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Lecture 6
The Renaissance
Renaissance means “rebirth”
• Fourteenth to sixteenth century beginning in
Italy.
• A rebirth of the glorious past of Rome and
Greece.
• Artists strove to make their work more
relevant to people’s needs and desires.
Listen to what happened.
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Machaut from before the Renaissance
To Palestrina in the late Renaissance
Dynamics--No Variety vs. Variety
Tone Color--3 voices vs. 6
Scales, Key, Mode--Palestrina is more sure
Rhythm and Tempo--Palestrina more simple,
follows words.
• Pitch and melody--Palestrina more singable
• Texture--mixture of homo and poly for words
• Harmony--Use of harmony for beauty
So how did it happen?
Plainchant used in a different
way . . .
• Composers used plainchant tunes but
changed them and made them simpler
and more sensuous.
• They put the tune on the top not on the
bottom. They were therefore sung by
the soprano.
• The paraphrase
Guillaume Dufay (c.14001474)
• Born and raised in northern France near
Flanders (today Flanders is in Belgium).
• Region that supplied many musicians.
• Most moved to Italy and Dufay himself
was in Italy for 25 years.
• Moved back to France later in life.
Dufay’s “Ave maris sella”
• A homophonic setting of a Gregorian hymn.
• A hymn is a short tune sung through many
stanzas, followed by an “Amen”
• It is in the Dorian mode (6th of the scale is
raised)
• strophic
• Beautiful. On its way to Palestrina but not
quite there.
The Mass
• Roman Catholic celebration of God and
Jesus.
• Main Genre in the Renaissance and the thing
that all composers showed there stuff with.
• Made up of sections, some sections were
done all year, some were added for special
occasions.
• The challenge was to unify these “parts” so
they had something in common.
Simplicity
• Melodies became simple. Called
chansons. Used as the chansons to
“unify” the 30 minutes of music written
for the mass.
• Mass was a five section piece.
• Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus
Dei . . . In that order.
Josquin Desprez (c.14501521)
• Pange Lingua is a good example of how
composers unified the mass.
• Listen to the opening plainchant. Then listen
to the first line of the Kyrie.
• Same thing in the Qui Tollis but the tune is
paraphrased.
• The five polyphonic movements provided
recurring points of familiarity that turned the
whole of the mass into a profound artistic
experience.
The High Renaissance
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Dynamics-relatively constant
Tone color-a cappella
Scale Key and Mode-medieval modes
Rhythm and Tempo-rhythm fluid, no sharp
accents, meter often obscured, constant
• Pitch and Melody-medium register, never
very high or low, smooth motion
• Texture-mixture of imitative polyphony and
homophony
• Harmony-consonant chords with mild
carefully controlled dissonances.
Turn to the chart on pg 81.
• Halo in renaissance painting
Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina (c.1525-1594)
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Compare with Josquin
Pope Marcellus Mass 1557
Palestrina more homophonic
Palestrina used a bigger choir
Palestrina clearer declamation
The Palestrina shows the change from the
rather stern liturgical polyphony of Josquin to
the rich, sonorous, more sensuous sounding
music of the late 16th century.
Council of Trent
• The whole plan of singing in the musical
modes should be constituted not to give
empty pleasure to the ear, but in such a
way that the words be clearly
understood by all, and thus the hearts of
the listeners be drawn to desire
heavenly harmonies, in the
contemplation of the joys of the blessed.
The Madrigal
• A short composition set to a one-stanza
poem, typically a love poem.
• One singer per part.
• Intimate setting
• Rapid pattern of polyphony and homophony
• Similar pattern to what was happening in
sacred music at the time.
• Popular in Italy but we will look at the English
Madrigal.
Thomas Weelkes (c. 15751623)
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“As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending”
Clear Declamation
Word Painting
Simple Rhythms
Clear Harmonies
Crisp short motivic melodies
Alternation of texture between polyphony and
homophony.
Early Instrumental Music
• Music was largely vocal before 1550.
• But they were developing before that.
• Dance music was the main instrumental
genre in the renaissance.
• Pavane was a popular duple meter
dance
• Galliard was a popular triple meter
dance
A Galliard named Daphne
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Form is aabbcc
Compound meter
Kick kick kick jump and land
This performance is to slow!
Had to rely on purely musical devices to
convey meaning. Leaves us with what
needs to happen in the baroque.
A Jig named Kemp’s Jig
• Lively dance
• a a b form.
Terms
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Renaissance
Gregorian Hymn
Chansons
Mass
Paraphrase
Madrigal
Galliard
Pavane
Word painting