Music in Renaissance Period

MUSIC HISTORY
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ABSTRACT
Music art involves a combination of instrumental and vocal sounds for emotional expression or beauty of form. In most Western music, the art is usually according to melody, rhythm, and harmony cultural standards. Two main factors that have been present in all periods of music history and styles include music being conceptual and auditory.1. Modern music encompasses a mystifying profusion of styles, especially contemporary ones. Music has evolved since last a thousand years or so, starting from Gregorian Chants to Mozart’s sonatas. Renaissance music brought more polyphony and harmony into music as most composers focused on choral music. The scholarship of the Western art music describes Renaissance as comprising the period that ranged from 1430 to 1600. Martin Le Franc describes the beginning of the period as characterized by the use of triadic harmonies, which he calls the “sweet style.” This renaissance period music was characterized by a significant growth, where music became complex, expressive, and varied.2 Compared to other arts, music during this period was largely influenced by the increase in humanistic thought, the heritage of Rome and Greece, the Protestant reformation, and the increased innovation and discovery. This paper addresses the evolution of music in the renaissance period through the eyes of one of the prominent scholars called Guillaume Du Fay. It is inspired by the fractured image that this musical period left among the scholars. Consequently, there has been several inquiries into the subject that has been characterized by assertions without solid basis.
MUSIC HISTORY
Music involves and expression of art, culture, ideas, and feelings. The evolving music style signifies the changes in society. Analysis of each of these periods reveals some unique features of the music forms. There are six musical periods, ranging from the Gregorian Chants to Mozart's Sonatas.. The Renaissance period ranged from about 1400-1600, and it introduced harmony and polyphony in music because many of the artists were majorly focused on choral music. This period comes between the Medieval period, 1150-1400, famous for producing the Gregorian Chants, which monks mostly sang, and the Baroque period ranging from 1600 to 1750, which acted as a foundation stone for the next 300 years. During the Renaissance period, religious songs became famous by singing hymns and anthems. At the end of the period, some artists deviated and started creating secular music. In this period, various instruments were widely adopted and used. The introduction of the printing press led to perhaps the most significant impact as it gave artists and aspiring artists the platform to learn and expand their skills. The above discussion shows the various musicological developments that occurred, which made it difficult to determine the actual contribution of the renaissance period in all these developments. Ultimately, this research aims to confirm the Renaissance as a rebirth of the music genre.[Straus, Joseph N. Remaking the past. Harvard University Press, 2013.] [Cross, Ian, and I. R. M. Morley. "The evolution of music: Theories, definitions and the nature of the evidence." (2010).]
At the beginning of the Renaissance period, religious choral music was trendy, and most of it emphasized polyphony which developed near the end of the Medieval period. Almost all of the church's worship involved masses and motets. This trend is evident in many of Du Fay’s compositions, which mainly comprised simple settings of chant that were meant for liturgical use. His song titled Ave Maris Stella is one of the best known pieces of this time period.
It was frequently played in the Divine Office and inspired many other songs.
Most secular composers were unemployed as the most influential in the society hired the services of religious composers, performers, and teachers. As the years passed, the popularity of secular music increased as people became more familiar with it. The wealthy amateurs gave commissions to the composers while at the same time finance coming from the newly printed piece. Although secular music remained primarily vocal, the renaissance experienced the emergence of tunes as a distinct genre. It was no more songs for dance or accompanying but somewhat meaningful listening compositions. At the end of the Renaissance period in Italy, Opera, a mixture of both vocal music and theatre, developed, and gained popularity in the following centuries. The first opera, which was an attempt to revive the Greek style of classical drama, was done by Jacopo Peri, Dafne.[Berger, Anna Maria Busse. Medieval music and the art of memory. University of California Press, 2005.]
As the Renaissance era progressed, the modal harmonic system, which involved music based on scales, remained in place. Also, counterpoint principles were stricter and tangled due to disputes over which intervals were termed as consonants and dissonant. Composers got more freedom to express themselves as they included emotions in songs which was made possible by the more excellent vocal range than the Medieval period with a massive difference in form and rhythm. Accidentals were gradually introduced into church styles, while the modal approach was progressively replaced by functional tonality (the key-center based harmonic system that would govern music for the next few centuries), with an emphasis on tonal advancements, severe and minor tone, and root movement based on the circle of fifths. While Du Fay was popular for composing sacred music that included masses, motets, magnificats, hymns, and fauxbourdaon, he also pioneered, he also played an essential role as a leading composer in the realm of secular music. Some of the p...