Music of the Renaissance 1450 - 1600

• Renaissance – French word that means “rebirth”

• A Period of intellectual awakening

Music of the Renaissance Historical Themes

• A Rebirth of Classical learning

Rediscovery and reevaluation of writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans

• From feudal system to the modern state

Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, etc.

Feudal system replaced by Hierarchical State led by urban bourgeoisie or despotic nobles

Explorers expanded Europe’s view of the world

Astronomers questioned the earth-centered view of the universe held by the church

• Changed view of the earth and the cosmos

Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei

Music of the Renaissance Musical Context

• Increased Interest in Humanist Learning

Arts - important measure of learning & culture

• Territorial Expansion and Increased Wealth

Renaissance man – polymath

Music – expressive art, not science of number

Printing press – helped spread music rapidly

Colonial expansion brought wealth to European cities and courts

• Increased Patronage of Music

Travel enabled musical exchange – creation of a more international musical style

Courts and Governments supported music

Religious institutions also provided support

Music of the Renaissance Musical Style

• Sacred Music

Older forms such as Motet and Mass continue

• Instrumental Music

Clearest example of International Style

New forms reflecting national trends

Italian Madrigal, French Chanson, for example

More specific types emerged

• Common Features

• Use of four-voice choirs or groups of like-sounding instruments (consorts)

Printing – increase of amateur musicians

• Secular Music

• Harmonies that use full triads

• Melodies with balanced phrases

• Imitative or homorhythmic textures • Smooth, gentle rhythms

Music of the Renaissance Josquin des Prez (1440-1521)

• Considered the greatest composer of the Renaissance

Born in France, moved to Italy

Listening: Ave Maria

Known for both Sacred and Secular Music

Brilliant Text setter (fitting lyrics to music)

Music masks and swells over text

• Criticisms:

Josquin worked for the highest bidder

Music became more important than the words

Music far too difficult for church use

Quality of music is directly related to the amount of money you paid him.

Listening: Mille Regretz (A Thousand Regrets)

Listening: Missa Pange Lingua

Music of the Renaissance Josquin des Prez (1440-1521)

• Josquin's Mille regretz - French chanson

Mille regretz de vous abandonner Et d'eslonger vostre fache amoureuse, Jay si grand dueil et paine douloureuse, Quon me verra brief mes jours definer.

English Translation: A thousand regrets at deserting you and leaving behind your loving face, I feel so much sadness and such painful distress, that it seems to me my days will soon dwindle away. In Modern French: Mille regrets de vous abandonner et d'être éloigné de votre visage amoureux. J'ai si grand deuil et peine douloureuse qu'on me verra vite mourir.

Music of the Renaissance Historical Context – The Reformation

• Martin Luther (1483 – 1546)

German priest and professor of theology

Upset with corruption in the Church

Wrote 95 Thesis (95 reasons)

Nailed it to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral

• Contributions:

• Forbade the sale of indulgences

• Bible translated to German so his people would not have to learn Latin

Excommunicated – sent back to Germany, where he started his own church – “Lutheran”

• Priests could get married

• Composed his own tunes; took secular tunes and set religious texts to them

• He called these Hymns

Listening: A Mighty Fortress is Our God

Music of the Renaissance Historical Context – The Reformation cont.

• King Henry VIII

While in England….

Wives couldn’t give him a male heir

Wants divorce but the Pope wouldn’t allow

Kicks the Catholic Church out of England

• Act of Supremacy (1534)

Archbishop of Canterbury in Charge

Establishes the Church of England

Despite multiple marriages and affairs, Henry VIII did not have a surviving male Heir (Edward VI only lived to be 15). English throne eventual was passed to Queen Mary I, nicknamed “Bloody Mary”

Listening: Henry, Henry, Henry

Music of the Renaissance Historical Context – Counter Reformation

To save the Catholic Church, a meeting was called to stop the spread of reformation (Martin Luther)

• Emerged from the Council of Trent as the main composer of the Catholic Church

• Council of Trent (1545-1563)

An 18-year meeting where the priests tried to rectify all the wrongs Luther denounced them for

• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Listening: Gloria

• Asked to fix, musically, what Luther had problems with

• Tried to keep the music as close to God as possible

• Text returned to being the most important aspect of sacred music

• Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music

• Most famous 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition

Listening: Adoramus te Listening: Missa Papae Marcelli - Kyrie

Music of the Renaissance Secular Renaissance

• Music Printing – Ottaviano Petrucci (1466 – 1539)

Monopolized music printing for 20 years

Used a triple stamp press: 1st Staves, 2nd Music (Notes), 3rd words

Printed the first polyphonic book using movable type

96 chansons – containing work of Josquin

First book printed – Harmonice Musices Odhecaton

Music was:

Produced faster

Made more available

Printed with more uniform accuracy

Music of the Renaissance Secular Renaissance cont.

The Florentine Camerata (1573 – 1590)

In Greek plays was a character called the Chorus:

A group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence

• The Camerata experimented and tried to figure out the music of

ancient Greece

Greatest interest was in Greek Plays (Drama)

• Acted as a collective voice of commentary

Wanted to learn about how the ancient Greeks did things

Gathered to write music and poetry in the style of the ancient Greece

• Sing and Music used, but no record of how it sounded or was performed

The idea of a story told entirely with music without talking – Opera was conceived

Music of the Renaissance Secular Renaissance cont.

• Thomas Morley (1466 – 1539)

Now is the month of maying, When merry lads are playing, fa la, Each with his bonny lass Upon the greeny grass. Fa la. The Spring, clad all in gladness, Doth laugh at Winter's sadness, fa la, And to the bagpipe's sound The nymphs tread out their ground. Fa la. Fie then! why sit we musing, Youth's sweet delight refusing? Fa la. Say, dainty nymphs, and speak, Shall we play at barley-break? Fa la.

Now is the month of maying is one of the most famous of the English Balletts, by Thomas Morley published in 1595. It is based on a text used by Orazio Vecchi in 1590. The song delights in bawdy double-entendre. It is apparently about spring dancing, but this is a metaphor for sex. For example, a "barley-break" would have suggested outdoor sexual activity (rather like we might say a "roll in the hay"). The use of such imagery and puns increased during the Renaissance.