Renaissance

The poet playing “viola da mano” (M. Raimondi, 1510) MFGrávalos

 0. HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Renaissance is the progressive, intellectual and cultural era in the

15th-16th century starting in North Italy and spreading out to the
rest of Europe.
The term Renaissance, which derives from the word “rebirth”,
appeared to designate the artistic manifestations that sought to
recover the ideal of beauty and proportion taking inspiration from
the ancient Greek and Roman classic arts.

Discobolus (Miron, 5th c. B.C)

On the social scene, the Christian concept in which God was the centre of the universe (Theo-
centrism) is modified as a new idea emerged among the bourgeoisie: Humanism.

Humanism was the cultural movement that

marked the whole period. In Renaissance,
mankind turned back to look at itself. People
took an interest in appearances, nature, the
cultivation of arts and science and the
expression of feelings.
This new society became interested in nature
and human beings, and brought about new
discoveries and advances in science.
Humanists were curious about everything.
They did not want to be specialist in one field,
but to be scholars in many disciplines.
This is the time for polymaths like Brunelleschi, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo or in Spain,
Juan de la Enzina.

As more importance was given to beauty, values and reason, the faith started to lose its
influence in society. Protestantism arose trying to reform the Christian church, seeking to
return to the primitive values of humility, charity and brotherhood. The result was the division
of the Church into two factions; the Catholic and the Protestant church.

On the cultural scene, some events marked this period:

New inventions such as compass, gunpowder and printing press, promoted the development
of techniques and discoveries everywhere.
The invention of the printing press in 1453 enabled knowledge to be rapidly transmitted in
written form.

Monk copying a manuscript The printing press made books available

Geographical discoveries: new worlds were conquered and the flourishment of commerce
brought an age of enrichment and development in all aspects of life. The arrival of Christopher
Columbus to America in 1492, supported by the Catholic Monarchs, changed the vision of the
world and opened the way to new discoveries.

Renaissance is the age of the great Patrons of the Arts, noblemen and members of the clergy
from rich and powerful families who began sponsoring and stimulating the arts by protecting
and hiring famous artists.
Four great artists of the Cinquecento are Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo
Buonarroti, Raphael or Titian.
In the Spanish Renaissance we find the
architect Juan the Herrera, who designed the
monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial, the
painter El Greco, the scientist Miguel Servet.

The Greek, Count Orgaz’s burial

In literature, Juan de la Enzina, Garcilaso de la Vega, and the mystic

writers San Juan de la Cruz and Santa Teresa de Jesús. Lope de
Vega y Cervantes connect Renaissance and Baroque in the so
called “Siglo de Oro”.
Miguel de Cervantes
 RENAISSANCE MUSIC
In music, the return to the glorious past of Ancient Greece and Rome did not take place. There
was no rebirth, (because the music from Antiquity was unknown), nor a break with the past,
but a stylistic evolution that began in the period of Ars Nova.
In the social and cultural context of Renaissance, music was one of the privileged arts. The
figure of the composer came out of anonymity and acquired great social importance. At the
same time, the appearance of the printing press made the spreading of music easier.
The first printed music appeared in 1520 in England. Printing inevitably gave a plentiful supply
of new music. Instead of handwritten scores, with errors and variants, musicians could now
buy scores that were cheaper and accurate.
Much printed music of this time was made in the form of part books - one small volume,
usually of oblong format, for each voice or part. Part books were primarily used at home or in
social gatherings. Most church choirs continued to use large handwritten choir books.

Manuals of instructions for players and singers became important and many musical studies
were published. Cancioneros are collections of vocal and instrumental music pieces compiled
in books, such as the Spanish Cancionero de Uppsala, Cancionero de Medinaceli or Cancionero
de Palacio. Those collections of musical pieces were widespread between noblemen, either
to be sung, played and danced, but with the arrival of music printing, they become easier to
achieve by bourgeois and merchants as well.

Composers still depended on employment from the monarchs or church hierarchy. As before,
the chief patronage was from the Church, but steadily growing support came from secular
sources as well. The number of professional musicians and interested amateurs increased. The
effects resulted in more published instrumental and secular music.
Characteristics of Renaissance music:

• Vocal music was still predominant. It was polyphonic and complete with four voices (Soprano,
Alto, Tenor and Bass), each with equal importance.
• Composers signed their works.
• Polyphony techniques were highly developed, prevailing over monody. Also, polyphony
reached secular music, beyond the religious sphere.
• Composers were trying to draw a link between music and lyrics. The text was of
fundamental importance and its content was highlighted through the music.
• Compositions tended to be more human, freer and more expressive, because music
reflected the feelings and moods of people.
• Instruments were grouped by loud and soft intensity.
• Vocal and instrumental music were interchangeable. All instrumental music could be
accompanied by singing and vice versa.

