After the Mass Ordinary, the Magnificat was the liturgical text most frequently set by Renaissance composers, and Orlando di Lasso's 101 polyphonic settings form the largest and most varied repertory of Magnificats in the history of European music. In the first detailed investigation of this repertory, David Crook focuses on the forty parody or imitation Magnificats, which Lasso based on motets, madrigals, and chansons written by such composers as Josquin and Rore. By examining these Magnificats in their social, historical, and liturgical contexts and in terms of composition theory, Crook opens a new window on the breadth and subtlety of an important composer often harshly judged on his use of preexistent music.Crook places Lasso amidst the Counter-Reformation reforms at the Bavarian court where he composed the Magnificats, and where there emerged a fanatical Marian cult that favored this genre. In a section on compositional procedure, Crook explains that Lasso abandoned the traditional eight psalm-tone melodies in his imitation Magnificats, considers the new ways he found to represent the tones, and describes how Lasso's experimentation reflected the complex relationship between mode and tone in Renaissance theory and practice. Arguing that Lasso's varied uses of preexistent music defy current definitions of parody technique, Crook, in his final chapter, reveals the imitation Magnificats as vastly more imaginative and innovative than previous characterizations suggest.Originally published in 1994.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

Pitch, Clef, and Chord Designations

Ch. 1 Introduction: Orlando di Lasso and the Polyphonic Magnificat 3

Pt. I Liturgical and Cultural Contexts

Ch. 2 Sixteenth-Century Vespers Polyphony for the Bavarian Court, the Use of Freising, and the Tridentine Reforms 33

Ch. 3 The Patrona Bavariae: Music and the Counter-Reformation in Bavaria 65

Pt. II Compositional Practice

Ch. 4 The Representation of Psalm-Tone Categories in Imitation Magnificats 85

Ch. 5 The Intertextuality of Lasso's Imitation Magnificats 147

Appendix 1: The Magnificat Set to Lasso's Canticle Tone No. 2 211

Appendix 2: Catalog of Lasso Magnificats with First Publications and Approximate Dates of Composition 213

Appendix 3: Instructions for the Elevation of the Image of the Risen Christ after None on Ascension 219

Appendix 4: Correspondences between Lasso's Imitation Magnificats and Their Model Compositions 221

Works Cited 279

Index 289