Institutional Patronage in Post-Tridentine Rome: Music at Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini,1550-1650 by Noel O'ReganReview by: Jonathan E. GlixonNotes, Second Series, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Mar., 1997), pp. 787-788Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/899729 .

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Book Reviews Book Reviews

tions, but for now anyone with a serious interest in scholarship on Machaut could do no better than to invest in this book.

JEAN HARDEN University of North Texas

Institutional Patronage in Post-Tri- dentine Rome: Music at Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini, 1550-1650. By Noel O'Regan. (Royal Musical Associ- ation Monographs, 7.) London: Royal Musical Association, 1995. [ix, 117 p. ISBN 0-947854-06-1. $29.00.] (Avail- able from Rosemary Dooley, Crag House, Witherslack, Grange-over- Sands, Cumbria, LA11 6RW, En-

gland.)

We all recognize that what makes mod- ern cities such as New York or London great musical centers is not solely the pres- ence of major opera companies and sym- phony orchestras, but also the activities of a wide range of smaller and less famous, but more diverse and widely spread insti- tutions. Only recently have musicologists begun to apply this realization to earlier periods of history. In the case of Rome, the Papal Chapel certainly was the major es- tablishment at the center of the city's mu- sical world, with some of the major eccle- siastical institutions playing secondary, but still important roles, along with the private, secular activities of the nobility. Within the past decade, Noel O'Regan, in his doctoral dissertation and several articles, has under- taken a systematic study of the musical activities of another group of religious or- ganizations, the confraternities. Though often dependent on the larger institutions for individual musicians, confraternities of- fered to the city regular, if not necessarily frequent, opportunities to encounter excel- lent music. In this fine book, O'Regan treats in detail the activities of one such confraternity, the Santissima Trinita, whose principal function was the provision of spiritual and physical assistance to pil- grims to the city, especially during Holy Years (which occurred four times each century).

The Santissima Trinita was founded in the late 1540s, and by the early 1570s had become well established as a confraternity.

tions, but for now anyone with a serious interest in scholarship on Machaut could do no better than to invest in this book.

JEAN HARDEN University of North Texas

Institutional Patronage in Post-Tri- dentine Rome: Music at Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini, 1550-1650. By Noel O'Regan. (Royal Musical Associ- ation Monographs, 7.) London: Royal Musical Association, 1995. [ix, 117 p. ISBN 0-947854-06-1. $29.00.] (Avail- able from Rosemary Dooley, Crag House, Witherslack, Grange-over- Sands, Cumbria, LA11 6RW, En-

gland.)

We all recognize that what makes mod- ern cities such as New York or London great musical centers is not solely the pres- ence of major opera companies and sym- phony orchestras, but also the activities of a wide range of smaller and less famous, but more diverse and widely spread insti- tutions. Only recently have musicologists begun to apply this realization to earlier periods of history. In the case of Rome, the Papal Chapel certainly was the major es- tablishment at the center of the city's mu- sical world, with some of the major eccle- siastical institutions playing secondary, but still important roles, along with the private, secular activities of the nobility. Within the past decade, Noel O'Regan, in his doctoral dissertation and several articles, has under- taken a systematic study of the musical activities of another group of religious or- ganizations, the confraternities. Though often dependent on the larger institutions for individual musicians, confraternities of- fered to the city regular, if not necessarily frequent, opportunities to encounter excel- lent music. In this fine book, O'Regan treats in detail the activities of one such confraternity, the Santissima Trinita, whose principal function was the provision of spiritual and physical assistance to pil- grims to the city, especially during Holy Years (which occurred four times each century).

The Santissima Trinita was founded in the late 1540s, and by the early 1570s had become well established as a confraternity.

The Holy Year of 1575 marked the insti- tution's emergence on the musical scene of late Renaissance Rome, where it remained a regular presence into the Baroque. The confraternity hired singers both for music in their oratory, principally during Lent and Holy Week, and for processions through the streets of the city on Holy Thursday, Trinity Sunday, and the feast of Corpus Christi. Throughout most of the period O'Regan discusses, these mu- sicians were employed only for the occa- sion, and were drawn from some of the major choirs in the city, directed usually by a well-known figure. In fact, "almost every major composer active in the city in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries" -including Tomas Luis de Victoria, Gio- vanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Luca Maren- zio, and Orazio Benevoli-"was employed at some time or other to provide music for this archconfraternity" (p. vii). Only for a brief time in the 1590s did the Santissima Trinita attempt to maintain a regularly sal- aried choir.

Much of this music was made possible by the confraternity's good fortune in its Car- dinal Protectors and primiceri (chief offic- ers), who were among the most powerful and wealthy men in Rome. The patterns of institutional patronage (with private assis- tance) are one of the focuses of O'Regan's first five chapters, in which he examines, chronologically, the development of musi- cal activities at the institution. In an ex- tensive series of appendixes (totaling thirty pages, nearly half the length of the text proper), the author provides lists of mu- sicians and a generous selection of excerpts from the original documents. This is in- valuable for the specialist, but makes the reader wish that the narrative discussions had treated some of the material in more detail: there are occasions in which two or three pages of archival data in the appen- dixes are covered in only a brief paragraph or two in the text.