•
1. VOCAL MUSIC
The printing press encouraged the circulation of written music.

The bloom of polyphony

While polyphonic music began to grow, vocal music became the most important genre.
Renaissance music originated and developed most fully in Italy and then gradually spread out
in modified forms. It reached Central Europe, France, Spain and England.

1.1 Religious music: the division of Church

During the Renaissance, the Church underwent some internal turmoil that broke the unity of
Christianism. New Protestant religions looked for new forms for their liturgy.

In religious music we can distinguish between Catholic music advocated by the Council of
Trent, and Protestant music.

The Catholic Church. Renaissance sacred music was an extension of the Gregorian Chant
from the Medieval period. Some instruments may have been used, but the music was
primarily for a cappella choir. Composers were now writing their music for at least four parts
or voices. (SATB)
The main forms of the Catholic Church music were the mass and the motet.
Mass was a compound form, result of putting together all the prayers of the Eucharistic liturgy
(Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei).
Motet is a religious piece of music made up of several parts with lyrics in Latin. The name
comes from the French “mot” (word). The texture is polyphonic (counterpoint/ homophony).
The most important composers of religious vocal genres are Josquin des Prez, Orlando di
Lasso, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and in Spain, Cristóbal de Morales, Francisco Guerrero
and Tomás Luis de Victoria.

Listening: Victoria: Ave Maria https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqEMrc1XXSQ

Morales: Parce mihi, Domine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpU2c2xukPs

Morales: Emendemus in melius https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV5qrp-FUto

The Protestant Reformation. In Germany, Martin Luther

broke away with Rome in the year 1517, establishing Protestantism.
Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation because he
disagreed with the sale of indulgences and the abuses of the Catholic
Church. Luther highly valued music. For him music was the most
important thing after theology. His high musical training (he was a
composer and a flutist) allowed him to create the chorale, main form
of his church.
The protestant chorale is usually written for four voices and in
German, with a homophonic texture. This characteristic made it easy
for the congregation to participate in the singing.

Listening: Heinrich Isaac: Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI712ZGflAQ

The English Reformation. Henry VIII founded in 1534 the

Anglican Church because the Pope denied his divorce with Catharine
of Aragon, Felipe II sister and the first of his seven wives. He
proclaimed himself the head of it.
This rupture caused the decline of English religious music, which
eliminated the mass and used only the anthem in the religious
services. The Anthem or Anglican hymn grew out of the motet, it is
written for four voices but the texts are in English instead of Latin.

Listening: Tomas Tallis: If ye love me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqt005j1dB0
The Catholic Counter- Reformation As Protestantism was producing great works, the
Council of Trent (1545) tried to create a musical art form to defend itself against the problems
that this heresy was causing with these two important components: music should eliminate
all secular references and music should be subordinate to the text.
The composer that produced this new music was Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 -1579).
He composed several masses such as the Pope Marcello Mass, used by the Council used as a
model. He also composed many religious motets.

Listening:
Palestrina: O bone Jesu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC9golHEKrM

1.2 Secular music

Secular vocal music became more and more important in relation to religious vocal music.
Musical forms varied depending on the country and evolved bound to the poetry of time,
dealing with all kinds of subjects regarding humans and their emotions.

Principal secular vocal genres included the madrigal, the chanson and, in Spain, the villancico.
The most important characteristic of all of them is the relationship between text and music:
the music has to be a reflection of the text.

In Italy: madrigal
The madrigal is a descriptive form of polyphony that attempts, through the union of text and
music, to express man’s feelings. This music tries to reflect the sense and meaning of the text
by using expressive elements known as “madrigalisms”.

In a madrigal the number of voices varies from two to

eight, it is sung a capella although it can be accompanied.
It comprises of very difficult and sophisticated musical
language, to be enjoyed for cultured minorities. It’s
written in Italian and normally the lyrics are about love. It
uses the language of a select class of the Renaissance. It
took place in courtly settings as exaltation of affection and
sensuality, in places such as Venice where the secular
world was strongest.

Orlando di Lasso, Arcadelt, Gesualdo and Monteverdi

were important composers of madrigals.

Listening:
Arcadelt: Il bianco e dolce cigno https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XITlmDJ9-Hk
In France: chanson.
In France, the chanson was a piece of polyphonic music with lyrics in French. It has a
descriptive character and often uses musical onomatopoeias to imitate the singing of birds,
hunt or war scenes, etc.

Josquin Des Prez and Janequin were composers of chansons, often featured in four voices.

Listening:
Janequin: Le chant des oiseaux https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoTfSQOqOis

In Spain: romance, villancico, ensalada

The romance is a narrative polyphonic

song about historic and legendary matters
or about social events.

