Music During The Italian Renaissance

After the horrible crisis of the Black Death, the world was in a sense of rebirth. Two of the world’s largest powerhouses, England and Italy, both had incredible and successful Renaissances. It was a perfect way for both of these places to recoup their former glory after the Plague. Both Renaissances, although prosperous, were both similar and different in their own ways. A major part of either part of the Renaissances was music. Seeing as how society in the past was mainly religiously dominated, it may not come as a surprise to learn that a major type of music composed then was in fact church music (“From Monteverdi”). Claudio Monteverdi was an illustrious Italian composer that was most recognized for his biblical and church music. He was …show more content…
While he lived in Essex, he composed many masterpieces, and many say that his Latin Sacred music was unparalleled in quality. Further adding to my point, many say that his music was actually very close in style to Giovanni Luigi da Palestrina, another famous Italian Renaissance composer (“William”). As you may see, there is a similar trend here in the types of music. As the time period was quite religiously centered, especially after a horrid event such as the Plague, many wanted to know that God was with them through difficult times. So, the composers obliged, and created music that met the demand of the people during that time period. Of course, one cannot talk about a Renaissance without talking about literature. Although the music of the time period was generally the same, the literature was actually quite different. Apart from the separate languages used, the writers from each region wrote about a variety of topics. England favored politics, while Italy preferred writing about …show more content…
Dante frequently mentioned a woman named Beatrice in his works who many suspect was his true love, although he married a different woman in respect to his father. As a result, he uses Beatrice as an important role in many of his famous works, due to the fact that he was in love with her, but he could not marry her. Dante was also in love with the city of Florence, and he stayed there his entire life. (“Dante”) You may be clearly able to tell that these two famous writers of either Renaissance wrote in very different styles and wrote on very contrasting topics. This helps to prove that the literature of the English and Italian Renaissances were not quite the same. The source from the composers and writers may have also been quite the same. Both the English and the Italian’s during the Renaissance thought alike, so the idea of Humanism was very much used by both regions. “Humanism, a term freely applied to a variety of beliefs, methods, and philosophies that place central emphasis on the human realm,”