The Renaissance
...t for humanistic culture as well. During the Renaissance Period, although vocal still more important, composers began adding music and making other changes to capture emotion and give a deeper meaning behind it. Although this “new music era” was constructed to show emotion, it was expressed in a calm way with no extreme contrast in dynamics, tone color, or rhythm. It was a much richer harmony due to the beginning use of the bass register and the balance of alto, soprano, tenor, and bass. There was rhythmic independence during this time allowing the flow to easier with no distinct beat. The melodies were easy to sing as they moved along scales with a few large leaps. The number of composers and musicians greatly increased during this time as well as the ability to provide many writings of music due to the invention of the printing press (Mike). Because the thought of the “ideal man”, every educated person was expected to have been trained in music. Musicians still continued to work in the churches, courts, and towns, but there were town musicians as well who performed at civic gatherings, weddings, and religious services. Many composers who influenced this period came from the Netherlands, Belgium, Northern France, Germany, England, and Spain with Italy as the musical center. Musicians had a much higher status during this time and often sought to be recognized for their work (Kamien). There were two main forms of sacred music during the Renaissance Period that was both polyphonic choruses with imitation. The first form was motet, which is set to the sacred Latin text and the second is mass that is set in five sections: Kyrie (God), Gloaria (Glory), Credo (Creed of Belief), Sanctus (Holy), Benedictus (blessed), and Agnus Dei (lamb of God), following the Catholic church’s religious service. A famous motet was Ave Maria… Josquin Desprez, which was a Latin prayer to the Virgin, composed by Virgo Serena. A famous mass was Pope Marcellus mass composed by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, an Italian composer who directed the chorus for St. Peter’s. Another form of music, known as madrigal, was very similar to the other polyphonic types except that it is secular, or non-religious, and are love songs written with imitation as well. A famous piece for this form is As Vasta Was Descending composed by an organist and church composer by the name of Thomas Weelkes. Two other types of music during this period were the danceable music of ballet and passamezzo and Galliard, which included instruments. The ballet music was a secular form, which was mostly homophonic and portrayed as a dance like tune in a number of solo voices. A great example of this would be the up beat t...