{
  "slug": "renaissance",
  "name": "Renaissance",
  "aliases": [
    "renaissance polyphony",
    "franco-flemish",
    "early music",
    "madrigal"
  ],
  "description": "Two centuries of writing for voices moving independently and imitating each other, sacred and secular. No conductor, no soloist, no harmony in the later sense — just lines, and the rules governing how they may collide.",
  "origin": {
    "place": "Flanders, Italy and England",
    "year": 1400
  },
  "lineage": [],
  "bpm": null,
  "updated": "2026-08-30",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/renaissance/",
  "trackCount": 8,
  "curatedBy": [],
  "playlists": {},
  "tracks": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "trackKey": "thomas-tallis--spem-in-alium",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/thomas-tallis--spem-in-alium/",
      "title": "Spem in alium",
      "artist": "Thomas Tallis",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/thomas-tallis/",
      "year": 1570,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Forty genuinely independent voices in eight choirs of five, passing an entry around the room and then all arriving at once. Nothing before the orchestra is this overwhelming, and very little after it.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Thomas%20Tallis%20Spem%20in%20alium",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CkL1hdL40i0",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 2,
      "trackKey": "giovanni-pierluigi-da-palestrina--missa-papae-marcelli",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/giovanni-pierluigi-da-palestrina--missa-papae-marcelli/",
      "title": "Missa Papae Marcelli",
      "artist": "Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/giovanni-pierluigi-da-palestrina/",
      "year": 1562,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Legend says it persuaded the Council of Trent not to ban polyphony by proving the words could still be understood. The legend is doubtful; the clarity is not.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Giovanni%20Pierluigi%20da%20Palestrina%20Missa%20Papae%20Marcelli",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ooFVaOmcIbM",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 3,
      "trackKey": "josquin-des-prez--ave-maria-virgo-serena",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/josquin-des-prez--ave-maria-virgo-serena/",
      "title": "Ave Maria... virgo serena",
      "artist": "Josquin des Prez",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/josquin-des-prez/",
      "year": 1485,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The most admired motet of its age, by the first composer to be famous as an individual. Each phrase enters in strict imitation and the effect is of something assembling itself.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Josquin%20des%20Prez%20Ave%20Maria...%20virgo%20serena",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=R9QkdoAN4LM",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 4,
      "trackKey": "johannes-ockeghem--missa-prolationum",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/johannes-ockeghem--missa-prolationum/",
      "title": "Missa Prolationum",
      "artist": "Johannes Ockeghem",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/johannes-ockeghem/",
      "year": 1470,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Written entirely in double canon, at every interval in turn, from two notated parts. An intellectual stunt that also happens to be beautiful, which is the Franco-Flemish speciality.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Johannes%20Ockeghem%20Missa%20Prolationum",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=JThdz7GwPhs",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 5,
      "trackKey": "carlo-gesualdo--tenebrae-responsories",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/carlo-gesualdo--tenebrae-responsories/",
      "title": "Tenebrae Responsories",
      "artist": "Carlo Gesualdo",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/carlo-gesualdo/",
      "year": 1611,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Harmonically so strange that the twentieth century assumed it was a mistake. Written by a nobleman who had murdered his wife and her lover, which the music does very little to hide.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Carlo%20Gesualdo%20Tenebrae%20Responsories",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FZVGvDMonQA",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 6,
      "trackKey": "john-dowland--flow-my-tears",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/john-dowland--flow-my-tears/",
      "title": "Flow, My Tears",
      "artist": "John Dowland",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/john-dowland/",
      "year": 1600,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A lute song built on a falling four-note figure that Dowland reused for the rest of his career. Professional melancholy, and the most English thing on this list.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/John%20Dowland%20Flow%2C%20My%20Tears",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=u3clX2CJqzs",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 7,
      "trackKey": "jacques-arcadelt--il-bianco-e-dolce-cigno",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/jacques-arcadelt--il-bianco-e-dolce-cigno/",
      "title": "Il bianco e dolce cigno",
      "artist": "Jacques Arcadelt",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/jacques-arcadelt/",
      "year": 1538,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The madrigal that taught Italy what a madrigal was. Four voices, a swan, a pun about dying, and word-painting so deft it stops feeling like a technique.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Jacques%20Arcadelt%20Il%20bianco%20e%20dolce%20cigno",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=t54Gm5sjJC4",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 8,
      "trackKey": "thomas-morley--now-is-the-month-of-maying",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/thomas-morley--now-is-the-month-of-maying/",
      "title": "Now Is the Month of Maying",
      "artist": "Thomas Morley",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/thomas-morley/",
      "year": 1595,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A ballett with a fa-la-la refrain and a lyric considerably filthier than four centuries of school choirs have noticed. Included because the period was not all incense.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Thomas%20Morley%20Now%20Is%20the%20Month%20of%20Maying",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ7VirCScp0",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}