The Humanist Movement Of The Renaissance

In Italy during the Renaissance, a new philosophy called "humanism" developed. This was an educational and philosophical outlook that focused on and emphasised the personal worth and central importance of the individual. This was much different from earlier, religious beliefs where life was considered a preparation for death. The movement was influenced by the study of ancient Greek and Latin literature and philosophy. This led to a shift of intellectual focus from religious thought to the possibilities of secular human accomplishment in this life. Most music in the Renaissance was still sacred, but Humanism afforded a greater respect to secular music, and a continued search for greater expressiveness in sacred music. The Renaissance humanists were often devout Christians, but they promoted secular values and a love of pagan antiquity.

Humanism sparked the belief that in the arts, beauty should be pursued for its own ends. It helped secularize education, art and government and allowed people to think outside of the church. In painting and sculpture, regular humans, previously low-brow, were now celebrated. The human form became the subject in the arts. This blossoming of humanism in the Renaissance meant that humans were seen not as the unworthy, but as creators. Unlike with most of the other arts, composers of music in the Renaissance were unable to immerse themselves in the classical tradition, as little ancient Greek music survived or was decipherable. This however enabled musicians to be free to explore new innovations. The rhythmically driven polyphony of the middle ages was rejected in favour of melodic beauty, expressiveness and unity. A greater relationship developed between music and text; many composers were also poets. The sound of the words became as important as the words themselves. Imitative writing in polyphony such as the canon began to be developed. Each polyphonic part took on equal importance, whether sung or played on an instrument and the bass was an important foundation to the harmonic texture. Imitative and homophonic sections were sometimes alternated, for variety and interest, and rhythmic divisions into two were preferred to those into three.

This new-found freedom for Renaissance composers also resulted in consonance and dissonance being more clearly defined. Thirds and sixths, previously dissonant, were now considered consonant, and there were strict rules on dealing with dissonances; they had to be carefully handled and resolved. Importantly, new forms began to develop. The mass and motet forms dominated in sacred music, while the importance in secular music lay with the chanson and madrigal. The madrigal, important in Italy and later in England, was a through-composed form, lacking verse/chorus structure. The texts were penned by leading poets of the day, and were regularly performed for the nobility and academic circles.