Conflicting theoretical interpretations
Persona
Sethus is a music theorist, composer and teacher, specialized in late Renaissance music. In this field, his research focuses on the description and formalization of the compositional processes at work in modal polyphony. His reflection is based on a close reading of the scientific literature (historical and contemporary) on which he builds a synthesis oriented towards compositional practice.
Goal
In collaboration with other colleagues, Sethus is preparing a book on modal theory and its application to late Renaissance compositions. He considers that the attribution of a polyphonic work to a mode implies a complex interpretative process. The criteria for this identification are not exclusively objective and fixed in the score, but always include an ‘ideological’ and symbolic dimension. Modal analysis thus depends on the theoretical frameworks that it invokes – the octoechos, the neo-classical theory of the 12 modes, etc. – and on the theoretical interpretation of the work, which transcends the work. This means that it is not the attribution of a work to a mode that is important from a musicological and compositional point of view. Instead, the question is to determine how, through the prism of different theoretical models and analytical points of view adopted, a mode manifests itself in the work, unfolds over time and governs its compositional framework (or whether, on the contrary, the work lies outside the theoretical frameworks of the modality).
- conflicting theoretical interpretations
- analytical concepts
- modal analysis
- history of music theory
- Orlando di Lasso
Scenario
In the book he aims to write with his colleagues, Sethus is charged with writing a chapter on the modal cycle “Lagrime di San Pietro” by Orlando di Lasso. To this end, Sethus and his colleagues (Leonhard, Bernhard, Harold, Siegfried, Frans Robert and Alexander) carried out individual analyses and entered them into the framework of the Tonalities pilot.
In contrast to the other pieces which do not pose major problems, the last work in the cycle, Vide homo, is highly ambiguous from a modal perspective and thus of particular interest for this book. Several modal hypotheses have been formulated by Sethus and his colleagues based on various immanent and transcendent criteria. Sethus must now examine these individual points of view in the light of the score and of the theoretical models implied. Then, he will have to confront all these points of view to propose a well-argued interpretation.
Competency questions
CQ1: To which modes Vide homo has been assigned to in Tonalities? Leonhard, Bernhard, Harold, Siegfried, Frans and Alexander relate the motet to the tonus peregrinus. Robert, however, considers the work to be written in the mixolydian mode.
CQ2: Are the criteria on which these interpretations are based true in the score and, if so, to what extent?
- What are the cadence points in the work?
- What are the part’s ranges? Do they correspond to modal octaves?
- What is the final of the bassus?
- What is the last chord?
- Are there any melodic patterns related to modality?
- To what diatonic environment does the work belong to?
- What are the part’s clefs and keys?
- Are the theoretical models on which these criteria are based – for example the Zarlinian cadential scheme ^1-^3-^5 – in line with this work?
- What is the tension between the expected theoretical criteria and their actual realisation in the work?
CQ3: Can one assume that the modal ambiguity evidenced by the analytical interpretations is intended? Harold sees, for example, the use of modes in Lagrime as a religious symbol. Alexander suggests that Tansillo’s texts set to music by Lassus can be read as an examination of conscience, advocated by post-Tridentine spirituality. Can these hypotheses be substantiated on the basis of Polifonia’s analytical and heritage knowledge?
- Where does the work appear within the cycle?
- What do we know about this cycle and its place in Lassus’ output?
- Which poetic text is set to music?
- Has this poetic text been set to music before?
CQ4: Apart from Lasso’s possible exegetical intentions, what does this work tell us about the status of the modes at this moment in the history of composition?
- Is the modal ambiguity observed here frequent in Lasso’s output?
- Do other works come close, in terms of their inner properties, to what is observed here?
- Is the ambiguity observed here specific to particular groups of works?
Resources
Bibliographie
Barbier, Jacques. “Un Homme Armé à Bruxelles. Étude De La Messe De Mathurin Forestier Contenue Dans L’Occo Codex”, Revue Belge De Musicologie / Belgisch Tijdschrift Voor Muziekwetenschap, vol. 55, 2001, pp. 53-68.
Ceulemans, Anne-Emmanuelle. “Cadential and Modal Treatment in Palestrina’s Delle Madrigali Spirituali a Cinque Voci Libro Secondo (1594) and Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro (1595)”, Musurgia, vol. XXVI, no. 2, 2019, pp. 71-9.
Ceulemans, Anne-Emmanuelle. Lasso, Meier, Powers. The Reality of the Modes under Scrutiny, 9th European Music Analysis Conference - EUROMAC 9.
Crook, David. Orlando di Lasso’s Imitation Magnificats for Counter-Reformation Munich. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1994.
Einstein, Alfred. The Italian Madrigal. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1949.
Fisher, Alexander J. “‘Per Mia Particolare Devotione’: Orlando Di Lasso’s Lagrime Di San Pietro and Catholic Spirituality in Counter-Reformation Munich”, Journal of the Royal Musical Association, vol. 132, no. 2, 2007, pp. 167-220.
Freedman, Richard. “Le Jeune’s ‘Dodecacorde’ as a Site for Spiritual Meanings”, Revue De Musicologie, vol. 89, no. 2, 2003, pp. 297-309.
Freedman, Richard. “‘Marenzio’s Madrigali a Quattro, Cinque Et Sei Voci of 1588: A Newly-Revealed Madrigal Cycle and Its Intellectual Context’”, The Journal of Musicology, vol. 13, no. 3, 1995, pp. 318-54.
Gissel, Siegfried. “Die Tonarten Der ‘Lagrime Di San Pietro’ Von Orlando Di Lasso”, Musica Disciplina, vol. 47, 1993, pp. 5-33
Lino, Daniela Francine and Fiorini, Carlos Fernando. “Lagrime di San Pietro by Orlando di Lasso in a New and Revised Critical Edition”, Opus, vol. 18, no. 2, 2012, pp. 111-40.
Lino Popolin, Daniela Francine. Lagrime di San Pietro de Orlando di Lasso: um estudo de preparação e execução através de uma nova edição crítica e revisada, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, PhD., 2013.
Luoma, Robet. Music, Mode, and Words in Orlando Di Lasso’s Last Works, Lewiston, N.Y., U.S.A.: E. Mellen Press, 1989 (Studies in the History & Interpretation of Music 11).
Meier, Bernhard. Die Tonarten der klassischen Vokalpolyphonie nach den Quellen dargestellt, Utrecht: Oosthoek, Scheltema & Holkema, 1974.
Powers, Harold S. “Is Mode Real? Pietro Aron, the Octenary System, and Polyphony”, in Basler Jahrbuch für historische Musikpraxis, vol. 16, 1992, pp. 9-52.
Procter, Michael. “The Cyclic Works of Orlando di Lasso”, Sacred Music, vol. 134, no. 1, 2007, pp. 12-4.