Brunelleschi's Dome and Dufay's Motet Author(S): Charles W

Brunelleschi's Dome and Dufay's Motet Author(s): Charles W. Warren Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 59, No. 1 (Jan., 1973), pp. 92-105 Published by: Oxford University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/741461 . Accessed: 02/11/2014 16:32

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Oxford University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Musical Quarterly.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions BRUNELLESCHI'S DOME AND DUFAY'S MOTET

By CHARLES W. WARREN

N March 25, 1436, Pope Eugenius IV dedicated the cathedral at O Florence with its great dome designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, and the Papal choir performed a motet that Guillaume Dufay had composed for the event. Both dome and motet occupy special places in the historyof their respective disciplines, the former as the most important achievement of "the father of Renaissance architecture," and the latter as one of the most impressive occasional pieces ever written.A great deal has been said about the motet, but there is one aspect of the music that has been overlooked - its fundamental relationship to the architectureof Brunelleschi. In fact,there are a number of interestingcorrespondences between the structureof the dome and that of the motet, correspondences involving extraordinarypro- cedures on the part of both architectand composer. The relationship is strikingenough to suggestthat the unique and compelling features of Nuper rosarum flores- its use of two tenorswith the same cantus firmus,its isorhythmicand isomelic symmetries,its impressivesonori- ties, even its overall design - are not purely musical after all, but the results of a deliberate attempt on the part of Dufay to create a sounding model of Brunelleschi's architecture. The significance of the correspondences between the dome and the motet can best be appreciated in the context of Brunelleschi's achievement as an architect.In the eyes of his contemporarieshe was the firstbuilder of his age to think in terms of the "proporzioni musicali" of the ancients.' Recent studies have tended to vindicate this view, finding evidence in nothing that Brunelleschi himself

1 Antonio di Tuccio Manetti, The Life of Brunelleschi, ed. Howard Saalman, trans. Catherine Engass (UniversityPark, Pa., 1970), p. 51.

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brunelleschi's Dome and Dufay's Motet 93 wrote or was reputed to have said, but in the buildings themselves. According to Wittkower, "the principal formal characteristics of Brunelleschi's new Renaissance architecture may be summarized under the terms of homogeneity of wall, space, light and articula- tion. These homogeneities are the necessary conditions not only to guarantee coherent metrical development in plan and elevation, but also to ascertain continued ratios in perspectiveview."2 Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci may have been the firstclearly to articulate a metrical and harmonic concept of space based on musical consonances, but Brunelleschi was the earliest of the Renaissance masters to emphasize these simple arithmetic ratios in the overall design of his buildings and to understand the laws of perspective that are based on them.3 It is easy enough to perceive these "musical consonances" in churches such as San Lorenzo and Santo Spirito in Florence. They were designed by Brunelleschi according to a modular scheme that presupposes a harmonic organization of space.4 In the case of the dome that he raised over Santa Maria del Fiore, however, the matter is not so simple. The cathedral was built in the Trecento according to a gothic systemin which the measurements and dimensions are derived from a set of simple geometrical proportions based on the square. In the terminologyof the workshop and the building site, a due quadri was the same as a two to one proportion and a uno quadro e mezzo the same as a one to one and a half proportion. Other proportions were taken from the diagonals of these squares, however, and are incommensurable in termsof harmonic ratios. That is, a uno quadro il diamitro can only be expressed as V2: 1, while a due quadri il diamitro is equivalent to V5:1.5 This harmonic incommensurability became exaggerated in actual practice, when in a procedure called "quadrature" a series of expanding or contractingsquares was taken from the diagonal, as in the cross of Santa Maria del Fiore (Fig. 1). Here most of the basic coordinates appear to be related to the large crossing square that is

2 Rudolf Wittkower,"Brunelleschi and 'Proportion in Perspective,'" Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, XVI (1953), 288. 3 On the use of musical proportions in medieval church architecture see Otto von Simson, The Gothic Cathedral (New York, 1956), pp. 37-38 et passim. 4 Wittkower,op. cit., pp. 288-89. 5Howard Saalman, "Early Renaissance Architectural Theory and Practice in Antonio Filarete's Trattato di architettura,"The Art Bulletin, XLI (1959),

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 94 The MusicalQuarterly circumscribedby the central octagon. By drawinglarger squares with sides equal to the diagonal of the smallerand smallersquares with sides equal to one halfthe diagonal of the larger,the dimensionsof the entirecruciform structure may be derivedfrom a singlequadra- tureseries. What is interestingabout thisseries is thatit may be reduced to a set of ratiosthat contain the proporzioni musicali. Mul- tiplyingthe sides of the squares consecutivelyby the numerical equivalentof -V2:1 (= 0.707) and roundingoff the reduced series to the nearestwhole numbers,one obtainsthe proportions6:4:3:2.0 Accordingto Howard Saalman, the ratios of "simplified"quadra- turewere not unknownto Brunelleschi'spredecessors and may have been used in determiningthe pier-to-foundationrelationships of Santa Maria del Fiore.7 Measurementsof the dome suggestthat Brunelleschialso used theseproportions, but on a muchlarger architectural scale, and that he conceivedof themin termsof a modularsystem imposed on the existingdimensions of the cathedral.Indeed, if we take the square inside the octagon (Fig. 1) as a basic module,these dimensions may

- ? "-~

~aj~~ , ? ?

Fig. 1.

6The complete series of figuresobtained by this calculation is: 101.8, 72.0, 50.8 (crossing square), 35.9, 25.4, 17.9, 12.6, 8.9, 6.3, 4.4, 3.1, 2.2. Dimensions are given in terms of Florentine braccia (the braccia is about two feet), and are based on measurements and reports taken from the scale drawings of Bernardo Sgrilli, Descrizione e studi dell'insigne fabbrica di S. Maria del Fiore (Florence, 1733), Figs. II, III, and IV, and Giuseppe Molini, La metropolitana fiore7rtina(Florence, 1820), Figs. II, III, and IV. 7 Saalman, op. cit., p. 98, note 28.

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brunelleschi'sDome and Dufay'sMotet 95 be expressedprecisely in termsof the ratio 6:4:2:3. Three of these squaresare containedin the nave,two in the transept(one on either side of the crossingsquare), one in the apse, and one and one half in theelevation of the dome proper,measuring from the base of the tambour to the close of the vault (Figs. 2 and 3, dotted lines).

Jim--"lpU --

I VY~I~Y

I I

- -. ,__

Fig. 2.

---,ii------I t~

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 96 The MusicalQuarterly

These same proportionsmay also be derivedfrom a differentmodu- lar schemebased on thetwenty-eight braccia squares of the nave bays (Figs. 2 and 3, solid lines). Six of these squares are contained in the nave, four in the transept(two on eitherside of the crossing square), two in the apse, and three in the elevationof the dome, measuringfrom the peaks of the archesto theclose of the vault (one module to the base of the cupola and two fromthe base to the top). In effect,Brunelleschi reduced the interiordimensions of the cathedralto a set of proportionsbased on a whole numberratio, and it is preciselythese proportions that are used in themotet that Dufay wrotefor the consecration of thecathedral. Not onlydo the mensura- tionsin its foursections have a proportionalrelationship of 6:4:2:3, but the numberof tactusin each of the sectionsis the same as the number of braccia contained in the modular scheme based on twenty-eightbraccia squares: one hundredsixty-eight in the nave, one hundredtwelve in the transept,fifty-six in the apse, and eighty- fourin the dome of Brunelleschi.What is more,there are twenty- eight brevesin each of the two-voiceand four-voicesubsections of the motet,which means that the "module" of the motetis the same as that of the cathedral:

