Music of The Trecento - Overall Musical Characteristics of The Era

Overall Musical Characteristics of The Era

Music of the Trecento retained some characteristics of the preceding age and began to foreshadow the Renaissance in others.

Consonances were unison, fifth and octave, just as in the ars antiqua, and the interval of a third was usually treated as a dissonance, especially earlier in the period. Parallel motion in unison, fifths, octaves, thirds, and occasionally fourths was used in moderation. Composers used passing tones to avoid parallel intervals, creating brief harsher dissonances, foreshadowing the style of counterpoint developed in the Renaissance. After 1350, there was increased use of triads in three-part writing, giving the music, to a modern ear, a tonal feeling. Accidentals occurred more frequently in music of the Trecento than in music of earlier eras; in particular, there was use of F♯, C♯, G♯, B♭, and E♭. One A♭ occurs in the works of Landini.

The Landini cadence or under-third cadence, is a cadence involving the melodic drop from the seventh to the sixth before going up again to the octave. It was named after Landini because of its frequent use in his music. It can be found in most of the music of the period, especially after him.