The Renaissance: People, Pieces, and Publications

Josquin des Prez (ca 1440-1521)

Similar to Michelangelo, this composer was one of the most significant composers of the Franco-Flemish School, hailed as the greatest composer of his generation. He pursued his career in Italy, under the patronage of the Sforza and d’Este families and in the service of several prestigious churches (including the Sistine Chapel).

His music employs modal and triadic (3rds and 6ths) harmonies, often spiced with dissonance. He was a great master of contrapuntal techniques (canonic writing and imitative counterpoint), expressing the meaning of the text in his vocal settings by employing a syllabic text setting and a closer matching of musical stresses through accentuation of the text and vivid word painting. This resulted in works filled with rich emotional expression, an embodiment of the humanism of his time.

Ave Maria… virgo serena

A motet written ca 1470-1480s in honour of the Virgin Mary. Each stanza reflects a different aspect of her qualities so is musically treated uniquely (“paratactic form”). The opening melody is loosely based on the plainchant melody “Ave Maria” of the sequence of the Feast of the Annunciation.

Musically it features points of imitation, paired imitation, triadic harmony, textual clarity, fairly simple rhythm, and open intervals (fifths and octaves on important cadences).

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

A German priest who in 1517 posted his “Ninety-Five Theses,” or list of protests to the Catholic Church, which led to the Protestant Reformation. He founded the Lutheran Church, translated his version of the Bible into German, and replaced the elaborate polyphonic settings of the Mass with simple German monophonic hymns.

Council of Trent

A series of meetings of the highest Catholic Church officials in Trento, Italy, from 1545-1563, which condemned Protestantism and reaffirmed the doctrines of Catholicism, included these points on liturgical music:

1. The text should be clear and intelligible.

2. The counterpoint should not be overly dense or thick.

3. Except for organ, instruments should not be used.

4. Use of the secular cantus firmus was banned.

5. Displays of virtuosity should be avoided.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

The most important Catholic composer of the 16th century, associated with the Counter-Reformation, who composed reverent, spiritual works (reflecting his own deep Faith) in a polyphonic, a cappella style which is balanced with homorhythmic textures for chordal declamation.

His approach to Masses included using a cantus firmus, parody, paraphrase, and canon, with individual vocal lines for 4-6 parts that move by step or narrow leap, carefully avoiding or immediately resolving dissonance. He achieved textual clarity through chordal texture, clear-cut phrases, and musical accents that corresponded with the text. His style, now named after him, has served as a model for counterpoint students to this day.

Gloria from Missa Papae Marcelli

A polyphonic setting of one parts of the Mass Ordinary from 1567 which was written to exemplify the ability to write polyphony with textual clarity. This work is through-composed for 6 voices, although all are rarely heard together, which allows for texture changes through different combinations of voices. The counterpoint is restrained, with a limited and controlled use of imitation. The predominantly syllabic and homorhythmic text setting makes the words easy to understand, and allows the work to deliver the spiritual message with the music enhancing rather than distracting from it.

Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613)

An aristocratic Italian composer and lutenist who in his madrigals employed an intensely emotional, highly mannered experimental style, extravagant word painting, the frequent use of repetition, and (shockingly in his time) exaggerated chromaticism with a high level of dissonance, abrupt harmonic shifts, and chord changes. He wrote his own texts, which often reflected guilt and remorse, and employed a virtuosic style which required skilled performers.

He wrote six books of madrigals (including Il sesto Libro di Madridigali). In his personal life he murdered his wife and her lover.

Moro, lasso, al mio duolo

An Italian polyphonic work from 1611 for 5 a cappella voices which exemplifies the complexity and refinement its genre achieved as it evolved and developed. The exaggerated use of chromaticism and word painting employed (ex. the descending chromatic line representing death and grief, and the greater rhythmic activity on vita reflecting the energy of life) is representative of the highly mannered late-Renaissance style.

Musica Transalpina (Music Beyond the Alps)

The first printed collection of Italian madrigals in England (the first volume containing 57 pieces by 18 Italian composers) which was published in London in 1588 after being compiled by the editor and singer Nicholas Yonge. The enthusiasm for Italian madrigals had spread to England in the 1580s, and this collection inspired English composers to write madrigals in their mother tongue.

Thomas Morley (ca 1557-1602)

An English composer, organist, virtuoso keyboardist, and music publisher who is best known for his English madrigals, balletts, and canzonets, which demonstrate both homorhythmic and contrapuntal textures, the use of nonsense syllables, easily singable melodic lines, and which generally have a light-hearted character. The style of William Byrd influenced his sacred vocal works.

He wrote Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke in 1597, a work giving instructions to performers and composers, providing valuable information about 16th-century performance practices.

(He lived in England at the same time as Shakespeare.)

My Bonny Lass She Smileth

An English madrigal from 1595 which exemplifies the different character the English madrigal took (which, unlike the Italian madrigal, used pastoral texts and nonsense syllables). It was based on the Italian madrigal Questa dolce sirena (Giacomo Gastoldi) written four years prior, but was transformed into an English ballett with strophic form, a largely homophonic texture, and a dance-like character.

This madrigal has a lively, light-hearted mood, and its largely syllabic text setting and homorhythmic texture project the text with clarity, with the homophonic verses alternating with the imitative “fa-la-la” refrains.

The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book

A historically significant collection of English keyboard music from the early 17th century, named after the patron who donated the manuscript to Cambridge University in 1816, but which in fact was likely compiled by Francis Tregian (an amateur musician). This collection is included nearly 300 idiomatic, virtuosic keyboard works which range in style from dances to fantasies, preludes, arrangements of songs and madrigals, to variations, which therein represent the English keyboard composers of the time.

(*The works were often given fanciful names, such as The King’s Hunt and The Ghost.)

William Byrd (1540-1623)

An important English virginal composer and the Renaissance composer and singer of the Chapel Royal, who composed sacred works for both the Anglican and Roman Catholic Church, in English and in Latin, as well as songs for solo voice accompanied by consort of viols (a distinctly English genre) and idiomatic keyboard works (which are well-represented in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book).

The Carman’s Whistle

A solo-keyboard work from before 1591 that is based on a popular 16th-century tune (that is in a lilting compound meter, has 4 phrases in AA1BB1, and whose melody consists mostly of steps, skips, and narrow leaps). The theme is followed by 8 variations of texture and rhythm.