|
|
A
documentary that will bring together two of the
greatest art traditions in the world for the first
time in the modern era: Renaissance Sacred
Painting
and Renaissance Sacred Music |
|
|
Santa Croce in
Florence
Agnolo
Gaddi and his assistants began decorating the
Great Chapel and its walls in the 1380s. |
|
DoveSong.com
is working on a project to produce a one-hour television
documentary called Sacred Art of the Renaissance. This
production will bring together the great
musical, pictorial, and architectural arts of the Renaissance to give viewers a
truly incredible realization of the power and beauty of some
of the greatest art ever created.
When one evaluates the importance of the art from the
Renaissance period and realizes that education about either
the painting or the music rarely exists in modern times, the
need for this kind of documentary becomes apparent. Some music appreciation
courses might briefly discuss Renaissance music, but often it is
considered archaic and not relevant to modern times and more
than likely, only art students learn about the high art of the
Renaissance. Yet the incredible
beauty of the art of this era is unsurpassable and we feel it
is exactly what is needed in a culture whose greatest
contemporary offerings are abstract
art and atonal music.
It is amazing that these two art
forms have been nearly forgotten in contemporary society when they are
so important. Bringing together them together will create a powerful emotional reaction in
the aware viewer. This documentary will be filmed by award-winning filmmaker Ron Frank with music
selected by composer Don Robertson.
*
Renaissance Sacred Art
*
|
Some
of the greatest art ever created was created during the
Renaissance period of Western culture. In fact, the
great beauty and power of this great sacred art is
overwhelming. Who were the great painters of the period?
The list is long and includes many artists:
Giotto di Bondone, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo
Buonarroti, Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), Fra Bartolommeo
(Baccio della Porta), Botticelli, Andrea del Sarto,
Jacopo Pontormo, Giovanbattista Rosso Fiorentino,
Correggio (Antonio Allegri), Agnolo Bronzino,
Parmigianino (Francesco Mazzola), Giorgione, Giovanni
Bellini, Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), Jacopo Tintoretto,
Paolo Veronese, Jacopo Bassano, Massaccio, Donatello,
Perugino,Andrea del Castagno, Fra Angelico...the list
goes on and on. |
|
Fra Angelico: The Coronation of the
Virgin, 1441
|
The great center for Renaissance art is Florence, Italy,
where during the 14th century, the city began to flourish
artistically with such literary and artistic geniuses as
Dante Alighieri, Boccaccio, and Giotto. Building
projects of the time included the Campanile and Orsan-
michele. During the 15th century, Florence embarked
on a period of artistic and cultural glory without
parallel. This period is now known as the Renaissance.
Starting with Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Donatello, and
Botticelli, the list of outstanding artists who matured
in 15th-century Florence culminates in the great
geniuses of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo
Buonarroti. Their works are considered to be among the
greatest and most
famous in the entire history of art. |
Great works of painting, sculpture, and architecture
from this period are available to see and film today in
Italy, and Florence, and its surrounding Tuscany, is filled
with great treasures of art.
The spiritual power of Renaissance art is well-known. The French writer Henri
Beyle (1783-1842), who achieved world renowned under the
pseudonym of Sendhal travelled to Florence and the
sight of the works of art there transported him into a
state of ecstasy that was so intense that he thought he
would loose consciousness. Anselm Feuerbach suffered the
same fate in 1856 in the Uffizi Gallery and in the
Palazzo Pitti where he became overwhelmed with tears.
The poet Rainer Maria Rilke found it temporarily
difficult to breathe while in Florence, and he too was
overcome by giddiness and felt he was becoming submerged
in a great surging wave of mysterious glory.
|
These kinds
of experiences are well known in Florence. Even today, patients
who respond in a similar manner are being treated at the
Hospital S. Maria Nuova: 107 cases between 1978 and 1986. All of
these people temporarily suffered from what is called Stendhal
Syndrome, caused by the exposure to the Renaissance
art of Florence.
Six great Renaissance masters stand out as six of the greatest
painters of all time: Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo da
Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian. The mastery of
these great artists may never be surpassed.
|
The Lamentation
of Christ
by Giotto di Bondone, Florentine school 1304-1306,
Fresco, Cappella Scrovegni, Padua
|
*
Renaissance Sacred
Music *
|
The
Renaissance Period also produced some of the finest music
that Western culture has ever composed: the choral
music of the Catholic church. Based on the liturgy, this music was composed to augment the
services of the Church, sung in Latin, and was closely tied to
the melodies of Gregorian chant. It was usually sung
without instrumental accompaniment, although sometimes
instruments were used,
doubling the vocal parts. The composers of this music are
among out greatest. During
the 15th century the composer Guillaume Dufay
wrote music of the early Renaissance,
and
after him
came
Ockeghem and Obrecht.
A great composer of the musical art was Josquin
des Pres who lived from 1450 to 1521. The apex
in Renaissance music was reached in the late 1500s with
the music of Tomas
Luis de Victoria, Giovanni
Palestrina, and Orlando
Lasso. The Venetian
composer Giovanni
Gabrieli spanned the end of the Renaissance
period
and the beginning of the Baroque
era. |
At that time, the beginning of the 17th Century, the style of music began to change
and the a capella (meaning unaccompanied by instruments) style of sacred music began to be considered old
fashioned. Gradually over that century it lost favor and
the Baroque style flourished. By the 19th century, the
style of music composed during the Renaissance was nearly
forgotten. By the 20th century, only a few works were performed
rather infrequently. These were mostly works that had been made
available by contemporary publishing houses. The most
interesting fact is that several of the most popular of
these works were actually not composed by the composers to
whom they were attributed. |
Sandro Botticelli: The Madonna of the
Magnificat, 1483-1485
|
|
Raphael: Coronation of the Virgin,
1502-1503
|
For
example, the Responsories of Palestrina were actually
composed by Ingegneri, and two of the most popular pieces
attributed to Victoria, Ave Maria and Dulcis Memoria, were
certainly
not composed by Victoria at all.
A
breakthrough in technology occurred with the introduction
of the long play record by Columbia Records in 1948.
During the 1950s, recordings, mostly made in Europe, began
to become available of Renaissance sacred music and
Gregorian Chant. This trend continued
through the rest of the century. When the CD was
introduced in the early 1980s, a number of fine, new recordings
began to appear on the market. Choral groups in Europe
were formed for the performance of early music. The result
is, now there is more interest.
The general public, however, was almost completely unaware of
sacred choral music sung in Latin until the popularization of
Gregorian chant during the 1990s. At this time, a recording by the
Monks of Silos became very popular in England this
popularity subsequently spread
to other countries, including the USA.
|
|
The time has arrived for the discovery of one of the greatest
treasure troves of music ever to be unveiled: the sacred
choral
music of the Renaissance. The greatness of the works of art and music from the
Renaissance period once presented together in a television
documentary will
not only create an eye-opening educational experience for
many, but a transformation as well for those who are
ready to experience the power and beauty of great art.
Furthermore, it will act as a catalyst for the artists of the 21st
century.
|
|
