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Renaissance Music
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CAMBRIDGE - In a way, the history of Renaissance music resembles that of jazz, which started in New Orleans and then spread north with the migration of African-Americans in the 20th century. The direction of musical migration in 15th- and 16th-century Europe was south: from present-day Belgium and northern France to Italy, the main source of power and musical patronage. On Friday,
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This groundbreaking book offers a new perspective on a central group of music theory treatises that have long formed a background to the study of Renaissance music. Taking theorists' music examples as a point of departure, it explores fundamental questions about how music was read, and by whom, situating the reading in specific cultural contexts. In particular it illuminates the ways in which the choices of Renaissance theorists have shaped later interpretation of earlier praxis, and reflexively the ways in which modern theory has been mapped on to that practice.
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In Renaissance music, there is a gentle flow, moving away from sharply defined beats. Melodies are easy to sing as they move along a scale with few leaps. This is called conjunct motion. However, Melodies were still modal.
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Charming as it is, English Renaissance music is foreign to the modern ear. One can enjoy the sharp, lilting notes, but in most cases only for a brief time. The main reason for this is that "recording devices" such as radio or CDs, made possible by electricity, now play such a large role in both the composition and listening of music that it is practically impossible to grasp the performance of Renaissance music in its day.
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Renaissance Music