A Musical Influence

In my music class we have been studying the history of music. Today we covered the Renaissance period.

It's odd how the history surrounding music can seriously affect what the music sounds like.

For example: The Reformation happened during this time in history. What was the Reformation? It was when people started to break away from the Catholic church and its ways of teaching. This was the time when Protestantism really came into being. Like every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. Along with the Reformation came the Counter Reformation. Both of these had heavy influence on music of that era. Up to this point music was mostly religious and religious music was beautiful, but complicated. Unless you were part of a professional choir it was hard to understand or sing along with anything that was sung in the churches. Not only this but the songs that were commonly performed were most likely in Latin and unless you were part of the church or well educated it is unlikely you would be able to understand anything they were saying anyway. So the Protestants came up with something that is known as the "Psalms Tunes". A Psalms Tune was a simple melody and the lyrics were taken directly from the book of Psalms, and was sung in whatever tongue was native in the country you happened to be in.

As we talked about before to every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. The Catholic church that was beginning to dwindle decided to make their own music just as complicated and beautiful as they could. Their hope was to draw people back into the Catholic church with their beautiful music and astounding wealth. It worked for some. But the Protestant church and its music wasn't going anywhere.

Outside of the religious angle of music was the artistic angle of music and the Renaissance. During this time people became very focused on capturing humanism through art. Artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo became very involved what human's looked like and how to make them beautiful and proportionally correct. During the Medieval Era art was simple, and flat looking. By the Renaissance artists were determined to give their art elegance by giving it depth and soft beauty.

Medieval Art
versus

Leonardo's simple soft sketch
or


Michelangelo's emotional perfectly proportioned statue

Don't worry, dear readers, I'm coming back around to music. Like the art of this era the music was likewise as emotional and given into more detail and structure. It was beautiful and sometimes simple and sometimes romantic.

Suggestions of music to listen to:
Giovanni's Pierluigi da Palestrina's Angus Dei I
Martin Luther's Ein' feste Burg
Louis Bourgeois' Old Hundred
(This is an example of a Psalm Tune.)