The Renaissance

Listen to This

Fourth Edition

Part 2

The Renaissance ca. 1425–1600

The Renaissance

Recovery of knowledge lost during the Middle Ages

Humanism: movement that explored human interests and values through science, philosophy, and the arts

Renaissance composers united words and music more than ever before

Music for Catholics and Protestants

Martin Luther began Reformation in Wittenberg, 1517

Monarchs determined faith and politics of their realm

Protestant composers wrote liturgical music in languages other than Latin

Catholic composers wrote music to inspire the faithful

Music for Growing Markets

First contact with “New World” in fifteenth century

Demand for music and the arts grew

Ideal “Renaissance man” cultivated knowledge in full range of arts and sciences

Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier recommends learning to sing and play an instrument

A New Sense of Individuality

Growing confidence in human reason and distinctiveness of individuals

Medieval drama tended toward allegory

Renaissance drama emphasized lifelike characters

Renaissance composers captured human emotions

Information Technology 2.0

Invention of moveable metal type around 1450 changed the way information was transmitted

Print allowed information to spread quickly and cheaply

Some composers achieved international renown, even as publishers

By 1500, printing was a major enterprise throughout Europe

Closer Look: A Renaissance Printing Press

Printing press made it possible to create thousands of copies of a text in a single process.

Individuals could now buy music for their own use at a reasonable price.

By 1500, printing became a major enterprise, and presses emerged across Europe.

Chapter 7

Josquin des Prez

“The Cricket”

Chapter 7 Learning Objectives

7.1 Discuss the whimsical nature of the text of ”The Cricket” and how Josquin’s setting reflects this nature.

7.2 Listen for the four equal voices characteristic of Renaissance style.

7.3 Recognize how Josquin’s music depicts specific words in the text of “The Cricket.”

7.4 Listen for the contrasting sections of the ABA structure.

7.5 Describe various performance options for “The Cricket.”

7.6 Discuss highlights of Josquin’s life.

Listen to This First, “The Cricket”

Texture	Listen for four distinct voices (polyphonic). Listen for passages in which voices sing in the same or different rhythms.
Word-Music Relationships	Listen for examples of word painting, in which the sound of a cricket is imitated.
Form	Listen for the return of the opening section. Listen for the contrast between the middle and outer sections.

“The Cricket”

Composed: ca. 1500

Words and music enhance one another

Josquin wrote music as humorous as the text

Written to be played by any combination of voices and instruments

Renaissance songs seem more contemporary than music from the Middle Ages

Texture: Polyphony in Four Voices

Four equal parts: soprano (highest), alto, tenor, bass (lowest)

Polyphony (equal-voice texture) is the norm for Renaissance music

Counterpoint governed how multiple melodies sound good when played together

Technique learned by writing new melodies against an existing one

Word Painting: Music Imitates Text

In word painting, music “illustrates” the meaning of a word or phrase

Examples in “The Cricket”:

Long notes for cricket’s ability to “hold a long line”

Chirping, hiccupping sounds for “drinking”

Passionate, intense melisma for “love”

Ternary Form

Form of text shapes the form of the music

Two broad sections in “The Cricket”

Cricket can hold a long note and sing of drinking

Cricket is different from birds, who also sing

Each section receives distinctive music

Opening section is repeated at end

Connect Your Playlist: Word Painting

Find a piece that uses word painting.

Example: Taylor Swift, “Blank Space” (2014)

Profile: Josquin des Prez (ca. 1450-1521)

An international celebrity in his time

So popular that publishers falsely attributed many pieces to him

Demanded higher salaries and freedom to work independently

Life shrouded in mystery

Born near border of France and Belgium, but worked mainly in Italy, including in Rome

Expand Your Playlist: Josquin des Prez

Missa Pange Lingua

Missa La Sol Fa Re Mi

“Hail Mary…Serene Virgin”

“Virgin Nurse of God, Undefiled”

Performance: Playing and Singing

Similar to songwriters today, Josquin wrote his music so that it could be performed in a variety of ways

With words

Without words

Arranged for all kinds of instruments and instrumental ensembles

Renaissance musicians were resourceful – used whatever combination of voices or instruments available

Expand Your Playlist: The Music of Sounds (1/2)

Are all sounds music? Consider the following:

Birds

Clément Janequin’s “The Song of the Birds” (“Le chant des oiseaux,” early 16c)

Music of the Kalui of Papua New Guinea

Olivier Messiaen, “Awakening of the Birds” (“Réveil des oiseaux,” 1953)

Monkeys

Cecak or Ketjak (“Ramayana Monkey Chant”) from Bali (Indonesia)

