Counterpoint
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In music, counterpoint is a method of composition in which two or more musical lines are simultaneously played which are harmonically correlated yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradition, strongly developing during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period, especially in the Baroque period. The term originates from the Latin punctus contra punctum meaning "point against point", i.e. "note against note".
Example of a double passing tone in which the two middle notes are a dissonant interval from the cantus firmus, a fourth and a diminished fifth
Example of a descending double neighbor figure against a cantus firmus
Example of an ascending double neighbor figure (with an interesting tritone leap at the end) against a cantus firmus
Renaissance music
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Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century ars nova, the Trecento music was treated by musicology as a coda to Medieval music and the new era dated from the rise of triadic harmony and the spread of the contenance angloise style from Britain to the Burgundian School. A convenient watershed for its end is the adoption of basso continuo at the beginning of the Baroque period.
A group of Renaissance musicians in The Concert (1623) by Gerard van Honthorst
San Marco in the evening. The spacious, resonant interior was one of the inspirations for the music of the Venetian School.
Modern French hurdy-gurdy
Musicians from 'Procession in honour of Our Lady of Sablon in Brussels.' Early 17th-century Flemish alta cappella. From left to right: bass dulcian, alto shawm, treble cornett, soprano shawm, alto shawm, tenor sackbut.