🪘Music History – Renaissance Unit 4 – Renaissance Secular Music Forms & Styles

Key Characteristics of Renaissance Secular Music

• Polyphonic texture multiple independent melodic lines woven together to create a harmonious whole
• Increased use of imitation and counterpoint techniques such as canon and fugue
• Greater emphasis on text expression and word painting (madrigals)
• Shift towards major and minor tonality away from medieval church modes
• Expansion of vocal ranges and use of wider intervals in melodic lines
• Incorporation of instrumental accompaniment and purely instrumental forms (consort music)
• Development of music notation and printing allowed for wider dissemination of compositions

Popular Secular Music Forms

• Madrigal polyphonic vocal composition set to secular poetry, originated in Italy
  • Emphasized expressive text setting and word painting
  • Typically for four to six voices, later expanded to include instrumental accompaniment
• Chanson French polyphonic song, often dealing with courtly love themes
  • Characterized by clear melodic lines and simple rhythms
  • Composers included Josquin des Prez and Claudin de Sermisy
• Villancico Spanish secular polyphonic song, often with rustic or pastoral themes
• Frottola Italian strophic song, precursor to the madrigal
• Ballade French secular song with narrative texts, often dealing with chivalric themes
• Lute song solo vocal work accompanied by lute, popular in England (John Dowland)

Instrumental Music Development

• Consort music compositions for groups of instruments, often from the same family (viol consort)
• Ricercar polyphonic instrumental composition, precursor to the fugue
  • Characterized by imitative counterpoint and virtuosic passages
• Canzona instrumental work derived from the French chanson, featuring imitative counterpoint
• Dance music (pavane, galliard) stylized instrumental pieces based on popular dance forms
  • Often paired together in contrasting tempos and meters
• Variations compositional technique involving the manipulation of a musical theme
  • Composers created sets of variations on popular songs or dance tunes
• Fantasia free-form instrumental composition showcasing the composer's inventiveness
• Toccata virtuosic instrumental piece designed to showcase the performer's technical skill

Vocal Music Techniques

• Word painting musical representation of the text's literal meaning (ascending melodic lines for words like "rise")
• Imitation repetition of a melodic phrase in different voices, creating a sense of dialogue
• Canon strict imitation, with each voice entering in succession using the same melody
• Counterpoint the art of combining independent melodic lines to create harmony
  • Composers focused on creating smooth, flowing lines that interacted with each other
• Homorhythmic texture all voices moving together in the same rhythm, often used for clarity of text
• Antiphonal singing alternation between two or more groups of singers, creating a sense of spatial depth
• Ornamentation addition of embellishments and flourishes to the written melody, particularly in solo passages

Notable Composers and Works

• Josquin des Prez (c. 1450-1521) French composer known for his expressive motets and chansons
  • Notable works: "Ave Maria... virgo serena," "Mille regretz"
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594) Italian composer, master of Renaissance polyphony
  • Notable works: "Missa Papae Marcelli," "Stabat Mater"
• Thomas Morley (c. 1557-1602) English composer, known for his madrigals and treatise on music theory
  • Notable works: "Now is the Month of Maying," "Sing and Chant It"
• Orlando di Lasso (c. 1532-1594) Franco-Flemish composer, known for his expressive and chromatic works
  • Notable works: "Lagrime di San Pietro," "Psalmi Davidis poenitentiales"
• William Byrd (c. 1540-1623) English composer, known for his sacred and secular vocal music
  • Notable works: "Mass for Four Voices," "The Battell"

Cultural and Social Influences

• Humanism philosophical movement emphasizing human potential and individual expression
  • Composers sought to convey human emotions and experiences through their music
• Patronage system wealthy individuals and institutions commissioned works and supported musicians
  • Courts, churches, and guilds played a significant role in fostering musical development
• Rise of music printing allowed for wider dissemination of compositions and increased music literacy
• Reformation and Counter-Reformation religious movements impacted sacred music composition
  • Protestant composers focused on simplicity and congregational participation (chorale)
  • Catholic composers responded with more elaborate and expressive works (Palestrina)
• Exploration and colonization exposed Europeans to new musical traditions and instruments
• Emergence of professional musicians and composers, as opposed to the earlier reliance on amateur performers

Performance Practices

• A cappella singing without instrumental accompaniment, particularly in sacred music
• Improvisation musicians were expected to ornament and embellish the written score
  • Composers often provided a framework for improvisation (ground bass, figured bass)
• Tactus principle of maintaining a steady beat, often indicated by a conductor's hand motions
• One-to-a-part performance practice each vocal part sung by a single singer, rather than a choir
• Pitch and temperament systems (just intonation, meantone temperament) affected tuning and harmony
• Use of period instruments (viols, lutes, recorders) and their specific playing techniques
• Spatial placement of musicians (cori spezzati) in churches and courts for antiphonal effects

Legacy and Impact on Later Music

• Establishment of tonal harmony major and minor scales, functional harmony, and cadences
  • Laid the foundation for the Baroque era and beyond
• Development of instrumental music forms and techniques that would evolve in the Baroque (fugue, suite)
• Emphasis on text expression and word painting influenced the development of opera and oratorio
• Polyphonic writing techniques (imitation, counterpoint) continued to be used and expanded by later composers
• Madrigal and chanson forms inspired the creation of new secular vocal genres (opera, cantata)
• Consort music and instrumental variations paved the way for the Baroque trio sonata and theme and variations
• Printing and distribution of music scores enabled the preservation and study of Renaissance compositions