In the final chapter, O'Regan discusses two sets of manuscript partbooks, one of them incomplete, preserving Roman sa- cred repertories of the late sixteenth cen- tury. He offers them cautiously as repre- sentatives of the kind of music that could have been performed at the Santissima Trinita. He could, perhaps, have been more assertive: the evidence he presents to

The Holy Year of 1575 marked the insti- tution's emergence on the musical scene of late Renaissance Rome, where it remained a regular presence into the Baroque. The confraternity hired singers both for music in their oratory, principally during Lent and Holy Week, and for processions through the streets of the city on Holy Thursday, Trinity Sunday, and the feast of Corpus Christi. Throughout most of the period O'Regan discusses, these mu- sicians were employed only for the occa- sion, and were drawn from some of the major choirs in the city, directed usually by a well-known figure. In fact, "almost every major composer active in the city in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries" -including Tomas Luis de Victoria, Gio- vanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Luca Maren- zio, and Orazio Benevoli-"was employed at some time or other to provide music for this archconfraternity" (p. vii). Only for a brief time in the 1590s did the Santissima Trinita attempt to maintain a regularly sal- aried choir.

Much of this music was made possible by the confraternity's good fortune in its Car- dinal Protectors and primiceri (chief offic- ers), who were among the most powerful and wealthy men in Rome. The patterns of institutional patronage (with private assis- tance) are one of the focuses of O'Regan's first five chapters, in which he examines, chronologically, the development of musi- cal activities at the institution. In an ex- tensive series of appendixes (totaling thirty pages, nearly half the length of the text proper), the author provides lists of mu- sicians and a generous selection of excerpts from the original documents. This is in- valuable for the specialist, but makes the reader wish that the narrative discussions had treated some of the material in more detail: there are occasions in which two or three pages of archival data in the appen- dixes are covered in only a brief paragraph or two in the text.

In the final chapter, O'Regan discusses two sets of manuscript partbooks, one of them incomplete, preserving Roman sa- cred repertories of the late sixteenth cen- tury. He offers them cautiously as repre- sentatives of the kind of music that could have been performed at the Santissima Trinita. He could, perhaps, have been more assertive: the evidence he presents to

787 787

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NOTES, March 1997 NOTES, March 1997

connect them with the confraternity is circumstantial, but quite convincing. Here again, the concision O'Regan has aimed for (perhaps this is also editorial policy for the series) leads him to refer the reader to his more detailed treatments of the music pub- lished elsewhere. While not a real problem for specialists, this could be frustrating for the more general reader or one without access to a large academic library. These faults, however, are minor: this is an ex- cellent book, opening a window on a pre- viously unknown aspect of one of early modern Europe's great musical cultures, and doing so with clarity and style.

JONATHAN E. GLIXON University of Kentucky

Die lateinische Evangelien-Motette des 16. Jahrhunderts: Repertoire, Quellenlage, musikalische Rhetorik und Symbolik. By Wolfgang Krebs. (Frankfurter Beitrage ztir Musikwis- senschaft, 25.) Tutzing: Hans Schnei- der, 1995. [634 p. ISBN 3-7952- 0817-3.]

Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century mo- tets used a variety of biblical and nonbib- lical sources for texts. Biblical texts might be taken from the Psalms, the Song of So- lomon, the Gospels, or they might be a free combination from various books. Wolfgang Krebs's study (originally his doc- toral dissertation at Johann-Wolfgang- Goethe-Universitat in Frankfurt-am-Main) discusses those motets based upon texts from the four Gospels and, to a lesser ex- tent, from the Acts of the Apostles.

Musical settings of Gospel texts can be found throughout Western history. Plainchant settings were used as Antiphons and Communion in the liturgy. Medieval polyphonic settings exist, but these have no direct association with the Gospel motets (Evangelien-Mottete) discussed in Krebs's book. Krebs defines the Evangelium as a polyphonic motet in which the text has a particularly dramatic, narrative quality. These motets are first found in Italian sources dating from around 1500. As the sixteenth century progressed, composers throughout Europe wrote motets based on

connect them with the confraternity is circumstantial, but quite convincing. Here again, the concision O'Regan has aimed for (perhaps this is also editorial policy for the series) leads him to refer the reader to his more detailed treatments of the music pub- lished elsewhere. While not a real problem for specialists, this could be frustrating for the more general reader or one without access to a large academic library. These faults, however, are minor: this is an ex- cellent book, opening a window on a pre- viously unknown aspect of one of early modern Europe's great musical cultures, and doing so with clarity and style.

