Baroque Music

Music Through the Middles Ages to the Baroque Period
Music is greatly influenced by the culture of the time period it is from. The purpose of creating music and who listens to it has a large impact on how the music sounds. As these aspects change with the culture and time, music does as well. In this way, the music from the Middle Ages is dramatically unlike the music from the Baroque Period. The music that emerged in the Baroque Period was definitely different from that of previous times, as it was more complex and had a completely new mood, however it was not necessarily an improved form of music, just a new style.
In the Early Middle Ages the purpose of music was to get closer to God. Because of this, most of the music was vocal, as the …show more content…
Renaissance means rebirth, which is true in music because there was a whole rebirth of art and culture which shaped the music of this time period. The purpose of music now was expression, its main goal was to elicit emotions and be pleasing to the ear of the listener. Art of the Renaissance was more humanistic, personal, realistic, proportionate, detailed, and contrasted from art of the Middle Ages which was less realistic, impersonal, and very idealized. The music reflected the art. The music was still influenced by the church, but it was also guided by nobilist and humanist scholars. Because it was supposed to move listeners, Renaissance music tended to have declamation, meaning that words were set in a natural and intelligible way, similar to speech. Renaissance music was almost entirely vocal, however instruments were more accepted than previous times. Renaissance texture consisted of imitative polyphony with homophony. Imitative polyphony is when there is multiple melodic lines that are similar to each other and have a controlled balance between them. The equality of the parts reflected the political ideals of the time. Homophony is music in multiple parts in which all parts move together in the same rhythm. Composers of the Renaissance had a new interest in the “vertical” dimension of music, essentially focusing on the melodic line rather than the piece as a whole. Renaissance music had a chordal quality with pleasing harmonies made up of thirds and sixths, creating a sweet sound. Renaissance music was very consonant and there was very little dissonance. The rhythm was regular and the pulse was not emphasized. Josquin des Prez’s “Ave Maria” is a representative piece of the Renaissance. It has imitative polyphony and homophony, there are separate vocal parts to the piece which interact with each other sweetly. The sweet harmonies are an example of consonance used in Renaissance music. The overall mood