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Unit 3:
The Renaissance
1450-1600
TIMELINE
• 1450-1500
– Botticelli, La Primavera (1477)
– Fall of Constantinople (1453)
– Gutenberg Bible (1456)
– Columbus Reaches the Americas (1492)
• 1500-1600
– Leonardo da Vinci,
Mona Lisa (1503)
1500-1600 cont.
– Michelangelo,
David (1504)
1500-1600 cont.
– Raphael, School of Athens (1505)
1500-1600 cont.
– Titian, Venus and the Lute Player (1570)
1500-1600 cont.
– William Shakespeare,
Romeo and Juliet
(1596)
– Martin Luther’s
ninety-five theses,
start of the Protestant Reformation (1517)
– Council of Trent (1545-63)
– Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1558-1603)
– Spanish Armada defeated (1588)
“Renaissance”
• 15th and 16th century Europe known
as a “rebirth” or “renaissance” of
human activity
GENERALIZATIONS
• Exploration
– Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand
Magellan
• Individualism (“universal man”)
– Leonardo da Vinci
• Painter, sculptor, architect, engineer,
scientist, musician
• Humanism
– The dominant intellectual movement
• Focused on human life and its accomplishments
• No concern with Heaven or Hell
• Even though many were devout religious believers,
they were captivated by the cultures of ancient
Greece and Rome
• Intoxicated with beauty of ancient languages –
Greek and Latin – and with the literature of
antiquity
Humanism cont…
– Painters and sculptors drawn to subjects
from classical literature/mythology
– Art highlighted depictions of the nude
body
• a favorite theme of antiquity, but an object of
shame and concealment during Middle
Ages. Medieval artists more concerned with
religious symbols rather than lifelike
representation
– Art more concerned in realism
• Linear persepective – geometrical system
for creating an illusion of space and depth.
• Example: Raphael’s School of Athens
Example of
Medieval art
Example of Renaissance art
– Raphael, School of Athens (1505)
Humanism cont…
– Painters no longer treated the Virgin
Mary as a childlike, unearthly
creature—they showed her as a
beautiful young woman
• Catholic Church
– Far less powerful, but the Christian
church as a whole was still an important
musical center
– The unity of Christendom was exploded
by the Protestant Reformation led by
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
• Aristocrats and upper middle class now
considered education a status symbol;
hired scholars to teach their kids
• Church no longer monopolized learning
• Technology
– Invention of the movable type printing
press by Gutenberg accelerated the
speed of learning
– Before, books were rare and extremely
expensive
– By 1500, 15-20 million copies of 40,000
editions had been printed in Europe
Chapter 1: MUSIC IN THE
RENAISSANCE
• Idea of the “universal man”
– Every educated person was expected to be
musically trained.
MUSIC IN THE REN., cont…
• Musicians worked in churches,
courts and towns
– Churches
• Church choirs grew
• Polyphonic music was no longer performed
by several soloists, but entire choirs
MUSIC IN THE REN., cont…
– Courts (where most activity occurred)
• Kings, princes, dukes competed for best
composers
• Courts had 10-60 musicians
• Nobility often brought musicians along
when traveling
• Women employed in many Italian courts
(late Renaissance)
MUSIC IN THE REN., cont…
– Towns
• Musicians played for civic processions,
weddings, religious services
• Higher status and pay than before
• Composers started seeking credit for their work,
unlike the anonymity of the Middle Ages.
MUSIC IN THE REN., cont…
• Most leading
musicians came
from the Low
Countries (Flanders)
• Highly sought after,
mostly in Italy, which became center of
musical life
CHARACTERISTICS OF
RENAISSANCE MUSIC
• Words and Music
– Vocal more important than instrumental
• Why?
– More connection between music and
meaning/emotion of the text
• “When one of the words expresses
weeping, pain, heartbreak, sighs, tears and
other similar things, let the harmony be full
of sadness.” –Zarlino (Renaissance music
theorist)
CHARACTERISTICS, cont…
• Text Painting
– Musical representation of specific poetic images.
– How would you show:
• “Running” “Descending from Heaven” “Death”
• What are some other, less obvious ones?
CHARACTERISTICS, cont…
• Music still seems calm and restrained
to us.
– All the emotion and expression in
Renaissance music is expressed in
moderation, balance
• No extreme dynamic contrast
• Little tone color contrast
• Little rhythmic contrast
CHARACTERISTICS, cont…
• What SHMRFT traits can you fill in so far?
CHARACTERISTICS, cont…
• Texture
– Polyphonic
• 4, 5, or 6 voices, nearly equal melodic
interest
– Imitation
• Each voice presents the same melodic idea
in turn (as in a round)
– Some homophonic texture is used,
especially in light music, dances
CHARACTERISTICS, cont…
– Fuller sound
• Bass register used for first time, increasing
number of octaves heard
• Composers began to think in chords, in
addition to individual melodic lines
– In Middle Ages, entire melody lines thought up
one at a time and then combined.
– In Renaissance, melodies were thought up in
relation to how they accompany each other
– Mild, relaxed
• Lots of stable, consonant chords, many
triads
• Very little dissonance
CHARACTERISTICS, cont…
– “Golden Age” of a cappella choral music
•
•
Little instrumental accompaniment
2 Main uses for instruments
1. To duplicate vocal lines to reinforce the sound
2. Play the part of a missing singer
Now what can you add to your SHMRFT traits?
CHARACTERISTICS,
cont…
• Rhythm
– Gentle flow, not
sharply defined
beat
• Each melodic line
held great rhythmic
independence
• Made it challenging
to sing – each
singer had to be
independently
strong
CHARACTERISTICS, cont…
• Melody
– Melodies generally easy to sing
• Moves stepwise, few large leaps
And your SHMRFT traits now?
LISTENING TO RENAISSANCE
• Sicut Cervus
– Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
VOCABULARY REVIEW
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Renaissance
Individualism
“Universal man”
Humanism
Realism
Linear Perspective
Text Painting/Word Painting
Imitation
Consonance/Dissonance
A cappella
UNIT III PRESENTATIONS
Exploration: Columbus, da Gama,
Magellan
Technology: Movable Type Printing
Press, Gutenberg Bible
Kalyn
Julian
Blake
Jacob
Religion: Martin Luther and the
Protestant Reformation
Dominique
Phil
Alec
Bilal
Kieryn
Claire
Chris
Taimoor
Art: da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael
Emma
Aaron
Sami
Ryan
Literature: William Shakespeare
Anna
Andrew
Nathan
Nick