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1430
John Dunstable
Dunstable (ca. 1390-1453) was considered as a leading English composer that created the consonant style of 3rds and 6ths that would move towards the Renaissance style near 1430. His works consisted of 20 mass sections, 2 complete masses, 40 motets, and 2 secular songs. -
Period: 1430 to
General Music
The consonance of the 3rds and the 6ths were still used during this time as well as polyphonies that consisted in harmony and melody. Usually the top voice would carry the more melodic line and the other voices would provided the harmony. Rhythm would become more simple and lose the complexity. Madrigals (Renaissance) also were developed. -
Period: 1430 to
Instruments
Much of the music in the Renaissance period used instruments such as woodwinds, percussion, bowed strings, plucked strings, and even with just the voice (a capella). Instruments weren't used as much as the voice was during this time. Haut were loud instruments and bas were quieter instruments. Instruments were used more to accompany voices or just for dances. -
Period: 1430 to
Genres
Most important and famous composers/pieces used about the same genres that were most popular. Masses, motets, chorales, chansons, and hymns. During this time, most of the music composed were sacred but a lot of secular music also became popular and somewhat bled into the sacred music. -
1474
Guillaume DuFay
DuFay (ca. 1397-1474) was a Franco-Flemish composer and was considered the first important composer. He used older medieval cadences in his music. His work consisted of 7 masses, 28 mass sections, 90 motets, 15 antiphons, 27 hymns, and 87 chansons. -
1477
Johannes Tinctoris
In 1477, Franco-Flemish theorist, singer, and composer, Johannes Tinctoris (ca. 1435-1511) claimed that Dunstable and DuFay founded and led this new rebirth in the art of music. Tinctoris' works consisted of 12 treaties, 4 masses, 2 motets, and 7 chansons. -
Period: 1500 to 1546
Martin Luther
Luther (ca. 1483-1546) was a German composer and theologian that founded the Lutheranism in the 1500s and was known for his German hymns and writings. He truly respected Josquin de Prez. -
1501
Ottaviano Petrucci
Petrucci (ca. 1466-1539) was the first music printer and publisher. In 1501, he produced his first book of music. Because of his work in preserving Renaissance music, we are able to study these pieces today. -
1539
Josquin des Prez
Josquin des Prez (ca. 1450/55-1521) was a French composer who, according to Martin Luther, was considered to be the best composer of the Renaissance era & had no equal. His work consisted of 18 masses, more than 50 motets, & 65 chansons. His Missa Pange lingua (ca. 1514, published 1539) is one of the most famous pieces of the Renaissance era and was considered to be his last mass. -
1567
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Palestrina (ca. 1525/26-1594) was an Italian composer that had become an icon of Renaissance music. His work consisted of 104 masses, 375 motets, and madrigals, both sacred and secular. His Pope Marcellus Mass (1567) is one of the most famous pieces of Renaissance music. -
Period: 1570 to
Florentine Camerata
Between the 1570s-1590s, a group of intellectuals and musicians that would gather and discuss about music was formed as Florentine Camerata. Some notable members were Peri, Corsi (ca. 1561-1602), and leader Count Giovanni Bardi (ca. 1534-1612). Believing that Greek plays were sung all the way through, they attempted to recreate Greek plays but instead resulted in opera. -
Jacopo Peri
Peri (ca. 1561-1633) was an Italian composer and singer who was also one of the founders of opera with his lost Dafne (1598). His work consisted of 20 stage works and 30 songs. His Euridice (1600) was his first, most famous opera that had survived.
