March 24, 2014
16th Century Mass
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When you talk about composers:
o The 4 Renaissance composers (IN order): Dufay, Missa Se la face ay pale, Josquin,
Palestrina/Victoria
o Most are written in 4 voices
 As soon as you get past 1530 you start to see 5 and 6 voices
Dufay’s compositional techniques
o Mainly in 4 voices
o Regular use of faubourdon
o Some Isorhythm
o Mainly under-third cadences
o Cantus Firmus Mass:
 Tenor carries the Cantus Firmus, a preexisting piece of Gregorian chant that is extremely
stretched out.
o Another technique is Cantus prius factues
 Similar to Cantus Firmus, but not with chant, but some other kind of songe
 Prius factues means “pre-existing”
o Example:
 Missa Se la face ay pale:
 Is in 4 voices, and tenor part comes from his pre-existing ballade Se la face ay
pale
 In Renaissance time, titling is simple:
o If it is a mass, the word Missa will be first
o And then the rest of the title comes from the title of the preexisting
melody
Josquin’s compositional techniques (1500)
o Considered by many the greatest composer of the Renaissance
o Mainly 4 voices
o NO use of isorhythm, little use of fauzbourdon
o Borrowed material from preexisting tunes
o Cantus firmsu technique, use of cantues prius factus and soggetto cavato
 Soggetto cavato:
 Hercules dux Ferattiae
 Re ut re ut re fa mi re
 Take all the vowels in a text and turn them into solfegde notes
 This was made into the tenor line
o Tenor more closelyapproximates the other voices in rhythm and pacing
 Dufay’s tenor is really slow, but Josquin’s tenor is not as slow
o Voices enter on points of imitation, points are often extensive
 Point of imitation: when each voice enters on the same line, and each voice enters at a
different time (all the entrances together are the same point)
 Example: O Magnum Mysterium (composer: Victoria)
 For Josquin, the point of imitation can often be many notes, and a beautiful melody
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o Duet/tutti textures
 The voices will have paired duets, and then all the voices enter together
 Makes an interesting texture
o Cantus-tenor framework
o 6-8 cadences
 Will not use under 3rd cadence
 Will have 6th moving out to an octave between cadence and tenor
o Full text in all voices
o Examples:
 Look on wordpress site to study songs that have examples of techniques
 Example Missa l’homme Arme
 Tenor has notes from l’homme Arme
 Begins with a point of imitation
o We’re not supposed to hear the original secular tune, it is just a structural
technique on which to build melody
Palestrina/Victoria
o Mainily 5 or 6 voices
o Tenor-cantus framework
o Imitation technique, borrowed material from pre-existing polyphonic works, some works are
not based on preexisiting material: free motets, free masses
o Greater tendence toward vertical sonoritites
 Palestrina has a great tendancy for triadic structures
o Points of imitation become shorter
o Full text non always in al voices (esp for a credo, which ahas a lot of text)
o Differences:
 Palestrina has a greater preference for full triadic sonorities, Victoria prefers open fifths
and octaves at cadences
 Palestrina will use fauxbourdon (which adds to the clarity of the text, due to the Council
of Trent) while Victoria tends to use more fauxbourdon
o Palestrina’s most famous mass: Missa Papa Marcelli (written for Pope Marcellus. After the
publication of theis mass in 1567, Palestrina was invited to become the maestro di cappela at
the imperial court in Vienna and at the Basilica of S. Barbara in Mantua (he declined both)
o Victorai mst famous mass: Missa O Magnum Mysterium (4-vv, 1592), a parody mass based on
his own 4-vv motet “o magnum mysterium” (1972)
 A parody mass, aka imitation mass, makes use of the entire texture of a pre-existing
pohlyphonic composition
 In recording, cantus sounds high because these parts were written for boys, not women
 Women were not allowed to sing in church