Johannes Martini was not the first to cultivate borrowing from two or more voices of a polyphonic model, but he was the first to do so fully and consistently in his work. Perkins's "Communication" (1987) strengthens Martini's ties to the rhetorical tradition of imitatio, thereby supporting the labeling of masses based on a polyphonic source as "imitation masses." Masses based on a polyphonic source form a distinctive genre, separate from cantus firmus masses based on a monophonic source. Although the term "parody mass" is insufficient for the sixteenth-century mass based on a polyphonic model, it may serve to distinguish between the experimental fifteenth-century type and the later, mature type.

Index Classifications: 1400s, 1500s

Contributed by: Edward D. Latham

In examining the composition and performance of musical works, the question of persona is raised: whose persona does the music represent--that of the composer, the performer, or (in the case of vocal music) the character portrayed by the performer? With respect to musical borrowing, the relevant question is: whose voice or persona is speaking in the borrowed material, the original composer's or the borrower's? In the case of self-borrowing by a vocal composer, it is the composer's own voice, rather than that of the poet whose text he or she originally set, that speaks through the borrowed material (p. 41). In an instrumental transcription of a vocal work, the vocal melody retains its original textual associations, thereby preserving the original composer's voice despite the removal of the text (pp. 76-78). When the situation is reversed, as in a popular vocal arrangement of an instrumental classic, the original composer's persona is still felt, as is the case with arrangements of Chopin and Tchaikovsky melodies (p. 45). Concerning the transcription of an existing instrumental work for a new instrumental combination, the integrity of the transcription (its preservation of the original composer's voice) rests on its use of a restricted choice of instrumentation (p. 108). Lastly, folk-tune or anthem borrowings can seem ridiculous if they are too obvious, where the original composer's voice completely overpowers the borrower's persona, disrupting the new piece. Puccini's use of The Star-Spangled Banner in Madama Butterfly is a prime example of this (p. 162).

Works: Brahms: Chaconne in D Minor by J. S. Bach (arranged for piano left hand); Busoni: Chaconne in D Minor by J. S. Bach (arranged for piano); Liszt: Liebestraum No. 3, Sonnets of Petrarch; Puccini: Madama Butterfly ; Webern: Ricercar a 6 voci by J. S. Bach (arr. for orchestra).

Index Classifications: General, 1800s, 1900s

Contributed by: Edward D. Latham

Nicolas de la Grotte, a relatively unknown 16th-century court composer who was nonetheless held in high esteem by the society of his day, employed the technique of parody in his songs for five and six voices. Of his 21 songs included in Le mélange de chansons (1572), 17 are completely based on borrowed material. The majority of the parodies consist of a complete borrowed superius, with the lower parts rewritten, thus classifiable as employing cantus firmus technique. Distinctive alterations that La Grotte utilizes include (1) addition of a coda; (2) augmented note-values (used for expressive, text-painting purposes); and (3) textural enrichment (via syncopations).

Works: Nicolas de la Grotte: Avecques vous (176, 178-82), A ce matin (176, 180-83), Las voulez vous (176, 178-83), Sur tous regretz (176, 180-82, 186), Force d'amour (176, 183-86), Le coeur de vous (176, 183-84), Grace et vertu (176, 186), N'auray je jamais mieulx (176, 186-87), J'ay contenté (176, 187-88), Susane un jour (176, 188-89), Vivés en paix (176, 198-90), Dieu te gard (176, 190-92), Tout est vert (176, 190-92), Puisque j'ay belle amye (176, 190-92), Tout ce qu'on peut (176, 192-94), Je m'en vois (176, 192-96).

Sources: Lassus: Avecques vous (176, 178-82), A ce matin (176, 180-83), Las voulez vous (176, 178-83); Richafort: Sur tous regretz (176, 180-82, 186); Villiers: Force d'amour (176, 183-86); Sermisy: Le coeur de vous (176, 183-84), N'auray je jamais mieulx (176, 186-87), J'ay contenté (176, 187-88); Roquelay: Grace et vertu (176, 186); Didier Lupi Second: Susane un jour (176, 188-89; Anonymous: Vivés en paix (176, 198-90), Tout est vert (176, 190-92), Puisque j'ay belle amye (176, 190-92), Je m'en vois (176, 192-96); Doussera: Dieu te gard (176, 190-92); Rore: Tout ce qu'on peut (176, 192-94).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Edward D. Latham

Dufay's L'Homme armé Mass more than likely predates Busnoys's setting, contrary to Richard Taruskin's conclusion (1984). The view of Busnoys as emulator is supported by the fact that his Mass is the more complex of the two, a trait common in emulations. Busnoys's inversion canon runs through the whole of Agnus I and III. In addition, he puts his inversion in the bass, adding another degree of complexity which points to emulation.

