1. Music in The Renaissance (1450-1600)
Music before 1750
Mr. Gee
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute

2. Renaissance time line 1450-1500 Josquin Desprez:
Ave Maria…Virgo Serena (c. 1475)
Arts and letters: Botticelli, La Primavera (1477)
Historical events:
Fall of Constantinople (1453)
Gutenberg Bible (1456)
Columbus reaches America (1492)

3. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina:
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)

4. Renaissance time line 1500-1600
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)

5. 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). Interest in realism
Humanism
Catholic Church is less powerful than during Middle Ages – Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation
More books are printed in Europe

6. Music in the Renaissance 1450-1600
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

7. Characteristics of Renaissance music
Words 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. Josquin Desprez (1440-1521) 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

12. Palestrina (1525-1594) 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

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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

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

18. Giovanni Gabrieli (1555-1612) 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