A Perfected Art:

Church Polyphony in the Late Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

Josquin des Prez(ca. 1450–1521)

• “Master of the notes: They must do as he wills” – Martin Luther

• Creator of the Ars perfecta “to which nothing can be added, after which nothing but decline is to be expected”– Henricus Glareanus (1488–1563)

Humanism

• Renewed interest in the study of Ancient texts• Music as a branch of poetic eloquence

Dodecachordon(1547)

• Glareanus• Recognition of four additional modes– Ionian, Hypoionian– Aeolian, Hypoaeolian

Josquin’s Career

• From 1475: chapel choir of René, King of Sicily and Duke of Anjou, in Aix-en-Provence

• 1489: papal choir in Rome• 1502: music director for Duke Ercole d’Este, in

Ferrara– Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae– Soggetto cavato dalle vocali (theme carved out of

vowels)

A Model Masterpiece

• Josquin’s Ave maria [Anthology 1-47]– Words and melody from the Annunciation

sequence– Equal-voice polyphonic setting– Declamation, syntax, and semantic

Imitations

• Ludwig Senfl (ca. 1486–1543), Ave Maria …Virgo serena

• Antoine de Févin (ca. 1470–1512), Mass on Ave Maria … Virgo serena – Imitation Mass

• Josquin, Benedicta es, coelorum [Anthology 1-48]

– Six-voice motet based on chant sequence for the Feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin

– Cantus firmus writing

All Is Known

• Ars perfecta• Le istitutioni harmoniche (1558)• Gioseffo Zarlino (1517–1590)• Triad as “harmonia perfetta” (“The Perfect Harmony”)

The “Post-Josquin” Generation

• Jacobus Clemens (1510–1556) “Clemens non papa”– Souterliedekens • 150 Psalms paraphrased into Dutch verse• Metrical psalms• contrafactum

The “Post-Josquin” Generation

• Adrain Willaert (1490–1562)– Benedicta es, coelorum regina (published 1545)

[Anthology 1-50]– Motet

The New Instrumental Music

• ricercare • Cori spezzati (split choirs)

Palestrina and the Ecumenical Tradition

• Gionvanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525–1594)– Worked in papal service under 11

successive popes– 104 complete settings of the Ordinary– Approximately 400 motets– Vesper hymns and a complete cycle of

Mass Offertories– Two books of madrigals

Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli

• From second book of Masses (published 1567)• [Anthology 1-51a,b,c]• Council of Trent

• Palestrina’s Tui sunt coeli [Anthology 1-52]– From the book of Offertories (published 1594)

“Stairway to Parnassus”

• stile antico “old style”• Gradus as Parnassum (1725)– Johann Joseph Fux (1660–1741)– Music theory treatise derived from Palestrina’s

style

Alternatives to Perfection

• Henry VIII• Anglican Music• Church of England• John Taverner (1490–1545)• Thomas Tallis (1505–1585)

The Recusant William Byrd(1543–1623)

• Catholic serving in the chapel royal• Cantiones quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur– Published jointly with Tallis (1575)– Motets

The Recusant William Byrd(1543–1623)

• Settings of forbidden liturgical texts• Mass Ordinary settings• “Agnus Dei” from Mass in Four Parts

[Anthology 1-53a]• “Agnus Dei” from Mass in Five Parts

[Anthology 1-53b]