The Music in the Renaissance

Renaissance Musicians
c.1400-1600 AD

The Renaissance not only happened in one place, but it also happened all over the world, having England being a prime example of this happening in the North, calling it the Elizabethan Age. Along with these matters at that time would also indicate humanism during that period and how it's being spread throughout North England with the question of: "What are the main features of musical development during the sixteenth century?" Mentioning how the article titled "Music in the Culture of the Renaissance" by Edward E. Lowinskey would also discuss this idea. Stating that, 

The advent of recordings of old music and the beginnings of a musical historiography centered around the cultural life of the time are slowly initiating a change which, it may be hoped, will be reflected in the work of the future historian of civilization. The interpretation of the Renaissance in particular has been subject to such sharply divergent views, the clash of opinions has been so violent. (Lowinsky, 509) 

Saying that the recording of older music back in the day would change overtime and soon pass on to future historians to find these types of music. Overall, one of the focuses would be the music in the Renaissance, and how it's being developed in the 16th century.

The Concert
Gerrit van Honthrot, 1623
Oil on Canvas, 123.5"x205 cm

Another thing to mention is how the Renaissance's music would impact how they interpret during that decade, feeling the chapels and churches in the cities in England. Mentioning coming from the previous passage saying,

The impact of these lay congregations not only on spiritual but also on artistic and musical development is far from being fully explored. They usually owned a chapel within one of the larger churches of the town and were devoted to the Virgin Mary or to a particular Saint. One of the most brilliant congregations was the Confraternity of Our Lady in Antwerp whose membership was made up of the wealthy merchants, bankers, and artisans of that city. (Lowinsky, 513-514)

As mentioned before, these impacts take on the spiritual settings in both artistic and musical terms. With that, religion is one of the main focuses when it comes to the Renaissance era, and having figures such as Virgin Mary, gods and goddesses, etc. Overall, the music would impact on the religious side of the Renaissance and would soon impact other themes and ideas soon.

Lastly, back to the question itself, I think the main feature of musical development is the difference between sacred and secular music, along with the mix of humanism among all of them. First off, the differences between sacred music and secular music is that sacred music would be kept along with only one voice/ instrument being played and the secular would be a song that has more than 3 or 4 voices in one track. How is this being related, I think, is based on how it's being made at the time, some would do it solo and others would be in a band or groups that's based on how the lyrics and the rhythm goes. Another thing to add is how the main feature of musical development is how it's being made like the previous paragraph talking about the development of music itself. Saying, “Composers also continued to write madrigals...the difficulty of the parts made it necessary for the singers to be accompanied instrumentally. This increasing complexity produced a significant change in the character of madrigals...” (Cunningham, 346). Using the term, madrigal, stating that the composers and how it would be changed and a challenge overtime. Overall this would be explain some of the ways music is being thought out of it.

If you want learn more about this sort of topic you can click here and a video attached that would give the sense on what it's like back in that era to nowadays.

Citations:

Lowinsky, Edward E. “Music in the Culture of the Renaissance.” Journal of the History of Ideas, vol. 15, no. 4, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1954, pp. 509–53, https://doi.org/10.2307/2707674. 

Cunningham, Lawrence, et al. “Chapter 14: The Renaissance in the North.” Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities, Cengage Learning, Boston, MA, 2017, pp. 323–353.