Many of the Catholic sacred music compositions made during the
Counter-Reformation period tended to bear the marks of the ideals articulated
by the Council of Trent (though the Council said very little concerning music
directly, the ideals of clarity of doctrine and fidelity to the Church's
traditional teaching were certainly important for the Council). This
period marked the flourishing of a great many composers, who are widely
recognized as the greatest of the Renaissance polyphonic composers: Palestrina
(c. 1525-1594), Lassus (c. 1532-1594) and Byrd (c. 1540-1623), to name only a
few. The clarity, simplicity and noble elegance of these composers' music
was manifest in an intelligible delivery of the sacred texts, along with
fitting musical embellishments. In addition,their musical compositions
are especially recognizable for fidelity to the spirit of Gregorian Chant; in
fact, many of their pieces were simply embellishments of chant melodies. ^1^
My composition is an attempt to imitate the ideals of the Counter-Reformation composers. It is deeply inspired by the chant hymn, which is woven about it, especially in the way that it emphasizes freedom in the rhythmic flow to allow for the text to be delivered clearly. The text for this hymn comes from Cardinal Silvio Antoniano (1540-1603), who was one of several men, selected by Pope Clement VIII, to revise the Breviary. This hymn is one of two texts, written by the Cardinal, that have remained even through the current edition of the Breviary. ^2^
^1^ Cf. Burkholder, J. Peter, Donald Jay. Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music, (New York: W. W. Norton &, 2010), 211-38.
^2^ Cf. http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Cardinal_Silvio_Antoniano
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