As probably the most artistically fruitful eras in historical past, the Renaissance produced an abundance of composers. However who had been its best exponents? Right here is our information to the ten better of the bunch.
1. Orlando de Lassus
The chief Franco-Flemish consultant of mature polyphony, Orlando de Lassus (1530/32-94) was probably the most versatile composers of the late Renaissance, extremely regarded for his dramatic textual content portray, his energetic rhythms and florid use of counterpoint. He was a prolific composer of each sacred and secular music, the latter together with French chansons, madrigals, German lieder and motets. Most likely his greatest recognized work, nonetheless, is his assortment of penitential psalms from 1584: Psalmi Davidis Poenitentiales.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIOXpG993xE
2. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Broadly thought to be the nice grasp of the polyphonic fashion, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594) is among the most worshipped composers in historical past, studied by everybody from Bach to Bruckner. As considered one of few respected composers of Italian beginning working in Italy in his time (most others had been both Flemish or Spanish), he got here to be seen as the first consultant of the conservative Catholic fashion through the Counter Reformation. Accordingly, he wrote intensely sleek music, handled chromaticism with warning and at all times prioritised melodic circulation over concord. Most well-known amongst his huge record of sacred and secular works is the Missa Papae Marcelli which continues to be usually sung in Catholic church buildings everywhere in the world.
3. John Taverner
Regardless of being probably the most necessary English composers of his period, John Taverner stays one thing of a thriller. He’s thought to have been born round 1490 in Lincolnshire and in 1526 accepted an invite to turn out to be choirmaster at Cardinal School (now Christ’s Church) Oxford, the place he wrote lots of his well-known, predominantly sacred, vocal works. Past that, our data of his biography is patchy. What we do know is that he embraced the frilly, imitation-heavy form of polyphony attribute of the late-medieval/early-Renaissance English fashion, most impressively displayed in such works as Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas, The Western Wynde Mass and Missa Corona Spinea.
4. Thomas Tallis
Born in the direction of the top of Henry VII’s reign, Thomas Tallis (1505-1585) lived by a time of intense battle between Catholicism and Protestantism, serving within the courts of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth. So he was considered one of England’s most versatile composers, adapting the fashion of his compositions to every monarch’s calls for. Greatest recognized amongst his works is his exquisitely easy anthem ‘If Ye Love Me’, and his breathtakingly advanced motet ‘Spem in Alium’ for eight five-voice choirs – each composed through the Elizabethan period.
5. William Byrd
The pupil of Thomas Tallis, William Byrd (1543-1623) was most likely the very best recognized English composer of the late Elizabethan period, writing for each medium accessible on the time – besides the lute. Though he’s maybe greatest recognized for the event of the English madrigal, he additionally did an amazing deal to develop English keyboard music with the works he wrote for the virginal and organ, wrote progressive music for viol consort, in addition to loads of intense, elaborate Catholic church music. Amongst his most well-known works is the extremely emotive motet Tristitia et anxietas from his Cantiones Sacrae of 1589 and his vibrant keyboard work: Fantasia in A minor.
6. Claudio Monteverdi (pictured)
As somebody who lived by the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque period, and contributed an amazing deal to it, Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) was considered one of historical past’s most pioneering composers. Over the course of a protracted profession, throughout which he served on the Courtroom of Mantua after which as maestro di cappella on the basilica of San Marco in Venice, the Italian composer devised new textures and results, expanded harmonic vocabulary and located ever new methods of infusing his orchestral and vocal music with emotional nuance. Most likely most important of all was his affect on the event of opera, an artwork type that was in its nascent levels when he acquired his arms on it. His masterpieces L’Orfeo, Il Ritorno d’Ulisse and L’Incoronazione di Poppea stay pillars of the operatic repertoire. Different key works embrace his Vespers of 1610 and his a number of books of madrigals.
7. Carlo Gesualdo
He murdered his spouse and her lover upon discovering them in flagrante, and spent a lot of his later life trying to atone for it, allegedly having himself crushed each day by servants. No marvel there is a widespread fascination with the Italian composer-prince Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613). As Alex Ross wrote within the New Yorker in 2011: ‘If Gesualdo had not dedicated such surprising acts, we’d not pay such shut consideration to his music.’ As it’s, nonetheless, his music is actually price paying shut consideration to, consisting of a few of the wildest, most experimental chromatic harmonies ever conceived. Amongst his most well-known works are his intensely expressive madrigals, and his Tenebrae Factae Sunt, which use a harmonic language not heard of once more till the late nineteenth century.
8. Orlando Gibbons
Born in the direction of the top of the sixteenth century, Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) is commonly seen – like Monteverdi – as somebody who stood on the crossroads of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. A musician of the Chapel Royal, he cultivated the normal polyphonic fashion within the courtroom of King James I and would in all chance have secured an excellent larger legacy had he not died, most likely of a mind haemorrhage, on the age of solely 41. For a very long time he was principally remembered as a composer of sacred music, with the nineteenth musicologist and composer Frederick Ouseley dubbing him the ‘English Palestrina’. Because the early music revival, nonetheless, extra consideration has been paid to Gibbons’s secular works, particularly his madrigals – a style that he did a lot to develop, constructing upon the foundations laid by his predecessor William Byrd. Most well-known amongst his works is his five-part verse anthem ‘That is the File of John’ and his superbly serene five-voice madrigal ‘The Silver Swan’.
9. Johannes Ockeghem
Though solely a small variety of his scores nonetheless exist, Johannes Ockeghem (1400/1430-1497) was probably the most famend composers of the early Renaissance interval, with a profound affect on Josquin des Prez and the opposite Franco-Flemish composers who adopted him. Like many composers on this interval, he began his musical profession as a chorister and spent most of his profession serving the French royal courtroom below Charles VII, Louis XI and Charles VIII. Of his comparatively small output, distinguished by its intricate polyphony, cautious dealing with of vocal ranges, and emphasis on advanced and expressive bass strains, his most well-known works embrace the Missa Prolationum, the Missa Cuiusvis toni and his chanson ‘Prenez sur moi.’
10. Josquin des Prez
Probably the most well-known Renaissance composer of the Franco-Flemish college, Josquin des Prez (C.1450-1521) was a grasp of polyphony. Little is thought about his adolescence. Born within the French-speaking space of Flanders, he could have been an altar boy and was presumably taught by his predecessor Johannes Ockeghem. What’s extra sure is that, even inside his personal lifetime, he was probably the most admired composers on the planet, extensively credited with pioneering a few of the interval’s primary musical improvements, amongst them the gradual departure from intensive melismatic strains, the outstanding use of imitation, and the deal with textual content and word-painting. His Miserere stays essentially the most well-known setting of Psalm 50. Amongst his a number of different well-known works is his influential motet ‘Ave Maria… Virgo serena’ and three lots: Missa L’homme armé tremendous voces musicales, Missa beata virgine and Missa Pange Lingua.
