THE RENAISSANCE/MUSIC

1400

Beginning of the Renaissance.

1600

End of the Renaissance.

Rebirth, a revival in the humanistic values of Greece and Rome.

Renaissance meaning.

Art and science.

The Renaissance was a time of what kind of accomplishments?

*Focus was now on individual achievement.
*Greater focus on the daily world, not on spirituality.
*Widespread mingling of cultures, facilited by ease of travel and print material.

Major changes from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance?

Dignity of the individual human figure.

What did artists and sculptors concentrate on during the Renaissance?

Techniques of perspective, three-dimensional representation, and working with oils.

What did painters develop during the Renaissance?

Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.

Two famous artists of the Renaissance?

Greece and Roman time.

Architects used buildings from what time time period as models for their new buildings?

Petrarch of Italy, Cervantes of Spain, Rebelais of France, and Shakespear of England.

Writers of the Renaissance focused on self- expression and worth of the individual, writers like.

Inventions and scientific discoveries.

What discoveries were impressive in quantity and scope during the Renaissance, the printing press is one in 1450.

Had an incalculable effect on education, individual fame, spread of scientific knowledge and the growth of internationalism.

The rapid availability of books did what for the Renaissance?

Telescope and microscope.

These inventions during the Renaissance changed forever the way people looked at the world.

Renaissance man or woman.

Scholars that pursued both literary and scientific studies, highly educated and knowledgeable in all known fields were known as?

Protestant Movent (Reformation).

This new branch of Christianity was founded during the Renaissance, began in 1517 by Martin Luther.

Anglican Movement.

This new branch of Christianity was founded during the Renaissance, began in 1538 by King Henry the VIII.

Larger middle class.

By the 16th century this was formed because of the availability of books, growth of education and interest in learning and culture.

The Renaissance music period.

*Not considered socially accomplished if did not have musical training.
*Printing increased the availability of music.
*Amateur music more common.
*Composer & performers considered professional.
*Town supported musicians as public employees.
*Some women made it as performing musicians.
*Some of the most beautiful compositions were composed during the Renaissance.

Imitation (major characteristic of Renaissance music)

Replaced medieval polyphony, this form of polyphony is the musical lines present part of the same musical phrase one after the other. As each line enters, the previous ones continue, there is a constant sense overlapping.

Round (major characteristic of Renaissance music)

Strictest kind of imitation, all voices sing exactly the same thing in turn.

Free imitation (major characteristic Renaissance music)

Only the first few notes of a melodic phrase are sung by each entering voice; the voices then continue freely.

*Liturgical (worship), motets (sacred Latin texts), and secular songs.

Music style changed from the Middle Ages but these predominant types of music composition were the same during the Renaissance.

International style.

Early Renaissance saw the merging of individual musical characteristics of different European countries into an?

Mass, motet, and secular song.

Early Renaissance composers in Europe wrote polyphonic, often imitative, concentrating on?

John Dunstable (England), Guillaume DuFay (France).

*Their musical styles crossed national boundaries, they flourished in the early Renaissance writing music of great beauty and sophistication.
*Polyphonic Masses used musical phrases that recur in different movements.
*Motets based on Latin texts often out of the Bible.
*Secular songs usually three-part love songs.

Guillaum DuFay (France)

Traveled extensivly throuought Europe, exposed to the different musical styles of North and South Europe, he brought about a fusion of the two types of music to his own music.

Renaissance Mass.

*Sung Polyphonically.
*Composers concentrated on sections of the Mass that remained the same, these 5 sections are Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei (the Oridinary of the Mass).

Musical setting of a Renaissance Mass.

Based on the the musical texture of imitation (melody lines performed by several different voices in succession, creating an overlapping effect).

Josquin Desprez (Northern France)

*The most versatile and gifted composer of mid-Rennaisance.
*His musical style can best be described as a combination of many melodies heard simultaneously. (Masses, motets, and secular song).
*Brought musical imitation to new heights of clarity and flexibility.

Josquin's Pange Lingua Mass

*Musical ideas came from a centuries-old plainchant.
*Polyphonic.
*Written for 4 voices, soprano, alto, tenor, bass.
*Rhythm of every musical phrase to fit words of the Mass.
*Notes are added or modified from the chant melody to mold or vary his phrases.
*Composition movements are in five section of the Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei).

Main characteristics of Renaissance.

*Music based on modes
*Richer texture in four or more parts
*Harmony with a greater concern with the flow and progression of chords
*Overall sound much smoother.
*Homogeneous (uniform).
*Blending, less contrast in musical texture than medieval music, changing the way music was composed.

Late characteristics of Renaissance music.

*Polyphony fully explored by composers through Europe.
*Composers began using more homophony (chordal texture).
*The use of imitative polyphony and homophony were used by Composer Josquin Despres forward to alternate and interweave the two styles to create greater and variety in texture and focus on the meaning of the text.
*Increased focus on expressing the text.
*The combination of technical and text expression lead to the most beautiful works in the history of music.
*Italy was the main center of musical activity.

