Learning Objectives

Be ready to...

Recognize the differences between the Medieval and Renaissance periods in terms of society, religion, art, science, and freedom.
Explain how Renaissance musicians made their living.
Use relevant musical vocabulary to analyze Renaissance a cappella singing.
Distinguish the characteristics of Renaissance music, and differentiate between Renaissance music and Medieval music.
Illustrate how composers used the motet, a sacred genre with a Latin devotional text, to experiment in musical style and texture.
Describe how Renaissance composers set texts from the Ordinary of the Mass for their polyphonic Masses.
Describe how instrumental dance music was performed by professional and amateur musicians.

Renaissance Period (1450–1600)

Listening Bridge: From the Medieval to the Renaissance

Listen to and compare these two pieces, using the following questions as a guide:

Are the melodies mostly stepwise, or do they contain many skips and leaps?
Which one has a more recognizable pulse?
In which piece do the voices more frequently come together to form chords?
In which piece do the voices sound more independent of one another, rhythmically and melodically?
What factors do you think make Palestrina's music sound more modern to our ears and Machaut's sound older?

Guillaume de Machaut
Born: c. 1300
Died: 1377
Period: Medieval
Country: France

Composer: Guillaume de Machaut

"Notre Dame Mass: Agnus Dei"

Giovanni Perluigi da Palestrina
Born: 1525
Died: 1594
Period: Renaissance
Country: Italy

Composer: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

"Pope Marcellus Mass: Kyrie"

Listening Prelude

Below is an excerpt from a piece composed during the Renaissance period that is frequently heard today. Listen to it, and consider the following questions:

Is the meter regular and consistent, or does it change?
Are there clear musical phrases? (Can you tell where one idea ends and another begins?)
Are certain sections repeated?
What do you hear at the words "up and down"?
How does the music change at the words "when he found her"?

Guide

0:00—0:17

Fair Phyllis I saw sitting all alone,
Feeding her flock near to the mountainside

0:17—0:29

The shepherds knew not whither she was gone,
But after her lover Amyntas hied

0:29—1:49

Up and down he wandered whilst she was missing;
When he found her, Oh then they fell a-kissing

Composer: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

"Pope Marcellus Mass: Kyrie" [ 00:00-00:17 ]00:17

Composer: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

"Pope Marcellus Mass: Kyrie" [ 00:17-00:29 ]00:12

Composer: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

"Pope Marcellus Mass: Kyrie" [ 00:29-01:37 ]01:08