The Renaissance
 ca. 1400 & 1500s (15th – 16th Centuries)
 Renaissance = Rebirth
 Period of great change for European culture, literature, art, & music
 Classical Rome is “reborn”
 The idea of rebirth was to restore the learning, ideals, & values of ancient Greece & Rome
 Writers, artists, & musicians did far more than just recover the old
 Intro: Renaissance
 Humanism
 “Man was in control of his world”
 Naturalism
 Learned how to idealize & learned about nature
 Does not ignore faults but ennobles them
 Artists such as Michelangelo & Raphael spent most of their time in Rome because of
these new ideas
 “Early Renaissance” period actually began in Florence
 It then spread first throughout Italy and then the rest of Europe
 Most notable artists known as the Florentine artists: Leonardo da Vinci,
Michelangelo, & Raphael
 Europe: New World Power
 The rise of Europe as a new world power leads to the expansion of European culture
 Italy sought to glorify themselves & their cities
 Began to erect impressive palaces & houses decorated with new artworks, & lavishly
entertaining their subjects/neighboring potentates by maintaining chapels of talented
singers & instrumentalists
 Laid the groundwork for a flowering of the arts
 Reformation begins in 1517
 Movement that began as a debate
about church practices which led
to the formation of new Protestant
dominations
 (Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglican, etc.)
 Leader of the Reformation was a Catholic Monk, Martin Luther
 He & others applied humanist principles to study the bible & challenged church
doctrines
 95 Theses: grievances against the Catholic church
 Creates Lutheranism & moves liturgy into the vernacular
 Adds the organ to all of the churches & is used for chorales (music sung by the congregation)
 Reformation (continued)
 Jean Calvin strips the church of anything ornamental such as instruments, stained glass
windows, & incense: Calvinism
 Music is used as a teaching tool
 Metric Psalms: come from a
Psalter, sung by the congregation
(rhymed)
 Reformation (continued)
 Henry VIII began as a Catholic leader but breaks away to create Protestantism
 Becomes the predominant religion
 Attempts were made to convert England back to Catholicism (Queen Mary)
 William Bird
 Composer of Catholic, Anglican (Protestant), & secular music
 “The Father of Music”
 Reformation (continued)
 This reformation ended a century of church unity
 Most of northern Europe split from the Roman Catholic Church to become Lutheran,
Calvinist, or Anglican
 The Catholic response to the Reformation is known as the Counter-Reformation
 Produced some of the most
glorious music of the century
 Palestrina
 The Council of Trent
 Catholic Church
Reformation
 Response to the
reformation
 Reform music:
 Ban sequences
(4 survive)
 Ban instruments
 Ban tropes
 Attempted to ban polyphony but it is saved by Palestrina
 Humanism
 The study of humanities (things pertaining to human knowledge)
 The strongest intellectual movement of the Renaissance
 Humanists sought to revive ancient learning
 There was a strong belief in faith & in human spirit
 Understanding comes from your own understanding of senses, not from the church
 “The capacity to understand reality through our senses…”
 Humanism (continued)
 How music was affected:
 Influenced composers to apply ideas from rhetoric in their music & imitation became a
central practice in music
 Created the international style
 Use of chapels & minstrels
 Sculpture, Painting, & Architecture:
 The revival of classical antiquity in new guise
 In the Middle Ages, nakedness was used to show shame, but in the Renaissance
Age, nudity shows the beauty of the human figure (naturalism)
 Naturalism
 An attempt to reproduce nature realistically
 An endeavor to see & understand the world as it really is
 Naturalistic representations were made possible by 2 innovations:
