Music was an essential part of civic, religious, and courtly life in the Renaissance. From the Renaissance era, both secular and sacred music survives in quantity. Renaissance music is music written in Europe during the Renaissance and has been to start the era around 1400, with the end of the medieval era, and to close it around 1600. The exchange of musical ideas among the Low Countries, France, and Italy led to what could be considered an international European style. Courts employed virtuoso performers, both singers and instrumentalists. Italy became the leading exponent of Renaissance music, and continued its innovation with, the Venetian and Roman Schools of composition.
Dances and Music from the Italian Renaissance