7/28/2019 enjeux et culture.docx

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unification of polyphonic practice into the fluid style which culminated in the second half of the

sixteenth century in the work of composers such as Palestrina (Italian), Lassus (Franco-Flemish), and

William Byrd (English). Relative political stability and prosperity in the Low Countries, along with a

flourishing system of music education in the area's many churches and cathedrals, allowed the training

of hundreds of singers and composers. These musicians were highly sought throughout Europe,particularly in Italy, where churches and aristocratic courts hired them as composers and teachers. By

the end of the 16th century, Italy had absorbed the northern influences, with Venice, Rome, and other

cities being centers of musical activity, reversing the northward flow of influence of a hundred years

earlier. Opera arose at this time in Florence as a deliberate attempt to resurrect the drama and music of

ancient Greece.

Music, increasingly freed from medieval constraints in range, rhythm, harmony, form, and notation,

became a vehicle for personal expression. Composers found ways to make music expressive of the

meaning of the texts they were setting. Secular music absorbed techniques from sacred music, and vice

versa. Popular secular forms such as the chanson and madrigal spread throughout Europe. Courtsemployed virtuoso performers, both singers and instrumentalists. Music for the first time became

self-sufficient, existing for its own sake. Many familiar instruments, including the violin, the guitar, and

keyboard instruments such as the harpsichord, were born during the Renaissance. During the 15th

century the sound of full triads became common, and towards the end of the 16th century the system of

church modes began to break down entirely, giving way to the functional tonality which was to

dominate western art music for the next three centuries.

Both secular and sacred music of the Renaissance era survive in large quantity, both vocal and

instrumental. An enormous diversity of musical styles and genres flourished during the Renaissance,

and can be heard on commercial recordings and web-radio stations today, including masses, motets,

madrigals, chansons, accompanied songs, instrumental dances, and many others. Numerous early music

ensembles specializing in music of the period give concert tours and make recordings, and the Early

Music revival has begun to have significant influence and growing audiences in China over the past two

decades.