The city-state of Venice was the trading and cultural centre of Europe, and optimised the spirit of the age: boundaries between sacred and secular, Church and State, nobleman and peasant, were blurred. The head of state, the Doge, was elected rather than born to the job, and he presided over both the spiritual and political affairs of the city. Much of the ceremony attached to the job took place in the basilica of St Mark or nearby, and music played an important role in these public functions. 
And what a gorgeous music it was! Andrea Gabrieli (1510-85) hit upon the idea of combining choirs with groups of instruments (cornetts and sackbuts), producing a sumptuous sound that matched the opulence of the time perfectly. Placing more emphasis on the richness of harmonies than the interplay of the different voices, he simplified the polyphonic style, giving the music a sense of grandeur. Most dramatically, though, he experimented with the spatial possibilities of St Mark's, using a device called antiphony: placing different groups of performers in various places around the church to give a stereo (or even quadra) effect. Listen to Maria Stabat Ad Monumentum, a 6 recorded in St Mark's.
St Mark's Basilica
One of the reasons antiphony caught on in Venice was architecture of St Mark's. Its huge interior was acoustically between suited to chordal than polyphonic music, and included various ideal places for choirs and instrumental ensembles. Music came to the audience from all directions -organ galleries, balconies and platforms round the altar area - and the effect was shattering.
His nephew Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1554-1612) carried on the family tradition and published music by both of them, including canzonas (ensemble pieces in the new style) and sonatas (pieces to be played, as opposed to cantatas, pieces to be sung), and also a new form which he called concerti. These instrumental works, with contrasting groups of instruments) for example strings and bass) holding a kind of dialogue, were the ancestors of modern concerto which contrast a solo instrument with the full orchestra. A recording of his Magnificat a 14 with incredible sound effects. Just imagine hearing it live in a church with great acoustics!
Goodbye Renaissance, Hello Baroque
The emphasis on contrast and harmony, rather than polyphony, marked the end of the Renaissance period in music, and foreshadowed the next era - the Baroque.
The composer who bridged the gap between Renaissance and Baroque, Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) ended up in Venice as Maestro di Capella (Master of the Chapel) at St Mark's Basilica following in the Gabrieli's footsteps. But the century started with a literally dramatic development - opera.
A short video with Monteverdi's Missa in Illo Tempore
Science versus religion
Outside Venice, the Church wasn't yet quite so tolerant of new ideas. Science contradicted traditional teachings, and people like poor old Galileo Galilei were hauled up in front of the Inquisition for their 'heresies'. Nevertheless, although the simplification of polyphony smacked of humanism, it did make the service accessible to punters...
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