The Renaissance saw the musical shackles of the Medieval Period being broken, and both secular and sacred music became livelier and more expressive, and through the developments of printed music, more widely available. Browse our sheet music and scores, and pick up a mass or a madrigal today!
The driving force of the Renaissance was humanism (from the Latin “hummanus” or human), the dogmas of the church were overturned by science, and art was inspired by antiquity and a new, harmonious worldview. Vocal polyphony was very much at the forefront of Renaissance music, and a desire for perfect form, and rational, logical sophistication emerged. In church music, the cyclic form of the Mass, Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei was still widely deployed, and musical settings of Motets, Litanies, Psalms and Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis broadened the congregation’s musical experience. Secular vocal music also developed through the madrigals, and polyphonic and unison songs.
In contrast to the Medieval Period, the Renaissance began with a new design principle, imitation. A short, lively theme moves from voice to voice, and the composer creates a counter-melody to compliment it. Elements from the Medieval however were still present, and the “cantus firmus” or fixed chant was often a device of choice in the Renaissance. The cantus firmus takes a theme from Gregorian Chant or Folk Music, but the composer uses augmentation, elongates the note values, and uses the cantus firmus as the harmonic basis for this polyphonic work. From here, the canon soon evolved, which was the clear precursor to the baroque fugue.
The Renaissance marked a big step in the development of instrumental music, and a significant move towards independence for solo instruments, and chamber groups. Traditionally instruments were used as accompaniment for choir or solo singing or for dance music, but through the Renaissance Period, pure instrumental solo or ensemble music became more and more popular. In particular, Renaissance Organ Music experienced a great boom due to the technical development of the instrument, and it was during the 16th century that more vocal instrumental music started emerging, and the first works featuring basso continuo were written.
for: Descant recorder [violin/cornett], basso continuo
Score, parts (pdf download)
Item no.: 2911
Baroque and Classical Era
for: Organ
Book and music score
Item no.: 237869
The Romantic Period
for: Organ
Study book
Item no.: 293430
Musica Practica
for: 4-5 Instrumente, Basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 234145
for: organ
Music score
Item no.: 1015477
The Original First and Second Books – Including Dowland's Original Lute Tablature
Transcribed for Voice and Guitar
for: voice, Guitar [lute]
Music score (with TABs)
Item no.: 228281
Florence, Archivio del Capitolo di San Lorenzo Ms. 2211
Ars Nova Nuova serie, 4 (Ars Nova Reprint)
Book
Item no.: 774035
Parte prima
Italienische Diminutionslehren 3
for: Voice (melody instrument]
Music score
Item no.: 195190
Viersprachige Neuausgabe der spanischen und italienischen Originalausgaben
Espanol, Italiano, English, Deutsch - Mit separater Gambenstimme - 3. Aufl. 2013
for: Viola da gamba
Book
Item no.: 114768
Songs 26–50
for: Voice (high), piano
Score
Item no.: 137444
for Voice and Guitar
ars instrumentalis 080
for: Voice, guitar
Score
Item no.: 109143
Eine kommentierte Quellensammlung
Pratica Musicale 8
Book (Hardcover)
Item no.: 475526
1603
With Lute Tablature
for: voice, Guitar [lute]
Score
Item no.: 142179
from the 14th - 18th centuries
for: 3 treble recorders
Ensemble score (anthology)
Item no.: 327477
Dowani 3 Tempi Play Along
for: descant recorder
Buch + CD
Item no.: 483317
di diversi composizioni toccate, kyrie, canzoni, capricci e recercari in partitura a quattro
Monumenti Musicali Italiani XII (2 volumes)
Girolamo Frescobaldi Opere complete XII
for: harpsichord [organ]
2 music scores
Item no.: 697801
Begräbnismusik in drei Teilen für Singstimmen und Basso continuo
Stuttgarter Schütz-Ausgabe Urtext
for: 8 voices (SSAATTBB), organ, bass; Mixed choir (SSATTB), 6 melody instruments colla parte ad lib.
Score
Item no.: 423286
24 Psalms for the Church's Year
for: Mixed choir (SATB); organ ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 471534
Musikstücke aus dem Mittelalter und der Renaissance eingerichtet für Flöte
for: Flute
Music score (spiral binding), online playback
Item no.: 642614
(1620)
Vol. II: Tentos (5°-8° tono), Susanas
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1025254
Music lesson book
Item no.: 885980
Gabrieli, Frescobaldi and others
for: organ
Music score
Item no.: 635421
aus: "The First Set of Madrigals and Mottets, apt for Viols and Voyces"
for: Mixed choir (SATTB); basso continuo ad lib.
Score, part (pdf download)
Item no.: 3141
Gesamtausgabe 26 Motetten
for: Mixed choir (SSATB), basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 655070
Partitura urtext senza voltate
for: organ
Music score
Item no.: 1207800
1597 - 1600 - 1603 - 1606 - 1613
With Lute Tablature
for: voice, Guitar [lute]
Music score
Item no.: 142177
Book (Hardcover)
Item no.: 680929
Songs 1-25
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 182729
Harmonia-Mixed Choir
for: Mixed choir (SATB); piano ad lib.
Choir score
Item no.: 915805
Musica Britannica 6
for: Mixed choir (SATB); lute ad lib.
Score (Hardcover)
Item no.: 376330
With ornamentation instructions and choreographies
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet) [string orchestra]
Score, Parts
Item no.: 487623
Songs 26-50
for: Solo voice (low), piano [organ]
Music score
Item no.: 217746
Die zwischen 1553 und 1638 mehrmals bearbeiteten Sätze
Practica Musicale 1
Music score (hardcover)
Item no.: 200329
Schott Student Edition - Repertoire
for: Treble recorder, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 743442
Motet
Edition Schott
for: Singstimme und Klavier (Cembalo/Orgel)
Sheet music
Item no.: 748680
aus: Psalmen Davids, dorisch (1619)
Konzert für Favoritchor und Bc (Capellchor ad lib.)
for: Mixed choir (favourite choir SATB), basso continuo; 2 mixed choirs (chapel choirs SATB, SATB), 8 melodic instruments ad lib.
Score
Item no.: 231744
Songs 1-25
for: Solo voice (low), piano [organ]
Music score
Item no.: 144145
aus: Kleine geistliche Konzerte II
for: Mixed choir (SSB) [male chorus (TTB)], basso continuo
Score
Item no.: 423224
Reneszánsz muzsika két gitárra
for: 2 guitars
Ensemble score (anthology)
Item no.: 478430
The English Madrigalists 32
for: Mixed choir (5 parts) a cappella
Choir book (anthology)
Item no.: 769237
for: Soloist (soprano), mixed choir (SSATB), organ [piano]
Choir score
Item no.: 840961
Part 3. Modern and Contemporary Music
for: organ
Music lesson book
Item no.: 1215729
for: Male choir (TTBB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 1037921
aus "Il secondo libro di toccate d’intavolatura di cembalo e organo"
for: Organ [harpsichord]
Sheet music
Item no.: 2900
for: SATB
Choir score
Item no.: 174434
Kurtzweilig Quotlibet aus "Libro delle Pavane..."
for: String orchestra, basso continuo
Score, Set of parts
Item no.: 419059
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score
Item no.: 299756
Easy chamber musi from the 16th, 17th and 8th century
for: 3 recorders (SAT)
Ensemble score (anthology)
Item no.: 418917
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