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Renaissance (1450 – 1600)
During the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe, there was a rebirth or renaissance of
human creativity. It was also an age of exploration and adventure. Christopher
Columbus sailed to America. Vasco da Goma and Ferdinand Magellan were world
navigators. It was also an age of curiosity and individualism. One remarkable individual
was Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519), who mastered painting, sculpting, architecture,
engineering, science, and music.
As in the Middle Ages, musicians worked in church, courts, and in towns, but
many were gradually shifting from churches to the courts. These courts often competed
for the finest composers and could have up to sixty musicians under them. Town
musicians played for civic processions, weddings, and religious services. In the past,
composers did not seek recognition of their work because they felt that this would take
away from God. During the Renaissance, composers and musicians began seeking credit
for their work. Composers from all over Europe came to Italy, the leading music center
at this time.
In the Renaissance, vocal music was more important than instrumental music.
People of that time were very interested in different languages. This influenced vocal
music, creating a close relationship between words and music. Choral music did not need
instrumental accompaniment, which is called a cappella. Only on occasion were
instruments added, mainly to duplicate the vocal lines. Composers of the Renaissance
period wrote music to enhance the meaning and emotion of the text where medieval
composers were uninterested in this. To do this, Renaissance composers used word
painting, a musical representation of specific poetic images. An example of this might
be when a composer writes a series of rapid notes to represent the word “running”.
Humanism: was an important movement during this time that greatly affected
many medieval beliefs. It focused primarily on life on earth, not on the
afterlife. This affected the church because of the strict followings that the
clergy had set for the people. The Catholic Church was far less powerful
during the Renaissance than in the Middle Ages. Martin Luther (1483 –
1546) convinced the church to not monopolize learning and created unity of
Christendom, during the Protestant Reformation. By this time the feudal
system was weaning and a middle class was forming. Both the new middle
class and Aristocrats now considered education a status symbol. Education
was easily taught in churches through the use of the new movable printing
press. By the year 1500, fifteen to twenty million books were distributed
among Europe. The invention of printing widened the circulation of music
and increased the number of performers. In keeping with the Renaissance
ideal of the “universal man,” every educated person was expected to be
trained in music. This movement also affected the freedom of art. During
the Middle Ages, the nude body was and object of shame and concealment,
but during the Renaissance, it was a favorite theme of art and beauty. The
Virgin Mary was displayed as a childlike, unearthly creature in the Middle
Ages, but during the Renaissance as a beautiful young woman.
Mass and Motet: Two main forms of sacred Renaissance music are the Motet and the
Mass. The Motet is a polyphonic choral work set to a sacred Latin
text other than the Ordinary of the Mass. The Mass is a polyphonic
choral composition made up of two parts, the Ordinary and the Proper.
The Mass was the traditional composition by which composers
demonstrated mastery. But with the Mass’s liturgical form, unvarying
text, and established musical conventions left little room for
experimentation. Motets were the exception. They could be written
on different texts that offered new possibilities for word-music
relationships. This made the motet the most inviting genre for sacred
composition.
Definitions
1. Humanism: Focused primarily on life on earth, not on afterlife.
2. Word Painting: musical representation of specific poetic images.
3. Texture: the sound created by the elements of a work.
4. a cappella: unaccompanied choral music.
5. Madrigal: poetic musical form from the 14th century Italy.
6. Recitative: speech-like song.
7. Chromaticism: moving up or down by half-steps.
8. Ballett (fa-la): a dance-like song for several voices.
9. Organ: wind instrument consisting of from one to many sets of pipes controlled by
one or more keyboards; the only keyboard instrument used in the Middle Ages
and Renaissance periods.
10. Clef: sign placed at the beginning of a staff to indicate the position of some particular
pitch.
Composers
Josquin Desprez (1440 – 1512)
Born in France, served in Italy; the first composer to make music a personally expressive
art. Because much of his music was published during his lifetime, he was well known
and had great influence on other composers. He wrote both sacred and secular music.
Thomas Morley (1557 – 1602)
English Madrigal composer; author of the first treatise on music printed in England;
published twenty five compositions in honor of Queen Elizabeth I; lived once in the same
parish as Shakespeare.
John Dowland (1563 – 1626)
One of the greatest lutenists of all time; England’s finest composer of lute songs. He
lived a most exciting life, having been involved, at least peripherally, in a plot to
assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. His compositional style also allows him to be considered
as a Baroque composer.
Thomas Weelkes (1575 – 1623)
One of the greatest of the English Madrigalists; he was well in advance of his time in his
characterization of text.
Don Carlo Gesualdo (1560 – 1613)
Italian madrigalist whose works represent the extreme of chromaticism reached in the last
years of the Renaissance. The harmonic results achieved by Gesualdo, while often
described as mannerism, are indicative of a growing consciousness of the strength of
musical expression and of the ideals of the dawning Baroque era.
Giovanni Palestrina (1525 – 1594)
Italian composer; generally considered the greatest master of Renaissance Catholic
music. He is noted for the perfection of a purely vocal style, commonly known as the
a cappella style. His music is characterized by a high degree of technical perfection, with
diatonic melodies and smooth textures that culminated in a rare beauty of sound that is
almost transcendental.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.
~The Merchant of Venice