1520 in Germany and Switzerland. As this movement spread in northern and western Europe, besides its theological and religious effects, it produced extraordinary political, social, literary and artistic results, stirring all society to the depths.
The century was an age of great sovereigns, like Charles V., Emperor
in 1518-56, Francis I., King of France in 1515-47, Henry VIII., King of
England in 1509-47, Philip II., King of Spain in 1556-98, and Elizabeth,
Queen of England in 1558-1603. The relations of these to the power of
the Papacy and to Protestantism were often extremely important to the
progress of all culture.
It is not strange that the century was rich in musical significance.
The great musical events were the application of printing
to the reproduction of music, the culmination of the art of
mediæval counterpoint, the rise of Protestant church music,
the obliteration of the old line between sacred and secular
music, the shift of emphasis in theory from polyphony to monophony,
with a new sense of harmony and of 'form,' and the
discovery of the musical drama, with its emotional possibilities.
In these developments several countries participated, but Italy easily
leads in all but one. Although the impetus everywhere is largely from
Netherlanders, native genius comes steadily to the front. Germany and
England compete with Italy for attention, while France and the Low
Countries are less important.
Individual composers and theorists now exert a wider and
more lasting influence, especially since musical publication becomes
a potent factor in progress. Their dignity and worth
as members of society are better recognized, and the variety of
demands upon them increases. The manufacture of instruments,
also, now begins to afford room for the exercise of positive
genius.
The dependence of music upon the Church and upon the patronage of
rulers continues, but there are signs that the art in its higher forms is
coming closer to the people generally. Just as it is becoming more
cosmopolitan, so it is also becoming more evidently democratic.
54. Music-Printing.—No single event in the evolution of music in its social applications is more important than the invention of a practical method of printing its products. The same men who conceived the notion of movable types for letters advanced almost at once to that of movable types for notes, and, just as the use of typography led immediately to book-publish-
