Renaissance Music Overview

Renaissance

Period of European cultural, literary, and artistic revival.

Humanism

Revival of ancient Greek and Roman culture.

Fine amour

Idealized, unattainable love in poetry.

Troubadour poetry

Poetry focused on courtly love.

Motet

Polyphonic vocal composition with multiple voices.

Faburden

Early Renaissance polyphony with parallel sixths.

Contenance Angloise

Characteristic of 15th-century English music.

Burgundian chanson

Polyphonic song with courtly love themes.

Imitative counterpoint

Texture with imitation between voices.

Canon

Composition with voices entering successively.

Consonance

Stable, harmonious interval or chord.

Dissonance

Unstable sound needing resolution.

Gilles Binchois

Composer of sacred and secular music.

John Dunstable

Leading English composer of consonant style.

Guillaume Dufay

Singer and composer in Italian courts.

Antoine Ockeghem

French royal court composer and mentor.

Cyclic mass

Technique linking sections of a mass.

Contrapuntal

Characteristic of Ohkegem Mass.

Musica Ficta

Adjusting pitch for smoother harmony.

Paraphrase Mass

Polyphonic mass with paraphrased melody.

Josquin des Prez

Composer with multiple manuscripts published.

Chanson

French secular polyphonic song.

Text painting

Musical depiction of words.

Madrigal

Italian poem set to music.

Villancico

Spanish polyphonic song with refrains.

Sonnet

Poetic form of a madrigal.

Musica Reservata

Chromatic progressions and word-painting style.

Jacques Arcadelt

Composer of 'Il bianco e dolce cigno'.

Cipriano De Rore

Composer of 'Da le belle contrade d'oriente'.

Luca Marenzio

Composer of 'Solo e pensoso'.

Carlo Gesualdo

Composer of 'Io parto' e non più dissi'.

Claudin de Sermisy

Composer of 'Tant que vivray'.

Claude Le Jeune

Composer of 'Revecy venir du printans'.

Musique mesurée à l'antique

French music style imitating Ancient Greek.

Musica Transalpina

Italian madrigals translated into English.

Lute song

Solo song with lute accompaniment.

Thomas Morley

English composer of madrigals and balletts.

Part Book Format

Book with music for one voice part.

Tablature

Intabulation for lute or keyboard.

Consort

Group of instruments.

Pavane/Gaillard

Sixteenth-century dance in fast triple meter.

Diminutions

Reduction of note values in ornamentation.

Organ Mass

Organ setting for all mass sections.

Ricercar

Instrumental piece with imitation.

Canzona

16th-century Italian instrumental work.

Martin Luther

German leader of the Protestant Reformation.

Chorale

Lutheran strophic hymn.

Chorale Motet

16th-century motet in chorale style.

John Calvin

French Protestant theologian of the Reformation.

Metrical Psalm

Rhymed vernacular psalm translation.

Henry VIII

Broke from the pope, claimed church control

Thomas Tallis

Taught William Byrd; Monopoly for music printing

William Byrd

Leading English composer, Catholic during Protestant reign

Anthem

Polyphonic sacred work for Anglican services

Council of Trent

Reform meetings to cleanse Church of abuses

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Premier Italian church composer, saved polyphony

Tomás Luis de Victoria

Renowned Italian composer of sacred music

Parody Mass

Composer reworks polyphonic model voices

Mensuration Canon

Voices move at different speeds, rhythmic play

Humanistic Thought

Influence on 15th-century music, ancient culture study

Italian Madrigal Music

Secular, through-composed, sentimental, heroic

Counterpoint Development

Evolution from 9th to 15th centuries

Motet Genre Development

Evolution of polyphonic sacred music form

Dissonance Practice

Departure from perfect intervals in music

Dunstable

Introduced PT, NT, syncopated suspensions

Central Contrapuntal Techniques

Key methods in Renaissance music composition

Strategies for Cyclic Mass Composition

Approaches to composing a cyclic mass

NAWM #23

Earliest known six-part polyphony piece

NAWM #32

First example of burden/refrain in carol genre

NAWM #33

First instance of parallel thirds and sixths in motet

NAWM #34

Rondeau with lilting rhythms, dotted figures

NAWM #35

Ballade with persistent syncopation, dissonance

NAWM #36

Fauxbourdon pioneer with parallel sixths

NAWM #37

Ballade/Cantus-firmus Mass based on secular melody

NAWM #38

Virelai with unrequited love theme, imitation use

NAWM #39

Mass with mensuration canon, suggested improv

NAWM #43

Chanson with changing textures, homophony, imitation