O 168 t. 'C 112 t. 56 t. 0 84 t. Triplum . Motetus TenorII TenorI 6 4 2 3

It mustbe emphasized,however, that the lengthof the last sectionof the motetis expressedhere in termsof a uniformtactus and not theslower or fasterbeat thatwas apparentlyrequired for temrnpus perfectumdiminutum in actual practice. Ornithoparchusreports that in the opinion of the "veteres,"referring to the generationof Dufay,the diminutionof perfectsigns took away a thirdpart and not a half.8Coussemaker's Anonymous XII also writes: "If at the

8 "Diminutio: ut veteres sensere: est tertia partis ab ipsa mensura abstractio." Musice active Micrologus Andree Ornithoparchi (Leipzig, 1519), Bk. I, chap. viii.

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brunelleschi'sDome and Dufay'sMotet 97 beginninga line is placed in the middle of a circlenot havinga dot inside,as here: 0; in thissort of song half is not takenaway but only a thirdpart; thatis to say,it is sung fasterthan if the line were not placed in the middle."9In practicalterms, the only way one could take away exactlya thirdpart of the speed of the last section of Nuper rosarumflores would be by keeping the speed of the semi- breveconstant with that of the thirdsection. With a constantsemibreve two breves of tempus perfectum diminutum will be used up for every three of tempus imperfectumdiminutum:

Ex. 1

( 3:2

This resultsin a breve that loses a third part of its speed, as the theoristssuggest. Thus the fifty-sixbreves in the last sectionof the motetwill expand in lengthby a third compared to the fifty-six brevesin the previoussection and take up the time of eighty-four tactus.On the otherhand, given a constantsemibreve between the two last sections, two breves of tempus perfectum diminutum will be taken up for every one of tempus perfectum non diminutum, makingthe finalsection of themotet half as long as the first:

Ex. 2 O

1:2

In its overalldimension, then, Nuper rosarumflores has exactlythe same proportionsas the interiorof the cross and dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. The mensurationsproducing these proportions oc- cur in only one othermotet of Dufay,Magnanimae gentes, written some two yearslater thanNuper rosarumflores, but in thispiece a canon doubles the lengthof the firstsection, making a proportion of 12:4:2:3. An examinationof Brunelleschi'sspecifications for the dome indicates that the correspondencein overall dimensionsbetween the

9 Scriptorum de musica medii aevi (Paris, 1864-76), III, 484.

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 98 The MusicalQuarterly architectureof the cathedraland thatof the motetwas not accidental. The specifications,dated 1420,are preservedas a notarialrecord of the FlorentineWoolen Guild and describein summaryfashion the formand measureof the componentparts of the dome:

. .. the inner cupola is vaulted in five-partform in the corners.Its thicknessat the bottompoint fromwhich it springsis 33/4braccia. It tapers so that the end portionsurrounding the upper oculus is only21/2 braccia thick. A second,outer cupolais placedover this one to preserveit fromthe weather and to vaultit in a more magnificentand swellingform. It is 11/4braccia thickat the bottompoint fromwhich it springs,and tapersto theupper oculus, where it is only2/3 braccia thick.10

In this passage Brunelleschidescribes his dome as having two shells- an innerone and an outerone separatedby a space (Plate I). The idea of a double cupola was a startlinginnovation, a tour de force of engineeringwhose chief functionwas apparentlyan estheticone. In fact,it is onlyhere thatBrunelleschi allows himself to lapse into anythingapproaching extravagant language. An outer cupola is to be placed over an inner one in order"to vault it in a more magnificentand swellingform" ("piu magnificae gonfiata"). This double cupola has a close musical counterpartin the double tenorof Nuper rosarumflores (Plate II). Breakingwith tradition, Dufayhas two tenorssound thesame cantusfirmus a fifthapart, and the effectis primarilyaesthetic - the amplificationof sonority.One tenoris placed a fifthbelow anotherin order to harmonizeit in a "more magnificentand swellingform." The mensurationsof the tenors also correspondto the thick- nessesof the two cupolas. Brunelleschigives thesemeasurements as 33/4braccia forthe thicknessof the innershell at the tambourand 21/2braccia forits thicknessat the lantern.The inner shell is 11/4 braccia thickat the tambourand 2/ bracciaat the lantern.The first threemeasurements have exactlythe same proportionsas the nave, transept,and apse of the cathedraland the firstthree mensurations of Dufay'stenors. It maybe no morethan a curiouscoincidence, but the one incommensuratedimension in Brunelleschi'sseries of measurements,the fraction2/s braccia for the thicknessof the outershell at the top,does suggesta proportionalrelationship of 2:3.

