The sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries - the so-called Golden Age of Polyphony - represent a time of great change and development in European music, with the flourishing of Orlando di Lasso, Palestrina, Byrd, Victoria, Monteverdi and Schütz amthers. The chapters of this book, contributed by established scholars on subjects within their fields of expertise, deal with polyphonic music - sacred and secular, vocal and instrumental - during this period. The volume offers chronological surveys of national musical cultures (in Italy, France, the Netherlands, Germany, England, and Spain); genre studies (Mass, motet, madrigal, chanson, instrumental music, opera); and is completed with essays on intellectual and cultural developments and concepts relevant to music (music theory, printing, the Protestant Reformation and the corresponding Catholic movement, humanism, concepts of "Renaissance" and "Baroque"). It thus provides a complete overview of the music and its context. Contributors: GARY TOMLINSON, JAMES HAAR, TIM CARTER, GIULIO ONGARO, NOEL O'REGAN, ALLAN ATLAS, ANTHONY CUMMINGS, RICHARD FREEDMAN, JEANICE BROOKS, DAVID TUNLEY, KATE VAN ORDEN, KRISTINE FORNEY, IAIN FENLON, KAROL BERGER, PETER BERGQUIST, DAVID CROOK, ROBIN LEAVER, CRAIG MONSON, TODD BORGERDING, LOUISE K. STEIN, GIUSEPPE GERBINO, ROGER BRAY, JONATHAN WAINWRIGHT, VICTOR COELHO, KEITH POLK Contents 1 Renaissance Humanism and Music 2 The Concept of the Renaissance 3 The Concept of the Baroque 4 Italy [i], 1520-1560 5 Music in Italy [ii], 1560-1600 6 Ital [iii], 1600-1640 7 Music for the Mass 8 The Motet, 1520-1640 9 Music in France [i], 1520-1560 10 France [ii], 1560-1600 11 French Music in the Early Seventeenth Century 12 Chanson, 1520-1640 13 Madrigal 14 The Netherlands [i], 1520-1560 15 The Netherlands [ii], 1560-1600 16 The Netherlands [iii], 1600-1640 17 Music, Print and Society in Sixteenth-Century Europe 18 Concepts and Developments in Music Theory 19 German Music [i], 1520-1560 20 German Music [ii], 1560-1600 21 Germany and Central Europe, 1600-1640 22 The Reformation and Music 23 Renewal, Reform, and Reaction in Catholic Music 24 Spain [i-ii], 1530-1600 25 Spain [iii], 1600-1640 26 Early Opera: the Initial Stage 27 Music in England before 1560 28 Music in England [ii], 1560-1600 29 English Music, 1603-1642 30 Instrumental Music in Europe, 1520-1640