Expand Your Playlist: The Music of Sounds (2/2)

Trains

Arthur Honegger, Pacific 213 (1923)

Billy Strayhorn’s Take the “A” Train (1941)

Battle

Clément Janequin’s La Bataille (early 16c)

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory (1813)

Pyotr IIich Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture (1882)

Chapter 8

Thomas Weelkes

“Since Robin Hood”

Chapter 8 Learning Objectives

8.1 Define madrigal.

8.2 Situate the Morris dance and its music in Renaissance culture.

8.3 Listen for the relationship between the shifting meters of the poetry and the shifting meters of the music.

8.4 Listen for the instances of word painting in Thomas Weelkes’s “Since Robin Hood.”

8.5 Discuss the social role of musicians in private households in Elizabethan England.

8.6 Discuss Thomas Weelkes as a Shakespearean composer.

Listen to This First, “Since Robin Hood”

Texture	Listen for the three distinct voices (polyphonic).
Rhythm	Listen for the shift from duple to triple meter in the middle of the piece.
Word-Music Relationships	Listen to the descriptive nature of the music with words such as “to skip” and “trip it.”

“Since Robin Hood”

Composed: 1608

Madrigal: musical setting of a text in a single strophe (stanza)

About an actual event in 1599

William Kemp danced from London to Norwich (140 miles) in nine days

Features stock characters: Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Little John, hobby horse

Texture: Polyphony in Three Voices

Polyphony typical of Renaissance madrigal

All three voices move in same rhythm

Declamatory style makes text easier to hear

Uppermost voice uses a melody familiar to Shakespeare’s contemporaries

Poetic Rhythm in Music

Rhythm of music matches the poetry

Iambic pattern: short-LONG

Trochaic pattern: LONG-short

Syncopation illustrates “to skip” in third section

1st section, iambic, duple meter

2nd section, trochaic, triple meter

3rd section, trochaic, duple meter

Connect Your Playlist: Songs about Dancing

Find a piece that deals with the subject of dancing.

Example: Chubby Checker, “The Twist” (1960)

Word Painting in the Renaissance Madrigal

Certain words are set graphically

Examples: “to skip” and “did trip it”

Different rhythms in each voice make these jump out of the texture

Word painting common in Renaissance madrigals

Enhances meaning and pleasure of poetry

Profile: Thomas Weelkes (ca. 1575-1623)

Lived during age of Shakespeare, Elizabeth I, and James I

Fascinated by Italian poetry and music

Imitated Italian models, used English poets (Shakespeare, Jonson, Marlowe)

Professional musician: educated at Oxford, wrote sacred and secular music

Expand Your Playlist: The English Madrigal

William Byrd, “This Sweet and Merry Month of May”

John Farmer, “Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting All Alone”

Orlando Gibbons, “The Silver Swan”

Thomas Morley, “Now Is the Month of Maying”

Thomas Weelkes, “As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending”; “Hark, All Ye Lovely Saints”

John Wilbye, “Weep, Weep, Mine Eyes”

Historical Context: Musicians as Spies

Sixteenth-century England went back and forth between Protestant monarchs and Catholic monarchs

Rumors and plots to overthrow the monarchy and invade the country

Playing an instruments provided perfect cover for gathering intelligence

Expand Your Playlist: The Italian Madrigal

Italian madrigals of the early 16th century influenced the emergence of the English madrigal at the end of 16th century

Earliest examples of English-language madrigals were direct translations from the Italian.

Examples of composers of the English madrigal:

Jacob Arcadelt (ca. 1505-1568)

Cipriano de Rore (1516-1565)

Luzzaascho Luzzaschi (1545-1607)

Lucca Marenzio (1553 or 1554-1599)

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

Chapter 9

William Byrd

“Sing Joyfully”

Chapter 9 Learning Objectives (1/2)

9.1 Discuss the challenges of setting sacred music polyphonically.

9.2 Define the genres of anthem and motet.

9.3 Listen for the imitative counterpoint in six voices in William Byrd’s “Sing Joyfully.”

9.4 Listen for and describe the relationship between the structure of the text and sectional form of the music in “Sing Joyfully.”

Chapter 9 Learning Objectives (2/2)

9.5 Describe the options for performance of Renaissance choral music.

9.6 Discuss Byrd’s work as a Catholic composer and publisher in Protestant England.

Listen to This First, “Sing Joyfully”

Texture	Listen for the six distinct voices. Listen for passages in which musical ideas are imitated in quick succession.
Form	Notice how each new section receives its own new musical idea.
Word-Music Relationships	Listen for the feeling of the text’s key words such as “joyfully” and “sing loud.” Listen for word painting on phrases such as “blow the trumpet.”

