Renaissance (1450-1600)

AP Music Theory

The Renaissance

(1450 - 1600)

• Time of “rebirth” in learning science, and the arts
• Rediscovery of Ancient Rome and Greece peaked curiosity
• The invention of the printing press
• The invention of the compass
• Copernicus discovers the actual position of Earth in the solar system

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The Renaissance

(1450 - 1600)

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• Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation 1517
• Catholic church loses grip on society
• Humanist spirit was born
• Sculptures and Art (Michelangelo)
• Theatre
• Shakespeare

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Characteristics of Renaissance Music

(1450 - 1600)

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• Interval of a 3rd (which was dissonant in medieval era) was now consonant
• Vocal range in music increased!
• Richer texture and more parts
• Harmony with greater concern for flow and progression
• Polychoral style (double choir!)
• Golden age for acapella music

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Characteristics of Renaissance Music

(1450 - 1600)

• The development of the “Madrigal” genre
• Word painting - meaning of text corresponded with compositional device

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Early Renaissance

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Mid Renaissance

Late Renaissance

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Early Renaissance (1400-1467)

Early Renaissance

(1400 - 1467)

• This group gradually dropped the late medieval period’s complex devices of isorhythm and extreme syncopation, resulting in a more fluid style.
• What their music lost in rhythmic complexity, however, it gained in rhythmic vitality, as a “drive to the cadence” became a prominent feature around mid-century.

Middle Renaissance

(1467-1534)

Middle Renaissance

(1467 - 1534)

• 1470 music made its way to the printing press!
• New masters of instrument making
• Neuschel for trumpets
• Polyphonic sacred music became more complex
• Detail oriented
• Canonic development
• Toward early 16th c. trend towards simplification
• Imitation, duet/trio sections
• Texture grew to 5 and 6 voices
• Passages of homophony

Late Renaissance

(1534-1600)

Late Renaissance

(1534 - 1600)

• Polychoral style developed
• Multiple choirs of singers, brass, and strings in different spatial locations
• The Roman School
• Polyphonic sacred music became more complex
• Detail oriented
• Canonic development
• Toward early 16th c. trend towards simplification
• Imitation, duet/trio sections
• Texture grew to 5 and 6 voices
• Passages of homophony

The Mass

The Development of the Mass

1. 15th and 16th c. had two types of masses (polyphonic and monophonic)
2. Mass has two parts
1. Ordinary - weekly (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus Benedictus, Agnus Dei)
2. Proper (changes weekly)

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3. 4 styles of masses were developed because of imitation

4. Double choirs were utilized for the incredibly large spacious cathedrals of the Renaissance

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Instruments

Instruments

• Loud outdoor instruments
• Instruments considered less important than voices
• Used for dance and vocal music accompaniment
• Types
• Trumpet
• Cornett (made out of wood looked like a recorder, but blown like a trumpet)
• Viol (6 stringed violin)
• Lyre (similar to harp)
• Tambourine

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Masters of the Renaissance

Composers

• Early Renaissance: Dufay, Agricola, Desprez
• Middle Renaissance: Willaert, Palestrina, Gabrieli
• Late Renaissance: Victoria, Hassler, Byrd, Morley

The Master of the Renaissance

Giovanni Palestrina

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Development of Music

• Utilized a single voice
• Integrated musical material, and motivic material through all the voices
• Imitative textures
• Motets became freer melodically and structurally
• Instrumental participation is common
• New Genres: Passions, Requiems, Psalms, Lamentations, Madrigals
• Demise of modal counterpoint and rise of monody and basso continuo

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Josquin des Prez (1450 - 1522)

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• First master of the high renaissance in polyphonic vocal music
• Franco-Flemish Composer composed over 370 sacred and secular works
• Motets, Masses, Chansons, Instrumental music
• Utilized chant melody then freely composes
• Mastery in technique and expression
• Perfected the melody

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Council of Trent

Council of Trent (1545 -1563)

• In response to the Protestant Reformation. The objectives were to…
• Condemn Protestantism
• Reformation in discipline and administration
• The church is the ultimate interpreter of scripture
• Musical Reforms
• Avoid secular music
• Better treatment of text
• Restore “sacredness” of music in the liturgy
• Wanted to remove all polyphony until the master of the renaissance came to be - Palestrina

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Giovanni Palestrina (1525 - 1594)

• Career centered in Rome
• Used art of polyphonic pervasive imitation and didn’t obliterate the text
• All voices are equal, symmetrical style
• Predictable clear structure
• Paired voices bounce out of texture
• Musical Elements
• Well balanced
• Symmetrical melodic curves
• Imitative counterpoint intermingled with antiphonal homophony
1. Sicut Cervus

Thomas Luis Victoria (1548 - 1611)

• Trained in Rome
• Successor to Palestrina
• Servant to the “word”
• Harmonica palette different from Palestrina
• Use of chromatics
• Ex. O magnum mysterium, O quam gloriosum
• Musical Elements
• Well balanced
• Symmetrical melodic curves
• Imitative counterpoint intermingled with antiphonal homophony

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The English Renaissance

The English Renaissance

End of 100 Years War

• Marked significant musical development
• Protestant Reformation establishment of Anglican Church
• Composers had to adopt a less ornate style to set syllabic English texts

1529 Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn and establishes Church of England

• There was confusion on how the service worked
• English anthems appeared

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Composers

Notable

Pre-Reformation

• John Tavener (1495-1545)
• Thomas Tallis (1505-85)
• Composed through the demise of Catholicism
• William Byrd (1543-1623)
• Exclusive patent to print music in England
• Repetition of small motivic modules at different pitch levels with different voicings
• Ave verum corpus crosses bridge between modality and modern tonality
• Influenced by Rome and Venice

That’s a wrap...

The Renaissance Era

Next up…

The Baroque Era