 Perspective: method of representing three-dimensional space on a flat surface
 Chiaroscuro: the naturalistic treatment of light & shade
 The Effects of Good & Bad Government in the Town & in the Country (1337-39) Lorenzetti
 Idealized View of the City (ca. 1480) a painter from the School of Piero della Francesca
 Naturalism (continued)
 How it affects music:
 Composers began to expand the range of their pieces as well as employ thinner &
thicker textures
 Renaissance Music at Court
Patronage & the Training of Musicians
 Renaissance Music at Court
 Court chapels: groups of paid musicians & clerics that were associated with a ruler rather than a
building
 Members of the chapel served as performers, composers, & scribes furnishing music for
church services
 Principal composers: Binchois, Du Fay, & Busnoys
 Most 15th & 16th Century composers were originally trained as choir boys & hired as
singers for churches or court chapels
 Rulers supported music & competed with each other for the best composers & performers
 In the 1480s, leading composer of his generation, Josquin des Prez & the leading artist,
Leonardo da Vinci, worked for members of the Sforza family, leaders of Milan
 International Style
 The exchange of national traditions, genres, & ideas fostered the development of an
international style in the 15th Century
 English, French, & Italian
 Set the music of the 15th Century apart from the 14th Century
 New counterpoint
 Johannes Tinctoris studied the earlier music & found that there was “more dissonance than
consonance,” & that “nothing written before the 1430s was worth hearing.”
 Renaissance Compositional Techniques
1. Expansion of range
2. Larger number of voices (SATB)
3. Equality of voices
4. 2 new kinds of musical texture:
1. Imitative Counterpoint: voices echo a motive in a perfect interval
2. Homophony: all voices move together in the same rhythm
5. New tuning system
6. Following the rhythm of speech & the natural accentuation of syllables
7. Dramatization of the content & conveying the feelings of the text
8. Use of chromaticism
 Music Printing
 Made notated music available to a broader public & fostered the growth of musical literacy
 Printing music also provided a new way for composers to make money
 Promoted the development of national styles such as secular vocal music emerging in Spain,
Italy, France, England, & other countries
 Terms to Know
 Carol: English polyphony genre in either Latin or English
 Alleluia, A newë work
 Carol (Early/Mid 15th Century)
 Terms to Know
 Carol: English polyphony genre in either Latin or English
 Alleluia, A newë work
 Carol (Early/Mid 15th Century)
 Terms to Know
 Motet: English polyphony genre in Latin
 Ave Maria…virgo serena, Josquin des Prez
 Motet (ca. 1484)
 Terms to Know
 Motet: English polyphony genre in Latin
 Ave Maria…virgo serena, Josquin des Prez
 Motet (ca. 1484)
 Terms to Know
 Chanson: focuses on Rondeau, equality of voices, syncopation
 De plus en plus, Binchois
 Rondeau (ca. 1425)
 Terms to Know
 Chanson: focuses on Rondeau, equality of voices, syncopation
 De plus en plus, Binchois
 Rondeau (ca. 1425)
 Terms to Know
 Mass (3 types)
 Plainsong Mass: chant usually based on Virgin Mary
 Motto Mass: Each movement based on the same motive
 Cantus Firmus Mass “Imitation Mass” : can be sacred or secular
 Pope Marcellus Mass, Palestrina
 Mass (ca. 1560)
 Saves Polyphony
 Terms to Know
 Mass (3 types)
 Plainsong Mass: chant usually based on Virgin Mary
 Motto Mass: Each movement based on the same motive
 Cantus Firmus Mass “Imitation Mass” : can be sacred or secular
 Pope Marcellus Mass, Palestrina
 Mass (ca. 1560)
 Saves Polyphony
 Terms to Know (Continued)
 Italian Madrigal: most popular
16th century genre
 Set poetry of pastoral or love songs
 (Early, Mid-Century, & Late)
 English Madrigal (Italian Madrigals in England)

