Renaissance Period:

The Renaissance was a great cultural movement that began in Italy during the early 1300’s.  It spread to England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and other countries in the late 1400’s and ended in 1600.  It is one of the most beautiful, if not misleading, names in history.  It is beautiful because it implies an awakening of intellectual awareness.  It is misleading because it suggests a sudden rebirth of learning and art after the presumed stagnation of the Middle Ages.

During this period of time, the modern world was born as Gutenberg perfected printing, Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, Copernicus found that the earth revolved around the sun, Martin Luther founded a new religion, the use of the cannon and the harquebus ended chivalry and da Vinci and Michelangelo created a new form of art.

People believed in old prejudices in the Renaissance world.  While they were aware of mathematics and science, they also held their belief in werewolves, rainfalls of blood and death-predicting comets.  This century also brought the invention of surgery, the watch and bank checks.  But it also saw the rise of witch hunts, wars of religion, destruction of civilization in America and the first black slaves.

The Renaissance marks the passing of European society from an exclusively religious orientation to a more secular one, and from an age of unquestioning faith and mysticism to one of belief in reason and scientific inquiry.

With the rise of humanism, sacred music began for the first time to break free of the confines of the Church, and a school of composers trained in the Netherlands mastered the art of polyphony in their settings of sacred music.  One of the early masters of the Flemish style was Josquin des Prez.

Secular music thrived during this time and instrumental and dance music was performed in abundance.  The main change, which defines the musical Renaissance, is the use of thirds as structural intervals, the accompanying concision of the musical lines, and the resulting path toward modern harmony.