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Instructor: John Schauer
Publications Editor for the Ravinia Festival
 Throughout
the Renaissance, music continued to become more elaborate, and more
emphasis was placed on secular forms. Various geographical locations
rose to prominence in succession—the Court of Burgundy in the
early 15th century, the Netherlands in the late 15th and early 16th
century, England in the late 16th century. Music historians generally
point to Josquin Desprez (ca. 1450-1521) as perhaps the greatest genius
of early music, but even his work is seldom encountered by today’s
concertgoers outside of occasional programs by specialty groups such
as Chanticleer or the King’s Singers (who now call themselves
king’singers).
Renaissance
music sounds less foreign to our ears today because it began to
rely more upon triadic harmonies, that is harmony based upon the
interval of the third instead of the "perfect" intervals
of the fourth and fifth that had dominated Medieval music. The music
was really not yet tonal, but it gives the illusion of tonality
with what seem like "wrong" or at least unexpected chords
thrown in.
The "orchestra"
as we know it had not yet been invented, and instrumental "consorts"
made use of a wide range of exotic instruments that fell into disuse
long ago. A hallmark of these instruments was that most of them
were available in numerous ranges–soprano, alto, tenor, bass–so
that harmonic patterns could be played by a homogeneous ensemble.
The last remaining vestige of this today is the string section of
the modern orchestra, which includes the violin (soprano), viola
(alto), cello (tenor) and bass. A consort comprising all instruments
in the same family was called a "whole consort," while
those mixing and matching instruments were called a "broken
consort."
 In popular culture,
the rare reference to Renaissance music is usually to madrigals,
which were polyphonic songs that began to proliferate shortly before
the middle of the 16th century. Too often they have been parodied
with nonsensical lines such as "Hey, nonny, nonny" (the
brilliant Peter Schickele wrote one inspired take-off that begins,
"My bonnie lass, she smelleth; making the flowers jealouth");
in reality they were highly sophisticated polyphonic songs with
literate texts that are often reflected by the music itself. Notation
by this time had become more precise, allowing composers to indulge
in almost impossibly complex rhythms. Even more palatable to modern
ears are Elizabethan lute songs and Renaissance dance music, which
can be breathtaking in their rhythmic vitality and dazzling instrumentation.
The onslaught
of the Reformation in the 16th century led zealous reformers of
all things ecclesiastical to try to strip away unnecessary ornamentation,
whether in church buildings, liturgical services or church music.
The Catholic Church responded with the Counter-reformation and a
similar simplification of overly elaborate melodies in liturgical
music. The best exemplar of this style was Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina (1525-1594), whose music was held up as a model for church
composition for centuries.
 Palestrina
was active primarily in Rome; over in Venice Giovanni Gabrieli (1556-1612)
became the most famous exponent of the newly emerging "concertato"
style, which emphasized contrasts between vocal and instrumental
forces, or between multiple choruses. The technique was naturally
suggested by the physical layout of St. Mark’s Cathedral, which
had two choir lofts, prompting the world’s first conscious
experiments with stereophonic effects. This type of "terraced"
dynamics, or sudden shifts of loudness, became a regular feature
in the ensuing era of Baroque music.
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