Renaissance Music: Italy, Germany, and France

Renaissance Music in Italy

Secular Music

Italian secular music features:

• Homophonic writing
• Syllabism
• Simple, higher melody
• Various types of interpretation (a cappella, with voice substitution for an instrument, or just instrumental)
• Strophic structure
• Lively, animated rhythms
• Simple harmony

Forms:

• Frottola: A form of polyphonic singing that was developed especially in aristocratic and bourgeois circles. The theme is love, with 4 voices and a dance-like rhythm.
• Villanela: A Neapolitan folk song of origin, with a dance-like rhythm and 3 voices. Instruments were also used.
• Madrigal: A song of contrapuntal distillation derived from a troubadour song, making allusions to pastoral poetry with a sentimental or erotic theme, and is for 4 voices.

Religious Music

Venetian School

During the Renaissance, Rome and Venice were known for their musical fields. In Venice, the center of art was the Basilica of San Marco, where an important Franco-Flemish composer, Willaert, worked. He created the technique of Cori Spezzato. Italian composers include Andrea Gabrieli and his nephew Giovanni Gabrieli, mainly because they were closer to the Baroque style. They conveyed a great interest in having instruments, adding instrumental parts to the vocal chorus.

Roman School

Marked by the Council of Trent, polyphony within the church was accepted under demanding conditions: understandability of texts (homophony), an expression of dignity (avoiding chromaticism), a cantus firmus that was not profane, and the elimination of parody. Palestrina stands out. In 1525, he worked as an organist and choirmaster of St. John Lateran and as a vocalist and 2nd choirmaster of St. Peter in Rome. He died in 1594, and no composer before Bach had a higher reputation and such perfect technique. His music sums up the entire Renaissance (cantus firmus, parody masses, counterpoint, homophony...). Almost all of his work is religious.

Renaissance Music in Germany

Germany's Protestant Reformation

Luther (1483-1546) proclaimed his 95 famous theses in 1517, condemning the church and founding a protest movement. As early as 1522, he began organizing a new church and a new Mass. He believed in the participation of people (believers) in acts of worship and the educational value of music, promoting the Protestant chorale, vernacular language, and songs rhymed and divided into stanzas.

Renaissance Music in France

Religious Music

The Protestant Reformation was led by John Calvin, similar to Luther but tougher. Calvin created the Protestant Psalter. In addition, he substituted Latin for French.

Secular Music

They created the so-called Parisian chanson, typical of the bourgeoisie, with simple and homophonic melodies.