Project overview
The proposed research aims to improve understanding of how composers and performers interacted in the development of sacred polyphony after Josquin Desprez (d. 1521). Since Josquin's music is seen as an artistic pinnacle (he has often been characterized as a Renaissance Beethoven), the generation that followed him has received very little attention from scholars or performers. Moreover, the qualities of 'transparency' and 'clarity' that Josquin epitomizes (which are achieved to some extent through the use of very spare textures) are prized in comparison with the richer sonorities preferred by the younger generation. In striving to build a more impressive sound than that of the period 1500-20, these composers necessarily had to extend their conception of tonality: moreover, at this time the modal system, which had previously been used to classify plainchant melodies, begins to become linked by theorists with polyphonic writing. This resulted in tensions between small-scale contrapuntal considerations (how to create consonance between two or more voices) and the larger modal organization (how the form of the piece is governed by relationships between tonal centres). They also increased the number of voice parts in their compositions, moving from a norm of four voices to five, six, or more. The complexity of their music is thus much greater than that of previous composers, and this causes problems of analysis, of performance, and consequently of reception.
The notation of music at this period is superficially similar to that of modern music (other than usually appearing in individual parts rather than full score), but incorporates significant nuances due to its underprescriptiveness by our standards. These would typically have been resolved during rehearsals, with the composer present (many composers were themselves singers); sixteenth-century witnesses describe this process. In order to gain a fuller understanding of the negotiation between composer and performer in the sixteenth century, it is therefore necessary to recreate the circumstances in which composers and performers worked, with the editor taking the place of the composer. By working carefully on details such as inflections (sharps and flats are rarely notated, though often necessary), underlay (often filled in incorrectly by printers' editors, and rarely specific), and tuning (vital to the sonority that is an important part of this music's expressivity, and again distinct from modern practice), it will be possible to derive significant insights from performance that will be of benefit both to the scholarly community and to the general public.
The research will be disseminated through concerts, CDs to be released on the Hyperion label, a scholarly edition and at least one scholarly article. In the first year I shall work on the music of Pierre Moulu (?1484-c.1550), composer related to the French royal court and pioneer of advanced contrapuntal techniques: this will result in a CD recording and the inception of a critical edition of his music (to be completed in the second year). In the second year I shall concentrate on Nicolas Gombert (c.1495-c.1557), a musician at the Spanish Habsburg court, whose music is particularly rich in the complexities of tonality, inflection etc. mentioned above. Being slightly younger than Moulu and working in a different area, Gombert will provide useful control material for the study of composing practice. I shall also make a CD of music by Loyset Piéton (fl. 1530-45) another overlooked composer. In the final year the research strands will be brought together and one or more articles prepared which will analyse the findings; a third CD will also be recorded. Concert-giving will be continual during the course of the Fellowship.