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Renaissance ensembles
Consort
Most music of this period if not actually a dance, like a pavane or galliard, was certainly dance like in style. The music could be played by solo instruments such a lutes, harpsichords or virginals, by small groups of instruments of the same family or a group of varied instruments from different families.
In England, a consort was the name given to a group of instruments of the same family playing together. Listen to this excerpt played by a ‘consort’ of viols accompanying a solo soprano voice .
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It was also a common practice to perform music with a ‘broken consort’, a collection of different instruments which blended together. This was really the forerunner of the Baroque orchestra which developed during the 17th century.
Notice the use of strings, lute and recorder in this excerpt from a galliard, the faster of the two most popular dances of the time. Listen also for the quite unusual and sophisticated syncopation in the second phrase.
Harpsichord
A pavane was a slow, stately dance with two beats in a bar which was usually performed before a galliard. Listen to this example played on a harpsichord and notice the frequent use of arpeggios and ornaments, and how the music gets more complicated as it progresses, with variations of the original theme and many scale passages.
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A galliard usually followed a performance of a pavane and was a quicker dance, with three beats in a bar. In this example, played by a solo lute, notice how the music again seems to become more contrapuntal and difficult as it progresses.
Other stately dances came into fashion during the period. A courante from France usually in 3/2 or 6/4 time is played here played by two violins, a viola da gamba and harpsichord. While viols were still the most popular stringed instruments at this time the new violins were beginning to be used in combination with the more established instruments like harpsichords, lutes and bass viols.
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During this period composers also experimented with collections of dances played together as a ‘suite’. Here is an excerpt from an almand, one of five in a suite of almands. It is a moderately quick dance in 4/4 time, played in this excerpt by a sackbut and accompanied by a tambourine.
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Variations and grounds were popular and indeed were a frequent way of extending themes by repeating a simple theme followed by at least one variation. Listen to this excerpt where a series of variations is built over a ground bass, a popular form of composition of this time. It is played by a harpsichord and the ground can be clearly heard throughout.
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Fantasias were also popular and were contrapuntal in style. These were usually written for performance by a solo instrument such as a lute, as in this example.
From Italy other styles were developed, for instance the canzona, which was like a song for instruments, and indeed many were based on songs, the ricercar, in which melodies were treated with much imitation, and finally the toccata, from the Italian verb 'to touch', which was a real instrumental style for keyboard and required very fluent and rapid finger work.
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