| The artistic beauty of Renaissance work was | | | | forerunner of the musical reformers of the |
| that of its truth to nature, as opposed to | | | | Renaissance. |
| tradition, which had been the accepted style | | | | |
| of pre Renaissance art and letters. | | | | Willaert, although he did not create any new |
| | | | forms in music, was one of the first to give |
| This principle was deduced from the study of | | | | musical expression to that love of colour, |
| the new found learning, being spread | | | | movement, and general spirit of nature, which |
| throughout Italy by Greek refugees, and the | | | | are the outstanding characteristics of the |
| consequent awakened interest with which | | | | Renaissance period. |
| people regarded the remains of ancient | | | | |
| architecture, sculpture and other art forms, | | | | The forms he employed were those used by his |
| constantly being unearthed in their own | | | | contemporaries and immediate predecessors. |
| country. | | | | The Mass, Psalm, Motet, and Madrigal. |
| | | | However, in them all his colour sense was |
| With the adoption of the classical principle | | | | very strong, comparatively speaking, that is, |
| of truth to nature, naturally came the | | | | for that tonal splendour, which led the |
| adoption of a second, that of the study of | | | | Venetians in their enthusiasm to term the |
| the antique as the true path to excellence in | | | | works of their cherished "Messer Adriano" |
| art or letters. We cannot fail to recognise | | | | aurum fotabik or "drinkable gold" might not |
| these twin principles at work in the writings | | | | be so readily apparent to a modern audience. |
| of the masters of the musical Renaissance. | | | | |
| | | | Although to a musician, instituting a |
| A parallel to that truth to nature, which the | | | | comparison between the works of Willaert and |
| painters and sculptors of the Renaissance | | | | those of earlier writers, the effects gained |
| proper acquired from the study of Greek art, | | | | through the use of broadly contrasting |
| may be traced in the efforts of the composers | | | | harmonies by the Flemish master cannot fail |
| of the Renaissance, to make their music more | | | | to appear strikingly original. |
| and more flexible and responsive to the | | | | |
| varied play of human sentiment. | | | | While dealing with Venetian music mention |
| | | | must be made of Andrea and Giovanni |
| Musicians as well as the painter or sculptor, | | | | Gabrielli, uncle and nephew, who represent a |
| also studied antique art. Although for | | | | later development of the style of Willaert. |
| musicians not as profitable, the lessons to | | | | Giovanni Gabrielli (1557-1612) carried his |
| be learned from antiquity by musicians were | | | | experiments in tone colour into the region of |
| not for educational purposes but more for | | | | pure instrumental music; and his "Symphonic |
| inspiration and creativity. | | | | Sacrse," the first volume of which was |
| | | | published at Venice in 1597, entitles him to |
| Palestrina has already been mentioned as | | | | rank as one of the earliest of writers for |
| typifying the culmination of the musical | | | | the orchestra. |
| development of the early ages, and now, in | | | | |
| taking up the consideration of a new period, | | | | In the first volume of this work, there are |
| we have, in the first place, to concern | | | | sixteen pieces for from eight to sixteen |
| ourselves with a man who was already forty | | | | instruments, and in the second volume, there |
| eight years old when Palestrina was born. The | | | | are canzonets for as many as twenty-two |
| Flemish composer Adrian Willaert, chapel | | | | instruments. These compositions are written |
| master of St. Mark's at Venice. | | | | for violins, cornets (not the cornets of |
| | | | modern times, but wooden instruments), and |
| Willaert may be considered as belonging at | | | | trombones. |
| the same time to the old order and the new, | | | | |
| for while, in common with his fellow citizen, | | | | After the time of Willaert and the Venetians, |
| Orlando di Lasso, some may say he was one of | | | | were the actual workers in the Renaissance of |
| the last and greatest of the Flemish masters. | | | | music, and the first of their achievements, |
| At the same time, he must be reckoned as a | | | | the invention of the Music Drama or Opera. |