Thesis (M.M.)--Boston University

Diss.--Frankfurt am Main, 1997. / Chronologie des éditions de Palestrina p. 287-345. Liste alphabétique des oeuvres de Palestrina éditées p. 353-400. Bibliogr. p. 410-430. Index.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 410-430) and index.

This thesis is a study of the usage of sixteenth-century polyphonic devices as employed by the English composer William Byrd and the Italian composer Pierluigi Palestrina. Both men represented a culmination of sixteenth-century contrapuntal composition in their respective school and period, Byrd of the Renaissance Tudor period, and Palestrina of the Roman school and Renaissance period. Palestrina's work became a pattern for sacred Roman music during the late Renaissance because of its consistency, its origin in the modes, and its compositional style. As it became a popular standard for Latin liturgical music, Catholic composers of all nationalities began to use it as a guide for their writing. At this time in England, one such young composer named William Byrd began to emulate Palestrina. Up to this time few of the English composers had taken advantage of the progress made by the musicians of the Netherlands school. These two composers lived about the same time, and their vocal works are quite comparable, yet there was never any known contact between them. There seem to be some notable differences, but each of these is as consistent as the similarities. Both men were prolific writers of motets, which mirrored all of the Roman Catholic Church activities in an ecclesiastical year. Twelve motets by each composer, six from the early works and six from the late works of each, were chosen for contrast and comparison. In his book, Direct Approach to Counterpoint in 16th-Century Style, C.F. Soderlund set forth a conclusive and concise set of rules which he felt particularly characterized the music of Palestrina. A select group of rules or practices, some pertaining to the melodic line and others concerned with dissonances, was chosen from Soderlund's book to be used as a basis for comparison and contrast of the motets of Palestrina and Byrd.

The mass and the motet are the most important musical components of the Catholic liturgy. The development of vocal polyphony in the Medieval Period culminated in the perfection of these forms in the sixteenth century. The purpose of this thesis is to give an account of the development of religious monody and polyphony that led to the inception of the motet in the early part of the thirteenth century; to show the development of the motet through the sixteenth century; to give a more detailed analysis of the style of Palestrina; and to emphasize the analysis with a stylistic examination of a Palestrina motet.

The purpose of this thesis is to give an account of the comparable use of dissonance of Palestrina, Lassus, and Victoria through harmonic analysis and statistical comparison, illustrating the stylistic differences among the three composers works. The thesis does. not attempt to cover text setting, melodic construction, ranges, or aesthetic evaluation of composition other than that which pertains to dissonance. The analysis of dissonance was done with primary consideration being given to the vertical structure of the harmony, observing the linear structure only with relation to the approach and resolution of that dissonance.