The Renaissance Period(1450-1600)

• The Renaissance was a cultural movement and a time of renewal (Europe was recovering from the Dark Ages and the Black Death/Bubonic Plague)

• Renaissance means “rebirth” of classical knowledge and “birth” of the modern world (new intellectual and artistic ideas that developed during the Renaissance marked the beginning of the modern world)

• Humanism spread throughout Western Europe.

• It began in Italian cities

• An age of reborn interest in the arts, education, and the classical culture of ancient Greece and Rome.

• It is a movement focused on man and his accomplishments

HUMANISM

CHRISTIANITY & CATHOLIC CHURCH

Martin Luther• Protestant Reformer• a German Monk • Challenges the practices of the Roman Catholic Church• Wrote the 95 Theses to criticize indulgences.• Believed the Bible should be the authority of the church.• Believed people are right with God through faith – not works.

Music of the Renaissance

• A training in music is a MUST for an educated person

• Everywhere, musicians worked in town, courts and churches

**the choirs were predominantly MALE

CHURCH – patron of music

COURT – center of musical activity

Composers – in demand by kings, dukes and prince

- their status is elevated & were paid higher

- the leading composers came on Netherlands

The Renaissance Period is sometimes referred to as

“The Golden Age of Polyphony”

IMPORTANT EVENTS THAT HAPPENED DURING THE RENAISSANCE

1. REBIRTH OF CLASSICAL LEARNING

- The writings of ancient Greeks & Romans were rediscovered & reevaluated

2. The chaotic feudal system was replaced by hierarchal state

3. European view of the world was expanded (Columbus & Magellan)

4. Change in the views of the Earth and cosmos as evidenced (Copernicus & Galilei)

5. The technology of printing permitted the wider distribution of the work of musical composers

Printing Press

Helped develop…

1. Increase in literacy rates

2. Secular (World) ideas spread

3. Books are circulated to public

MUSICAL CONTEXT OF THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD

• Increase in patronage of music

• Territorial expansions by the Europeans that increase the wealth to European nations

• International music style was created due to travel & trade of people to different countries

• Music became an experience ART

• Music and literature became available to the people (printing press)

THE DISTINGUSHING CHARACTERISTICS OF RENAISSANCE

MUSIC

• Invention and enhancement of new musical instruments

• Secular music arose

• Musical harmony is more expressive

• Imitation as a polyphonic technique

• Vocal polyphony (equal importance of 4 or more voices)

• The use of church modes or modality predominates sacred and secular music

• There is the prevalence in musical compositions of clarity, balance and euphony in moderation

• Musical literature became flourished (printing press)

• Developed Acapella singing in church

The Vocal Forms During The Renaissance

1. Motet

• Motet is one of the most important forms of polyphonic music form in circa 1250-1750.

• A motet is an unaccompanied choral accompaniment based on a Latin sacred text and designed to be performed in the Catholic service, chiefly at vespers (Lopez et al, 1993). The Renaissance motet is unified piece with all voices singing the same text (Ibid, 1993). It is serious and primarily designed for worship service.

2. Mass• Mass is music for the catholic church worship. The leading Italian composer of the Renaissance period was Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594). He wrote music for the Catholic church which were highly regarded as models of church music because of their serenity. One of Palestrina’s best masses was Pope Marcellus Mass written for an acapella choir of a soprano, alto, two tenors, and two basses. The six voices imitate each other and blend well.

3. Madrigal• The Madrigal is an important secular vocal music of the Renaissance period. It is a musical composition for solo voices. Its subject is sentimental and erotic love. It is sung at social gatherings in the court and in meetings of artistic and learned societies, unlike the motets which are sung in church. It is accompanied by a lute or a harpsichord.

• “April is in My Mistress’ Face” by Thomas Morley is a well-known English madrigal.

• The madrigal began in Italy and swept England.

The Basic Instrument Of The Renaissance

• The singing of secular music is accompanied by instruments. One of the most popular instrumentals of the Renaissance is the LUTE which is played by plucking.

• The lute has a pear-shaped body, frets and a varying number of strings (Lopez et al, 1993). Its peg is slanted back sharply away from the rest of the instrument.

Lute.

Composers..

Giovanni Da Palestrina

• Palestrina (1525-1594), an Italian considered as the prolific writer of sacred vocal polyphony, wrote masses, motets, hymns, and other sacred works for the Catholic Church.

