Since the 14th century, the social and political system of medieval feudalism, the chivalry system, and the authority of the Pope have gradually declined, and the golden age of Gothic art has passed. A new era of civilization is called the Renaissance (the Renaissance in the history of Western music refers to the period from 1430 to 1600).
The word Renaissance originally means rebirth, and usually refers to people's renewed interest in the culture of ancient Greece and Rome in the 14th century, or to the cultural prosperity movement after the long Middle Ages. In 1393, a famous scholar from Constantinople, Manuel Claesoloras, went to Venice to request Western support for the Byzantine Empire. After Constantinople was captured by the Turks in 453, a large number of Greek scholars fled to Italy. However, the Renaissance people's enthusiasm for classical culture did not arise suddenly. As early as the late Middle Ages, Cicero, Virgil, Seneca and Aristotle were already writers and even revered figures in cathedrals, monasteries and schools. object. The Renaissance was largely the culmination of a long yearning for classical culture.
The emphasis on human beings in classical works, the faithful representation of the proportions and appearance of human parts in classical sculptures, and the struggle between human beings and fate in classical tragedies all inspired the spirit of Renaissance humanism. Humanists did not accept scholasticism, which specialized in theology and logic. They emphasized human dignity and value, and expressed the beauty of human nature in art in a graceful and smooth style.
However, the dominance of religion did not fade away quickly, and a large number of Renaissance art works were still religious themes. But artists incorporated secular images and emotions into religious works. They also produced many works with secular content. In their view, life and the afterlife are equally attractive, and expressing emotions and enjoying joy is no longer considered evil. They sought to make their works understandable to men and acceptable to God.
The expression of the Renaissance spirit in music was slower than that of literature, painting and sculpture that were directly inspired by classical works. Musicians still had to be trained in the church and serve either the church or the court. But the value of secular music was recognized. Music is no longer just an accessory to religious rituals; it is also an independent art.
1. The Burgundy School and the French Flemish School
From the early 15th century to the mid-16th century, the low areas in the northern part of the European continent formed a strong influence on the European Renaissance. Musical genres that have an important influence on the development of musical styles. They were developed from the Burgundian school and two generations of French-Flemish school.
The Burgundy school of music arose in the Duchy of Burgundy, which included Belgium, the Netherlands and northeastern France. The court in Dijian was the cultural center of Western Europe at that time. The main musicians of this music school They are Guillanme Dufay (1400-1474) and Gilles Binchois (1400-1460).
The Burgundian School abandoned the rigid polyphonic music style of Parisian musicians in the late Middle Ages. They absorbed elements from British Dunstable and Italian music, combined with the French polyphonic tradition to create a natural, soft and bright music. The third interval has become the main melodic interval, and the work has a clear melody and distinctive rhythm instead of the unfocused state of the past. The Mass is the largest polyphonic vocal suite during the Renaissance. It not only has the function of religious rituals, but also reflects the composer's creative wisdom. Mahomet was an important composer who contributed to the early development of the mass. Some of his masses have secular songs as the main themes and are named after secular songs. Each part of Dufet's motet no longer has its own words, but the upper two parts have unified Latin words, and the lower part is an instrument instead of a fixed melody. The secular ballads composed by Banchuwa have beautiful, clear melodies and bright colors.
Following the Burgundian school, the French Flemish school was active in Europe in the second half of the 15th century. The area where they operated was Flanders, a province in the southern Netherlands at that time, and northern France.
Johannes Ockeghem (1430-1495) was a bass singer, composer and famous music teacher. His masses and motets focus on the bass part, with full sound and continuous parts, making the musical temperament closer to Gregorian chant. The music of Jacob Obrecht (1452-1505) of the same generation is of a different style. His creations are obviously influenced by Italian and Spanish secular music, with distinctive musical themes and clear music structures.
Josquin des Pres (1450-1521), a student of Okegang, is a representative of the second generation of Flemish music school. The spirit of Renaissance humanism is evident in his music. Composed 18 masses, 87 motets, and 72 secular songs. Martin Luther said, "He is the master of the notes. He can use the notes as he pleases; other composers can only listen to the instructions of the notes."
While his predecessors focused more on solving technical problems of counterpoint, José used techniques on a higher level of expression of lyrical content. Using a free and continuous thematic imitation technique, the music can be developed imaginatively. He is considered to be "the first composer with a complete personality who emerged from the misty history."
