Tova Brandt

Music 250

Note: Examples are for use with the Hilliard Ensemble recording of

Palestrina: Caniticum Canticorum - Madrigali spirituali

Haverford College Library MCD 140

Amidst the religious fervor of sixteenth-century Europe, both Catholics and Protestants concerned themselves with maintaining the purity of music as a spiritual medium. Religious leaders throughout Europe encouraged their followers to avoid secular music, particularly songs that dealt with amorous or bawdy themes. Calvin, in an introduction to a 1543 Psalter, wrote, "Only let the world have the good sense henceforth to leave off singing those songs - in part vain and frivolous, in part stupid and dull, in part foul and vile and in consequence evil and destructive - which it has availed itself of up to now,"[1] instructing his followers to confine their musical endeavors to psalm singing. Protestants in France and Switzerland printed collections of Lassus chansons in which objectionable texts had been replaced with spiritually acceptable texts. The Catholic church, in the form of the Council of Trent, set guidelines for religious music that included stressing the importance of textual clarity, and banishing from the church "all music that contains, whether in the singing or in the organ playing, things that are impure."[2]

The composer Palestrina was one of many who responded to the appeals of religion and dedicated his efforts to spiritual goals. He confesses to have been among those musicians who "offend good and serious-minded men by the depraved taste of their work," but, by the time his Fourth Book of Motets was published in 1584, he declared, "I have mended my ways."[3] As proof of his mended ways, his Fourth Book of Motets contained works entirely based on the biblical Song of Solomon, a text which - according to sixteenth-century theologians - discusses the divine love between Christ and His Spouse the Soul.

The Song of Solomon is a text rich in imagery and poetry. It includes themes such as searching for a beloved, beloved as a dove, giving one's self to one's beloved, and other themes that lend themselves to a Christian interpretation of a soul's longing for and comfort in Christ. However, the Song of Solomon also includes physical imagery that more directly relates to human lovers, such as several verses of praise for a woman's physical beauty. Thought the Church maintained that the entire book was indeed a metaphor for divine love, those sacred verses could easily be appropriated by secular-minded musicians.

Palestrina's intent, however, seems to have been a genuine offering of religious music. The even tranquillity of his counterpuntal texture is far more suited to spiritual meditation than popular use. While he doesn't unnecessarily obscure provocative verses, he certainly doesn't highlight them in his setting. He also doesn't usually draw attention to recurring themes by assigning them identical musical material.

Two examples illustrate Palestrina's reluctance to use musical parallels among the 29 Song of Solomon motets, though textual parallels are common. One example of similar texts that receive different settings is between Motet 2, "Introduxit me rex in cellaria sua (The king led me into his chamber)," and Motet 12, "Introduxit me rex in cellam vinarium (The king led me into his wine cellar)." Motet 2 introduces the text with a duet between the altus and tenor II, soon joined by the cantus in canon with the tenor II line. The other two parts enter a few measures later, continuing the same counterpuntal texture. (Example 1, mm. 30-41) In Motet 12, the cantus , altus, and tenor II assertively begin the phrase in a mostly homorhythmic setting, echoed by a repeat from the lower three voices. (Example 2, mm. 1-17) Despite the common images of a king leading, these two settings aren't noticeably different to a listener.

Another example of independent music for similar themes occurs in Motets 1 and 10, both of which include verses that could distract listeners' thoughts from divine meditation. Motet 1 contains the text, "Quia meliora sunt ubera tua vino (Your breasts are better than wine)," first set to four voices that begin homorhythmically on "Quia meliora sunt" before a staggered, imitative setting of "ubera tua vino." The top three voices then repeat the text with a variation on the first phrase. (Example 3, mm. 20-31) Motet 10 has the similar line of "Pulchriora sunt ubera tua vino (Your breasts are more beautiful than wine)." It uses all five voice parts together for "Pulchriora sunt," decreases the texture to four voices for "ubera tua vino," then repeats "ubera tua vino" with a thinner setting of two voices belatedly joined by a third. (Example 4, mm. 43-50) Though Jessie Ann Owens argues that the text of Motet 10 echoes the opening and therefore "function[s] as a frame for the unit,"[4] the audible characteristics of the two lines aren't noticeably connected.