“Sing Joyfully”

Composed: 1590

Sacred text, from Book of Psalms

For six voices

Choral Music (more than one singer to a part)

A cappella (sung without instrumental accompaniment)

Anthem was English equivalent of the motet

Large choirs and cathedrals challenged ability of text to be heard

Originally performed by all-male choir, a sound still common in English churches

Texture: Polyphony in Six Voices

Imitative counterpoint: one voice introduces a new theme and is imitated by other voices in succession

Imitation important since the Renaissance

Challenging to hear the text

Registral separation and text repetition help clarify the text

Connect Your Playlist: Polyphonic Texture

Find a piece of music that contains at least one passage with polyphonic texture.

The Beach Boys, “Good Vibrations” (1964)

Sectional Form

Form of music follows form of words

Each line of text receives a melodic idea, ending with a cadence

Elided cadence: new idea introduced as old one ends

Word-Music Relationships: The Music Paints the Words

“Sing joyfully” set to lively musical motive

“Blow the trumpet” imitates trumpet fanfare

“For this is a statue of Israel” set in a fitting declamatory style

Profile: William Byrd (1542-1623)

A Catholic working for the Protestant queen, Elizabeth I

Often harassed as a “papist”

His talent guarded against persecution

Briefly monopolized English music printing

Expand Your Playlist: Byrd

Mass for Four Voices

O Lord, Make Thy Servant Elizabeth

Sadness and Anxiety (Tristitia et anxietas)

“This Sweet and Merry Month of May”

Performance: The Sound of the All-Male Choir

With few exceptions, women were not permitted to sing in church choirs until 18th century

It was feared that women might cause distraction

Churches used their male pupils to sing the soprano line

Ideal sound of all-male choir (still sought after today)

Expand Your Playlist: Music of the Reformation

Catholics and Protestants recognized the power of music to sway hearts and minds of the faithful.

English:

Thomas Tallis (ca. 1505-1585)

German:

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

John Walter (1496-1570)

French:

Louis Bourgeois (ca. 1510-15-1559)

Chapter 10

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Pope Marcellus Mass, “Gloria”

Chapter 10 Learning Objectives (1/2)

10.1 Discuss the sixteenth-century debate over sacred music within the Catholic Church and how Palestrina provided a model for polyphonic music of the Counter-Reformation.

10.2 Explain the ritual of the Catholic Mass and how music is used within it.

10.3 Recognize how Palestrina creates different textures in Pope Marcellus Mass by varying the number of voices from phrase to phrase.

Chapter 10 Learning Objectives (2/2)

10.4 Listen for the steady, even flow of the rhythm and how Palestrina used elided cadences to keep the music moving forward.

10.5 Recognize passages where Palestrina has strategically introduced dissonance.

10.6 Discuss highlights of Palestrina’s life.

Listen to This First, Pope Marcellus Mass, “Gloria”

Timbre	Listen for the sound of unaccompanied voices.
Texture	Try to hear the six different voices, high to low. Listen for the contrast between moments when only some voices are singing and those when all six voices are singing.
Rhythm	Listen for the steady, even flow of the music and the occasional cadences that punctuate this flow at various points.
Harmony	Listen for the contrast between consonance—a “sweet” sound—and the occasional dissonance—a ”harsh” sound.

Pope Marcellus Mass

Composed: 1555

“Gloria” conveys sung text with clarity and richness of six-voice texture

Legend: Council of Trent was convinced after listening to this Mass that polyphony, in addition to plainchant, could be effective in projecting a text, along with having beautiful melodies and harmonies.

Most famous Palestrina Mass

“Palestrina Style”

Historical Context: The Mass

Mass is ritual re-enactment of Christ’s Last Supper with the Disciples

Consists of a combination of texts that never change (Ordinary) and texts that are connected to specific seasons, weeks or days in the church calendar (Propers)

Ordinary: Kyrie eleison, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei

Until mid-1960s, texts sung in Latin

Composers of Masses: Machaut, Josquin des Prez, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

A capella Timbre

Unaccompanied voices

Choral music sung a capella (similar to William Byrd’s “Sing Joyfully”)

Varied Polyphonic Textures

Four vocal lines (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) + extra tenor and bass line

Rarely uses all six voices at any given moment

Texture examples:

1. ”Deus Pater omnipotens” (3 voices)

2. “Domine Fili, unigenite…” (4 voices)

3. “Domine Fili” repeat (6 voices)

