16th-century music theory

16th-century music theory focused on understanding harmony, melody, and voice-leading during the Renaissance. It emphasized the smooth blending of vocal lines, often using modal scales instead of fixed keys. Composers and theorists studied consonance (pleasing harmonies) like thirds and sixths, and how to balance them within polyphony—multiple independent melodies occurring simultaneously. Text-setting, where music closely follows the text’s meaning, was also important. The era marked a move toward more expressive, balanced, and clearly structured music, laying foundational ideas for Western tonal harmony that would develop in later centuries.