to Frank D. Prager and Gustina Scaglia, Brunelleschi: Studies of his Technology and Inventions(Cambridge, Mass., 1970),text, pp. 139-40;trans., pp. 32ff.

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ------:_s~i:sii~-- i~ii-~ ;~-ii

-.:-_-ii:i~i:-l---ii:::i:-:.~:i:i~iiii~iii-i':..':ii--,i-i~i::::--ii--.iiiii:i,::iii::i-: ...... i~~ii ~iiiinii?...... iik~il~--:--i-- :l : iii:-ii~ii-ii:iiilii-iii~-~;''~'''''`'''"'''''':':l-i::a~;-?-eT11,~i l

...... :--ii:-i':~i:?l::'; :_::...... 77,/ql/" 21;,"'aJB

Courtesyof the Yale UniversityLibrary,

Plate I. Santa Maria del Fiore as shown in Bernardo Sgrilli's Descrizione e studi dell'insigne fabbrica di S. Maria del Fiore (1733), Figure IV. tD

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 0 O

1~'jis IS flog

(i ''m

44l Ita'vir': ::--:-.:i~I_i~ 4-1\'n fj:-, W13 V1LI* Al% 'I.--

"t , I i Oft, ? I-I J:,-iiAM -uttoft";:bijtvt moilcra--:1IIwtvl# i:4OU91~ Ms;~ 1I S:? ARR CUM 40A Al::~:: :~' v~ni

loilowB" e

Modena, Biblioteca Estense, MS a. X. 1, 11, folios 67v-68r.

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brunelleschi'sDome and Dufay'sMotet 101

One otherpassage in the initialsection of the specificationsis of interestto us. He statesat the beginning:"Imprima la cupola da lato dentroe volta a misuradel quinto acuto neglangoli."The sentence has been variouslyinterpreted, but a drawingof the dome by Gio- vanni Gherardoda Prato, one of the artistsassociated with Brunel- leschi,indicates that the base line of the cupola was divided into fiveequal partsand that the turn of the vault was determinedby radii emanatingfrom this line."1Perhaps coincidentally,there are fivepoints of imitationin the canon of Dufay's tenors. The next sectionof the specificationsrelates to the reinforce- mentsof the cupola and the kinds of materialsto be used. "There are twenty-fourribs, eight in the cornersand sixteenin the sides. Each cornerrib has a thicknessof seven braccia at the outside.... The ribs tie the two vaults together.They convergeproportionally to the top, where the oculus is." In this passage Brunelleschide- scribeswhat is visuallythe most distinctivefeature of the dome- theeight corner ribs that project from the outer surface of thecupola and tie the twoshells together. Each of theseeight ribs is seven braccia thick,which may relate to the factthat each of the foursections of Nuper rosarumflores consists of 8 X 7 breves. More intriguing, however,is thefact that in thefour-voice sections of themotet Dufay employsan unusual variationtechnique in whichthe motivesin the upper two parts are compressedand elided to accommodatethe smallermensurations. In effect,the melodiesconverge proportionally in thesesections as do the ribsof the cupola: Ex. 3 r-A

Next to the ribs,the mostimportant reinforcement of the dome consistsof circlesof strongsandstone blocks that girdle the cupola. "These blocksare long, and are well linked by tin-platediron ...

11Howard Saalman, "Giovanni di Ghirardo da Prato's Designs concerning the Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, XVIII, No. 1 (1959), 15-16.

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 102 The MusicalQuarterly

The firstand second circles are two braccia high, the third and fourthcircles are 11/sbraccia high, and the fifthand sixth circles one bracciahigh." These stonerings girdle the cupola at threedif- ferentlevels, the firstand second side by side at the bottom,the thirdand fourthat an intermediatelevel, and the fifthand sixth near the top of the dome. Dufay may have had these reinforcing blocksin mind when he added extratones to the textureat the beginning,the middle,and the end of the four-voicesections of the motet (see motetusin black notation). In fact,these extra tones serve as harmonicreinforcement and are as numerousin roughly the same proportionas the stone ringsare thick.Just as the thick- nesses of the stone rings decrease at the intermediateand upper levelsso do thenumber of reinforcingtones in themiddle and at the end of the four-voicesections of the motet.Such reinforcingtones are not uncommonin the music of the period, but I know of no otherwork in whichso manyof themare used so systematically. Apart fromthe structuralcorrespondences suggested by Brunel- leschi'sspecifications, there is one otheraspect of Dufay'smusic that seemsrelated to Santa Maria del Fiore- its extraordinaryreliance on the number seven. There are 8 x 7 brevesin each of the four main sectionsof the motet,4 X 7 brevesin each two-voiceand four- voice subsection,2 x 7 tonesin the cantusfirmus, seven lines of text in each strophe,and seven syllablesin each line. Furthermore,the most extensiveduos (those in the O and C sectionsof the motet) are organizedinto phrasesof 4+3 and 3+4 longs.According to the chiefauthorities on ecclesiasticalsymbolism in the late Middle Ages and earlyRenaissance, seven was the numberof the Church:12"Wis- dom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars" (Prov. 9:1). In fact,one of the documentshaving to do with the constructionof Santa Maria del Fiore recordsa paymentof six barrelsof wine and a sum of moneyfor the fundamentiof the seven columnscalled "ecclesia."13 Number symbolismalso played a crucial role in the consecration of a cathedral.In the ceremoniespreceding the Mass, according to Sicardus,the fourextremities of the crossare sprinkledthree times,as are the seven altars, while twelve priestscarry crosses

12Vincent Foster Hopper, Medieval Number Symbolism (New York, 1938), p. 111. 18Cesare Guasti, Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence, 1887), pp. 165-66.

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brunelleschi'sDome and Dufay'sMotet 103 throughthe fourparts of the church.14In thiscontext, it is not im- probablethat Nuper rosarumflores was conceivedas a musicalanal- ogy of the ceremonyof consecration,one in which the introitTer- ribilisest locus iste is used as the basic emblem in a musical repre- sentationof the cathedralas a whole. As we have seen, the first sectionof the motetrelates proportionally to the nave, the second to the transept,the thirdto the apse, and the fourthto the dome. Justas the dome servesas a centralspace thatthe extremitiesof the crossshare in common,so the four-voicesections of the motetwith theirisorhythmic and isomelicstructure may be regardedas a kind of "same musical space" that the four parts of the motetshare in common.The flattenedcontours of the upper voices,the sonorities of the double tenor, and the reinforcingtones in these sections createan audible shiftfrom the linear to the vertical,as if to sym- bolize a physicalmovement from one dimension into the other, fromthe extremitiesof the church,that is, into the crossingunder the vault. The acoustical effectsof these sonorities,it may be re- called, were by no meanslost on the ears of Dufay'scontemporaries. In his accountof theconsecration of Santa Maria del Fiore,Gianozzo Manetti relatesthat as the altar was being preparedfor the Office of Dedication a piece was performed"by so many varied and melodious voices, and was sung fromtime to time with so many symphoniesexalted towardheaven thatindeed theyappeared to the listenersas angelic and divine songs."15 There can be littledoubt that these "exalted symphonies,"pre- sumablythose of Nuper rosarumflores, bear a more interestingand more intimaterelationship to the architectureof Brunelleschithan has been previouslysuspected. If the correspondencesdescribed here involved ordinarydevices in the makingof domes or motets,one could easilydiscount them as coincidence.But in everyinstance the unusual featuresof the dome may be related directlyto unusual aspectsof the motet.It seemsimprobable that these correspondences were accidental,and I doubt that Dufay could have writtenthe motetas he did withoutsome special knowledgeof the architecture of the cathedral.Could he have gotten this informationdirectly

