MUSC 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Counter-Reformation, A Cappella, Josquin Des Prez
Document Summary
The renaissance: rebirth, guided by humanism. Emphasis on human worth, creativity, capacity, to shape society. Appreciation of the individual: art for aesthetic value, pleasure, age of exploration, discovery of printing press, expressive power of music, close relationship between music and text. Musicians turned to the greek philosophers, dramatists, and music theorists as no actual music survived from this time. Emphasis on the enormous expressive power of music: expressive power of music close relationship between music and text, new alliance between text and music. Humanism: emphasis on personal achievement, intellectual independence, discovery, culture rejoiced in the human form in all its fullness, new genre of painting, the portrait, depicted worldly individuals enjoys. Josquin desprez: one of the greatest composers of the renaissance, worked in italy, including in the sistine chapel in the vatican, excelled in writing motets. Dramatic musical setting to heighten the meaning of the text. Not based on chant, but intended for use during religious services: ave maria.