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Mason Williams

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To acclaim a periodization for Renaissance music is as difficult as any claim made concerning dates and textures of music in the history of music. Generally people grudgingly agree to place the musical Renaissance alongside the historical and artistic Renaissance dates, but only as early as the High Renaissance (c.1400) to the beginning of the Baroque (c.1600). How could there be a "rebirth" in music when classical models were absent? Around 1430, theoretical, compositional, and exploratory... [+] Read More

To acclaim a periodization for Renaissance music is as difficult as any claim made concerning dates and textures of music in the history of music. Generally people grudgingly agree to place the musical Renaissance alongside the historical and artistic Renaissance dates, but only as early as the High Renaissance (c.1400) to the beginning of the Baroque (c.1600). How could there be a "rebirth" in music when classical models were absent? Around 1430, theoretical, compositional, and exploratory endeavors into chromatics and enharmonics did take place. There were more openings into polyphony away from homophony and monody, and musicians attempted to rediscover the mensurations of classical Greek literature through Homer's metric verse. Dufay, Binchois, and Dunstable are often heralded as Renaissance musicians. They employed secular works and four-voice textures as the norm. Others later used imitation on a much more regular basis. ~ Keith Johnson [-] Hide

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