Part 3: The Renaissance (1450-1600)

Renaissance

Term used to describe the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Europe, a period of geographic exploration and adventure as well as intellectual curiosity and individualism.

Humanism

The dominant intellectual movement of the Renaissance, focusing on human life and its accomplishments.

Word painting

Musical representation of specific poetic images—for example, a falling melodic line to accompany the word descending—often found in Renaissance and baroque music.

A cappella

Choral music without instrumental accompaniment.

Lute

Plucked string instrument shaped like half a pear; used in Renaissance and baroque music.

Venetian school

Composers of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-
century Venice who—inspired by the two widely separated choir lofts of St. Mark’s Cathedral—often wrote music for several choruses and groups of instruments.

Motet

Polyphonic choral work set to a sacred Latin text other than that of the mass; one of the two main forms of sacred Renaissance music.

Mass

Sacred choral composition made up of five sections: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.

Madrigal

Composition for several voices set to a short secular poem, usually about love, combining homophonic and polyphonic textures and often using word painting; common in Renaissance music.

Lute song

Song accompanied by a lute.

Instrumental music

Music performed only with instruments.

Polychoral motet

Motet for two or more choirs, often including groups of instruments.

Josquin Desprez

(c. 1450-1521) master international musician born in Hainaut province (modern day Belgium); served in court chapes and in the Roman papal choir; composed masses, motets, and secular vocals; most notably composed Ave Maria

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

(c. 1525-1594) Italian Renaissance composer whose career was centered in Rome, where he held church positions including music director for St. Peter’s; compositions includes 104 masses & 450 other sacred works; most notably composed Pope Marcellus Mass

Thomas Weelkes

(1575-1623) finest English madrigalist; most notably composed As Vesta Was Descending

John Dowland

(1563-1626) virtuoso performer & leading English lute song composer; most notably composed Flow My Tears

Pierre Francisque Caroubel

(1576-1611) French violinist who most notably composed passamezzo and galliard, both from Terpsichore

Giovanni Gabrieli

(1555-1612) most important Venetian composter of the late Renaissance; organist at St. Mark’s Cathedral from 1585 to his death & composed polychoral motets; most notably composed Plaudite (Clap Your Hands)