Renaissance music flourished in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The second major period of Western classical music, the lives of Renaissance composers are much better known than earlier composers, with even letters surviving between composers. Renaissance music saw the introduction of written instrumental music, although vocal works still reigned in popularity. There is no strict division between period, so many later medieval and earlier Baroque composers appear here as well.
Lifetime | Nationality | Works and remarks | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Serbian | |||||
German | |||||
Italian | Also known as Jovannes de Florentia, Giovanni degli Organi and Giovanni di Niccol | ||||
English | Has works preserved in the first layer of the Old Hall Manuscript and elsewhere. His identity is unclear; probably English, but possibly from France. | ||||
French | |||||
English | |||||
Italian | Also known as Gratiosus de Padua | ||||
Italian | Also known as Antonius de Civitate Austrie | ||||
French | |||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
French | |||||
Polish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
French | |||||
Italian | Also known as Ugolino da Orvieto | ||||
Italian | |||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
French | Also known as Bertrand di Vignone | ||||
Italian | |||||
French | |||||
English | Very likely to be Henry V of England (1387–1422) | ||||
Franco-Flemish | Also spelled Lymburgia; also called Johannes Vinandi | ||||
English | |||||
English | |||||
French | [1] | ||||
French | |||||
Burgundian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Burgundian | |||||
French | |||||
French | |||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | especially active in German-speaking areas during the early Reformation period | ||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | |||||
Franco-Flemish | [2] | ||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
French | |||||
English | |||||
Italian | Dance master | ||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
French | |||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in the Low Countries and Italy | ||||
Spanish | Or Johannes de Wreede | ||||
English | English theorist and composer mainly active in Italy. | ||||
English-Burgundian | |||||
French | [3] | ||||
English | |||||
Italian | Dancing master | ||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
English | |||||
English | Some of his music is collected in the Eton Choirbook. | ||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | [4] | ||||
English | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Italian | |||||
French | |||||
Spanish | |||||
French | |||||
German | |||||
Polish | |||||
English | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
German | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Serbian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
French | |||||
French | |||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
English | Has a number of works preserved in the Eton Choirbook; at least three Magnificat settings and two masses have been lost. | ||||
English | |||||
English | Major contributor to the Eton Choirbook. | ||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
German | |||||
French | |||||
French | |||||
German | Or Judenkönig | ||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | [5] | ||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in Italy | ||||
English | Presumably identical with the Sturton who composed the six-part Ave Maria ancilla Trinitatis in the Lambeth Choirbook, he contributed a Gaude virgo mater Christi to the Eton Choirbook, the six voices of which cover a fifteen-note range | ||||
French | Brother of Antoine de Févin | ||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
English | Has a single surviving work, a setting of Salve regina, in the Eton Choirbook; a work known as Haycomplayne's Gaude, dated 1529, has been lost | ||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
French | Also known as Lourdault | ||||
French | |||||
German | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Most famous composer of the Grande chapelle of the Habsburg court | ||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
French | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Spanish | |||||
English | |||||
German | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
English | Major contributor to the Eton Choirbook | ||||
Italian | |||||
English | Probably the son of William Cornysh the elder | ||||
Spanish | |||||
English | Major contributor to the Eton Choirbook | ||||
French | Active in Lorraine | ||||
Scottish | |||||
Spanish | |||||
French | Brother of Robert de Févin | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
German | Active in the Low Countries | ||||
English | |||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | Represented by a work in the Gyffard partbooks and manuscript sources | ||||
Italian | |||||
French | Active in Italy | ||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Spanish | |||||
English | |||||
French | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | has two surviving pieces, a five-part Magnificat and a seven-part Gaude flore virginali, in the Eton Choirbook. | ||||
German | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Served Mary, Queen of Hungary for most of his career | ||||
French | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Also called Jacob Godebrye | ||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Spanish | Or Mateu Fletxa el Vell | ||||
German | |||||
French | |||||
German | |||||
German | |||||
Polish | |||||
French | |||||
Italian | Early madrigalist, active at Ferrara | ||||
English | |||||
Scottish | Wrote a mass on L'Homme armé (the only known by a British composer) and a nineteen-part O bone jesu | ||||
English | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in France | ||||
Swiss | Active in Germany | ||||
English | One of the main contributors to The Mulliner Book | ||||
German | |||||
