Journal article

In principio erat liber : l'organisation du premier livre de motets de Tomás Luis de Victoria (Venise, 1572)

BLE-BLL

  • 2010
Published in:
  • Annales suisses de musicologie. - 2010, vol. 30, p. 27-54
English The organization of Tomás Luis de Victoria’s first motet book, published in Venice (1572) by the sons of Antonio Gardano (RISM V 1421), is based on a stratification of various but complementary elements. The pieces are organized into four groups: 14 four-part, nine five-part, nine six-part, and one eight-part. They form modal pairs. The last motets of these groups are based on specific compositional techniques (ad aequales, canon in unison, cantus firmus motet, double-choir motet). In addition, the composer plays with the number of parts, essentially one or two, that occur among and within the groups. The texts are taken from various rites (Avilan, pre-Tridentine, and post-Tridentine) and sources. When necessary, the composer manipulates them to adapt to the organization of the collection. Ultimately, the book is seen as an object having some weight and that says something more than just the sum of parts. This is precisely what the young composer needed to position himself on the motet market with what is his op. 1. In the preface, which he signs, Victoria situates his edition within the movement of musica reservata since he intends it for connoisseurs. It is precisely this complex organization that enables the composer to place his book in a line of scholarly publications, apparently initiated by Adrian Willaert’s motet book for five voices, which dates from 1539.
Faculty
Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines
Department
Département de musicologie
Language
  • French
Classification
Music
License
License undefined
Open access status
green
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/329902
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