Culture and Music:The Renaissance

and The Reformation

Background:

Nearly 500 years ago, during the Renaissance period in Europe,

one of the most important cultural developments that took place

was a religious protest movement known as The Protestant Reformation

(or more commonly, just “The Reformation”).This movement began in what is now Germany

and spread throughout most of Europe.

The Reformation affected many aspects of life and culture

in Europe, includingthe development of

certain new styles of music.

The Reformation began in 1517, when a German Catholic monk

named Martin Luther wrote a series of 95 complaints criticizing the teachings and doctrines of the

Catholic Church and nailed them to the door of the Castle Church in the small

town of Wittenberg, Germany.

Similar protests by religious groups followed in France, Switzerland,

England and Scotland. The development of the printing and the

printing press in Europe in the mid-1400s was

very influential in the spread of The Reformation.

Instead of “reforming” the Catholic Church as Martin Luther had intended,

these protests led to a series of divisions within the Church that resulted

in the formation of new religious denominations

that broke away from the Catholic Church.

These new religious denominations, such as the Lutherans in Germany,

the Huguenots in France and the Anglicans (Church of England)

each developed their own new styles of music that were written to be

sung in their church services. Important composers associated with this

these new styles of music included English composer Thomas Tallis (1505–1585).

Musical Examples

Giovanni Palestrina (1525-1594): “Sicut Cervus”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yd5EE0hAB8

The example above demonstrates the fully-polyphonic style of scared choral music of the Roman Catholic Church

in the Late Renaissance.

Thomas Tallis (1505–1585): “If Ye Love Me”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqt005j1dB0

The example above demonstrates the partly-homophonic and partly-polyphonic style of scared choral music of the

Anglican (English Protestant) Church in the Late Renaissance.

Most important among the new musical styles inspired by the Reformation

was a German style of hymn singing called the Chorale.

The Chorale style typically features a four-part homophonic vocal texture

consisting of soprano, alto, tenor and bass voice-parts, with a melody

in the highest part (soprano). The other parts share the same basic rhythm as the melody and provide a

harmonic accompaniment to the melody.

While this type of music did exist before the development of the German chorale style, it was because of the new style of

hymn singing in German Protestant churches that the Chorale Style became

an important musical phenomenon during the Renaissance.

German Chorale-Style: Example 1 Melody, in the Soprano (highest) Part

German Chorale-Style: Example 2 2-part Chorale harmonization

Soprano & Bass

German Chorale-Style: Example 3 3-part Chorale harmonization

(Soprano, Alto, Bass)

German Chorale-Style: Example 4 4-part Chorale harmonization

(Soprano, Alto, Tenor Bass)

Examples of German Choral-Style Harmonization

Simple Version:

Complex Version:

The German Chorale style of music was also used for other kinds of music

besides Protestant hymns.

One notable example is a famous German part-song called “Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen”

(“Innsbruck, I must leave you”) by the German Renaissance composer

Heinrich Isaac (1450–1517). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI712ZGflAQ

Over the next 350 years, the melody of this part-song

was adapted by other composers including Johann Sebastian Bach and

Johannes Brahms in several very notable works for chorus and for organ, including

the famous Bach Chorale, “O Welt, ich muss dich lassen.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zPiwHBGnh4 (voices)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eze8K_-g5M (trombones)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbKF1Zl3QWQ (marimba)

Even more importantly, though, the development of the German Chorale style

is important because there is a direct line of influence in musical history

from the original development of the German Chorale Style (beginning with

hymns composed by Martin Luther himself) through to the Chorales composed by Johann Sebastian Bach and included in his 200+ Cantatas, 150 years later.

Bach’s harmonizations of these Chorales has had a profound impact on the

development of harmony throughout all subsequent musical history.

More than fifty years after Bach’s death, Beethoven called Bach

“Der Urvater des Harmonie” (“the original father of harmony”).

The reason why the development of the German Choral Style, culminating with the Chorales of Bach, is so important is that it

can be shown that a very significant number of classical composers who lived after Bach learned advanced harmony by playing and studying Bach’s Chorales.

This is true up until the current day, because music students in most college

and university music schools are required to sing, play and/or analyze

the Bach Chorales.

After Bach’s time, in the Classical Period, and especially later, in the Romantic period,

composers incorporated the German Chorale Style into their music as

a basic musical texture – a sort of “musical cornerstone.”

While music in the Classical Period became more predominantly

homophonic in texture, many composers still occasionally employed counterpoint

in some of their more complex works.

The influence of the German Chorale Style can be traced in the 19th century to the musical and stylistic development of

traditional Christmas Carols, as demonstrated clearly by the example below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drb4zqh-YF0

The influence of the German Chorale Style can also be traced to the

20th and 21st centuries, in which 4-part homophonic texture can be seen as

the predominant musical texture of most forms of contemporary

Popular Music, Jazz, Rock and Roll and Rock,

among many other musical genres.

The influence of the German Chorale Style can also be traced to the

20th and 21st centuries, in which 4-part homophonic texture can be seen as

the predominant musical texture of most forms of contemporary

Popular Music, Jazz, Rock and Roll and Rock,

among many other musical genres.