Transcript Renaissance Era (Part 2)

Renaissance Era (Part 2)
After Josquin Desprez
Giovanni Pierluigi da Plaestrina
• 1525 – 1594
• One of the greatest Italian
composers of all time
• Devoted himself completely to
the Catholic Church
• Was the music director for St.
Peter’s Papal Choir in Rome –
The most prestigious music
position in all the lands!!!
Palestrina Causes Turmoil!
• Wrote over 104 full masses for the church
• Wrote over 450 other sacred pieces of
fellowship outside of the church
• WAS RESPONSIBLE OF THE TURMOIL:
“THE COUNTER-REFORMATION OF THE
1500’S” THAT IMPACTED THE ENTIRE WORLD
The Counter Reformation of the 1500’s
• The Catholic churches were challenged by the
PROTESTANT churches!
– Protestant churches said the Catholic churches
were not being sacred enough
– Said they were allowing too many negative
“satanic” influences into their churches
– Said their music was being tarnished by
instruments and the Gregorian Chant was losing
its power and sense of importance
• Protestants formed the “Council of Trent”
(1540) to try to have the Catholic churches get
rid of the “poison” and revert back to their
older, more sacred format
– Council of Trent
• Said that the church lost its purity in music
• Said that the church was mis-treating women by
allowing them to sing in public (women were not public
icons of music)
• Said the churches were introducing artificial and
theatrical music into the sacred buildings (instruments
besides the organ and piano were ‘evil’)
• Council concluded by saying the polyphonic
music the Catholics were now using was hard
to understand due to the amount of
polyphony and the number of “rounds” that
were being performed
• “We have introduced an artificial and
theatrical music into the church, an agitation
of voices such I have never heard before; even
in Greek and Roman plays…it is a disgrace!”
The Result of the Council
• The Catholic church decided to go back to it’s
ideals of Gregorian Chant and Latin texts
(which it completely used until 1965!)
• The Catholic church removed all aspects of
instruments from the church
• The Catholic church continued to allow
women to sing, as long as they were covered
except for their faces (nun outfits we have
today)
What they asked of Palestrina:
• Stop playing polyphonic music!!
• Stop using instruments to promote church
music
• Stop bringing those ‘bums’ to church that will
not dress up to be in his holy shrine
• Only write music written for Gregorian chant
(monophonic music), piano, organ, or
women’s /men’s choir for inside the church
Everyone backed down…
• The Council won it’s battle
• Palestrina, even though considered a very
aggressive man normally, did not put up a
fight against what they desired
• Began to write only secular music for the
church. “We have truly missed out on a gem
of a composer due to the Council of Trent!”
Palestrina’s Masterpiece was born!
• Pope Marcellus Mass (1562)
– Written with polyphonic music that was “secretly”
written to convince the Council that polyphonic
music should be kept in Catholic worships. It had
“snippets” of polyphony throughout the
monophonic work
– First piece written for SIX VOICES!
• SOPRANO, ALTO, 2 TENORS, AND 2 BASSES!
Pope Marcellus Mass – “Kyrie Eleison”
• The most important song of the known mass:
– “The Kyrie”
• Written in 3 different sections
– Kyrie Eleison
– Christie Eleison
– Kyrie Eleison
– Palestrina continued to write very “suttle”
polyphonic captions to ‘hide’ the polyphony from
the council
The Madrigal is Born
• Madrigal = “a piece written for solo voices
based on a poem mostly about love”
– Much like “folk songs” we have today
• Renaissance Madrigals are still well known
today (mostly the poetry is Italian)
– MADRIGAL STUDY FROM YOUTUBE BELOW:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pUDF_n
bxEQ
As Vesta was Decending (1601)
• By: Thomas Weelkies
• The most known ENGLISH
madrigal
• Written to honor Queen Elizabeth
who had a nickname of “Oriana”
• It is based on a beautiful maiden
coming down the hills of her castle
to take care of her servants in the
land… WHAT AN HONOR!
• But…there were some
consequences….
Thomas was a Stalker!
• Thomas seemed to be so in love with the Queen
that many nights he would sneak into a secret
passage that he had taken 4 entire years to drill
(into the castle floor) and would sit and watch her
while she changed, showered, and slept (almost
every night)
• He was finally discovered by one of her guards after
this continued for over 2 years!
• He was taken to a place that was never revealed,
and he was beheaded. His head was placed on one
of the pedestals of the castle to deter any others!
Nearing the end of the Renaissance
• The final known composer of the Renaissance
was Giavanni Gabrieli (1555 – 1612)
• Was known for “POLYCHORAL MOTETS!”
• Was the first time EVER that someone had
written music for two or more choirs…singing
at the same time
• Can be the person that can be given credit for
church Christmas Cantatas nowadays!
Giovanni Gabrieli
• 2 to 5 choirs in every work known!
• Was organists at St. Marks!
• “Plaudite” (Clap your Hands) (1597)
– Was a piece written for a ceremony of St. Marks
Cathedral
– Written for three choirs, 12 voices, and had a
conductor “CHOOSE” the instruments they wanted
• Piece is the leading piece of the change of music
we are about to go through for the Baroque era!
Coming up Next:
• Baroque Period (1600 – 1750)
• Be sure to catch up on all
reflections! There will be one
ready to go after this lesson