renaissance

The two main forms of sacred Renaissance music are the motet and the mass. They are alike in style but a mass is a longer composition. The Renaissance motet is a polyphonic choral work set to a sacred Latin text other than the ordinary of the mass. The Renaissance mass is a polyphonic choral composition made up of five sections: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.

Here are the music scores for some of the sacred music that is used in churches around the world today. It is sung in English but it can be sung in other languages too.

During the Renaissance, secular vocal music became increasingly popular. Throughout Europe, music was set to poems in various languages, including Italian, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, and English. The development of music printing helped spread secular music, and thousands of song collections became available. Music was an important leisure activity; every educated person was expected to play an instrument and read notation.

Madrigal is an important kind of secular vocal music during the Renaissance. It is a piece for several solo voices set to a short poem, usually about love. A madrigal like a motet, combines homophonic and polyphonic textures but it uses word painting and unusaul harmonies more often. It originated from Italy around 1520, during a creative explosion in Italian poetry. Madrigals were published and sung by cultivated aristocrats. Some of these madrigals were translated to English and was published in London. English madrigal became lighter and more humorous than its Italian model, and its melody and harmony were simpler.

Though still subordinate to vocal music, instrumental music did become more important during the Renaissance. Traditionally, instrumentalists accompanied voices or played music intended for singing. Even in the early 1500s instrumental music was largely adapted from vocal music. Instrumental groups performed polyphonic vocal pieces, which were often published with the indication to be sung or played. Soloists used the harpsichord, organ or lute to play simple arrangements of vocal works. After this short period of time, much of this instrumenatl music was intended for dancing, a popular Renaissance entertainment. Every cultivated person was expected to be skilled in dance, which was taught by professional dancing masters. Court dances were often performed in pairs.