Welcome back to Between the Barlines! I’m your host, Dr. Maeve Berry, and today is our final episode of season 2! The 17th century was a time of dramatic change and innovation in music. It was a bridge between the Renaissance and the Baroque, a century of experimentation, emotion, and new forms that would shape the sound of Western music for centuries to come.

Welcome back to Between the Barlines! I am your host, Dr. Maeve Berry! Today, we are going to tie up some loose ends that we still have in the Renaissance! We are going to address composers like Thomas Tallis and Tomás Luis de Victoria, as well as the instrument called the virginal.

Pieces mentioned/played in episode:

Tallis Spem in alium a 40: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3LnkG2P2wM

Tallis Te lucis ante terminum (Festal Tone): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y75c3aIg3nI

Victoria O magnum mysterium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzVNkvXh6Qk

John Bull Galliarda FWV 17, vol. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWJRvzmzZ6c

Welcome back to Between the Barlines! I’m your host, Dr. Maeve Berry, and today we’re diving into an often overlooked but deeply fascinating era in Western music history: the 16th century — a time when instrumental music began to step into its own spotlight. While vocal music still dominated, and composers like Palestrina and Josquin des Prez were household names in their time, the 16th century was a turning point for purely instrumental composition and performance. So today, we’ll explore the instruments, forms, social contexts, and innovations that shaped this transitional time — and paved the way for the Baroque explosion to come.

Suggested Music Listening:

Luys de Narváez Guárdame las vacas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYQpHXiko0s

Luis de Milán Pavana del I y II tono (played on vihuela by Eduardo Egüez!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIGIaxGpdBE

Andrea and Giovanni Gabrielli 2 Canzonas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEjj3Ud-ckk

William Byrd The Hunt's Up FVB 59 (Fitzwilliam Virginal Book Vol. 1 No. 59): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZRx-u94_5Q

Welcome back to Between the Barlines! I am your host, Dr. Maeve Berry, and I am thrilled that you are joining me for another episode in season 2! Today we are going to talk all about Palestrina, an extremely influential composer of choral music in the mid to late 16th century. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was born around 1525, in a small hill town just outside of Rome.

Snippet of Music played in episode:

Palestrina Missa Papae Marcelli (full): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRfF7W4El60

Welcome back to Between the Barlines! I’m your host, Dr. Maeve Berry! Today, we’re talking about one of the most consequential religious gatherings in world history: The Council of Trent. It’s a response to the firestorm of the Protestant Reformation and a defining moment for the Catholic Church that still echoes through its walls today. A lot of today’s episode will focus on the changes that were occurring, and I will also rope music back into the picture later in the episode.

Welcome back to Between the Barlines! Today we are going to continue our talk about the Italian Madrigal, and I wanted to share a few composers and their music that are considered “later madrigalists” by historians. We learned a few episodes ago that the madrigal began in Italy in the early 16th century as a secular vocal form — a poetic, polyphonic setting of Italian verse, usually about love, loss, or pastoral life. But by the late 1500s and early 1600s, the madrigal had evolved into something far more experimental and expressive. Today, we’re going to look at three key figures of the later madrigal tradition: Luca Marenzio, Carlo Gesualdo, and Claudio Monteverdi — each of whom took the form in radically different directions.

Pieces mentioned in the episode:

Marenzio Solo e pensoso: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmGzve9E9t4

Gesualdo Moro, lasso, al mio duolo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dVPu71D8VI

Gesualdo O vos omnes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiIKbUI6Dio

Welcome back to Between the Barlines! I am your host, Dr. Maeve Berry. To continue our conversation from last episode, today, we are going to talk about the madrigal in England and some of its important composers. We’ve already learned so much about the madrigal, but this innovation in vocal music brought much change to England, as we will see. We already know that the madrigal was born in Italy in the early 16th century, with masters like Luca Marenzio and Carlo Gesualdo pushing the form into emotionally expressive and harmonically adventurous territory. However, in the 1580s, Italian madrigals were being translated and printed in London. English composers and poets then became fascinated with the form.

Snippets of Music within Podcast:

Morley Now is the Month of Maying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NPFUz-kIu4

Weelkes As Vesta was: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95DJ7oqTWK8

Gibbons The Silver Swan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYvZvAihBP0

Welcome back to Between the Barlines! I am your host, Dr. Maeve Berry! I hope you are enjoying season 2, as we only have a couple episodes left talking about the Renaissance! We are going to talk about other 16th century European secular songs and composers today besides the ever popular secular form of the Italian madrigal. If you missed learning about the Italian madrigal, be sure to check out the last episode! There are several secular songs I would like to talk about today: villanella, canzonetta, balletto, lyric and narrative chansons, and consort songs.

Williaert Vecchie letrose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ypM7aNn7A0

Gastoldi Balletti per Cantare, Sonare e Ballare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow06ALB6rK8

Janequin Le chant des oiseaux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtkvHYDbN2U

Janequin La Guerre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY2rLfhJLmY