Renaissance Music

Humanism

• Renewed interest in Greek and Roman arts, philosophy, scholarly writing

• Encouraged secularism and pursuit of worldly pleasures

• Interest in beauty and aesthetics• Individual expression was encouraged

Sacred Music

• Motets and masses performed in Latin continued to dominate Catholic music

• Protestant churches utilized simpler music and German text

• Interest in technical mastery of the voice or instrument increased the complexity and difficulty of music

• Modal polyphony continued to be popular • Intervals of unison, fourth, fifth, and octave were

considered consonant, or “perfect,” while all other intervals were considered dissonant and were to be used sparingly and with great care

Notable Composers

• Josquin Deprez (1440-1521)– French– Acclaimed composer, one of the first to have his works

published in his lifetime– Ave Maria—motet

• Giovanni Palestrina (1525-1594)– Melodic lines tend to include a small range without

any wide intervals– Utilizes dissonance carefully—thirds, suspensions– “Tu Es Petrus”

Secular Music• Reflect a change in society

– Music making was a social activity, though the groups that assembled were small• Madrigal

– Sung and played by upper and middle class members of society– Polyphony and homophony both used– Imitation-a melodic idea is presented in one voice then immediately repeated (often

transposed a fourth or fifth away) in another voice– Text often on topics of love or nature, many are light-hearted and humorous– Word painting—meaning of the words are manipulated as literal representations in the

music (i.e. an ascending melodic line on the word “ascending”)– “Fa la la” or other syllable sometimes used in place of text—thought by some to be a way to

censor inappropriate subject matter– “As Vesta Was From Latmos Hill Descending”– “Now Is the Month of Maying”– “Fair Phyllis I Saw”

• Chanson– French counterpart to the Madrigal

Notable Composers

• Orlando de Lassus• England– Thomas Morley– Thomas Weelkes– John Dowland– John Farmer

• France– Claudin de Sermisy

• Italy– Carlo Gesualdo