2. Religious Reformation and Music
The Religious Reformation was a religious movement that occurred in the late Renaissance. The Protestant Revolution in 1517 resulted in most countries in northern Europe breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church; corresponding to the former was the Catholic Reform which reached its peak around 1560. Because both the old and the new attached great importance to ritual music, the Reform promoted the development of religious music in Europe.
Corruption in the Roman Catholic Church became increasingly serious during the Renaissance. Pope Leo X actually sold more than 2,000 church offices, and the church also sold religious dispensations and indulgences, thus arousing people's dissatisfaction. In addition, the growth of European national spirit and the rebellion against the theological systems formed in the late Middle Ages contributed to this reform movement. In 1517, Martin Luther (1483-1546), a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg in Germany, drafted 95 theses, which were posted on the door of the castle church and printed to other cities to attack the selling of indulgences. Triggered the religious reform movement. Luther was excommunicated by the Holy See in 1520. But he was embraced as a leader by the Germans and committed to establishing an independent German church.
Luther is a very accomplished music lover, can sing, and knows some composition skills. He is also an admirer of Josquin's music. He believed deeply in the educational and moral role of music. He translated the Bible into German and believed that everyone had the right to read and understand the Bible. Likewise, he believed that liturgical music should affect believers or be directly participated by believers. He partially retained Catholic music and its Latin words in Protestant music. At the same time, he also presided over the creation of hymns (also translated as Protestant hymns) with German words that had the characteristics of the times and national flavor. The Protestant hymns were originally just single songs. It is composed of polyphonic music by composers according to the popular Renaissance style. In the second half of the 16th century, it evolved into a four-part hymn with a melody placed in a high voice, which conformed to Luther's principle that music should be easy to understand. Luther broke the absolute boundaries between religious and secular music and incorporated a large number of excellent secular tunes into religious music, which enabled Protestant music to maintain its connection with the people for a long time to come and thus have vitality. The theory and practice of universal music education he advocated laid a solid foundation for the prosperity of German music culture in the following centuries.
During the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church also carried out reforms in order to purify the church and curb the development of Protestantism. This movement is also called the "Counter-Reformation". The Roman Catholic Church rectified the Holy See, eradicated abuses, restored the long-abandoned Inquisition, established an "index of forbidden books", inspected books, and prevented the erosion of heretical ideas. From 1545 to 1563, Pope Paul III held several conferences in Trento to reaffirm the teachings of the Catholic faith. At the meeting, many musicians were criticized for adopting an ungodly attitude towards religious music, using too much secular music, and destroying the purity of church music. The complex polyphonic counterpoint made the lyrics difficult to hear, and the mass failed to achieve its true religious purpose. Extreme opinions even called for the abolition of polyphony and the restoration of Gregorian chant-style monophonic music.
3. Palestrina and Lasus
Palestrina (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, 1525-1594) was an important figure during the Reformation musician. Under the constraints of Roman Catholic music principles, he inherited and absorbed the polyphonic techniques of the Flemish school of music, creating a polyphonic choral style with unique aesthetic significance. As a religious music composer, he served the church throughout his life and wrote a large number of masses and motets, among which works such as the Mass of Marcellus were recognized by the church and became a model of Roman Catholic music. Most of the works are a cappella choruses of four to six voices. Among them, the clear voice moves slowly, and the main tone and polyphony are combined. It sounds harmonious, solemn and pious, and has become a model of religious a cappella music. Palestrina's students and followers of his musical style later formed the Roman School of Music, which flourished for a long time.
Orlande de Lassus (1532-1594) was another important composer as famous as Palestrina in the second half of the 16th century. He was a leader of the French-Flemish school of music. Tradition reaches its zenith in his music. He was born in the Flemish city of Mons and traveled throughout Italy, France, and England. After 1556, he spent most of his career serving the court of the Duke of Bavaria in Munich. His more than 2,000 works cover a wide range of music genres and styles from various European countries and regions. Among religious works, a large number of motets are rich in content, and the "Confessional Psalms" are also famous works. Among the secular works, French ballads, German songs and Italian villanella impressed musicians from all over the world. Compared with the tranquility and detachment of Palestrina's music, Lasus's music is more vivid and emotional, with a more dynamic temperament.
4. French Ballads and Italian Madrigals
In the 16th century, French-Flemish composers were found in churches and courts across Europe, and their musical styles were widely popular in Europe.
At the same time, the unique national styles of music in various countries have also developed.
