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MUH 5335/4331 (Fall 2020)

History of Music: Renaissance
TR 11:00am–12:15pm (online)

Instructor
Dr. Sarah Eyerly
E-mail: seyerly@fsu.edu
Cell phone: 317-828-6898

Virtual Office Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, 11am-12pm; and by appointment

https://fsu.zoom.us/j/91069814964; Meeting ID: 910 6981 4964

Course Description and Objectives

The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were a time of profound change in European culture.
Humanism, a movement that was at its roots an attempt to revive or “rebirth” the culture of
classical antiquity, generated quite modern changes through the work of intellectuals, artists,
and scientists. Explorers and European colonial powers also propelled profound geo-political,
technological, and cultural changes that would have enduring repercussions for music and
musical practices on both sides of the Atlantic. In this class, we will study music in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries for what it can teach us about the history of Europe and the European
diaspora. We will also explore the history of Europe and the Atlantic world during the
Renaissance for what it can teach us about music. Our objectives are:

1. To understand the discipline of historical musicology and the basic principles of archival
research: how do musicologists study, interpret, and write about music of the past?
2. To understand the history of European culture, science, technology, religion, politics, and
colonization in the Renaissance period, as it pertains to the history of music.
3. To understand the history of music in the Renaissance: to identify familiar and unfamiliar works
by period, place, and genre, and to discuss the ways that musical practices reflected and shaped
European culture.

Required Texts and Recordings

The required textbook and anthology are available at the bookstore, or you may wish to purchase
used copies online. Supplemental articles, scores, and recordings are available through Canvas.
Text/Anthology
1. Music in the Renaissance, Richard Freedman (1st edition).
2. Anthology for Music in the Renaissance (1st edition).
3. Strunk’s Source Readings in Music History: The Renaissance, vol. 3 (revised edition).
Recordings
1. The recordings that accompany the anthology are available through Norton’s StudySpace for the
anthology or Naxos Music Library (enter through the music library website).
2. Recordings for pieces that are not part of the anthology will be posted on Canvas.

Electronic Resources and Online Course Meetings

Technology Requirements
In order to take this course, you will need access to a computer or tablet with audio, and high-speed
internet. Please let me know within the first week of the course if you need assistance in obtaining
the necessary technology requirements.
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Course Meetings
This course will be taught online via asynchronous and synchronous instruction methods. For the
first week, we will gather synchronously via zoom. After the first week, and through the end of the
course, we will be completing asynchronous learning modules on Tuesdays. On Thursdays, we will
gather for a group discussion during our regular course meeting time. The meeting links will be
provided on our Canvas course site.

Canvas Course Site

Grades, supplementary materials, and course announcements will be posted through the Canvas site
for this course. To login, you will need the username associated with your FSU e-mail account and
password. I will send course announcements to your FSU e-mail address through the Canvas
system. You are required to register for a university e-mail account in order to receive these e-mails.

Norton Study Space

The publisher of your textbook and anthology, W.W. Norton, maintains an online study space for
this textbook. You can access the study space at:
http://wwnorton.com/college/music/history/renaissance/welcome.aspx.
The author of your textbook, Richard Freedman, also maintains a personal website that contains
helpful information for each chapter:
https://sites.google.com/haverford.edu/freedman-music-renaissance/home

