The Age of the Renaissance

1. The Age of the Renaissance Camille Snow, Lindsey Hudak, Max Vrancken

2. Years of the Renaissance • The word Renaissanceis French for rebirth. • There are different opinions on when the Renaissance started and ended. • However, the general consensus concludes that the Renaissance began in the 14th century and ended in the 17th century. • …That’s the 1300’s to the 1600’s.

3. About the Renaissance… • As a cultural movement, it encompassed a resurgence of learning based on classical sources, the development of linear perspective in painting, and gradual but widespread educational reform. • It is viewed as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era.

4. Who was important during the Renaissance? Lots of people! For instance…

5. Guys from England! William Byrd (1543-1623) Thomas Tallis (1510-1585) Flourished as a church composer, one of the best early church composers. Majority of his music is Latin motets and English anthems arranged for choirs. • With hundreds of individual compositions, Byrd seemingly mastered every style of music that existed during his lifetime. • He was known not only for his composition work but is also considered the first “genius” of the keyboard.

6. Guys from Italy! Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1526-1594) Orlando de Lassus (1530-1594) Like Palestrina, he was known for the polyphonic style of his music. Wrote over 2,000 works of music; including Latin, French, English and German pieces. Known as one of Europe’s most versatile composers. • Palestrina was the most famous representative of the Roman School of musical composition, and greatly influenced the development of music in the Roman Catholic Church. • Because its voicing is extremely well balanced and beautifully harmonized, Palestrina's polyphonic music is smooth, pure, and transparent in sound.

7. More Italians! Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) Giovanni Gabrieli (1553-1612) Also bridges the Renaissance to the Baroque and is most known for his mastery in the style of the Venetian School. Gabrieli meticulously created and planned the use of antiphone. A choir or group of instruments first heard on the left, followed by a response from another group of musicians on the right. • Monteverdi's revolutionary music included the first dramatic opera, Orfeo. • He is said to have linked the Renaissance period to the Baroque period. • Monteverdi spent his early years composing madrigals, nine in total.

8. Just like there were many important people that influenced the Renaissance Age... There were many significant events that occurred during the age of the Renaissance also! Here are a few things you should know…

9. The Last Supper Leonardo da Vinci • Completed in the year 1498 by a renaissance artist by the name of Leonardo da Vinci. • Portrays the reaction given by each apostle when Jesus said one of them would betray him. • All twelve apostles have different reactions to the news, with various degrees of anger and shock. • The mural is 15’x 29’ showing the way art was looked at and created during the renaissance.

10. The Mona Lisa Leonardo Da Vinci The Mona Lisa is a 16th century portrait painted in oil on a popular panel in Florence by Leonardo da Vinci during the Italian Renaissance. The painting is a half-length portrait and depicts a woman whose facial expression is often described as enigmatic.

11. Christopher Columbus • Christopher Columbus was a navigator, colonizer, and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents. • His initial voyages were in an attempt to prove that a route from Iberia to the Indies would be shorter than the overland trade route through Arabia. • He ended up discovering the Americas by accident.

12. The invention of the printing press Johannes Gutenberg • In 1440, German inventor Johannes Gutenberg invented a printing press process that, with refinements and increased mechanization, remained the principal means of printing until the late 20th century. • The method of printing from movable type, including the use of metal molds and alloys, a special press, and oil-based inks, allowed for the first time the mass production of printed books.

13. So… What was all the music like?

14. Words and Music… • Vocal music was more important than instrumental music and composers during that period wrote music to enhance the meaning and emotion of the text. • There was emphasis on capturing the emotion and imagery of a text. Although there was a wide range of emotion in Renaissance music, it was usually expressed in a moderate, balanced way, with no extreme contrasts of dynamics, tone colour, or rhythm.

15. Texture • Renaissance music is mostly polyphonic, and imitation among the voices is common, with each voice presenting the same melodic idea. • Sounds fuller than medieval music with the bass register being used for the first time. With the new emphasis on the bass line came richer harmony. • Moreover, Renaissance choral music did not need instrumental accompaniment and was thus also known as the "golden age" of a capellachoral music.

16. Rhythm and Melody! • Each melodic line has great rhythmic independence and moves more with a gentle flow than a sharply defined beat. • Pitch patterns in Renaissance melodies are easy to sing because the melody usually moves along a scale with few large leaps.

17. Yay Renaissance Music! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZbHcQqVDsE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubFPazOmtoQ