THE MULTIVOICE SACRED MUSIC OF NICOLAS GOMBERT: A CRITICAL EXAMINATION by Brandi Amanda Neal Bachelor of Arts in Music, University of South Carolina, 2003 Master of Arts in Music, University of Pittsburgh, 2006 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2011 al i UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Brandi A. Neal It was defended on April 1, 2011 and approved by James P. Cassaro, Adjunct Assitant Professor, Department of Music, Head, Theodore M. Finney Music Library Alan Lewis, Director of Music, Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Don O. Franklin, Professor Emeritus, Department of Music Francesca L. Savoia, Associate Professor of Italian, French and Italian Languages and Literature Dissertation Advisor: Mary S. Lewis, Professor Emerita, Department of Music ii Copyright © by Brandi A. Neal 2011 iii THE MULTIVOICE SACRED MUSIC OF NICOLAS GOMBERT: A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF STYLE AND CONTEXT Brandi A. Neal, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2011 This dissertation examines the sacred compositions for six or more voices by Nicolas Gombert (1495-1560). Two multivoice (six or more voices) compositional techniques emerged in sixteenth-century Europe. The first of these, the Italian double-choir (coro spezzato) technique, has received far more attention from scholars. This practice divided the vocal ensemble into two groups that sang either separately or together, and whose members remained consistent throughout the musical composition. The second technique, practiced by composers in northern Europe, also split settings into two or more vocal groups, but the members of the groupings constantly changed. This dissertation examines the second practice of multivoice writing in the sacred music of Gombert. My study is concerned with multiple issues essential in understanding Gombert’s works and their relationship to other techniques of vocal writing in the sixteenth century. Among these issues, I focus on compositional procedure and context, both historical and musical. I examine Gombert’s multivoice techniques across three sacred genres, motets, masses and his single complete octo tonorum cycle of Magnificats. I highlight the mechanical procedures of the pervading imitative style and how it may have been adapted to larger settings. I have found evidence of a distinct change in his compositional process in settings for more than six voices. Gombert’s motets demonstrate this change in procedure. Whereas his motets for six voices show procedures utilized in settings for four and five voices, the motets also demonstrate handling of vocal groupings that appears with greater frequency in his settings for iv more than six voices. To further contextualize Gombert’s music, I discuss how Gombert negotiates and adapts other styles and integrates them within his own. All of his multivoice masses, for example, integrate musical techniques and styles from the previous generation. The Magnificat cycle presents a unique opportunity to examine Gombert’s multivoice processes as a case study. Nicolas Gombert has been a murky figure and his works have been somewhat dismissed as compositional curiosities due to the density of his pervading imitation style. This dissertation sheds light on Gombert’s compositional processes and adds to our understanding of multivoice writing in the mid-sixteenth century. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ................................................................................................................................. XVI 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM AND APPROACH................................................... 2 1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................... 4 2.0 MOTETS FOR SIX VOICES ................................................................................... 12 2.1 THE RESPONSORY FORM IN THE SIXTEENTH-CENTURY MOTET AND GOMBERT’S RESPONSORY-TEXT MOTETS FOR SIX VOICES ................ 14 2.1.1 Six-Voice Motets with Alleluia Refrains ...................................................... 16 2.1.1.1 Ego sum qui sum .................................................................................. 21 2.1.2 Through-Composed Six-Voice Responsory Motets .................................... 29 2.1.2.1 Si bona suscepimus .............................................................................. 29 2.1.2.2 Quem dicunt homines .......................................................................... 32 2.1.2.3 Omnis pulchritudo Domini .................................................................. 34 2.2 SETTINGS WITH CLASSICAL TEXTS ....................................................... 36 2.2.1 Secular Poetic Texts in Gombert’s Motets .................................................. 36 2.2.2 Qui colis Ausoniam: Historical Background and Musical Setting ............ 36 2.2.2.1 Gombert’s Motet Qui colis Ausoniam ............................................... 40 2.2.3 Musae Iovis ..................................................................................................... 53 vi 2.2.3.1 Gombert’s Motet Setting of Musae Iovis ........................................... 54 2.2.3.2 Form and the Cantus Firmus in Musae Iovis .................................... 58 2.3 MOTETS WITH EXTENDED SACRED TEXTS ......................................... 61 2.3.1 O Domine Iesu Christe ................................................................................... 61 2.3.2 Gombert’s Setting of O Domine Iesu Christe .............................................. 62 2.3.3 Salvator mundi, salva nos omnes ................................................................... 69 2.3.4 Groupings and Text in Salvator mundi, salva nos omnes ........................... 76 2.3.5 High-Low Groupings in the Secunda pars in Salvator mundi, salva nos omnes.. ......................................................................................................................... 81 2.4 SUMMARY CONCLUSION ............................................................................ 84 3.0 MOTETS FOR EIGHT OR MORE VOICES ........................................................ 87 3.1 GOMBERT’S EIGHT-VOICE MOTETS AND CONTRAFACTA .............. 88 3.1.1 The Je prens congie Complex: Attribution History and the Question of Polychorality ............................................................................................................... 88 3.1.2 A Return to the Question of Polychorality .................................................. 99 3.2 GOMBERT’S EIGHT-VOICE O IESU CHRISTE ...................................... 102 3.2.1.1 O Iesu Christe and Polychorality ..................................................... 103 3.2.1.2 Gombert’s Approach to Canon in O Iesu Christe .......................... 105 3.2.2 Possible Function ......................................................................................... 108 3.3 GOMBERT’S MOTETS FOR MORE THAN EIGHT VOICES ............... 113 3.3.1 The Ten-Voice Regina caeli ........................................................................ 113 3.3.2 Gombert’s Twelve-Voice Regina Caeli ...................................................... 117 3.3.2.1 The Setting ......................................................................................... 117 vii 3.3.3 Imitative Style .............................................................................................. 122 3.4 SUMMARY CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 124 4.0 MASS ORDINARY SETTINGS FOR SIX OR MORE VOICES ....................... 126 4.1 MISSA QUAM PULCHRA ES ........................................................................ 128 4.1.1 Bauldeweyn’s Quam pulchra es as Model.................................................. 128 4.1.2 Multivoice Approach in Gombert’s Missa Quam pulchra es ................... 134 4.1.3 Who was the Sacerdos Magnus? ................................................................ 139 4.2 MISSA TEMPORE PASCHALI ...................................................................... 143 4.2.1 Brumel’s Missa Tempore paschali as Model .............................................. 144 4.2.1.1 The Multivoice Settings .................................................................... 152 4.3 CREDO MASS MOVEMENT ........................................................................ 156 4.3.1 Credo Je prens congie .................................................................................. 158 4.3.1.1 Misattributed? ................................................................................... 165 4.4 SUMMARY CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 168 5.0 MAGNIFICAT SETTING ....................................................................................... 170 5.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE GENRE .................................... 170 5.2 GOMBERT’S OCTO TONORUM CYCLE ................................................... 174 5.2.1 The Question of Chronology and Purpose ................................................ 174 5.2.2 Gombert’s Setting ........................................................................................ 179 5.2.2.1 Magnificat quarti toni: Two Examples of the Treatment of the Caesura. ...........................................................................................................