4. “unignite” (5 to 4 voices)

Flowing Rhythm

Palestrina provides variety with passages of faster rhythmic motion

Never becomes monotonous

Each phrase of text receives its own particular melodic idea and slightly different rhythmic pattern

Cadences keep the music moving forward

Connect Your Playlist: Dissonance and Consonance

Example: Imogen Heap, “Hide and Seek” (2005)

Consonant and Dissonant Harmonies

Palestrina strategically uses dissonance (harsh sound created when two or more notes clash and so not seem to belong together)

His music is largely consonant

Example: Listen at 0:35 for the word “Adoramus”

Profile: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 or 1526-1594)

Name from the town Palestrina, near Rome

Musician in churches and around Rome

Prolific composer with 104 settings of Mass, more than 270 motets, and both sacred and secular madrigals

His music continued to be performed long after his death

Later composers were influenced by Palestrina’s style

Expand Your Playlist: Palestrina

Missa brevis / Mass

Tu es Petrus / Motet

Stabat mater / Motet

Vestiva I colli / Secular Madrigal

Expand Your Playlist: Music of the Counter-Reformation

Counter-Reformation

Council of Trent (1545-1563) to close of Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)

Examples of composers who maintained allegiance to Rome and continued to set texts in Latin:

Tomás Luis de Victoria (ca. 1549-1611)

Cristonál de Morales (ca. 1500-1553)

Orlande de Lassus (1530 or 1532-1594)

Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652)

Chapter 11

Rhyming Singers of the Bahamas

“My Lord Help Me to Pray”

Chapter 11 Learning Objectives (1/2)

11.1 Recognize polyphonic singing as a global phenomenon.

11.2 Listen for call-and-response in the Rhyming Singers of the Bahamas’s performance of “My Lord Help Me to Pray.”

11.3 Listen for and describe the three parts of rhyme, treble, and bass in “My Lord Help Me to Pray”

Chapter 11 Learning Objectives (2/2)

11.4 Listen for the contrasts among the different sections of “My Lord Help Me to Pray.”

11.5 Discuss Bob Marley and the beginning of reggae.

Listen to This First, “My Lord Help Me to Pray”

Texture	Listen for the contrasting register and timbre of the three voices.
Melody	Listen for the distinctive melodic contour of each voice.
Word-Music Relationships	Notice how the singers change or add words within the same basic textual framework.
Form	Listen for the alternation between the call (lead vocalist) and response (chorus).

“My Lord Help Me to Pray”

Recorded: 1965

Rhyme song developed in nineteenth century

For three vocalists

Each melodic line has its own words

Based on gospel texts

Texture: Monophony versus Polyphony

Call-and-response alternation between monophony (lead singer) and polyphony (all three voices)

Syncretism: combines different forms of beliefs and practices

Mixes Christian spirituals and Bahamian religious beliefs

Connect Your Playlist: Call-and-Response

Find a piece that contains a lead vocalist who states the melody (“call”) and a vocal group that responds to him or her (“response”).

Example: Whiskey Shivers, “Graves” (2014)

Intoning the Melody (1/2)

Bahamians refer to singing as “intoning”

Bahamians refer to their songs as “rhymes”

Each line (call-and-response) has its own intonation model:

Rhyme line: Varied and often improvised; always descending in motion; each phrase ends on its lowest tone.

Intoning the Melody (2/2)

Treble line: Two halves, a (ascends and pauses on the highest tone of the phrase) and b (descends and resolved on the lowest tone of the phrase).

Bass line: Varied slightly; two essential tones that provide the basic harmonic support; sometimes occurs under the rhyme line as additional support.

Historical Context: Bob Marley and the Birth of Reggae

Caribbean music is rich and varied

Local styles influenced by American rock and roll heard on radios

Reggae associated with the Rastafarian religion

Emphasis on black liberation, culture, and artistic expression

Strong appeal in Jamaica

Bob Marley (1945-1981): reggae performer, composer, and political activist

Word-Music Relationships

Uses repeated couplets (pairs of metered lines)

The response is always “My Lord, help me to pray”

Later on, the parts become intricate and complex

Expand Your Playlist: Music of the Caribbean

Music of the Caribbean

Caribbean Party

Jamaica

Bongo, Backra & Coolie

Reggae

Bob Marley / Babylon by Bus

Bahamas

Joseph Spence

Calypso

Lord Invader

Chapter 12

Tielman Susato Moorish Dance

Chapter 12 Learning Objectives (1/2)

12.1 Explain the function of dance in Renaissance society

12.2 Describe the different timbres in Tielman Susato’s Moorish Dance.

12.3 Explain the relationship between meter and dancing.

12.4 Identify the binary form of Susato’s Moorish Dance.

Chapter 12 Learning Objectives (2/2)

12.5 Discuss Susato’s role as a publisher

12.6 Describe why music publishing was difficult

12.7 Identify other examples of instrumental music from the Renaissance.

Listen to This First, Moorish Dance

Timbre	Listen for instruments from each of the three main families of instruments: winds, strings, and percussion.
Rhythm	Listen for the underlying metrical regularity of the music, in duple meter.
Form	Listen for the repetition and alternation of the dance’s two sections: the first is characterized by a higher, brighter sound, while the second is lower and somewhat darker.