Orlando di Lasso

• Di Lasso (1532-1594), a Flemish composer, wrote musical compositions of sacred and secular nature. He is subjective and passionate in his creations. Di Lasso wrote Italian madrigals, Latin masses and motets, and German lieder.

• The Penitential Psalms of David is a di Lasso creation.

Claudio Monteverdi

• Monteverdi (1567-1643), an Italian composer, composed music for operas utilizing chordal accompaniment. Among his works are the Return of Ulysses and The Coronation of Poppea.

ARTS of the Renaissance

RENAISSANCE

- was a great cultural movement that began in Italy during the early 1300’s.

 - it spread to England, France, Germany , The

Netherlands , Spain and other countries in the late 1400’s and eventually came to an end about 1600.

- It comes from a Latin word “renascere” meaning act of being reborn: rebirth

- During Renaissance, many European scholars and artists, especially in Italy studied the learning and art of Ancient Greece and Rome.

- the culture of ancient Greece and Rome are often called classical antiquity

- Arabs had taken the interest in Greek and Roman antiquity but in Europe such knowledge became lost. The Renaissance represented a rebirth of these culture, it is known as the Revival of antiquity or the revival of learning.

The Renaissance overlapped the end of the period in European history called Middle ages, which began in the 400’s. The leaders of the Renaissance rejected many of the attitudes and ideas of the middle ages

(Medieval times) Renaissance

-believed that the people great responsibility was to pray to god and concentrate on saving their souls.

-they emphasized people’s responsibilities and duties to the society in which they lived.

-Theology( the study of God) - study of humanity

-medieval artist painted human figures that look stiff and unrealistic.

Renaissance artist stressed the beauty of the human body.

Painters and sculptors tried to give their works a spiritual quality.

Painters and sculptors wanted to portray people and nature realistically

ARTS OF THE 1300’S AND EARLY 1400’S

Giotto

A Florentine painter that became the first artist to portray nature realistically through his painting.

Giotto di Bondone

- HE PRODUCE MAGNIFICENT FRESCOES(PAINTING ON DAMP PLASTER) FOR CHURCHES IN FLORENCE, PADUA, AND ASSISI.

Upper Church, San Francesco, Assisi 

Church in Florence

A remarkable group of Florentine architects, painters, sculptors worked during the early 1400’s.They included

• Architect Filippo Brunelleschi

• Painter Masaccio

• Sculptor Donatello

FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI

He was the first Renaissance architect to revive ancient Roman style of Architecture.

One of his best-known building is the beautifully and harmoniously proportioned of Pazzi Chapel in Florence.

Brunelleschi was the first Renaissance artist to use linear perspective.

diagram of Brunelleschi's experiment with linear perspective(it is a mathematical system in which painters could show space and depth on flat surface)

 

Masacchio- His finest work was a series of frescoes, he painted about 1427 in the

Brancacci Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. - Biblical scenes of emotional intensity.

- The frescoes have an intense radiance, making it possible to see very clearly the shifts in emphasis between Masolino's work and that of Masaccio

- The restoration also highlights Masaccio's mastery of chiaroscuro (light and shade), which, combined with his grasp of perspective, created much marvel at the time. His work was consciously copied by the Florentine painters of the 15th century. 

Donatello He tried to portray the dignity of the human body in realistic and often

dramatic detail. Donatello’s masterpieces include three statues of the Biblical hero David.

The David

Wealthy Florentine businessman and politician Cosimo de'Medici commissioned Donatello's David, which the sculptor completed around 1430. Fashioned of bronze, the statue stands at 62.25 inches tall and is housed at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, Italy.

The statue depicts the youthful, nude figure of the Old Testament hero David, standing over the decapitated head of the giant Goliath. The statue was a departure from previous depictions of the scene not only because of David's nudity, but because of the careful attention paid to his anatomy.

Donatello carefully depicts the musculature of the figure's

torso and legs, using the reflective nature of the bronze to give the statue a highly naturalistic or realistic appearance. Like the St. Mark, the David also draws upon the influence of Greek and Roman statues, particularly in the statues in its contraposto pose.

St. Louis of Toulouse

• The gilded bronze statue of St. Louis of Toulouse was finished in 1425 for Orsanmichele, an important church and frequented public space in 15th century Florence.

• It was taken from its niche in Orsanmichele and given to the Franciscan friars at the Church of Santa Croce.

• St. Louis’ gesture of blessing is also of interest, for it echoes the gestures of classical sculptures of the orator.