Supplemental Readings on Renaissance History and Music

1. Richard Taruskin, The Oxford History of Western Music (Oxford and New York: Oxford University
Press, 2005). For this course, you would refer to Volume 1, “The Earliest Notation to the Sixteenth
Century.”
2. Allan W. Atlas, Renaissance Music: Music in Western Europe, 1400-1600 (New York: Norton, 1998).
3. Leeman L. Perkins, Music in the Age of the Renaissance (New York: Norton, 1999).
4. Reinhard Strohm, The Rise of European Music, 1380-1500 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1993).
5. Laurenz Lütteken, James Steichen, and Christopher A. Reynolds, Music of the Renaissance: Imagination
and Reality of a Cultural Practice (Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2019).
6. Bonnie Blackburn, Composition, Printing, and Performance: Studies in Renaissance Music (Aldershot:
Ashgate, 2000).
7. Gary Tomlinson, Music in Renaissance Magic: Toward a Historiography of Others (Chicago: Chicago
University Press, 1993).
8. Music in Renaissance Cities and Courts: Studies in Honor of Lewis Lockwood, Jessie Ann Owens and
Anthony Cummings, eds. (Warren, MI: Harmonie Park Press, 1997).
9. Music and the Cultures of Print, Kate Van Orden, ed. (New York: General Music Publishing Company,
2000).
10. Gary Tomlinson, Monteverdi and the End of the Renaissance (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1987).
11. Music and Musicians in Renaissance Cities and Towns, Fiona Kisby, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2001), 167-80.
12. Remi Chiu, Plague and Music in the Renaissance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).
13. Alexander J. Fisher, Music, Piety, and Propaganda: The Soundscapes of Counter-Reformation Bavaria
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).
14. Philip V. Bohlman, ed. The Cambridge History of World Music (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2013).
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15. Deborah Howard and Laura Moretti, Sound and Space in Renaissance Venice: Architecture, Music
Acoustics (Yale University Press, 2010).
16. Kirsten Gibson and Ian Biddle, Cultural Histories of Noise, Sound and Listening in Europe, 1300-1918
(London: Routledge, 2016).
17. Walter Mignolo, The Darker Side of the Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality, and Colonization (Ann
Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003).
18. Peter Burke, The European Renaissance: Centres and Peripheries (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998).
19. Jack Goody, Renaissances: The One or the Many? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
20. The Italian Renaissance: The Essential Readings, Paula Findlen, ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002).
21. Peter Burke, The Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy (Oxford: Polity, 1987).
22. Jonathan Sawday, Engines of the Imagination: Renaissance Culture and the Rise of the Machine
(London: Routledge, 2007).
23. Charles M. Hudson, Carmen Chaves Tesser, and Floridiana Collection, eds., The Forgotten Centuries:
Indians and Europeans in the American South, 1521-1704 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1994).
24. Olivia Ashley Bloechl, Native American Song at the Frontiers of Early Modern Music (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2008).
25. David Irving, Colonial Counterpoint: Music in Early Modern Manila (Oxford, New York: Oxford
University Press, 2010).

Evaluation
Midterm – 15%
For the midterm exam, you will choose several essay questions to answer from a list of pre-
determined essay topics. These topics will be distributed through Canvas on 10/15, and your
answers will be due through Canvas at midnight on 10/22. There will be no make-ups or extensions
for this essay exam, since it is a take-home exam and it is available for a full week. The exam will
include material covered in class, assigned readings, and listening examples for the first half of the
semester.

Final – 15%
The final exam will be in the same format as the midterm: you will choose several essay questions
to answer from a list of pre-determined essay topics. These topics will be distributed through
Canvas on 11/24, and your answers will be due through Canvas at midnight on 12/3. There will be
no make-ups or extensions for this essay exam, since it is a take-home exam and it is available for
over a week. The exam will include material covered in class, assigned readings, and listening
examples for the second half of the semester, as well as some questions that are cumulative.

Weekly Responses – 30%

Each week, you will receive a detailed study guide with a list of questions and guided activities to
complete. You will complete the activities in the study guide and submit your work as a single
Word document each Thursday via Canvas as a record of your asynchronous work for that week.
Your responses will be graded as Pass/Fail. The materials from the weekly study guides will appear
on the Midterm and Final, so it is a good idea to be as detailed as possible in your responses. I will
respond with comments each week by the following Tuesday.

Attendance and Participation – 40%

Attendance at our Thursday synchronous discussion sections is mandatory. Please come to class
prepared to succinctly summarize and discuss the reading(s) and analyze and discuss the required
pieces. Regular, informed, and meaningful participation is essential for this class. For our
synchronous sessions, you must join the meeting within 15 minutes of the start time or you will not
be able to join the class unless you have made prior arrangements with me.
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Grading Scale
A 93-100
A- 90-92
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-72
D+ 67-69
D 63-66
D- 60-62
F 59 and below

University Attendance Policy

Excused absences include documented illness, deaths in the family and other documented crises,
call to active military duty or jury duty, religious holy days, and official University activities. These
absences will be accommodated in a way that does not arbitrarily penalize students who have a
valid excuse. Consideration will also be given to students whose dependent children experience
serious illness.

Academic Honor Policy

The Florida State University Academic Honor Policy outlines the University’s expectations for the
integrity of students’ academic work, the procedures for resolving alleged violations of those
expectations, and the rights and responsibilities of students and faculty members throughout the
process. Students are responsible for reading the Academic Honor Policy and for living up to their
pledge to “. . . be honest and truthful and . . . [to] strive for personal and institutional integrity at
Florida State University.” (Florida State University Academic Honor Policy, found at
http://fda.fsu.edu/Academics/Academic-Honor-Policy.)

