Renaissance Music

Today my research has lead me to the music of Europe. Because this is one of the more broad topics yet, I will be spending most of my typing power covering European Renaissance music from the 14th-16th century. Renaissance music is was historically written beginning in the start of the 14oo’s at the end of the Medieval period and closing around 1600 at the beginning of the Baroque era. Music and the arts at this time was greatly influenced by developments which defined the Early Modern period with the rise of humanistic thought, literary recovery, and ancient Greek and Roman artistic heritage. During this time there was an increase in commerce, the rise of a bourgeois class, and Protestant Reformation. During this time, the changing society gave birth to a unifying musical language and a polyphonic structure credited to the Netherlandish School.

The Netherlandish School often refers directly to the polyphonic structure of composition as many musicians from this school adopted the new technique, therefore the school is remembered as the origin of this type of music. Most musicians from the Netherlandish School were born in Hainaut, Flanders, Brabant, or Picardy. Until the End of the 16th Century the Netherlandish School was the focal point of the Western musical world.

While many of the composers were born in the region loosely known as the “Low Countries”, they were famous for working elsewhere. Flemings moved to Italy where they were called “I fiamminghi” or Oltremontani (those from over the Alps), to Spain – notably in the Flemish chapel of the Habsburgs, to towns in Germany and France and other parts of Europe – Poland, Czechia, Austria, Hungary, England, Sweden, Denmark, and Saxony – carrying their styles with them. The diffusion of their technique, especially after the revolutionary development of printing, produced the first true international style since the unification of Gregorian chant in the 9th century.

Gregorian chant

This is a rendition of the famous 13th century Latin Catholic hymn, “Dies Irae” (or, “Day of Wrath,” about the Second Coming of Christ and Judgment Day). This rendition is off the 1994 CD, “Ego sum Ressurectio,” and is difficult to find.

Following the history of the Burgundian States are three groups, or generations, that are sometimes distinguished in the Franco-Flemish school. Development of this musical style was continuous, and these generations only provide useful reference points.

• The First generation (1420–1450), was group of composers most often known as the Burgundian School. The origins of the style of the first generation embraces both earlier Burgundian traditions and also Italian and English styles. This era was dominated by Dufay, Binchois and Antoine Busnios.

Dufay

Binchois

Antoine Busnios

Manuscript of Missa O Crux Lignum, a Mass by Busnois. The date is not certain but approximated to be mid-15th century.

• The Second generation (1450–1485), with Ockenghem as its main exponent.

Ockenghem

• The Third generation (1480–1520) was most significantly Josquin born in Picardy.

Josquin

If you are like me, this will be some of the most beautiful music you have ever experienced. These songs are made up of a very ethereal and almost dreamy composition. Many of the instruments heard in these songs originated during the Renaissance, while others were variations/ improvements upon existing instruments. Many of these instruments have survived until the present day while a few have disappeared altogether. Today, we use the Sachs Hornbostel system of classification to place the instruments used into four main categories:

• brass
• strings
• percussion
• woodwind

Medieval instruments in Europe had most commonly been used singly, often self accompanied with a drone, or occasionally in parts. During the 15th century there was a division of instruments into Haut (loud, outdoor instruments) and Bas (quieter, more intimate instruments) Only two groups of instruments could play freely in both types of ensembles: the Cornett and sackbut and the Tabor and tambourine.

Here is a rather extensive breakdown of Renaissance instruments.

Brass

Brass instruments in the Renaissance were traditionally played by professionals. Some of the more common brass instruments that were played:

• Slide trumpet: Similar to the trombone of today except that instead of a section of the body sliding, only a small part of the body near the mouthpiece and the mouthpiece itself is stationary. The slide trumpet was most commonly used for slow dance music.

• Cornett: Made of wood and was played like the recorder but blown like a trumpet. It was commonly made in several sizes, the largest was called the serpent. The serpent became the main cornetto used by the early 17th century while other ranges were replaced by the violin.

• Trumpet: Early trumpets had no valves, and were limited to the tones present in the overtone series. They were also made in different sizes. Although commonly depicted being used by angels, their use in churches was limited. They were most commonly used in the military and for the announcement of royalty. Period trumpets were found to have two rings soldered to them, one near the mouthpiece and another near the bell.

• Sackbut is different name for the trombone, which replaced the slide trumpet by the middle of the 15th century.

