Renaissance Music (jan 1, 1400 – jan 1, 1600)

Description:

The Renaissance brought significantly increased amounts of harmony and polyphony into music, as most composers were focused on choral music.
The Renaissance was a golden age for choral composition, especially in a capella compositions. (e.g. madrigals)
Religious music continued to flourish throughout the entire Renaissance period, including new forms such as masses, anthems, psalms, and motets. Some composers of sacred music began to adopt secular forms (such as the madrigal) towards the end of the period. Take a moment to listen to “The Silver Swan,” a famous choral piece still sung today by composer Orlando Gibbons.

Instrumentation became more prominent during this period, with the introduction of:
- Early brass instruments: slide trumpet, cornet, valveless trumpet, sackbut
- Adapted string instruments: viol, rebec, lyre, lute, guitar
- The harpsichord
- Small percussion instruments: triangle, tambourine, bells, small drums
- Early woodwind instruments: reed pipe, bagpipe, transverse flute, recorder

The second half of the Renaissance period was incredibly influential, as composers became to move away from the modal system of harmony and towards the organization of major and minor scales.
The strong sensation of each piece having a definitely tonal center (or key) became commonplace in the Renaissance period.
Notable composers of the Renaissance include William Byrd, John Dowland, Orlando Gibbons, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and Thomas Tallis.

Added to timeline:

Date: