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Inspired by the classical world, Renaissance composers fit words and music together in an increasingly dramatic fashion, as seen in the development of the Italian madrigal and later the operatic works of Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643).
What was the background to the Renaissance? What were its main musical developments? Here is our guide to one of history's most artistically fruitful eras.
- A Brief History of The Renaissance Music Period
- Sacred and Secular Renaissance Music
- Sacred Music
- Secular Music
- Composers in The Renaissance Music Period
- Renaissance Music Period Instruments
- Main Features of Renaissance Music
- Renaissance Sheet Music
- What Next…?
During this time there was huge political and social upheaval. The protestant reformation had a huge impact in this period. The protestant reformation was a religious revolution in which the Christian religion split into two, the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant church. The protestant revolution along with the catholic counter reformation i...
When reading about the renaissance music period you will often see it referred to as either secular to sacred music. But what does this mean? In basic form, sacred music is music based on religious topics and secular music is not, but let’s look at this in more detail.
The early renaissance period was characterized by much sacred and religious music due to the dominance of the Catholic Church. As a result, we saw many polyphonic masses and latin motets. Modal counterpoint was the most common composition technique, probably due to it’s close relationship to liturgical plain chant from the preceding medieval era. T...
Secular music was very determined by the courts as they could finance and employ the renaissance musicians. Courts employed virtuoso performers Some popular forms were the chanson, the madrigal and the German lied. As the renaissance music period progressed, secular music pushed the boundaries paving the way for the major and minor tonal system we ...
There are many famous renaissance composers who both wrote sacred and secular music. Early renaissance composers used features and musical styles from the Middle Ages, while later composers began to lead into the next era, the baroque era. Let’s take a look at some of the most famous composers from the renaissance era. Guillaume Du Fay– 1397-1474 –...
The Renaissance music period was a time of huge developments and that included with musical instruments. Purely instrumental music was still a new concept in the sixteenth century, unlike what we see in modern music. Below you can see some of the most common renaissance instruments as you can see many familiar modern instruments in this list but th...
The renaissance music period saw a huge leap in sophistication from the medieval era. There were a few main features that characterized this era of western art music: 1. Use of modes– Renaissance music used the ancient modal system, particularly in vocal music. However, in some newer styles such as the English madrigal and the Italian madrigal comp...
The printing press was invented in c.1400 and this had a huge impact on the western world, particularly the music world! As it became easier to copy music it became more common for people to have sheet music. During the Renaissance music period, sheet music was similar to how we see it today. With the invention of the printing press there was a muc...
The next thing to look at will be the other periods of music! 1. The Baroque era 2. The Classical era 3. The Romantic era 4. The 20th century era
Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines.
Jun 7, 2021 · The Renaissance era of classical music saw the growth of polyphonic music, the rise of new instruments, and a burst of new ideas regarding harmony, rhythm, and music notation.
Nov 7, 2023 · The history of Western classical music can be divided into six main time periods. The Renaissance period is the second of these, linking the Medieval era, which came before, and the Baroque period that was to follow.
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Musical notation. From 1400 to the 1540s, most notated music in circulation in Italy was written by Franco-Flemish composers. The earliest madrigals, a new 'serious' form of vocal music, were written by northern Europeans such as Philippe Verdelot and Jacques Arcadelt in the 1520s and 1530s.
