The Polyphonic Mass in France, 1600–1780
The Evidence of the Printed Choirbooks

The first book-length study of the a cappella masses which appeared in France in choirbook layout during the baroque era.

Jean-Paul C. Montagnier (Author)

9781316629093, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 December 2019

357 pages
24.5 x 17 x 2 cm, 0.95 kg

'… the present book by Jean-Paul C. Montagnier, the first devoted to a cappella Masses published in France in this period, is welcome not only in terms of the new factual information it imparts, but also because it invites a much-needed reassessment of the repertoire discussed … the potential of this book to act as a springboard for others to investigate this repertory further makes it a hugely important addition to the literature on French Baroque sacred music.' Shirley Thompson, Revue de musicology

This is the first ever book-length study of the a cappella masses which appeared in France in choirbook layout during the baroque era. Though the musical settings of the Ordinarium missæ and of the Missa pro defunctis have been the subject of countless studies, the stylistic evolution of the polyphonic masses composed in France during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries has been neglected owing to the labor involved in creating scores from the surviving individual parts. Jean-Paul C. Montagnier has examined closely the printed, engraved and stenciled choirbooks containing this repertoire, and his book focuses mainly on the music as it stands in them. After tracing the choirbooks' publishing history, the author places these mass settings in their social, liturgical and musical context. He shows that their style did not all adhere strictly to the stile antico, but could also employ the most up-to-date musical language of the period.

Introduction
1. Printed choirbooks
2. Choirbooks and musical practice
3. People and networks
4. Music and liturgy
5. Lassus as model
6. Stylistic considerations
7. Two best sellers
8. Missa pro defunctis
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Choral music [AVGC8], Baroque music [c 1600 to c 1750 AVGC3]