Music in the Renaissance Part 3, Section 1 - 10/5/17

General History of the Renaissance Renaissance: “Rebirth” of human creativity Exploration - Christopher Columbus & Magellan Curiosity & Individualism - Leonardo da Vinci Painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, scientist, inventor, musician Humanism: focused on human life & its accomplishments Focused w/beauty of ancient cultures/languages - Greek Catholic church lost some power with the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther Invention of printing with movable type - spread learning! Around 1450

The Renaissance Era 1450-1600 Invention of movable type printing spread learning & music “Universal man” - every educated person was supposed to be trained in music Musicians enjoyed a higher status & pay than ever before - wanted credit for their work Flemish composers were regarded highly Netherlands, Belgium & northern France

Characteristics of the Music Vocal music was still more important than instrumental music Wrote music to enhance the meaning emotion of the text Word painting - musical representation of specific poetic images Descending from heaven set to a descending melodic line Wide range of emotions, but are expressed in a moderate way Not much contrast in the music

Texture Mostly polyphonic Typical music will have 4-6 voices of equal interest Homophonic texture is also used at times Sounds fuller than medieval music because bass registers were used Triad chords are no longer seen as dissonant A cappella: Unaccompanied vocal music Renaissance music did not need instrumental accompaniment Instruments would sometimes duplicated the vocal lines just to reinforce the sound