The Renaissance Period
The Renaissance period spans roughly from 1450-1600CE, and encompasses a style of music evolved from the Medieval era. Renaissance music emanated from Europe, and nearly all of it from Italy, Holland and England. The main movement was, although much music for the church was written, secular. The style, structure, composers and instruments were different and all helped turn from the Medieval period to the Renaissance. The Structure and Style of Renaissance Music In the Renaissance period, composers began experimenting with harmony in their work. Imitative polyphony, monophonic solo and polychoral music was the main style in the Renaissance. Imitative polyphony is when all the voices in a piece of music move at the same speed and share the development of the piece in a way that later became known as Fugue. Polychoral music is similar to polyphony but is written for choirs, usually to be sung in church. Monophony is simply a solo piece with one line of music and, naturally, one voice. Medieval and Renaissance styles differ in the way the music is written as well, in the order it's written. Medieval composers built the music up layer upon layer, whereas Renaissance composers often preferred to write all t
The lute is the ancestor of the modern day guitar. It held the highest respect of all instruments during the Renaissance, both as an accompaniment and as a solo instrument. It could be played with a plectrum but the best lutenists used only their fingers, giving a very distinctive, very expressive sound. Before the mid-16th century, viols had been played mostly by court musicians but towards the beginning of the 17th century they were being played by many amateurs as well. By this time, like madrigal singing, viol playing had become very much a part of music making in the Elizabethan home. Viols were still very popular in England long after they had been replaced by the violin on the continent.
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Approximate Word count = 1794
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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