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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da, --1525?-1594; Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da, --1525?-1594; Victoria, Tomás Luis de, --approximately 1548-1611;

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the problem of whether the melodic treatment in the motets of Tomas Luis de Victoria is in the Palestrina style. It was engendered by the fact that the melodic styles in the motets of these two composers sound so similar; and by the fact that several scholars disagree as to their stylistic affinities. The method used for this study was based on the research of Knud Jeppesen, who articulated seventy-nine stylistic principles governing the Palestrina melodic style. All of Victoria's motets were examined in a measure-by-measure analysis, taking into consideration each of the seventy-nine Palestrina style traits. The analysis revealed that of the seventy-nine style traits, fifty-six showed no deviations. Twenty-three principles contained some minor deviations, which, in my judgment, were not sufficient in quantity to overturn any of these style traits. One principle, however, was violated enough times to be considered outside the norms of the Palestrina style. Thus, of the traits that Jeppesen has identified as belonging to Palestrina's melodic style and which Victoria adopts in his motets, seventy-eight (98.8%) did not overturn these norms. Most of the motets retained the general Palestrina style; but in relatively short sections of a few motets, Victoria experimented with a style that was possibly influenced by the sixteenth-century madrigal. Only one trait is discarded by Victoria due to its frequent occurrence in a large cross-section of his motets. The theory is then advanced that Victoria's melodic style (as observed in his motets) is "in the Palestrina style" only in the very qualified sense that he adopts the more general aspects of this style; but while respecting these norms (for the most part), he also incorporates passages that do not violate these, as well as occasional deviations that are insufficient to be normative. Thus, Victoria and Palestrina seem to share a common style at one level, but differ significantly at the individual level. And if one desires to understand Victoria's melodic style, one needs to consider that it may consist of at least two essential stylistic components operating two different stylistic levels. The thesis also includes a Selected Bibliography, Biography of Victoria, and an Appendix which documents all of the deviations from the Palestrina style found in the motets of Victoria.

Year of Submission

1991

Degree Name

Master of Music

Department

School of Music

First Advisor

David J. Buch

Second Advisor

Ronald D. Ross

Third Advisor

Marilou Kratzenstein

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

1991

Object Description

1 PDF file (93 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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