Renaissance Music 1450 1600 Early and High Renaissance

Renaissance Music (1450 -1600)

Early and High Renaissance (1450 -1530) • Introduction – Definition: rebirth or revival, a restoration of vitality after a time of decline. – Process of Rebirth: turned from austere medieval thought with its emphasis on religious authoritarianism to an emphasis on the pleasure of the senses (modeled in classical Greece and Rome). – Humanism: an attitude placing human dignity and humane values foremost.

– Geographical Center: Italy (City States) Ferrara: Ercole Este Florence: Lorenzo Medici Milan: Ludovico Sforza

• Cultural and Historical Events – Age of Discovery • Christopher Columbus’ Voyages Columbus • Ferdinand Magellan’s Voyages

• Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage Drake • Sir Walter Raleigh

– Heliocentric Universe Copernicus’ Universe Galilei – Protestant Reformation Martin Luther’s 95 Theses Huldrych Zwingli John Calvin Henry VIII

– Catholic Counter-Reformation • a movement within the Catholic Church to reform itself in the wake of the Protestant Reformation • Palestrina’s compositions became the musical model – Monarchs Charles V Ferdinand And Isabella Phillip II Henry VIII Elizabeth I

– Inventions • Printing press: Chinese, Johannes Gutenberg Printing Press • Clear glass and mirror • Table fork Gutenberg Bible

• The Visual Arts – Architecture • Return to Greek and Roman models • Movement away from Gothic pointed arches, flying buttresses and ribbed vaulting Bramante Brunelleschi Bramante – St. Peter Brunelleschi’s Florence Cathedral

St. Denis - Paris St. Mark’s - Venice

– Sculpture • Important in the early and high Renaissance • Movement toward portraying the body as though it were made of real muscle and bone Donatello Michelangelo Donatello - David Michelangelo - David

– Painting • While Medieval artists represented their ideas as symbols, Renaissance painters aimed for realism. • Medieval painters gave us stereotypes; Renaissance, individual people. • Medieval artists organized space in succeeding planes; Renaissance artists gave depth and perspective. • Leonardo da Vinci Da Vinci The Last Supper Mona Lisa

• Raphael - Parnassus • Michelangelo – Creation of Adam Sistine Chapel

• Literature – England: Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe Spencer Shakespeare Marlowe – France: Clement Marot, Pierre de Ronsard – Italy: commedia dell’arte

• Music in the Renaissance – Style • Unlike visual arts, no extant Greek and Roman music models • What they did know from the past was in two areas: – stories of music’s compelling effects (Doctrine of Ethos) – Greek descriptions of their scales and modes – Renaissance culture permeated with music – Musical Genres • Vocal: Mass, motet, madrigal, chansons, chorale, anthem, hymn • Instrumental: dances, ricercar, chaconne

– Musical Elements • Melody: small ranges, “updated” chant • Harmony: modal (early) to tonal (late), emergence of the triad • Rhythm: steady (metered), dance rhythms (instrumental) • Texture: Age of vocal polyphony; alternated homophony and polyphony (late Renaissance) • Timbre: vocal and instrumental • Form: binary (dances) • Dynamics: blocked

– Composers • Early Renaissance: Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400 -1474) Dufay – Sound Hallmark: Burgundian consonant sound (3 rds, 6 ths), fauxbourdon – Kyrie – Gloria – Credo • • High Renaissance : Josquin des Prez (c. 1440 -1521) – Sound Hallmark: imitative polyphony; balance, purity, control and clarity; integrity of the text and unstressed dissonance – Ave Maria Des Prez

Late Renaissance (1530 -1600) • Style – Overview of Early and High Renaissance • Early: clear melodies, sharply defined rhythms, fauxbourdon - use of 3 rds and 6 ths • High: balance, purity, control and clarity, integrity of the text, unstressed dissonance, imitative polyphony – Late Renaissance • composer reveals a desire to create an emotional response in the listener • composer offers a more sensuous, sonorous experience(i. e. consonant harmonies ) • Textures increased from 3 or 4 to 5 or 6 voices • Antiphonal choirs or instrumental groups were common

• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525 -1594) – universally acknowledged Renaissance master – Most of his life was in the service of the church – first Renaissance composer whose entire work was published as a complete edition – Created an exemplary style of church music (counter reformation model) – Kyrie from Pope Marcellus Mass Palestrina Pope Marcellus Mass

• Madrigal – – new Italian polyphonic, secular, a capella vocal genre late Renaissance’s entertainment music rapidly spread north to England, France and the Netherlands Madrigal texts offered unique opportunities for composers to aptly fit the music to the text – text painting, called madrigalism – Thomas Morley (c. 1557 -1602) • Now is the Month of Maying – Thomas Weelkes (c. 1575 -1623) • As Vesta was from Latmos Hill Descending

• Instrumental Music – subordinate to vocal music ; yet growing greatly – first body of solely instrumental music originates within the Renaissance – instruments mostly doubled the vocal parts – In solely instrumental music, the instruments usually played together as families – Instrumental Families • String : viol family, lute • Woodwind : transverse flute, recorder • Double Reed : shawm (ancestor of the oboe, bassoon, English horn); crumhorn (reed in the mouthpiece) • Brass : cornets (trumpets), sackbutt (trombone) • Percussion : tambour (hand drum), tamborine, finger cymbals • Keyboard : organ, harpsichord

String • viol family, lute, harp Viol Lute Harp

Woodwind • transverse flute, recorder, shawm, crumhorn Flute Family Crumhorn Recorder Family Shawm

Brass • cornets (trumpets), sackbut (trombone), serpent (baritone) Cornetts Sackbuts Serpent

Percussion • tambour (hand drum), tamborine, finger cymbals Tabor and Pipe Tambours

Keyboard • organ, harpsichord, virginal Table Organs Harpsichords Organ, Germany, 1425 Virginal Organ, Switzerland, 1435

• Giovanni Gabrieli (1555 -1612) – Served in San Marco Cathedral, Venice – Polychoral style – Ricercar in the 12 th mode Gabrieli