Renaissance (1450-1600)

The word “Renaissance” literally means “rebirth”, referring to the rediscovery and reevaluation of the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans as well as objective of intellectuals and artists of the time to repudiate the previous era (The Middle Ages). It was a time of great cultural awakening and a flowering of the arts, letters, and sciences throughout Europe. It was a time of advances in science by Copernicus and Galileo. It was a time of exploration by Columbus, Sir Francis Drake, Cortez, Magellan, and DeSoto. It was a time of achievements in the arts, with artists Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo and playwright William Shakespeare on the scene.

Polyphony is the simultaneous interweaving of several melodic lines (usually four; soprano, alto, tenor, and brass) is a musical composition.

Musical Style

The musical style of the renaissance period is the smooth homogenous, imitative polyphonic style, used by composers like Palestrina. It was used not only in sacred music (predominantly masses & motets) but also in secular madrigals and instrumental consort music. The favored instrument was the lute.

Sacred Music

The sacred music of the renaissance expanded from the simple two line polyphony of the late middle ages to the four different vocal parts of equal importance. This new vocal form was the motet. Music was more important than the words, a contrast from the Middle Ages ideal.

Secular Music

Madrigals, songs for small groups of voices without instruments (like acapella), were the most popular form of secular music. Usually about love, madrigals became an important part of special occasions. King Henry VII of England was a fan of madrigals, and had them sung at feasts and weddings. They often had verses with repeated choruses like popular music today.

Instrumental Music

Composer began writing polyphonic pieces just for instruments. These pieces were often written to accompany ballroom dancing. Recorders and viols in all different sizes played together in groups called consorts. Other instruments of the Renaissance were lutes, shawms, krummhorns, and small versions of trumpets and trombones. Often instruments and voices combined for variety.

Historical & Social Context

The Middle class became interested in music during the renaissance because wealth no longer belonged solely to the nobility. People moved to cities and spent more time seeing plays and concerts. Music became part of any good education, and the invention of printing made it possible for sheet music to be available to everyone.

Josquin des Prez

Josquin des Prez studied under Renaissance master Johannes Ockegham (c. 1420-1495). The types if pieces Josquin composed were with clarity by using homophonic textures to allow each voice to present the text before the texture becomes too dense. Homophonic textures are multiple voices moving together harmonically at the same pace. He also used cantus firmus which is a technique that uses borrowed melodies, usually popular, to create a huge scaffolding upon which he constructs the other melodies.

Giovanni Palestrina (1525-1594)

Palestrina composed 100+ mass settings, 150 madrigals, and 200+ motets. His style was purer and more restrained. Palestrina’s contemporaries (living at the same time) called him “The Prince of Music” because his music was often considered “perfect” sacred music.