florence before Michelangelo was barely one month old. Although born in the small village of Caprese, he considered himself son of Florence and his father a citizen of Florence. Francesca Neri was too sick to and frail to take care of her son thus prompting his placement with a wet nurse. There he lived a life of hammer and chisel. His mother, Francesca Neri, died when he was six years of age. In his early childhood, Michelangelo’s life was very grim and lacked affection. His early life was characterized by shyness and hard to trust personality2. He attended school of a master where he was taught grammar by Francesco Galeota. During this time, he developed friendship with Francesco Granacci who was six years older than him. Francesco Granacciwas learning painting art in Ghirlandaios studio and was very instrumental in Michelangelo’s life. He encouraged him to follow artistic pursuit. Right from childhood, he was very much interested in arts but his further discouraged him from taking this direction. According to Lodovico, the pursuit was below social status of the family and thus persistently discouraged him from taking this course in life. At the age of thirteen, Michelangelo Buonarroti was apprenticed to Domenico Ghirlandaio who was a fashionable painter in Florence during that time. There he learnt the art of fresco but an year later, this apprenticeship broke off. He joined the sculpture school in the Medici gardens and later invited into the house of Lorenzo de’ Medici. He was given access to a variety of collections of ancient Roman sculpture, a ruler of Florence. He stayed with the family and taken care of by the retired sculptor, the person in charge of the collections. At the time such arrangements were not only rare but unusual. He became acquainted to Marsilo Ficino, a humanists, and Angelo Poliziano, a poet who were at the time frequent visitors to the Medici court. While at the Garden of San Macro, he studied anatomy and was allowed access to corpses which was at the time strictly forbidden. This later proved harmful to his health causing lots of interruptions in his activities. Among his early works include wooden crucifix, Madonna of the stairs and battle of the centaurs. The battle of the centaurs was the first of Michelangelo’s sculptures. The sculpture, done while he was seventeen years of age, had solid forms, simple and squarish proportions of figures that added intensity to the violet interaction. The three saints for the church of San Domenico was carved in 1494. The sculpture showed dense forms, a deviation from the linear forms which was at the time dominant in sculptural work. He fled to Bologna immediately after the death of Lorenzo in 1492. In 1501, he was commissioned to make a sculpture of David for the Florence cathedral. During the same year, he was recognized as the most talented sculptor of the time in central Italy. He passed away in 1564 aged 89. Michelangelo’s contributions to the Sistine chapel cannot be ignored. The following sections describes one of his major contributions to the chapel; his painting. Michelangelo and His Painting in the Sistine Chapel Michelangelo was commissioned to paint Sistine chapel ceiling by Pope Julius II in the year 1508. However, he tried to refuse the task but he gave in after continued persuasion from the pope. By the end of the year, he had already started working on the ceiling. The task was challenging and physically demanding. He created image after image in an ever increasing scale, exerted his mind and spirit, utilizing motifs and themes from his and other artists sculptural work to carry out the glorious fresco masterpiece. The task took him a whooping four years and proved to be emotionally and physically agonizing to the artist. He lamented after undertaking the task that after four years of torture and painting over 400 life size figures, he felt old and weary just like Jeremiah. He continued to say that he was only 37 yet people did not recognize how old he had become. The task completed in the year 1512. Originally the paintings were that of 12 apostles and several other decorations on the chapel’s ceiling but the artistic work of Michelangelo included the old testaments prophets that alternated with classical antiquity sibyls. Michelangelo elaborate plans were received with enthusiasm by the pope Julius II thus giving him the freedom to explore his ambitions for the frescoes3 (Richard, 1968, 195-200). He carried out the task paying special attention to detailed emphasis of the different objects and figures to paint. He ensured that the individual scenes were independent of the figures that surrounded the scenes. Behind the altar at the front, he put the figures in four tiers connected by clockwise movement of the figures running up from the graves at the lower left and down towards hell at the right. By 31st October 1512, he had completed more than 300 figures of the frescoes on the ceiling. The Delphic Sibyl is referred to as the most youthful and beautiful of the five sibyls on the Sistine chapel ceiling. The sibyls are female seers thought top have predicted the birth of Jesus Christ. The Delphic sibyl appears startled and disturbed as she turns her head away from