Renaissance Polyphony

Lassus: Chansons cover

Lassus: Chansons

Dominique Visse, Ensemble Clément Janequin
Pange Lingua: Music for Corpus Christi cover

Pange Lingua: Music for Corpus Christi

The Choir Of Clare College, Graham Ross
Miserere Mei Deus cover

Miserere Mei Deus

Cappella Amsterdam, Daniel Reuss, Josquin Des Prez
 Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine cover

Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine

Antonin Rondepierre, Céline Scheen, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Pygmalion, Lucile Richardot, Perrine Devillers, Raphaël Pichon, Zachary Wilder
 Lassus: Lagrime di San Pietro cover

Lassus: Lagrime di San Pietro

Gabriel Crouch, Gallicantus
 Schütz: Motets and Concertos cover

Schütz: Motets and Concertos

English Baroque Soloists, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, John Eliot Gardiner
The Glory of Gabrieli cover

The Glory of Gabrieli

E. Power Biggs, Texas Boys' Choir, The Edward Tarr Brass Ensemble, The Gregg Smith Singers, Vittorio Negri
French Chansons cover

French Chansons

Claudin De Sermisy, Clément Janequin, Josquin Des Prez, Roland De Lassus, Scholars of London, The Scholars
Palestrina: Missa pro defunctis; Motets cover

Palestrina: Missa pro defunctis; Motets

Chanticleer, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Fricassée Parisienne cover

Fricassée Parisienne

Antoine Sicot, Claude Debôves, Dominique Visse, Michel Laplénie, Philippe Cantor
Aleotti: Le Monache di San Vito cover

Aleotti: Le Monache di San Vito

Candace Smith, Cappella Artemisia

In a corner of the Cloisters Museum in New York, there’s a small triptych showing the angel announcing the birth of Christ to Mary. The most striking features of the Merode Altarpiece, from the 1420’s, are its light, airy color palette, its rich network of religious symbols, and its complexity — the whole foreground, for instance, is made up of intricate garment folds. 

The overwhelming color in Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s 1608 Annunciation, on the other hand, is black, and the focus is on a single gesture. At the center of the painting, the angel’s small, white index finger curls mysteriously out of the black over Mary’s head. It is tense and dramatic, and that drama is perfectly intelligible to modern eyes. 

Renaissance vocal music also witnessed this kind of evolution from medieval sensibilities toward increasingly contemporary forms of drama and expression. The music of the early Renaissance can be alluringly complex but remote from contemporary taste, while the music of the 16th century speaks more and more to modern understandings of musical emotion.

Take for instance, the “Gloria” from Johannes Ockhegem’s 15th-century Missa Prolationum, famously based on an elaborate music-theoretical concept (the mensuration canon), and compare it to the “Gloria” of Josquin des Prez’s Pange Lingua Mass (1515). Where Ockeghem’s piece is the restrained, esoteric work of a disciplined musical mind, Josquin’s work can readily dazzle contemporary hearers with its limpid melodies, an assortment of effects that clearly dramatize the text (see, for example, the setting of the line “suscipe deprecationem nostram” about ¾ of the way through), and a totally thrilling conclusion.

There is in fact, a whole universe of different affects in the music of this period; irreverent humor (Lassus’ “Quant mon mary vient de dehors”), poetic eros (Arcadelt, “Il bianco e dolce cigno”), onomatopoetic play (Janequin’s “La Bataille”), and religious feelings ranging from the totally sober (Palestrina) to the totally lavish (Gabrieli). And there is a range and diversity of contemporary performing styles, too, ranging from the studious (The King’s Singers) to the outrageous (Ensemble Clément Janequin).  This guide aims to offer a window into this dynamic and diverse period of musical evolution, and the equally dynamic and diverse ways in which performers have aimed to bring it to life.

Sean Wood

Lassus: Chansons cover

Lassus: Chansons

Dominique Visse, Ensemble Clément Janequin
Pange Lingua: Music for Corpus Christi cover

Pange Lingua: Music for Corpus Christi

The Choir Of Clare College, Graham Ross
Miserere Mei Deus cover

Miserere Mei Deus

Cappella Amsterdam, Daniel Reuss, Josquin Des Prez
 Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine cover

Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine

Antonin Rondepierre, Céline Scheen, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Pygmalion, Lucile Richardot, Perrine Devillers, Raphaël Pichon, Zachary Wilder
 Lassus: Lagrime di San Pietro cover

Lassus: Lagrime di San Pietro

Gabriel Crouch, Gallicantus
 Schütz: Motets and Concertos cover

Schütz: Motets and Concertos

English Baroque Soloists, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, John Eliot Gardiner
The Glory of Gabrieli cover

The Glory of Gabrieli

E. Power Biggs, Texas Boys' Choir, The Edward Tarr Brass Ensemble, The Gregg Smith Singers, Vittorio Negri
French Chansons cover

French Chansons

Claudin De Sermisy, Clément Janequin, Josquin Des Prez, Roland De Lassus, Scholars of London, The Scholars
Palestrina: Missa pro defunctis; Motets cover

Palestrina: Missa pro defunctis; Motets

Chanticleer, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Fricassée Parisienne cover

Fricassée Parisienne

Antoine Sicot, Claude Debôves, Dominique Visse, Michel Laplénie, Philippe Cantor