In the late 1300's, the idea began in Italy to try to revive the ancient Greek and Roman cultures (the word Renaissance means “rebirth”) to bring back their glorious past. Meanwhile, in France, a similar movement was emerging. Renaissance artists strove to interpret the world around them rather than make art for pious reasons. These new attitudes created new musical ideas. By the late Renaissance, these ideas were catching attention in Germany, Spain and England.

     1. Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina (Rome)
     2. Roland de Lassus (Netherlander who settled in the court of Munich, Germany)
     3. Tomas Luis de Victoria (Spain)
     4. William Byrd (England)

Now we will discuss some of the leading styles and uses of music in the Late Renaissance.

-Giovanni Pierluigi DaPalestrina (c. 1525-1594) lived through the repressive Counter-Reformation Movement launched by the pope to combat the Reformation. The pope wanted to return to less complex music and words that were better understood through more simple melodies and textures, as in the Middle Ages. In his youth, Palestrina composed many secular pieces for which he later apologized. To prove to the pope that this reformation was not necessary, he composed the Pope Marcellus Mass (1557).

-The Pope Marcellus Mass was said to have convinced the Pope that composers of complicated polyphonic music could still set the sacred words clearly, thus saving music from being restricted by the church.

-Some things you will notice when listening to this mass (the Gloria, in this case) are:

1. More Homophony- This Mass showed how this style changed in the late Renaissance. Palestrina uses much more homophony, resulting in the lush textures that will eventually become chords.

2. Vocal Sonority- We also notice that vocal sonority, the richness of the harmony, is of major importance. Palestrina uses a six voice choir that alternates between one choral group and another. The whole choir only sings on the word "Suspice".

3. Rich Tone Colors: These rich shifting tone colors are how Palestrina creates a spiritual aura.

4. Notice however that the words are always very clear!

This recording was performed by the Atlanta Master Chorale at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts at Emory University (Atlanta, GA)
in March of 2016.

-The term “Motet” has been applied to several different styles of music throughout history.

-During the Late Renaissance, the 16th Century Motet was a short composition, set to Latin words, and comprised of short sections of homophony and polyphony.

-Compared to the Mass, the Motet was similar in style but different in scope and text. It was usually religious, taking it's words from Psalms, or passages of the Bible, but much smaller.

-The words of the Mass were invariable. However the Motet’s words could be chosen arbitrarily which attracted composers to it.

-It was in secular music that the Renaissance truly made progress with the idea of music as expression. Much of this progress took place in the Italian Madrigal, which arose around 1530.

-The Italian Madrigal is a short composition, set to a one-stanza poem, and features the following elements:

1. They are typically love poems.

2. They display the current rapid turnover of ideas and images during this period.

3. Though multi-part, they were ideally sung by one singer per part.

4. They can be homophonic or polyphonic.

-Madrigals were originally sung in Italian, but they became very popular in England.

-The only problem was they were difficult to translate into English and still retain the word painting.

-Thomas Weelkes (c. 1575-1623), was an organist and choirmaster who composed, “As Vesta was from Latmos Hill Descending” (1601) in efforts to please the Queen.

-This madrigal demonstrates declamation, and several forms of word painiting on words like “descending,” “ascending”. There are also two voices on “two by two” and three voices on “three by three” and a solo voice on “all alone”.

-This madrigal is a part of a collection called The Triumphs of Oriana. Which was written for, about, and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. Here, “Oriana” is meant to be Elizabeth.

This recording was performed by VOCES8 at the VOCES8 Center in London, England, March of 2020

-Instrumental music began to develop in the sixteenth century. Harpsichords, lutes, and violins are now perfected in thier construction and Instrumentalists would play along with singers or play motets, chansons, and other vocal genres by themselves.

-The most widespread instrumental genres during this period were dances, as dances were very popular.

-Two well known forms of dance music at the time were:

1. Pavan- A formal dance of specific steps in duple meter.

2. Galliard- A faster dance in triple meter often paired with the Pavan.

-Dances were always written in easy-to-follow phrases. Usually eight bars long. Each phrase was played twice, aabb or aabbcc.

-Below is, "Daphne" a great example of a Galliard.

This recording was performed on harpsichord by Jos van Immerseel.

-It was during the Renaissance that European Cultures started making envoy’s to the new world.

-Once there they often attempted to convert their new found native cultures to Christianity.

-The Aztecs and the Incas already had a great culture, and they were very difficult to convert. Therefore the Missionaries studied Aztec and Incan Culture to determine how best to achieve their goal.

-The missionaries were intent on teaching the natives their polyphonic European music, and quell the native music. But to ease the transition for the natives, they would allow native song and dance at Christian festivals.

-“Hanaq Pachap Kusikuynin” (anonymous) was a fabulous example of the clash of these two cultures.

-According to its publisher, it is a hymn to the Virgin Mary and was sung during religious processions honoring her.

-The words are in Quechua, the native tounge of this particular tribe of Incans. But the music is quite Western.

This recording was performed by the Market Street Singers, in May 30 of 2015, at University Christian Church in Seattle, WA.