Questions relating to the attribution of two textless polyphonic works, found in several early sixteenth-century manuscripts, may be solved by studying the musical and textual borrowings in the compositions. These works, titled Si dormiero and Sancta Maria Virgo and commonly attributed to Pierre de la Rue, are often found with other instrumental intabulations whose titles begin with the word Si. The musical borrowings among this group of pieces include the Compline Respond verse Si dedero, opening melodic motives, and similar points of imitation. Whereas Josquin's In pace uses the first two phrases of the Si dedero chant, Obrecht's Si sumpsero starts the chant where Josquin leaves off, suggesting that these two motets were composed in response to one another. Si dormiero borrows motives from Josquin's In pace and Agricola's Si dedero. The works are also linked through sacred and secular textual relations.

Works: Alexander Agricola: Si dedero (2-8); Josquin des Prez: In pace (2-8); Pierre de la Rue: Si dormiero (2-8), Sancta Maria Virgo (2, 6-8); Jacob Obrecht: Si sumpsero (5-8).

Sources: Alexander Agricola: Si dedero (2-8); Josquin des Prez: In pace (2-8); Compline Respond verse: Si dedero (3-6).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

Due to the lack of primary sources regarding Bartolomé de Escobedo, relatively little research has been published about him or his works. A close inspection of the Missa Philippus Rex Hispanie, however, leads one to believe that the composition was modeled after Josquin's Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie. Escobedo may have come across the work in a Spanish manuscript or while serving as a member of the Papal Chapel. The most obvious connection between the Masses is the use of a soggetto cavato, which is a theme based on the vowels of the name of the addressee of the Mass. Escobedo also follows Josquin in that the soggetto is usually presented in the second tenor, points of imitation generally occur in ascending order, and Escobedo transposes the soggetto by the same intervals as Josquin. The formal divisions of each movement also mirror those of the Josquin Mass. Escobedo also employs an unusual mensurational trick in the Agnus Dei that is also found in Josquin's Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales.

Works: Bartolomé de Escobedo: Missa Philippus Rex Hispanie (50-62).

Sources: Josquin des Prez: Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie (54-62), Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales (61).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

Background information on the Dies Irae sequence notes no records of the melody's origins and attributes the text to Thomas of Celano. Composers have used the chant in two ways: (1) as an integral part of their settings of the Requiem Mass in its proper context; (2) in secular works, often in a debased form to help create the appropriate diabolical or supernatural atmosphere. Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique was the first in a Romantic trend of using this theme associated with death and the last judgment in its most terrible aspects. The character of the melody's significance has changed significantly from its original connotation. Composers of the Romantic era used the melody for its associations with terror and dread, while ignoring the message of hope that is also explicit in the words. Some manifestations of the Dies Irae melody served as models for other composers to follow. One example is Liszt's Dante Symphony, which influenced Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death and Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini. In the twentieth century, the tradition was kept alive by Sergei Rachmaninaov, who used the Dies Irae to represent evil spirits in the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini.

Works: Berlioz: Requiem (135), Symphonie Fantastique (135-36); Alfred Bruneau: Requiem (135); Liszt: Totentanz (136, 137); Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death (136); Saint-Saëns: Danse Macabre (137); Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini (137), In Dark Hell (137), Suite in G Major (137); Rachmaninoff: Tone Poem, Op. 29 (138), Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (138), Symphony No. 3 (138), Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini (138); Vaughan Williams: Tudor Portraits (138).

Index Classifications: 1800s, 1900s

Contributed by: Jean Pang, Randy Goldberg

Although John Blitheman is best known for his virtuosic keyboard compositions and as the teacher of John Bull, close inspection of his plainsong variations show that he was highly innovative in terms of thematic integration and development. His four verses, or variations, on the hymn Eterne rerum each present a unique setting of the plainsong. Blitheman's cadences are usually derived from the phrases of the original chant, and melodic motives, taken from the openings of each variation, are treated with intervallic and rhythmic flexibility. In the fourth variation, three distinct motives are developed using retrograde motion and inversion. In Eterne rerum, as well as his setting of the Compline hymn Christe qui lux es, Blitheman integrates the cantus firmus into the imitative motives of the surrounding polyphony.

