Renaissance music
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Western art music from approximately 1400 to 1600, characterised by rich vocal polyphony.
Renaissance music marks the flowering of vocal polyphony — multiple independent melodic lines woven together in complex harmony. Composers like Josquin des Prez, Palestrina, and William Byrd created masses, motets, and madrigals of extraordinary beauty and sophistication. The period saw the rise of the madrigal as a secular vocal form, the development of instrumental music as an independent art, and the invention of music printing, which made scores widely available for the first time. Instruments became more refined: the lute family dominated domestic music-making, while recorder consorts and early brass instruments served ceremonial functions. Renaissance harmony moved away from the open fifths and fourths of medieval music toward the rich triadic (chord-based) harmony that would define all subsequent Western music. The choir became the primary performing ensemble.
The invention of the printing press revolutionised music distribution — Ottaviano Petrucci published the first collection of printed polyphonic music in 1501.