French and Italian Music of the 19th Century

French and Italian Music of the 19th Century

   SOCIAL OVERVIEW- Comparatively speaking, the thirteenth century was an era of stability And unity, while the fourteenth century was of change and diversity. The big Symbol of this contrast was the situation of the papacy: in the thirteenth century the authority of the Church, Centered by the Pope of Rome, was universally respected and recognized as Supreme, not only in matters of faith and morality, but also, to a large extent, in Intellectual and political issues; In the fourteenth century this authority, especially supremacy Of the pope, began to be widely disputed. During most of the century - from 1305 to 1378 - the popes, exiled as a result of anarchy and riots Who lived in Rome, lived in Avignon, Southeastern France (the "captivity of Babylon "), and for another thirty-nine years-until 1417-there were always two, Sometimes up to three rival candidates to the papacy (the "great schism"). The criticisms to this State of affairs, as well as the often scandalous and corrupt life of the high clergy, Have become increasingly bitter, expressing themselves not only in writing, but also In various divisive and heretical movements that were the forerunners of Protestant Reformation. The thirteenth century reconciled revelation and reason, the divine and the human, the demands Of the kingdom of God and those of the political states of this world. The philosophy of the fourteenth century, On the other hand, tended to conceive human reason and divine revelation as Separate domains, limiting the authority of each to its sphere: The Church cared for the souls of men and the State of their earthly preoccupations, But none of these authorities were subject to the other. Thus, Bases for the separation of religion and science, the Church and the State, doctrines Began to impose themselves from the late Middle Ages.

The centrifugal movement of thought in the fourteenth century had its parallel in Social trends. The decline in economic progress and the economic crisis The terrible devastation of the Black Death (1348-50) and the Hundred Years' War (1338- 1453) gave rise to a wave of urban discontent and peasant uprisings. The growth of cities in the previous two centuries would have strengthened Of the bourgeoisie, leading to a corresponding decline of the old aristocracy. feudal. In the fourteenth century the cavalry was almost a mere form, a code Of good manners and ceremonies, ceasing to represent a vital force. The ideal Of European political unity has lost ground in the face of the reality of Separated and independent: France evolved towards an absolute monarchy Centralized, the Italian peninsula was divided into a number of small states Rivals, whose rulers disputed the primacy of protecting the arts and letters. The growing independence and importance of secular interests Progressive flowering of vernacular literature: the Divine Comedy, from Dante (1307), the Decameron of Boccacius (1353), and the Tales of Canterbury by Chaucer (1386), are some of the great literary landmarks in the fourteenth century. The same period saw To the beginnings of humanism, a resurgence of the study of classical literature Greek and Latin, which would constitute one of the most important influences in the Renaissance Later. In the painting Giotto (c. 1266-1337) marked the first rupture Formalism of the Byzantine style, in the sense of a Naturalist of objects. Literature, teaching, and the arts have In a movement that increasingly moved them away from the relatively stable perspective, Religious basis, which was that of the thirteenth century, leading them to provide a Attention to the changing and changing phenomena of human life in this world.