Music in The Renaissance

(1450-1600)
 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)
 Renaissance time line
1500-1600
• 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)
Renaissance time line

1500-1600
• Thomas Weelkes: As Vesta Was
Descending (1601)
• Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1596)
• Start of the Reformation (1517)
• Council of Trent (1545-63)
• Elizabeth I, queen of England (1558-1603)
• Spanish Armada defeated (1588)
The Renaissance
• Rebirth, or renaissance of human creativity
• Period of exploration and adventure
• Catholic Church is less powerful than during
Middle Ages – Martin Luther’s Protestant
Reformation
• 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
• Vocal music is more important than instrumental
• Music enhances the meaning and emotion of the text.
• no extreme contrasts
• Mainly polyphonic. 4, 5 or 6 voice parts - equal
melody
• Imitation is common
• Mild and relaxed: consonant chords.
• Golden age of a cappella
 Burgundian
School
• Style of musical composition
• Mainly church music
• Based in France, Belgium, Netherlands
• Late 14th – early 15th Century
• Flemish composers not connected to the
Vatican
• Style:
• Smooth & clear
• Polyphonic
• Main composers: Du fay and Busnois
Venetian School

• Style of musical composition

• Church & Secular music
• Based in Venice
• 1550 - 1610
• More progressive than Roman School
• Style:
• Polychoral (antiphonal)
• Voices & Organ
• Main composers: Monteverdi
 Roman School

• Style of musical composition

• Mainly church music
• Based in Rome
• Late 16th – early 17th Century
• All composers connected to the Vatican
• Style:
• Smooth & clear
• Polyphonic
• Main composers: Palestrina