Voci pari motets and convent polyphony in the 1540s : The materna lingua complex
Voci pari motets and convent polyphony in the 1540s : The materna lingua complex
In the 1540s the great Venetian publishing houses of Scotto and Gardano
issued a cluster of publications whose title pages advertised a particular vocal
disposition—“voci pari,” or equal voices. Analysis of the motets, their texts,
and their musical treatment reveals an intimate connection with convents
and conventual worship. In this article I describe the relationships between
the books, speculate as to how convents might have used the motets, and
consider what the works can tell us about performance practice in female-
voice ensembles. Drawing on aspects of the books’ publication history, the
liturgical function of certain texts, and musical relationships with works
composed at the Ferrarese court, I propose a candidate for the composer of
at least some of the anonymous pieces in Musica quinque vocum: motteta
materna lingua vocata (RISM 15432): Suor Leonora d’Este (1515–75),
daughter of Duke Alfonso I d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia and the abbess of
the convent of Corpus Domini in Ferrara.
617-696
Stras, Laurie
b1021221-b68d-4a48-bf3c-890e5a63438a
2017
Stras, Laurie
b1021221-b68d-4a48-bf3c-890e5a63438a
Stras, Laurie
(2017)
Voci pari motets and convent polyphony in the 1540s : The materna lingua complex.
Journal of the American Musicological Society, 70 (3), .
(doi:10.1525/jams.2017.70.3.617).
Abstract
In the 1540s the great Venetian publishing houses of Scotto and Gardano
issued a cluster of publications whose title pages advertised a particular vocal
disposition—“voci pari,” or equal voices. Analysis of the motets, their texts,
and their musical treatment reveals an intimate connection with convents
and conventual worship. In this article I describe the relationships between
the books, speculate as to how convents might have used the motets, and
consider what the works can tell us about performance practice in female-
voice ensembles. Drawing on aspects of the books’ publication history, the
liturgical function of certain texts, and musical relationships with works
composed at the Ferrarese court, I propose a candidate for the composer of
at least some of the anonymous pieces in Musica quinque vocum: motteta
materna lingua vocata (RISM 15432): Suor Leonora d’Este (1515–75),
daughter of Duke Alfonso I d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia and the abbess of
the convent of Corpus Domini in Ferrara.
Text
VP1540s REV Main text accepted pending revisions
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 6 February 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 22 December 2017
Published date: 2017
Organisations:
Music
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 410154
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/410154
ISSN: 0003-0139
PURE UUID: 3e5f075e-9992-41ba-bbea-b8f22df9b4f8
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Date deposited: 03 Jun 2017 04:04
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 05:03
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