English | |||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Popular composer of chansons in the 1530s | ||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish-German | |||||
English | |||||
Polish | Also known as Sebastian Herburt | ||||
Swiss | |||||
French | Also known as Pierre Regnault | ||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | founder of the Venetian School; active in Italy; influential as a teacher as well as a composer | ||||
Italian | Possibly the earliest composer of madrigals, though not in name | ||||
Italian | Early composer of madrigals; possibly related to Costanzo Festa | ||||
Italian | |||||
English | |||||
Italian | In the employ of the Medici; music teacher to sculptor Benvenuto Cellini | ||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
French | Best known as a printer, especially of Parisian chansons | ||||
German | |||||
French | |||||
German | |||||
Czech | |||||
German | |||||
Franco-Flemish | prominent contrapuntist of generation after Josquin; worked for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor | ||||
Italian | Early composer of madrigals; member of Sistine Chapel choir | ||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Italian | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active at Venice, and assisted in the development of the instrumental ricercar | ||||
Portuguese | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in England | ||||
Franco-Flemish | Music director for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in the 1540s and 1550s, after Nicolas Gombert | ||||
Portuguese | |||||
Polish | Also known as Mikołaj z Krakowa | ||||
Spanish | |||||
French | |||||
Italian | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Early madrigalist | ||||
Spanish | |||||
English | |||||
Franco-Flemish | A member of Charles V's imperial chapel | ||||
English | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Italian | Also known as Ambrosio Lupo, de Almaliach and Lupus Italus; active in England | ||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Czech | Active in Kutná Hora | ||||
Hungarian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Most famous of the early madrigalists | ||||
Italian | Also known as Paolo Antonio del Bivi | ||||
Italian | Rore Also an instrumentalist; active in Ferrara | ||||
German | |||||
Italian | Music printer | ||||
French | |||||
French | |||||
Italian | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Also spelled Tylman; was also an influential music publisher | ||||
Spanish | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in northern Italy | ||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in Spain | ||||
Italian | |||||
French | |||||
Hungarian | |||||
English | Produced the first musical setting for the English liturgy, publishing The Booke of Common Praier Noted, 1549; surviving works include a Missa Per arma iustitie; almost burnt as a heretic in 1543 | ||||
Franco-Flemish | active in Italy and southern France | ||||
Franco-Flemish | Also known as Jacques Clément | ||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Scottish | |||||
French | |||||
Dutch | Active in Rome | ||||
Italian | |||||
English | Also spelled Parsely; wrote a set of Lamentations for Holy Week | ||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Maestro di capilla for Philip II of Spain after Cornelius Canis | ||||
Italian | Madrigalist; father of Alfonso Ferrabosco | ||||
Franco-Flemish | active in Rome | ||||
Italian | Also a trombonist; active at Lucca | ||||
French | |||||
English | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
German | |||||
Dutch | |||||
Italian | Calabrian madrigalist, active in Sicily | ||||
Spanish | |||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active at Ghent; influenced by Josquin | ||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Italian | Maestro di cappella at Ferrara after | ||||
Italian | |||||
French | |||||
Greek | |||||
French | |||||
Italian | Madrigalist, active at Ferrara | ||||
French | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | Miserere for keyboard in a British Museum MS | ||||
Italian | Madrigalist, active at Milan and Bergamo | ||||
English | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
French | Active in Rome | ||||
Polish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
French | |||||
French | Active at Cambrai | ||||
French | |||||
German | |||||
Italian | Madrigalist, native of Padua | ||||
Italian | Father of composer Michelagnolo Galilei and astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei | ||||
English | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Prolific composer of madrigals | ||||
Czech | |||||
Italian | Minor member of the Venetian School | ||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Italian | [6] | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
French | |||||
English | |||||
English | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in Italy | ||||
Italian | Minor madrigalist, active at Treviso; follower of Willaert | ||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Czech | |||||
English | Father of John Mundy; his output includes fine examples of both the large-scale Latin votive antiphon and the short English anthem, as well as Masses and Latin psalm settings; his style is vigorous and eloquent; represented in The Mulliner Book and in the Gyffard partbooks | ||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
French | |||||
English | Composed 12 Offertory settings for keyboard, including the popular Felix namque, and an alternatim organ Mass for Easter, containing the only known sequence setting of the time; his keyboard writing is extremely virtuosic for the period | ||||
German | |||||
Cuban | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
French | |||||
French | |||||
Italian | Father of Lodovico Agostini | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
French | |||||
Czech | |||||
French | |||||
Dutch | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Spanish | Active in Guatemala and Mexico | ||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Italian | Uncle of Giovanni Gabrieli | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | Illegitimate son of Agostino Agostini | ||||
