Renaissance and Baroque Composers

Who They are and What their Contribution was to the Time period:

Josquin des Prez- was a franco-flemish composer of the Renaissance area. He composed many secular songs.He is known for using polyphony and imitation in his pieces. Polyphony was condemned and uncommon during the time period.

Palestrina- Experimented with polyphony. Was condemned by the Council of Trent for doing so, so he altered the way he used polyphony so it accentuated the lyrics more.

Weelkes-He was an English composer and organist who wrote many madrigals with counterpoint and unusual rhythm. He composed the most Anglican services than any other composer of his time.

Gabrieli-He was an Italian composer and organist who lived during the time of the shift from the Renaissance period to the Baroque period. He composed a lot of pieces with instrumentation and some with sacred vocal music. He brought strong dynamics and separated orchestra parts which were the beginnings of the concerto.

Vivaldi- Was a Baroque era composer who used a lot of string instruments in his compositions. His most famous work is "The Four Seasons." He also wrote some operas which were controversial amongst other composers of the time for being too 'modern' sounding.

Handel-Handel was a German-English composer who used a lot of harpsichord in the Baroque era. He wrote "Handel's Messiah." He became famous in England and was known for his oratorios. He was also known for being a dramatist in his oratorios.

Bach- He was a German composer and organist of the Baroque period. His most famous pieces include the "Brandenberg Concertos", "The Well Tempered-Clavier" and "The Art of Fuge." He is most famous for his use of the minor and major scales and experimented with many of them in his compositions.