the prophetic scroll and looks into the future. The sibyl was the voice of Greek god of music, prophecy, poetry, and medicine referred to as Apollo and the four colors on her garment represented water, earth, air and fire which are the basic elements of life4 (Jerome, 1989, 56-75). He placed the separation of darkness and light detail directly over the altar where the celebrations for the Mass is perform. Deviating from the historical sculptural and artistic techniques, he created the illusion that the figures were viewed from below. His work was directly linked with the activities of the temple. For instance, he linked the separation of darkness and light to the priestly ritual of raising the altar’s host. Through this artistic work, he expressed an important Christian message that there existed God’s plan for the salvation of human kind right from the creation of the universe. The deluge is an artistic work of terrifying and tragic grandeur and demonstrates great skills of the artists as he grew more confident in his work. The painting is more fragmented and scattered compared to the other scenes. It is a clear demonstration of how the artistic style had dynamically changed as he continued with his work5 (Caterina, 368-382). In the creation of moon, sun and planets, he created the idea of God bursting forward from the right, receding fast to the left in a dramatic foreshortening that made his later character. The idea created by this artistic work is God exploding across the heavens from the right, arms outstretched in a manner resembling the cross which suggested the sacrifice of Christ. The moon and the sun are darkened at the crucifixion and are clearly visible near God’s hands. In creation of Adam, Michelangelo expressed the unity of spirit and body therefore embracing God’s omnipotence and the potential for humans. In this painting, he was able to demonstrate his intellectual ability of reimagining an old subject. His charisma of associating the natural world, spiritual world and his artistic work ensured that the intended message reached the intended audience6 (Charles, 1995, 76-84). In the creation of Eve painting, it depicts Eve emerging from the ribs of the sleeping Adam and God is appears as an immensely wise and dignified old man. The fall of man painting depicts the temptation and expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. In the painting there is enticing satan and angry angel of justice both in action. This scene demonstrates the evolution of Michelangelo’s artistic style as he continued with his painting on the ceiling. In his entire work, he used nudity in expressions and poses to signify that we are naked before God. History of the Sistine Capel The Sistine chapel was constructed by Giovannino de’ Dolci between the years 1475 and 1483 in honour of pope Sixtus IV. Some of the artists involved in the designing of the walls include Ghirlandaio, Sandro Botticelli, Luca Signorelli and Pinturicchio. It is part of the apostolic palace the official residence of the pope in Vatican City. It has been a major site for the tours, papal Conclaves and Masses. It forms part of the Vatican museums at the moment. The decoration of the walls was done in accordance with partition of the world history, that is, before the Ten Commandments, between Moses and the birth of Christ, and the Christian era. The period between Moses and the birth of Christ, and the Christian era have been represented frescoes of Quattrocento on the side walls of the chapel depicting stories drawn from the life of Christ and Moses. The history of Sistine chapel came into the limelight when Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the chapel. The ceiling was painted between 1508 and 1512 by Michelangelo on the request of Julius II, who was the pope at that time. The ceiling is 40 feet in width and 130 feet in length with the center being more than 60 feet in height. In Michelangelo, he concentrated more on the era before Moses was given the Ten Commandments. The chapel is one of the grandest and finest examples of Renaissance art. The chapel has lots of Michelangelo’s scenes with the concept being derived from the book of genesis. Among the scenes was the last judgment painted on the wall of the altar. Michelangelo’s fresco work was completed in the year 15417 (Robin, 1995, 121-127). The papal chapel is usually thronged by distinguished guests, officials and clerics and hosts only the most important services within the pope’s calendar. The choir of the temple composes original and permanent music for presentation during the major events. The chapel serves as the venue for assimilation of College of Cardinals whenever a new pope needs to be elected. It has a chimney that smoke arises from it whenever an election is successful. The chapel is spacious to allow for the successful performance of activities. The chapel represents the spirit of renewal and renovation, its music mainly being sacred songs as discussed in the following section. Sistine Chapel Music The Sistine chapel has a choir that composes her own original sacred songs. The church started displaying her splendor and beauty in sacred songs after her emergence from the catacombs. From as early as 