Vocabulary

Farce – A type of low comedy characterized by slapstick

Sottie – A bawdy burlesque type of theatrical performance

Commedia dell’arte – Theatre type performed by troupes of actors wearing masks and employing improvised plots and stock characters

Theatre Renaissance drama was

predominately comedic Early Renaissance theatre

was a feature of annual festivals

Plays were often performed for the wealthy in courtso Occasionally courts would

sponsor public performances No theatre buildings

existed at firsto Remains of Roman theatres

were in such bad shape they were unusable

Theatre One form of drama during the early Renaissance

was the sottie The sottie was a lewd kind of performance that

was part of the “Feast of the Fools”o Often times these would be some kind of deranged

parody of a Catholic Mass led by the “pope of fools” Sotties featured characters with strange

costumes jumping around making noise and acting silly

They might’ve looked like this familiar Disney scene

Theatre Another type of drama that developed during the

early Renaissance is the farce Farces are comedic performances that place the

emphasis on physical humor rather than dialogueo Farces were characterized by their use of slapstick

humor

Farces were performed on their own, instead of being a simple entertainment between events like the sottie

Theatre Another form of drama that developed was

commedia dell’arte Commedia dell’arte was unique in its four primary

characteristicso Improvisationo Stock characters

• Young lovers, old fathers, arrogant soldiers and comic servants (Characters wore stock costumes that identified what character they were playing)

o Use of mime and pantomime• Attitudes had to be conveyed through gestures

o Actors travelled in companies• Groups of actors worked and travelled together in addition

to playing the same parts over and over again

Theatre Observe the characteristics of commedia dell’arte

in this modified performance of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew

Write down your observations on a separate sheet of paper.

Theatre There were two important developments in

theatre staging during the Renaissanceo A new form of theatre building was createdo Painted scenery

The new type of building placed the audience on one side of the stage. How was this different from the stages of the Middle Ages?

The most significant development of the theatre building was the prosceniumo The proscenium framed the action of the play

Theatre Proscenium

Theatre The second major

development in theatre during the Renaissance was the introduction of painted backgrounds

With a painted backdrop, audiences could feel as if the scene taking place within the proscenium had more deptho What artistic device is

being used here? We’ve studied this in Renaissance painting.

Theatre The most significant

playwright of the Renaissance was William Shakespeare

Shakespeare wrote plays during a time in London where drama was deeply enjoyed and was viewed by everyone from peasants to nobility

Shakespeare’s plays reflect a profound insight into the human conditiono What it means to be

human

Theatre Shakespeare’s plays fall into three categories

o Historieso Tragedieso Comedies

History plays treat a variety of subjects but mostly rely on English kingso Richard II, Henry Vo The histories become grand scale glorifications of

historical events Sometimes Shakespeare used history to create

his dramas and comedies as wello Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, The Taming of the

Shrew

Theatre Shakespeare’s plays would often contain action,

comedy, character, and emotionso Shakespeare’s work probes the source of human

motivation as seen in this scene from Hamleto Look in your textbooks on page 360 and follow along

with the texto What is Hamlet telling himself? What is he trying to work

out in this speech? What reasons does he give both for and against making this decision?

Music (Vocabulary) Word Painting – Music attempts to emulate the

emotions or movement of words Madrigal – A setting of lyric poetry for several

voices A Cappella – Without accompaniment Ballett – Dancelike song for several voices

Music Music during the High

Renaissance differed from Medieval music in a number of wayso The most significant of which was

the use of polyphony to create texture• What is polyphony? We’ve discussed

this before!

Vocal music was highly emphasized during the Renaissance

New techniques in vocal music were being appliedo Word Painting/Text Paintingo Imitationo Polyphony

Music The greatest composer of sacred music during

the Renaissance was Palestrina Palestrina’s works are exclusively vocal

o Several vocalists sing a cappella (without accompaniment, or instruments)

o Examine Palestrina’s Kyrie from the Pope Marcellus Masso Listen for the use of imitation and polyphony

Music One of the new secular forms that were

developed during the Renaissance is the madrigalo A madrigal is lyric poetry that is set to music for multiple

voiceso The music of a madrigal emphasizes the mood and

meaning of the words Madrigals often used word painting to emphasize

the emotions of the words in the music Thomas Weelkes’ “As Vesta was from Latmos hill

descending” uses word painting. See if you can tell what words in particular get “painted”. What kind of mood do you feel while listening to this piece?

Music Perhaps the greatest composer of the

Renaissance was Josquin des Prezo His talent was compared to Michelangelo and he was

called the “father of musicians” Josquin’s greatest contribution to music was his

development of polyphony (multiple sounds) His music often featured imitation

o One musical line would be imitated by another creating a theme that repeated throughout the piece

Josquin also uses text painting in his pieceso The music will try to imitate the emotions of the words

being used in the song

Music Listen to La Déploration sur la Mort d'Ockeghem Read the lyrics and see if you think the music

emulates the emotions that the words are conveying.

Also, listen for imitation or a repeating theme

Music Another secular form that was developed during

the Renaissance is the ballett Balletts are simple songs that feel like a dance

o Balletts are typically homophonic (one sound) with sections of polyphony

Thomas Morley’s “Now is the Month of Maying” is a widely performed ballett describing flirtation during the springo Identify where you hear homophony and polyphony