Tension in Renaissance Music

Two particularly questionable practices in sacred composition became standard in the Renaissance: cantus firmus, and “imitation Masses”. Cantus firmus was a popular style of Liturgical music in which the composer uses an existing plain-chant melody and builds atop it an intricate, weaving, polyphony. More often than not, the original chant is unrecognizable or nearly concealed. Perhaps Renaissance musicians saw this as a sort of loophole, an outlet for their creativity while being able to claim continuity with Church tradition. Regardless, the practice was received with hesitance and distaste by traditional clergy, while it was applauded by popular culture. Cantus firmus soon began to draw, not only from traditional chant, but from secular music as well. This music became known as “imitation Masses” or “parody Masses.” These were Mass settings which found their musical inspiration, and often direct replication, from secular tunes. Most, if not all, prominent sacred composers in the Renaissance wrote more than one imitation Mass. The style was florid and pleasing to the ear; it drew the listener in and stirred up a strong emotional response. While the music in and of itself is not always inappropriate, one can see how such music might well be distracting from the sober sacrifice of the Holy Mass. Indeed, the Church needed to lay down some guidelines for appropriate use of music in sacred settings.

There was no entirely relevant precedent with which to govern the response of the Church. In the early fourteenth century, tensions concerning sacred music climaxed, as remonstrance and admonitions had already been attempted in vain by the clergy. Pope John XXII took a grave step with a document from the Extravagantes communes. The ch...

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...a precedent for future dealings with sacred music.

The Renaissance, no matter how controversial a topic, is most pointedly a period of drastic artistic growth. The music of this time period, though truly beautiful in its own respect, was quite jarring when integrated contemporarily in sacred settings. The artistic explosion of music in the Renaissance was only the beginning of the battle for the sacred dignity of the Church’s liturgy. The reaction of the Church was astute, balanced, and authoritative. The Church considered the inevitability of musical development, and moved to admit such nuances in her liturgy and worship within certain parameters. The implementation was not perfect, and is an area of struggle even until today. However, the Church’s reaction to questionable musical developments in the Renaissance laid an important foundation for future decisions.