Renaissance · 1400

The World It Came From

The Renaissance was a rebirth of humanism — the idea that human experience, not just divine worship, was worth expressing in art. Music followed. Composers began writing for secular courts as well as churches, and the printing press (invented c.1450) meant music could spread across Europe for the first time.

Polyphony reached extraordinary sophistication. The Franco-Flemish school (Dufay, Josquin) dominated early Renaissance music, developing complex interwoven vocal lines. By the late Renaissance, the English (Tallis, Byrd) and Italians (Palestrina, Gabrieli) had developed their own distinct voices.

The madrigal — a secular vocal piece for small ensemble — became the era's defining popular form. And at the very end of the Renaissance, a group of Florentine intellectuals invented opera, changing music forever.

Where to start: Tallis's Spem in alium — 40 voices weaving together — is one of the most astonishing things ever written. Then Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli for the purest expression of Renaissance polyphony.

Composers of the Renaissance

Guillaume Dufay

c.1397–1474 · Franco-Flemish

The dominant composer of the early Renaissance, Dufay bridged the medieval and Renaissance worlds. He worked at the Burgundian court and in Italy, absorbing Italian smoothness into the Franco-Flemish polyphonic tradition. His Missa L'homme armé was one of the first masses built on a secular tune — a practice that would define Renaissance sacred music.

Missa L'homme arméc.1460
Nuper rosarum flores1436
Ave Regina caelorumc.1464

Start with: Nuper rosarum flores — written for the consecration of Florence Cathedral.

Josquin Desprez

c.1450–1521 · Franco-Flemish

The first composer to be considered a genius in his own lifetime. Josquin worked across Europe — in Milan, Rome, and France — and his music was the most widely printed and copied of the Renaissance. His mastery of imitative counterpoint — where voices echo each other — set the template for the next century. Martin Luther called him "the master of the notes."

Missa Pange linguac.1515
Ave Maria... virgo serenac.1485
Mille regretzc.1520

Start with: Ave Maria... virgo serena — the most perfect motet of the Renaissance.

Thomas Tallis

c.1505–1585 · English

The father of English church music, Tallis served four monarchs — Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I — navigating the Reformation's religious upheavals with extraordinary skill. His Spem in alium, a motet for 40 independent voices in eight choirs, is one of the most technically and emotionally overwhelming works ever written.

Spem in aliumc.1570
Lamentations of Jeremiahc.1560s
If ye love me1549

Start with: Spem in alium — 40 voices, one of the most astonishing things ever written.

Giovanni da Palestrina

c.1525–1594 · Italian

The supreme master of Renaissance polyphony, Palestrina spent his career in Rome serving the Papal Chapel. His music became the model of "correct" counterpoint — smooth, flowing, perfectly balanced. The Council of Trent, reforming Catholic music, reportedly used his Missa Papae Marcelli as proof that polyphony could be both complex and reverent.

Missa Papae Marcellic.1562
Canticum Canticorum1584
Stabat Materc.1590

Start with: Missa Papae Marcelli — the purest expression of Renaissance polyphony.

William Byrd

1543–1623 · English

The greatest English composer of the Renaissance, Byrd was a Catholic who somehow survived and thrived in Protestant England. He wrote music for both the Anglican and Catholic rites, as well as keyboard music that laid the foundation for the English virginal tradition. His Great Service is the summit of Elizabethan church music.

Great Servicec.1590s
Mass for Five Voicesc.1595
Pavana Lachrymaec.1600

Start with: Mass for Five Voices — intimate, fervent, secretly Catholic.

Giovanni Gabrieli

c.1554–1612 · Italian

Organist at St Mark's Basilica in Venice, Gabrieli exploited the building's two organ lofts to create cori spezzati — split choirs answering each other across space. His Sonata pian' e forte (1597) is the first piece to specify dynamics in the score. He was the bridge between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque drama.

Sonata pian' e forte1597
In ecclesiis1615
Canzon septimi toni1597

Start with: In ecclesiis — brass, voices, and organ filling St Mark's.

John Dowland

1563–1626 · English

The greatest lutenist of the Renaissance and one of the most melancholy composers in history. Dowland's songs — for voice and lute — are full of exquisite sadness. His Lachrimae (Tears) was the most famous piece in Europe around 1600. He spent much of his career abroad, bitter at being passed over for the English court position he craved.

Lachrimae, or Seven Tears1604
Flow, my tears1600
Come, heavy sleep1597

Start with: Flow, my tears — the most famous song of the Renaissance.

Thomas Weelkes

1576–1623 · English

The most adventurous of the English madrigalists, Weelkes pushed harmonic language to its limits — his chromatic experiments anticipate the Baroque by decades. His personal life was chaotic (he was repeatedly reprimanded for drunkenness and blasphemy), but his music is among the most inventive of the age.

O Care, Thou Wilt Despatch Me1600
As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending1601
Thule, the Period of Cosmography1600

Start with: As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending — joyful and brilliantly crafted.