1. Music History
Renaissance Music

2. Historical Context Renaissance = Rebirth
Regional Spread of the Renaissance
Started in Italy – Florence
Then it spread to France, Germany and England.

3. Historical Context continued…
Renaissance Science, Art and Architecture
Religious figures
Portraits done of well-known figures in Greek and Roman backgrounds
Paintings looked 3-dimensional through the use of shading, the study of anatomy and drawing from real models.
Oil paint was created, leading to paintings surviving centuries

4. Historical Context cont’d…
Gutenberg’s Printing Press in 1454
This helped to spread new knowledge of science and the arts
Awareness of new philosophies, religious texts and music.
Columbus sailed to the new world
It was discovered that the earth is a moving planet by Copernicus, a Polish astronomer

5. Important Terms…
Ayres – (Lutes songs) – English term for solo song with lute accompaniment
Accidentals – modes treated more freely using accidentals to create more harmonic variety.
Basso Continuo – a type of bass line written below the main voice creating a richer fuller texture. It was often played by the harpsichord player and doubled by a cello.
Cantus firmus – masses and motets were often based on a cantus firmus which could be a popular song instead of a chant.

6. Important Terms…
Consorts – a group of instruments playing together; if the group of instruments was from one family it was called a whole consort; if it was from a variety of families it was considered a broken consort.
Counterpoint – Adding melodic material above or below an existing melody; or a technique that combines two or more melodic lines in a way that establishes a harmonic relationship while keeping their own horizontal individuality
Imitation – like a canon only the whole melody is not imitated, only a bit of the beginning. The parts then continue to weave together.

7. Important Terms…
Equal Temperament – the development in the Renaissance which divided the octave into 12 equal semitones – used on our modern day keyboard so that F-sharp and G-flat are the same note. This began in 1518, but did not become common practice until the 17th century.
Madrigal – A polyphonic song for four to six voices that uses the language of that region. Developed in Italy and made popular in England during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Motets – a polyphonic composition based on a sacred text and usually sung without accompaniment.
Renaissance – re-birth of revival; the revival of classical art, architecture, literature and learning that originated in the 14th century and later spread throughout Europe.

8. Musical Context Music was considered a highly important art
With the uncertainty of the Dark Ages over, the renaissance brought a ‘re-birth’ of culture and learning.
Printed music utilized and widely distributed
Notation: music tended to be written with ½ notes and bar lines or ties were not used
This was mostly due to the limitation of the printing press and the type of paper being used.

9. Musical Context cont’d…
Since notation was flexible musicians were trained to know:
How long notes were to be held
Whether or not there was a need for accidentals
How to avoid certain intervals like parallel 5ths and 8ths
Increasing reliance on the third as a consonance (good sound)
Simplification of voices within the polyphony – smoothness
Increases in vocal ranges
Period of great development

10. Composer: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)
Born in Palestrina, Rome
Wrote 100s of compositions
Including masses, motets, magnificats
Focused primarily on sacred music
very serious, conservative and objective
Associated with Roman Catholic Church
He was hired by the church to improve the state of church music
At this point it had become too complex, too secular and too incoherent
The church leaders wanted the music to become more clear and pure
His secular music is confined to madrigals
Master of counterpoint

11. Listening: Pope Marcellus Mass: Credo & Agnus Dei I
Written for a six part choir
Polyphony at this time was frowned upon, but Palestrina’s style of writing allowed the words to be clear and understood.
The Credo of a mass is often the most difficult to write due to its importance and length, however Palestrina did away with the usual imitation for the sake of clear diction.
The phrases are sung simultaneously, creating a clear picture in the listeners mind.
The Agnus Dei has very few words, which Palestrina stretched out to produce a piece of greater importance within the Mass.
It is in this part of the mass that Palestrina uses imitation. The voices are sometimes only one quarter note apart.

12. Composer: Giovanni Gabrieli (1553-1612)
Born in Venice
Composer and organist
Preferred sacred and instrumental music
Worked for a church, San Marco, that had two choir lofts facing each other
he would use choir lofts to create a call and answer effect
This ‘Polychoral’ style had been used for decades, but Gabrielli pioneered the use for carefully constructed groups of instrumentalists and singers
Original for his specific instrumentation and use of dynamics
The first to develop dynamic markings and to use Basso Continuo
Killed by a kidney stone

13. Listening: Grand Concerto: In ecclesiis
This piece uses:
Four solo voices (which usually sing with the chorus, but sing some parts alone)
A four part chorus
A six-part instrumental ensemble
And an organ playing the continuo
At a time when composers usually issued parts without specifying the instruments, Gabrieli carefully designated the following:
Three cornetti (a version of the trumpet)
An alto violin (basically the modern day viola)
Two sackbuts (a trombone like instrument)
Gabrieli utilizes some “daring” harmonies – the 3rd – mostly for the brilliant colour it brought rather than expression of the text.

14. Composer: John Dowland 1563-1626
Born in the United Kingdom (most likely London or Dublin)
Famous for composition of ayres
Wrote music mainly for his instrument – the lute including several books for solo lute, lute songs (one voice and lute) and part-songs with lute accompaniment
Wrote music based on the “melancholia”
A disease caused by an imbalance in one or more of the four basic bodily fluids
Wrote with intense melancholy – tragic and emotional
His motto was “Always Dowland, always mourning.”

15. Listening: Air: Flow my tears for voice and lute
Flow, my tears, fall from your springs! Exiled for ever, let me mourn; Where night's black bird her sad infamy sings, There let me live forlorn. Down vain lights, shine you no more! No nights are dark enough for those That in despair their lost fortunes deplore. Light doth but shame disclose. Never may my woes be relieved, Since pity is fled; And tears and sighs and groans my weary days Of all joys have deprived.
From the highest spire of contentment
My fortune is thrown;
And fear and grief and pain for my
deserts
Are my hopes, since hope is gone.
Hark! you shadows that in darkness
dwell,
Learn to contemn light
Happy, happy they that in hell
Feel not the world's despite.

16. Instruments: Wind Piano String Percussion Shawm Trumpet Sackbut
Recorder
String
Lute
Viol
Violin family
Piano
Harpsichord
Clavier
Percussion