RENAISSANCE SECULAR MUSIC Vocal Music During the Renaissance

Vocal Music � During the Renaissance, secular vocal music became increasingly popular � Music

Vocal Music � Music was an important leisure activity, every educated person was expected

Vocal Music � An important kind of secular vocal music during the Renaissance was

Vocal Music � The Renaissance madrigal originated in Italy around 1520 � Madrigals were

Vocal Music � For about 30 years there was a constant flow of English

Vocal Music � Among the finest English madrigalists was Thomas Weelkes (about 15751623) �

Vocal Music In 1597 his first volume of madrigals was published � At the

Vocal Music �A simpler type of secular vocal music than the madrigal was the

Vocal Music � The same music is repeated for each stanza of the poem,

Vocal Music � Among the most widely performed of all balletts is one by

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RENAISSANCE SECULAR MUSIC

Vocal Music � During the Renaissance, secular vocal music became increasingly popular � Music was set to poems in various languages, including: Italian, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, and English � The development of music printing helped spread secular music

Vocal Music � Music was an important leisure activity, every educated person was expected to be able to play an instrument and read notation � Renaissance secular music was written for groups of solo voices and for solo voice with accompaniment � Word painting was common

Vocal Music � An important kind of secular vocal music during the Renaissance was the madrigal � A madrigal is a piece for several solo voices set to a short poem, usually about love � A madrigal combines homophonic and polyphonic textures

Vocal Music � The Renaissance madrigal originated in Italy around 1520 � Madrigals were published by the thousands in 16 th century Italy, where they were sung by cultivated aristocrats � In 1588 a volume of translated Italian madrigals was published in London � This triggered a spurt of madrigal writing by English composers

Vocal Music � For about 30 years there was a constant flow of English madrigals and other secular vocal music. � The time of Queen Elizabeth I (15331603) and William Shakespeare (15641616) was as much a golden age in English music as it was in English literature.

Vocal Music � Among the finest English madrigalists was Thomas Weelkes (about 15751623) � He was an organist and church composer � Weelkes was baptized in the little village church of Elsted in Sussex on 25 October 1576

Vocal Music In 1597 his first volume of madrigals was published � At the end of 1598, at the probable age of 22, Weelkes was appointed organist at Winchester College � During his Winchester period, Weelkes composed a further two volumes of madrigals (1598, 1600) � Weelkes' fourth and final volume of madrigals, published in 1608, carries a title page where he refers to himself as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal �

Vocal Music �A simpler type of secular vocal music than the madrigal was the ballett (or fala) � It is a dancelike song for several solo voices � In contrast to most Renaissance music, the ballett was mostly homophonic in texture, with the melody in the highest voice

Vocal Music � The same music is repeated for each stanza of the poem, and the syllables fala are used as refrain � Like the madrigal, the Renaissance ballett originated in Italy � The ballett was cultivated in England from around 1595 to the 1620 s

Vocal Music � Among the most widely performed of all balletts is one by Thomas Morely � He lived from 1557 -1603 � He was an English composer best know for his madrigals � Morley lived for a time in the same parish as Shakespeare, and a connection between the two has been long speculated, but never proven