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A Motet was a form of sacred music meant to be used for worship but not necessarily enjoyment.
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The Mass was composed as a setting for the Catholic mass celebration and used from the 14th century until the present day.
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John Dunstable was an English composer whose style influenced European musical style. His use of major thirds and sixths are credited as the reason for our current triadic music.
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Guillaume Dufay was a French composer considered the first of the Renaissance. He was well regarded by contemporaries and later composers, leading to his musical influence spreading.
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Johannes Ockeghem was a famous composer Franco-Flemish school who also worked as a low bass. He is considered one of the most famous after Dufay.
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The first movable type printing press was invented in Germany by a goldsmith named Johannes Gutenberg. The birth of the printing press allowed for increased accessibility of written music. -
Josquin des Prez was a revered composer of the period who influenced Martin Luther. Josquin des Prez was considered the first master of the Renaissance style of polyphony.
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Josquin des Prez was a French composer largely affiliated with the Catholic Church. He worked in Notre Dame as the provost and was prolific in the amount of music he composed.
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Leonardo Da Vinci was an Italian artist whose ideas helped fuel the Renaissance. His work influenced the music of and beyond the period and he also created musical instruments.
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Johannes Tinctoris wrote the Diffinitorum musices in 1475 about the different musical modes and characteristics of music. -
Adrian Willaert was a composer from the Netherlands who found the Venetian School of composition. He is considered the father of text expression and transplanted the Franco-Flemish Style to his country.
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Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492 in hopes of reaching India. The added resources from the age of discovery allowed for people to focus more on the production of music than on survival. -
Puisque M’Amour is attributed to Tinctoris though many works of this period are hard to adequately attribute. It is a written Rondeau for three voices and involved several musical innovations. -
The first harpsichords were invented in the late Middle Ages. By the end of the 1500s, lightweight harpsichords were being produced for more widespread use. -
A Frottola was an Italian Secular song form generally written for four voice parts.
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Thomas Tallis was an English composer widely considered one of the greatest of the era. He expanded the span of the music of the time by writing larger works for sizable ensembles.
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Pange lingua is a musical setting to the Catholic mass developed by Josquin. It is an expansion on the Pange Lingua hymn and one of the most famous mass settings. -
The 95 Theses were written by Martin Luther as a form of protest against the Catholic Church. This rebellion against the church led to the Protestant Reformation, which greatly reduced the Church's power in Europe. -
Palestrina was the most famous of all Renaissance composers. He primarily composed sacred music and was important in the development of counterpoint and polyphony.
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A madrigal is an Italian song form written for unaccompanied voices and is generally polyphonic.
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William Shakespeare was an English Playwright whose work became wildly popular. Many pieces of music were composed for or about his plays in and after the period.
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Spem in Alium is a large choir piece written by Tallis in 1570 in 40 parts. -
Johannes Tinctoris was a composer and music theorist responsible for the first dictionary of musical terms. He also wrote about the history of music of the time.