Baroque music differed from Renaissance in use of instruments, tonality and recognizable harmonies.
Explanation:
Renaissance Music Period - from 1400 to 1600, approx. (may be cited in this period: motets, masses, hymns, choirs and madrigals);
Baroque Music Period - from 1600 to 1750 (concerts, suites, choirs, masses, cantatas and sonatas are part of this period);
To understand what is different about Baroque music, it is helpful to have a basic idea of Renaissance music. While some terms, especially those used in art and literature, agree, the exact boundaries of periods do not fully coincide. The Renaissance is difficult to define because it occurred at different times and places in Europe.
In the history of music, the Renaissance is thought from the mid-fifteenth century to the sixteenth century, with some inaccuracy. Such estimated dates are complex considering the geographic data. As Renaissance music was initially a northern Europe phenomenon, the baroque begins first in Italy. It is this fine line that defines the two periods, as they are distinct. Thus, it is possible to observe a little of the aesthetic change from Renaissance to Baroque.
Renaissance Polyphony
Renaissance music is characterized by "polyphony of equal voices" where a complex texture of different voices creates a continuous, harmonious piece. In this case, the term "voices" is not only linked to individual singers, but to different musical lines (soprano, alto, tenor and bass, for example). The composers of this period base their compositions on the eight ecclesiastical modes, which are essentially the scales with whole tone and semitone patterns, which contain the modes we use today (major and minor).
Among the leading composers of this era are Guillaume Dufay, Josquin Desprez, and Pierluigi di Palestrina, the latter, the most famous. His compositions were focused on creating stitching between parts, elegant musical textures that obeyed the strict rules of counterpoint, and also focused on the expressiveness of emotions and ideas. With this, this song becomes beautiful, moving, abstract beauty of musical relationships and able to convey emotion or feeling beyond the text.
As an example, Dufay's motet "Flores rosarum Nuper est locus iste terribilis". It was composed for the dedication of the Duomo of Florence (1436). The proportions between the parts form a very complex canon whose structure is 6: 4: 3: 2, the proportions of the Temple of Solomon, and the same proportions of the Duomo. This relationship is not "heard" but is a symbolic, intellectual reference to composition.
