Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Renaissance period musical styles
Importance Of Printing Press In The Renaissance
Importance Of Printing Press In The Renaissance
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Renaissance period musical styles
The Renaissance was a time of a new revival of humanism and individualism, allowing people to express their opinions and ideas more freely than ever before. This revival caused a growth in the amount of secular music being produced, and with this new music came new and controversial styles of dancing. In this paper I will examine, in great detail, the music, composers, and numerous styles of dancing that came about during the Renaissance.
The Renaissance Era, spanning from 1450 to 1600 AD, experienced a growth in humanism and individualism among various forms of art, including music. In fact, the word “Renaissance” means “reconstruction” or “rebirth”. The increase in creativity and freedom gave artists the chance to stray away from the extremely controlled ideas of the Medieval Era. Much of the art produced during this time was rooted in ancient Greek ideas. Artists of the Renaissance were often recognized and praised during their lifetimes, rather than years after their deaths. As new printing methods were developed, music was more easily distributed to the people and could be preserved.
Much of the most important music of the Renaissance era is polyphonic, meaning the music was created by multiple melodies played simultaneously. As in the Medieval Era, sacred music was of great importance, however, secular music was becoming more and more common. Because of this, both sacred music and secular madrigals began to claim a polyphonic style.
As the style of music was evolving, instruments were also improved and refined, and many new instruments were invented to create new sounds that were never heard before in the musical community. A few of these new instruments included the virginal and the clavichord, which were both keyboar...
... middle of paper ...
...ork: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/renm/hd_renm.htm (October 2002)
"The Renaissance Period." ThinkQuest : Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. .
"The Renaissance." History Of Music. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. .
Kamien, Roger. Music: An Appreciation. 7th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
"Chapter 15: Renaissance Secular Music | The Enjoyment of Music, 11e: W. W. Norton StudySpace." Home | W. W. Norton & Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. .
"Claudio Monteverdi (Italian composer and musician)." Encyclopedia Britannica. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. .
In terms of the technical differences between the art music of early times and that of the modern period (i.e., after 1600) we can identify five specific features that make post-1600 styles in music sound more or less "familiar."
Religion has been an important part of man’s life. Man has allowed religion to control and influence his life in many different ways, affecting both his behavior and his actions. So its not surprising that music, one of man’s earliest expressive forms, has also been influenced by religion. Religion has had an effect on man’s music all throughout history, from the early Egyptians to even now. So it is only natural that Western music should also have been affected by religion. Western music, and its development by composers, has been strongly influenced by the Christian religion, especially in the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. The music in these periods laid the foundation for all the different types of music we enjoy today.
Atlas, Allan W. Renaissance Music: Music in Western Europe, 1400-1600. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1998.
Harman, Alec, and Anthony Milner. Late Renaissance and Baroque Music. London: Barrie Books LTD., 1959. ML193.H37
The time between 1485 and 1660 marked a period of new beginnings for the people living in England; this time is known as the Renaissance. In England, the people were challenging their past beliefs; where before the Renaissance, England thrived basing their lives, government, and music off of God and his principles alone. During these one-hundred and seventy-five years, the English people started questioning their original principles about religion and established a yearning for information and proof based off of science instead of God. This desire caused many changes to form in England. The Renaissance period quickly became known as the rebirth of knowledge named by the change from God’s knowledge to the knowledge of man. The Renaissance brought on many changes to English culture especially in their music. There was a rise in secular, or non-religious music, instrumental music, and dance music. Although the English Renaissance occurred many centuries ago, the major changes in musical styles are evident in both spiritual and secular music.
The music is vocal instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony and expression of emotion. The most famous music during the Renaissance is Jazz and some Rock and Roll instruments are very important during that time too it’s still important till this day. The three people I decide to tell you about are Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, and the last person I really enjoyed learning about was Louis Armstrong.
It was an early age when Monteverdi’s career began, he then published his first pieces, and this was based on as a collection of three-voice motets, at the age of fifteen. It was by 1591, when he went to Mantua as a musician for the Gonzaga court, by then he had already published books of “spiritual madrigals” in 1583, then another canzonettas in 1584, by 1587 and 1590 he published his first two books of “madrigals.” It was in Mantua he continued writing madrigals, and then in 1607 he produced his first work in the new genre of opera, the setting was of Orfeo. 1613, he was then appointed maestro di cappella at ST. Mark’s Cathedral which was held in Venice. Monteverdi had remained in Venice for the rest of his life, writing music in all different kinds of genres, including his final opera, “incoronaszione di Poppea in 1642.
This is the second volume of Richard Taruskin's historical work, and it highlights composers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He examines the progression of different styles and eras of music.
The Renaissance can be considered an artistic period between the end of the Middle Age and the start of the Modern Age. The cultural movement touched every part of Europe but its origin and development are in Florence. This period is a synonym, a symbol of “change” in all the aspect of the humankind: it is the celebration of
TitleAuthor/ EditorPublisherDate James Galways’ Music in TimeWilliam MannMichael Beazley Publishers1982 The Concise Oxford History of MusicGerald AbrahamOxford University Press1979 Music in Western CivilizationPaul Henry LangW. W. Norton and Company1941 The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Classical MusicRobert AinsleyCarlton Books Limited1995 The Cambridge Music GuideStanley SadieCambridge University Press1985 School text: Western European Orchestral MusicMary AllenHamilton Girls’ High School1999 History of MusicRoy BennettCambridge University Press1982 Classical Music for DummiesDavid PogueIDG Books Worldwide,Inc1997
Through using Musica enchiriadis as an example of the 10th century, and the works of Leoninus and Perotinusis as examples in the 11th and 12th century, it is evident that the organum experienced a copious amount of changes between the 10th and 12th century both melodically and rhythmically including the adding of voices, the changing of motion, and the development of rhythm. These adaptations to the organum, though might seem insignificant, tremendously helped further the evolution of polyphony in western music, which consequently contributes to the music of today.
From the Early Renaissance to the High Renaissance, there was a movement from vocal music to a combination of vocal and instrumental music (Brown, 1976). There are seven categories of instrumental music: 1) vocal music played by instruments, 2) settings of pre-existing melodies, 3) variation sets, 4) ricercars, fantasias, and canzonas, 5) preludes, preambles, and toccatas for solo instruments, 6) dance music, and 7) songs composed specifically for lute and solo voice (Brown, 1976). Italy dominated the stage for instrumental music at this time, and it was not until the last decades of the sixteenth century that English instrumental music became popular (Brow...
During the Renaissance Era musical instruments were used primarily to accompany dance. The most famous court dance style in the Renaissance Era was the basse danse, where couples would gracefully and quietly move across the dance floor. The couples used a gliding motion as they gracefully moved across the floor. This style was popular in the 15th and 16th centuries. Another famous style is the Calata, a 16th century Italian line dance in the measure of 3/4. With this style, couples would move across the floor using quick and elaborate movements. The last style which will be covered in our program is the ronde, also famous in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries, the ronde took place outdoors and participants moved in a circular pattern.
John Warrack, author of 6 Great Composers, stated, “Any study of a composer, however brief, must have as its only purpose encouragement of the reader to greater enjoyment of the music” (Warrack, p.2). The composers and musicians of the Renaissance period need to be discussed and studied so that listeners, performers, and readers can appreciate and understand the beginnings of music theory and form. The reader can also understand the driving force of the composer, whether sacred or secular, popularity or religious growth. To begin understanding music composition one must begin at the birth, or rebirth of music and the composers who created the great change.
Harr, James. Essays on Italian Poetry and Music in the Renassisance: 1350-1600. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.