Strings

As a family strings were used in many circumstances, both sacred and secular. A few members of this family include:

• Viol: This instrument, developed in the 15th century, commonly has six strings. It was usually played with a bow. 

• Lyre: Its construction is similar to a small harp, although instead of being plucked, it is strummed with a plectrum.

• Irish Harp: During the Middle Ages it was the most popular instrument of Ireland and Scotland. 

• Hurdy gurdy: The strings are sounded by a wheel which the strings pass over. Its functionality can be compared to that of a mechanical violin, in that its bow is turned by a crank. Its distinctive sound is mainly because of its “drone strings” which provide a constant pitch similar in their sound to that of bagpipes.

• Gittern and mandore: these instruments were used throughout Europe. Forerunners of modern instruments including the mandolin and guitar.

Percussion

Some Renaissance percussion instruments include the triangle, the Jew’s harp, the tambourine, the bells, the rumble-pot, and various kinds of drums.

• Tambourine: In the early ages the tambourine was originally a frame drum without the jingles attached to the side. This instrument soon evolved and took on the name of the timbrel during the medieval crusades, at which time it acquired the jingles. 

• Jew’s harp: A steel instrument that produces sound using shapes of the mouth and attempting to pronounce different vowels with one’s mouth. The loop at the bent end of the tongue of the instrument is plucked in different scales of vibration creating different tones.

Woodwinds (aerophones)

The woodwind instruments (aerophones) produce sound by means of a vibrating column of air within the pipe. Holes along the pipe allow the player to control the length of the column of air, and hence the pitch. There are several ways of making the air column vibrate, and these ways define the subcategories of woodwind instruments. A player may blow across a mouth hole, as in a flute; into a mouthpiece with a single reed, as in a modern-day clarinet or saxophone; or a double reed, as in an oboe or bassoon. All three of these methods of tone production can be found in Renaissance instruments.

• Shawm: A typical oriental shawm is keyless and is about a foot long with seven finger holes and a thumb hole. The pipes were also most commonly made of wood and many of them had carvings and decorations on them. It was the most popular double reed instrument of the renaissance period; it was commonly used in the streets with drums and trumpets because of its brilliant, piercing, and often deafening sound. To play the shawm a person puts the entire reed in their mouth, puffs out their cheeks, and blows into the pipe whilst breathing through their nose.

• Reed pipe: Made from a single short length of cane with a mouthpiece, four or five finger holes, and reed fashioned from it. The reed is made by cutting out a small tongue, but leaving the base attached. It is the predecessor of the saxophone and the clarinet.

• Hornpipe: Same as reed pipe but with a bell at the end.

• Bagpipe/Bladder Pipe: Believe to have been invented by herdsmen who thought to use a bag made out of sheep or goat skin and would provide air pressure so that when its player takes a breath, the player only needs to squeeze the bag tucked underneath their arm to continue the tone. The mouth pipe has a simple round piece of leather hinged on to the bag end of the pipe and acts like a non-return valve. The reed is located inside the long metal mouthpiece, known as a bocal.

• Panpipe: Designed to have sixteen wooden tubes with a stopper at one end and open on the other. Each tube is a different size (thereby producing a different tone), giving it a range of an octave and a half. The player can then place their lips against the desired tube and blow across it.

• Transverse flute: The Transverse flute is similar to the modern flute with a mouth hole near the stoppered end and finger holes along the body. The player blows in the side and holds the flute to the right side.

• Recorder: The recorder is a common instrument still used today, often taught to children in elementary schools. Rather than a reed it uses a whistler mouth piece, which is a beak shaped mouth piece, as its main source of sound production. It is usually made with seven finger holes and a thumb hole.

All of these instruments work together to create the beautiful music of the renaissance period. I hope you have enjoyed my rather extensive post on one of my favorite types of music.

 

Works Cited

Atlas, Allan W. Renaissance Music. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998.

Baines, Anthony, ed. Musical Instruments Through the Ages. New York: Walker and Company, 1975.

Fenlon, Iain (editor) (1989). The Renaissance: from the 1470s to the End of the 16th Century. Man &

     Music 2. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

The New Harvard Dictionary of Music.

A History of Music and Musical Style, by Homer Ulrich & Paul Pisk (1963). New York: Harcourt Brace

     Jovanoich.

Register of Polyphonists out of The Low countries/the Netherlands born between 1400-1600

Gleason, Harold and Becker, Warren. Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (Music Literature

Outlines Series I). Bloomington, IN: Frangipani Press, 1986.