Renaissance 15th / 16th century

The 15th century is called the renaissance for the arts and therefore for music, but what is it that
is reborn? Easy: classicism, humanism. Some of the most important historical facts are: the sun
as the center of the universe, the printing press, advances in architecture, etc. We can nd a
new wealthy merchant class who spends his money on art, poetry, new buildings, and of course
music. Music that spoke to human issues.

The church will have a period of great instability. During the renaissance revolutions will arise
within the church led by 3 fundamental gures that would give 3 branches: Lutheran, Calvinist
and Anglican. Their music will have some differences tending generally to simplicity. The
church has a fundamental role during the renaissance. The Church used music as an integral
part of its rituals and liturgies. Gregorian chant (canto gregoriano) , a monophonic and modal
style of chant, was the predominant form of liturgical music in this period. As the Renaissance
progressed, polyphony, consisting of the combination of several independent melodic lines,
developed. The Church, as a powerful and wealthy institution, acted as a patron of many
composers. Musicians were often employed by cathedrals, churches and chapels to compose
and perform music.

Renaissance music evolves slowly compared to medieval music, although the number of
composers and musicians is much greater. Its main characteristic is Polyphony (Polifonía) ,
where the melodies have a greater importance than the vertical harmony formed between the
voices. Composers explored and developed counterpoint techniques to create complex and
harmonious polyphonic textures. Imitation is a technique in which a melody is repeated in
different voices with some delay, creating a sense of continuity and musical unity. This
technique was widely used to give depth and cohesion to polyphonic music

Most of the music of this period will be vocal, but instrumental music will begin to gain
importance especially in the function of accompanying dances. Dancing in society was very
popular and there were slow dances in binary time and fast dances in ternary time. In addition
to dance pieces, there were variations and improvisation pieces.

The profane music, that is to say, of non-religious content will also become more and more
important. The song will be the main type of composition, and it will have national differences.
The lied in Germany, the chanson in France, the madrigal in Italy and the villancico in Spain.

Texture is the result of the organization of melodies within a work.

A single melody

Monophonic (Monodíca)

The monody or monodic texture, we only have one melody, there is no overlapping* (superposición)
between different notes. This type of texture is typical of the origins of Western music, such as Greek
and Roman civilization and Gregorian chant, as well as traditional music.

Counterpoint (Contrapunto)

In this texture, the melodies enter successively and advance independently of

each other, giving the sensation that each melody obeys its own rules.
Various melodies

Homophonic (Homofónica)

In the homophonic texture the melodies begin and end all at the same
time and follow the same rhythmic scheme.

accompanied melody (melodía acompañada)

Emerges as an evolution of the previous texture. The higher-pitched

melody became more prominent until it became the main melody.
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