The Reformation began in the 1500s when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses criticizing the Catholic Church, establishing the Protestant branch of Christianity. In Lutheran areas of Germany and Scandinavia, hymns replaced most Latin chants in worship, beginning with monophonic hymns and later incorporating polyphony. Calvinist worship in Switzerland, France, and Germany only allowed biblical texts set to metrical psalms, initially monophonic but later with polyphony. Across Europe, Renaissance vocal polyphony developed further from 1420-1600, with composers like Palestrina and Lasso writing multi-voiced masses, motets, and other sacred music that carefully balanced text clarity with complex counterpoint.

1. Music in the Renaissance Era
1420-1600

2. Part III: The Reformation
The Reformation began when Martin
Luther posted the 95 theses (pictured)
on the castle church in Wittenburg,
Germany in the Holy Roman Empire.
The Reformation established the
protestant branch of Christianity.

3. Christianity
in Europe
during the
1500s

4. Lutheran Germany
and Scandinavia
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
•priest , theologian, musician
•95 Theses led to Reformation
•Deudsche Messe: similar to Catholic
Mass, but replaced most chants with
German Hymns
Lutheran chorale:
•congregational hymn
•4 sources:
•Chant
•German devotional songs
•Contrafactum—secular songs
w/new words
•New compositions
•originally monophonic
•later polyphonic
•Cantational style—block chords
•Ein feste burg

5. Calvinism in Switzerland, France, and
Germany
John Calvin (1509-1564)
•French theologian and pastor
•Presbyterian and Reformed Churches
are from the Calvinist tradition
•not a composer
Music in the Calvinist church:
•only biblical texts
•Metrical psalms
•metric, rhymed, strophic
translations of psalms
•sources:
•newly composed melodies
•chant
•originally monophonic
•later polyphonic
•Loys Bourgeois: Psalm 134
•melody later used in English
Psalm 100
•William Kethe: Psalm 10
•Psalter—published collection of psalms

6. Church of England (Anglican)
John Taverner
(ca. 1490-1545)
•Masses & motets
•Long melismas,
full textures,
cantus-firmus
structures
Thomas Tallis
(ca. 1505-1585)
•Latin masses &
hymn
• Spem in Alium
•40-part motet
William Byrd
(ca. 1540-1623)
•Member of royal chapel
•Secular vocal &
instrumental music
•Anglican service music
•Catholic masses
•motets
•Sing joyfully unto God;
full anthem
•Anthem and Service
•for voice and instruments
•more elaborate than hymns and psalms

7. Fourth and Fifth Generation
Renaissance Vocal Polyphony
Music in the Roman Catholic Church
1520-1600

8. 1520-1550 Flemish Composers
Adrian Willaert
(ca. 1490-1562)
music director at St. Mark’s
Nicolas Gombert
(ca. 1495-ca. 1560)
worked for chapel of Emperor
Charles V
Jacobus Clemens
(ca. 1510-ca. 1555)
worked in Netherlands
•continued the tradition of Renaissance vocal polyphony
•5 or 6 voices
•duple
•imitative, but with variation
•less frequent canons & other intricate structural devices

9. 1550-1600—continued the tradition of Renaissance Vocal Polyphony
Giovanni Pierluigi da
Palestrina (1525/1526-1594)
•choirmaster at churches in
Rome
•wrote masses, mass
movements, motets, madrigals
•“Palestrina counterpoint” set
standard for counterpoint
•Pope Marcellus Mass
•Credo
•Agnus dei I
•Franco Flemish, worked in
Germany for duke of
Bavaria
•masses, chansons, motets
•text expression
Orlando di Lasso
(1532-1594)
•Spanish
•O Magnum
mysterium;
motet
•Missa O magnum
mysterium;
imitation mass
Tomás Luis de Victoria
(ca. 1548-1611)
•German
•Dixit Maria
Hans Leo Hassler
1564-1612

10. Palestrina Counterpoint
• duple meter
• each beat consonant, except suspension
• dissonances on offbeats: passing tones & neighbor
tones
• accentuate words correctly
• homophony—long text
• imitative polyphony—short text
• each new phrase gets different combination of voices
• 6 voices for climax, major cadences, significant words
• text painting

11. 1420-1450
Dunstable,
Binchois, DuFay
1450-1480
Ockeghem,
Busnoys
1480-1520
Obrecht, Isaac,
Des Prez
Renaissance Vocal Polyphony
1550-1600
Palestrina, Di Lasso
1520-1550
Willaert, Gombert,
Clemens
•Imitation mass,
paraphrase mass,
cantus firmus mass
•Duple meter,
contrasting passages
in triple meter
•Careful dissonance
treatment
•Mode defined
through cadences
•5 or 6 equal voices
•imitation, but
varied
Pope Marcellus Mass
Palestrina
•freely composed mass
•counterpoint/homophony
•duple meter
•careful dissonance treatment
•text painting
•free, non-imitative counterpoint
Cum essem parvulus
Orlando di Lasso
•motet
•counterpoint/homophony
•duple meter, contrasting
passages in triple meter
•text painting
•free, non-imitative counterpoint

12. The Council of Trent
• Tropes & most
sequences
eliminated to
suppress variation in
local practices
• Palestrina becomes
supposed savior of
polyphony by writing
Pope Marcellus
Mass, which did not
obscure text