Renaissance1400-1600

Protestant Reformation◦Martin Luther◦Chorale◦Vernacular language used in church service instead of Latin

◦German Mass (much like the Holy Roman Catholic Mass)

Renaissance Sacred Music

◦Chorales German hymns Metric, rhymed, strophic poetry for unison, unaccompanied performance by the congregation

Luther wrote many chorales himself.

German version of Gregorian Chant

Renaissance Sacred Music

Purposes◦ Group singing in home settings◦ Performance in church by choirs, alternating

stanzas with the congregation in unison◦ Luther wanted "wholesome" music for young

people, to "rid them of their love ditties and wanton song."

Chorale Motets Chorale appears as a cantus firmus in long notes in

some motets.

Renaissance Sacred Music

◦Homophony Popular in the last third of the century

Tune in the highest voice Accompaniment in block chords After ca. 1600 the accompaniment was usually played on organ, with the choir singing the melody in unison.

Renaissance Sacred Music

The Anglican Church/Church of England◦ English replaced Latin text

Anthem English equivalent of motet◦ Sung by the choir◦ Texts come from the Bible or the Book of Common

Prayer◦ Full anthem: unaccompanied, contrapuntal◦ Verse anthem: for solo voice(s) with organ or viol

accompaniment, alternating with passages for full choir doubled by instruments

Renaissance Sacred Music

Composers Thomas Tallis (ca. 1505-1585)

◦ His style weds the melody to the natural inflection of speech.

William Byrd (ca. 1540-1623)◦ The most important English composer of the

Renaissance◦ Probably studied with Thomas Tallis◦ Composed both Anglican service music and Latin music◦ Also composed secular music◦ His style shows the influence of continental imitative

techniques.

Renaissance Sacred Music

Composers Continued◦ Adrian Willaert (ca. 1490-1562)◦ Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/1526-1594)◦ Tomás Luís de Victoria (1548-1611)◦ Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594)

He composed over two thousand pieces. Fifty-seven masses, and over seven hundred motets

Composed Italian, French, and German songs Believed in adding expression to music

Renaissance Sacred Music

Amateur music-making inspired a flowering of national styles, in contrast to the fifteenth-century unification of styles. Amateurs wanted secular music in the vernacular.

Homophonic genres for easy singing were popular in Spain and Italy.

Renaissance Secular Music

The ability to read and perform music became a social grace in the sixteenth century.◦Among the elite nobility first and eventually also among middle class

◦Amateurs constituted an eager market for a variety of secular genres.

Renaissance Secular Music

The frottola ◦ Four-part strophic song set syllabically and

homophonically.◦ Melody in the upper voice, simple harmony, and

marked rhythmic patterns◦ Composed by Italian composers for the

amusement of the courtly elite◦ Performed by solo voice with lute◦ Composer Marco Cara (ca. 1465-1525)◦ The rhythm moves in six beats per measure,

sometimes divided into three groups of two, other times two groups of three (hemiola effect).

Renaissance Secular Music

The Italian madrigal◦The genre became an experimental

vehicle for dramatic characterization.◦The poem consists of a four-line ripresa

and a six-line stanza. Form

◦Single stanza with no refrains or repeated lines

◦The music is through-composed, with new music for every line of poetry.

Renaissance Secular Music

Poetry◦ Composers often chose texts by major poets.◦ Topics included love songs and pastoral scenes.

Music◦ Composers used a variety of techniques and

textures.◦ All voices played an equal role, similar to the

motet.◦ Madrigals first were composed for four voices and

later composed for five or more voices.◦ Performance could be vocal, or some parts could

be played on instruments.

Renaissance Secular Music

Madalena Casulana (ca. 1544-ca.1590s), who served the duchess of Bracciano, was the first woman whose music was published and the first to regard herself as a professional composer.

Women performed madrigals with men, and some became professional singers.

Renaissance Secular Music

Italian Madrigal Composers◦ Adrian Willaert◦ Associated major thirds and sixths with harshness

or bitterness, and minor intervals with sweetness or grief

Renaissance Secular Music

English madrigals◦ Italian culture was in vogue in sixteenth-century

England.◦ Italian madrigals began to circulate in England in the

1560s.◦ Musica Transalpina, 1588◦ A collection of Italian madrigals translated into

English◦ Published by Nicholas Yonge, who wrote in his

introduction that gentlemen and merchants sang the repertory at his own home.

◦ This and similar collections inspired composers to start writing their own madrigals in English.

Renaissance Secular Music

Lute songs (or airs) ◦ Solo song with lute accompaniment was a popular

genre in the early 1600s.◦ More personal genre than the madrigal◦ Less word-painting, with lute always subordinate

to the melody◦ The lute part was written in tablature, a notation

telling the player where to place fingers on the strings rather than indicating pitch.

Renaissance Secular Music

English Madrigal Composer◦ Thomas Morley

Wrote a treatise, A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practiall Musicke (1597) Aimed at unlearned amateurs and covered everything from basic notation to composing in three or more voices

My bonny lass she smileth is based on the Italian balletto form. Strophic, with each stanza comprising two repeated sections (AABB) Each section begins homophonically. Sections end with a "fa-la-la" contrapuntal refrain.

Renaissance Secular Music

The Madrigal and Its Impact ◦The madrigal and the other vernacular genres

inspired by it reflect the growing influence of humanism on music.

◦Expressive codes developed after Willaert's time led to the development of opera.

◦The vogue for social singing declined after 1600, but the madrigal in English survived to some extent from its origins to today.

Renaissance Secular Music

Examples◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fez9Tjg-yOc◦ http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7Beb2uQHo0&feature=related

◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YdBbA1oqbY◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u1J2LYUTWg◦ http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PnB7lQ0s8I&feature=related

◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDQ03YbdwSo◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVWhxoIkHtY◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1_WbhGmpTw

Renaissance Secular Music