Table Of ContentAN INVESTIGATION OP
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CAPPELLA MUSIC
TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
A Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of Music
University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
Harlan Rees Waite
June 1942
UMI Number: EP61775
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TABLE OP CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITION OP TERMS . . . * 1
History and status of the problem • . • . 1
Importance of the study . . . 2
Scope of the investigation . . . • • • • • 2
Organization of the remainder of the
thesis • • • • « ................ • • • • 2
Definition of the term a cappella * . . . 5
II. REVIEW OP THE LITERATURE . . . . . . . . . . 6
Secondary sources • • • • • • • • • • • • 6
Primary sources • • • • • • • • • . • • . 7
III. GREGORIAN CHANT ..................... 8
Introduction .............................. 8
Sources of Christian music ............... 8
The attitude of the early Church......... 10
The Roman Empire and the Edict of Milan • 11
Byzantine influence . . . . . 12
St. Ambrose and the Ambrosian Chant . . . 13
The fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries • • 14
Pope Gregory and Gregorian Chant . . . . . 15
The principles of Gregorian Chant . . . . 16
The musical style of Gregorian Chant . . . 17
The relation of the music to the words
in Gregorian Chant 21
iii
CHAPTER PAGE
The music of the Office • • • • • • * « • 23
The methods of Psalmody . . . . . . . . . 25
The Trope and the Sequence............... 26
IV, THE MOTET . ............... ............ . 30
Introduction.......... 30
The place of the motet in the Roman
service • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 30
The twelfth century motet • • • • • • • • 31
The thirteenth century motet . . . . . . . 32
The motet of the fifteenth century • • • • 36
The chief composers of the motet . . . . . 37
The decline of the motet.......... .. . • 40
The revival of interest in polyphonic
church music ..................... 41
The motet and the anthem in England • • • 42
The characteristics of the motet • • • • • 44
V. PALESTRINA................ 46
Introduction • • . . • • • • • • • • • • • 46
The rhythmic element in Palestrina1 s
music ............ 52
Palestrina1s melodic style . . . • • • • • 57
Palestrina1s treatment of the
dissonance • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 65
■Palestrina’s treatment of words • . • • • 85
iv
CHAPTER PAGE
VI. THE M A S S ................................. 89
The importance of the Mass as a musical
form 89
The proprium missae . • • • • • • • • • « 89
M taM HihM M HW W ..............................Mil— IIM
The ordinarium missae • • • • • • • • • * 91
The development of the Mass as an art
form • 91
The movements of the Mass • • • • • . . . 96
VII. THE MADRIGAL..................... . . 100
Introduction • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 100
Historical sketch • • • • • • • • • • • • 103
The trecento madrigal • • • • • • • • • • 109
The chanson • • • • • • • . • • • • • • * Ill
Other forms • • • • . . • • • * • • * • • Ill
Madrigal style in the Venetian and Roman
schools of the sixteenth century . . . . Ill
The English madrigal • • • • • • • • • • • 112
The place of the madrigal in the social
life of Tudor England • • • • • . . • • 112
The English madrigal in.relation to
other choral forms of its day . . . . . 116
The nature and idiom of the madrigal . • • 119
The rhythmic structure of the madrigal . . 126
The melodic structure of the madrigal . • 133
V
CHAPTER PAGE
The harmonic structure of the
madrigal . . ....................... 138
The relation of the words to the
music • • • • • • . • • ................ 147
The English madrigal composers • • • . • 153
VIII. THE RISE OF SCHOOLS TO THE SIXTEENTH
CENTURY................................ 166
Introduction ............... 166
The Romanesque period • • . . • • • • • • 166
The early Gothic period • • • • • • • • . 167
From Gothic to Renaissance . . . . . . . 172
The so-called Netherlands schools • • • • 173
The French school . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
The Ars Nova in the South • • • • • • • • 182
The Venetian school of the sixteenth
century . ........... • • • • • • • • • 182
The Roman school of the sixteenth
century ........................ 186
The Spanish school of the sixteenth
century • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • 188
The German school of the sixteenth
century • • • • • • • • ................ 189
The English school from the twelfth to
the sixteenth centuries • • • • • • • • 191
CHARTER RAGE
IX. SURVIVALS AUD REVIVALS . ................... 199
Introduction • 199
Italian composers during the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries • • • « * • • • 199
German composers during the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries ............... 201
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries . • 203
The Russian school ............. • . • • • 208
BIBLIOGRAPHY.......... 212
Secondary sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Primary sources • • • • • • • • ........... 217
CHAPTER I
STATEMENT OP THE PROBLEM
History and status of the problem, A brief glance
through the catalogues of the major publishing houses, an
acquaintance with the work of the foremost choirs in the
country, and an opportunity to observe present day practices
in the field of music education in public and private schools,
testify to the fact that a cappella music is demanding more
and more public attention. The a cappella^ choir is becom
ing increasingly popular among students, from the University
down to the junior high school. Choirs everywhere are in
cluding more of this type of literature in their repertoires.
And to meet the growing demand, publishers are making whole
series of a cappella materials available to the patrons of
the art.
Beyond these factors, furthermore, is the testimony of
an ever widening group of music lovers who give audience to
this style of choral music. A cappella music is indeed com
ing into its own as far as its publication and performance
are concerned; little has been done, however, in the way of
critical literature concerning this phase of musical art.
True, the field has been treated in fragmentary manner in
general histories of music, biographies, periodicals and
works on church music, but it still’remains for the many
2
hitherto isolated phases of the subject to be brought to
gether into a single work*
Importance of the study* Therefore this subject seems
an important and timely one to the present writer. In the
following pages, an attempt will be made to acquaint the
reader with the rich source of musical experience provided
by composers of a cappella music, and to stimulate an even
more general appreciation and widespread use of it. As a
help toward reaching this goal, we shall trace the develop
ment of a cappella music, relating each stage to the parti
cular style of individual composers, and periods as a whole,
will be of special concern in this analysis.
Scope of the investigation. Such a subject offers
unlimited opportunities, but unlimited treatment within the
compass of such a paper as this is impossible. Consequently,
the nature of this investigation is that of a general survey,
with greatest emphasis being placed on that period known as
the ”Golden Age” of choral music. Only the most important
composers of each school will be considered.
Organization of the remainder of the thesis. The de
velopment of a cappella music is traced from its beginnings
early in the Christian era to the works of twentieth century
composers. In this study, the music of the early Christian
Church is the first phase of importance. This demands consi
