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McCrimmon, Katerina

Douglass Seaton

Music History

15 November 2019

Humanist culture: Changing the musical game

The fifteenth century paved the way for a new outlook on how music and art fulfills our

souls today. After many years of religious focus in art, a new movement broke through that

focused on our desires as human beings. Humanism is the idea that humans hold the power

within themselves to solve problems and achieve personal fulfillment instead of relying on God.

Humanists focused on personal goals and success in cultivating their talents instead of obsessing

over what happened after death and praying to receive a favorable outcome. People began to

realize it was time to live life on Earth as it should be experienced in the present moment. Artists

started portraying more realistic subjects; painters outlined every curve of the body, every

gesture and expression that exhibited life as a human being. This new movement of humanism

sought out self-expression and realization in a time when using art as a medium to praise God

was all anyone deemed acceptable.

Composers began to lean into this new idea of humanism and bring it forth in their music.

John Dunstaple was a pioneer in this humanistic musical approach. He believed a simpler

phrasing similar to spoken language would be more effective than that of the French who

preferred long phrases and complicated rhythms. Dunstaple wanted the music to be sweet and

sensually attractive, not necessarily impressive. Guillaume Du Fay is another composer that

followed Dunstaple in his efforts, mainly with the desire to weaken the power of the church in
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sacred music in favor of humanist ideas. This music began to spread throughout Europe and

evolved over time.

Although music has changed greatly over the past 400 years, this rise in humanist culture

is still evident in music today – specifically modern sacred music. Many changes made back then

were in voicing and truly highlighting the meaning in the words being sung. This text painting is

a huge part of modern day musical culture. Just recently, I was listening to music from Godspell,

the Stephen Schwartz musical. The opening number is called “The Tower of Babble” and it is

truly astounding how drastically the dynamics of the piece change, but have the same message

overall. In four or five-part harmony with crazy moving parts, the ensemble sings from the points

of view of famous philosophers, all of them with different opinions on how praising God affects

a community of people and what our true meaning of life on Earth is. These overwhelming and

overlapping musings become unintelligible babble, providing a safe place for these people of

power to hide “so high in [their] lovely tower of babble”. If it weren’t for the bold choices these

composers of the 1400s made, we wouldn’t have these new takes on harmony and expression in

music. Not only is this evident in musical theatre, but in music of the church. I remember a song

from my childhood that we would sing in church, “Our God is An Awesome God” that included

a rap section. Although this music is still praising God, it has a humanistic appeal in its different

rhythms and style.

Thanks to trailblazers like John Dunstaple and Guillaume Du Fay, we can allow music to

affect us in a more personal way that massages every nook and cranny of our psyche. Music is

not purely a formula, although many view it as such. If we are open to it, music becomes an

experience for all our senses. This is the goal that humanists from centuries ago wished to

achieve – I think they would be proud to know how far we’ve come.