Richard Sherr

Studies in fhe History of Italian Music and Music Theory.

Claude V. Palisca has long been acknowledged as a leading authority on Italian music of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. These nineteen essays, originally published between 1956 and 1989, draw together a body of significant research into Italian music and music theory, and make readily available papers widely scattered and most now out-of-print. They have further been selected because of their relevance to current research, as evidenced by their continued citation in publications and dissertations. The book is in two parts, providing studies on the History of Italian Music Theory and studies in the History of Italian Music. The thread that runs through the book is the interaction between music theory and practice and between the humanist revial of antiquity and modern ideals of expression in the decades around 1600, a time of transition between the Renaissance and Baroque. A prefatory note - sometimes extensive - accompanies each of the older essays, reviewing recent research on the topic, including the authors and reactions and responses to the original article. Footnote references have been brought up to date. The test is complemented by over a hundred music examples and a number of illustrations.

The Josquin companion

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES CONTENTS OF THE COMPACT DISC NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS ABBREVIATIONS AND MANUSCRIPT STYLE

The Membership of the Chapels of Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne in the Years Preceding Their Deaths

7Ihe French court has always been recognized as one of the major musical centers of the early sixteenth century, but study of it is difficult; there seem to be no extant court records that throw much light on the workings of the royal musical establishment, and very few extant musical sources can be claimed as originating in the court of the French king. However, enough can be surmised to show that composers active in court circles were influential (perhaps even more influential than is at present believed) in creating and spreading a new style of polyphony based on points of imitation, that quickly became part of all sacred and secular genres as the sixteenth century progressed. Because of this, the lack of specific information about the membership in the French royal chapel becomes all the more frustrating. In an attempt to shed some light on this subject, the following documents are offered. They originated, not in the French court, but in the papal curia in Rome (or wherever the pope happened to be-some of the documents cited below were signed in Bologna and other places on papal itineraries), and are drawn from the vast series of documents known as the Registers of Supplications. Anyone who wished a benefice or favor from the pope, had to submit a legal document, a supplication, to the pontiff who personally approved or disapproved it.2 If approved by the pope or his surrogate,

Illibata Dei Virgo Nutrix and Josquin's Roman Style

Josquin9s famous acrostic motet Illibata Dei virgo nutrix has generally been considered an early work on the basis of its musical style. Viewing the work from different perspectives, both analytical and historical, suggests that the work may not have been written as early as presumed, and that Josquin9s style might have changed in response to tastes he encountered in the various centers in which he worked. The focus of discussion is Rome, and the musical styles favored by composers of the Papal Chapel in the period in which Josquin was a member of that organization (1486- ca. 1495). It is suggested that Illibata Dei virgo nutrix be viewed as a contribution to a particularly Roman corpus of five-voice Tenor motets and a deliberate attempt to emulate and surpass papal composers in their own style.

Papal music and musicians in late Medieval and Renaissance Rome

MUSIC IN THE PAPAL CHAPEL IN THE 14TH, 15TH, AND 16TH CENTURIES THE PAPAL CHOIR AS INSTITUTION STUDIES OF INDIVIDUALS

Ex Concordia Discors: Popes, Cardinals, Nationalities, Conflict, Deviance, and Irrational Behavior: A Crisis in the Papal Chapel in the Pontificate of Paul IV

In March 1558 Pope Paul IV ordered his College of Singers to consider two Spanish sopranos, then in Naples. Called to Rome for an audition, they were accepted according to the normal procedure (a vote). Two Italian members, however, aggressively abstained from participating. For this they would have been severely punished without they avoided through the intervention of their patron, the papal nephew Cardinal Carlo Carafa. In 1559 Paul IV demanded that the abstainers be dismissed, but their colleagues persuaded him to allow them to remain. Also in 1559 three other papal singers suffered when Cardinal Carafa was disgraced and banished by Paul IV. In 1562 the most recalcitrant singer in the original affair resigned from the choir for reasons that defy explanation. Though minor in itself, this curious tempest in a teapot opens a window into larger issues concerning the power relationship of popes and cardinals to the papal singers and shows the real dangers that could ensue from being a member of the household of a cardinal. Moreover, it exposes national tensions within the choir, shows the singers caught up in the political repercussions of the last spasms of the short and disastrous pontificate of Paul IV, and even gives a glimpse into their possibly aberrant personalities. Cardinal Carlo Carafa is also shown to have had a serious interest in the papal choir and individual papal singers for reasons that have yet to be elucidated and may not have been entirely musical.