Man stands at the center of art,
and it is the first time that music is written for the sake of, rather
than, service of the Christian Church or social needs. Polyphony evolves,
and the madrigal is born.
In
secular music, the singing of "troubadours",
wandering singers who sang daily songs, especially developed. In the 15th
century, the Netherlands school contributed the
style attributing all voices the same importance - polyphony.
During this period, a lot of music was written for unaccompanied
singers and choirs (a-cappella).
In Italy,
the madrigal
was born, based on polyphonic singing and imitation between voices.
Throughout the 16th century, the Reformation and the
Protestant church greatly affected composition, with far less ornaments
in music, to match the austere mood of the early Protestant sacred works.
Palestrina
creates harmony
as a substitute for polyphony.
He composes religious works of clarity and balance, in which the range
of invention is wide and the words are distinct.
Throughout
the Renaissance, the arts in general, including music, become independently
important, rather than for their contribution to other topics. Beauty
is a legitimate reason for producing art, not just the need to serve some
master or God.
The important artistic principles in the Renaissance
are proportion and symmetry.