Index Classifications: 1400s

Contributed by: Edward D. Latham

Following Howard Mayer Brown (1982), one can draw increasingly fruitful connections between the rhetorical technique of imitatio prescribed by fifteenth-century rhetoriticians and the compositional borrowing procedures espoused by the composers of the time. Defining formal divisions using Zarlino's five types of cadences (Istitutione harmoniche 1558), the musicologist can then compare settings of the same text for indications of "structural modelling." Five types include (1) imitation of the existing opening; (2) imitation of the existing closing; (3) imitation of the existing contrapuntal elisions and connecting passages; (4) borrowing the number of breves for the setting of each textual section; and (5) borrowing the number of breves for the setting of each textual section, with systematic, proportional expansion or diminution. The concealed, and fairly tenuous, fashion in which these connections often reveal themselves raises the question of the purpose of the borrowing. One possible answer lies in the schooling of the sixteenth-century composer, which would have included Latin rhetoric (taught usingimitatio ), thereby making tbe technique of modeling a natural part of a composer's intellectual background. They would draw on this training as a compositional resource, in addition to wishing simply to pay homage to a respected master.

Works: Croce: O Sacrum Convivium; Gabrieli: O Sacrum Convivium; Lassus: O Sacrum Convivium; Luzzaschi: O Sacrum Convivium; Marenzio: O Sacrum Convivium; Merulo: O Sacrum Convivium; Pallavicino: O Sacrum Convivium; Porta: O Sacrum Convivium; Victoria: O Sacrum Convivium; Wert: O Sacrum Convivium; Vecchi: Quem Vidis Pastores; Victoria: Quem Vidis Pastores; Marenzio: Veni Sponsa Christi; Palestrina: Veni Sponsa Christi.

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Edward D. Latham

Surface thematic resemblances between Richard Wagner'sWesendonck-Lieder and his operaTristan und Isolde indicate that the songs were borrowed from in the composition of the later opera. Deeper and more subtle relationships between the two, however, indicate that the songs were studies for the opera, and were parodied in more profound ways, as well. In addition to resetting three sections of "Träume" in the Love Duet with very few alterations, Wagner uses a similar voice-leading pattern in the first sections of the two pieces, an ascent through an octave (Eb to Eb). He also explores bVI and bIII as tonal areas in both sections. In the second sections, Wagner uses bVI as a pivot, retains the same basic harmonic scheme, and employs the octave ascent (Eb to Eb) once again. In terms of the opera as a whole, bVI and bIII figure prominently after the occurrence of the Love Duet. All of these relationships combine to indicate that Wagner employed a kind of parody technique in Tristan.

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Edward D. Latham

The L'Homme armé Masses were probably written by Caron, not Busnoys as Richard Taruskin suggests (1984). This conclusion is based upon an accumulation of melodic similarities between Caron's music and the Naples Masses, a criterion that is far more persuasive than the structural relationships Taruskin uses to support his argument. Melodic features are the distinctive signature of a composer, while structural relationships are a form of intellectual exercise, useful only in terms of determining a composer's level of musical education.

Index Classifications: 1400s

Contributed by: Edward D. Latham

A textual analysis of the six Kyrie verses of the Naples masses, transcribed by Steven Whiting, casts doubt upon Richard Taruskin's hypothesis (1984) that Busnoys was the first to compose on the L'homme armé theme. One can conjecture, based on the text of the last canon (Mass 6), that there are actually two "armed men" involved, possibly representing Philip the Good and his son, Charles the Bold.

Index Classifications: 1400s

Contributed by: Edward D. Latham

Cantus firmus masses with multiple borrowings were written by both contemporaries and precursors of Johannes Martini, a point J. Peter Burkholder failed to stress in his article on Martini (1985). In particular, Okegehm constitutes an important pre-Martini example of a composer writing cantus firmus masses with multiple borrowings. A chronology of borrowing practices may be established by examining who emulated whom. Regardless of the terminology chosen, the fundamental difference between masses with cantus firmi derived from chant and those derived from polyphonic pieces is that the latter preserve, literally or proportionally, the rhythm of the borrowed material, while the former do not. It is better on the whole, however, to use the term cantus firmus mass for all those works built around a borrowed melody.

Works: Févin: Missa Ave Maria; Martini: Missa Ma bouche rit; Obrecht: Missa Caput, Missa Fors seulement; Okegehm: Missa Fors seulement.

Index Classifications: 1400s

Contributed by: Edward D. Latham

Busnoys's L'Homme armé Mass is, in fact, the progenitor of the L'Homme armé tradition, and he is the composer of the chanson Il sera pour vous , as well. The number 31 links the L'Homme armé Mass to the Order of the Golden Fleece, and thus to Busnoys. Contrary to David Fallows's claim for Dufay as progenitor (1987), Dufay's Mass is by far the more complex and prolix of the two, thereby positing itself as an emulation by "the Old Man bestirring himself to put the whippersnappers in their place."

Index Classifications: 1400s

Contributed by: Edward D. Latham