Transcript Renaissance - davis.k12.ut.us

Music in The Renaissance
(1450-1600)
Music before 1750
Renaissance time line
1450-1500
Josquin Desprez:
Ave Maria…Virgo Serena (c. 1475)
Arts and letters: Botticelli, La Primavera
(1477)
Historical events:
Fall of Constantinople (1453)
Columbus reaches America (1492)
Gutenburg Printing Press 1436
Movable type
 The printing books became cheaper and available to the poor
class. Education fueled the reformation.
Renaissance Time Line
1500-1600
Thomas Weelkes: As Vesta Was
Descending (1601)
Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1596)
Martin Luther’s ninety-five theses, start of the
Reformation (1517)
Council of Trent (1545-63)
Elizabeth I, queen of England (1558-1603)
Spanish Armada defeated (1588)
Renaissance time line
1500-1600
 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina:
Pope Marcellus Mass (1563)
 Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa (c. 1503)
 Michelangelo, David (1504)
 Raphael, School of Athens
(1505)
Titan, Venus and the Lute Player
(c. 1570)
The Renaissance
 Rebirth, or renaissance of human creativity
 Period of exploration and adventure (Columbus, Vasco
da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan)
 Curiosity and individualism (Raphael, Leonardo da
Vinci, Michael Angelo). Interest in realism
 Humanism
 Catholic Church is less powerful than during Middle
Ages – (Luther and Calvin)
 More books are printed in Europe
Music in the Renaissance
1450-1600
Every educated person is expected to be trained
in music
Renaissance town musicians: higher pay and
status
Flemish composers: parts of the Netherlands,
Belgium, and northern France. Germany,
England and Spain – other countries with a
vibrant musical life
Characteristics of
Renaissance music
Text and music
 Vocal music is more important than instrumental
 Music enhances the meaning and emotion of the
text. Word painting: musical representation of
specific poetic images
 Moderate, balanced way of expression: no
extreme contrasts of dynamics, tone color or
rhythm
Characteristics of
Renaissance music
Texture
Chiefly polyphonic. 4, 5 or 6 voice parts with equal
melodic interest
Imitation is common
Homophonic texture is also used
Fuller sound than medieval: bass register
Mild and relaxed: consonant chords.
Golden age of a cappella
Characteristics of
Renaissance music
Rhythm and melody
Rhythm is a gentle flow: Each melodic line has
great rhythmic independence
Melody usually moves along a scale with few
large leaps
Sacred music in the Renaissance
2 main forms: Motet and Mass
 Motet – polyphonic choral work set to sacred Latin
text other than the ordinary of the mass
 Mass – polyphonic choral work with 5 sections:
 Kyrie
 Gloria
 Credo
 Sanctus
 Agnus Dei
Ottavian Petrucci 1466-1539
 In 1501, he was the first printer to mass produce
music.
 The process was very laborious as it required
many passes of the paper to get the staff, clefs
and notes onto the page.
 His runs were very short and the cost was
expensive.
Pierre Attaingnant 1494-1551
 Paris
 By the 1520’s movable
to be used.
music type began
 Single impressions were
and music became cheaper.
able to be made
Martin Luther
95 Thesis in 1517
Martin Luther 1483-1546
 Movement away from the worship of Mary
 Music focused on bible teachings.
 All should be singing, and in their native tounge.
 Luther wrote the text to a book of Protastant
Hymns.
 Johann Walther used secular folk songs as
melodies so that the congregation would be
familiar with them.
Composers of Sacred Music
Josquin Desprez (1440-1521)
and the Motet
 A Flemish composer from Belgium, contemporary of
Leonardo Da Vinci and Columbus
 Ave Maria…virgo serena: 4-voice motet
 Texture is varied: polyphonic and homophonic
 Duple/triple meter change
Palestrina (1525-1594)
and the Mass
 Italian Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
 104 masses and some 450 other sacred works
 For centuries, his masses are regarded as models of church music
Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass
 A capella choir SATTBB
 Kyrie – 1st section of the mass:
Kyrie Eleison
Christe Eleison
Kyrie Eleison
English Politics
 English Ruler Timeline
 1509-47 Henry VIII
 1532 Henry Breaks with Pope
 1539 Adoption of the English Bible
 1547-53 Rule of Edward VI
 1549 Book of Common Prayer Issued: John Merbecke
 1552 Second Book of Common Prayer
 1553-58 Mary 1- Catholocism becomes National religion again and
the Latin Rite is restored.
