Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [renaissance-music]

Style-period of Western music written between the years of approximately 1400 and 1600

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Is this piece of renaissance music really in the locrian mode?

A fifteenth-century dance manual contains this piece of music: which appears to be (uncharacteristically) in the locrian mode. Is it really, or am I mis-reading? Does anybody know of other music from this period in this mode? Any in multiple…
Monica Cellio
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Did Renaissance composers work from a full score?

When I look at manuscripts and original publications from composers of Renaissance polyphony, I tend to find part-books, not scores. So I would see a soprano book, an alto book, and so on. When I see a score, it has usually been edited many years…
nuggethead
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What makes this song sound so medieval?

This is a song I've been listening for about a year: . A year ago, I didn't really know any music theory. I was baffled by it: why does it sound medieval? As I knew nothing, I didn't take it too far anyways. Fast forward a year, now I know a lot…
Timotej Leginus
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Why did baroque music use percussion abundantly, but classical stopped?

Classical music evolved from baroque music, which in turn evolved from Renaissance music. Both baroque and even more so Renaissance make extensive use of percussion. It is certainly not new to European music, nor even to "elite" European music. For…
Andrew
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What is this "time signature"?

Piece: Nuper rosarum Flores - Dufay What does this "time signature" mean? I've read that it's about the taleas but I've read different stuff too, please help :)
user45165
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What is the meaning of these letters above the soprano part in Monteverdi's SV 332?

Consider following score of Monteverdi's Sì dolce è 'l tormento for soprano and continuo (SV 332) from IMSLP. What is the meaning of the capital letters above the soprano part? They do not seem to correspond to chord names.
Karlo
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Confusion about Zarlino and his assertions about the diatessaron (perfect fourth)

In Part Three of Gioseffo Zarlino's "Le Istitutioni Harmoniche", "The Art of Counterpoint", Zarlino argues that the diatessaron (or perfect fourth) is not a dissonance, as the musicians of his time had relegated it to, but a consonance. He defends…
Massimo Asteriti
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Latin voice denotations in Renaissance vocal music

I see that in the original printings of renaissance vocal music, the voices are labeled with Latin words like cantus, triplex, medius, etc... Assuming that these words denote the ranges of their respective voices (the same way soprano alto, tenor,…
Massimo Asteriti
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Renaissance or Baroque pieces with no instrumentation

I found out today that Michael Praetorius's Terpsichore is written with no indication about what instruments to use. I knew that the Art of the Fugue doesn't have instrumentation either, but I'd always thought that it was unique in that respect. …
Daniel Shapero
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How do/did composers deal with very many contrapuntal voices?

A work that I've admired as long as I've known about it is Antonio Caldara's Crucifixus for 16 voices. YouTube video here. It does make me wonder how a composer like Caldara (or Thomas Tallis for that matter) went about composing for that many…
Kim Fierens
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Chants in Renaissance vocal music

In notice that in some vocal works composed during the Renaissance, especially masses, long chunks of music (sometimes the whole piece) are preceded by a monophonic, often short chant which is sometimes written on a stave completely separate from…
Massimo Asteriti
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In modal counterpoint for more than two parts, should every pair of voices be in "good" two-part counterpoint?

When checking my own three- and four-part modal exercises, I regularly run into questions like the following: if the bass has the CF, the alto is in 2nd species and the soprano in 3rd species, how exactly should I evaluate the counterpoint between…
Kim Fierens
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How did composers use the technique of "fauxbourdon"?

I've recently learned of a harmonisation technique called fauxbourdon (or faux bourdon, fauxbordon or false drone), used in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, e.g. by Giullaume Dufay; you can hear an example here. I want to use this…
Jodast
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How to interpret trills in renaissance music?

So I suddenly want to try some 16th century music... I downloaded this sheet music https://imslp.org/wiki/Parthenia_(Various), which includes keyboards works by Orlando, William Byrd, and John Bull. The problem is although the sheet music is in…
Rivers100
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Meaning of sharp/flat third and sixth in text from the XVI century

In a text from Thomas Morley's treatise A plaine and easie introduction to practicall musicke (1597) he refers to the motion of melody proceeding by "half steps, flat thirds and flat sixths" or by "whole steps, sharp thirds and sharp sixths". From…
José David
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