Music During The Renaissance

The invention of the Gutenberg press at this time resulted in a wide scale distribution of music which meant training musicians of the Renaissance were exposed to the works of composers from many other regions which in turn had a profound effect on the music that they composed which also had features from their own local music culture. These new musical ideas were also contributed to greatly by aspiring musicians who travelled to the South from across the Alps, as they also brought home new repertory. The stylistic stability evident in the written tradition of the Renaissance period is probably due to the constant circulation of European musicians through Italian centres. Church and monastery schools played a significant role in reportorial exchange and stylistic normalization. In addition to the church and monastery schools, cathedral schools were also a primary location …show more content…
Therefore their effective running and development in Europe during the Renaissance hugely influenced the training of musicians during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, especially because so many musicians of the Renaissance period embarked upon their musical journeys as a choirboy in cathedral schools. Therefore it is necessary to note that the cathedral church was an indispensable foundation to the training of many Renaissance musicians.
The cathedral church was provided direction primarily from the bishop. The cantor, second in command, supervised the choir in celebrating liturgy. As the cleric’s duties became largely administrative by the fifteenth century, a vicar consummated the daily direction the clerics who chanted the Mass and the Offices. The development of cathedral schools, particularly in France and England, was greatly attributed to by the declaration of Third Lateran Council of 1179 that a master to instruct the clergy of the church as well as a number of young scholars should be provided by every