Good Example Of The Renaissance Period Was The Age Of Humanism: Did The Music Abide? Term Paper

Music, as a form of expression (and like all art), always speaks for the times, the people. This influence is always there, whether explicitly or implicitly, expressing itself in both style and/or language (Özer 17). A good example would be black literature during the Harlem Renaissance period in the US, a time when blacks were trying to define and reassert themselves in the US community (Smethurst 7). The renaissance period (1400-1600) was in many ways the age of what Bergin and Speake (18) refer to as the ‘rebirth’ of classical ideals. Most particularly, it has been described as the age of humanism, a term that is identified with an effort towards liberal human values as well as non-religiosity/Christianity, owing to the invention of the printing press and, therefore, the ability of people to read and understand the Bible rather than believe in what the Churches preached (Baldwin 3). While music kept up with the context in which it was created (the humanism), this may have only been to an extent. Otherwise, it may largely have stood apart from- or maybe even rebelled against- the reigning humanism.
Although all Greek culture sciences and arts were believed to interrelated, the renaissance period saw an effort to distinguish between concepts, to distinguish between different individual qualities of arts. In particular, music was believed to be an expressive art, a means to influence emotions and guide senses, a humanistic phenomenon (Bergin & Speake 21).
A good example would be Johannes Ciconia, the famous early 15th century composer in Italy. Ciconia is famous for his the way that he uncannily transitioned between styles, combining the Arc Nova style of the French and Italian style. Ciconia combined the French contrapuntal with Italian humanism. His most famous work is the motet O Rosa Bella (which translates to English as O Beautiful Rosa). This particular music is said to reflect heightened emotional quality of the text. This effort to craft music to suit the emotional content and quality of the text was new, never heard of in the Middle Ages. This change in style of composition marked the biggest difference between Middle Age music and Renaissance music (Elders 84-87).
Indeed, there remain many examples of such efforts, the humanistic influence on music during the renaissance era. However, generally considered on the basis of the bigger ides that were said to have marked what became distinctly known as the ‘humanism’ of the period, music seems to have held back somewhat.
According to Elders (82), the age of humanism was also known as the age of joy. This makes sense considering the increased rise of ideological freedom that may have unlocked other social spaces. However, the music of most of the famous composers (Dunstable, Byrd, Weelkes, Frescobaldi, Arcadet, Lassus, Campion, Tallis, among many others) did not lend its voice to this prevailing joy. Adriaan Willaert and Michael Praetorius may have come close with some lively and spectacular music. Still, these two, like Ciconia, remained largely the exception. Many people find the music of the times quite dull and tedious.
However, most importantly, the humanism air that prevailed at the time, as already noted above, was mostly about liberalism, expanded space for freedom (of expression, choice, etc.). In this respect, the renaissance period also saw the rise of Reformation music. Essentially, reformation music spoke for change, and what is reformation if not change, the very core theme of humanism.
In this respect, the period was marked by the birth of the polyphonic music. Polyphonic simply means ‘many sounds’; more than one sound, each independent and both moving contrapuntally. This is opposed to ‘monophonic music’ where only one melodic line reigns, other sounds merely providing accompaniment (Van der Warf 7-8).
Thomas Tallis is in many ways a sufficient epitome for both renaissance and reformation music. He sometimes collaborated with William Byrd, Tallis’ student and yet another famous figure of the times. Tallis’ Spem in alium, a motet in forty parts, exhibited great originality in contrapuntal skill and clever modulations. In If ye love me, Tallis is said to have displayed great skill in textural clarity and simplicity. Byrd was more recognized for his keyboard pieces than originality (Wright 1).
In the end, though, contrapuntal music has been criticized for being predictable. It was viewed so much so that it was labeled cerebral or academic music. Although the music was at times skilful and clever, it was said to be more from the brain than the heart, that it was more clinical than inspired (Vendrix 7; Woodley 5).
In this statement, we find the argument that the reformation music was more against the heart and emotion, the tools for the humanism of the time. But even distaste is emotion or feeling. And this is the irony; that the reformation music was the brain child of the liberalism (freedom of choice, speech, creation, etc.) that was the core of humanism, but is criticized for it; that in seemingly rebelling against the emotional attention of humanism, it did provoked other emotions- if not the ‘’right’ kind. Ultimately, it is hard to decide whether renaissance music kept up with the humanistic air of the time. Perhaps that is a matter of perspective and personal view.

Works Cited

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Smethurst, James E. The Black Arts Movement: Nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s.
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