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

2. 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

3. The Renaissance Era
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

4. 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

5. 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