Music in The Renaissance ( ) Music before 1750

Renaissance time line  Josquin Desprez: Ave Maria…Virgo Serena (c. 1475)  Arts and letters: Botticelli, La Primavera (1477)  Historical events:  Fall of Constantinople (1453)  Columbus reaches America (1492)

Gutenburg Printing Press 1436 Movable type  The printing books became cheaper and available to the poor class. Education fueled the reformation.

Renaissance Time Line  Thomas Weelkes: As Vesta Was Descending (1601)  Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1596)  Martin Luther’s ninety-five theses, start of the Reformation (1517)  Council of Trent ( )  Elizabeth I, queen of England ( )  Spanish Armada defeated (1588)

Renaissance time line  Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Pope Marcellus Mass (1563)  Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa (c. 1503)  Michelangelo, David (1504)  Raphael, School of Athens (1505)  Titan, Venus and the Lute Player (c. 1570)

The Renaissance  Rebirth, or renaissance of human creativity  Period of exploration and adventure (Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan)  Curiosity and individualism (Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo). Interest in realism  Humanism  Catholic Church is less powerful than during Middle Ages – (Luther and Calvin)  More books are printed in Europe

Music in the Renaissance  Every educated person is expected to be trained in music  Renaissance town musicians: higher pay and status  Flemish composers: parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern France. Germany, England and Spain – other countries with a vibrant musical life

Characteristics of Renaissance music Text and music  Vocal music is more important than instrumental  Music enhances the meaning and emotion of the text. Word painting: musical representation of specific poetic images  Moderate, balanced way of expression: no extreme contrasts of dynamics, tone color or rhythm

Characteristics of Renaissance music Texture  Chiefly polyphonic. 4, 5 or 6 voice parts with equal melodic interest  Imitation is common  Homophonic texture is also used  Fuller sound than medieval: bass register  Mild and relaxed: consonant chords.  Golden age of a cappella

Characteristics of Renaissance music Rhythm and melody  Rhythm is a gentle flow: Each melodic line has great rhythmic independence  Melody usually moves along a scale with few large leaps

Sacred music in the Renaissance 2 main forms: Motet and Mass  Motet – polyphonic choral work set to sacred Latin text other than the ordinary of the mass  Mass – polyphonic choral work with 5 sections:  Kyrie  Gloria  Credo  Sanctus  Agnus Dei

Ottavian Petrucci  In 1501, he was the first printer to mass produce music.  The process was very laborious as it required many passes of the paper to get the staff, clefs and notes onto the page.  His runs were very short and the cost was expensive.

Pierre Attaingnant  Paris  By the 1520’s movable music type began to be used.  Single impressions were able to be made and music became cheaper.

Martin Luther 95 Thesis in 1517

Martin Luther  Movement away from the worship of Mary  Music focused on bible teachings.  All should be singing, and in their native tounge.  Luther wrote the text to a book of Protastant Hymns.  Johann Walther used secular folk songs as melodies so that the congregation would be familiar with them.

Composers of Sacred Music

Josquin Desprez ( ) and the Motet  A Flemish composer from Belgium, contemporary of Leonardo Da Vinci and Columbus  Ave Maria…virgo serena: 4-voice motet  Texture is varied: polyphonic and homophonic  Duple/triple meter change

Palestrina ( ) and the Mass  Italian Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina  104 masses and some 450 other sacred works  For centuries, his masses are regarded as models of church music

Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass  A capella choir SATTBB  Kyrie – 1 st section of the mass: Kyrie Eleison Christe Eleison Kyrie Eleison

English Politics  English Ruler Timeline  Henry VIII  1532 Henry Breaks with Pope  1539 Adoption of the English Bible  Rule of Edward VI  1549 Book of Common Prayer Issued: John Merbecke  1552 Second Book of Common Prayer  Mary 1- Catholocism becomes National religion again and the Latin Rite is restored.  Elizabeth I- Church of England Restored Mary Stuart Executed in 1587  James I- Jacobean Era

English Sacred Composers  Tomas Tallis  William Byrd  *Henry VII ( )

Secular music  Vocal music: groups of solo voices with the accompaniment. Word painting was common  Madrigal – a piece for several solo voices set to a short poem, usually about love. Combines homophonic and polyphonic textures. More unusual harmonies  Originated in Italy around Became popular in England. English madrigals are lighter and more humorous than Italian  As Vesta Was Descending by Thomas Weelkes ( ), and organist and church composer

Instrumental music  Instrumental music becomes more independent  Most music is for dance:  Pavane or passamezzo– duple meter  Galliard – triple meter  Harpsichord, organ, lute, recorder, trumpet, cornett, sackbut (early trombone), viol, regal (small organ with reed pipes), shawm (ancestor of the oboe)  Instrumental form of theme and variations

Instrumental Music cont..  New Tuning  Musica Ficta  Circle of Fifths  More use of accidentals

Provincial Forms of Music Six main styles that developed provincially:  Burgundian (France, Belgium & Holland)  Flemish (Netherlands)  Iberian (Spain and Portugal)  Germany  English  Venetian

The Renaissance Ballet (Fa-La)  A simpler type of secular vocal music  A dance-like song for several voices  Mostly homophonic in structure. Fa-la syllables are used as refrain  Now Is the Month of Maying (1595) by Thomas Morley ( ), English composer  Each stanza: AA – refrain – BB - refrain

Bergundian Composers  Guillaume Dufay  Gilles Binchois

Burgundian (France, Holland, Belgium)  Burgundian Motets  In the style of a chanson  Not polyphonic as Italian Motets (Palistrina)  Chanson  Written in French  Secular, and almost always about love  Most often written in rondeau form  Different from the ballades due to form (aabC)  Two prominent chanson composers Claudin de Sermisy and Clement Janequin

Flemish Composers  Josquin de Prez c  Johannes Ockeghem  Jacob Obrecht  Heinrich Isaac c (Singer and performer)  Served the Medici Family in Italy  Very international influences using many different forms and compositional devices  Alexander Agricola

Flemish  Imitation Motets and Masses  Mensuration Canon: See handout  Diminution  Augmentation

Iberian Composers  The Triumvirate  Francesco Guerrero  Cristobal de Morales  Tomas Luis de Victoria

Iberian (Spain and Portugal)  Unique form  Ensalada

English Secular Composers  Thomas Morley  John Wilbye  Thomas Weelkes  John Dowland  Noted Lutenist

English  Madrigals  Dance Music

Germany  German Lied  Polyphony took root very slowly because of the separation of the Catholic Church

Venetian Composers  The Republic of Music  St Marks Cathedral  Giovanni Gabrieli  Pioneer of large works, including the concerto form.

Venetian  Frottala  Pre-curser to the Italian Madrigal  Syllabic and four part  Homophonic

The Venetian School: Renaissance to Baroque  16 th century Venice – a center of instrumental and vocal music  Venetian School – music directors and organists of St. Mark’s Cathedral and their colleagues

Giovanni Gabrieli ( ) and the polychoral motet  The most important Venetian composer of the late Renaissance before Monteverdi  Polychoral motets – motets for 2 or more choirs, often with instrumentalists  Plaudite (Clap Your Hands), Written for a large vocal and instrumental ensemble of 12 voice parts divided into 3 choirs: low, middle and high register choirs  The homophonic structure of this piece brings it closer to Baroque style