Renaissance Music: Genres and Key Figures

French Chanson and Italian Madrigal

Two Secular genres of Musical Poetry

Italian Madrigal

Written for small groups, In the vernacular language, Faster, Regular rhythms, Word Painting, Mainly depictions of love, also humor, politics, and satire

English Madrigal

Modeled after the Italian Madrigal, lighter texts used more often

Renaissance Motet

Latin text, a cappella, Smooth melodies, Sung by boys and men, Use of imitation, Consonant (pleasant) intervals

John Famer

Helped shape madrigals into a truly native English artform

Martin Luther

Started the Protestant Revolution with his 95 Theses

John Calvin

Believed polyphony distracted from the sacred texts

Humanism

Focusing on the person or the individual rather than religion

Madrigal, motet, mass

3 vocal composition styles of Ren.

Palestrina

Composer who wrote the most amount of masses

A cappella singing

Singing (individual or group) without any instrumental accompaniment

Word Painting

Music imitates and directly reflects the text

Renaissance Dance Music

Often added improvisational embellishments

Recorder, Lute, Rebec

Soft/Indoor Instruments

Shawm, Sackbut, Cornetto, Tabor, Nakers

Loud/Outdoor Instruments

Tielman Susato

Well known printer and musician (multi-instrumentalist). Composed and arranged various secular and sacred pieces

Printing Press

Allowed for sharing of music that could be played at home