Music in The Renaissance (1450-1600)

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Music in The Renaissance (1450-1600)

• Music before 1750
• Dr. Amante
• Community College of Rhode Island

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Renaissance time line

• 1450-1500
• Josquin Desprez
• Ave MariaVirgo Serena (c. 1475)
• Arts and letters Botticelli, La Primavera
  (1477)
• Historical events
• Fall of Constantinople (1453)
• Gutenberg Bible (1456)
• Columbus reaches America (1492)

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Renaissance time line

• 1500-1600
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
• Pope Marcellus Mass (1563)
• Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa (c. 1503)
• Michelangelo, David (1504)
• Raphael, School of Athens
• (1505)
• Titan, Venus and the Lute Player
• (c. 1570)

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Renaissance time line

• 1500-1600
• Thomas Weelkes As Vesta Was Descending (1601)
• Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1596)
• Martin Luthers ninety-five theses, start of the
  Reformation (1517)
• Council of Trent (1545-63)
• Elizabeth I, queen of England (1558-1603)
• Spanish Armada defeated (1588)

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The Renaissance

• Rebirth, or renaissance of human creativity
• Period of exploration and adventure (Columbus,
  Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan)
• Curiosity and individualism (Raphael, Leonardo da
  Vinci). Interest in realism
• Humanism
• Catholic Church is less powerful than during
  Middle Ages Martin Luthers Protestant
  Reformation
• More books are printed in Europe

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Music in the Renaissance 1450-1600

• Every educated person is expected to be trained
  in music
• Renaissance town musicians higher pay and status
• Flemish composers parts of the Netherlands,
  Belgium, and northern France. Germany, England
  and Spain other countries with a vibrant
  musical life

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Characteristics of Renaissance music

• Words and music
• Vocal music is more important than instrumental
• Music enhances the meaning and emotion of the
  text. Word painting musical representation of
  specific poetic images
• Moderate, balanced way of expression no extreme
  contrasts of dynamics, tone color or rhythm

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Characteristics of Renaissance music

• Texture
• Chiefly polyphonic. 4, 5 or 6 voice parts with
  equal melodic interest
• Imitation is common
• Homophonic texture is also used
• Fuller sound than medieval bass register
• Mild and relaxed consonant chords.
• Golden age of a cappella

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Characteristics of Renaissance music

• Rhythm and melody
• Rhythm is a gentle flow Each melodic line has
  great rhythmic independence
• Melody usually moves along a scale with few large
  leaps

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Sacred music in the Renaissance

• 2 main forms Motet and Mass
• Motet polyphonic choral work set to sacred
  Latin text other than the ordinary of the mass
• Mass polyphonic choral work with 5 sections
• Kyrie
• Gloria
• Credo
• Sanctus
• Agnus Dei

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Josquin Desprez (1440-1521) and the Motet

• A Flemish composer from Belgium, contemporary of
  Leonardo Da Vinci and Columbus
• Ave Mariavirgo serena 4-voice motet
• Texture is varied polyphonic and homophonic
• Duple/triple meter change

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Palestrina (1525-1594)and the Mass

• Italian Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi
  da Palestrina
• 104 masses and some 450 other sacred works
• For centuries, his masses are regarded as models
  of church music

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Palestrinas Pope Marcellus Mass

• A capella choir SATTBB
• Kyrie 1st section of the mass
• Kyrie Eleison
• Christe Eleison
• Kyrie Eleison

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Secular music

• Vocal music groups of solo voices with the
  accompaniment. Word painting was common
• Madrigal a piece for several solo voices set to
  a short poem, usually about love. Combines
  homophonic and polyphonic textures. More unusual
  harmonies
• Originated in Italy around 1520. Became popular
  in England. English madrigals are lighter and
  more humorous than Italian
• As Vesta Was Descending by Thomas Weelkes
  (1575-1623), and organist and church composer

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The Renaissance Ballet (Fa-La)

• A simpler type of secular vocal music
• A dance-like song for several voices
• Mostly homophonic in structure. Fa-la syllables
  are used as refrain
• Now Is the Month of Maying (1595) by Thomas
  Morley (1557-1603), English composer
• Each stanza
• AA refrain BB - refrain

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Instrumental music

• Instrumental music becomes more independent
• Most music is for dance
• Pavane or passamezzo duple meter
• Galliard triple meter
• Harpsichord, organ, lute, recorder, trumpet,
  cornett, sackbut (early trombone), viol, regal
  (small organ with reed pipes), shawm (ancestor of
  the oboe)
• Instrumental form of theme and variations

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The Venetian School from Renaissance to Baroque

• 16th century Venice a center of instrumental
  and vocal music
• Venetian School music directors and organists
  of St. Marks Cathedral and their colleagues

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Giovanni Gabrieli (1555-1612)and the polychoral
motet

• The most important Venetian composer of the late
  Renaissance before Monteverdi
• Polychoral motets motets for 2 or more choirs,
  often with instrumentalists
• Plaudite (Clap Your Hands), 1597. Written for a
  large vocal and instrumental ensemble of 12 voice
  parts divided into 3 choirs low, middle and high
  register choirs
• The homophonic structure of this piece brings it
  closer to Baroque style