Renaissance composers

Burgundian School

Guillaume Dufay, ? 1397 – 1474 e Gilles Binchois, c. 1400 – 1460
The Burgundian school is a group of composers active in the 15th century in the north-east of France, Belgium and the Netherlands, active in the Courts of the Dukes of Burgundy. The school had among its members some composers England|English since at that time part of France was ruled by the English. The school of Burgundy was the first stage from which the Franco-Flemish school was born, the driving force behind the development of Renaissance music throughout Europe.

English

Perhaps because of its isolation from the continent, Renaissance music arrived in Britain later than in other European states. While late medieval English music was influenced by the Burgundian school, most of the English music of the 15th century was lost following the dissolution of the monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII of England. The Tudor period of the 16th century was an era of intense interest in music and the Renaissance style began to develop with an interchange of influences between the British Isles and the European continent. Much of the English music of this period was influenced by foreign styles and one example is the school of the English madrigal. Composers of this period include Thomas Tallis, John Dowland, Orlando Gibbons, and William Byrd.

1370–1450

Thomas Tallis, c. 1505 – 1585

1451–1500

1501–1550

William Byrd, 1543 – 1623

1551–1570

John Bull, 1562 – 1628

1571–1580

Orlando Gibbons, 1583 – 1625

1581–1611

Flemish franc

The Franco-Flemish school refers, rather improperly, to the polyphonic style of vocal music compositions produced in Europe between the 15th and 16th centuries.

Jacob Obrecht, c. 1453 – 1505

1370–1450

1451–1500

Orlande de Lassus, c. 1531 – 1594
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, 1562 – 1621

1501–1550

1551–1574

French

France is not today’s France but a smaller, French-speaking region separated from the Dukes of Burgundy. In the Middle Ages, France was at the center of musical development with the Notre Dame School and the Ars Nova; these schools were later surpassed by the Burgundian school but France remained among the major sources of choral music production throughout the Renaissance.

1370–1450

1451–1500

1501–1550

1551–1557

German

Hans Leo Hassler, 1564 – 1612

1370–1500

Michael Praetorius, c. 1571 – 1621

1501–1571

Italian

After the decline of the Burgundian school, Italy became the cradle of Renaissance music producing innovative techniques with the Venetian school and the more conservative Roman school. In particular, the Venetian school launched the polychoral tiles of the late sixteenth century, which was the most famous musical event in Europe and greatly influenced all the music of the continent. The innovations introduced by the Venetian school, together with the development of monody and the birth of opera in Florence, constituted the end of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Baroque.

1350–1470

Francesco Canova da Milano, 1497 – 1543

1471–1500

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, c. 1525 – 1594

1501–1525

Carlo Gesualdo, 1560 – 1613

1526–1550

Jacopo Peri, 1561 – 1633
Claudio Monteverdi, 1567 – 1643

1551–1575

Polish

During a very favorable period for economic and political conditions in the early sixteenth century, Poland reached the highest level of its history becoming one of the most important nations in Europe. It consisted of an area that included the current states of Lithuania and Latvia and parts of Ukraine, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany.

Portuguese

Spanish

1430–1510

Diego Ortiz, c. 1510 – c. 1570

1511–1570

Tomás Luis de Victoria, 1548 – 1611

Other countries

Unknown nationality

  • Lupus (c. 1495 – dopo il 1530) forse un compositore franco fiammingo la cui musica è contenuta nel Medici Codex:
  • Teodora Ginés (c. 1530 – dopo il 1598)
  • Jean Courtois (fl. 1530 – 1545) fiammingo o francese attivo a Cambrai