XVIme century is one of the richest times of the artistic development. The musical rebirth will be made a little wait until half of XVI me century, following with a little delay that of the literature and the Visual arts. 
I cannot approach the Rebirth without quoting Léonard de Vinci, the great painter of his time. The table that I propose to you to admire entitles “the virgin with the rock”. 

            Since its birth Christianity imposed a rigorous discipline on the musical practice and regarded the music as a means of prayer. 

        The rebirth exalte the beauty, feelings human, nature. The sacred music will keep all its importance, but the profane music breaking with the polyphony, will become realistic and expressive, for finally giving rise to the accompanied melody. The creation of musical printing works will allow the diffusion of works in a fast and wide way. 
It is into 1501 that the Venetian printer Petrucci publishes a first collection of mass and motets of Josquin.

Title page of edition of Petrucci

            The Italian musical art had not very developed until XVme century. From XVIme the Italian composers propose new forms, and pass main in polyphonic art.

            Giovanni Da Palestrina (1526-1594) will carry the polyphonic music to perfection. Initially organist and choirmaster in his birthplace, it will finish its career as Choirmaster to St Pierre of Rome. It will devote all its life to the liturgical music. Its music choral society “has cappella” symbolizes its time.

        It links the melody purity, on the one hand, and the contrapuntic science of the Masters free-Flemish on the other hand. It leaves a hundred and fifteen masses! Six hundred motets, of the books of psalms, Offertoires, Magnificat.
     
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Palestrina

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Extrait de " Hodie Christus natus est" Only on the Cd-Rom 

  .           In Germany, with XVI me century, the musical art marks a certain delay on that of the adjoining countries. But the Reform gives him a new dash with Luther (1483-1546) impassioned music in all its forms and composer of hymns.
Under the name of Chorals, its canticles, sung in vulgar language, become the center of the liturgy of the Protestant church.

        For the other composers, the profane music seems to arouse interests as many as the sacred music, if one refers to the important publication in France of many collections of polyphonic songs to four parts. XVI me century brings spontaneousness, promptness and the rhythm with the popular song.

        In 1571 the poet Jean-Antoine de Baïf founds an Academy of music and Poetry, attended amongst other things by poets of the Pleiad like Ronsard. They wish to link music and poetry with the manner of the Greeks and Latin.

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Monteverdi

            Of XIIme in XVme century the use of the musical instruments is never specified. They were used only for the accompaniment of the voice, in an episodical and auxiliary way.

            In XVIme century, the voices little by little will yield the step to the instrumental music, which grows rich by parts for organ, initially in accompaniment, then as a soloist.

            The improvements made to the keyboard instruments, in particular to the organ, make it possible to play several parts at the same time. To allow the simultaneous reading of these parts joined together on the same page, one invented the “fingering charts” ancestors of our partitions.

          
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Bouffon au Luth

            The lute, left guitar to five cords, Egyptian origin, and introduced by the Arabs in Europe, knows a great vogue, particularly at the court of François Ier, and allured the virtuosos.

            As of 1550 the violins and the viols, take importance and improve notably. The sound extent is increased by two octaves thus passing with five octaves. For the first time, the sounds produced by the instruments exceed the limits of the voice. 

In England, the primitive virginal, ancestor of the harpsichord, take the name of Virginal, and attract composers like William Bird (1542-1623), organist of the Royal Vault and Orlando Gibbons (1565-1650), virginalist of the court, who pass main in the art of the improvisation and the variation.          
 

Florentin singer of XVme century (Dubois 1865)
 

 

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