 1558-1603 Elizabeth I- Church of England Restored Mary Stuart
Executed in 1587
 1603-25 James I- Jacobean Era
English Sacred Composers
 Tomas Tallis 1505-1585
 William Byrd 1539-1623
 *Henry VII (1509-47)
Secular music
 Vocal music: groups of solo voices with the
accompaniment. Word painting was common
 Madrigal – a piece for several solo voices set to a
short poem, usually about love. Combines
homophonic and polyphonic textures. More
unusual harmonies
 Originated in Italy around 1520. Became popular
in England. English madrigals are lighter and
more humorous than Italian
 As Vesta Was Descending by Thomas Weelkes
(1575-1623), and organist and church composer
Instrumental music
 Instrumental music becomes more independent
 Most music is for dance:
Pavane or passamezzo– duple meter
Galliard – triple meter
 Harpsichord, organ, lute, recorder, trumpet, cornett,
sackbut (early trombone), viol, regal (small organ with
reed pipes), shawm (ancestor of the oboe)
 Instrumental form of theme and variations
Instrumental Music cont..
 New Tuning
 Musica Ficta
 Circle of Fifths
 More use of accidentals
Provincial Forms of Music
Six main styles that developed provincially:
 Burgundian (France, Belgium & Holland)
 Flemish (Netherlands)
 Iberian (Spain and Portugal)
 Germany
 English
 Venetian
The Renaissance Ballet (Fa-La)
 A simpler type of secular vocal music
 A dance-like song for several voices
 Mostly homophonic in structure. Fa-la syllables are used
as refrain
 Now Is the Month of Maying (1595) by Thomas Morley
(1557-1603), English composer
 Each stanza:
AA – refrain – BB - refrain
Bergundian Composers
 Guillaume Dufay
 Gilles Binchois
Burgundian (France, Holland,
Belgium)
 Burgundian Motets
 In the style of a chanson
 Not polyphonic as Italian Motets (Palistrina)
 Chanson
 Written in French
 Secular, and almost always about love
 Most often written in rondeau form
 Different from the ballades due to form (aabC)
 Two prominent chanson composers Claudin de Sermisy and
Clement Janequin
Flemish Composers
 Josquin de Prez c. 1440-1521
 Johannes Ockeghem 1420-1497
 Jacob Obrecht 1452-1505
 Heinrich Isaac c. 1450-1517 (Singer and performer)
 Served the Medici Family in Italy
 Very international influences using many different forms and
compositional devices
 Alexander Agricola
Flemish
 Imitation Motets and Masses
 Mensuration Canon: See handout
 Diminution
 Augmentation
Iberian Composers
 The Triumvirate
 Francesco Guerrero 1528-99
 Cristobal de Morales
 Tomas Luis de Victoria
Iberian (Spain and Portugal)
 Unique form
 Ensalada
English Secular Composers
 Thomas Morley 1557-1602
 John Wilbye 1574-1638
 Thomas Weelkes 1576-1623
 John Dowland 1563-1626
 Noted Lutenist
English
 Madrigals
 Dance Music
Germany
 German Lied
 Polyphony took root very slowly because of the separation of the
Catholic Church
Venetian Composers
 The Republic of Music
 St Marks Cathedral
 Giovanni Gabrieli 1554-1612
 Pioneer of large works, including the concerto form.
Venetian
 Frottala
 Pre-curser to the Italian Madrigal
 Syllabic and four part
 Homophonic
The Venetian School:
Renaissance to Baroque
 16th century Venice – a center of instrumental and vocal music
 Venetian School – music directors and organists of St. Mark’s
Cathedral and their colleagues
Giovanni Gabrieli (1555-1612)
and the polychoral motet
 The most important Venetian composer of the late Renaissance
before Monteverdi
 Polychoral motets – motets for 2 or more choirs, often with
instrumentalists
 Plaudite (Clap Your Hands), 1597. Written for a large vocal and
instrumental ensemble of 12 voice parts divided into 3 choirs: low,
middle and high register choirs
 The homophonic structure of this piece brings it closer to Baroque
style