The strophic structure corresponds to a

melody of four musical phrases, which are
equally repeated.
The conquest of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs (1492)

Listening: Juan del Enzina: Qu’es de ti, desconsolado?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK9qCX_Fb7U
Triste España sin ventura https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvQsO1th3Ok

The villancico was a type of polyphonic song developed in Spain and its colonies. It means
song of “villanos”, inhabitants of villas or cities. It was usually made up for four voices with
simple and homophonic texture.
The villancico was in the vernacular language and frequently associated with rustic themes.
The poetic form of this piece was that of an estribillo (or refrain) and coplas (stanzas). Over
time, the villancico incorporated religious subjects and began to be sung in churches regarding
Christmas, giving birth to the songs that we know nowadays (Christmas carol).

Listening: Juan del Enzina:

Más vale trocar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwC7WD1MZJo
Hoy comamos y bebamos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZj9xGAFro8&list=RDiZj9xGAFro8&index=1
The ensalada is a polyphonic song composed for four voices that consists of mixing different
genres, forms and texts with various languages in a single composition. It also puts together
mocking and serious subjects.

Listening:
Mateo Flecha “El Viejo”: El Fuego https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye4BhNSvEkE

2. INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

During the Renaissance, composers got more and more interested in instrumental music.
Instruments and their techniques were improved and, for the first time, some specific
compositions for instruments appeared.

Instrumental music evolved in the secular sphere. On the one hand, it still served as
accompaniment for vocal music, doubling or substituting the parts that were written for voices.
On the other, a true instrumental music appeared, independent from singing and its texts.

Since this moment, that music, which used to be improvised or performed by heart, began to
be written down.

The concept of orchestra as a stable group did not exist yet. That is why instruments were not
specified on the score and the pieces were performed according to the available means of the
occasion.

The first ensembles of instruments appeared in the Renaissance period. Normally, they were
grouped by family or by the level of loudness produced:

-Haut music, (haut means in French “loud”),

formed by instruments that sounded loud. These
were groups intended for outdoor performances
or public events such as processions (percussion
and brass instruments).

-Bas music, (bas means in French “soft), formed

by instruments of soft sound intensity. These
were instruments intended for indoor
performances (string and woodwind instruments).

In England, purely instrumental music included two types of consort music. A consort is an
ensemble of different instruments that could be a broken consort (if there were instruments
from different families), or a whole consort (if all the instruments were from the same family).
INSTRUMENTS
The favourite solo instruments were plucked string instruments (lute and vihuela) or keyboard
instruments (organ, harpsichord, spinet, virginal) all of them polyphonic.

Instruments were built in families of different sizes in order to cover the complete tessiture or
range of human voices.

The string family:

Plucked string: psaltery, lute (a highly appreciated
instrument in Europe, although in Spain it didn’t enjoy
that popularity because of its connection with the
Muslims, so the vihuela was preferred), harp and
keyboard instruments like spinet, virginal and
harpsichord.

Bowed string: viola da braccio (arm), viola da

gamba(leg), Wheel vielle or hurdy-gurdy and violins.
Detail of La Fuente de Gracia

Wind: - Woodwind: flutes. Double reed instruments: chirimia (chirimía) kind of ancient oboe,
crumhorn (cromorno) kind of corn anglaise, bombard (bassoon).

The main brass instruments were the cornet, the trumpet, the sackbut and serpent.

Mixed wind instruments as portable organs or upright organ.

Some Renaissance percussion instruments include the tambourine, bells and various kinds of
drums.

La Fuente de Gracia, by Jan Van Eyck (Museo del Prado)

Common genres were toccata, prelude, ricercar, canzona and dances like basse danse,
pavane, galliard, saltarello, allemande, courante, etc. Variation was one of the most
important techniques of the composers and players. In Spain, we called them diferencias.

Listening: Renaissance instruments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkh6LhWj5IA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMjHx7ZQrqs

TABLATURE
Instrumental music gave room for new notation symbols like the tablature for plucked string
instruments, which shows the player (by means of numbers or letters) where to stop the string
in the instrument to produce the required sound. It is really curious that this method is still in
use in modern music to learn how to play the guitar or the electric bass in an easier way than
by learning musical language.

