Theory and Practice in the Works of Pietro Pontio
219 MO. 3/^1 THE VOICE OF THE COMPOSER: THEORY AND PRACTICE IN THE WORKS OF PIETRO PONTIO VOLUME I DISSERTATION Presented to the Graduate Council of the University of North Texas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Russell Eugene Murray, Jr., B.A., B.M.E., M.M.E, Denton, Texas December, 1989 Murray, Russell Eugene, Jr., The Voice of the Composer: Theory and. Practice in the Works of. Pietro Pontio. Doctor of Philosophy (Musicology), December, 1989, 2 vol- umes, 427 + 211 pp., 22 tables, 4 figures, 3 plates, 46 musical examples, bibliography, 213 titles, works list, documents, music. The life, music, and theoretical writings of Pietro Pontio (1532-1596) yield considerable insight into questions of theory and practice in the late sixteenth century. The dissertation places Pontio within his musical and cultural milieu, and assesses his role as both theorist and composer. The first two chapters present an expanded biography based on new archival evidence. The course of Pontio's career is detailed, and corrections such as his exact date of death and his location and employment for the years 1569- 1574 are presented. The documents also uniquely detail the working conditions and pedagogical methods and concerns of the sixteenth-century maestro di cappella. Chapter Three surveys Pontio's two treatises, the Ragionamento (1588) and the Dialogo (1595), outlining impor- tant issues addressed by Pontio. Chapter Four presents a brief survey of Pontio's music, hitherto unstudied, showing his work to be of consistent quality and inventiveness. Chapter Five discusses issues from the Ragionamento.
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