FRANCO-NETHERLANDISH SCHOOL

also called Flemish, Franco-flemish, or Netherlands School, style of musical composition that dominated European music from c. 1450 to c. 1550 and was so called because during that time most of the leading musicians were born or trained in the Netherlands, Flanders, and northern France. The music of the Franco-Netherlandish school is preeminently vocal and contrapuntal (built on interwoven melodic lines) and was later taken as the ideal of a cappella composition, although it was frequently accompanied by instruments. The principal genres of the Franco-Netherlandish school included, in sacred music, the mass and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the motet; in secular music, the chanson, or French polyphonic (multipart) song, was dominant. With the masses of Jean d'Ockeghem (q.v.) and the late works of Burgundian Guillaume Dufay (q.v.), four rather than three voice parts became the norm; in the 16th century, writing in five and six parts became increasingly common. A texture of continuous, spun-out counterpoint was cultivated, varied at times by short chordal sections or passages in three and two voices. By the early 16th century, melodic imitation became common, particularly in the motet. The mass was the most conservative of the three genres. Motets provided more outlet for expressiveness, and a certain humanism is evident in the careful setting of texts and in the evocation of the meaning of the words; but this was more typical of some composers than others and particularly of Josquin des Prez (q.v.), whose work has been noted as marking a transition between the late medievalism inherent in the mystical, often formally intricate sacred music of the previous generation of Franco-Netherlandish composers and the more earthly or human orientation of much later 16th-century music. In the chanson, with its rhythmic melodies of popular cast, there was considerable experimentation, and there evolved a chanson type in which popular elements were fused with contrapuntal techniques and which was marked by clear, short phrases and more modern harmonies. The mid-16th century saw a development of national styles. The Netherlands tradition remained viable but was often given distinct national qualities, as in the motets of the Spanish composer Toms Luis de Victoria (q.v.). Flemish composers such as Orlando di Lasso (q.v.) were adept practitioners of several national styles as well as of the international Netherlands style. Netherlands techniques were applied to German and Italian secular song, in Italy resulting in the madrigal, a genre that evolved far away from the Netherlands style and toward the oncoming Baroque era.