Musical period
The Renaissance period saw the rise of the middle class. All the wealth did not go straight to the higher class and the middle class became more privileged and able to experiment with their own music. People moved to cities, and spent more time seeing plays and concerts. Music became part of a good education. By 1600, popular music of the day was available across Europe, and the middle class learned to play instruments using method books for recorder, lute, and guitar. Composers like Giovanni Palestrina led the way into a new way of composing. Man, rather then God, became the new focus in a great deal of music. Composers now turned to another dimension of music, and the use of harmony changed music for ever. There were two main musical types during the re
Recorders and lutes were two of the most common instruments. There were frequent harmonic changes; tonality was based on major and minor keys. Renaissance period music was able to be defined by the use of polyphonic rhythms and compositional styles for instruments these pieces were often written to accompany ballroom dancing and to entertain nobility at their court. Through this period dances became popular during this period as well as preludes, fugues, suites, toccatas and theme and variations. This new vocal form was the called the motet, Giovanni Palestrina were the most famous Renaissance composer of motets he believed that the music was more important than the words. Eighths, 16ths and triplets were frequently used. Ornamentation also became more widely used and composers started to structure their pieces much more. This simple two-line polyphony was expanded to use up to four different vocal parts. Binary and ternary forms were used frequently. The clavichord and harpsichord, and organ were the most widely used instruments being created in the baroque period. Music began to become very ornamented at this time and Motets became more ambitious and elaborate; more and more voices were also used and movements became longer and cleverer. Two or more melodies played at the same time created a musical texture called counterpoint which became very popular throughout that baroque period. Emphasis was on strong beats, upbeats and fast-changing rhythmic motion. This system of employment was called the patronage system, the patron paid the composer for each work and usually decided what kind of piece the composer should write, and this limited the composer's creative freedom. naissance period 'Secular Music' and 'Sacred Music'.
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