Ottaviano Petrucci, the first successful printer of polyphonic music, operated in Venice between 1502 and 1509, attracted by the city's leading position in the Italian printing industry.
Instruments
The 'Capirola Lutebook' (c. 1517) is a handwritten anthology of lute compositions and arrangements by Vincenzo Capirola, a Brescian lutenist who taught in Venice, and is decorated with nearly 300 images.
Historical Context
The Gloria, a central part of church music aesthetics in Renaissance Italy, derives its words from the angels announcing Christ's birth in Luke 2:14, and Renaissance paintings often depict angels singing it.
Compositional Technique
Josquin des Prez's motet 'O bone et dulcis Domine Jesu' features a unique compositional approach where the bass sings the 'Ave Maria' plainchant while the alto sings the entire 'Pater noster' plainchant, alongside a prayer to Jesus.
Historical Context
Carpaccio's 'St Augustine in his Study' (1502) depicts two legible music books featuring three- and four-voice compositions characteristic of contemporary laude, a simpler, vernacular Italian song form.
Compositional Technique
Jean Mouton, a leading composer at the French royal court, used a sophisticated compositional technique in his motet 'Ave virgo caeli porta' where only two of four vocal lines are notated, requiring the other two to be extrapolated by the singers.
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