314-335, there were groups of singers, for instance schola cantorum who lived together in a building for exclusive music composition and performance. The Schola Cantorum had a category of leadership who were highly ranked in the leadership of the chapel. The archicantor or primicerius intoned various chants that the rest of the singers followed and thus he was their master in reference to modern technical terms. Sistine music took tremendous changes during the transfer of papal see to Avignon from Rome. He did not carry his choir with him but provided for its continuity through restructuring of its organizational structure. He formed a new choir at Avignon consisting mainly of French singers who had developed strong interests in the new developments in music in the church. On his return to Rome, he carried his singers along with him and amalgamated them with the older choir, schola cantorum. The choir accompanied the pope to every function that he attended but after Avignon-Rome trip, this tradition changed. The group later became the Magister capellae whose title bears more honor compared to the other. The choir comprised of various groups of people men, boys, girls and women possessing different voice tones. The choir had the sopranos, alto, tenor and bass that made it a very successful music band. The membership of papal choir attracted great desideratum of singers, composers and contrapuntists. The choir consisted of the great names of the time. Later, there was need to establish a preparatory school for the choir therefore prompting for the set up of capella Julia by pope Julius II. The capella Julia has since then become a stepping stone to Sistine choir membership. The coming of Pope Leo X, reenergized the group as he was a musician. He took bold steps and headed the group despite the rank in the chapel. He transformed a group of vocal virtuosi into a compact vocal group. This forms the basis and the interpretation of the polyphony works that we possess today. Pope Sixtus V further improved the choir by publishing and approving a constitution that gives the choirmaster powers to propose the candidates for membership to the choir. Through the choir, the music industry has taken tremendous steps especially in the polyphonic category. It has shaped the industry and set the standards for the industry8 . Renaissance Composers Renaissance indicates the rebirth of classical learning and increased music patronage. From the time of the pope Leo X, the music industry took a new direction in composition and performance of the songs. The renaissance period was a dynamic time where fine arts and knowledge flourished. The period is generally classified as the period between years 1400 and 1600. The period has significant importance in the development, advancement and transformation of the music industry especially in music composition and notation. This period was marked by great music legends like Thomas Tallis, Josquin Des Prez, Pierre de La Rue, Claudio Monteverdi, William Byrd, Giovanni Peirluigi da Palestrina, Orlando de Lassus and Giovanni Gabrieli9 (Wingell, 1981, 34-43). Thomas Tallis was an English composer and flourished as a church musician. He is considered as one of the best church composers. He was granted exclusive rights to use of the England’s printing press by queen Elisabeth to publish his music. He composed a variety of music styles with most been latin motets and anthems. Josquin Des Prez was the most sought musician during his time in Europe. He combined many contemporary music styles, did original music and unveiled the emotions and meaning of text through music. Just like the aforementioned two, Pierre wrote a variety of music styles but his repertoire is on vocal music. He loved low voices therefore specializing in C’s and B flats below the bass cleff. His music was characterized by low voicing, various long and rhythmic patterns, and flowing melodies. Most of Claudio’s early life was spent composing madrigals. William is recognized as the greatest English composer of all times having composed hundreds of songs and mastered almost music style that existed at the time. Orlando de Lassus is recognized for masterly of the polyphonic style. He combined the French style text setting, expressive melody of the Italians and northern style of polyphony. He remains one of the most versatile composers in the European industry10 (Bukofzer, 2008, 140-47). Pne of the greatest Reconnaissance composers is Palestrina. The following section will describe his musical works. Palestrina and His Music Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was born in 1525 in Palestrina village near Rome and passed on 2nd February 1594. He spent much of his life in Rome serving as a choirmaster and organist in St. Peter’s and Sistine chapel11. He wrote hundreds of Mass settings and more than two hundred motets. His style was more restrained and purer in order to rid the catholic music of worldly excesses. Palestrina’s music was characterized by uniqueness and did not copy the vocal lines of the then popular melodies. Instead, the music composition he made was characterized by unique chant melody with each having its own crystalline line and profile. People