Moorish Dance

Composed: ca. 1550

Dance was vital element of social life

Composers supplied much dance music

Various dance genres existed

Each had distinctive tempo, meter, rhythm, and dance step

Susato’s Moorish Dance was one of the most popular dance tunes of its day

A Rich and Varied Timbre

Performance by very large ensemble

Winds: recorders, shawms, curtal, sackbuts, cornettos

Strings: violins, viols, guitars

Percussion: tabors, bells, tambourine, cymbals

Highest and loudest instruments predominate

Percussion provide steady beat for dancers

Dancing to Rhythmic Units

Must be rhythmically clear and consistent

Smaller rhythmic units correspond to steps

Each “step” consists of eight beats

Even today, dance music uses repeated musical units played to a steady beat

Binary Form

Divides into two large units (A and B)

Binary form—two repeated halves

Notated as ||: A :||: B :|| or AABB

Entire dance often repeated

Often ends on A

Connect Your Playlist: Brass Instruments

Find a piece that makes prominent use of brass instruments.

Example: Shakira, “Hips Don’t Lie” (2006)

Profile: Tielman Susato (ca. 1510-1570)

Remembered as composer and publisher

Lived in Antwerp

Worked first as calligrapher

Later established a music printing press

Promoted local composers

His talent guarded against persecution

Briefly monopolized English music printing

Historical Context: The Business of Music Publishing

Printing and publishing was major business by early sixteenth century

Music publishing developed in Venice by Ottaviano Petrucci

Petrucci promoted the music of Josquin des Prez

Tielman Susato promoted dance music and popular songs

Expand Your Playlist: Moorish Dance

Various versions of Moorish Dance by:

Piffaro

Ensemble Terpsichore

Rupert Gough

Philip Jones Brass Ensemble

Canadian Brass

Expand Your Playlist: Instrumental Music of the Renaissance

Many musical Instruments from the Renaissance disappeared or evolved over time and only recently have they been recovered

The following albums help to recreate the Renaissance in sound:

Flautando Köln

His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts

Phantasm

Part II Summary

Making Connections:

Music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Comparison of Eras (1/3)

	Middle Ages	Renaissance
Texture	Monophonic and polyphonic	Polyphonic, including imitative counterpoint
Melody	Flowing, largely conjunct, divided into sections by cadences; melodies based on scales of the medieval modes	Flowing, but with greater use of disjunct motion; divided into sections by cadences; melodies based on scales of the medieval modes

Comparison of Eras (2/3)

	Middle Ages	Renaissance
Rhythm	Free (plainchant) and metrically structured	Relatively smooth and flowing rhythms within a metrically structured framework
Timbre	No sharp distinction between instrumental and vocal music	No sharp distinction between instrumental and vocal music; a growing number and variety of instruments
Harmony	By-product of harmony	By-product of harmony

Comparison of Eras (3/3)

	Middle Ages	Renaissance
Form	Based on repetition, variety, and contrast	Based on repetition, variety, and contrast; primarily sectional; binary form for dance music
Word-Music Relationships	Syllabic settings to project texts clearly; melismatic settings to emphasize key words	Limited use of word painting

In Review: Renaissance Style (1/2)

Polyphonic texture	Although monophonic plainchant continued to be used in sacred services, new music is almost entirely polyphonic. Imitative counterpoint becomes increasingly important (Byrd). Four-voice texture is the norm at the beginning of the Renaissance (Josquin); six voice texture is the norm by the end (Byrd).
Melody	Greater use of disjunct motion; melodies still based on medieval modes
Rhythm	Metrical structure provides a framework for rhythms that are usually fluid (Josquin, Weelkes, Byrd), though in the case of dance music these rhythms are more repetitive (Susato)

In Review: Renaissance Style (2/2)

Word painting	Setting specific words to music that imitates the meaning of those words
Binary form	The most common form for dance movement, consisting of two sections, each repeated in performance

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