Io parto, Gesualdo

Madrigal (ca. 1600)
 Terms to Know (Continued)
 Italian Madrigal: most popular
16th century genre
 Set poetry of pastoral or love songs
 (Early, Mid-Century, & Late)
 English Madrigal (Italian Madrigals in England)

Io parto, Gesualdo

 Instruments
Renaissance Era
 Instruments of the Renaissance era
 Clavichord
 Brass blades strike a string
 Not very loud & no dynamic contrast
 Harpsichord
 Strings are plucked by quill-like objects
 No ability to sustain
 Instruments of the Renaissance era
 Lute
Madrigal (ca. 1600)
 Vihuela
 Vielle
 Viola da gamba
 Sackbut
 Crumhorn
 Most instruments are
used in dance music
 continued
 Social dances are a way to choose a life partner
 Basse dance “low dance”
 Pavane
 Galliard
 continued
 Basse dance “low dance”
 Dances from Danserye, Susato
 ca. 1551
 continued
 Pavane
 Dances from Danserye, Susato
 ca. 1551
 continued
 Galliard
 Dances from Danserye, Susato
 ca. 1551
 Artists
 Renaissance Era
 Florentine Artists
 Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519)
 Painter, sculptor, architect, & engineer
 Last Supper & Mona Lisa are among the most popular & influential paintings of the
Renaissance
 Innovator: his notebooks reveal scientific inquiry that were centuries ahead of his time
 Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 – 1564)
 Sculptor, painter, architect, & poet
 Sculptor of David & the ceiling painting of the Sistine Chapel
 1st artists whose biography was published while he was alive
 Raphael Sanzio (1483 – 1520)
 Student of Leonardo, Michelangelo, & eventually dubbed “The Prince of Painters”
 His work is admired for its clarity of form & ease of composition
 Early Period: Florence (1467 – 1481)
 Born near Vinci, Italy
 Began an apprenticeship at age 15
 1472-77: accepted into the painters’ guild of Florence
 1477-81: worked independently
 He had an unlimited desire for knowledge which guided all of his thinking & behavior
 He considered his eyes to be his main avenue to knowledge
 Saper vedere “knowing how to see” became the great theme of his studies
 First Milanese Period (1482 – 1499)
 Moved to Milan to work for Duke Ludovico Sforza
 Served as a painter, sculptor, designer of court festivals, advisor in the fields of architector,
fortifications, & military matters, as well as a hydraulic & mechanical engineer
 Completed 6 paintings during this period
 The Last Supper
 The Last
Supper
 The Last Supper (Continued)
 First Milanese Period (continued)
 1483 – 1486: worked on the altar painting The Virgin of the Rocks
 Led to a legal dispute between him & the people who commissioned it
 Another version was created in 1508
 The Virgin of the Rocks
 First Version (1483 – 86)
 Second Version (1506 – 08)
 First Milanese Period (continued)
 Maintained a workshop in Milan employing apprentices & students
 Bronze statue of Sforza
 12 years were devoted to this statue
 “I will make the greatest statue in Italy to honor your deceased father,” he told
Ludovico Sforza. “Just wait and see.”
 Sforza Statue
 Second Florentine Period (1500 – 1508)
 A time of intensive scientific study
 Was received with acclaim & honored as a renowned native son upon his arrival back to
Florence
 Joined the military as the senior military architect & general engineer
 Painted the Mona Lisa
 Mona Lisa
 Second Milanes Period (1508 – 1513)
 Achieved a new dimension in his pursuit of the human anatomy
 Created very little as a painter
 Continued teaching students
 Francesco Melzi was Leonardo’s most faithful friend & companion until his death
