Arts During the High Renaissance
Michelangelo painted ‘The Last Judgment’. The massive painting covers the entire wall behind the alter of the Sistine chapel. It is a painting of Jesus judging the people on earth and sending them to either Heaven or Hell by the saints.
This was a painting that caused much dispute. Michelangelo was accused of intolerable obscenity as well as immorality because most of the figures are naked. Due to the excessiveness of genitalia and the amount human anatomy detail, twenty four years later priest paid another painter to clothed figures such as the Virgin Mary.
The Last Judgment also steered away from traditional depictions of the painting. Michelangelo depicts Christ very muscular and beardless. He is surrounded by light and the picture seems to focus around him instead of a classical heaven and hell. Linear perspective is also noticeable in this painting replacing the traditional horizontal layers. It is said that Michelangelo uses the science of cosmology with the depiction of Christ because he resembles the Greek Sun God, Apollo and is in the center symbolizing the center of the universe.
At the same time music began to become an essential part of daily life during the High Renaissance. The new ideas that were spreading across Europe reformed the way political, economic, and religious views were valued. This led to major changes in the style of composing methods used in music.New musical genres and instruments developed splitting the patronage into groups. The Catholic Church and Protestant churches were sources for music printing not to mention a source of income for composers of this era.
Composers during the middle Ages and Early Renaissance worked with cantus-firmus but it was not really until the Protestant Reformation that important changes began to occur starting with the church. Hymns began to be sung by a group rather than an individual. This brought a monographic vocal into a harmony. This was also a time when psalms of the Bible started to be translated into French and set to music.
Instrumental music advanced during the High Renaissance and music started to be written without words to give the opportunity for instruments to shine. More musicians came together creating a polyphonic form ranging from different consorts. A consort was how instruments were grouped from high to lows. The high to lows consisted of treble, alto, bass and contrabass. Polyphonic music during the High Renaissance gave instruments a chance to individually shine.
In example, one instrument would start with a melody, a few measures later a second would join causing a huge difference in sound from one era to another. Dance also became popular during the Late Renaissance and music started to be written for that purpose. One place someone might visit to see musicians entertain would be the Globe Theatre. A well-known love song that was performed there is called ‘Green sleeves’.