RENAISSANCE MUSICAL ERA

Renaissance Musical Era

➢ Renaissance means “rebirth”- in this case, it was a rebirth of Greek and Roman culture.

➢ It lasted from 1450-1600.

Renaissance

➢ The middle and upper classes hired people to educate their children.

➢ The printing press was invented and popularized the music of great composers.

Renaissance Music

➢ Most Renaissance music is polyphonic – two or more voices being heard with different rhythms.

Renaissance Music

➢ Near the end of the Renaissance, chordal music appeared. The voices moved together in chords.

Here are some questions

➢ What does Renaissance mean?

➢ What was invented that popularized the music of great composers?

➢ What does it mean for music to be polyphonic in the Renaissance time period?

Vocal A Capella Music

➢ Madrigals - These song forms were performed in groups of four, five, or six singers. A madrigal is secular music and were usually love songs.

Vocal A Capella Music

➢ Motets - a polyphonic work with four or five voice parts singing one religious Latin text.

Vocal A Capella MusicMass - follows the religious service of the Catholic

Church and is sung in a very specific order:

1. Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy)➢ 2. Gloria (Glory to God in the Highest)➢ 3. Credo (I believe in One God)➢ 4. Sanctus and Benedictus (Holy, Holy and➢ Blessed Is He)➢ 5. Agnus Dei (Lamb of God)➢

Instrumental Music

➢ There was a growth in instrumental music, especially the lute and keyboard. The most popular instrument of the Renaissance was the lute.

➢ Most instrumental music was written for singing and dancing.

Let’s answer these.

➢ What were the three kinds of a capella music? Which one follows the religious service of the Catholic Church?

➢ What was the most popular instrument in the Renaissance time period?

Popular Renaissance Composers

Thomas Morley(1557-1602)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

➢ Palestrina’s music shows pitch and rhythm.

➢ He was Italian and wrote mostly religious works.

➢ He is considered one of the great masters of Renaissance music.

➢ He wrote motets, madrigals, and masses.

Renaissance Listening Example

➢ “Kyrie”➢ By Palestrina

Write words or draw pictures of what your mind creates while listening to this

Renaissance mass sample.