1. Golden Sound of the European
Renaissance Polyphony
A trip to the most beautiful era for choral music
Lecture by Andrea Angelini

2. THE HISTORICAL
CONTEST
Golden Sounds of the European Renaissance Polyphony

3. Rediscovery of the old world…
The Renaissance (1450-1600) was a time of rebirth in
learning, science, and the arts throughout Europe.
The rediscovery of the writings of ancient Greece
and Rome led to a renewed interest in learning in
general.The invention of the printing press allowed
the disbursement of this knowledge in an
unprecedented manner.With Copernicus' discovery
of the actual position of the earth in the solar system
and Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation, the
Catholic Church lost its grip on society and a
humanist spirit was born.This spirit manifested itself
in the painting and sculpture of Michelangelo, the
plays of Shakespeare, and in both the sacred and
secular dance and vocal music of the greatest
composers of the era.

5. The places of the music
 During the Renaissance music flourished
in many places. Among the other:
The Flemish Countries (Des Prez, Isaac, Lasso…)
England (Tallis, Byrd, Dowland, Morley,Taverner…)
Italy (Palestrina, Marenzio, Zarlino, Gabrieli,Vecchi)
Spain (Guerrero,Victoria, Morales…)
Portugal (Escobar, Cardoso, Duarte Lobo)
Germany (Praetorius, Hassler)

6. CHARACTERISTICS OF
THE RENAISSANCE
CHORAL MUSIC
Golden Sounds of the European Renaissance Polyphony

7. Some characteristics
 Music still based on modes, but gradually more accidentals
creep in.
 Richer texture in four or more parts. Bass part is added
below the tenor.
 Harmony. Greater concern with the flow and progression of
chords.
 Church music. Some pieces were intended for 'a cappella'
performance. Mainly contrapuntal. Lots of imitation. Some
church music was accompanied by instruments - for example
polychoral pieces in antiphonal style (Antiphonal - Questions
and Answers, Stereo Effect).
 Secular music. (not-religious music. Sacred music is to do
with the church) There were lots of vocal pieces and dances,
and lots of instrumental pieces (However a lot of the
instrumentals were in a vocal style, but suited to instruments.
Vocal music was by far the more important.)

8. PROBLEMS OF
PERFORMANCE
PRACTICE
Golden Sounds of the European Renaissance Polyphony

9. A journey back…
“The longer the journey back into musical
history, the more dangerous becomes the
ground on which the interpreter must
tread.”

10. Theoretical books?
Even the theoretical books become
fewer as we go back in time and the gap
between the written notes and their
realization in terms of sounds becomes
very larger and more and more ill-
defined.

11. In fact, the music theoretic books of the XVI
century, as, for instance,“Istituzioni
Armoniche” by Gioseffo Zarlino (1558)
and “L’Antica musica ridotta alla
moderna prattica” by NiccolòVicentino
(1555), speak only about the rules of
composition, the complexity of the notation,
sometime the technique of playing an
instrument, but nothing tell us about the
exact way to perform that kind of music.

12. For this we have to keep example also
from other kind of arts, like sculpture,
picture, poetry……, to understand how
can be performed early choir music.

13. A very large number of medieval and
renaissance paintings and sculptures show
musicians in act of singing and these provide
clear evidence of the kind of the preferred
tone-production at that time. In the next slide
we will see how take hints by another art (the
painting) for a philological research of executive
practice.

14. JanVan Eyck – The adoration of the Lamb (1429) – Ghent Cathedral Altarpiece

15. The strained expressions on the faces of the singers
are in sharp contrast with the relaxed features of the
instrumentalists, andVan Eyck was so scrupulous in
the details of his paintings that we must assume
these expressions were characteristic of the singers
of his time.

16. Now, anyone of us can find out for himself
the kind of sound that is associated with
this facial expression if he stands in front
of a mirror and sings.The muscles of the
face and throat are tight and the mouth is
only slightly opened: the resultant sound
is nasal and little. Moreover is very
unlikely that any vibrato was used at that
time.

17. Underlay, a big problem!

18. Even when all the component parts of a
composition have survived intact, the
editor’s task is far from light.The words
were often either omitted altogether or
else set out under the music in a very
arbitrary and careless way.

19. Other difficulties
Underlay is not the only problem. Other
difficulties:
1 – accidentals (see musica ficta)
2 – the tempo
3 – dynamic markings
4 – the musical notation
5 – the pitch

20. HOW A CHOIR WAS
SET UP?
Golden Sounds of the European Renaissance Polyphony

21. Then, how was a choir set up during the
Renaissance Age?
 CANTUS
 ALTUS
 TENOR
 BASSUS

22. The choir’s setting was based on the
presence of ALTUS, a voice that, as the
word says, was an high voice.The fact that,
in the modern choir, this part is given to
the dark “CONTRALTO” voice, give us a
clear indication of how the phonic
situations have been changed during the
Centuries.

23. Cantus was not performed byWomen
but by “Boys” (treble), by the “Falsetto
Singers” or by the “Castrati”. For boys
and falsetto singers the highest note was
the actual “E” on the fourth space in G
clef.
 Recording of Alessandro Moreschi, the last castrato in the Sistine Chapel:

24. The Tenor below was an adult male
voice with a baritone timbre whereas the
Bassus was much profound than today.

25.  It is generally agreed that a performance
of a Renaissance Motet doesn’t need of
melodramatic louds and softs, rubatos,
cresendos, diminuendos and the whole
range of operatic expressive device,

26. Polyphony, despite the fact it came from
elitist origins, has a fundamentally
democratic style.The equalness of the
voice-parts in Renaissance music should
condition every approach to it

27. A satisfying interpretation of polyphony
can only come from a reactive group of
people who are listening to what is
going on around them, and then, when
the music calls for it, adding something of
their own.

28. To sum up:
I like to end with a though of one of the
most important architect of the
Renaissance Era, Leon Battista Alberti. His
idea was that the whole was greater
than the sum of the parts, but the
parts should be perfect in
themselves.There is no better
definition of polyphony or how
to present it.

29. The End!