Chapter 3: Secular
Music
GET BOOKS TODAY
Get in your presentation groups and discuss the
following topic. Be prepared to present your group’s
thoughts/ideas to the class at 10:35:
Why was Leonardo da Vinci considered the epitome of
the Renaissance Man? Would it be possible for
someone today to match his achievements? Explain.
VOCAL MUSIC
• Secular vocal music increasingly popular
– Set to poems in Italian, French, Spanish, German,
Dutch, English
– Printed music made performing it a leisure activity
– Every educated person expected to play an
instrument and read notation
– Written for groups of solo voices or solo voice with
accompaniment of instruments
VOCAL MUSIC
• Secular vocal music more popular
– Text painting common
– Composers imitated natural sounds like bird
calls, street cries.
Vocal Music cont…
• Renaissance Madrigal
– For several voices set to a short poem
– Usually about love
– Like a motet, it combines homophonic and
polyphonic textures
– Word painting, unusual harmonies
– Originated in Italy around 1520
– Published by the thousands in 16th. c. Italy
Vocal Music cont…
– Sung by cultivated aristocrats
– 1588: after defeat of the Spanish Armada, a
volume of translated Italian madrigals was
published in London.
• Triggered spurt of madrigal writing by English
comp.
• Same time as Queen Elizabeth I, Shakespeare
• Golden age of both English music AND literature,
but originated in Italy
LISTENING TO MADRIGAL
– As Vesta Was Descending (1601)
Thomas Weelkes – one of the first
English madrigalists
– See books pg. 112
Vocal Music cont…
• Renaissance Ballett (Fa-La)
– Simpler than madrigal, dance-like
– For several solo voices
– Homophonic (a contrast to most Ren.
music), melody in highest voice
– Same music repeated for each verse/stanza,
syllables “fa-la” used as refrain
– Also originated in Italy, cultivated in England
LISTENING TO BALLETT
– Now Is the Month of Maying (1595)
Thomas Morley
– See books pg. 113
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
• Early 1500’s: inst. music was largely
adapted from vocal music.
• Harpsichord, organ, lute
Lute –
plucked string
instrument with
body shaped
like half a pear
• Late 1500’s (16th c.): more music written
specifically for inst.
• Mostly intended for dancing (common
pass time)
– Everyone expected to know how, taught by
professional dance masters
– Popular dances:
• pavane or passamezzo (duple meter)
• Galliard (triple meter)
Instrumental Music, cont…
• musicians distinguished
between loud, outdoor
instruments like trumpet, and
shawm (ancestor of oboe), and
soft, indoor inst. like lute and
recorder.
• Other inst. of the
Renaissance
– Cornett – wooden,
cup-shaped
mouthpiece
– Sackbut –
early
trombone
– Viols – pretty obvious
– Regals (small organ with reed pipes)
• Passamezzo and Galliard from
Terpsichore
– Michael Praetorius (1571-1621)
– From collection of over 300 dances
– Passamezzo (or pavane) – stately
dance in duple meter
• This recording includes bowed strings,
plucked strings, woodwinds, brasses,
keyboard ints., timpani.
• 3 sections (abc), each immediately repeated
louder, with more instruments (a a’ b b’ c c’)
– Galliard – carefree dance in triple meter
• Same melody as our passamezzo, more upbeat
• Smaller ensemble: bowed strings, plucked strings,
woodwinds, harpsichord
• 3 short sections, each ending with a cadence and
brief pause, then repeated more fully (just like
pavane)
– But then, each section is repeated in succession at the
end.
– a a’ b b’ c c’ a’ b’ c’
• Renaissance Pavane
• <iframe width="420" height="345"
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FUb0g60" frameborder="0"
allowfullscreen></iframe>
VOCABULARY REVIEW
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Renaissance
Individualism
“Universal man”
Humanism
Realism
Linear Perspective
Text Painting/Word Painting
Imitation
Consonance/Dissonance
A cappella
Motet
Mass
– Kyrie, Gloria, Credo,
Sanctus, Agnus Dei
• Josquin Desprez
• Imitation
• Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina
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Protestant Reformation
Counter-Reformation
Council of Trent
Madrigal
Thomas Weelkes
Ballett
Thomas Morley
Pavane/Passamezzo
Galliard
Lute
Cornett
Sackbut
Shawm
Recorder
Regal
Michael Praetorius
UNIT III PRESENTATIONS
Exploration: Columbus, da Gama,
Magellan
Technology: Movable Type Printing
Press, Gutenberg Bible
Kalyn
Julian
Blake
Jacob
Religion: Martin Luther and the
Protestant Reformation
Dominique
Phil
Alec
Bilal
Kieryn
Claire
Chris
Taimoor
Art: da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael
Emma
Aaron
Sami
Ryan
Literature: William Shakespeare
Anna
Andrew
Nathan
Nick