Arts of the late 1400’s and 1500’s

Michelangelo• He excelled as a painter, architect, and poet. He has been

called the greatest sculptor in history.•  He was a master of portraying the human figure.

Michelangelo's Moses (8 feet 4 inches tall) is the central figure in the tomb of Pope Julius II, located at San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome.

• His famous statue of the Israelite leader Moses(1516) gives an overwhelming impression of physical strength and spiritual power.

• One of the most magnificent beards in the history of art, the locks fairly pour from Moses' broad angular face and are swept across the bulk of his chest by powerful hands.

The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

• The Chapel is most famous for its ceiling, painted by Michelangelo; but the Chapel also has paintings on the walls by such famous artists as Botticelli.

• The ceiling is nearly 68 feet off the ground.

• November 1, 1512, the ceiling was revealed to the world. Pope Julius II was pleased, and other assembled audience members were thrilled and awed. It was an astounding, intimidating, huge piece of work.

• The frescoes were painted from 1508 to 1512 and rank among the greatest achievements of renaissance art.

PIETA

The Pietà is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti, housed in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. It is the first of a number of works of the same theme by the artist. 

RAPHAEL• His paintings are softer in outline and more poetic than those of

Michelangelo.• He was skilled in creating perspective and in the delicate use of

color. • He painted a number of beautiful pictures of the Madonna

(Virgin Mary) and many outstanding portraits.• Raphael Sanzio was credited for the painting of Madonna & Child with the Book. The medium used for the artwork is oil on panel.

• It measures fifty five and a half centimeters by forty centimeters.

• Raphael through this work has created somewhat of a meditation art piece.

• It is a serene painting with a simple and natural beauty.

• One of his greatest works is the fresco School of Athens

Madonna and Child - Raphael Sanzio

LEONARDO DA VINCI

• He painted two of the most famous works of Renaissance art, the fresco The Last Supper (about 1497) and the portrait Mona Lisa (about 1503).

• Leonardo da Vinci is perhaps the most recognized artist in the world. 

• He was also a scientist, inventor, and a doctor. His study of the human form came from the study of actual human cadavers.

• Because of his inquiring mind, Leonardo has become a symbol of the Renaissance spirit of learning and intelligence curiosity.

THE LAST SUPPER

• The Last Supper" is Leonardo's visual interpretation of an event chronicled in all four of the Gospels (books in the Christian New Testament).

• "The Last Supper" is the most reproduced religious painting of all time and has been put on everything from mirrors, to mouse pads, to musical pillows.

• "The Last Supper" depicts the next few seconds in this story after Christ dropped the bombshell that one disciple would betray him before sunrise, and all 12 reacted to the news with different degrees of horror, anger and shock.

MONALISA

• The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait of a woman by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, which has been acclaimed as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world.“

• It is perhaps the most studied piece of artwork ever known. 

• Mona Lisa may be revered as the greatest piece of artwork of all time, Da Vinci was known more for his ability to draw than to paint.

• Currently there are only a handful of paintings of Da Vinci’s, mostly because of his largely experimental style of art, and his habit of procrastination. Among his most famous sketches is the Vitruvian Man, which anybody who has ever studied anatomy, human biology, or art knows very well.

THE HERITAGE OF THE RENAISSANCE

• The Renaissance left an intellectual and artistic heritage that stiil remains important.

• In literature, writers have tried for centuries to imitate and improve upon the works of such Renaissance authors as Petrarch and Boccaccio.

• The artist of Florence and Rome set enduring standards for painting in the Western world.

• 400 years, painters have travelled to Florence to admire the frescoes of Giotto and Masaccio.They have visited Rome to study the paintings of Raphael and Michelangelo.

• The works of Donatello and Michelangelo have inspired sculptors for generations.

• The beautifully scaled buildings of Brunelleschi and other Renaissance architects still serve as models for architects.

• Defensor, M., Favila, S., Santiago, G., Santos, A. & Vergara, A. 2007. MAPEH IV – Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health: Sampaloc, Manila: St. Augustine Publications Inc.

• Defensor, M., Favila, S., Santiago, A. & Vergara, A. 2007. MAPEH III – Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health: Sampaloc, Manila: St. Augustine Publications Inc.

• www.google.com.ph/search?q=renaissance+art

• www.wikipedia.org

REFERENCES:

By: Group 1Michelle PalomoJullien Gojo CruzAleni May Dela CruzMarivilla Manzano