RENAISSANCE (1400-1600)

“The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.” – Michelangelo

THE SOCIETY

  • Renaissance means “rebirth.”

  • The societal philosophy of the time was Humanism.  Science began to re-emerge after mostly lying dormant since the time of the Ancient Greeks.

THE ROLE OF MUSIC

  • Much music was still primarily devotional, but secular (non-religious) music began to take on a much more prominent role.

 MUSICAL STYLE

  • Music was still mostly vocal, but instrument construction was improving, making it easier to play instruments in tune.  Instruments were often used to double vocal lines in polyphonic music.

  • Instrumentalists of this time typically played a large number of different instruments rather than specializing in only one.

 MUSICAL DEVELOPMENTS

  • Polyphony continued to evolve.  To our modern ears, it became sweeter and more accessible.

  • Imitation in music composition—a musical idea that is introduced by one voice and then imitated (repeated) in others—emerged.

  • Equal Voiced Imitative Polyphony (EVIP) emerges.

  • The madrigal (secular vocal music) flourished.

COMPOSERS    

 FUN FACTS

  • Not only did Carlo Gesualdo write music that was off the wall, he was also a murderer.  It’s quite the story; check it out by clicking on his name above.

  • Orlando de Lassus was apparently such a talented boy soprano that as a child, he was kidnapped for his voice…twice!

  • Palestrina saved church music.  As the story goes, the Church was about to ban all polyphonic music and go back to plainchant because they feared the text, which they felt was the most important part, was being obscured by the extravagant polyphony (many melodies happened simultaneously) being composed.  Doing so would have undone hundreds of years of music evolution.  Palestrina claimed that he could write a polyphonic work that would please them.  He succeeded (Missa Papae Marchelli), and the Church decided not to implement the ban.

  • The piece Spem in Alium on the Thomas Tallis playlist above is literally written for 40 different parts: eight five-part choirs performing at the same time.