 Last Years (1513 – 1519)
 Moved to Rome & received patronage from Giuliando de’ Medici
 He later left Rome & spent the last 3 years of his life in Cloux
 There he bore the title Premier peintre, architecte et méchanicien du Roi “First painter,
architect, & engineer to the king”
 Was treated with respect & as an honored guest
 Did little painting spending his time instead editing his scientific studies, treatise on painting, &
his anatomy treatise
 Last Years (continued)
 Died at Cloux & was buried in the palace church of Saint-Florentin
 Church was destroyed during the French Revolution
 His grave can no longer be located
 Art & Accomplishments
 Had an ability to move beyond technique & narrative to convey an underlying sense of emotion
 Had a keenness of observation & a very creative imagination
 Michelangelo Buonarroti
 Early Life
 Born in Caprese, Republic of Florence
 Served a brief apprenticeship with Domenico Ghirlandaio at age 13 (1488 – 89)
 “Having nothing more to learn,” began his first of many sculptures for Lorenzo de’
Medici the “Magnificent”
 Mid-Life
 1492: After Lorenzo’s death he left for Bologna then Rome
 Bacchus
 Later he was commissioned by the Cathedral of Florence to build the sculptor David
 Prime example of the Renaissance ideal of perfect humanity
 Produced several Madonna's for private patrons
 Doni Tondo (The Holy Family )
 1508 – 12: Agreed to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
 Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
 Last Years
 His last 30 years were devoted to the Last Judgment, writing poetry, & architecture
 Raphael Sanzio
 Early Years: Urbino
 Born in Urbino (Italy)
 Son of the painter Giovanni Santi
 “Painter of no great merit”
 Urbino constituted the basis for all of his subsequent learning
 Perugia
 His apprenticeship at Perugia documents his first activity as a painter
 Commissioned to paint an altar piece
 By this time he was referred to as a “master”
 1481 – 82: The Giving of the Keys to St. Peter painted by Perugino for the Sistine Chapel inspired
Raphael’s first major work, The Marriage of the Virgin
 Emphasis on perspectives, graded relationship between figures & architecture, & the
disposition of each figure in relation to the others
 (Continued)
 Vision of a Knight, Three Graces, & St. Michael are examples of narrative painting & youthful
freshness showing a maturing ability (formation of his own style)
 Florence
 1504: he was drawn to Florence by the works of Leonardo da Vinci & Michelangelo
 Became a student of each
 1505 – 07: most notable paintings were a great series of Madonnas influenced by Leonardo
 Owed his use of lighting technique to Leonardo
 Sfumato: use of extremely fine, soft shading
 Learned the Florentine method of creating depth
 (continued)
 1507: Commissioned
to paint the
Deposition of Christ
 Influence of
Michelangelo’s
expressive possibilities
of human anatomy
 Last Years: Rome
 Received the title “Prince of Painters”
 The last 12 years of his short life contined many successive masterpieces
 1508 – 11: Stanze
 Cycle of frescoes in the Vatican
 Claimed to be Raphael’s greatest work
 Madonnas in Rome show him turning away from the serenity & gentleness of his earlier works
in order to emphasize qualities of energetic movement & grandeur
 (continued)
 His last masterpiece
is the Transfiguration
 Enormous altarpiece
that was unfinished at
his death & completed
by his assistant,
Giulio Romano
 Raphael became the
most important
portraitist in Rome
during the 16th century
Albrecht Dürer


