Download Palestrina Annotated Bibliography

Charlie Hildreth 12/7/11 MUSC100 Annotated Bibliography Defining the Palestrina Style and its influence Day, Thomas. "Echoes of Palestrina's "Missa Ad Fugam" in the 18th Century." Journal of the American Musicological Society 24.3 (1971): 462-­‐69. JSTOR. University of California Press. Web. 12 Mar. 2011. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/830280>. This article provided examples of composers from during and after Palestrina’s composing career, whose music shows evidence of Palestrina’s unique style. Examples of such composers include Fux, Scarlatti, and Albrechtsberger. The author provides musical examples from works done by each composer, containing very similar and sometimes identical phrases from Palestrina’s Missa ad Fugam. "Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2011. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/439795/Giovanni-­‐
Pierluigi-­‐da-­‐Palestrina>. This entry was helpful due to its analysis of Palestrina’s life from birth and early education onward. The critical events are dictated in a clear and chronological order, with a significant focus on his movement within the Church (with the Pope himself!) as choir director. Furthermore, a basic overview of Palestrina’s influence is portrayed, including his status at the forefront of polyphony, along with the preconceiving notions that eventually came around because of it. Insight on his style is also provided regarding his strict counterpoint use and examples of significant masses and motets. A successful portrayal of Palestrina’s persona and stylistic influence during his time. Haar, James. "Palestrina as Historicist: The Two 'L'homme Armé' Masses." Journal of the Royal Musical Association 121.2 (1996): 191-­‐205. JSTOR. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/766326>. Charlie Hildreth 12/7/11 MUSC100 Annotated Bibliography The author of this article suggests that Palestrina’s influence on the Renaissance period was largely due to his harmonizing rendition of Josquin’s L’homme armé, because of its historical origins and his accurate portrayal of it. The article explains that the motivation behind Palestrina’s composition was to prove his contribution to the earlier polyphonic movement. It also provides helpful insight into many of the harmonization techniques that Palestrina implemented in his counterpoint of L’homme armé. Jeppesen, Knud. "Introduction." Introduction. The Style of Palestrina and the Dissonance. 2nd ed. London: Dover on Music, 1946. 8-­‐11. Print. This passage emphasizes the importance of studying music as a language, in the sense that to study it, you must study the language of it. The author dissects Palestrina’s use of dissonance and accredits it to the expressiveness of his styles, arguing that the dissonances are placed and accented in such that were able to create new expressive means. The author continues to explain the importance of dissonance, at the time, as a mark of the Renaissance movement. O'Regan, Noel. "Palestrina, a Musician and Composer in the Market-­‐Place." Early Music. 4th ed. Vol. 22. Oxford UP, 1994. 551-­‐72. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3128189>. This chapter tells the story of Palestrina’s methods of income to support he and his family. It goes beyond the compositions of his career and focuses on his alternative financial means. Examples provided include his marriage to a rich second wife, after his first dies from the Plague, and his position as papal composer in the Church, as well as the pension that came with his chair position in numerous church comities. The author offers explanation to the motivation behind his major financial acquisitions was to pay for the printing of sheet music. The author also provides a chronological table of jobs and positions held by Palestrina, along with their included salaries. Provided interesting insight on Palestrina’s alter ego. Charlie Hildreth 12/7/11 MUSC100 Annotated Bibliography Owens, Jessie A., and James Haar. "Composers at Work: The Craft of Musical Composition, 1450-­‐1600." Music Theory Spectrum 21.2 (1999): 294-­‐301. JSTOR. University of California Press. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/745866>. This article discusses the difficulty in imitating Palestrina’s style today, by arguing that, even though we may be able to analyze the underlying contrapuntal technique he implemented, our habit of studying the tonal technicality rather than the characteristics of the tonal relationships prevents the same mode of expression. The author suggests that Palestrina’s unique take on counterpoint can be attributed to his focus on every note’s relation to one another, thus creating a whole piece, versus a piece of separated phrases. "Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da (between 3 Feb. 1525 and 2 Feb. 1526, probably Palestrina, near Rome -­‐ 2 Feb. 1594, Rome)." The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003. Credo Reference. Web. 03 December 2011. This entry provides the basic and full extent of Palestrina’s works. It provides brief background of his involvement in the sacred church music industry, as well as some major events in his career path. Most helpful were the provided statistics of his works, including the quantities of each type, ranging from masses to motets to hymns, etc. Emphasis on the sacred music aspect of Palestrina’s style. "Palestrina style." The Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003. Credo Reference. Web. 03 December 2011. This entry defines the Palestrina style in a frank and informative manner. It provides a basic rundown of Palestrina’s importance to classical Renaissance polyphony, attributed largely to his unique treatment of dissonance. Furthermore, it accredits Palestrina’s methods to Johann Fux’s formulation of counterpoint theory. Although basic, this source provided a straightforward overview of the influence of Charlie Hildreth 12/7/11 MUSC100 Annotated Bibliography Palestrina’s music on the Renaissance movement and those who followed shortly after him. Phillips, Peter. "Reconsidering Palestrina." Early Music. 4th ed. Vol. 22. 1994. 575-­‐85. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3128190>. The author of this chapter presents a view of Palestrina’s style as more than a conservative perfection of a style, because he suggests that this view puts a limitation on how we think of him. The author argues that Palestrina was also experimenting with methods of semi and non-­‐polyphonic music, and that he spent the last four decades of his life honing this particular style and implementing it throughout his compositions for double choir. It is because of this that many listeners only see the secular and sacred side of Palestrina, and thus base their views of him on that particular section of his career. This provided an interesting portrayal of the diversity and range of Palestrina’s musical innovations. Ramm, Andrea von. "Style in Early Music Singing." Early Music. 1st ed. Vol. 8. Oxford UP, 1980. 17-­‐20. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3126630>. In this chapter the author attempts to explain early music singing style, which pertains to many of Palestrina’s work. He uses a diagram to depict the elements of vocal function, revolving around Language, Expression, and Technique. To each branch, he adds more factors – such as social context and rhythm – to gradually build and present a web of connecting elements that all amounts to what is required when attempting to sing early style music. The author’s view is based on his experiences working with secular vocal music, and directly relates to Palestrina’s area of expertise. Schubert, Peter N. "Hidden Forms in Palestrina's First Book of Four-­‐Voice Motets." Journal of the American Musicological Society. 3rd ed. Vol. 60. University of Charlie Hildreth 12/7/11 MUSC100 Annotated Bibliography California, 2007. 483-­‐556. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/jams.2007.60.3.483>. This article dissects Palestrina’s First Book of Four-­‐Voice Motets, to determine how Palestrina structures them to create their shape. The author argues that Palestrina does so through his repetition of contrapuntal combinations, and argues he his point through modular analysis. The author attributes this to the connections among individual contrapuntal phrases that Palestrina so expertly creates, each sounding beautiful and pure by itself, but creating an even more overwhelming sense of purity once combined together. The evidence reveals much of the suspected thought process behind Palestrina’s style, and his methods of forming textures across a grander scheme through the arrangement of modules.