Renaissance
mean “rebirth” or more importantly "rediscovery."
What was rediscovered was the art, knowledge and humanistic
values and esthetics of ancient Greece and Rome. This was
a time there was explosion of knowledge, creativity, curiosity
and reform in the church. Also, when Magellan sailed around
the world, Columbus supposedly discovered America, Martin
Luther led the Protestant reformation, humanistic thought
focused on human life and accomplishments rather than on religious
doctrine and the afterlife. Knowledge during the Renaissance
was obtained from scholars rather than priests. The time period
or the Renaissance in Western Europe was from about 1400 (1450
was the year the printing press was invented) to 1600 (the
invention of opera). The imitative polyphonic Mass of the
Renaissance fulfilled the tradition of church music performed
in cathedrals. But music outside of the church played an increasingly
important role as composers came to be employed by kings and
nobility rather than by the church. Continuing the Medieval
tradition of music for entertainment, listening or dancing
to music increased in popularity. An educated person was often
trained in music, sang madrigals or played the lute or vihuela.
The instruments of the Renaissance were related to the same
string, woodwind, brass, percussion and keyboard families
that exist today. Renaissance composers continually tried
to make their music more expressive, more relevant to Renaissance
society and more reflective to their every day human experience.
Composers for the mass include Josquin Desprez and Giovanni
Palestrina the lute include Dowland and da Milano, and the
vihuelists, Milan, Narvaez, Mudarra, Fuenllana and Pisador.
MASS
The Sistine Madonna, details of the Angels, Raphael,1513-1514
The
most substantial composition of the Renaissance. The main
Roman Catholic service and the music written for it. A five
movement form set to music. The five movements are Kyrie,
Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnes dei. The great challenge
for the composer was to link and unify the sections of the
church service mass with vocal music. The Renaissance Mass
was sung a cappella, was primarily in imitative polyphony
and was written in four parts arranged Soprano, Alto, Tenor,
and Bass.
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MADRIGAL
Sermisy's Jouissance & a Renaissance Women's Consort
A
secular vocal work for 4 to 6 voices, sung a cappella, essentially
polyphonic in texture, light in character and employs "word
painting". The madrigal is the most important secular
genre to emerge during the Renaissance. It is in the madrigal
that the Renaissance desire to make music more "expressive"
is most clearly observed. In "word painting" the
composers sought to musically illustrate the meaning of their
texts.
INSTRUMENTAL
DANCE MUSIC
The
role of instrumentalist in the Renaissance was such that many
of the best composers wrote for instruments with or without
voices. The dance music tended to be more elaborate, more
stylized and more artistic. Instruments and music for instruments
developed significantly during this period. Instrumental music
was to become one of the great glories of the Baroque era
and the basis for this was laid in the Renaissance. Instruments
often played along with singers in vocal music and sometimes
performed vocal genres as instrumental pieces by themselves.
The two most important dances in the Renaissance were the
Pavane and the Galliard. The Pavane was a slow a stately dance
in duple meter and the Galliard was a fast and lively dance
in triple meter.
Typical
instruments of the Renaissance:
Bosse,
Abraham
Musical Society, c. 1635
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
Viol
or rebec - violin
Shawm
- oboe
Crumhorn
- bassoon
Sackbut
- trumpet or trombone
Cornetto
- clarinet
Lute
or vihuela - guitar
Harpsichord
- piano
LUTE
Bartolomeo
Veneto
Woman Playing a Lute, 1520
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.
A
pear shaped instrument of Arabic origin ( stems from 'ud or
al'ud) introduced to Europe partly through contact with the
Moors in Spain and partly through the interest of returning
Crusaders. Throughout Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries the lute was the favorite instrument for use in
homes, in barbershops and taverns. Much of the repertoire
for the lute consists of short dance movements but most
importantly the lute fantasia was developed. A fantasia for
the lute was a free formed piece that could go in any musical
direction the composer would see fit. A fantasia is a
composition inspired by the imagination of the player. It may
be that the quiet nature of the lute made it a difficult for
people to hear in a dance hall and thus was more suited for
intimate and dreamy pieces. The Renaissance lute had four to thirteen
courses (as the double strings where called) tuned a fourth
apart with the exception of a third between the third and
second course (tuning the guitars third string to f# while
leaving the remaining strings as they are will achieve a Renaissance
lute tuning).
