Music

Musical styles and notable composers of the Renaissance, such as Palestrina and Monteverdi.

What is the traditional timeframe for Renaissance music?

"Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries."

How is the Renaissance era of music different from the Renaissance era in other disciplines?

"Later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines."

What marked the beginning of the new era in music?

"The rise of triadic harmony and the spread of the contenance angloise style from Britain to the Burgundian School."

When did the adoption of basso continuo occur?

"A convenient watershed for its end is the adoption of basso continuo at the beginning of the Baroque period."

Who were some prominent composers during the Renaissance?

"Guillaume Du Fay, Franco-Flemish School, Johannes Ockeghem, Josquin des Prez, and Palestrina."

What constraints were loosened in Renaissance music?

"Music was increasingly freed from medieval constraints, and more variety was permitted in range, rhythm, harmony, form, and notation."

How did composers make vocal music more expressive?

"Composers found ways to make vocal music more expressive of the texts they were setting."

What forms of music spread throughout Europe during the Renaissance?

"Popular secular forms such as the chanson and madrigal spread throughout Europe."

Who employed virtuoso performers during the Renaissance?

"Courts employed virtuoso performers, both singers and instrumentalists."

In what form did music become more self-sufficient?

"Music also became more self-sufficient with its availability in printed form, existing for its own sake."

What instruments developed into new forms during the Renaissance?

"Precursor versions of many familiar modern instruments (including the violin, guitar, lute, and keyboard instruments) developed into new forms during the Renaissance."

How did the sound of instrumental ensembles change during the Renaissance?

"These instruments presented new possibilities for composers and musicians to explore, extending the range of sonic color and increasing the sound of instrumental ensembles."

What new system replaced the church modes?

"Towards the end of the 16th century, the system of church modes began to break down entirely, giving way to functional tonality (the system in which songs and pieces are based on musical 'keys')."

What types of musical works survived from the Renaissance era?

"Notated secular and sacred music survives in quantity, including vocal and instrumental works and mixed vocal/instrumental works."

What genres flourished during the Renaissance?

"A wide range of musical styles and genres flourished during the Renaissance, including masses, motets, madrigals, chansons, accompanied songs, instrumental dances, and many others."

When did the formation of early music ensembles begin?

"Beginning in the late 20th century, numerous early music ensembles were formed."

How do these ensembles perform the music of the Renaissance era?

"Ensembles specializing in music of the Renaissance era give concert tours and make recordings, using modern reproductions of historical instruments and using singing and performing styles which musicologists believe were used during the era."