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.
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