Works: John Blitheman: Eterne rerum (186-88), Christe qui lux es (188).

Sources: Hymn: Eterne rerum (186-88); Compline Hymn: Christe qui lux es (188).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

Even though Chopin denounced and laughed at any attempts to relate his works to programmatic narratives, his notion of absolute music is betrayed by borrowed melodies and topical gestures that may be found in his works. The Prelude in A Minor, Op. 28, No 2, is an ideal subject for hermeneutic or semiotic interpretation due to its juxtaposition of funereal and religious elements. The musical texture is permeated with references to the Dies Irae chant. Chorale and funeral march topics also appear in the score. The structural troping of these elements leads one to believe that death was on the mind of the composer. The sharp decline in Chopin's health while composing these preludes gives further credence to a programmatic interpretation. Interestingly, Alexander Scriabin borrowed elements from this work for his second Prelude of Op. 74, which also alludes to his own failing health.

Works: Chopin: Prelude in A Minor, Op. 28, No. 2 (149-59); Scriabin: Prelude, Op. 74, No. 2 (159-62).

Sources: Dies Irae (149-62); Chopin: Prelude in A Minor, Op. 28, No. 2 (159-62).

Index Classifications: 1800s, 1900s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

The publication of The Mulliner Book (Brit. Mus. Add. 30513) along with its accompanying commentary by Denis Stevens comprises a valuable introduction to several types of musical borrowing in English Tudor keyboard music. All possible variations of cantus firmus techniques may be found in the many In Nomine and Gloria tibi Trinitas settings. A comparison of the elaborate popular song settings, such as Johnson's Defiled is my name, with their vocal counterparts show how sixteenth-century musicians dealt with the voice leading problems that occurred in creating instrumental transcriptions. Other works in the collection show how English composers took common Italian bass patterns and used them to establish new variation techniques. These new processes would become standard practice for Elizabethan composers of the next generation, including William Byrd. Also included in the collection is the first British Fansye by Master Newman. It is clearly modeled on Marco Antonio Cavazzoni's Salve virgo.

Works: Johnson: Defiled is my name (378-79); Passamezzo (387-89); Master Newman: A fansye (389-92).

Sources: Antiphon: Gloria tibi Trinitas (375); Johnson: Defiled is my name (378-79); Marco Antonio Cavazzoni: Salve virgo (389-92).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

The Mulliner Book contains the largest collection of keyboard works by William Blitheman (1525-1591). Although Blitheman is best known as John Bull's teacher, a closer inspection of the Gloria tibi Trinitas settings shows that he may have also been one of the pioneering figures in the development of plainsong variation sets. The six Trinitas pieces were probably originally intended as one cyclic work. This composition would not predate Narvaez's two sets of variations on O Gloriosa domina, but was probably a great influence on later European variation composers, such as Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. In the first five variations, the Gloria tibi Trinitas plainsong serves as a structural voice around which increasingly virtuosic passages are composed. In some of the variations, the cantus firmus participates in and is obscured by the musical figuration. The last variation follows the contemplative melos suave style, which can be found in other works by Blitheman. Investigation also shows that the work was most likely composed for organ.

Works: William Blitheman: Gloria tibi Trinitas I-VI (528-53).

Sources: Antiphon: Gloria tibi Trinitas (528-53).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

Because of the relationship between borrowed music and compositional structure in Beckwith's Keyboard Practice (1979), an analysis of these components may illuminate the composer's intended meaning, as well as provide an analytical model for other referential compositions. Keyboard Practice, a set of variations which involves four performers who play on ten different keyboard instruments, employs quotations from an anonymous Alman, a movement from an Ordre by François Couperin, Liszt's Au bord d'une source, and Charles L. Johnson's Cum Bac' Rag. On the surface, these borrowings reflect Beckwith's view of the history of keyboard literature. The variety of instruments involved may also be read as an examination of a variety of keyboard timbres. Beckwith also comments on each borrowed composition through musical interruptions which disrupt the quotations. The 12-tone row upon which the piece is based may also be considered a reflection on the borrowed material, as it is derived from the first ten notes of the Alman, and sections of the row serve as cadential figures in reference to the other pre-existent music.

