Increased Interest in Humanist Learning

• The arts became an important measure of learning and culture.
  
• Music moved from the science of number to an expressive art viewed as an equal to rhetoric.
  
• The rise and rapid spread of music printing increased access to music and books about music.
  

Increased Patronage of Music

• The rich courts and civic governments of the Renaissance supported music to a degree not previously seen.
  
• This level of musical support was also provided by the religious institutions of the day.
  

Territorial Expansion and Increased Wealth

• As a result of colonial expansion, great wealth flowed into European cities and courts.
  
• Travel and the resulting musical exchange became a driving force for the creation of a more international musical style.