The Renaissance

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The Renaissance
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What was the Renaissance?

• Period following the middle ages (1400-1600)
• Rebirth of classical Greece and Rome
• Began in Italy
• Moved to northern Europe

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Causes of the Renaissance

• Lessening of feudalism
• Church disrespected
• Nobility in chaos
• Growth of Middle Class through trade
• Fall of Constantinople
• Greek scholars fled to Italy
• Education
• Nostalgia among the Italians to recapture the
  glory of the Roman empire

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Objectives

• During the middle ages
• Find God
• Prove pre-conceived ideas
• During the Renaissance
• Find man
• Promote learning

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Northern and Late Renaissance

• RELIGION/POLITICS Reformation much political
  religious violence
• IDEAS a skeptical Humanism
• ART a realism of everyday life PORTRAITS,
  LANDSCAPES oil painting
• MUSIC conservative perfection (Palestrina)
  new approaches (madrigals)

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Renaissance

• 1st period to name itself and say nasty things
  about earlier timesGothic Dark Ages
• Term means Rebirth
• Looking back to Classical culture Ancient
  Greece and Rome

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• Middle Ages - people were parts of a greater
  whole members of a family, trade guild, nation,
  or Church
• Renaissance - human beings first began to think
  of themselves as individuals

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Timeline

• Guttenberg Bible1456
• Columbus reaches America1492
• Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisac. 1503
• Michelangelo David1504
• Raphael School of Athens1505
• Martin Luthers 95 theses1517
• Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet1596

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Humanism

• Pursuit of individualism
• Recognition that humans are creative
• Appreciation of art as a product of man
• Basic culture needed for all
• Life could be enjoyable
• Love of the classical past

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Renaissance Man

• Broad knowledge about many things in different
  fields
• Deep knowledge of skill in one area
• Able to link areas and create new knowledge

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Realism

• That painting is the most to be praised which
  agrees most exactly with the thing imitated.
• - Leonardo da Vinci

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• Names! Artists known by name 1st contemporary
  art historian (1550)
• Individuality celebrated in this era

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Shakespeare
Part of a general revival of theater, which we
need to mention now, because OPERA is about to
develop in the Baroque period.
HAMLET - 1602
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• Church is still the biggest power structure
• Beginning of banking
• Private fortunes power
• Starts in Italy specifically Florence

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Josquin Ave Maria . . .
MichelangeloDavid
DonatelloDavid
Michelangelo
Raphael
Leonardo
REFORMATION
Renaissance timeline
1400
1500
1600
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Summary Italian Renaissance

• POLITICS Italian city-states power from
  money
• EARLY RENAISSANCE Florence
• HIGH RENAISSANCE Rome
• ART Classical ideals revived BIG 3
• IDEAS Humanism returns
• MUSIC Josquin imitative counterpoint

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The Old Way
Start with a bit of chant a cantus firmus
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The Emerging Way?
Still very linear in conception, especially in
its emphasis on IMITATIVE COUNTERPOINT, but more
vertical in organization? (Careful control of
dissonance favoring triads.)
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Basic structure

• Words dominate
• Tone painting

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• Printed in part-book or opposing-sheet format

• Originated in Italy

Printing
Printing

• English madrigal
• lighter simpler

Printing
Printing

• Intended for amateur performers (after dinner
  music)

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Josquin
(to the tune of the Beatles Michelle)
Josquin, the Man, Wrote smooth counterpoint as no
one can, That guy Josquin.
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Josquin Desprez

• 1st Great Composer glorified by contemporary
  and following generations
• new approach to composition?

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a piece by Josquin
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Musical Notation

• Invented to publish books of music
• Invented instruments
• Instrumental arrangements appeared

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The Reformation 1517

• Martin Luther a composer himself
• Effort to reform creates new church
• Sides with rulers against peasant revolts
• Printing press disseminates The Word
• Boost to individualism
• Consequences for music Mass gone hymns

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The Counter-Reformation
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Giovanni Palestrina

• Adult life in Rome
• Choirmaster, singer,/ director of music
• Reactionary period
• Church suppressed music that did not enhance
  words of the Mass
• Polyphony was distracting
• Works were conservative

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Giovanni Palestrina

• Wrote over 100 masses
• Gregorian chant
• Mass in Honor of Pope Marcellus
• Influenced later music
• Buried in St. Peters Basilica
• The Prince of Music

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Palestrina
Chant a source of musical materials (revival
last gasp of cantus firmus technique) Very
refined no text painting Repetition
avoided 16th Century Counterpoint still taught
today why? To teach control, focus line We
usually celebrate innovators in history
Palestrina was a consolidator and perfecter of a
soon-to-fade style
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Palestrina a story
The Church was about to ban polyphonic music from
the church, because it obscured the sacred text.
In response, Palestrina then composed the Missa
Papae Marcelli, which, depite its 6-part texture,
features very clear text-setting. The
powers-that-be heard its merit beauty and music
was SAVED! ? Charming story, often told, but alas
not true.
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Secular Music

• New instruments
• Chansons favored in the court
• Courtly Love
• Madrigals
• Poetry and Music

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Music at Court
Dances

• Instrumentation unspecified usually a consort
  (group) of a family of instruments of uniform
  timbre
• Dances are collected into suites (Baroque) which
  evolve into symphonies (Classical)

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Instrumental Music

• Still subordinate to vocal music
• Used more often to accompany voices
• Sometimes played adapted vocal music alone
• Published music stated that parts could be sung
  or played
• Dancing became ever more popular
• Composers did not specify instrumentation

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Music at Court
Madrigals
Origin of term obscure A type of song for
multiple voice parts Text is a rhyming poem,
usually with sections of repetition is usually
about Love
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Madrigals
Music at Court

• Popular-at-court--wealthy-homes music
• In Italy and England
• Participatory, not passive music
• text-painting
• importance of words ? homorhythmic texture ?