Works: Beckwith: Keyboard Practice (94-109).

Sources: Fitzwilliam Virginal Book: anonymous Alman (97-105); François Couperin: [Unidentified] Ordre (97-105); Liszt: Au bord d'une source (97-105); Charles L. Johnson: Cum Bac' Rag (98-105).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

A structural study of the tenor of a previously unidentified polyphonic intabulation, included in the Faenza Biblioteca Comunale Fa117, provides important clues in regard to its origin. An initial investigation of the tenor shows similarities with the four isorhythmic motets of Johannes Ciconia, especially his Doctorum principem. Close parallels between specific sections of the unidentified work and Doctorum principem support this hypothesis, but other factors need to be considered. The hoquetus which occurs at the end of the first two statements of the talea in the intabulation is not repeated after the third repetition. Comparing this phenomenon to the works in the manuscript, it seems possible that the intabulation is actually transcribed from a Mass movement and the missing hoquetus falls right where an Amen would have been sung. The original three-voiced polyphonic work may be partially reconstructed from the two-voiced intabulation by interpolating the autoimitations in the cantus.

Works: Faenza Biblioteca Comunale Fa117, fols. 93r-94r (46-67).

Sources: Johannes Ciconia: Doctorum principem (50-53).

Index Classifications: 1400s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

The purveyors of Anglican Church music in the late sixteenth century followed a close student-teacher relationship over several generations. In the case of Thomas Tallis, his student William Byrd, and the third generation, Thomas Morley, there is a tradition of emulation and borrowing which manifests itself in their Short Services and Triple-Time Services. Byrd's setting of the Te Deum, in his Short Service, contains harmonic patterns and melodic figures that were clearly derived from the Tallis version. In the Nunc Dimittis, Byrd imitates the manner in which Tallis introduces increasing amounts of imitation throughout a movement, and the interplay Tallis employs between the soprano and the lower voices. Morley is indebted to his mentor William Byrd, in terms of tonal outlines, and also to Thomas Tallis, with borrowings at specific harmonic points.

Works: William Byrd: Short Service (83-100), Triple-Time Service (100-111); Thomas Morley: Short Service (83-100), Triple-Time Service (100-111).

Sources: Thomas Tallis: Short Service (83-100).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

Even after Neo-Gallican reforms revised and suppressed traditional liturgical melodies, plainchant was still sung in almost all parishes as well as the Chapelle Royale of Louis XIV and Louis XV in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France. At this time, plainchants were still employed to enhance the solemnity of the service and provide a way in which composers of secular music could create sacred-sounding music. Plainchants were incorporated into polyphonic music in several ways, including the use of psalm tone intonations, Gregorian intonations, short quotations from chant to emphasize key words, and cantus firmus. Often, plainchants could be anticipated in orchestral introductions. These practices may have been influenced by the chant sur le livre, a French convention of improvising around a plainchant. Aside from emphasizing the sacred aspect of a composition, quotations from popular chants could convey the meaning of the text to those who did not speak Latin, or certain chants could be utilized for political allegory in order to reflect the grandeur of the King.

Works: Jean-Baptiste Lully: Dies Irae (116-18); Henri Madin: Dixit Dominus (130-31); Antoine Blanchard: Jubilate Deo (130-35).

Sources: Dies Irae (116-18); Graduale romanum (Sanctus) (121-35).

Index Classifications: 1600s, 1700s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

Inspired by Greek antiquity, French musicians of the seventeenth century looked to Turkish culture as a "living model" of Greek musical ideas. Among the similarities of Turkish music to Greek music are monophonic and heterophonic texture, tetrachordal constructions, and microtonal tunings. Turkish affects also provided a significant amount of exoticism and novelty, which were sought by musicians and audiences. Turkish art songs, such as those composed by Süleyman Celebi, inspired French attempts at transcription of Turkish music in the seventeenth century, and several aspects of Turkish military music and Janissary bands influenced composition at the court of Louis XIV. In fact, the French tradition of using drum signals to assemble troops was borrowed from the Turkish military tradition. The Sun King went so far as to appoint Lully as director of military music in order for his martial ensembles to compete with Janissary bands. Turkey was also used as a model of ancient music practices in the Parallèle of Charles Perrault.