Italian | Madrigalist in Milan; follower of Cipriano de Rore | ||||
English | Latin music includes antiphons, Credo quod redemptor, Domine quis habitabit, Magnificat and Jam Christus astra; also three responds from the Office of the Dead, songs (including Pandolpho), In nomine settings for ensemble, and a galliard | ||||
Italian | Active in several cities in northern Italy; composed both sacred and secular music | ||||
Italian | Madrigalist and teacher of Monteverdi; active at Cremona | ||||
Italian | Madrigalist; founder of the Sicilian school | ||||
Italian | |||||
Polish | |||||
Italian | |||||
Polish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in Italy | ||||
Italian | Dance master | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
French | |||||
French | |||||
English | |||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
French | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | Musician to the Medici; composer of the colossal 60-voice Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno | ||||
Italian | Active in Italy and Germany | ||||
English | Also spelled Strowger, Strowgers; three (probably four) keyboard pieces in a Christ Church, Oxford, manuscript, and a Fantasia in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (No. 89); an In nomine exists in a Bodleian manuscript | ||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in Venice, Italy | ||||
Polish | Also known as Marcin ze Lwowa | ||||
English | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | Also spelled Woodcoke, Woodecock; his Browning my dear is one of several pieces of the period based on a popular tune, also known as The leaves be green | ||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
Italian | Composed liturgical music and madrigals; active at Mantua and Graz | ||||
Spanish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Italian | Also known as Gioseffo da Lucca | ||||
Italian | Also spelled Nanini; brother of Giovanni Bernardino Nanino | ||||
Italian | Active in England | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Flemish composer in the Spanish Netherlands | ||||
English | |||||
Italian | Active at Milan; madrigalist and organist | ||||
English | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Polish | Also known as Jacob Polonais, Jakub Reys, Jacques le Polonois and Jacob de Reis; active in France | ||||
Italian | Late madrigalist at Ferrara | ||||
Spanish | Active in Palermo, Sicily and later in Salamanca; published motets in 1588 | ||||
French | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in Stuttgart and Munich | ||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in the Habsburg chapels of Spain and the Low Countries | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Spanish | [7] | ||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in Italy | ||||
French | |||||
French | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Italian | Earliest known Jewish composer of polyphonic music, active at Mantua | ||||
Italian | |||||
French | Active in England and Germany | ||||
Spanish | |||||
Czech | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Polish | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
Slovenian | Also known as Jacob Handl; active in Moravia and Bohemia | ||||
Czech | |||||
Polish | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | One of the founders of opera | ||||
Spanish | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
German | |||||
English | Also spelled Hoop; contributed to Michael East's psalter and William Leighton's Teares, and wrote some intensely expressive anthems; has two keyboard pieces in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book | ||||
English | Also spelled Inglott; two keyboard pieces in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book; there is also an untitled keyboard piece by 'Englitt' in a MS in the British Museum | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in Italy | ||||
Italian | Nephew of Andrea Gabrieli | ||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | Possibly Welsh | ||||
Spanish | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | Son of William Mundy; published a volume of Songs and Psalms in 1594, contributed to the Triumphs of Oriana, composed English and Latin sacred music, and is represented with five pieces in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book; his Goe from my window variations are a particularly fine example of the genre | ||||
German | |||||
Polish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
French | |||||
English | |||||
Dutch | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | |||||
English | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | Also known as Sir Ferdinando Heybourne; there survives a keyboard Pavan and Galliard, each with variation, in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book | ||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | Maestro di cappella at Vicenza | ||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
English | |||||
English | Exiled to Flanders | ||||
Italian | Brother of Giovanni Francesco Anerio | ||||
Polish-Lithuanian-Italian | Worked all his life in Poland | ||||
English | Organist at Norwich Cathedral (from 1594 to 1608); a single piece by him exists in Ravenscroft's 1621 collection | ||||
Spanish | |||||
English | Active in Denmark and Germany | ||||
English | |||||
Italian | Brother of Giovanni Maria Nanino | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Irish | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in Spain | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | Also known as Spongia | ||||
German | |||||
Spanish | |||||
English | Exiled to the Netherlands | ||||
French | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
German | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
English | |||||
English | |||||
English | Father of the poet John Milton; composed madrigals, one of which was printed in The Triumphs of Oriana, as well as anthems, Psalm settings, a motet, and some consort music including a six-part In nomine | ||||
Czech | |||||