An exception to Palestrina's disinclination to reuse musical material occurs in Motets 15, 16, and 18. All three motets feature texts that begin similarly, especially between Motets 15 and 16. The common theme among them all is the opening idea of "Surge/Surgam (Arise/I will arise)", a notion that has huge significance for Christian thought, both in evoking Christ's resurrection and ascension and in evoking the soul's longing to transcend earthly concerns and achieve a higher, holier purpose. Motets 15 and 16 both share a reference to the beloved as "Columba mea (my dove)", another symbol of divine love: a dove delivered an olive branch to Noah on the Ark as a sign that the Flood was passed; a dove also appeared when John baptized Jesus, showing God's approval and love for His Son. Palestrina highlights both of these parallel texts with parallel musical material.

The text to Motet 15 begins, "Surge, propera, amica mea, columba mea, formosa, mea, et veni. (Arise, hasten, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come." As one would expect, the music begins with an ascending line. Introduced successively in all five voice parts, the lines move step-wise up a scale. Only one descending leap from the fifth to the third interrupts the even progress towards the octave. Though preceded by one quarter-rest by the altus line starting on C, the cantus is more audible and therefore more memorable as it starts on G. The tenor II, entering two measures later, also begins the identical line on G. Six measures into the piece the bassus and tenor I mimic the opening as the bassus begins on C, immediately followed by the tenor I beginning on G. (Example 5, mm. 1-9)

Textually, Motets 15 and 16 are closely related, Motet 16 opening with "Surge, amica mea, speciosa mea, et veni; Columba mea . . . (Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come: my dove . . .)." When Motet 16 begins with the identical ascending line, but this time introduced only by the tenor I starting on G, then joined one measure later by the cantus starting on G, the listener doesn't notice a severe departure from Motet 15's harmonic structure. The voice parts enter much more independently than in Motet 15, yet in the eighth measure the cantus and altus lines briefly evoke their relation from the beginning of Motet 15 as they move together in parallel thirds. Thus, Palestrina illustrates the textual connection through the music. (Example 6, mm. 1-9)

As the text for Motet 18 is only somewhat related to the other two ("Surgam, et circuibo civitatem [I will arise and I will go around the town]"), the music is likewise only reminiscent of the other settings. The piece begins with the familiar ascending scale passage starting on G, but the line stops at the fifth and continues with new musical material. Only the first two voices entering, the cantus and the altus, preserve the rhythm from the original line; the lower three voices enter later with a different rhythmic pattern, though the same abbreviated scale-ward line. (Example 7, mm. 1-12)

The connections between Motets 15 and 16 continue with the respective settings of "Columba mea (My dove)." In each case, "Columba mea" features a homorhythmic four-voice texture with consistent relative lines among the parts. The highest voice always sings three steps down on "Columba" then up an interval of a third for "mea." The lowest voice always sings what we would consider a IV, V, I cadence. Motet 15 introduces the passage in the top four voices, then repeats it transposed for the lower four voices on the text "Formosa mea (my beautiful one)." (Example 8, mm. 13-15) Motet 16 begins the passage in the lower voices, repeating the same text transposed in the upper voices before continuing the phrase. (Example 9, mm.18-21)

The final instance of direct imitation within the openings of these motets is with the words "Et veni (and come)." In both Motet 15 and 16, there is always either a fourth or an octave ascending jump between "Et" and "ve-", and a melisma, usually a down-ward scale, on "ve-" before concluding with "-ni." The overall affect in both motets is cascading lines at the end of the phrase that nicely balance the ascending lines at the beginning. (For Motet 15, see Example 10, mm. 15-19. For Motet 16, see Example 11, mm. 14-18.)

Palestrina's Song of Solomon motets fit well into the sixteenth-century sensibilities of sacred versus profane. The overall seamless surface of the music reaffirms the devotional quality of what is by definition a sacred text. The emphasis on the sections mentioned above reflect a response to a particularly significant text rather than an emotional response. Palestrina always maintains the priority of the words over the music, fulfilling the Council of Trent's desire that "singing . . . should be constituted not to give empty pleasure to the ear, but in such a way that the words may be clearly understood by all. and thus the hearts of the listeners be drawn to the desire or heavenly harmonies, in the contemplation of the joys of the blessed."5