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"I am not pleased with the Courtier if he be not also a musician, and besides his understanding and cunning [in singing] upon the book, have skill in like manner on sundry instruments." —BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE

Key Points

  • The Renaissance was an era of exploration, scientific inquiry, and artistic awakening and secularization.
  • Artists and writers found inspiration in the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome (CP 5).
  • Renaissance musicians were employed in churches, cities, and courts or in the trades of instrument building and music printing.
  • The Renaissance is known as the golden age of a cappella singing (unaccompanied vocal music).
  • Renaissance music features a fuller, more consonant sound (with thirds and sixths) than medieval music.
  • Some Renaissance pieces are built on a fixed, preexisting melody (cantus firmus); others closely reflect the text in music (word painting).

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