The Cultural Life of the Early Polyphonic Mass
Medieval Context to Modern Revival

Kirkman sheds new light on the polyphonic Mass, exploring the hidden meanings within its music and its legacy today.

Andrew Kirkman (Author)

9781108794893, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 28 May 2020

297 pages
24.4 x 17 x 2.1 cm, 0.7 kg

"...Kirkman’s excellent use of both historical writings and modern musicological scholarship will go far towards contextualizing musical compositions for other scholars of this period."
-ELIZABETH RANDELL UPTON,University of California

The 'cyclic' polyphonic Mass has long been seen as the pre-eminent musical genre of the late Middle Ages, spawning some of the most impressive and engrossing musical edifices of the period. Modern study of these compositions has greatly enhanced our appreciation of their construction and aesthetic appeal. Yet close consideration of their meaning – cultural, social, spiritual, personal – for their composers and original users has begun only much more recently. This book considers the genre both as an expression of the needs of the society in which it arose and as a fulfilment of aesthetic priorities that arose in the wake of the Enlightenment. From this dual perspective, it aims to enhance both our appreciation of the genre for today's world, and our awareness of what it is that makes any cultural artefact endure: its susceptibility to fulfil the different evaluative criteria, and social needs, of different times.

Preface
Part I. The Status of the Early Polyphonic Mass: 1. Enlightenment and beyond
2. Contemporary witnesses
Part II. The Ritual World of the Early Polyphonic Mass: 3. 'Faisant regretz pour ma dolente vie': piety, polyphony and musical borrowing
4. 'Head of the Church that is His Body': Christological imagery and the Caput Masses
5. Sounding armour: the sacred meaning of L'homme armé
6. The profane made sacred: outside texts and music in the Mass
Part III. The Cradle of the Early Polyphonic Mass: 7. The shape of the Mass
8. Counterpoint of images, counterpoint of sounds
Last things
Appendices: Appendix 5
Appendix 6.1
Appendix 6.2
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Medieval & Renaissance music [c 1000 to c 1600 AVGC2], Music reviews & criticism [AVC], Music [AV]