Renaissance Music 1400-1600

Overview Polyphony, in use since the 12th century, became increasingly elaborate with highly independent voices throughout the 14th century: the beginning of the 15th century showed simplification, with the voices often striving for smoothness. This was possible because of a greatly increased vocal range in music – in the Middle Ages, the narrow range made necessary frequent crossing of parts, thus requiring a greater contrast between them.

Genres Principal liturgical forms which endured throughout the entire Renaissance period were masses and motets, with some other developments towards the end, especially as composers of sacred music began to adopt secular forms (such as the madrigal) for their own designs. Common sacred genres were the mass, the motet, the madrigale spirituale, and the laude. During the period, secular music had an increasing distribution, with a wide variety of forms, but one must be cautious about assuming an explosion in variety: since printing made music more widely available, much more has survived from this era than from the preceding Medieval era, and probably a rich store of popular music of the late Middle Ages is irretrievably lost. Secular music included songs for one or many voices, forms such as the frottola, chanson and madrigal.

Purely instrumental music included consort music for recorder or viol and other instruments, and dances for various ensembles. Common genres were the toccata, the prelude, the ricercar, the canzona, and intabulation (intavolatura, intabulierung). Instrumental ensembles for dances might play a basse danse (or bassedanza), a pavane, a galliard, an allemande, or a courante. Towards the end of the period, the early dramatic precursors of opera such as monody, the madrigal comedy, and the intermedio are seen.

Characteristics Word Painting Texture is chiefly polyphonic Close relationship between words and music—musical representation of specific poetic images. Usually moderate, balanced, no extreme contrasts of dynamics, tone color or rhythm Texture is chiefly polyphonic typical choral piece has four, five, or six voices with imitation Rhythm is more gentle flow than a sharply defined beat

Sacred Music The two main forms of sacred Renaissance music are the motet and the mass Both are alike in style, but a mass is a longer composition Motet is a polyphonic choral work set to a sacred Latin text other than the ordinary of the mass. The Mass is a polyphonic choral composition made up of five sections: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei

Josquin Desprez (1440-1521) A contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci and Christopher Columbus Usually considered to be the central figure of the Franco-Flemish school. Josquin is widely considered by music scholars to be the first master of the high Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal music that was emerging during his lifetime.

Josquin wrote both sacred and secular music, and in all of the significant vocal forms of the age, including masses, motets, chansons and frottole. During the 16th century, he was praised for both his supreme melodic gift and his use of ingenious technical devices. Josquin wrote towards the end of the period in which the mass was the predominant form of sacred composition in Europe. The mass, as it had developed through the 15th century, was a long, multi-section form, with opportunities for large-scale structure and organization not possible in the other forms such as the motet. Josquin wrote some of the most famous examples of the genre, most using some kind of cyclic organization.

Josquin was fond of canonic techniques, as were many other composers of his generation, and canon appears in all of his masses, sometimes to the exclusion of other structural devices.

Motet Josquin's motet style varied from almost strictly homophonic settings with block chords and syllabic text declamation to highly ornate contrapuntal fantasias, to the psalm settings which combined these extremes with the addition of rhetorical figures and text-painting that foreshadowed the later development of the madrigal. He wrote many of his motets for four voices, an ensemble size which had become the compositional norm around 1500, and he also was a considerable innovator in writing motets for five and six voices. Listening Example: Desprez Ave Maria…virgo serena

Josquin frequently used imitation, especially paired imitation, in writing his motets, with sections akin to fugal expositions occurring on successive lines of the text he was setting.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman school of musical composition. He had a lasting influence on the development of church music, and his work has often been seen as the culmination of Renaissance polyphony.

A devoted Catholic, Palestrina was organist of the principal church (St. Agapito) of his native city, and in 1551 he became maestro di cappella at the Cappella Giulia, the papal choir at St Peter's. Palestrina’s music includes 104 masses and some 450 other sacred works. One of his most enduring works is the Missa Papae Marcelli (Pope Marcellus Mass), which according to legend was composed in order to persuade the Council of Trent that a draconian ban on the polyphonic treatment of text in sacred music (as opposed, that is, to a more directly intelligible homophonic treatment) was unnecessary. Council of Trent: discouraged excessively complex polyphony as inhibiting understanding the text.

Pope Marcellus Mass Palestrina’s most famous mass, written for an a cappella choir of six voice parts: soprano, alto, two tenors, and two basses. Polyphonic texture, each part constantly imitate each other. Fuller than Josquin’s Ave Maria, flow smoothly The text is short 1. Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy. 2. Christe eleison, Christ, have mercy. 3. Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy.

Secular Music Vocal Music Written for groups of solo voices and for solo voice with the accompaniment of one or more instruments. Word Painting was common The madrigal: a piece for several solo voices set to a short poem, usually about love. Listening: Thomas Weelkes As Vesta Was Descending (1601)

Instrumental Music Still subordinate to vocal music, instrumental music did become more important during the Renaissance. Instrumental groups performed polyphonic vocal pieces, which were often published with the indication to be sung or played. Soloists used the harpsichord, organ, or lute to play simple arrangements of vocal works. Much of instrumental music was intended for dancing. Court dances were often performed in pairs. A favorite pair was the stately pavane, in duple meter, and the lively galliard, in triple meter.