1. Humanities Today – Renaissance Notes
Wednesday (ER) & Thursday – Anonymous
Friday – Anonymous Reflection
Monday – Review Samples
Tuesday – Renaissance test prep (notecards)
Wednesday – Renaissance test
Thursday – Make-up tests and binder checks

2. The Renaissance

3. The Rise of Humanism Rediscover culture of Ancient Greece & Rome.
Belief that Man is the potential master of all things.
Change of focus from the afterlife to the current life.
Savonarola – “Bon-fire of the vanities”

4. The Quest for Virtu Virtu ≠ Virtue
One who embraces skill in many fields, exceptional intelligence, physical daring and courage, and whose actions display these characteristics
“Renaissance Man”

5. Technology 1440s – Moveable Type Printing
Decreased illiteracy – people read more than the Bible
Gunpowder imported from China
End of Feudal Age.
Prince Henry the Navigator (Portugal)
Improved Compass & Astrolabe
All discoveries influence the arts – people experience exotic cultures and more freedom

8. Martin Luther &The Reformation
Catholic Priests sold indulgences to absolve people of sins.
Luther believed that faith alone led to salvation.
95 theses on the door of Castle Church (Schlosskirche).

9. The Great Artists of the Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci
& Michelangelo

10. Da Vinci (1452-1519) 1 of 15 children – grew up in a 3 room farmhouse
Illegitimate and uneducated
Taught himself to speak Latin and to be ambidextrous and to write backwards

11. Florence Moved to the city at 14 Apprenticed under Andrea Barochio
Works show love of nature (grew up in the country)

12. Painting Preferred new idea of oil paint
Sfumato – light haze/foggy look
Chiaroscuro – play of light and dark/shadow to create contrast and emphasis

13. Inventiveness
Painting, sculpture, architecture, engineering, military science, botany, geology, anatomy, aerodynamics, and optics
Science and Math – weapons inventor, parachute, helicopter, Waterwheel – loved Geometry (triangles)
Planned to write a book on Anatomy but was never able (dissected at least 30 people)

14. Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)
Lived most life in Florence
Summoned to Medici house at 14
Studied statuary in their gardens

15. Sculpture First great work in Rome – Pieta The “giant” – David
Like Ancient Greeks and Romans, idealized beauty and perfect human form
Contraposto – twisted shoulders while the hips remain frontal

16. Painting Influenced by his sculpture Humans feel 3-D
Looks more like a carving

17. Architecture Dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica of Rome
Inspiration for the dome of our Capitol Building

18. Renaissance Music

19. Music Before the Renaissance
Strictly regulated by the church
Instruments were very rare
Most songs were Gregorian Chant

20. Polyphony
Musical texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices.

21. Two Thoughts on Polyphony
Pope in Avignon
Musical Innovation
Pleasing Sound
Pope in Rome
Obstructs words
Frivolous
Associated with pagan rites
Clashing notes labeled as evil

22. Counterpoint
Using notes from multiple people’s voices to create a bigger sound

23. Palestrina One of the most famous composers of the 16th century.
Perfect example of Renaissance Counterpoint

24. Secular Music
Music performed outside of the church

25. Renaissance Theatre

26. Commedia Dell’arte Italian Renaissance
Touring groups – usually comedy driven
Basic plot outlines/improvised dialogue/used costumes & masks that made their character recognizable
Stock characters – stereotypical characters instantly recognizable to era audiences

27. Elizabethan Theatre Late English Renaissance Love of language & poetry
Actors became professionals
Permanent theatre buildings (Globe)
William Shakespeare most notable playwright

28. William Shakespeare – The basics
Thought to be best writer in the English language
Surviving works: 38 plays, 154 sonnets, 2 long narrative poems, and several other poems

29. Shakespeare’s style Blank Verse – Poetry with meter but no rhyme
Iambic Pentameter – 10 syllables to a line, every other syllable stressed.
Double Entendre – A word or phrase with two meanings
Soliloquy – A speech made by a character to himself or to the audience.

30. The Globe theatre
First theatre built by actors, for actors (professional)
Where majority of Shakespeare’s works were originally performed
Exact size unknown – burned down – replaced and replacement destroyed for housing

32. The authorship debate
There are many who believe that William Shakespeare did not actually write any plays.
Reasons
No history of being a writer – nothing but 6 signatures have been found written in his own handwriting
Will – very detailed – mentions no books, plays, poems, or literary effects of any kind
Commoner/education – grew up in an illiterate household in the remote agricultural town of Stratford-upon-Avon – no record of an education – Vocabulary 29,000 words
Works show extensive knowledge of law, philosophy, classical literature, ancient and modern history, mathematics, astronomy, art, music, medicine, horticulture, heraldry, military and naval terminology and tactics; etiquette and manners of the nobility; knowledge of foreign areas he’d never traveled to
Gap between his youth in Stratford and the first record of him in London is known as the “lost years.” Except for a few church records, the first twenty-eight years of his life could be described as lost
William Shakspere – most writings are accredited to William Shakes-Speare

33. Renaissance Dance

34. Dance in the Court
Invented by rulers, kings, and aristocrats for their entertainment
Displayed social etiquette –gender roles

35. Common Dance
Less formal than court dance.
Peasantry

36. Thoinot Arbeau
Wrote Orchésographie – manual with detailed instructions for numerous styles of dance
First use of dance tabulations

37. 5 sentence summary