1. Music: An Appreciation 9-10 th Edition by Roger Kamien
Part III
The Renaissance

2. Time-Line Renaissance (1450-1600) Fall of Constantinople (1453)
Guttenberg Bible—1456
Columbus reaches America—1492
Leonardo da Vinci: Mona Lisa—c. 1503
Michelangelo: David—1504
Raphael: School of Athens—1505
Martin Luther’s 95 theses—1517
Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet—1596

3. The Renaissance Rebirth of human learning and creativity
Time of great explorers and adventures
Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Magellan
Humanism (focused on human life)
Fascination w/ ancient Greece & Rome
Visual art becomes more realistic
Mythology is favorite subject
Nude body, as in ancient times, is shown

4. The Renaissance (contin.)
Weakening of the Catholic Church –Less powerful than during Middle Ages
Education & literacy now status symbol
Result of invention of printing press
More books printed
Curiosity and individualism (Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci). Interest in realism

5. Ch. 1: Music in the Renaissance
Church choirs grew in size (all male)
Rise of the individual patron
Musical center shifted from Church to courts
Court composers wrote secular & sacred music
Musicians: higher status & pay than before
Composers became known for their work
Every educated person is expected to play music
Many composers were Franco-Flemish
Worked throughout Europe, especially in Italy
Italy became music capital in 16th Century
Other important centers: Germany, England & Spain

6. Characteristics of Renaissance Music
Words and Music
Vocal music more important than instrumental
Word painting: musical representation of specific poetic images
Balanced way of expression: no extreme contrasts of dynamics, tone color or rhythm
Texture
Polyphonic mostly (4,5 or 6 voice parts)
Homophonic is also used
Primarily vocal- Golden age of “a cappella”
Instruments, if present, doubled the vocal parts

7. Characteristics of Renaissance music (contin.)
Imitation is common
Fuller sound than medieval: bass register
Mild and relaxed: consonant chords
Rhythm and Melody
Rhythm “flows” and overlaps
Composers less concerned with metrical accents
Smooth, stepwise melodies predominate
Melodies overlap rhythmically between voices

8. Ch. 2: Sacred Music in the Renaissance
Two main forms:
Motet
Short polyphonic choral work
Latin text usually overlaid with vernacular text
and other than the ordinary of the Mass.
Often borrows lowest voice part from a chant
Mass—the Catholic worship service
Long work that includes 5 main parts of service
Kyrie
Gloria
Credo
Sanctus
Agnus Dei

9. Josquin Desprez ( )
Flemish composer from Belgium, contemporary of Columbus & Leonardo da Vinci)
Leading composer of his time—famous
Ave Maria…..virgo serena: 4-voice motet
Texture is varied (polyphonic and homophonic)
Duple/triple meter change

10. Listening Ave Maria…virgo serena Josquin Desprez Four voices
Polyphonic imitation
Overlapping voice parts

11. Palestrina (1525-1594) Italian Composer Worked primarily in Rome
Music director at St. Peter’s
Worked during and after Council of Trent
Council of Trent ( ) addressed:
Abuses & malpractice within Church
Emerging Protestantism
Role of music in worship
Some advocated a return to monophonic music
Finally decided on non-theatrical worship music
104 masses and some 450 other sacred works
His work became the model for mass composers

12. Listening Pope Marcellus Mass by Palestrina
Kyrie- 1st section of the mass
Kyrie Eleison
Christe Eleison

13. Ch. 3: Secular Music in the Renaissance
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. Intended for amateur performers (after dinner music)
Originated in Italy around Became popular in England. English madrigals are lighter and more humorous than Italian
Famous composers: Marenzio and Gesualdo

14. Listening As Vesta was Descending (1601)
by Thomas Weelkes
Follow text (English) throughout song
Note text painting:
Pitches rise on “ascending”
Pitches fall on “descending”
“Running down”
“Two by two,” “three by three,” “all alone”

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 Still subordinate to vocal music
Becomes more independent
Sometimes played adapted vocal music alone
Most music is intended for dance:
Pavane or Passamezzo (duple meter)
Galliard (triple meter)
Purely instrumental music existed almost exclusively for dancing
Dancing became ever more popular during the Renaissance
Distinction between loud outdoor instruments and softer indoor ones
Composers did not specify instrumentation

17. Renaissance instruments (partial list)
Harpsichord
Organ
Lute
Recorder
Trumpet
Cornett
Sackbut
Viol
Regal (small organ with reed pipes)
Shawm

18. Ch. 4 The Venetian School: from Renaissance to Baroque
16th century Venice – a center of instrumental and vocal music
Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli
Music directors and organists of St. Mark’s Cathedral
Venetian choral music of late 16th Century contains parts specifically written for instruments
Two widely separated choirs each
with organ
(stereophonic first attempt)

19. 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
Giovanni’s motets are brilliant, sonorous with contrasts of register
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
Pian e forte sonata: first to specify dynamics and exact instrumentation