The Renaissance

Music from 1400 to 1600.

• In the Middle Ages, music was dominated by the Church, therefore most composition was for sacred use and based on the plainchant that had been part of worship since the earliest years of Christianity.

• The Renaissance followed on from the Middle Ages and was for musicians an era of discovery, innovation and exploration - the name means ‘rebirth’.

• Although most music remained religious, the relaxation of the Church’s political control over society meant that composers were allowed greater freedom to be influenced by art, classical mythology and even astronomy and mathematics.

• The invention of the printing press meant that music could be published and distributed for the first time. This is the beginning of what we call classical music.

• The Latin Mass is perhaps the most important type of music from the Renaissance, particularly Josquin des Prez.

• Most music written during this period is intended to be sung, either as large choral pieces in church or as songs or madrigals.
• Non-vocal music flourished too, particularly as technology enabled musical instruments to be more expressive and agile - pieces could now be written specifically for instruments such as the sackbut and lute.

• In the early Renaissance, most composers came from Northern France or the Low Countries, where the support provided by the courts was particularly strong. Later on focus went beyond the Alps as the heyday of the Italian city-state system took hold, and many northern composers came south to find their fortunes. 

• Italian composers started appearing too. At the basilica of St Mark’s, Venice, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli produced magnificent pieces for huge choirs and groups of instruments.
• In Rome, Allegri and Palestrina were the last great Renaissance composers, writing huge, flowing choral works that still enthrall the ears.

The Renaissance period has had an incredible influence over the musical eras which were to follow. This era was when the fundamental ideas that still underpin the way we think about music were experimented over and formed, such as:

• how musical lines should fit together in harmony
• how melody and rhythm are written down
• how music can be manipulated to make us laugh or cry

Renaissance music shows us that its composers knew exactly how do all these things and more; if you don’t know any, there’s a whole new world to discover.

Great works from the Renaissance era include:

Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli
Allegri: Miserere
Tallis: Spem in Alium