Humanism and the Renaissance: An Thesis

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The Catholic Church was forced to react and respond to the Protestant Reformation. This can be seen in the music of Palestrina. The Council of Trent resolved to eliminate the use of secular and ornate music during masses, which it saw as part of the 'worldly excesses' condemned by Protestants. Palestrina composed masses with a "purer, more restrained style" (Sherrane 2008). Palestrina brought forth a resurgent interest in plainsong, "each with its own profile and crystalline line," and allowed more individual voices to be distinguished, although this can be seen as actually reflecting a secular musical trend of the Renaissance, namely the interest in setting words to music in chansons and madrigals (Sherrane 2008).


Along with the development of the printing press, other notable technical innovations of the era were the creation of different musical instruments, including keyboards such as the clavichord, harpsichord and organ and the use of the viola and the lute (Estrella 2009). Innovation and a willing to question received norms gradually began to spread to every facet of human life, and as music was not a verbal medium it experienced some of the most striking innovations of the era. While not as distinctly classical in its appearance as art and literature, music of the Renaissance clearly celebrates 'the human' and individualistic achievement in a way that is markedly distinct from the previous era......

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