Technical change in late Renaissance music. Compare Machaut p63. and Palestrina p76.

Composers began to think final chords should have fullest sound possible and should include the third, root, fifth, and the octave of the chord.

Role music played in deliberations of church reformers during Counter-Reformation.

*Council of Trent, a council of cardinals.
*Music discussed and many complaints heard.
-Seculars songs being used for the basis of
sacred.
-Singers too theatrical distract from the liturgy.
-Polyphony to complicated, obscuring sacred
words.
*Considered banning polyphony.
*Agreed polyphonic music could be used in church if the words were clear and they style not elaborate.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (Palestrina)

*This composer most clearly represented the musical ideas of the Council of Trent that that polyphonic music could be used in church but the words needed to heard clearly and the style not too elaborate.
*Most highly regarded composer of late Renaissance choral music.
*His style is a balance, control, evenness, clarity, and perfect text setting.
*Overall effect of his music achieved by careful control of individual melodic lines and placement of dissonance.
*His music so inspiring it is a model of perfection for those wishing to imitate the grace and beauty of Renaissance polyphony.
*His music has constant interplay between counterpoint (two or more musical lines interveaving) and homophony (block chords).
*His most impressive achievement is the composition of 250 motets.

Strict guidelines for Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrinas polyphonic pieces.

*Melody moves most times by steps, no leaps between notes.
*If a leap occurs, it is small and counterbalanced stepwise in opposite direction.
Rhythmic flow not rigid is shifting, gentle, and alive.
*Careful control of dissonance, if occur they are immediately resolved.

Renaissance Motet

*Usually 4 part.
*Voices sing same sacred text in same language, usually Latin.
*Highly expressive, with a sensitive and compelling approach to the meaning of the text.

Renaissance secular song.

*Evolved in two phases
-15th-century secular songs very similar to those of the middle ages.
-The style was very international
late Renaissance saw the birth of distinct national styles for secular songs throughout Europe

Italy

This country was the most influential of national styles of secular songs developing madrigals.

Madrigals

*These are secular vocal pieces for a small group of singers, usually unaccompanied usually about love, nature, war or battles.
*They mingle chordal and imitative textures and sensitively reflect the meaning of the text.
*Matching the words of the text with music that expresses their meaning was a primary concern of late-Renaissance composers.
*Flourished in Italian aristocratic families.
*Chordal textures and imitative polyphony was used in these as motets.
*If the text of a song had the word flying the music would fast upward scales, peace or happiness would have sweet major chords, agony would have dissonance.
*Became very popular during 16th century.

Antithesis

*Means opposite and is used as a literary device to put two contrasting ideas together. This emphasizes the difference between the two ideas and adds interest to writing.
*Presented ideal musical opportunities for Madrigal composers.

Madrigals of England

*By the end of the 16th century they had taken hold here.
*Written in English text using a lighter more cheerful tone than the Italians.
*Thomas Morley was the guiding force of this, he was granted sole permission to print music for the whole of England.
*Morley published more of these than any other English composer and his style was followed by most English Madrigalists.

Rise of instrumental music.

*Polyphonic style had run its course.
*New composers had new ideas and felt that new ways had to be found to allow words to dominate the music.
*In the 17th century the Baroque style was born (voices accompanied instruments).
*Instrument music became more prominent.
*Compositions from serious works to lighthearted dances.

Giovanni Gabrieli

*During the rise of instrumental music this organist and composer and master of the Canzona ( consists of multiple instrumental lines, typically 4-8, which often imitate or echo each other).
*Created an early type of stereo sound by putting two contrasting instrument groups opposite from each other in the church lofts at St. Marks.

Renaissance dance music.

This was the largest category of instrumental music during the Renaissance and the most popular form of entertainment. Usually written binary (AABB) form.

The principal way of combining voices in the Renaissance were through.

*Homohony (harmonizing voices singing in the same rhythms).
*Imitation (voices copying each other a few measures apart).

Word painting

(Also known as tone painting or text painting) is the musical technique of writing music that reflects the literal meaning of a song. For example, ascending scales would accompany lyrics about going up; slow, dark music would accompany lyrics about death.

Fundamentals of Renaissance music.

*Sound is smooth and homogenous (alike).
*Harmony still based on modes.
*Prominent is imitation (repetition of a melody).
*Vocal genres are Mass, motets, and secular songs.
*Motets and Madrigals (a part-song for several voices) used word-painting, can involve dissonance (lack of harmony).
*Instrument music either serious and imitative or light and dancelike.

Humanism

A Renaissance cultural movement that turned away from medieval scholasticism (system of theology and philosophy taught in medieval European universities) and revived interest in ancient Greek and Roman thought.

Secular patronage

*Patrons of music were primarily nobles, those with money who can afford to commission pieces from composers.
*The advent of the printing press created a commercial market for written music at cheap prices
*It shifted patronage from the nobility to the general public who can now afford to support the musical arts.
*Music printing brought music into the homes and helped develop a growing amateur musician population and an increase in secular music.