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An Examination, Reinterpretation and Application of Selected Performance Practices in Four Motets of Luca Marenzio (1553-1599): Implications for a Modern Choral Performance Context

This study is based on the premise that modern day performances of late Renaissance sacred music are informed more by biases and assumptions concerning performance practice rather than on information gleaned from the primary sources. The result is homogeneity in performance practice within this body of literature which is in direct contradiction to the primary sources. Four controversial areas of performance practice, vibrato, text expression techniques, ornamentation and doubling instrumentation, are investigated in this document in the context of four motets by Luca Marenzio (1553-1599). Findings from primary sources contemporary to Marenzio's time that relate to these four performance practice areas are closely examined and reinterpreted, and suggestions are given for historically informed application of these findings to contemporary choral performance settings. This examination of primary sources indicates that each of Marenzio's motets constitutes its own "soundscape" with a unique set of attendant performance practices, which has great implications for performances of late Renaissance sacred music as a whole.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/196154
Date January 2005
CreatorsJackson, Christopher Newlyn
ContributorsChamberlain, Bruce B., Chamberlain, Bruce B., Brobeck, John, Knott, Josef
PublisherThe University of Arizona.
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext, Electronic Dissertation
RightsCopyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

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