Early Life
o Born in Nuremberg, Germany (1471)
o Father was a goldsmith & married his boss’ daughter, Barbara
o 18 children; Albrecht was the 2nd & his brother Hans Dürer became a famous artist as
well
o Dürer began an apprenticeship with the principal painter of the town Michael
Wolgemut at age 15
o Dürer learned painting, wood carving, & copper engraving
Mid-Life
o 1490: ends his apprenticeship & travels to Basel Switzerland (1492) where he intends to
study under Schöngauer only to find that he died a year ago
o The family kindly received him & allowed him to do work such as
metal-engraving & furnishing designs for the woodcutter
o 1494: Leaves & travels into the lower countries before returning to Nuremberg






First Year’s as an Artist
o 1494: marriage arrangement made during his absence
o Fall of 1494 he leaves his wife in Nuremberg while he travels to Venice, Italy
o 1495: travels back to Nuremberg where he stays for the next 10 years creating his
most notable works
o Carved a 17 set of woodcuts illustrating the life of the Virgin
o Barbari, an artist Dürer met in Venice, came to Nuremberg & influenced Dürer’s works
by developing
perspective, anatomy, & proportion
o Dürer experiments with these new techniques & produces Adam & Eve (1504)
Dürer in Italy
o 1506 – 07: he now focuses on painting versus woodcuts
o Commissioned to paint the Adoration of the Virgin better known as the Feast of Rose
Garlands
for the church of St. Bartholomew
Returns to Germany (1507 – 1520)
o He is held in high regard all over Europe
o Was on friendship terms with all the masters of arts during this time
o Raphael noted that he was “honored to exchange drawings with Dürer”
o 1507 – 1511 are known as the painting years of his life in which he produced his four
best works in painting
Four Best Works in Painting
o Concentration on Engraving (1511-14)
 During this time he concentrates on both wood & copper engravings
 The major work produced during this time period was the 37 subjects of the
Little Passion
 1513-14: 3 most famous copper engravings
Last Years
o 1520: He travels with his wife to the Netherlands in order to be present for the
coronation of the new emporer
 Ensure more patronage/work
o Returns home one year later after catching an undetermined illness which afflicted him
for the rest of his life
o Began working on a series of religious pictures; sketches were found but no actual
painting was carried out
o Completed 2 books (geometry & perspective)
2 others were published after his death (1528)
Accomplishments
o Dürer was the greatest example of Northern European Renaissance art
o Artists across Europe admired and copied Dürer's innovative and powerful prints,
ranging from religious and mythological scenes, to maps and exotic animals
o Dürer was a humanist and a creator
o More than simply producing works for his own time, Dürer saw his fame and his
contribution as enduring, and as part of history
William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)
o
o
o
o
o
Early Life
o Born in 1564
o Grew up in a small English town, Stratford-on-avon before moving to London &
beginning his career with an acting company
o Lived during the English Renaissance era also known as the Elizabethan Era
 Named after Queen Elizabeth I
o During this time, actors were not highly regarded like they are today; acting was not the
most respectful position to have
o Not just a playwright
Lord Chamberlain’s Men
o This is where he began his career in London with the company that was later known as
the King’s Men
o This company performed in the famous Globe Theater
o 3 story open air wooden theater shaped like an “o”
o Outdoor theaters required the play taking place during the day (no electricity)
Role of Women
o Women were not allowed to perform in the plays; therefore, young boys would play the
roles of women
o It was considered “improper” for women to appear on stage
Timeline
o 1564: Born
o 1589: Settles in London at age 25
o First plays include Richard the Third, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, &
more
o 1592: Plague; all theaters in London are closed for 2 years
o Writes 2 book-like poems
o 1594: Theaters re-open
o He writes Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream & others
o 1596-1603: Queen Elizabeth dies/King James takes the throne
o Writes Julius Caesar & Hamlet
o 1590s: Sonnets
o Series of love poems solidifying his reputation as a great poet
o 1603 – 1608: writes Othello, Macbeth, & Antony & Cleopatra
o 1608 – 1613: wrote his last plays
 The Winter’s Tale & The Tempest
o Retires: moves back to Stratford & lives the “life of a country gentleman”
o 1616: Dies April 23 at 52 years old
Shakespeare’s use of Language
o He was a master of the English language
o He wrote in both poetry & prose
o Concentrated language produced through rhythm & sound
o A heightened form of language which was different from the way most people talked
 Also called “verse”
o Shakespeare used metrical writing in his poetry
o meter = use of rhythmic pattern in language
 Example: “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!” – Richard the Third
o
o
o
o
o
Poetry used in his plays were in the form of Blank Verse
A form that uses a metrical pattern known as unrhymed iambic pentameter
 Speech that is unrhymed
 use of unstressed & stressed syllables
5 meters/5 iambs
Unrhymed Iambic Pentameter
o Speech that is unrhymed
o Use of unstressed & stressed syllables
o 5 meters/5 iambs
 U ---- U ---- U ---- U ---- U --- “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!”

1
2
3
4
5
3 differences Between Elizabethan Dramas & Drama Today
1. Importance of words

No abundance of props, costumes, lighting, changes of scenery, special effects, etc.

The audience had to listen intently to the words of the play

Shakespeare used words to express the settings & scenery

His plays are primarily verbal, not visual
2. Real Life vs. Stage Life


It is important to remember that the plays are a fantasy

Characters are just characters

They are only figures that represent people

Rules pertaining to gathering information about characters are extremely relevant for
studying & analyzing plays

It is the job of the theater company to interpret the text which gives them permission to
update the plays
Symbolic Art

Great use of symbolism;

This was an influence from Medieval Art


Example: the “bad guy” in the play represents all the evil in the world
Universal represented through Particulars

Universal = evil ; Particular = bad guy

Example 2: halo around the saint


Universal = holiness/goodness ;
Particular = Priest

Other Universals: truth, beauty,
justice, purity, etc.
Symbolism is used repeatedly throughout Shakespeare’s plays

One example in particular:

The raging storm in King Leon represents the storm inside Leon’s mind

Particular = raging storm


Universal = state of Leon’s mind
Accomplishments
 In just 23 years, between approximately 1590 and 1613, he is attributed with writing 38
plays, the Famous Shakespearean sonnets, & 5 other poems.
 He is the most widely read of all authors and the popularity of his life & works, in English
speaking countries, is second only to the Bible
 He is often called the English national poet & considered by many to be the greatest
dramatist of all time