[+] Shay, Robert. "'Naturalizing' Palestrina and Carissimi in Late Seventeenth-Century Oxford: Henry Aldrich and His Recompositions." Music and Letters 77 (August 1996): 368-400.
In the late seventeenth century, Henry Aldrich "translated" many sacred Latin compositions by Palestrina, Carissimi, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, and others into English, for use in Anglican Church services. Aside from changing the language, Aldrich "naturalized" the Italian works by adapting the musical settings to fit into contemporary English practice. These changes included the removal of melismas, use of alternate textures, and changing modality into tonality, as well as adding choral punctuations to the motets of Carissimi. Aldrich's recompositions were inspired by the theories of imitatio that were manifest in the English educational system of the 1600s.
Works: John Aldrich: We have heard with our ears (392-94), Hold not thy tongue (394-96), I am well pleased (396-400).
Sources: Giovanni di Pierluigi da Palestrina: Doctor bonus (392-94), Nativitas tua (394-96); Giacomo Carissimi: Praevaluerunt in nos, Vidi impium (396-400).
Index Classifications: 1600s
Contributed by: Randy Goldberg