JONATHAN E. GLIXON University of Kentucky

Die lateinische Evangelien-Motette des 16. Jahrhunderts: Repertoire, Quellenlage, musikalische Rhetorik und Symbolik. By Wolfgang Krebs. (Frankfurter Beitrage ztir Musikwis- senschaft, 25.) Tutzing: Hans Schnei- der, 1995. [634 p. ISBN 3-7952- 0817-3.]

Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century mo- tets used a variety of biblical and nonbib- lical sources for texts. Biblical texts might be taken from the Psalms, the Song of So- lomon, the Gospels, or they might be a free combination from various books. Wolfgang Krebs's study (originally his doc- toral dissertation at Johann-Wolfgang- Goethe-Universitat in Frankfurt-am-Main) discusses those motets based upon texts from the four Gospels and, to a lesser ex- tent, from the Acts of the Apostles.

Musical settings of Gospel texts can be found throughout Western history. Plainchant settings were used as Antiphons and Communion in the liturgy. Medieval polyphonic settings exist, but these have no direct association with the Gospel motets (Evangelien-Mottete) discussed in Krebs's book. Krebs defines the Evangelium as a polyphonic motet in which the text has a particularly dramatic, narrative quality. These motets are first found in Italian sources dating from around 1500. As the sixteenth century progressed, composers throughout Europe wrote motets based on

the Gospels, although interest in these works seems to have been particularly strong in Protestant areas of Germany. Early in the century, Gospel motets ap- peared in anthologies with other types of works by various composers; later publi- cations tended to be devoted to a single composer.

Krebs's study covers a variety of aspects of the Gospel motet. He surveys the rep- ertory, describing specific works and com- posers from Josquin Desprez through the late sixteenth and early seventeenth cen- turies. There is an overview of manuscript and printed sources containing these motets. He discusses variants on the biblical texts and approaches to text-setting used by different composers. The function of these works in the church, school, and home is described. A substantial portion of the dis- sertation deals with the techniques compos- ers used, focusing on the application of rhetorical elements in the music: word- painting, and the highlighting of certain passages through musical means.

Roughly one-third of the book (pp. 428- 617) consists of extensive indexes, includ- ing bibliographies of publications devoted to a single composer, and both printed and manuscript anthologies. Individual motets can be located by composer, title, source, or biblical text. Contents are provided for publications of Gospel motet cycles by Phil- ipp Dulichius, Homer Herpol, Romulo Naldi, Georg Otto, and Johannes Wanning, as well as the six volumes of Evangelia pub- lished by Montanus and Neuber in the 1550s.

There are weaknesses in Krebs's survey. Too much space is devoted to criticism of Hans Joachim Moser's theory that these motets originally functioned as substitutes for Gospel readings in the liturgy, when Moser's work (Die mehrstimmige Vertonung des Evangeliums [Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hartel, 1931; 2nd rev. and exp. ed., Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1968]) has already been superseded by other studies. The analyses of motets by Jacques de Wert, Jacobus Clemens non Papa, Cipriano de Rore, Josquin, and Nicolas Gombert (among others) provide insights into ap- plications of rhetorical principles and word-painting, but Krebs relies heavily on secondary sources for developing an ana- lytical method. When citing Joachim Bur-

the Gospels, although interest in these works seems to have been particularly strong in Protestant areas of Germany. Early in the century, Gospel motets ap- peared in anthologies with other types of works by various composers; later publi- cations tended to be devoted to a single composer.

Krebs's study covers a variety of aspects of the Gospel motet. He surveys the rep- ertory, describing specific works and com- posers from Josquin Desprez through the late sixteenth and early seventeenth cen- turies. There is an overview of manuscript and printed sources containing these motets. He discusses variants on the biblical texts and approaches to text-setting used by different composers. The function of these works in the church, school, and home is described. A substantial portion of the dis- sertation deals with the techniques compos- ers used, focusing on the application of rhetorical elements in the music: word- painting, and the highlighting of certain passages through musical means.

Roughly one-third of the book (pp. 428- 617) consists of extensive indexes, includ- ing bibliographies of publications devoted to a single composer, and both printed and manuscript anthologies. Individual motets can be located by composer, title, source, or biblical text. Contents are provided for publications of Gospel motet cycles by Phil- ipp Dulichius, Homer Herpol, Romulo Naldi, Georg Otto, and Johannes Wanning, as well as the six volumes of Evangelia pub- lished by Montanus and Neuber in the 1550s.

There are weaknesses in Krebs's survey. Too much space is devoted to criticism of Hans Joachim Moser's theory that these motets originally functioned as substitutes for Gospel readings in the liturgy, when Moser's work (Die mehrstimmige Vertonung des Evangeliums [Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hartel, 1931; 2nd rev. and exp. ed., Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1968]) has already been superseded by other studies. The analyses of motets by Jacques de Wert, Jacobus Clemens non Papa, Cipriano de Rore, Josquin, and Nicolas Gombert (among others) provide insights into ap- plications of rhetorical principles and word-painting, but Krebs relies heavily on secondary sources for developing an ana- lytical method. When citing Joachim Bur-

788 788

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