3. MUSIC IN SPAIN

The Renaissance in Spain was marked by the social and political climate of the time and the
importance of religion. The main features of Spanish polyphony are:

• It was concentrated, almost reserved, in contrast to the French which was extremely
extrovert and radiant.
• It limited its means of expression, producing austere and ascetic music.
• Mysticism was the most predominant feature, by means of profound expressiveness.
• The music was always faithful to the text.
These expressive needs caused Spanish musicians to compose in modern language, with
dissonant chords, the artistic use of silence and personal application of counterpoint. In
general, most of Spanish vocal music was religious, although the madrigal could be found
notably with Mateo Flecha.
THREE GENERATIONS OF SPANISH RENAISSANCE MUSICIANS:
-The first generation, during the reign of Catholic
Monarchs, was represented by Juan del Enzina (1469 -
1529) who wrote considerable secular and religious music,
taking advantage of the popular music of the time. He was
in the service of the Duke of Alba and was a
contemporary of Machiavelli and Luther, Columbus and
Saint Ignatius, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Titian.
Juan del Enzina´s villancicos are a kind of popular
madrigal, a complete musical art form from the highest
expression of love to the picaresque and vulgar. The importance of this music can be found in
the numerous song books (cancioneros)of the time such as those called Cancionero de Palacio
and Cancionero de Upsala because the only remaining copy is kept in the Swedish city of
Uppsala).

-The second generation, during the reign of Charles I, was represented

by Cristóbal de Morales (1469 -1553), from the Polyphony School of
Seville, with significant works such as El Libro de Misas, (Book of Masses)
and his motets and his Missa Pro Defunctis are vehicles for unsurpassed
mysticism.
Carlos I

-In the third generation stands out Tomás Luis de Victoria (1584 - 1611).
He was born in Ávila and studied with a scholarship from Philip II. He
travelled to Rome to learn theology and music where he met Palestrina.
He went back to Madrid and was chaplain to the end of his life for the
Descalzas Reales convent. His music was totally religious and his most
outstanding works were his Book of Masses dedicated to Philip II, the
Oficio de Semana Santa (the Easter Office) and his Misa de Réquiem.
Felipe II

SECULAR MUSIC OF THE SPANISH RENAISSANCE

Besides music for the vihuela (an early form of guitar), Spanish secular music was expressed
in three forms:
1. The Romance. Many of these romances have been preserved in the Cancionero de Palacio.
Juan del Enzina and Juan Vázquez were the most prominent composers of this form.
2. The Villancico is a music form whose origin is secular and popular. Juan del Enzina was the
greatest exponent of this genre. His works are chiefly preserved in the Cancionero de Palacio.
3. Ensalada. This music is polyphonic and secular. It is a mixture of different styles of madrigal,
popular songs, romance and dance music (a little of everything). The works of Mateo Flecha
are extremely beautiful.

Listening:
Juan del Enzina: Si habrá en este baldrés
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5QUduyafFY
Cucú, guarda no lo seas tú https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oHGuypM6kw

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC IN SPAIN

In music for organ, Antonio Cabezón (1510 - 1566) stands out. Blind since birth and musician
at the court of Philip II, he composed a great number of works for organ.

Listening:
Antonio de Cabezón: Pavana con su glossa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Fx_oE5R1A

With the vihuela, ancestor to the guitar, Spain was the

leading proponent of the stringed instrument. Used for
secular music, the vihuela was popular with the
common people as well as the educated class. A
prominent composer of the time was Luis de Milán,
author of a book for this instrument called El Maestro.
Other Spanish vihuelists in the 16th century were Luis de
Narváez and Diego Ortiz.

Listening:
Luys de Milán: Pavana VI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYrxxhSYKXI

Luys de Narváez: Guárdame las vacas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x1tOvkMe90
Josquin/Narváez: Mille regretz “La canción del Emperador Carlos I”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WuQ0FFo8xA
 4. DANCE IN THE RENAISSANCE
Dance was one of the favourite entertainments of nobility. It counted on one of the most
important repertoires of instrumental music.
Dances used to be presented in contrasting pairs. One of the most famous dance pairs was
the combination of pavane and galliard, both of them thematically related.
The pavane was a processional dance with a slow and ceremonious binary rhythm.
The galliard, as a contrast, was lively and in ternary rhythm, faster than the pavane and plenty
of spins and jumps.
In the 15th century, the first masters of dance appeared. They stablished the rules and the
choreographies to teach the courtiers the precise steps of every dance.

The origin of ballet

The firs spectacle that combined
music, poetry, decoration and
dance on stage was the Ballet
comique de la Reine, at the
request of Catherine de Medici. It
was represented in Paris in 1581.

Dance in the court of Queen Elizabeth I

(galliard)

Music was an important facet of elite 16th-century culture. It played a part in every aspect of
court life: processions, coronations, funerals, baptisms, fanfares announcing the monarch’s
approach, music in the privy chamber, and music for the pageants and masques that entertained
the court.

Music was provided both by professional musicians and by the courtiers themselves. Playing,
singing and dancing were all essential elements of royal and noble education. Castiglione [an
Italian courtier, diplomat and author], in his influential 1528 work The Book of the Courtier, laid
great emphasis on the courtier’s need to have an appreciation of music and to play well as an
amateur.