The study of borrowing has been a powerful tool for analysis of music in the Renaissance period and has provoked arguments and fierce debates over defining borrowing types, providing a terminology for them, and understanding why and how composers did what they did. Controversies have arisen over "imitation" or "parody" as terms for polyphonic borrowing, differences between paraphrase and cantus firmus technique, issues of overt and covert borrowing, and whether borrowing is taking place at all. Compiling a history of borrowing in the Renaissance—in light of these challenges and when considering that much more basic research needs to be completed for many composers—seems an impossible task at this stage, but the essays within this book provide a guide to further investigation and show how borrowing remains a compelling approach to analysis and criticism of early music.

Index Classifications: 1400s, 1500s

Contributed by: Mary Ellen Ryan