One of the most important part of the early Renaissance music belongs to lute compositions. Sadly, the biographies of the majority Renaissance musicians and their heritage still remain an enigma for us. Joan Ambrosio Dalza, an Italian lutenist and composer brought us through the centuries 42 dances and a couple of minor pieces. It happened quite by chance because all of them were published in 1508 in an influential series of lute music in Venice. Dazla is refered there as a milanese, so we assume that he was either born or lived in Milan. Nothing else is known about his life.
Danza pieces are extremely important for our understanding of Renaissance music as all his pieces consist of entirely original music without then usual vocal singing. His dances are arranged in miniature suites. They are easy to perform and comparatively simple. This comes as no surprise because in the series Danza admits this fact and promises to publish more complex pieces later. Whether this famous Italian composer ever fulfilled his promise remains unknown up to this day.
Probably, we would simply pass by this talented medieval composer, if he was not mentioned in the Chantilly Codex - the pivotal music manuscript of the 14th century that is considered to be one of the monuments of medieval music. His name was Johannes Cuvelier. Up to this day Johannes remains an enigma as we don’t know nothing about him before 1372 and after 1387. We don’t know the dates of his birth and death, and only by guess think that he was born in Tournai, France.
However all those rare bits of information that we possess present us an unusual for those times educated man who had big success as a composer, statesman and a poet. He also wrote biographical books, because history mentions him for the last time when he finished a manuscript about an opportunistic conqueror Bertrand du Guesclin. He was definitely a councellor of the French king Charles V, as old documents state that he was the “diseur” and “faiseur” of the monarch.
The famous Chantilly codex preserved only some of his musical works that were composed in the elaborate, elitist style known as the ars subtilior. These early French musical compositions are eccentric, whimsical, extravagant; it contains the widest diversity of emotion.
It is hard to find the exact historical category for famous Italian composer Gregorio Allegri. He was born in 1582 in Rome, he mostly lived there throughout his life and died in 1652. Roman composers of that time were stilistically conservative. Chronologically, this was the shining time of Baroque music, but most Roman composers created music closer to the late Renaissance music. This is why Allegri’s compositions present an exotic mixture of both these two styles.
Gregorio was not only the composer, he was a Catholic priest as well. Most of his compositions are related to sacred music which helped him to get noticed by Pope and obtain a prestigious appointment in the choir of the great Sistine Chapel.
His most celebrated composition is Miserere mei Deus based on the Biblical Psalm 50. For centuries choir has been performing it annually during Holy Week in the Sistine Chapel. The Miserere is also one of the most prominently recorded example of late Renaissance music as well. This work is surrounded by mystery too because Vatican forbade its distribution or copying under the treat of excommunication.
However it did not stop the attempts to procure an illegal copy. The teenage composer Mozart who visited the Rome in 1770 heard Miserere twice and transcribed it from memory. Mozart’s copy was later obtained and published in England but only showed the basic music without all ornamentation for which it was famous.
The beginning of the Renaissance in Italy started somewhere in the14th century. In Italian this historical period is called the Trecento from the phrase “mille trecento” which is translated as 1300. The list of famous names related to that period, that I found through search engines and in my local web analytics company, is practically endless. And, in addition to this list, we can add famous composers and musicians, artists and writers who published their works anonymously.
The Trecento, as you may well know it, was the period of heightened activity in art, literature and music. This is when Dante wrote his Divine Comedy, painter Giotto di Bondone used for the first time perspective in art. The list of Renaissance giants is huge and include famous creators as Boccaccio, Petrarch, Adnrea da Firenze and others.
Music had also changed drastically during Trecento. Partially, because a lot of troubadours was fleeing from the Southern France, mostly Provence, to Italy. Troubadours had a huge impact on Italian music of Renaissance period. Famous composers and musicians that used to write only religious music started writing secular songs. Francesco Landini, Paolo Tenorista, Maestro Piero and others created not only polyphonic music for all powerful Catholic Church but also love lyrics for everyday people.
From what we know, instrumental music was also widespread during Trecento. Unfortunately, not much of it survived, just few notated examples. The rest of the sources come to us from the area around Florence. We also know that some of the poetry of Dante was set to music, but none of it survived either.
Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance Pierre de Manchicourt remains quite a mystery up to these days. There are not many biographical details about this great composer, to say the least. I went through all sources of my web analytics company and came out with practically nothing. What is so mysterious about him, you might say?
Manchicourt is an excellent example of a Franco-Flemish composer who learned his craft and art in northern Europe, and then assisted in the diffusion of the style by traveling to another region and composing and performing there. The movement of these many skilled composers out of Flanders and northern France created what was one of the first truly international styles since the original diffusion of Gregorian chant during the reign of Charlemagne.
He was born in Béthune in France, somewhere around 1510. He had multiple jobs in various cities like Arras, Tours, and Tournai. There are some hints that he started as a choirboy in Arras in 1525. Obviously, somebody at the Spanish court noticed him, maybe even King Philip II himself. He was invited to occupy a position of a master of the Flemish Chapel in Madrid. He did not miss that opportunity, left for Spain and lived there till his death in October 5, 1564.
On the surface he was not different from all other Renaissance composers of the sixteen century. As they did, he wrote motets, chansons and masses. Yet, we can divide his creations in three stages and in each of them he wrote music quite different from others. This is hghly unusual for composers of that time.
The changes are most noticeable in his motets. They are particularly significant as they show the three separate stages of early sixteenth century motet development, highly unusual to find in the work of a single composer. In his earliest motets one can hear the influence of Ockeghem; in his middle period works, the paired imitation style of Josquin; and in his late works the stylistic refinement, well-crafted melodic lines and pervasive imitation recall Gombert.
The best of earliest Renaissance English composers Thomas Tallis flourished as as a church musician during stormy 16th century in England. He occupies a primary place in anthologies of English church music, and is honored for his original voice in English musicianship. As usual with the composers of these times, the details of Tallis’s life are very scarce, as I found during my web analytics research.
He was born around 1505, toward the end of the reign of Henry VII. His first known appointment to a musical position was as organist of Dover Priory in 1530. His career took him to London, then to the Augustinian abbey of Holy Cross at Waltham until the abbey was dissolved in 1540. Then he went to Canterbury Cathedral, and finally to Court as Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1543, composing and performing for Henry VIII. During his long and prolific career he wrote music for the Protestant Church of England, young King Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth I.
Tallis married around 1552. His wife, Joan, outlived him by four years. They apparently had no children. Late in his life he lived in Greenwich, likely close to the royal palace. Thomas Tallis died peacefully in his house in Greenwich in November 1585 on either the 20th or 23rd. and was buried in the chancel of the parish of St Alfege’s Church. A couplet from his epitaph reads: As he did live, so also did he die,In mild and quiet Sort (O! happy Man).
Throughout his service to successive monarchs as organist and composer, Tallis avoided the religious controversies that raged around him. Henry VIII’s break with Roman Catholicism in 1534 noticeably influenced the style of music written. Texts became largely confined to the liturgy. The reformed Anglican liturgy was inaugurated during the short reign of Edward VI. Tallis was one of the first church musicians to write anthems set to English words, although Latin continued to be used. The Catholic Mary Tudor set about undoing the religious reforms of the preceding decades. Following the accession of the Catholic Mary in 1553, the Roman Rite was restored and compositional style reverted to the elaborate writing prevalent early in the century. Two of Tallis’s major works are believed to be from this period.
Queen Elizabeth succeeded her sister in 1558, and abolished the Roman Liturgy, firmly establishing the Book of Common Prayer. Composers at court resumed writing English anthems, although the practice of setting Latin texts continued, growing more peripheral over time. The mood of the country in the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign leant toward the puritan, which discouraged the liturgical polyphony. Tallis is mostly remembered for his role in composing office hymns during that period.
Toward the end of his life, Tallis resisted the musical development seen in his younger contemporaries such as William Byrd. In 1543, he probably began to serve full time as a member of the Chapel Royal, that later became a Protestant establishment. Queen Mary granted him a lease on a manor in Kent that provided a comfortable annual income. Queen Elizabeth granted to Tallis and Byrd a twenty-one year monopoly in 1575 for polyphonic music and a patent to print and publish music, which was one of the first arrangements of that type in the country. Tallis’ monopoly covered allowed him to compose in English, Latin, French, Italian, or other tongues as long as they served for music in the Church or chamber. He also had exclusive rights to print any music, in any language. He and William Byrd were the only ones allowed to use the paper that was used in printing music. Tallis retained respect during a succession of opposing religious movements and deflected the violence that claimed Catholics and Protestants alike.
