Partial of "An Examination of Renaissance Stylistic Traits in Clément Janequin’s Le Chant des Oiseaux"

French composer and musician Clément Janequin is one of the most notable composers of the Renaissance era over the course of musical history. Born in 1485, he was raised in a time of great musical development and change. The expansion of music and musical education grew beyond the influence of the parish, and in turn allowed for new and exciting compositional ideas and techniques to flourish. Vocal music had new possibilities when outside of the church; instead of writing to explicitly glorify the church and its teachings, works could center around nonsectarian text and explore new ways to portray serenity, harmonious sounds, and beautiful textures within a piece. Continuing in the style of sacred vocal music, however, these secular pieces lacked functional tonal harmony (as the concept had not come to fruition yet), paid special attention to the setting of the text, and carefully utilized dissonance without taking away from the serenity and moderation desired of a vocal work. It is within this conglomeration of ideas that Le Chant des Oiseaux was composed.

Written in 1537, this unique score for four unaccompanied voices utilizes the concepts of harmonious sounds and careful attention to the text to shape the overall tone and shape of the piece. What contributes to this work being so notable, however, is Janequin’s foreshadowing of tonal music with the implementation of melodic motives and progressions that hint at tonal harmony. In addition to this is his use of fabricated text meant mimic bird sounds throughout the piece. Even though he uses made-up syllables and consonant sounds as text, he lends attention to how the text is set allow these syllables to faithfully imitate the warbles and chirps of a bird in the wild. Along with this imitation of birdcall sounds is the more conventional idea of polyphonic imitation between the four voices of the work. Oftentimes this imitation can be seen as a vehicle for setting text, but is also used to create tension and resolution throughout various passages.

What makes discussing these concepts in Le Chant des Oiseaux so difficult, however, is that the impression the music sets upon its audience aurally cannot always be apparent by just studying the score. Early musicians did not think in terms of Roman Numerals; their concern was the movement of melodic lines and interplay between voices. In this sense a thorough chord-by-chord analysis of a modal work can be a futile effort. Instead, the outlining of passages that exhibit particular Renaissance compositional ideals and concepts is a more effective way of discussing a piece from this time period. An examination of Le Chant des Oiseaux that outlines and discusses passages throughout the work shows Janequin’s ingenuity and creativity shining through. Janequin’s acceptance of and departures from typical Renaissance style help make this piece a striking example of his compositional mastery and highlight the reasons this piece has stood the test of time.


This work exemplifies modality through stylistic elements and concepts that fall within the rules of contrapuntal and sixteenth-century Renaissance style. Works of the Renaissance era typically fall within one of the six church modes, which can be found by establishing the concluding note (or root of the concluding chord), which will usually be the central tone of the piece. An examination of the final chord of the piece shows that it follows a G Dorian mode; this decision is also supported by the frequent cadential “arrivals” on G chords (which will be discussed later). Generally, the tonic and fifth above the tonic (in this case G and D) become principal tones throughout a work, also aiding in the determination of its mode. On the flip side of this comes the connection of the tonic and its fifth, which later develops into the tonal Tonic-Dominant relationship. The utilization of these two pitches at cadential arrival points plays a part in how Le chant des Oiseaux hints at the tonal functions and ideas to come later in timeline of musical development.

Beyond the mode, the work also exhibits other stylistic elements that are found within the realm of Renaissance music. A trademark of Renaissance works is the use of intricate-sounding polyphony; although equally comfortable with homophony, composers of this era embraced polyphonic textures and considered it a crowning glory of their art . This is compromised of either canonic imitation (where the voices sing the exact same melody) or free imitation (where the voices sing similar material but not exactly the same melody as another voice). Points of imitation oftentimes show how a work is divided into sections and are also used to mark cadential arrival points. Within this falls one of the most definitive features of a modal work: the overlapping of musical and textual phrases.

Sixteenth-century composers also took care in regards to the placement and projection of textual phrases within their musical framework. The meaning and mood of the words can often be found in the way the text is set to music. Melodic contour often represents an emotional idea, such as descending passages showing tears of sadness moving downwards or ascending lines like a soul ascending to heaven in a more spiritual setting. Rhythm often takes on the shape of the words, such as quick, bouncing rhythms for happiness and slow, legato phrasing for sorrow and grief. Clement Janequin is well-known for his use of onomatopoetic sounds – such as the fabricated bird-like syllables used in this work – and the way he sets these sounds musically to faithfully imitate bird sounds.

Within this modal system is where Le chant des Oiseaux resides. The following examples and analyses will be an examination of how Janequin composed within the given boundaries set by modal writing, as well as went beyond with implications of later tonal ideas. As this piece is examined it can be seen how it, as well as similar chansons and other Renaissance works of the time period, begin to change and develop into ideas that would soon become tonal music.
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