Author: Black Ribbon 2006-5-31 17:02 Reply to this statement
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3 Replies: A brief history of Western music: the Renaissance
The most representative song in France is French Chanson. This is an unaccompanied secular chorus of four or five voices, with light music and distinctive rhythm. It was not only loved by emerging citizens, but also popular among nobles. Clement Janequin (1485-1560) is famous for his descriptive ballads. Those that imitate bird songs, such as "Skylark" and "Song of the Birds"; those that depict street scenes, such as "Business in Paris"; "Battle of Marigny" is a pioneer of war-themed works.
Italian madrigal was the most influential secular music form in Europe in the 16th century. Composers, whether religious or secular, Flemish, Italian or French, almost always dabbled in this genre. The Italian madrigals of the 16th century are not directly related to the madrigals of the 14th century. Its lyrics are mostly pastoral poems with sentimental or love content, and are in the style of chamber polyphony. The early development of Italian madrigals was influenced by the Italian folk lyric song Flortola. After the mid-16th century, music and poetry became closer, and descriptive and emotional expressions developed. The chromatic style was developed by Carlo Gesualdo (1561- 1613) reached its climax in the pastoral. The creation of Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) in the late 16th century transformed the pastoral from polyphonic imitation to the form of solo, duet and accompaniment. He used recitative melody and pursued dramatic expression, which laid the foundation for the 17th century. The development of opera opened the way.
5. Venetian Music School
Venice is an important city on the Italian peninsula after Rome and the main port for trade between Western Europe and the East. Venice was famous for its music publishing in the early 16th century. In the middle of the 16th century, the Venetian School of Music, which developed around St. Mark's Basilica, injected vitality into the development of European music.
Venice’s beautiful water city scenery, brightly colored palaces, colorful rituals and Venetian people’s less ascetic religious concepts make Venetian painting and music art full of rich colors.
After the Flemish musician A. Willaert (1490-1562) became the music director of St. Mark's Church, he adopted the compound singing form of two sets of choruses on both sides of the church, accompanied by The two pipe organs produced a grand stereophonic sound, and the scene was very grand. Italian musicians Andrea Gabrieli (1510-1586) and Giovanni Gabrieli (1553-1612) further explored the relationship between high and low chorus parts, and between vocal music and instrumental music. sound contrast and color changes. And apply the principles of compound singing to the creation of instrumental ensembles. Giovanni Gabrieli's "Fortissimo Sonata" is the first musical work in the history of Western music to use dynamic marks.
6. The Development of Instrumental Music
In the 16th century during the Renaissance, instrumental music began to develop independently. Instrumental music is gradually getting rid of its subordinate position as a mere accompaniment to vocal music. Of course, most of the early instrumental music was transplanted from vocal music, but they gradually cultivated people's imagination of pure music without any lyrics. During the Renaissance, much instrumental music was still improvised, and some instrumental music began to be recorded and preserved as sheet music.
During the Renaissance, some musical instruments have formed a family of instruments ranging from bass to treble, and the types of wind instruments have become relatively rich. Main instruments such as: recorder, shawm, drumhorn, transverse flute, cornett, viol, trumpet and ancient trombone (sackbut) etc. The most widely used musical instrument is the lute, which has developed rich playing techniques and adopts the method of grade notation.
The predecessor of European keyboard instruments is the medieval plucked dulcimer (psaltery). Two types of clavichords, produced in the 14th century, developed and matured during the Renaissance. One is the clavichord, which uses metal hammers to strike the strings. Although the sound is delicate, the volume can be controlled by the strength of the touch keys. The other is the harpsichord, which uses quills to pluck the strings. The sound is louder than the former, but the changes in the sound cannot be controlled by finger touch.
The main instrumental music genre at that time was the "ricercar" (Italian meaning of seeking or exploring) adapted from motets and ballads. It was a polyphonic piece using continuous imitation techniques. It developed into Fugue.
The other is the canzona, which was influenced by the French ballad style. The ensemble canzona later developed into the church sonata.
Social dancing became very popular in the 16th century, and some paired dances appeared. Pavane (2/2 time) and Galliard (3/4), they are called Tanz and Nachtanz in Germany, and Passamezzo in Italy (passamezzo) and saltarello (saltarello). Later, a pair of similar dances appeared, the allemande and the courante. There is usually a contrast in beat and speed between these pairs of dance music, with the former being slow and the latter being fast and jumping.
Variations are another important instrumental music genre. At the end of the 16th century, William Byrd (1543-1623), John Bull (1562-1628) and Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) of the British Virgin School wrote a large number of these genre works.