There is even much less to say about English Renaissance composer Christopher Tye,than John Taverner. As the latter, Christopher Tye was also an English composer and organist. He studied at Cambridge University and became a Doctor of Music both there and at Oxford in 1545. Tye’s Latin church music includes masses and psalm settings. He also composed works in English for the Church of England, including services and anthems, and pieces for consorts of viols.
He was born approximately in 1505, was choirmaster of Ely Cathedral from about 1543 and also organist there from 1559. It is highly likely that he was a music teacher to young King Edward VI appointed by Henry VIII. who obviously admired Tye’s skills in music harmony. After the death of King Edward, Doctor Tye remained at Ely under the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary despite his apparent Protestant beliefs. Only In 1560 he resigned his post at Ely and took holy orders, becoming Rector of Doddington, Cambridgeshire. He was still active under the rule of Queen Elizabeth and died in 1572 or 1573.
There is a lot of modern fictional work dedicated to English composer John Taverner. Recently we even saw his character in the popular TV series “The Tudors”. There is even an opera by Peter Maxwell Davies about the life of John Taverner. This can probably be explained with the fact that there was not many famous English composers during the period of Renaissance. No pun intended, of course. So, one should not be surprised that Taverner is regarded as the most important English composer and organist of his era. Yet I could not find a lot of facts about this man through my web analytics company. Facts about his life are really scarce, except for 1520s, when he created most of his music. Most of Taverner’s music is vocal, and includes masses, Magnificats and motets.
We assume that he was born around 1490. And we know exact date of his death - he died October 18, 1545. Taverner had been a clerk fellow at the Collegiate Church of Tattershall, Lincolnshire until he found a famous sponsor. Taverner got under the protection of all powerful Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Cardinal helped his protege to get the position of a first Organist and Master of the Choristers at Christ Church, Oxford in 1526. This college had been founded in 1525 by Wolsey, and was then known as Cardinal College.
In 1528 Taverner was reprimanded for his involvement with Lutherans, but escaped punishment for being just a musician. Powerful Cardinal Wolsey fell from King’s favour in 1529, and in 1530 Taverner left the college. As far as can be told, Taverner had no further musical appointments, nor can any of his known works be dated to after that time. So we can safely assume, that he may have ceased composition. He is known to have settled eventually in Boston, Lincolnshire where he was a small landowner and reasonably well-off. He was appointed an alderman of Boston in 1545, shortly before his death. After his death he was buried under the belltower at Boston Parish Church.
As a Web Analyst, I find that Flemish Composer of the Renaissance Adrian Willaert was quite an extraordinary person of the times. He left us hundreds of amazing motets, chansons, psalms, madrigals, hymns and instrumental works. But this is not the only reason of his fame. He was no less distinguished as a teacher than as a composer. He was a founder of the Venetian School, which was decisively influential on the stylistic change that marked the beginning of the Baroque era. Among his disciples were composers Cipriano de Rore, Costanzo Porta, Francesco Dalla Viola, Gioseffo Zarlino, and Andrea Gabrieli. These composers formed the core of what came to be known as the Venetian school, that flourished for 150 years. And the tradition of writing that Willaert established was continued by other composers working there throughout the 1600s.
Willaert was also one of the most versatile composers of the Renaissance, writing music in almost every existng style and form. In force of personality, and with his central position as maestro di cappella at St. Mark’s, he became the one of the most influential musician in Europe in the first half of sixteen century.
Adrian Willaert was probably born around 1490 in Bruges. He went to Paris first to study law, but instead decided to study music. In Paris he met famous composer Jean Mouton and studied with him. Sometime around 1515 Willaert first went to Rome. An anecdote survives that indicates the musical ability of the young composer: Willaert was surprised to discover the choir of the papal chapel singing one of his own compositions and even more surprised to learn that they thought it had been written by the much more famous composer Josquin. When he informed the singers that he was in fact the composer, they refused to sing it again.
In July 1515, Willaert entered the service of Cardinal Ippolito I d’Este of Ferrara. Ippolito was a traveler, and Willaert likely accompanied him to various places, including Hungary, where he likely resided for a couple of years. When Ippolito died in 1520, Willaert entered the service of Duke Alfonso of Ferrara. In 1522 Willaert had a post at the court chapel of Duke Alfonso; he remained there until 1525.
Willaert’s most significant appointment, and one of the most significant in the musical history of the Renaissance, was his selection as maestro di cappella of St. Mark’s at Venice in 1527. He got this job with the big help from the Venetian Doge Andrea Gritte.
He retained the post at St. Mark’s until his death in 1562. Composers came from all over Europe to study with him, and his standards were high both for singing and composition. During his previous employment with the dukes of Ferrara, he had acquired numerous contacts and influential friends everywhere in Europe, including powerful Sforza family in Milan. Doubtless this assisted in the spread of his reputation, and the consequent importation of musicians from foreign countries into northern Italy.
Nicolas Gombert was one of the most famous and influential composers of Renaissance between Josquin Desprez and Palestrina. Out of the ten masses that he composed, nine survived in complete form, as well as other his creations, including highly complex 140 motets, 70 chansons, a canción , a madrigal, and lots of of instrumental pieces. I found out from the documents in my local web analytics company, that many composers respected his musical ability. Later generations of composers eventried to continue his legacy but found it difficult to do so. His works were too complex for them. In spite of his fame and the availability of his music, the next generation of Franco-Flemish composers mostly wrote in a more simplified style.
Gombert was one of the most renowned composers in Europe after the death of Josquin Desprez, as can be seen by the wide distribution of his music, the use of his music as source material for compositions by others. Even printers paid the singular attention to him by, publishing editions of his works. This was quite unusual at the time, because most print editions at the time were anthologies of music by several composers.
As I already mentioned, Nicolas Gombert was Franco-Flemish by origin. He was likely born around 1495 in southern Flanders, possibly in the town of La Gorgue. Contemporaries wrote that he studied with famous Josquin Desprez. Gombert was employed by the emperor Charles V as a singer in his court chapel in 1526 and possibly as a composer as well. He was taken on while Charles was passing through Flanders, for the emperor traveled often, bringing his retinue with him, and picking up new members as he went. In 1529 Gombert is mentioned as “master of the boys” for the royal chapel. He and the singers kept on traveling with the emperor. There are records of their appearances in various cities of the empire throughout the period.
While Charles and his entourage traveled all over Spain, he usually held court in many different cities which later benefited from Gombert’s musical talents. At some point in the 1530s Gombert became a cleric and probably a priest; he received benefices at several cathedrals, including Courtrai, Lens, Metz, and Béthune. He remained in the Imperial Cathedral until some time between 1537 and 1540, being succeeded by Thomas Crecquillon and later Cornelius Canis. Even though he held the position of maitre des enfants at the Imperial Cathedral, he never officially received the title of the music director, which was given to Adrien Thibaut and Thomas Crecquillon, two nearly forgotten composers. While serving in this position, he likewise unofficially held the position of court composer, arranging numerous works commemorating the key happenings during life of emperor Charles V.
In 1540 during the height of his career, he all of a sudden disappeared from chapel records. According to contemporary writers, that year Gombert was convicted of gross indecency with a boy in his care and was sentenced to hard labor in the galleys. The exact duration of his service in the galleys is not known, but he was able to continue composing for at least part of the time. Most likely he was pardoned sometime in or before 1547. At that date he sent a letter along with a motet from Tournai to Charles’ gran capitano Ferrante I Gonzaga. This composer’s work preserved uniquely in manuscript in Madrid is often held to have been the reason why the composer won his pardon because Charles was so moved by those pieces composed especially for him. It is unclear how long Gombert lived after his pardon or what positions, if any, he held. His career faded into relative obscurity after obtaining freedom. He may have retired to Tournai, and spent his last years as a canon at the cathedral there. In 1561 his contemporary wrote that he was dead.