Works: Lully: Thesée (379-80); Sébastien de Brossard: Marche pour les Turcs (379-80), Marche des Janissaires (379-81).

Sources: Suleyman Celibi: Melvidi Sherif (368-71).

Index Classifications: 1600s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

Modeled after the Latin devotional song Laus tibi, Christe, the religious folksong O du armer Judas became one of the most commonly used sources of Protestant contrafacta during the German Reformation. In the early decades of the sixteenth century, this melody was linked with Lutheran accusations of Catholic corruption. Martin Luther himself even wrote a contrafactum of the song in 1541 to criticize Duke Heinrich of Braunschweig. The poetic form of this Judaslied became so popular that textual borrowings of the first verse could arouse associations of the simple tune. As Ludwig Senfl was composer to a Catholic court in Bavaria, it is surprising that he would take the risk of creating a polyphonic vocal setting of the Judaslied. Although there is no concrete evidence of a religious conversion to Lutheranism, Senfl did exchange letters with Martin Luther and composed music for the Protestant Duke Albrecht of Prussia. Senfl's quasi-canonic setting was probably not used in folk processions and it is most likely that the work was not performed in Bavaria, although it was preserved there in manuscript.

Works: Folksong: O du armer Judas (199-210); Ludwig Senfl: O du armer Judas (217-25).

Sources: Folksong: O du armer Judas (199-210); Latin devotional song: Laus tibi, Christe (200).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

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

In the years following Parliament's approval of the Act of Supremacy in 1534, strong restrictions were placed on composers of Latin music in England. This obstacle may have encouraged many musicians to focus their attention on instrumental music. Even though John Taverner never composed any instrumental music, his Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas had a strong effect on the rise of consort music in England in the second half of the sixteenth century. The Mass is based on the antiphon Gloria tibi Trinitas, which is heard in the medius voice throughout each of the four movements. The opening of each movement also contains a head motive. This motive begins with a rising minor third, which refers to the opening interval of the original plainsong. Transcriptions of one section of the Sanctus appear in many manuscripts, with different instrumentation. This In Nomine section, named after the text of the original passage in Taverner's Mass, can be found in arrangements for keyboard, viols, and voice and lute. The Mulliner Book, for example, includes a keyboard arrangement from Taverner's Mass as well as compositions by Allwood, Johnson, and others, which were derived from Taverner's setting.

Works: John Taverner: Missa Gloria tibi trinitas (218-22).

Sources: Antiphon: Gloria tibi Trinitas (218-22).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg

Because Jacquet borrowed so extensively in his early works, musicologists may use his compositional processes as a determinant for dating his youthful compositions as well as documenting his early career. His early madrigals involve different manners of emulation. One can surmise that Altro non è il mio amor is clearly modeled after Verdelot's madrigal with the same text, as Jacquet parodied each point of imitation in the model. Cogliete delle spini from Primo libro a 4 (1555) borrows entire voices from Cipriano de Rore's Anchor che col partire. Jacquet's madrigal cycle Capriccio also employs a pastiche of popular airs. Investigation of borrowed material also may determine the authenticity of the contested Missa Altro non è il mio amor which is based on the same Verdelot madrigal mentioned above. Parody seems to be the most common trait in all of Jacquet's chansons, which are modeled after works of Certon de Villiers, Sandrin, and possibly Jannequin. The motets, on the other hand, reflect the music of earlier composers, such as Josquin and Mouton, with their use of cantus firmus and diminution.

Works: Jacquet de Berchem: Altro non è il amor (59), Cogliete delle spini (60), Capriccio (60), Missa Altro non è il amor (61), Voix de Ville, Se envieulx, et faulx rapportz (63-65), In te signis radians (63-64).

Sources: Verdelot: Altro non è il amor (59-61); Rore: Anchor che col partire (60); Sandrin: Pui que de vous (67).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg