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UNIT TWO :THE RENAISSANCE ERA (CA 1450- CA 1600)

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC IN THE RENAISSANCE ERA
New instruments has evolved more came into being and repertoire emerged.

FITZWILLIAM VIRGINAL BOOK
• Close to 300 works in the collection
• Includes styles: dances, fantasias, preludes, arrangements of songs and madrigals and variations
• English keyboard composers of the time are represented , William Byrd, John Bull, Thomas Morley, and Giles Farnaby
• Idiomatic approach to keyboard writing
• Style of writing is often virtuosic: rapid scale passages, ornamentations and many novel figurations
• Fanciful titles “Carman’s Whistle”(William Byrd), “The King’s Hunt”(John Bull), “The Ghost”( William Byrd)

DANCE MUSIC

BACKGROUND:
• Social dancing was a very popular form of entertainment
• Earliest notated dances were from 13th
• By 16th more and more dances were notated b/c of developments in music publishing
• Improvisation continued to play an important role in hoe the music was created
• Dance music was performed on keyboard, lute and by instrumental ensemble

CHARACTERISTICS:
• Dances were generally polyphonic
• Often in 4 parts textures, reflecting vocal models
• Instrumentation was generally not specified
• Melodies often adapted from pre-existing vocal works- madrigal and chansons
• Popular 16th dances: branle, pavane, galliard, saltarello, allemande
• Dances were often paired to emphasize contrast as (pavane – slow and stately and galliard- lively and energetic) combination.

April 10, 2014 0 Comments