German | |||||
English | Also spelled Danyell; brother of the poet Samuel Daniel (spellings of the names of the two brothers differ) | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | |||||
English | Probably father of John Hilton 'the younger' (1599–1657) | ||||
German | |||||
English | |||||
English | |||||
English | Lutenist | ||||
Italian | |||||
English | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
Italian | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
French | Also a lutenist | ||||
Italian | |||||
Burgundian | |||||
French | |||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
Dutch | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | Brother of Felice Anerio | ||||
Italian | [8] | ||||
English | Also spelled Campian; the only English composer to experiment with musique mesurée, and the first to imitate the Florentine monodists | ||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Spanish | |||||
English | |||||
English | Responsible for the earliest known use of col legno in Western music | ||||
English | |||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | |||||
Spanish | |||||
Dutch-Danish | |||||
English | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
French | |||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
English | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | Also known as Thomas Lupo The Elder; composer of several works, but solid attribution of many works to him or another of his relatives is difficult | ||||
English | |||||
German | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | Active in Florence. Collaborated with Giulio Caccini on the early opera Il rapimento di Cefalo | ||||
English | Contributed to Michael East's psalter and The Triumphs of Oriana and more | ||||
German | |||||
English | |||||
English | |||||
Czech | |||||
German | |||||
French | |||||
English | May be the same person as Martin Pearson; four keyboard pieces in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book; many works also published | ||||
English | Brother of Orlando Gibbons | ||||
Italian | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in Spain and the Netherlands | ||||
Danish | |||||
German | |||||
English | |||||
Franco-Flemish | Active in Italy | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | Believed to be the same person as Raffaella Aleotti (c. 1570 – after 1646) | ||||
English | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | |||||
English | |||||
English | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
French | |||||
Italian | Active in Bavaria and Poland; son of composer Vincenzo Galilei; brother of astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | Illegitimate son of Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder | ||||
English | |||||
English | Primarily known from one published work, The XIII Wonders of the World, published in London in 1611; It contains twelve songs, six duets for lute and viol, and seven pieces for lyra viol with optional bass viol | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | Published five volumes of simple and melodious lute songs, and one of madrigals | ||||
Italian | |||||
English | |||||
German | |||||
English | |||||
Irish | |||||
English | Also spelled Cosin, Cosens; compiler of the manuscript Cosyn's Virginal Book | ||||
Danish | |||||
Irish | |||||
English | |||||
English | |||||
German | |||||
English | Published a volume of five- and six-part madrigals in 1619; his best-known piece is Sweet Suffolk Owl | ||||
English | There survive nine plainsong settings, one hexachord, and three voluntaries for double organ in a Christ Church autograph MS, among others | ||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | Probably the son of Thomas East | ||||
Italian | |||||
English | His Canzonets to Three Voyces, although clearly the work of an amateur, have charm and individuality | ||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | Brother of Domenico Allegri | ||||
English | Published a book of psalms amongst others | ||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
English | Active in Denmark | ||||
English | Active in England and Scotland | ||||
Italian | |||||
English | |||||
German | |||||
Danish | |||||
Italian | |||||
Dutch | |||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | Brother of Gregorio Allegri | ||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
German | |||||
French | |||||
Italian | |||||
French | |||||
English | |||||
German | |||||
Croatian | |||||
English | |||||
French | |||||
English | Madrigalist; publications include instrumental toccatas, sinfonias and ritornellos as well as vocal pieces | ||||
Italian | |||||
Polish | |||||
English | Book of Ayresin MS bears a dedication to Prince Henry dated 1609, but was never published | ||||
English | |||||
Italian | |||||
Italian | |||||
German | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
Danish | |||||
English | Composed mythological and biblical dialogues, such as Dives and Abraham, Saul and the Witch of Endor, and Orpheus and Pluto | ||||
Polish | |||||
Polish | |||||
German | |||||
Dutch | |||||
English | Two 18th-century arrangements for viols of keyboard pavans in a MS in the British Museum survive | ||||
English | Son of John Dowland; only three works are definitely ascribed to him: two lute pieces in the 'Varietie of Lute Lessons' and one in the 'Margaret Board Lutebook' | ||||
French | |||||
English | |||||
Dutch | |||||
German | |||||
German | |||||
German | |||||
English | |||||
English | |||||
German | |||||
Dutch | |||||
French | |||||
French | |||||
Swedish | |||||
German | |||||
German | |||||
English | |||||
French | |||||
French | |||||
Czech | |||||
German | |||||
English | Composed English and Latin church music, and consort songs, in humorous rather than melancholy vein, and contributed to The Triumphs of Oriana | ||||
English | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
English | |||||
English | |||||
Portuguese | |||||
English | |||||
English | |||||
Spanish | |||||
English | |||||
English | |||||
Polish | |||||
English | |||||
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