Page 43 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

RENAISSANCE 1400–1600 41

William Byrd composes Venetian composer Thomas Weelkes
Great Service for use on Giovanni Bassano pens O care, thou wilt
state occasions at publishes his four-part despatch me as part
Her Majesty’s Chapel collection Ricercate, passaggi of his most famous
Royal at Hampton et cadentie, to be played in work—his collection
Court Palace. the style of an étude. of madrigals.

C.1580–1590 1585 1600

1584 1597 1604

Giovanni Pierluigi da Italian organist John Dowland’s
Palestrina writes the Giovanni Lachrimae uses
Canticum Canticorum, a Gabrieli uses dissonance to
collection of motets based loud and soft conjure an
on excerpts from the dynamics in Sonata atmosphere of
biblical Song of Songs. pian’ e forte. melancholy.

with the complex polyphony that In England, it was adopted by either in consorts of instruments,
had become fashionable, as so composers such as Thomas such as viols or recorders, or for
many voices singing different Tallis and William Byrd. solo keyboard instruments, such
lines of melody made the words as the harpsichord. Thanks to
unintelligible. Composers were Instrumental music the development of a mechanical
told to moderate their style, It was not just church music that technique for printing, sheet music
precipitating the adoption of a was changing. By the end of the was readily available, and the new
relatively simple polyphony that 14th century, traveling minstrels style spread through Europe.
avoided the sometimes dissonant had all but disappeared thanks Madrigals, for small groups of
harmonies that occur in polyphonic to the ravages of the Black Death. singers, became a popular form
music and emphasized the clarity They gravitated instead to the of home entertainment, especially
of the words. This clearer and aristocratic courts, where they in Italy and England.
sweeter-sounding style characterized provided entertainment, singing However, composers and the
what came to be regarded as the chansons and playing instrumental public were experimenting with
musical “High Renaissance.” music for dancing and for civic another form by the end of the
Among the first composers to ceremonies, such as the installation 16th century, and a dramatic new
adopt the style was Giovanni of a new Doge in Venice. style was heralded by the works
Pierluigi da Palestrina, who wrote In a more secularized society, of Giovanni Gabrieli in Venice. The
numerous motets and Masses for instrumental music became last great works to be composed
churches in Rome. Composers from popular not only in the courts in the Renaissance style were
across Europe gravitated to Italy but also among an increasingly Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Officium
to absorb the new sound, before educated middle class, creating defunctorum and John Dowland’s
taking it back to their native lands. a demand for music to play at home, Lachrimae, fitting ends to an era. ■

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