From 1534 all the way to around 1600, a new style of polychoral music was developed and refined, which then spread to Europe, Germany, Spain, France, and even England. This revolution of music is what we now know as the "Baroque" period of music. A good example of renaissance music is a song by the name "Vespro Della Beata Vergine" composed by Claudio Monteverdi. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiGjF91UcOE ). The reason this is a good example is that it was composed in between the end of the renaissance, and the beginning of the baroque music period. It shows styles from both, so you can see what both periods were like, in one piece.
Starting in Florence, Italy, musicians attempted to recreate the music of ancient greece, using a form of declaimed music over a simple melody. This form was known as monody. Composing music in the renaissance was much different than it was today, as, rather than composing a full piece, it was composed in sections, and no bar lines were used to separate the measures.
Plays and theatre are an interesting part of renaissance history. Since before Queen Elizabeth I, companies of "players" were attached to the houses of various nobles and aristocrats, and would perform shows in various locations, seasonally, of course. These would become the foundation of professional actors who performed on stage.
The tours of these companies slowly replaced performances by local ones, and in 1572, a law was passed that prohibited acting by all companies lacking formal permission. Although the city of London's authorities were in general hostile toward this idea, their desires were overpowered by the Queen, who enjoyed watching plays. This caused theaters to spring up in suburbs of London, especially Southwalk, which was accesible across the Thames.
Public performances were often referred to as "Practice" for when the Queen arrived, however, these were the actor's main source of income. The nobles usually watched the same plays as the commoners, until new theaters sprang up, with plays catered to the interests of nobles, while the public theaters relied on works accumulated throughout several years of performances. Puritans who opposed the stage stated that not only the stage itself was pagan, they also said that representing a religious figure, too, was wrong. By 1642, during the outbreak of the English Civil War, Protestant authorities banned all plays within city limits.