In one portrait of a Renaissance man, the aristocrat's musical instruments are placed alongside his various scientific instruments, books, and weapons (Arkenberg 2002). Eventually, in spite of "some of the obscure, antiquarian concerns of humanist engagement with the music of the classical past…music came to be thought of not as a branch of mathematics" but as an art ("The Renaissance," Free Encyclopedia, 2009). Humanism shifted the analytical understanding of music fully into the realm of the expressive, fine arts. There was renewed interest in the relationship between music and words and music's ability to express human emotion, versus analyzing the mathematician Pythagoras' notion of the 'music of the planetary spheres' ("The Renaissance," Free Encyclopedia, 2009).
At the beginning of the century, polyphonic music still dominated the Latin masses and motets of sacred music. Because these styles of music contained several simultaneous melodies polyphony tended to deemphasize individual voices, words, and meaning. However, greater innovation was shown in these sacred genres by Josquin des Prez who began use words with melodies so that the meaning of the text was still intelligible. He also introduced secular melodies into sacred works. Later, "the insistence on textual intelligibility in both Catholic and Protestant thinking, the vivid imagery used by madrigalists like Wert and Marenzio, the attempts of the Pleiade in France to unite music and poetry, the activities of Bardi's camereta in Florence" showed even greater influence of humanistic philosophy in their equal attention to music and verse ("The Renaissance," Free Encyclopedia, 2009).
The Protestant Reformation transformed sacred music by enabling...
The Catholic Church was forced to react and respond to the Protestant Reformation. This can be seen in the music of Palestrina. The Council of Trent resolved to eliminate the use of secular and ornate music during masses, which it saw as part of the 'worldly excesses' condemned by Protestants. Palestrina composed masses with a "purer, more restrained style" (Sherrane 2008). Palestrina brought forth a resurgent interest in plainsong, "each
Classical Symphony Music, like other forms of art, evolved from numerous traditions that, when taken together, formed a new way of thinking about, and performing, certain types of works. Audiences change over time, and certain musical compositions that sound odd or strange to one audience are often accepted by others (e.g. The rioting during the premier of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring). When people think of classical music, for instance, they tend
Richter and Gardiner in Bach's Canata Recordings The Baroque was a style expressed in art, music, architecture and even literature from the Age of Discovery in the 16th century until the early 18th century. Most describe it as more dramatic, florid, embellished and a move away from the total religiosity of the Middle Ages and into a more secular and emotional, time frame. However, the spread of the Baroque in music,
Indeed the Germans, the French, and the rest looked back to an antiquity in which their ancestors had been subjugated by the legions. Nothing is more remarkable therefore than the rapid and irrevocable penetration of Italian ideas and practices among the "barbarians," as the Italian writers referred to them, some of whom were currently invading the peninsula." (Wiener, 124) it's also important to note that influence of antique classicism
34). The Renaissance man is also literally well-rounded: he should be agile and strong, with "shapely" limbs (Castiglione, p. 30, line 26). Renaissance women must also fulfill specific requirements. Though they should develop their bodies as well as their minds, Renaissance women should not undertake strenuous activities, as even dancing too energetically can impede her "womanly sweetness," (Castiglione, p. 35, line 192). Neither men nor women should take sport
Bartoleme De Las Casas An Analysis of the Activism of Bartoleme De Las Casas Often characterized by modern historians as the "Defender and the apostle to the Indians," Bartolome de Las Casas is known for exposing and condemning as well as exaggerating and misrepresenting the violent practices of Spanish colonizers of the New World against Native Americans. Marked by emotional polemic and often embellished statistics, Las Casas' voluminous works brought him both
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now