could clearly and still hear the classic and pure lines of the text set in the midst of the various choir voices12. Palestrina’s masterly of the polyphonic style was an inspiration to most of the upcoming artists at the time. Most of them spent a lot of time analyzing and studying the Palestrina style13. Most of the compositions of Palestrina were inspired by the need to satisfy the leadership of the church. Though his Counter Reformation style was criticized initially, the style was embraced after the church leadership heard Palestrina’s performance. He treated the various combinations of low and high voices as an orchestral composer would treat instruments. This allows the audience to hear a wide variety of colors in a single piece. His composition is often referred to perfect sacred music and was referred to as the prince of music14. Palestrina is one legend especially with respect to his contributions to the Sistine Chapel. Palestrina worked at the Vatican chapel for just about four months but a lot of his works were performed in the Sistine Chapel. He is credited with saving sacred music which was perceived to be disappearing at the time when liturgical reforms were being called for by the Trent Council15. Myth has it indeed that the Church’s Cardinals who gave advice on the music played at service intended not to do away with the church’s polyphony and changed not their minds after listening to one of Palestrina’s masses. Many Cecilian Movement proponents have also portrayed Palestrina as one of the greatest Renaissance musicians claiming that he perfected sacred music. Palesstrina’s polyphonic skills as portrayed in his singing at the chapel. Some of his works include Ascendit Deus, Ave Maria, Assumpta est Maria and Angelus Domini descendit de caelo16. Agostino Agazari has referred to the great composer as the savior of church music, the father of music and the prince of music. Palestrina’s contributions to reconnaissance music cannot be overstated even today. He wrote 68 offertories, 105 masses over 139 madrigals and over 300 motets. In addition to these, he wrote four sets of lamentations, 11 litanies, 35 magnificats and about 72 hymns. Two of his spiritual madrigals were much the praise of Counter-Reformation proponents. One hallmark of his music is the way his dissonances relegated to some extent the weak beats to produce smoother polyphony created out of consonants17. According to Palestrina, the flow of music was meant not to be static or rigid but dynamic. Furthermore his melodies contained only a few leaps between leaps. He believed that in the event that a leap occurred, it ought to have been countered closely by an opposite stepwise motion. These styles and notions were widely adopted during the Reconnaissance period. Conclusion The modern music industry has foundation on the artistic works of Michelangelo and Palestrina. Their contribution has greatly influenced the revolution that has been accomplished in the music industry especially the polyphonic music style. The deviation from the traditional way of performing tasks led to this new blend of music style that has taken the music industry with a storm. Works Cited 1. Oremland, Jerome D. Michelangelos Sistine Ceiling: a Psychoanalytic Study of Creativity. Madison, CT: International Universities, 1989. Print. 2. Fabrizio, Richard. "Michelangelo and Music: The Fame of a Poet." Italica 45.2 (1968): 195-200. JSTOR. Web. 3 Sept. 2010. . 3. Hoasm.org, Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina (1526-1594), 2nd October 2010, http://www.hoasm.org/IVF/Palestrina.html. 4. John Williamson, The music of Hans Pfitzner, London, Oxford University Press, 1992. 5. Manfred F. Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era - From Monteverdi to Bach, Vancouver, Read Books, 2008. 6. Philips, Peter. "Reconsidering Palestrina." Rpt. in Early Music. 4th ed. Vol. 22. Oxford UP, 1994. 574-76. JSTOR. Web. 5 Sept. 2010. . 7. Pirina, Caterina. "Michelangelo and the Music and Mathematics of His Time." Rpt. in The Art Bulletin. 3rd ed. Vol. 67. College Art Association. 368-82. JSTOR. Web. 3 Sept. 2010. < http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.hbu.edu/stable/3050957?&Search=yes&term=music&term=michelangelo&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dmichelangelo%2Band%2Bmusic%26wc%3Don%26acc%3Don&item=4&ttl=5442&returnArticleService=showFullText>. 8. Richard Wingell, Experiencing Music: Student Workbook, Los Angeles, Alfred Music Publishing, 1981. 9. Richmond, Robin. Michelangelo & the Creation of the Sistine Chapel. New York [u.a.: Crescent, 1995. Print. 10. Robert Sherrane, Music History 102: The Renaissance, 2nd September 2010, http://www.ipl.org/div/mushist/ren/index.html, 2009. 11. Seymour, Charles. Michelangelo, the Sistine Chapel Ceiling: Illustrations, Introductory Essays, Backgrounds and Sources, Critical Essays. New York: Norton, 1995. Print. 12. Sherr, Richard. "Competence and Incompetence in the Papal Choir in the Age of Palestrina." Rpt. in Early Music. 4th ed. Vol. 22. Oxford UP, 1994. 606-18. JSTOR. Web. 10 Sept. 2010. . 13. Alison Latham & Stanley Sadie, The Cambridge Music Guide, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 1990. Read More