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA):

Students with disabilities needing academic accommodation should:
1. register with and provide documentation to the Office of Accessibility Services; and
2. request a letter from the Office of Accessibility Services to be sent to the
instructor indicating the need for accommodation and what type; and
3. meet (in person, via phone, email, zoom, etc…) with each instructor to whom a letter of
accommodation was sent to review approved accommodations.
This syllabus and other class materials are available in alternative format upon request. For the
latest version of this statement and more information about services available to FSU students with
disabilities, contact the:
Office of Accessibility Services
874 Traditions Way
108 Student Services Building
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4167
(850) 644-9566 (voice); (850) 644-8504 (TDD)
oas@fsu.edu
https://dsst.fsu.edu/oas/
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COURSE CALENDAR
Except for changes that substantially affect implementation of the evaluation (grading) statement,
this syllabus is a guide for the course and is subject to change with advance notice. Any changes to
the course calendar will be announced through Canvas.

Abbreviations
Music in the Renaissance, Richard Freedman (1st edition) = MR
Anthology for Music in the Renaissance (1st edition) = AMR
Strunk’s Source Readings in Music History: The Renaissance, vol. 3 (revised edition) = SRMH3

WEEK ONE
8/25 Course Introduction
1. Review the list of digital resources for the study of Renaissance music at:
https://sites.google.com/haverford.edu/freedman-music-renaissance/facsimiles-images
8/27 The Renaissance: Science, Empire, Art, and Magic
1. Please read Jennifer Thomas’s (University of Florida) assessment of our textbook’s strengths and
weaknesses: http://www.ams-net.org/ojs/index.php/jmhp/article/view/167/0
2. Please be prepared to discuss the questions assigned to your group in “Renaissance: Study Questions”
(available on Canvas)

WEEK TWO
9/1, 9/3 Music and the Cultures of the Renaissance
Readings: MR 4-16
Jessie Ann Owens, “Music Historiography and the Definition of ‘Renaissance,’” Notes 47 (1990):
305-30; Laurenz Lütteken, James Steichen, and Christopher A. Reynolds, Music of the
Renaissance: Imagination and Reality of a Cultural Practice (Oakland, California: University of
California Press, 2019).
Examples: AMR 1, 2
Source Readings: SRMH3 40

WEEK THREE
9/8, 9/10 Learning to Be a Musician
Readings: MR 17-34
James Haar, “Some Introductory Remarks on Musical Pedagogy,” in Cynthia J. Cyrus, et al, Music
Education in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010);
Victor Coehlo and Keith Polk, “Renaissance Instruments: Images and Realities,” and “The
Instrumentalist’s Workshop,” in Instrumentalists and Renaissance Culture, 1492-1600 (Cambridge
University Press, 2016).
Examples: AMR 3, 8
Source Readings: SRMH3 32, 34, 35, 39

WEEK FOUR
9/15, 9/17 Music at Court and a Songbook for Beatrice
Readings: MR 38-57
Annibal Guasco, Discourse to Lady Lavinia, His Daughter, Peggy Osborn, ed. (Chicago: University
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of Chicago Press, 2003): 1-24 and 49-54; Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier (English
edition, London, 1588): 1-10: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-book-of-the-courtier-1588;
Victor Coehlo and Keith Polk, “Prologue: The Culture of Renaissance Instrumental Music,”
Renaissance Instrumental Music and Its Patrons,” and “The Players,” in Instrumentalists and
Renaissance Culture, 1492-1600 (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Examples: AMR 4, 5
Source Readings: SRMH3 1, 6, 7

WEEK FIVE
9/22, 9/24 Music and the Ideal Courtier
Readings: MR 113-130
Martha Feldman, “The Courtesan’s Voice: Petrarchan Lovers, Pop Philosophy, and Oral Tradition,”
in The Courtesan’s Arts: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Martha Feldman and Bonnie Gordon, eds.
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2006); James Haar, “The Courtier as Musician: Castiglione’s
View of the Science and Art of Music,” in Castiglione: The Ideal and the Real in Renaissance
Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983).
Examples: AMR 13, 25
Source Readings: SRMH3 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16

WEEK SIX
9/29, 10/1 Piety, Devotion, and Ceremony
Readings: MR 58-77
Bonnie Blackburn, “For Whom Do the Singers Sing?” Early Music 25 (1997): 593-609; Victor
Coehlo and Keith Polk, “Instrumental Music for Celebration and Ceremony,” in Instrumentalists
and Renaissance Culture, 1492-1600 (Cambridge University Press, 2016); Todd M. Borgerding,
“Imagining the Sacred Body: Choirboys, Their Voices, and Corpus Christi in Early Modern
Seville,” in Musical Childhoods and the Cultures of Youth, Susan Boynton and Roe-Min Kok, eds.,
(Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2006).
Examples: AMR 6-9
Source Readings: SRMH3 21, 34

WEEK SEVEN
10/6, 10/8 Structures and Symbols in Cantus Firmus and Canon; Introduction to Renaissance
Notation
Readings: MR 78-91
Examples: AMR 2, 6, 9, 10-11
Source Readings: SRMH3: no readings
Additional materials for this week will be available via Canvas.

WEEK EIGHT
10/13, 10/15 Number, Medicine, Magic, and Plague
Readings: MR 96-112
Remi Chiu, “Music for the Body and Soul,” in Plague and Music in the Renaissance (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2017); Linda Phyllis Austern, “Musical Treatments for Lovesickness:
The Early Modern Heritage,” in Music as Medicine: The History of Music Therapy since Antiquity,
Peregrine Horden, ed. (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000), 213-48; Gary Tomlinson, “Ficino’s Magical
Songs,” in Music in Renaissance Magic: Toward a Historiography of Others (Chicago: Chicago
University Press, 1993).
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Examples: AMR 12, 15

Source Readings: SRMH3 18, 29, 30, 31
***10/15: Midterm essay questions distributed through Canvas***

WEEK NINE
10/20, 10/22 Josquin des Prez and the “Perfect Art”
Readings: MR 131-49
Paula Higgins, “The Apotheosis of Josquin des Prez and Other Mythologies of Musical Genius, “
JAMS 57 (2004): 443-510; Jessie Ann Owens, “How Josquin Became Josquin: Reflections on
Historiography and Reception,” in Music in Renaissance Cities and Courts: Studies in Honor of
Lewis Lockwood, Jessie Ann Owens and Anthony Cummings, eds. (Warren, MI: Harmonie Park
Press, 1997), 271-80.
Examples: AMR 11, 14, 15
Source Readings: SRMH3 3, 35
***10/22: Midterm essays due through Canvas***

WEEK TEN
10/27, 10/29 Scribes, Printers, and Owners
Readings: MR 150-69
Kate Van Orden, Music, Authorship, and the Book in the First Century of Print (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2000).
Source Readings: SRMH3 6, 11, 15, 26

WEEK ELEVEN
11/3, 11/5 Music and the Literary Imagination
Readings: MR 174-92
Laura Macy, “Speaking of Sex: Metaphor and Performance in the Italian Madrigal,” Journal of
Musicology 14/1 (1996): 1-34; Gary Tomlinson, “Guarini, Rinuccini, and the Ideal of Musical
Speech,” and “Monteverdi and Italian Culture, 1550–1700,” in Monteverdi and the End of the
Renaissance (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987).
Examples: AMR 3, 12, 15-18
Source Readings: SRMH3 36, 37, 40

WEEK TWELVE
11/10, 11/12 Music and the Crisis of Belief
Readings: MR 193-215
Rebecca Wagner Oettinger, “The Significance of Reformation-Era Song,” in Music as Propaganda
in the German Reformation (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001); Allan Atlas, “The Protestant Reformation,”
in Renaissance Music: Music in Western Europe, 1400–1600 (New York: Norton, 1998), 510–19;
Martin Luther, “Foreword to the Wittemberg Gesangbuch,” in Source Readings in Music History,
Oliver Strunk and Leo Treitler, eds. (New York: Norton, 1998, rev. ed.), 361–62.
Examples: AMR 19-23
Source Readings: SRMH3 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28

WEEK THIRTEEN
11/17, 11/19 The Arts of Improvisation, Embellishment, and Variation
Readings: MR 216-31
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We will choose readings from the bibliography for this chapter:

http://wwnorton.com/college/music/history/renaissance/bibliographies.aspx
Examples: AMR 23-25
Source Readings: SRMH3 8, 9, 10, 19

WEEK FOURTEEN
11/24, 11/26 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
***11/24: Final essay questions distributed through Canvas***

WEEK FIFTEEN
12/1, 12/3 Empire, Exploration, and Encounter
Readings: MR 232-49
Sarah Eyerly, Mark Sciuchetti, Rachel Bani, and Laura Clapper, “Reconstructing the Intangible
Cultural Heritage of Mission San Luis de Talimali,” in Unearthing the Missions of Spanish Florida,
Rochelle Marrinan and Tanya Peres, eds. (University Press of Florida, forthcoming 2021); Olivia
Bloechl, “Protestant Imperialism and the Representation of Native American Song,” Musical
Quarterly 87 (2004): 44-86; Gary Tomlinson, “Introduction: Raised Voices” and “Inca Singing at
Cuzco,” in The Singing of the New World: Indigenous Voice in the Era of European Contact
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
Source Readings: SRMH3 42, 43, 45
***12/3: Final essays due through Canvas***