Renaissance (1400–1600)

In the 15th and 16th centuries Europe rediscovered Antiquity and put human beings at the centre. In music this meant a search for clarity and balance: voices are equal, they imitate one another, and composers want the words to remain understandable.

Franco-Flemish musicians such as Josquin des Prez dominated Europe. Their art is built on counterpoint: the same phrase passes from one voice to the next, staggered, as in a round. The chords we now call major and minor became more common, but music was still thought of in modes.

A technical revolution changed everything: in 1501 in Venice, Ottaviano Petrucci published the first collection of polyphonic music printed with movable type. Music travelled, and amateurs could buy scores and play at home.

Instrumental music grew more independent. In Spain, Luis de Milán published the first book for the vihuela, a cousin of the guitar, in 1536, and Alonso Mudarra printed the earliest known pieces for guitar (then with four courses of strings) in 1546. People danced the pavane, galliard and branle, which Thoinot Arbeau described step by step in his Orchésographie (1589).