The subject of this list is the secular music of the Renaissance. My appreciation is centered strongly in the 15th century, although there are some areas of the 16th century (and even somewhat beyond) that interest me.
This genre can be especially rich and poignant, although it was short-lived in its Franco-Flemish form. In some ways there's a natural progression from the medieval forms, but the Renaissance is marked (at least to the extent that it's marked here...) by the use of more compact thematic material. This continues to be some of my favorite musical material anywhere.
The sectional breakdowns & individual listings are arranged roughly chronologically, and intended to help clarify stylistic eras. Here, that contracted into a single section at some point. And I should note that my thinking regarding the transition from medieval to Renaissance has changed considerably over the 30 years of this project too, and if I were to do it again, I'd emphasize more continuity with later sections of the medieval listing....
This section begins with the beautiful songs of of Dufay & Binchois and the style that heralds the musical Renaissance (according to some traditional narratives, anyway). That resulting style continues into the early 16th century, where it reached its greatest formal complexity, and then disappeared in the face of more homophonic styles & national traditions. Songs are usually in French, although there's e.g. some Italian. This continues to be some of my favorite repertory, and I would be happy to list more recordings here. E.g. Busnoys is particularly neglected, given his stature, and some of these albums do also come to seem somewhat dated... but, unfortunately, with no newer (or more satisfying) efforts to replace them.
And now, after contracting to a single section, and then breaking that up into little groupings, I'm going to add subheadings....
Ockeghem's songs continue to be quite (relatively) popular, but there's actually voluminous material of high quality from this period, much of it awaiting (better) performance....
There's likewise more material to hear from the next generation (the break here being arbitrary) as well....
And there's finally a good selection of Josquin's secular music available. These are very different interpretations, with different orientations & strengths:
At this point, it's been a long while since a recording devoted to La Rue's chansons appeared....
Some items, particularly in later subsections above, are largely instrumental, but I've retained them for this list, where they closely overlap material with chansons of the era. The "instrumental list" is thus almost entirely later material.
And as already noted above, I don't really endorse my own way of dividing this page from the corresponding medieval page anymore. At this point, having them separate is more about the history here, or having each be a manageable size, I guess.
If a recording in this genre is not listed here, either I haven't been able to obtain a copy (perhaps out of print), I don't know about it at all, I felt that it is substantially duplicated by a recording I like better, or I didn't care for it enough to give it one star. Please feel free to inquire, especially if you know a recording I probably don't.
I will try to keep this page up to date as new releases appear.
Todd M. McComb Updated: 24 April 2024