14 Mitrale seu de oficiis ecclesiasticussumma, chap. vi, "De consecratione Eccle- siae" (Migne, Patrologia Latina, CXIII, cols. 23ff.). 15Oratio de secularibus et pontificalibus pompis in consecratione basilice florentine, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Lat., 2919, 22'.

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 104 The MusicalQuarterly from Brunelleschi?Certainly they were both in Florence at the same time, Dufay as an already highlyregarded musician in the papal retinue,and Brunelleschias the masterbuilder chargedwith closingthe dome and designingthe choir of the cathedral.One has to weigh the probabilities,but the most logical conclusion is that theydid meet,and thatthey left behind as a recordof theirmeeting a unique example of "architecturepainting" in the music of the Renaissance. The implicationsof this apparentcollaboration are intriguing, particularlyin view of the factthat Nuper rosarumflores is one of the earliestof Dufay'sworks, if not the earliest,to clearlyanticipate the formand styleof his late Masses. Nearly all of the most im- portantstylistic and formalelements that characterize the individual movementsof the Missa Caput or the Missa Se la face ay pale are here: the presenceof a fourthvoice acting as a bass, the division into two or more metricallycontrasted sections with introductory duos, thechantlike contours of the upper voicesand theiroccasional imitations,the "disparityin the figurationof the upper and lower voices,which formtwo distinctarchitectural groups,"'6 and, above all, the balancedjuxtaposition of linear texturein the introductory duos witha verticalemphasis in the four-voicetutti.'7 One can point to variousinfluences in the late Masses of Dufay, but the real "missinglink" in theirevolution may verywell have been the late motetsof Dufay himself,beginning with Nuper rosarum flores.It is no mere coincidencethat the motet disappears fromhis repertoryjust as the tenorMass is introduced.It may even be an illusion; the stylisticand formalapparatus of the motetmay simplyhave been applied on a largerscale to the textsof the Mass, so thatthe motet,rather than disappearing,was transformedinto a motetcycle with a commoncantus firmus. In this context,the architecturalallegory of Nuper rosarum floresought to be regardedas somethingmore than a unique or curiousextramusical exercise, for it is the extramusicalaspect of the motetthat appears to anticipatethe styleof the tenor Mass. I am notsuggesting that the elements of styleand formin Nuper rosarum floresthat are typicalof Dufay'slater Masses do not appear in music

16Dufay, Opera Omnia, ed. Guillaume de Van (Rome, 1949), III, p. ii. 17 See, for example, the opening of the Gloria of the Missa Caput (Dufay, Opera Omnia, ed. Heinrich Besseler [Rome, 1960], II, 81).

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brunelleschi'sDome and Dufay'sMotet 105 writtenbefore 1436, or that theydid not originallyserve a purely musical function.It does seem to me, however,that these com- ponentsare combinedfor the firsttime in Nuper rosarumflores in an overall patternthat is characteristicof some of his more mature works.What confrontsus is the very interestingpossibility that certainaspects of this patternmay have been catalyzedin part by the architecturalconcepts of Brunelleschiand the acousticalproper- ties of his awesome dome. In a real and demonstrablesense, both dome and motetreduce gothic dimensions to classicalsymmetry and proportion,both extricatethemselves from the harmonic incom- mensurabilityof older systemsand emerge as self-contained,self- sustainingforms - the verymodels of Renaissancesensibility.'8

18A version of this paper was read at the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society in Chapel Hill, N. C., November 12, 1971.

This content downloaded from 192.147.172.89 on Sun, 2 Nov 2014 16:32:03 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions