The sacred vocal parodies of the seventeenth century are not characteristic of the artistic spirit of the age, as evidenced by the few compositions of composers such as Schütz and Monteverdi based on other composers. Despite this, it is possible to speak of a history of parody in the seventeenth century. The seventeenth-century view of parody, as set forth in Quitschreiber's treatise De parodia of 1611, departed from that of the Renaissance in two main ways. First and most important was a new recognition of the concept of artistic ownership. Second was the regard of parody as a useful pedagogical and stylistic tool in composition ("Stileinübung").

Index Classifications: 1600s

Contributed by: Randal Tucker