RENAISSANCE CHORAL MASTERPIECES

Music was an essential part of civic, religious, and courtly life in the Renaissance. ... The most important music of the early Renaissance was composed for use by the church—polyphonic (made up of several simultaneous melodies) masses and motets in Latin for important churches and court chapels. The Renaissance followed on from the Middle Ages and was for musicians an era of discovery, innovation and exploration - the name means ’rebirth’. It covers the music from 1400 to 1600.